Location of the markets

The aim of this paper is to discuss the credibility of the statement “Where, How and Why” Geography Influences International Marketing in the current business scenario. Different business in the world produce different types of products or services therefore, follows different types of marketing strategies to after the needs of the customers and gain profit. Initially, the business used to be localized and had a very limited number of customer base. Now after globalization, the business has started to spread in the foreign region and produced different types of products and services to carter the need of the customers of that particular region. This paper will be discussing the influence of location and challenging geography of Canada in the marketing strategy of the business firms.

Location of the markets influences international marketing greatly. This is due to the fact that the culture, economy, laws, politics and environment are different in different location which effectively manipulate the growth of the business in that area. The marketing of a business solely depends upon the customers of that region whose capacity of buying products or services directly connects the business of a company (Hoppner & Griffith, 2015). In this regard, the three major factors relating to geography of the location can be detailed. The market is divided according to the population density, climate and language of that place. The regional geographic market may be then divided as the nations, rural areas, metropolitan areas, urban and suburban areas and relation the size of that location.

The marketing strategies of the business as depends upon the regulations, economy, environment and technology of the population of the location. In the location of the business, the economic factors of marketing depend upon the per capita income of the population as this determines whether they will be able to buy the products. In some cases, the marketing targets the customers of different social and economic classes as this helps the companies to identify the potentiality of the market based on which the companies market their products at right place and right time. As pointed out by Kaynak and Kucukemiroglu (2015), the marketing of business firms also depends upon the licensing and permission of the government that regulate the product marketing strategy regarding the manufacturing and distribution in the foreign target market.

Location of the target market manipulates the marketing strategies of the business firms in the aspects of technological support. The marketing can be both online and offline. In the case of online promotions of the products, the companies can face issues as there may be some government restrictions in it or the customers may not have proper access to the online promotional methods (Leonidou et al., 2018). Moreover, the social cultural factors that mainly relate the demographics of the customers, their preferences, habits and language regulate the marketing strategies of the firms. These vary from location to location and society to society. In some cases, the location of a country does not reflect its people and their values. For instance, Canada has a large population that speaks French and their values are completely different from the other English-speaking people of the country.

Influence of location on marketing strategies

Geography impacts the products and distribution channels for your selected country or region. The producers use different distribution channels to provide the goods and services to the customer. These are the chief factors in the modern supply chain. These can span the sea, land and air routes now underground also (Vellas, 2016). This is the reason why the distribution channels largely depend upon the geographical features of the location which connect the business with customers of that particular region. Depending upon the geographical distance, the business in Canada flourishes. The business can use online or offline or mixed method of marketing and distribution channels. These channels often exist as direct to the customers or the retailers and wholesalers that supply the products or services to the last person targeted. In some part of the country, there are tough geographical terrain like mountains, forests and rural areas where the marketing of products and reaching distribution channels is quite difficult. In some cases, the companies face difficulties to segment the market based on the preferences of the population like in the big cities of the country such as Ontario, Quebec, Vancouver and Ottawa. In order to solve such problems, the companies now a days are taking help of the trains, cars and boats to reach the difficult part of the location and to serve the population of the city, they are choosing the method of creating network of distributers, retailers and wholesalers.

Geographically the terms like location and place have different connotations. Location according to most of the critics is more specific for marketing and place has wider meaning. Location can be absolute or relative. The absolute location provides specific references to locate the place which can be its latitude and longitude, the range system and region name. On the contrary, the relative location describes about a place from the aspects of its environment and its link with other places. As mentioned by Vellas (2016), place on the other hand describes the physical and population characteristics of a region. This concludes the physical features like mountains, beaches, rivers and other topographical description. The human features of a place include the cultural or human designed characteristics of the place starting from the land use, livelihood, religion, food and architecture along with the transportation and communication network of that particular region.

In the international marketing, the aim to cater demands of location and place have different approaches. As location is much more specific than the place for marketing initiatives, the international business judge all the related aspects of business success in that place. Choosing a location for the business and marketing the products are some of the most important decisions that the entrepreneurs make in launching ventures. The location affects aspects of the business in its operations like total sales and cost of its running (Sun, Paswan & Tieslau, 2016). For location, the home-based business and online business can be affected as these depend upon the rules of that particular location. Location in marketing manipulates the accessibility of the customers based on which the business decides for marketing. On the contrary, the place in marketing covers larger area like country or region where the business needs to take care of the polices, regulations, economy of the entire place to decide the mode of marketing.

Technological support in marketing

The competition level varies when the business focus on the location from place. In international marketing, the foreign companies while entering one country can open their outlets at any place but they need to take care of the location as accessibility of location varies from place to place. For example, the garment or any other factories of Canada mainly focus on the importance of location. They prefer to open their outlets in the populated places like malls rather than in the run-down parts of the town. Similarly, the competition level in a place do not affect as harshly as the competition in the location. The operating expenses are different in different location of a particular place. The location affects the operation expenses of a business so also its marketing. Both the online and offline marketing process of a location depend upon accessibility. Thus, different things relate to one another at a specific place.

Both the natural and human features impact international marketing and these are doing so from the ancient times. The natural features as mentioned are the mountains, forests, rivers, mines, seas, flora and fauna of that place. These are effective for the industries like manufacturing, tourism and transportation because all of these industries are effectively depending upon the distribution channels and transport system. Due to difficult physical features, the country has grown difficulty in the marketing process (Leonidou et al., 2018). The companies cannot reach the population of those places hence do not cater the needs of a large portion of customer base. The human features of a place as mentioned before, includes human designed characteristics of the place. These are land use by the population of the place, their livelihood, religion, food, laws and economy. This is the reason why the marketing professional first understand the culture of the place then lay strategies for marketing.

 Interaction, Movement, and Region can effectively impact international marketing. The international marketers always grab the opportunities available in different places. After globalization, movement of people as well as their interaction among different cultures have increases. In addition to this, technology also connected different factors effectively. This is why, the distance between two regions has been reduced giving extra leverage to the business firms along with their marketing departments (Hoppner & Griffith, 2015). With the technological advancement, people have started to modify as well as adapted to the natural features in a sophisticated manner. Geographical influences have manipulated the development of the general economy and social structure of the country which directly changed the expectations and demands of the people (Kaynak & Kucukemiroglu, 2015).

Impact of geography on products and distribution channels

As pointed out by De Mooij (2015), without movement of people, goods and ideas, the economy cannot flourish. At the international scale human migration and interaction have increased which increases the customer base of the business firms. With variety of demands, the firms will be able to brig variety in their products and services. It may increase geographic and demographic customer base.  This also supports the geocentric approaches of the firms in employing people in the marketing departments. This approach relates to the hiring of the most potent people from different region with diverse cultural knowledge who ultimately market the products exactly matching the needs of the people of particular location. With the help of high-speed information and communication technologies, the marketing of a firm (Demangeot, Broderick & Craig, 2015). Canada is a trading country which enters in different agreements with the neighboring countries. For example, in 1994, Canada signed The North American Free Trade Agreement with the United States and created the largest free-trade region in the world. This ultimately resulted in huge movement and interaction among the people which effectively manipulated the business and marketing of the related firms of that region.

Therefore, it can be concluded that international marketing has different types of factors influencing it. Among this, the geographical factors mainly relating to location of the market has been discussed. In this regard, the business in Canada has been analyzed which has a difficult physical geography affecting the marketing process of the firms within its territory or the foreign companies. There are differences among place and location which relates to marketing. In addition to this, interaction, movement, and region also affect the international marketing process.

References:

De Mooij, M. (2015). Cross-cultural research in international marketing: clearing up some of the confusion. International Marketing Review, 32(6), 646-662.

Demangeot, C., Broderick, A. J., & Craig, C. S. (2015). Multicultural marketplaces: New territory for international marketing and consumer research. International Marketing Review, 32(2), 118-140.

Hoppner, J. J., & Griffith, D. A. (2015). Looking back to move forward: a review of the evolution of research in international marketing channels. Journal of Retailing, 91(4), 610-626.

Leonidou, L. C., Katsikeas, C. S., Samiee, S., & Aykol, B. (2018). International marketing research: A state-of-the-art review and the way forward. In Advances in Global Marketing(pp. 3-33). Springer, Cham.

Kaynak, E., & Kucukemiroglu, O. (2015). International Marketing of Airline Services: US Versus Foreign Carriers. In Proceedings of the 1993 World Marketing Congress (pp. 38-38). Springer, Cham.

Sun, Q., Paswan, A. K., & Tieslau, M. (2016). Country resources, country image, and exports: Country branding and international marketing implications. Journal of Global Marketing, 29(4), 233-246.

Vellas, F. (2016). The international marketing of travel and tourism: A strategic approach. Macmillan International Higher Education.