Position Of Goods Research Articles

Shipment tracking technologies and customer satisfaction

This paper refers to the importance and the consequences of new technologies in the level of customer service, that apply in the transport sector for the tracking and tracing of shipments. The application of new technologies for customer service are very important bearing in mind the new operational environment that has developed in the framework of globalization and integration of supply chain operations, with transport being a vital component. The main characteristic is the transfer of added value and company concern from the product itself to the user of the transport service. In this new customer centric environment, the transport service includes beyond the transfer itself the availability of information that follows. This information include the position and state of the goods in transit, the time window until its reception, the departure/arrival schedule. In this new necessity, technology is an enabler giving companies the possibility to response to the new environment and develop a competitive edge.

Market mechanics: A study to measure the effect of marketing instruments on the market position of fast-moving consumer goods

The objective of the research was to establish the various effects of the marketing instruments on the market shares of fast-moving consumer goods. The marketing instruments analyzed were price level, price changes, promotion, advertising, and media mix. Within the analysis the integrated effect of the distribution pattern had to be taken into account. The analysis of 186 brands and the data gathered over 7 three-month periods was taken from two models loosely based on Koyck. The results can be used to estimate the effectiveness of the marketing tools under scrutiny and their declining marginal revenue in the German market. A number of different efficiency ratings can be detected between the separate product categories under analysis. For marketing managers there are three particularly interesting points: (1) Brands with a low price index have only relatively small market advantages in comparison with expensive brands; (2) but price changes lead to very strong movements in the market shares; (3) in the case of brands with a small share of the advertising spent, both print and TV advertising have a similar effectiveness. With a larger share of advertising, the TV effectiveness declines because of saturation effects.