A changing industry

The long life cycle of cattle, together with a more labour-intensive slaughtering process are factors that make the production of beef relatively costly. Concentration in the beef slaughtering industry is increasing, with a relatively small number of large companies taking over a still larger share of total slaughterings. The European beef sector has, like other meat sectors, undergone a significant change of scale at all stages in the business system. The average farm grows larger, the average slaughtering company grows and the average beef retailer gets larger, especially because of the diminishing importance of butchers. Yet to continue to prosper, these players need to adapt to the changing nature of the industry.

Questions

1. Conduct a macroenvironmental analysis of the beef industry.

2. On the basis of the analysis in this case, what recommendations would you make to beef farmers and slaughtering companies?

Chapter 3. Understanding Customer Behaviour Marketing Spotlight

Men and women differ in just about every other way, so why shouldn't they shop differently, too? Men always move faster than women through a shop's aisles and they spend less time looking. They usually don't like asking where things are, or any other questions, for that matter (they shop the way they drive)... . You'll see a man impatiently move through a shop to the section he wants, pick something up, and then, almost abruptly, he's ready to buy. When a man takes clothing into a dressing room, the only thing that stops him from buying is if it doesn't fit. Women, on the other hand, try things on as only part of the consideration process, and garments that fit just fine may still be rejected on other grounds. In one study, we found that 65 per cent of male shoppers who tried something on bought it, as opposed to 25 per cent of female shoppers... . Eighty-six per cent of women look at price tags when they shop. Only 72 per cent of men do. For a man, ignoring the price tag is almost a measure of his virility. As a result, men are more easily upgraded than are women shoppers... . The great traditional arena for male shopping behaviour has always been the supermarket. In one supermarket study, we counted how many shoppers came in armed with lists. Almost all of the women had them. Less than a quarter of the men did. Any wife who's watching the family budget knows better than to send her husband to the supermarket unchaperoned. Giving him a vehicle to commandeer, even if it is just a shopping cart, only emphasizes the potential for guyness in the experience. Throw a couple of kids in with Dad and you've got a lethal combination; he's notoriously bad at saying no when there's grocery acquisitioning to be done. Part of being Daddy is being the provider, after all. It goes to the heart of a man's self-image.

In Chapter 1 we saw that an in-depth knowledge of customers is a prerequisite of successful marketing; it influences the choice of target market and the nature of the marketing mix developed to serve it. Indeed, understanding customers is the cornerstone upon which the marketing concept is built. In this chapter we shall explore the nature of customer behaviour; we shall examine the frameworks and concepts used to understand customers; and we shall review the dimensions we need to consider in order to grasp the nuances of customer behaviour and the influences on it.