Changing Dynamics in Marketing

Marketing was easier twenty years back. Have one successful product in the portfolio and the company and the manager could sit back and relax. But the scenarios today is a lot different increased pressure from competition, more demanding consumers and impact of technology is forcing the marketers to be on his toes, they cannot afford to relax. It is like pedaling a cycle uphill if you stop pedaling you will go down. One classic case which comes to my mind is that of Sony Playstation, When PS-I came into the market it was an out and out success, responsible for a major part of Sony’s profits at that time. But the current third version PS-III is not doing as well as was anticipated. In a period of 12-14 years the situation for Sony has changed. Old competitors Ninentodo's Wii and newer ones like Microsoft’s XBox is doing better in the market.



The reasons attributed PSIII below par performance has been supply chain glitches and pricing issues. But the stark reality for a marketer is that he or she cannot be complacent and hope that the earlier successes would be enough to get him the sales day after day. The competition responds at a far greater speed than what used to be in the earlier days and consumers want newer features and versions every year and if you don't provide them the competitor would. Though it is truer in the case of technology-driven companies, it also applies to the old economy companies, but the rate of change is much slower....