Space in marketing

Abstract

Space and spatiality still do not play a significant role in organizations’ marketing activities. The study – after a brief revision of the basic concepts of spatiality and marketing – introduces those areas in business approach, market discourse and especially in strategic marketing where space-related problems prevail.

In order to give a detailed explanation on spatial problems in marketing, the paper first introduces space theories and social scientific approaches to space (regional science, economics, sociology, and human geography). After that, it will discuss theoretical and applied economic considerations with a special focus on spatiality in marketing.

It will also introduce a number of international and Hungarian definitions – searching for spatiality in marketing – and, finally, it will analyze different explicit and implicit marketing relations of space on the basis of Kotler’s holistic marketing approach. In this main part, we will point out how and which way space and different space-interpretations (e.g. physical space, relational spaces and subjective spaces) affect (or should affect) marketing in theory and practice.

Based upon Kotler’s holistic marketing concept, we will point out spatial features in product, price, place and promotion strategies, as well as the spatial aspects of relationship marketing, CSR marketing and internal marketing. Supported by several examples, we evince that marketing is rather “embedded in space”, so, as the argument goes, spatial connections and spatial features should be considered seriously in an effective marketing approach and even in everyday work.

We also highlight that in a “geomarketing” approach spatiality does not simply refer to site selection and sales planning, but it also applies to the entire marketing process: Market analysis has a spatial character, because markets have spatial extent both in geographic and cyber spaces. Companies’ market position are influenced by competitors, suppliers and customers, among others, with their own geographical location and, therefore, they should consider the utilization of it for location-based advantages. Marketing part-strategies (e.g. product, price, communication) also have spatial dimensions if we accept that markets have a spatial character and they differ (also) in spatial terms from one another. And finally, customers, employees, stakeholders and other members of the society have different spatial perceptions, which companies have to consider when elaborating and carrying out their marketing activities.