Value (marketing)

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Value of a product within the context of marketing means the relationship between the consumer's expectations of product quality to the actual amount paid for it. It is often expressed as the equation :

Value = Benefits / Price

or alternatively:

Value = Quality received / Expectations

There are parallels between cultural expectations and consumer expectations. Thus pizza in Japan might be topped with tuna rather than pepperoni, as pizza might be in the US; the value in the marketplace varies from place to place as well as from market to market.

For a firm to deliver value to its customers, they must consider what is known as the "total market offering." This includes the reputation of the organisation, staff representation, product benefits, and technological characteristics as comparated to competitors' market offerings and prices. Value can thus be defined as the relationship of a firm's market offerings to those of its competitors.

Value in marketing can be defined by both qualitative and quantitative measures. On the qualitative side, value is the perceived gain composed of individual's emotional, mental and physical condition plus various social, economic, cultural and environmental factors. On the quantitative side, value is the actual gain measured in terms of financial numbers, percentages, and dollars.

For an individual to deliver value, one has to grow his / her knowledge and skill sets to showcase benefits delivered in a transaction (e.g., getting paid for a job).

For an organization to deliver value, it has to improve its value : cost ratio. When an organization delivers high value at high price, the perceived value may be low. When it delivers high value at low price, the perceived value may be high. The key to deliver high perceived value is attaching value to each of the individuals or organizations -- making them believe that what you are offering is beyond expectation -- helping them to solve a problem, offering a solution, giving results, and making them happy.

Value changes based on time, place and people in relation to changing environmental factors. It is a creative energy exchange between people and organizations in our marketplace.