Argos Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning (STP)

Argos Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning (STP) Introduction The objective of this assignment is to understand Argos segmentation, targeting and positioning in strategic marketing and how Argos uses STP to gain competitive advantage. In strategic marketing STP plays a vital role in the organization or company because it is a marketing strategy for dividing market in segments, targeting customers and making a position for products. (Whaley, A.2010, P12) Competitive Advantage is important for a company because it gives a company advantage over its competitors and gained by offering consumers greater value, either by means of lower prices or by providing greater benefits and services. Argos is a unique retail company in the UK. Its slogan is choice, value and convenience (Argos i, 2010). Argos was founded in 1973 and it owned by GUS PLC. Argos sells general merchandise and other products for the home from 750 stores throughout the UK, republic of Ireland, North Ireland, Wales and Scotland. (HRG PLC Annual i 2010A). Moreover, there are 33,000 employees are working in Argoss stores. Argos serves over 130m customers through stores and takes 26% of sales through the internet. (Argos i, 2010). In 2010, there are 19,300 products registered in Argos latest spring and summer catalogued. (HRG PLC Annual i 2010).Argos majors products are toys, jewellery, sports, electrical goods and leisure equipment and these goods making up50% of its sales mix(scribd i:2010). As the leader in UK for general merchandise retailing, Argos latest revenue is  £1,812.8M in 2010 which is less from 2009 and it sales down 3%. Multi-channel sales grew to 44% of Argos sales in the first half of the year. The internet represented 32% of Argos sales (HRG PLCi: 2010B). Argos is unique amongst its major competitors. Its main competitors are Tesco, Asda, PC World, Homebase and Currys, and online retailer Amazon.co.uk. All competitors have internet presence. However, Tesco recently has been trying to imitate Argos retailing style with its Tesco direct catalogue and in-store shops. (Scribd i, 2010) What is STP? STP stands for Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning. In strategic marketing STP is the second level. In STP; segmentation(S) the market segment deciding which customer to target (T) deciding what messages you want the targets to associate with you; what is called positioning(P).The whole process of dividing the market in different segments, targeting customers and product positioning is known as STP. (Whalley, A. 2010,P12).STP is one of the most important processes in strategic marketing which management should take on both at the start of a new offer creation as well as part of a periodic revision of the collection of offers and strategies by the organization. Taken from Whalley, A. 2010, and P72. 2.1 Segmentation Segmentation is the first step in STP process. In strategic marketing Segmentation can be defined as a process of dividing the total market in different segments for product or service into distinct sub-groups. (Whalley, A. 2010, P72). In segmentation each segment represents a separate target market to be reached with a distinctive marketing mix. Market segment means dividing the market into different subsets of customers with different needs. Segmentation can also be summarized as dividing the market by set of Pre- determined criteria. (Taken from Whalley, A. 2010, P72) Different variables can play a role in purchasing decision of the customers. In segmentation it is important to focus on the customer needs rather than other variables such as geography, demographics, occasion, behaviours etc. Effective segmentation is not easy to achieve, because in the society different groups of people have different choices and needs about products. It can only be achieved when customers share similar of demands. 2.2 Targeting In the STP process, the second step is targeting the market. After the completion of segmentation companies decide which segment they need to target and it depends on the size, area, profit and growth of each segments. Thus, Targeting of market is defined as the identification of market segments that are identified as being the most likely purchasers of a companys product. (Whalley, A 2010:P76) In targeting, a company should target segments in which it has a differential advantage over its competitors. In targeting companies decide to target one or more segments. For that purpose choice about targeted segments should generally depend on the several factors. The first factor in targeting is checking the existing level of the competition and how good it is serving the customers need. The organisation should know about segment, how large it is and how we can expect it to grow and have company strengths as company that will helps customers demand particularly to one group of customers. Companys actual ability of communication with the segment is also an important factor for companies in targeting. (Whalley, A.2010:P76) 2.3 Positioning After segmentation and targeting the next step is positioning in STP process. It refers to the way in which an organization sets itself apart in the market and how its products are perceived by the target market as a whole. (Whalley, A 2010:P77) Product positioning is the process of designing product features. These features are product, place, promotion and distribution. Positioning is about the communication of the overall value of proposition such as that it creates and maintains it clearly to customers. A product position is the place where product occupies in consumers minds. Market position gives a product a clear, unique and desirable place in the minds of target consumers. It is very important for the firm to define market segments, determine the target segments and understand customer