Read the passage and answer the following questions.

Aroma Coffee House, a boutique café, aims to expand its brand by focusing on the marketing mix. The product is its artisanal coffee, known for unique flavors and organic ingredients. The café ensures appealing packaging, using recyclable and aesthetically designed coffee bags to align with eco-conscious consumers. Its branding strategy emphasizes sustainability and local community support, making it a trusted choice.

The pricing is premium, reflecting the high quality of the coffee beans and exclusivity. They also apply psychological pricing, like $4.99, to appeal subtly. The place involves both a cozy café experience and an online delivery service to cater to a broader audience. For promotion, Aroma relies on social media marketing, influencer collaborations, and loyalty programs.

In line with their marketing philosophy, the café follows a societal marketing concept, prioritizing the welfare of customers and the environment. For instance, they source coffee ethically and support local farmers. Their labeling highlights critical attributes like "organic," "fair trade," and "hand-roasted," catering to health-conscious customers while ensuring clarity and compliance with regulations.

Aroma's integrated approach ensures its appeal to both loyal customers and new markets, balancing ethics with profitability.

Which of the following is NOT a component of Marketing Mix?

Placement

The correct answer is option 3- Placement.

Placement is not a component of Marketing Mix. Place mix is a component.

Place Mix- Place or Physical Distribution include activities that make firm’s products available to the target customers. Important decision areas in this respect include selection of dealers or intermediaries to reach the customers, providing support to the intermediaries (by way of discounts, promotional campaigns, etc.). The intermediaries in turn keep inventory of the firm’s products, demonstrate them to potential buyers, negotiate price with buyers, close sales and also service the products after the sale. The other decision areas relate to managing inventory, storage and warehousing and transportation of goods from the place it is produced to the place it is required by the buyers.

OTHER OPTIONS

• Product Mix- Product means goods or services or ‘anything of value’, which is offered to the market for sale. The concept of product relates to not only the physical product  but also the benefits offered by it from customer’s view point (for example toothpaste is bought for whitening teeth, strengthening gums, etc.). The concept of product also include the extended product or what is offered to the customers by way of after sales services, handling complaints, availability of spare parts etc. These aspects are very important, particularly in the marketing of consumer durable products (like Automobiles, refrigerators, etc.). The important product decisions include deciding about the features, quality, packaging, labelling and branding of the products.

• Price Mix- Price is the amount of money customers have to pay to obtain the product. In case of most of the products, level of price affects the level of their demand. The marketers have not only to decide about the objectives of price setting but to analyse the factors determining the price and fix a price for the firm’s products. Decisions have also to be taken in respect of discounts to customers, traders and credit terms, etc., so that customers perceive the price to be in line with the value of the product.

• Promotion Mix- Promotion of products and services include activities that communicate availability, features, merits, etc., of the products to the target customers and persuade them to buy it. Most marketing organisations, undertake various promotional activities and spend substantial amount of money on the promotion of their goods through using number of tools such as advertising, personal selling and sales promotion techniques (like price discounts, free samples, etc.)