cooperatives are democratic organizations which create a benefit for their members [5].
Cooperatives have an important status in Iranian Con-stitutional Law which has led into the expansion of co-operative activities and forums and their remarkable growth [6]. According to the law, cooperatives are cate-gorized in three ranks one of them is consumption field [7]. According to statistics provided by Cooperative Mi- nistry, there were 155,241 registered cooperatives by Co- operative Ministry until March 2010. According to the same data, the number of cooperatives in Ilam province is more than 2000 [6].
By using marketing mix, cooperatives can further meet their members’ needs and expand their sale in their non- member markets [2].
The initial studies on marketing mix were conducted by Harvard University in 1929 [8] while the management paradigm of marketing mix was dominated the market since 1940. In 1964, McCarty developed this idea and revised them as principles recognized as 4Ps today [9]. Marketing mix includes four elements namely product, price, promotion and place [10]. Owing to the fact that any decision on each element should be compatible with other three elements, marketing mix term was selected [11]. In reality, marketing mix is a set of tools by which entities achieve their marketing goals in their target mar-kets [12]. Booms and Bitner believe that services need another type of marketing and a different type of mar-keting mix. To the same reason, they distinguished ser-vice marketing from product marketing. In their market-ing mix, three Ps namely personnel, physical assets and procedures were added and finally 7Ps were shaped [13].
Below, one can find the definition of marketing mix elements:
Product is all necessary components and elements to do a service which generate value for customer [14]. Pro- duct is an element of marketing mix which respecting it in cooperatives leads into the satisfaction of members and customers. For instance, supplying products with a credible brand and attractive package increase the sale in addition to the satisfaction of customers [2].
Price and other costs of service sector show the man-agement of various costs endured by customers in a- chieving the advantages from generating the services [14]. In consumer cooperatives, the first and main aim is to satisfy members that should be considered in pricing followed by achieving the profit, sale increase, more share in the market, survival and development of the company [2].
Place is the managerial decisions on where customers should be provided with services and it may include electronic/physical distribution channels [14]. Consumer cooperatives are a kind of distribution channels which