Consumer Protection to win the Marketing Competition
Before Company continuing its progress and develop, surely they have to make a competitors’ intelligence, innovating product or service, and the most important of that is must know what is the consumers needs and want. This step is crucial for company to win the battle of market and profit share. Consumer is a stake holder who has the big part of company architecture of marketing aggression plan. How to know your consumers, how to take positioning of company, and segmenting your product or service.
The consumer bill of rights
1) The right to safety:
To be protected against the marketing of goods that are
hazardous to health or life.
2) The right to be informed
To be protected against fraudulent, deceitful, or grossly
misleading information, advertising, labeling, or other
practices, and to be given the facts to make an informed choice.
3) The right to choose
To be assured, wherever possible, access to a variety of products and
services at competitive prices and in those industries in which
competition is not workable and government regulation is substituted,
to be assured satisfactory quality and service at fair prices.
4) The right to be heard
To be assured that consumer interests will receive full and sympathetic
consideration in the formulation of government policy, and fair and
expeditious treatment in its administrative tribunals.
Major consumer protections specified by consumer laws
Information protections
Hazardous home appliances must carry a warning label.
Home products must carry a label detailing contents.
Autos must carry a label showing detailed breakdown of price and all related costs.
Tobacco advertisements and products must carry a health warning label.
Alcoholic beverages must carry a health warning label.
All costs related to real estate transactions must be disclosed.
Warranties must specify the terms of the guarantee and the buyer’s rights.
False and deceptive advertising can be prohibited.
Food and beverage labels must show complete information.
Food advertising must not make false claims about nutrition.
Major consumer protections specified by consumer laws
Direct hazard protections
Hazardous toys and games for children are banned from sale.
Safety standards for motor vehicles are required.
National and state speed limits are specified.
Hazardous, defective, and ineffective products can be recalled under pressure from EPA, CPSC, NHTSA, and FDA
Pesticide residue in food is allowed only if it poses a negligible risk
Pricing protections
Liability protections
When injured by a product, consumers can seek legal redress.
Other protections
No discrimination in the extension of credit.
Goals of consumer laws
To provide customers with better information when making purchases.
To protect consumers against possible hazards from products they may purchase.
To promote competitive pricing and consumer choice.
To protect privacy.
Major federal consumer protection agencies and their main responsibilities
Federal Trade Commission
Competitive pricing
Deceptive trade practices
Packaging and labeling
Consumer credit disclosure and reporting
Online privacy
Food and Drug Administration
Safety, effectiveness, and labeling of drugs, foods, food activities, cosmetics, and medical devices
Standards for radiation exposure
Toxic chemicals research
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Safety standards for consumer products
Flammable fabrics,
hazardous substances,
poison prevention
packaging
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Motor vehicle safety standards
Automobile fuel economy standards
National uniform speed limit
Consumer safeguards
for altered odometers
Department of Justice
Fair competition
Consumer civil rights
National Transportation Safety Board
Airline safety
Protecting consumer privacy
Consumer self-help
Internet users should use technologies that enable them to protect their own privacy.
Industry self-regulation
Businesses should adopt voluntary policies and technical standards that protect the privacy of their customers.
Privacy legislation
The government should pass laws that establish minimum privacy standards for collecting information online.
Product liability reform proposals
Set up uniform federal standards for determining liability.
Shift the burden of proving liability to consumers.
Eliminate some bases for liability claims.
Require the loser to pay the legal costs of the winner.
Limit punitive damages.
Business responses to consumerism
Total quality management
This approach emphasizes achieving high quality and customer satisfaction through teamwork and continuous improvement of a company’s product or service.
Voluntary industry codes of conduct
In some cases, businesses in an industry have banded together to agree on voluntary codes of conduct, spelling out how they will treat their customers.
Consumer affairs departments
These centralized departments normally handle consumer inquiries and complaints about a company’s products and services.
Product recalls
Occurs when a company, either voluntarily or under an agreement with a government agency, takes back all items found to be dangerously
