Marketing Plan for Company G - Research Paper Example

? MARKETING PLAN FOR COMPANY G TABLE OF CONTENTS Background of the company and its mission ment Identification of the target market Marketing Objectives Product Price Place Promotion Competitor Analysis Threats of new entrants in the market and rivalry among the current Threats of new substitute in the market Bargaining power of customers and suppliers SWOT Analysis Action plan and marketing timeline Performance and timeline monitoring Background of the company and its mission statement Company G - a name that has made its mark in the consumer appliances market. The company caters the diverse array of its customer base with high quality and reliable electronic products. Following its growth strategy, the company has decided to launch a new line of small electronic items. With the launch of new product line, Company G is refreshing and revitalizing its corporate image with a new mission statement, ready to serve its consumer base. As per the latest mission statement “The Company endeavors to provide its customers with the high quality electronics appliances, at affordable prices, making their lives easier. The Company caters the needs of all of its stake holders, especially the customers, through the prudent and efficient management of its operations.” Identification of the target market Company G operates in the electronics market, the business which is expanding at a rapid pace. In order for any marketing plan to be effective, it is imperative to identify the target market where the company will deploy its marketing tactics. The two main criteria based on which the company can identify its target market would be income level and geography. Consumers with comparatively higher income level are likely to purchase electronic appliances as they want to make their life more convenient, and they are ready to part with their money for that. Individual with higher income level are inclined towards trying new commodities and thus would be a prime source of company’s initial revenue from the newly launched product line. In addition to the income level, geography is another important factor. The company should focus its marketing activities in mostly the urban areas as compared to the rural. There are several other different bases for identification of the target market. It must be kept into consideration that one segmentation variable must be superior to another in the hierarchy of variables. Other variables for identification of target market would be age, gender, occupation, education, social class, buyer behavior and lifestyle. Product classification The product of the company can be divided into three categories namely convenience goods, shopping goods and specialty goods. Following is the classification of the products offered by the company Convenience Good Electronic Stove, Refrigerator and portable air conditioner Shopping Good Television, DVD player and Food processor Specialty Good Electronic shaver, hair dryer and music players Marketing Objectives For a successful and effective marketing plan, it is necessary to set the objectives of the marketing plan. The objectives should be SMART i.e. Specific, Measurable, Achievable and Time bound. The company must set objective for each of its marketing element i.e. Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Product The marketing objective if the company G would be to create awareness in the market about the newly launch product line. The company would have to organize various promotion and advertising activities in order to provide adequate exposure to the new product. Price Marketing objective related to the price would be to promote the product based on the criteria that the prices have been set for customers belonging to different income level. The strategy will assist the company in increasing its customer base as it would increase the target market when people from different income classes are indulged in the buying of the company’s products. Place Since the company has established a sound consumer base of franchises in its target market, the company’s main objective should be to devise and implement attractive offers for the franchisors who agree to display the new product line of the company. The company must also implement tactics in its marketing strategy through which it is able to attract distributors and retailers in areas unexplored before. In addition to the discussed marketing objectives, the results that the company expects to derive from the promotion activities is that the masses get an idea and awareness about the newly launched company’s product. Promotion The company’s brand ‘XG” is established and is renowned in the market, but since the directors of the company wants to give a new and refreshing look to the company with the launch of the new product, the marketing campaign should be devised keeping it in to consideration. Competitor Analysis Whenever a company launches a new product, it is significant that it should analyze the competitive forces in the market in the market in order to analyze how the competitive forces would react. Porter five forces model is an effective and efficient tool when it comes to evaluating the efforts of competitive forces. According to the model, there are five forces prevailing in the market which can provide hardship to the company in implementing its marketing strategy. The five forces are Threats of new entrants in to the market Threats of new substitute in the market Bargaining power of customers The rivalry among current competitors in the market Bargaining power of supplier Threats of new entrants in to the market and rivalry among the current Threats of new entrants evaluates that there would be other companies in the market who would try to penetrate by launching new product of same nature and quality. The company should consider conducting market research and should try to highlight such competitors who possess threat against company’s consumer base and market. Another threat which the company can encounter is from the companies in the market involved in the same business. These companies can resort to strategies such as price cutting and massive advertisement in order to capture the consumer’s attention for their benefit. The company must also keep a strict watch on the strategies of its current competitors in the market in order to be ready to counter them. Threats of new substitute in the market Other competitive force according to porters five forces model is the threat of substitute which is an analysis of the company’s revenue and market due to the introduction of substitute commodities. One of the appliances that the Company G plans to market in its new product line is the electronic stove. Now, if any other company launches microwave oven in the market, it would instantaneously capture the market of the microwave oven and thus the company would lose major revenue and customer base. Bargaining power of customers and suppliers The bargain power of customer and suppliers can also have significant impact on the profitability of the company. The company needs to strike a good balance between providing suitable prices and credit terms to the consumers and creditors respectively and also making sure that its operations are not affected. SWOT Analysis In the current economic scenario, the company’s biggest and foremost strength would be its well established brand name and consumer base. Since the company has been in business for quite a long time, it has the ability to use its brand name and market knows how to launch the new product. The well established consumer base and supply chain can be regarded as the core competency of the company G in the discussed marketing scenario. The weakness of the company in the discussed situation is that it has not invested heavily in technology due to which there’s a radical chance that with the passage of time the company will be required to incorporate innovation into the products. The electronic appliances market is regarded as unstable as compared to the