Buy essay on Price Marketing Strategy

Microsoft takes the leading position in the market and still the company keeps introducing new product to attract new customers and to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. In this respect, the introduction of Windows 7 and Office is a very important step toward reaching the large customer group and attracting more customers to new products developed by Microsoft. At the same time, the marketing success of the new products, Windows 7 and Office, is determined not only by their quality and characteristics but also by pricing policies conducted by Microsoft. At this point, it is worth mentioning the fact that Microsoft was traditionally quite successful in its pricing policies offering products at affordable prices and maximizing its revenues through the mass production of software and applications. In all probability, such pricing policies will work perfectly well in relation to Windows 7 and Office, if the company takes into consideration such factors as target market, product and its characteristics, place, and promotion.
On analyzing the introduction of Windows 7 and Office by Microsoft, it is important to lay emphasis on the fact that the company is oriented on mass customers and the target market cannot be limited to certain national market. At the same time, characteristics of new products, make them more attracting for customers from developed countries of the world, including the US, the EU, Japan and others because these countries have highly developed information technologies and telecommunication systems. In this respect, it should be said that both Windows 7 and Office offer customers larger opportunities to use the full potential of Internet and online communication and data sharing. This is why the target market is the market where customers can have access to Internet and where information technologies have reached the high level of development. In this regard, developing countries may be viewed as a target market for Windows 7 and Office but it is necessary to remember that customers located in these countries cannot always use the full benefits of Windows 7 for instance just because they may have problems with connection to Internet. In addition, it should be said that needs of customers in developing countries are different from needs of customers in developed countries.
In relation to Windows 7, this difference is particularly significant because this product is destined to customers who tend to be mobile (Rodrick, 146). For instance, Windows 7 is widely-applied in notebooks as an alternative to Windows Vista and other operation systems because Windows 7 has its advantages, especially when users work online and use Internet regularly.
As for Office, this product less bound to customers use of Internet but still Office is widely-used by companies as well as users at home and customers can benefit from the full range of services Microsoft offers with its new Office but customers in developing countries may fail to use the full potential of new Office and the existing, older versions of Office are sufficient for users in developing countries.
At the same time, it is possible to distinguish not only the location of target customer group but also their age. In fact, new products, Windows 7 and Office, are primarily aiming at the younger generation and people under 40s. Therefore, Microsoft should establish affordable prices for its products to allow customers, especially the younger generation to buy these products and use them on the regular basis (Rolf, 230). What is meant here is the fact that the high price of Windows 7 or Office can prevent younger people from purchasing these products because, in spite of their advantages, they will be unable or just unwilling to pay the high price for Windows 7 and Office. Instead, they may prefer conventional products which they can buy at moderate price.
In such a context, the pricing strategy conducted by Microsoft should take into consideration the target market, place where the products are to be introduced and products’ characteristics. What is meant here is the fact that ideally, the price of Windows 7 and Office should match the buying power of customers and stimulate customers to buy new products (Case & Fair, 184). It is possible to attract customers by means of new features of new products and larger opportunities Windows 7 and Office offer for customers, especially in regard to online operations. On the other hand, it is obvious that customers in developed countries can afford higher price compared to customers in developing countries. Therefore, Microsoft can raise the price of Windows 7 and Office higher than its precursors and focus on the introduction of these products in developed countries, whereas developing countries can consume precursors of Windows 7 and Office, such as Windows Vista, for instance.
Finally, the price of the new products includes the promotion. At the same time, the promotion is essential to stimulate customers to buy products. The more effective the promotion is the higher will be sale rates of the new products. In this regard, Microsoft should develop an effective promotional campaign and minimize the impact of promotion on price of products through orientation on the mass customer group.

References:
Case, K. E. & Fair, R. C. Principles of Economics. New York: Random House, 1999.
Rodrick, D. Alternatives to Globalization. New York: New Publishers, 2002.
Rolf, K. World Economy: Past, Present, Future. London: Routledge, 2000.