Activity 2 : Explore Let us expound our understanding of marketing through the following illustration. Sari-Sari, Tagalog for variety, is an essential economic and social piece of just about every Filipino community. Most are privately run, family-owned, and are operated from the front of the owner's house. Commodities are displayed behind a large mesh screen to allow customers to see what is available and prevent shoplifting. The most common goods sold are candy, snacks, and other non-perishable food items. Cigarettes and mobile phone cards are also popular items for sale. Households' needs, like soap, detergent, and cleaning supplies, are also every day. Some stores have small refrigerators to offer cold drinks like soda and beer. Sari-sari stores generally have higher prices than supermarkets, which is a trade-off for proximity to their customers. It is also common to buy single units of a product versus an entire package as paying more to meet an immediate need is valued over planning and budgeting bulk purchase over the long term. Based on the above situation, identify the products of the sari-sari store marketing mix. Place. Most of the sari-sari stores are situated outside the owner's doorstep, in front of their house. This gives the owner convenient and easy access to the store. The goal is to reach more people than your home, a broader market than the neighborhood. Most of the locations are just nearby busy streets, around town plazas, adjacent to schools, and similar areas with many foot traffic. 1. 2. Products. Since the sari-sari store is located in a residential area, the top sellers are food products such as rice, canned goods, noodles and condiments, toiletries like shampoo, toothpaste, and soap detergents and the like and snacks for all ages. Price. Most of the sari-sari store owners adopt prices based on the commodities' original cost plus a certain percentage or competitors' price. The owner researched how much merchandise is selling around the area and simply match them. 4. 3. Process. The owner establishes a good relationship with e=its suppliers because they can avail of the lowest prices. They also negotiate better terms and prices from the product distributors and ask for bulk order, discounts, credit lines, and longer payment terms. 5. People. A sari-sari store business is not just about selling, but also serving your customers. Many business owners forget this, but you should not. They must be friendly and helpful and continuously build the loyalty of their customers. Promotion. Simply displaying of merchandise behind the large mesh screen is a part of a promotion, the signages, tarpaulin, and word of mouth. The physical evidence is the store itself, the premises, how does it look like, how the 6. 7. displays are being arranged and hanged on a shelves. Let's explore further by answering this activity. Use another sheet of paper for your answer. Among the identified 7P's of marketing, which do you think are the three most appropriate marketing mix in a sari-sari store business, and why? Justify your answer by citing examples.