needs, expectation and priorities .The study of competitors positioning about services and products are very important for a company, because its essential for a company to make good position f or its customers and communication about products for customer needs. Customers need should be a main priority of an organization. (Whalley, A.2010:P77) Discuss Argoss segmentation, targeting and positioning 3.1 Argoss segmentation As discussed previously, market segmentation means dividing a market into different subsets of customers with different needs. Different variables can play a role in purchasing decision of customers. In Argos demographic approach is used because demography is the study of population and it refers to personal statistics like income, age, gender, nationality, religion, and occupations etc. Argos adopts demographic approach because this approach represent the every member of the society i.e. there are many high and low income people in society, they have different needs about products. Furthermore, people of different ages and choice for men and women also important for a company before dividing the market in different segments. Argoss strategy about market segmentation is to fulfil the need of every customer. It does not matter customer is rich or poor, male or female, educational or uneducated etc. Argos creates well balanced market segment for its target and product. (The Times i, 20 10) 3.2 Argoss Targeting Customers buying habits change with the passage of time. Advancement of the technology changes customer shopping habits because technology makes its access simple for people. Many people nowadays like to use modern technology for shopping and purchasing different products, for that purpose they like to use internet, telephone. Many people like to come into stores to buy goods but the proportions of online buyers are increasing. This behaviour of customers changes companies approach of targeting. Argos thus uses a variety of modern channels to communicate with customers and to provide them with facilities for inquiring about availability of stock, and for making purchases. Argos recognizes that its many customers have different needs and prefer to shop in different ways. Argos targeting approach is getting to success because Argoss customers have already decided what they want to buy before visiting stores. Argos targeting approach make its value reliable for its customers because its targeting strategy aims to target more and more customers and make easy access for its products. Hence, Argos is using modern technology to target its customers because in this busy world ,where people are using advanced technology for communication make essential for Argos to use it for targeting customers. (The Times i, 2010) 3.3 Argos Positioning As discussed previously, product positioning is the process of designing product features. These features are product, place, promotion and distribution. Positioning is the final step in STP process. A strong positioning strategy is very important for company. Argos product positioning is using a differentiated market strategy. Argos low prices create value for its customers and its branded products lines are able to meet the demands of customers. Argos uses low price strategy because it is able to achieve cutting cost through retailing channels and it does not require a large shop space and big staff. Argos positioning strategy about place divides in three formats. These formats are store format, online format and catalogues. In distribution feature, Argos distributes products through Royal mail and its own delivery services. Argos uses advertising tools like internet, TV and indirect advertising through shopping catalogues for the promotion of its products. (Scribd i, 2010) Argos as a truly multi-channel, value orientated general merchandise Retail Company. Its strategy about product positioning is differentiated and formatted. Argos offers highly competitive customers through its positioning features like product, place, distribution and promotion. Infrastructure advantages strategy is to gain infrastructure advantage to increase revenue for this purpose Argos spends capital to improve its stores because strong infrastructure also helpful to create product position in market for customers. Argos positioning about reductions or increased flexibility cost has been achieved while Argos is still maintaining or improving its operational standards. (HRG PLCi: 2010B). Conclusion In conclusion, the STP process always plays a vital role in strategic marketing, because of the division of market into segments, targeting segments and positioning of products. Argos is a unique retailer company in the UK. It has a unique STP strategy policy as a company for dividing market into segments; demographic strategy is used for market dividing because its more suitable than other variables such as geography, occasion, behaviours etc. Argos strategy for targeting customers is flexible because Argos uses a variety of modern channels to communicate with customers and to provide them with facilities for inquiring about availability of stock, and for making purchases. Argos strong product positioning is totally for the benefit of its customers. As a UK retailer company Argos is unique, popular and successful because it is focused around meeting customer needs. Argos has gained competitive advantage on the basis of providing the best value of money for its customers through the best products branding, low prices, place, distribution and promotion. In this assignment, my main objective was to discuss Argos as retailing company and its STP strategy in strategic marketing. Furthermore, its aim was to show how Argos uses STP to gain competitive advantage from rivals by differentiating itself on the basis of providing the best value for money for customers through the most convenient shopping experience.