others and prices of the commodities tend to fall down quite quickly. Introduction of new substitute in the market will render all the previous products obsolete and thus the company would have to suffer major losses. In addition, the company does not have enough in house marketing staff which and currently the company does not plan to outsource this department. As per the finance department, the company currently is not in the position to bear the expenditure of outsourcing the marketing department. The company must organize workshop for its in house marketing staff in order to equip them with the latest marketing techniques. Another weakness of the company that would create a hurdle in the smooth execution of its marketing plan is that its distribution channel is fragmented which would increase the cost of transportation. This problem could be resolved through proper negotiations, pertaining to the cost, with the distributors. As discussed earlier the company’s biggest threat would be the entry of new entrants in the market. In order to protect itself from such a threat, the company should invest in technology and acquire such method of production that it would become impossible for others to replicate. Investing heavily in technology would act as an entry barrier to the new entrants in the market and it would save the company from losing its market and profitability. Other threat that the company would be facing is the increase in the inflation rate in the economy. The increase in the inflation would put an upward shift on the prices and thus decreasing the purchasing power of the consumers. The company should also be aware of any sort of duties or levy on the sale and distribution of electronic appliances. There are several opportunities available which the company can acquire in order to enhance its marketing strategy and reap benefits. One such opportunity is the participation in the international trade fair being organized at the city centre. It can be regarded as the best platform for the company to launch its new product line. The company can avail the benefits of the recent trend of telemarketing. One of the company’s associated companies ‘Company telex’ is in the call centre business. The company can utilize its relations with the company in order to effectively market its products. Since the government recently reduced the general sales tax (GST) on the electronic appliances, the company can make the most of this opportunity and attract the consumer through discounted prices. Marketing Strategies As far as the product is concerned, in order to attract customer towards it, the company should give special attention to the packaging of the product. The packaging should protect the appliance and must be easy to handle. In addition to the mentioned, the company can introduce different qualities of the same product for customers from different income level. The company can introduce ‘premium quality’ and ‘bargain quality’ for high and low income level group respectively. Free installation service offered by the company will drastically enhance the sales of the company. Marketing strategy pertaining to price would be to introduce the product at a price which helps the company to penetrate in the market. Initially the company should set a lower price and then eventually with the passage of time incorporate increase of price keeping in consideration the required return. Introduction of discount offers is liable to significantly increase the sales of the company. Moreover, the company must give proper consideration to the prices offered by its competitors and should try to undercut it by offering the same quality at lesser price One of the most significant marketing strategies for the company is related to its distribution system. In order to strengthen its supply chain management, the company should introduce attractive offers for its distributors and franchisors. The company can award the franchisors with billboards and signs, displaying the company’s new range of appliances, to be set up at their outlets. For marketing strategy related to promotion, the company must organize a rigorous sales campaign at a massive scale throughout the country. Apart from organizing sales campaigns, the company must also resort to advertising the new product in the media through above the line promotion (e.g. newspaper and magazines) and below the line promotion (e.g. television and radio). Another sort of promotion activity which the company can use is the credit point system according to which on the purchase of every item some credit points will be awarded to the customer and after reaching a pre-defined credit point limit, the customer is awarded with a gift. Action Plan and marketing timeline The marketing action plan of the company should be spread over a period of three year period as the product life cycle of electronic appliances is comparatively lesser. During the initial months, the company should focus on organizing promotional activities all around the country which will create awareness in the consumer about the company’s newly launched product. During this period the company should also focus on selecting appropriate packaging for the product. After the initial sales promotion, the company should launch the product with an introductory price in order to penetrate the market. This introduction must be made within the next three to four months of the organization of the sales campaign. When the company’s realizes that it has started to receive positive response from the customers, it should put into action the strategy related to the setting of different price according to the income level of the consumers. After the strategy comes the introduction of free installation and coupon system. A marketing time line is as follows First year Second year Third year Product Selection of appropriate and attractive Packaging Introducing different quality of products according to the income level Free Installation offer Price Introduction of the product with a lower price Increase the prices but introduce certain discount offers Price cutting Place Distribution of attractive signs and billboards Attractive offers to distributors and franchisors Promotion Organization of sales campaign Utilizing media for marketing of the product Introduction of the coupons systems Performance and timeline monitoring The company can adopt several procedures in order to measure the effectiveness of its marketing strategies. The company can acquire regular feedback from its customers in order to keep on upgrading its services and product. At the time of sale, the contact information of the customers must be obtained in order to contact them later and enquire them about the services offered by the company and how the use of the company’s product is coming along. The company can also contact its distributors and franchisors in order to assess the effectiveness of their marketing plan. In addition, the most useful tool to assess the marketing aspect of a company is the increase in its revenue. The company should analyze the current year revenue with the prior in order to evaluate whether the increase in the revenue is up to the expectations or not. In order to ensure that the time line for its marketing activities is followed according to the plan, the company should set up a team the responsibility of which should be the continuous monitoring of the plan. The company must hire new managers having adequate background in management skills, for the project. The timeline for following the monitoring is as follows First year Second year Third year Obtain contact information of the customers. Conduct marketing research and feasibility studies in order assess the viability of the project Contact distributors and franchisors in order to assess to consumer response towards company’s products Compare the current year sales revenue with the prior year figures. Hire experts in order to assess how much marketing has contributed to the profits of the company and is it viable to follow the same strategy Read More