Concept Of Perceived Value

The concept of perceived value is an important term in the context of marketing and consumer behavior. The success of brands completely depends on how the customers and users of the product perceive the value and worth of the products and services, a company is delivering. The perceived value of a product can also be defined as the evaluation of the benefits of a product into the minds of the customers when the product has been compared with the other brands. A company has to adopt different marking concepts and strategies in order to make a good brand value of its products and services as this play an important role in defining the success and output of the particular brand (Malik, 2012).  In marketing, perceived value can either be expressed in quantitative or qualitative measures and both are substantially of great importance to an organization and thus, need to be taken care of appropriately. Therefore, a company needs to understand the concept of perceived value and its importance in the buying behavior of its customers.

The theory of perceived value actually defines the worth of a product and the willingness of its customers to pay for the products and services of a particular company and brand. It determines the intention of its customers for the purchase of goods. The perceived value from a customer’s perspective is actually the difference between the evaluation of the benefits of the particular product that a customer is interested in buying and the price it asks to pay and various other perceived alternatives that depends upon the needs of the particular customer (Milanovic and Bucalina, 2014). The value of each and every product is not the same for every customer, it changes and depends upon the needs and demands of an individual and its willingness and capacity for buying that product. Price is the major factor that affects the value of a product. The value is generally an expression of benefits divided by its cost (Sanchez-Fernandez and Iniesta-Bonillo, 2007).

The perceptions of the consumers have a dramatic and upholding effect on consumer’s purchasing patterns and behaviors. That is why, brands or the companies spend a lot of their time, effort, and money on researching ways of marketing their products, market segmentation, positioning, and targeting of customers so that they can achieve a favorable result in influencing the perceptions of their customers and enhancing the value of their products and services (Dahl, 2013). Marketing mix and marketing concepts also play a significant role in influencing the purchasing pattern of their customers. Four P’s of Marketing are of utmost importance to any business and those can be explained as Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. With appropriate planning, implementation and execution of these strategies, a business can have a great impact on customer’s perceptions and therefore, beneficial and profitable results can be obtained. It is first and foremost the perceived value of a consumer that affects its purchase intention. And if the perceived value is higher, the intention of the purchase will also be higher as the both the variables are directly proportional to each other. Therefore, perceived value is highly important for a business concern when it comes to consumer behavior and marketing (Yelkur, 2000).

Adidas is one of the famous brands that produce sporting goods and mainly shoes that attracts most of its customers. It focuses more on one of the marketing concepts known as product concept which describes that consumers generally prefer to buy products which are of high quality and has superior features. As it is discussed earlier that the perceived value of a product is defined by two measures i.e. qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative measures are those which affects the emotional, and physical conditions and various economic, environmental, and social factors of the customers, whereas quantitative measures are those consists of financial factors (Chi and Kilduff, 2011). Price is an important factor that affects the perception of the customers and is a determination of the high quality. Adidas uses the premium pricing policy strategy which is by far proved by its product as they provide standard quality and high performance. Price denominates the extrinsic value, whereas product strategy is the primary factor that influences the customer’s decisions and its purchase value. Adidas uses a variety of strategies that positively affects the buying behavior and attitudes of its customers. It maintained the repo of its product by creating a brand image and value and providing expected satisfaction to the customers by meeting their needs and demands. Adidas also have taken preliminary steps to build and strengthen its relationship with customers by creating brand loyalty which affects to a great extent when it comes to perceived value. The brand incorporates the online accounts of its customers on their website and provides them additional discounts and offers while their purchase which comes under the selling concept of marketing. The brand also provides functional benefits that includes its unique product design, customized delivery, online services, and easy availability of products both in physical stores and online (Mwencha, Muathe and Thuo, 2014). The company also helps in providing an integrated experience of shopping to its customers and their advertising campaigns which attracts a lot of potential customers. Customers enjoy the various benefits offered by the company and also pays attention to each and every of its existing and new products as the company has maintained its trust.

Adidas has a good number of potential customers that indulge and involve in the buying process apart from the fact that the prices of its product are higher than most of its competitors. Therefore, the use of effective marketing strategies, brand pricing, and meeting the satisfaction levels of customers Adidas creates a greater perceived value and has a favorable impact on buying behavior of its customers (Swait and Sweeney, 2000).

Complan is the brand that is well-known for providing powdered milk health drinks. The company’s marketing strategies are very unique and ethical. It has been approved by doctors as a healthy source of drinking, which in itself creates a good perceived value in the minds of its consumers. The company focuses on the nutritional value of their product and therefore, convincing their customers that the product they are offering is better than the other competing products following the theory of societal marketing concept which focuses on providing and value examining the well-being of the society. The company prefers to work on the production concept which explains that the most consumers prefer to purchase those products which are widely and easily available and are inexpensive. It works on the strategies that satisfies the four values which are price value, emotional value, social value, and functional value. These four values are of significant importance that influences the purchase intention of the consumer (Djojo and Arief, 2015). The brand segments and targets its customers on the basis of the user rather than targeting on the basis of usage. It has various competitors in the market as Horlicks, boost, bournvita, etc. that provides energy drinks in different other flavors, which creates a direct competition in the market and therefore, having an impact on the perceived value of the complan users. As it is a product that competes against milk, it is very difficult to convince buyers that it is healthy and provides nutrition because it takes a great amount of effort to leave a favorable impact when the product is consumable.

For some people, the product is not right from the social point of view as it competes as a substitute for milk leading to have an adverse effect on its brand image and so on to the buying behavior and purchase intention of the customers. So, the company has to work very hard on the execution of its marketing strategies to create a good impact on the consumer’s mind. As far as the working structure of the company and the sale of its product has been seen, it overall has a very good perceived value into the market as it comes in nice packaging, and offers a number of tasty flavors according to the demands of its consumers (Williams, 2014). It has been noted that the sales of the company have increased when compared with other brands providing the same type of products. Thus, it enjoys a good perceived value satisfying the needs of the users and has a good brand image.

From the above description an analysis, it has been very clear that in order to make a business profitable and to achieve a brand name, a company has to understand the behavior of its’ customers so that it can provide them with what they want to create more sales. A company has to plan and execute its marketing strategies in a way that it positively affects its customer base and the perceived value can be converted into purchases (Petkus, 2010). It has to study all the various attributes of its customers that can affect the sales and demand of its products. On the other hand, it also has to make efforts in its research and development process to make their products unique and beyond comparison to survive in the market place. Perceived value very much affects the buying behavior of the products and services and this in turn determines the growth and future of the company. Therefore, perceived value is an important factor to be considered by any business. A business firm must understand the theory of perceived value and consumer behavior and should plan its strategies, including marketing mix, brand positioning, etc. accordingly in order to become successful (Gul, 2013).

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