Curriculum Theory Essay

Historical accounts of public education reaching back into the nineteenth century reveal successive waves of polarization of view points, limited approaches to curriculum development, and recurring upsurges of dissatisfaction with school offerings. Curriculum development activities in the past show a seeming lack of rigorous, systematic thinking about curriculum development and give insight into the attic thinking about curriculum development and give insight into the need for an adequate theory of curriculum development. Without an inclusive theory of curriculum theory, child-centered, society-centered, subject-centered, and other approaches of limited dimensions will continue to compete with each other as exclusive routes to curriculum planning. Evidence of a long succession of limited approaches to curriculum development may be found in historical literature. In the colonial era, free public schooling had not yet been conceived. The prevailing concept at that time, borrowed from European schools, was that education was for the elite-a view that haunted public education in one way or another for generations. Traditional Theory The American Revolution added new power to the emerging spirit of democracy and focused new attention on schools and education. The colonial view that formal schooling was only for the upper classes came into question, and public schooling was introduced in this country. Its expressed purpose is in the poster evolutionary period were to inculcate moral standards by transmitting the traditional culture — a job previously. American culture out of the diverse cultures brought here by immigrants from many countries. Although educators viewed the Dewey (1916) concept as desirable, they disagreed on how to carry it out in practice. To some it meant a school without structure or predetermined objectives and content. Harold Rugg viewed such superficial interpretations with alarm in 1926 and urged educators to realize that curriculum-making is a complex, highly specialized task that must be the cooperative endeavor of many minds. Despite its varied interpretations, the Dewey (1916) concept brought an upsurge of curriculum development in the 1920s and 1930s that moved away from traditional classicism and toward emphasis on the needs of the individual and of society. Dewey (1916) finds that, when pupils are a â€Å"traditional† class rather than a social group, the teacher acts largely from the outside and not as a director of processes of exchange in which all have a share. In Dewey’s (1916) view, when education is based on experience and educative experience is seen to be a social process, the situation changes radically. Planning, in their view, is the structuring of a living situation with a wide range of educative alternatives. The transactions that take place within this structure cannot be planned in the traditional manner. They are more in the nature of â€Å"planned accidents† . . . . The curriculum is the cultural environment which has been selected as a set of possibilities for learning transactions (Dewey, 1916) When a range of educational alternatives is available, the principle of choice becomes an essential consideration in planning for freedom. The preceding discussion gives numerous examples of needs assessment procedures that encompass far broader concepts of needs than the traditional expert-determined or producer-determined needs or the narrow definition of needs that arises from comparison of student achievement scores with national norms on standardized tests. The examples given here include psychological needs as well as educational needs and describe ongoing procedures in various parts of the country in which individuals and groups directly concerned with a curriculum development process are also involved in identifying the needs that curriculum and instruction should meet. Structure of Disciplines Theory The work of Jerome Bruner (1960) and others emphasized the â€Å"structure of the disciplines† as a basis for curriculum design. Burner called attention to the general usefulness of structure within a discipline as an organizing principle, but he did not set forth a comprehensive curriculum development theory. Hilda Taba ( 1962) noted that the either/or practice still prevailed and that, while in the 1930s the cry was for attention to the child, in the 1950s the battle was to reintroduce disciplined content, with the problem of balance still unresolved. James Macdonald (1971) observed that the â€Å"curriculum reform movement† of the 1950s and 1960s was in no real sense a movement, because its separate parts were never really related or coordinated. Rather, it was a historical accident — a combination of Sputnik, McCarthyism, interested professors, federal money, and the ambitions of commercial publishers. Structure identifies order or sequence or notes that order is immaterial. Structure for an individual may develop from his or her interests and motivations, when a range of alternatives is available. Jerome Bruner’s widely publicized statement in The Process of Education (1960) that anything worth teaching can be taught in some intellectually honest way at