In this essay we will discuss about marketing and its challenges faced during the 21st century.

Economic reforms, globalization and liberalization have completely changed the face of marketing in all over the world. The massive change in business environment bought about the reforms in the economic policies of countries. The centre of attention in marketing has shifted away from volume and profit maximization by promotion to delivery of value, quality improvement, creation of personalized customer relationships, adding values to products, and satisfying and retaining existing customers.

Marketing has emerged as the most critical function in today mate even the small firms are now using innovative marketing techniques due to increasing global competition. With the wide spread coverage of television and internet marketing is not imitated to geographic boundaries, the place and time constrains are squeezing.

As soon as you click on your TV, a commercial of products and services are there at any time. Today, scope of marketing has diversified from electronic gadgets, commercial banking, health care, computer integration services, agricultural equipment, government services, and many other products outside the consumer mainstream.

Before the Industrial Revolution, marketing emphasized the physical distribution function of getting goods to customers. Throughout the 19th century, Europe produced modern innovations changing the faith of millions around the globe. The 20th century saw the advent of scientific management, incorporating universal principles of efficiency and industrial engineering. All the building blocks were already in place, railroads, electricity, typewriters, telegraph, telephone, steel, gasoline and diesel engines, radio and flight.

In the first part of this century, organizations found more and more ways to automate. European and North American companies typically focused on ways to improve the production of goods, because this is how they were able to keep a competitive advantage. Manufacturers concentrated on producing goods, believing the products would sell themselves this was the production era. Profits by high volumes of sales and economies of scale were the focal point of firms.

As markets continued to grow, many businesses became less satisfied with the principles of selling more and more. They needed a basis for focusing their efforts, and they needed more successful strategies for attracting and keeping customers. 21st Century, it was the era of adult hood, from mass marketing in the days of fifties and sixties, segmentation and line extension in seventies and intensified niche marketing in eighties, total quality management blended with the marketing concept in late eighties, broadening the traditional marketing concept to involve all members of the organization in striving to improve quality in order to satisfy customers.

In an organization applying the TQM concept to various functions of the organization marketing, technical and operations work together to decide what the buyer needs and how the seller will meet those needs, the customers and the suppliers are both satisfied with the result.

Globalization of markets and flexibility in policies of international trading is the main feature of business in twenty-first century. On the one hand, the world is becoming more homogeneous, and distinctions between national markets are not only fading but, for some products, will disappear altogether.

However, on the other hand, the differences among nations, regions, and ethnic groups in terms of cultural factors are far from distinguishing but become more obvious. It is suggested that the claims for a right to culture by national states in recent years can be important criteria for trade policy making, intellectual property rights protection, and the resource for national interests.

International institutions like WTO, IMF, World Bank are making efforts for homogeneity in international markets. Reduction in trade tariffs and globalization of economic activities might initiate a worldwide cultural protectionism for trans-national marketing while we are approaching the globalization economically in the 21st Century. International organizations are trying to integrate global markets by coordination of economies.

There are opportunities as well as challenges in front of international marketing on one hand there is scope or domestic firms to go for across the boundaries of domestic market on other hand it would be difficult to survive in competitive market without world class quality and standard.

Cross-cultural marketing is defined as the strategic process of marketing among consumers whose culture differs from that of the marketer’s own culture at least in one of the fundamental cultural aspects, such as language, religion, social norms and values, education, and the living style.

Cross-cultural marketing demands marketers to be aware of and sensitive to the cultural differences-to respect the right to culture by the consumers in various cultures and marketplaces, marketers should understand that they deserved the right to their cultures. If the marketers want to be the winners in the cross-cultural marketing they must create the marketing mix that meets the consumer’s values on a right to their culture.

The cross-cultural issues will provide more challenges and opportunities to the marketers in the 21st Century are as follows:

(i) Culture impacts on marketing due to multiple cultures with in a country.

(ii) Cross-cultural dimensions of marketing research.

(iii) Cross-cultural aspects of marketing mix.

(iv) Cross-cultural marketing education and professional training and marketing organization.

Therefore, in order to match the marketing mix with consumer preferences, purchasing behaviour, and product-use patterns in a potential market, marketers must have a thorough understanding of the cultural environment of that market, i.e., marketing cross-culturally. Marketing planning should be according to the requirement of local customers, marketers should identify cultural similarities and dissimilarities in cultural and economic environment.

It is not only the culture that influence marketing but marketing also influences culture. Marketers can act as agents of changes within a culture. The interactions between marketing and culture can be examined from three perspectives.

First, culture defines acceptable purchasing and product-use behaviour for both consumers and business.

Secondly, each element of culture influences each component of the marketing mix. Promotion, for instance, is strongly influenced by the language. Product acceptance is affected by culturally based attitudes towards change.

Thirdly, marketing also influences culture, especially by contributing to cultural borrowing and change.

Marketing challenges are also in front of technology for developing and underdeveloped countries. It is a challenging task to compete with developed countries in field of technology. Use of internet, computer based information system and decision support system are the part of marketing system. A strong database is required to for better customer services. Regular improvement in quality of products as per the expectation of customers is must for the satisfaction of customers and expansion of business.

The change in business environment and the advent of the new marketing challenges carried a direct cause effect relationship these challenges are as follows:

(i) To Satisfy the Demand and Expectation of Customers:

In today’s market customer is the king, customer has multiple choice, now companies have to offer products meeting global standard, marketers has to ensure world class quality, firms were also require to obtain international quality certification, customers see greater value in an offering that appeals to local taste, price competitiveness has now become essential from two ways competition related and customer related. Customer’s expectations are rising they want high quality at low price marketers have to maximize the benefits and arrest the cost to the customer in such a way that the customers get more for less.

(ii) Value Delivery:

The consumers are better informed and capable of more effective of the cost and benefit related to different brands. All this is due to communication and media revolution. Today information is accessible to customers by different ways like newspaper, television, internet etc. With the expansion of choice, the customer are becoming choosy and seeking added value with products and services, customer has become very discerning and is insisting on value.

(iii) Competition:

Competition is indisputably the hardest challenge in marketing even the established brands have to perpetually maintain a superior competitive position in the market. Firms are now facing completion from local and global brands, new entrants, expansions, merger, takeover and diversification player in any industry has to face stiff competition. National brands have to face competition from MNCs with their innumerable products and brands.

These companies are huge in size, budget and marketing skills. In this situation national and local brands are required to compete with the strong array of MNCs brands. They have to invent more in development of product and brand. Liberalization of imports has been another component of the new completion. For example – products of all categories from China have captured Indian market. These products are attractive despite of duties.

(iv) The Challenge on the Technology Front:

Now market is technology driven. Companies invest huge capital on research and development activities. Technology is the main factor in IT, pharmacy, automobile, computer and telecom industry. Technology is itself transforming rapidly, it makes us react to information quickly.

Marketers must innovatively use technology for enhancing their marketing productivity and customer relationship. All this is possible by investing more on R & D and innovation-firms must focus on improvement of products by spending more on new technology.

(v) Challenges in Distribution:

Most companies distributed their products to the consumers through two sources – retailing and sales agents. New products and services in the demulsified society refuse to be confined to a single channel, which was one of the first principles of marketing.

Now marketers will have to find new combinations of hybrid marketing channels to reach all customers. Changing life style of customers have changed the purchasing pattern. Now new format of retailing has change the face of market.

The retail revolution basically meant the change over for a significant part form single location provision store to modern super market, shopping mall, super market and retail chains. Large manufacturers are now facing competition form own brand of mega retailers.

Managing relationship among different channel members will become a major challenge. They have to add value to their selling without undermining any component of the distribution channel, and they have to gain new skill in development of network of channel partners and intermediaries.

(vi) Globalization:

New polices on foreign trade and globalization drive the firms to the global markets. Now domestic market is open for multinationals. Firms can extend their market across the boundaries of their nation. For that they require global competitiveness in cost, quality and technology. They have to offer world class quality that would meet the expectation of customers. Firms have to develop competitive advantage in fields like selling, packaging, quality etc. It can be seen as an opportunity and challenge.

(vii) Challenges on the Organisation Front:

Marketing firms are required to develop organization and system which is capable to responding to the changes in marketing environment. The main task is to create an organization environment that will be receptive to change and will develop with the requirement of global marketing. There is need of cross functional organizations which can work with multi discipline teams, organization culture and climate should be flexible enough to adopt the culture of global structure of market.