Mix Marketing Louis Vuitton

• Traditional Marketing Mix definition

• The concept of marketing mix has been defined in many different ways in the past 60 years. It was first thought by Neil Borden, although based on Culliton's idea that a marketer should be a 'mixer of ingredients' (Culliton, 1948, cited in Borden, 1964, p.7). Borden argues that if a business executive should 'mix ingredients' than the final result would be a 'marketing mix' (Borden, 1964 p. 9). More specifically, Borden (1964) suggested that the marketing mix should be a combination of 12 elements of marketing: product, price, branding, distribution, personal selling, advertising, promotions, packing, display, service, physical handling and findings and analysis; and 4 external forces: consumer buying, trade's, competitors and the Governmental behaviours.

• Then, Jerome McCarthy (1960, cited in Rafiq and Ahmed, 1995, p. 3) made the

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• concept more concise, and suggested that in order to achieve sales, profits or any other organizational goals companies should draw a strategy based on 4P's: price, product, promotion and place.

• Nowadays, although this way of managing marketing has been heavily criticized, companies still rely on it. American Association of Marketing (AMA), for instance, still defines the marketing mix as ' [four] controllable (…) variables that the firm uses to pursue the desired level of sales in the target market' (AMA, n.d.). LV is no exception to the rule, and despite having other elements also crucial to achieve its goals, it still has its 4P's clearly defined.

• 1.1) Product – LV's main activity is to produce and sell trunks, leather goods,ready-to-wear, shoes, jewelry, watches, accessories, sunglasses and books (LVMH, n.d.). The company started to sell luggage (especially trunks) and accessories, to serve citizens that, in 1854, could already afford to travel (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009). When LV first started the business, the majority of the citizens were traveling by sea, and for this reason the luggage had to be hard and robust (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009). Nowadays, the products are resistant, which for the customers mean high quality and, consequently timelessness (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009). This explains the importance of this 'P' to the company. Even though the prices are quite high, the customers still buy the products due to their perception of the product's value: the price is justified on the product lifetime (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009).

• 1.2) Place – LV's products can only be bought at LV's stores. For this reason, it is so important to totally engage the stakeholders not only with the process of the business, but also with each other (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009). LV's policy requires that any new white collar employee must start in the stores, in order to perceive exactly how to serve the store, which is where the customer 'can live the brand' (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009 p 193). Moreover, the store managers are part of the company, due to their active participation in LV management (meetings, etc.) (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009). However, and contrary to what happens in other sectors, LV's distribution is selective and exclusive (Kapferer, 2012). This gives to customers the idea of

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