any level has conveyed the impression to a wide audience that there is some definite pattern of construction or organization of the subject matter of the separate disciplines that should be known by curriculum-makers and used in sequencing information to impart it to children in an efficient and effective way. This point of view influenced the curriculum â€Å"reforms† of the 1960s, which did not in actuality reform curriculum. John Dewey (1916) would probably not have advocated a rigid or set structure as an intellectually honest way to introduce children to life and experience. Knowledge, of course, must be integrated to be meaningful, and curriculum structure can be constructed not only within the separate disciples but also across disciplines or interdisciplinary areas of social, cultural, or personal interest. As a system of ideas and beliefs, it includes aspects of the cognitive world isolated by disciplines and/or subjects in terms of facts, information, generalizations, principles, laws, and the like. . . . Cultural systems are substantive aspects of social and personality systems and evolve in a constant interaction shaped and influenced by the dynamics of structures and actions in . . . culture, society, and personality (Macdonald 1971). George Counts (1952) maintained that the responsibilities of the school included curriculum development directed toward constructive modification and development of the nation’s economy, social structure, cultural institutions, and outlook on the world. Curriculum development should lead toward creating as well as transmitting culture, meeting and maintaining democratic social relationships, and increasing individual self-realization, Counts asserted. The scope of available culture is almost limitless. It involves societal conditions, knowledge from the academic disciplines, professional knowledge about learning and educative processes, philosophical and value bases, futures research, realities in the classroom, pluralistic ethnic backgrounds of the participants, and their needs and desires. Behavioral Theory A dominant influence on curriculum development since the early1950s has been the Tyler rationale, set forth in Ralph Tyler Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction (1950). Tyler’s frequently credited with providing impetus for the behavioral objectives movement of recent years. Its advocate proposition is that instructional goals be stated in behavioral terms, with built-in criteria for measurement of outcomes. Selections are then made from alternative activities expected to help the student attain the desired behavioral objectives. Scope and sequence decisions follow, and evaluation is carried out. Various interpretations of this approach have led to highly technical procedures to develop a preplanned program of behavioral objectives closely tied to subsequent measures of achievement. Behavioral and other models adapted from Tyler seem to over- emphasize educational need and underestimate psychological need. Although Tyler was cognizant of the latter and referred to two types of need, he gave psychological need no more than a nod of recognition (Tyler, 1950): The inclusion of psychological need in curriculum development is advocated by those who fear that overemphasis on behavioral objectives, academic achievement, and grading may develop negativism among students toward school learning. Academic objectives retain their importance, but these planners also stress the importance of psychological processes, human relations, positive mental health, and student involvement in setting goals, selecting options, learning how to work toward goals, and developing persistence in spite of occasional failures. Arthur Combs (1972), taking a strong position, outlines the hazards of accountability programs that focus almost exclusively on test scores of detailed behavioral objectives. A truly comprehensive approach to accountability, he says, must consider at least five major problems related to curriculum and instruction: 1. Basic skills. Specific, atomistic behavioral objectives can be applied successfully only to simple skills and problems for which they are appropriate and must be constantly updated. The information explosion and rapidity of change make â€Å"right† behaviors rapidly obsolete. 2. Intelligence and holistic behavior. Accountability must contribute maximally to intelligent behavior and problem-solving action directed toward fulfillment of the individual’s and society’s needs. 3. The nature of learning and the causes of behavior. Attention should be concentrated on the causes of behavior rather than on behavior itself. Personal meanings are the causes of behavior, and these are formed through two aspects of learning: the provision of new information or experience, and the discovery by the learner of its personal meaning for him. 4. Humanistic goals of education. Developing humane qualities, self-actualization of the individual, good citizenship, learning to care for others, and working together are all aspects of humanism for which schools must be accountable. â€Å"We can live with a bad reader,† says Combs, â€Å"but a bigot is a danger to everyone,† (Combs, 1972) 5. Professional accountability. Teachers can and should be held accountable for professional behavior: being informed in subject matter, being concerned about the welfare of students, being knowledgeable about their behavior, and understanding human behavior in general. Professional educators may be held professionally responsible for the purposes they seek to carry out and the methods they use. Constructivist Theory Outside the fortress of elitism’ in secondary education, political, social, and educational leaders began to awaken to the broader responsibilities of the schools and to look to the public schools for constructive approaches to the public’s needs and problems. Mark Chesler, a frequent observer and consultant in disrupted schools, gained some insights into procedures that seem to hold promise for constructive change. In â€Å"School Crisis and Change† ( 1970), he asserts that when school officials sought only superficial techniques for reestablishing the status quo, stress and turmoil were more likely to continue. When collaborative decision-making procedures were instituted among students, community people, school executives, and faculty, meaningful and positive curriculum improvements began to takes place. A statewide assessment of the Michigan plan, conducted by Ernest House, Wendell Rivers, and Daniel Stufflebeam (1974), reflected general support of the accountability process in principle but was highly critical of the implementation of the plan in Michigan. The evaluators pointed out that attention had been limited mainly to reading and arithmetic at two grade levels, that no constructive purpose had been gained by ranking schools on norm-referenced tests, and that the promise of providing needs assessment in relation to the full scope of goals had not been pursued. It is obvious that curriculum development must be a responsive process, constantly extending, expanding, and revising the curriculum. This requires continuous planning of learning outcomes that will help individuals draw effectively on growing realms of knowledge, develop new skills in a rapidly changing world, and develop insights into and constructive approaches to unresolved problems. The process of curriculum development must continue to be responsive to needs and problems and to generate alternative means for reaching desirable ends George Counts (1952) maintained that the responsibilities of the school included curriculum development directed toward constructive modification and development of the nation’s economy, social structure, cultural institutions, and outlook on the world. Curriculum development should lead toward creating as well as transmitting culture, meeting and maintaining democratic social relationships, and increasing individual self-realization, Counts asserted. Research studies have found that very young as well as older students formed important and serious work groups to discuss, plan, and carry out activities in cooperation with adults. In the cases reported, the schools provided constructive learning situations in which children were involved in forging their own roles, working out relationships, and assuming responsibility for self-evaluation. In these situations the teacher acted as guide and resource rather than a not- to-be-questioned authority, critic, and judge. A systems approach is an analytic rather than an erratic approach. It requires planning and action to be accomplished in a manner that allows participants to revise the plans, as action and experience proceed, and incorporate constructive improvements. A systems approach requires initiative and commitment. Curriculum-planners using a systems approach must be ready to document and make public exactly what they are doing, why they are doing it, and how the curriculum is being developed. The participants and consumers must evaluate the curriculum development effort so that it can be continually improved. Experiential Theory Active critics and reformers on the contemporary scene can be classified roughly into three categories. One includes those who focus on individual freedom in learning. They are sometimes termed the â€Å"romantics† or â€Å"radicals,† and they advocate free schools or the elimination of schools as they now exist. The free school movement can be traced to the publication of A. S. Neill’s Summerhill in 1960 and became manifested in various types of â€Å"free schools,† emphasizing experiential learning that places the highest priority on the â€Å"self† of the individual. Advocates of de schooling see hope in a network of opportunities for incidental education through which each child can discover itself and pursue his or her particular interests in special ways. In Kohlberg’s (1972) studies the main experiential determinants or causal factors in moral development seem to be the amount and variety of the child’s social experience and the opportunities he or she has had to assume a number of roles and to take other perspectives into account. Being able to put oneself in another’s place is a source of principles; for example, when parents sought their children’s views and elicited comparisons of views in dialogues, the children reached more advanced stages of moral development. Roger Pillet (1971) asserts that researchers have perpetuated a separation of experiential theory and practice. He lists as shortcomings (1) the locus of the leadership function in curriculum development that is external to the teachers, administrators, parents, and students who are expected to become users; (2) the negation of reality that occurs when new programs are designed on paper without regard to the knowledge and experience of the learners and educators who are expected to become the users; and (3) the use of abstract language that reduces the possibility of communication among those involved in various aspects of curriculum development. References Bruner Jerome S. The Process of Education. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1960. Chesler Mark A. â€Å"School Crisis and Change†. In Student Unrest: Threat or Promise? edited by Richard L. Hart and J. Galen Saylor, pp. 100-21. Washington, D. C. : Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. 1970. Combs Arthur W. Educational Accountability. Beyond Behavioral Objectives, Washington, D. C. : Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1972. Counts George S. Education and American Civilization. New York: Bureau of Publications, Teachers College University, 1952. Dewey John. Democracy and Education. New York: Macmillan, 1916. pp. 17 House Ernest R. ; Rivers Wendell; and Stufflebeam Daniel L. â€Å"An Assessment of the Michigan Accountability System†. Phi Delta Kappan 55 (June 1974): 663-69. Kohlberg Lawrence. â€Å"Moral Education in the Schools: A Developmental View†. In Curriculum and the Cultural Revolution, edited by David E. Purpel and Maurice Belanger, pp. 455-78, Berkeley: McCutchan, 1972. Macdonald James B. â€Å"Curriculum Development in Relation to Social and Intellectual Systems†, In The Curriculum: Retrospect and Prospect, part I, pp. 97-98. Seventieth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971. Pillet Roger A. â€Å"Boundaries of a Curriculum Network†, In Elements of Curriculum Development, pp. 7-11, Monograph supplement of Curriculum Theory Network. Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 1971. Taba Hilda. Curriculum Development: Theory and Practice. New York: Harcorut, Brace and World, 1962. Tyler Ralph W. Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1950. pp. 7-8

Hurricane Katrin The Hurricane - 1007 Words

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The Life and Achievements of Charles Wright Mills Essay

Born on August 28, 1916 in Waco, Texas, to Charles Grover and Frances Ursula Wright Mills, Charles Wright Mills was brought up in a strict Catholic home. Rebelling against Christianity early into his adolescence, Mills later became known to be one of the greatest social scientists and a merciless critic of ideology. Mills later graduating from Dallas Technical High School in 1934, discovered a great passion for engineering and architecture. From 1934 to 1935, Mills attended Texas AM where he found himself extremely dissatisfied and decided to transfer to the University of Texas in 1935. Here, he evolved into an extraordinary student. By 1939, Mills was graduating with a bachelors and masters degree in philosophy. He then attended†¦show more content†¦During his life, Mills had many prominent works †¦ New Men of Power: Americas Labor Leaders, White Collar: The American Middle Classes, The Power Elite, The Sociological Imagination, Sociology and Pragmatism, The Puerto Rican Journey: New Yorks Newest Immigrants , Character and Social Structure: The Psychology of Social Institutions , The Causes of World War III ,The Images of Man. Mills remained a nonconformist both personally and intellectually throughout his life time. Mills was married four times. In 1937, he married Dorothy Helen James. During there short marriage, they had one daughter and divorced in 1940. By 1941, Mills was remarried with a second daughter on the way. Six years later, he was divorced again, and ready to move on to his third wife, Ruth Harper. Mills was married to Harper for twelve years before they divorced. Mills final wife was Yaroslava Surmach, the mother of Mills only son. Mills was also an active member of the American Sociological Society, serving as vice president from 1947 to 1948. During the last two years of his life, Mills became a public figure. His tracts against cold War and the U. S. Latin American policy were more widely read than any other radical. As his popularity grew, his Listen, Yankee was featured on the cover of Harpers Magazine. As he was preparing for a television network debate, he suffered a heart attack in December 1960. On March 20, 1962, Mills passedShow MoreRelatedCharles Wright Millss The Sociological Imagination945 Words   |  4 PagesComponent 1 In 1959, Charles Wright Mills, who is considered one of the more prominent figures in sociology, published The Sociological Imagination. This work of art is still used by sociologists and taught to many students today. After reading these five pages it gives a whole new meaning to the interactions and behaviors we encounter every single day. 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