Marketing Mix and Petrol Retail Outlet
Marketing Mix and
Petrol Retail Outlet
As of December 2010, there were 207 petrol stations in Singapore. These stations are owned and operated by four major players in the petroleum retail industry. They are; Shell Eastern Petroleum Pte. Ltd (Shell), ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd (Esso), Chevron Corporation (Caltex) and Singapore Petroleum Company (SPC). In this essay, we’ll be looking at how these four players apply the Marketing Mix in running their petrol stations across Singapore.
Marketing Mix is defined as “A combination of the product itself, the price of the product, the place where it is made available and the activities that introduce it to consumers that creates a desired response among a set of predefined consumers.” (Soloman, 2011). Using the ‘Four Ps’ (McCarthy, 1981, p 42) of Product, Price, Promotion and Place is probably the best way to express it. Each element of the ‘Four Ps’ will affect each other, and they must be used together in combination to satisfy customers need.
Depending on the form of business, products can either be a tangible object, or intangible to the likes of providing a form of service. All petrol stations in Singapore, regardless of their size in operation, provide more than just fuel as their core product for retail. They do have at least a convenience shop operating within. Depending on their locations, these convenience shops offer products from car accessories to toiletries and even freshly baked confectionaries. Frozen produce and fresh vegetables can also be seen in some of the bigger retail shops. These are mainly catered to the hectic work schedules and busy lifestyles of Singaporeans, allowing them to do some quick shopping while refuelling their vehicles. All four major brands of petrol stations uses different chains of convenience shop. While Shell ties up 7-11, Esso has Fair Price Express as their preferred partner for the retail shops in all of their stations. Caltex and SPC run their own brand of
Petrol Retail Outlet
As of December 2010, there were 207 petrol stations in Singapore. These stations are owned and operated by four major players in the petroleum retail industry. They are; Shell Eastern Petroleum Pte. Ltd (Shell), ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd (Esso), Chevron Corporation (Caltex) and Singapore Petroleum Company (SPC). In this essay, we’ll be looking at how these four players apply the Marketing Mix in running their petrol stations across Singapore.
Marketing Mix is defined as “A combination of the product itself, the price of the product, the place where it is made available and the activities that introduce it to consumers that creates a desired response among a set of predefined consumers.” (Soloman, 2011). Using the ‘Four Ps’ (McCarthy, 1981, p 42) of Product, Price, Promotion and Place is probably the best way to express it. Each element of the ‘Four Ps’ will affect each other, and they must be used together in combination to satisfy customers need.
Depending on the form of business, products can either be a tangible object, or intangible to the likes of providing a form of service. All petrol stations in Singapore, regardless of their size in operation, provide more than just fuel as their core product for retail. They do have at least a convenience shop operating within. Depending on their locations, these convenience shops offer products from car accessories to toiletries and even freshly baked confectionaries. Frozen produce and fresh vegetables can also be seen in some of the bigger retail shops. These are mainly catered to the hectic work schedules and busy lifestyles of Singaporeans, allowing them to do some quick shopping while refuelling their vehicles. All four major brands of petrol stations uses different chains of convenience shop. While Shell ties up 7-11, Esso has Fair Price Express as their preferred partner for the retail shops in all of their stations. Caltex and SPC run their own brand of
References: Fuel Pricing: FAQs 2012, Shell Eastern Petroleum (Pte) Ltd, viewed 2 April 2012, <http://www.shell.com.sg/home/content/sgp/products_services/on_the_road/fuels/cpp/faqs/> Fung, H, Seah, T, Ng, MJ, 2011, An Inquiry Into The Retail Petrol Market In Singapore, Ministry of Trade and Industry, view 29 March 2012, <http://app.mti.gov.sg/data/article/24863/doc/ESS1Q2011__FA.pdf> Kotler, P, Armstrong, G 2001, Principles of Marketing, 9th edn, Prentice Hall, Harlow. McCarthy, EJ, Brogowicz, AA 1981, Basic Marketing: a managerial approach, 7th edn, R.D. Irwin, U.S.A. Solomon, MR, Hughes, A, Chitty, B, Fripp, G, Marshall, GW, Stuart, EW 2011, Marketing 2: REAL PEOPLE, REAL CHOICES, 2nd edn, Pearson Education, China.