Companies have differentiated themselves by introducing new product in the market e.g. Apple introduced Apple iPod which created its own space in the market.

Pricing is very crucial in this competitive market especially in India. E.g. Acer was the first company in the notebook segment to slash their notebook prices which catapulted them to the 5th position in 2005 though they were late entrant in the Indian market i.e. 1999.

Talking about innovation in terms of place aspect, Café Coffee Day has been a front runner. They have opened Coffee Day Xpress Kiosk which is about 50 - 70 sq. ft. modular outlet which could be conveniently placed at any crowded location such as Gas station, hospitals, airports, malls, educational institutions etc. By this way they are targeting the masses.

Promotion is a very important aspect because it connects the consumer with the product or the service. Now taking the example of HLL's advertisement of Surf Excel where two kids while coming back from school makes a scene in the road by jumping on the dirt. In this case mother should have shouted on them but she didn't. She says that "Stains are good". So we can very well see that "children have mother's to take care and mothers have Surf Excel to take care" - that is what HLL wanted to convey the customers. Instantly the Ad puts across an emotional attachment with the customers.

People are an important aspect for a company because they are responsible to make or break a company. E.g. Infosys has created stock options for its employees. One of the main reasons for this is to retain the old employees and thus reducing the high attrition rate in the IT sector. So Infosys have been able to do so and it has differentiated themselves from the rest of the herd in terms of low attrition rate in middle level management than other companies.

Process in services marketing are the procedures and methods that are to be followed to produce and deliver a Service. Now Domino's Pizza has excelled in this by introducing "delivery within 30 minutes". This is the way they have differentiated themselves from their competitors.

Physical Evidence is one of the important aspects of marketing. Planet M has pioneered in it by catering to its customers in the best way possible and thus differentiating from its competitors.

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* Contributed by: -
Sampad Kr. Swain,
Currently pursuing MBA from ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad.