Marketing Objectives - Essay Example

?Introduction This report is a marketing plan for the new micro wave oven developed by G Electronics. G has always been committed to improving the quality and convenience of people’s lives by providing best quality products to them. The new micro wave oven is no exception to that mission of the company. The new product is 20% less heavy than the existing ones and consumes 30% less power than the existing products in the range. As a result, this product will be one of the most revenue generating products for the company in the near future. This will also be the most environmental friendly product ever developed by G Electronics. The new product is code named as M2030. Marketing Objectives The target market of the company is all the households and offices of that are looking for lighter and efficient products. The product is aimed for UK market. M2030 will be a good choice for families considering the product’s ease and efficiency. “UK Households spent an average of ?474 per week in 2010.” (Office of National Statistics, 2011) As per the statistics department, fuel and power form one of the major components of the expense items. It is also seen that consumers have spent more disposable income for consumer durables in 2010. This trend is expected to continue in 2011. The product will be more focused on London, Northern Ireland, South East, East and South West. (Office of National Statistics, 2011) The marketing objectives of the product M2030 are as follows: 1. To become the best in class product in the product category 2. To make the product available in all the leading electronics stores 3. To offer the product to the customers at a highly competitive price 4. To create an impact in the minds of the customers regarding the benefits of the product. This report will further look into the detailed aspects of marketing of M2030 in UK. A detailed analysis of the competition and environment is also included in the report. Competitive Situation Analysis G’s products can be classified based on the three way consumer classification system of convenience, shopping and specialty goods. The products of G Electronics are kettles, toasters, juicers, mixers, ovens, dish washers, and micro waves. All these products can be classified as Shopping Goods. (Kurtz, 2011) The following five force model analysis will analyze the competitive situation of Company G. Supplier Power: The Company maintains excellent relationships with the existing suppliers. But for producing M2030, the company requires new materials which are different from those supplied by the existing suppliers. The supplier power is comparatively less for G as the numbers of suppliers are high. Threat of Substitutes: The threat of substitutes is comparatively higher for Company G. Products that are not as efficient as M2030 are available at a lesser price in the market. But then this happens only if the customers prefer cost benefit over efficiency. Switching cost is comparatively low for this product category. Buyer Power: Buyer power is very high in this case. The customers are flooded with numerous products by various brands. All products differs each other in terms of the design, price, efficiency, etc. Buyer concentration is high for microwave oven market. Also, the chances for customers to have inclination towards a particular brand are very high. Threat of new Entrants: Threat of new entrants is low in this industry though there are big companies who still foray into unrelated businesses. Brand identity and research costs are two main factors that hinder companies from entering this industry. There is definitely a threat from big companies who has the capital and knowhow to enter the segment. Degree of Rivalry: Some of the strongest players in the industry are Philips, IFB, Panasonic, Samsung, Siemens, LG, Sharp, Whirlpool, Daewoo, etc. There are just the leading brands. Apart from this there are other brands that has significant cumulative market share. Therefore, the degree of rivalry is high in this industry. (Mindtools, 2011) SWOT Analysis Strength: Good brand name in the industry is the major strength of G Electronics. It is easier to capture the market share by leveraging the brand name. Low debt to equity and high credit rating is another advantage for the company. This will provide sufficient financial stability for the company. Also, the cost effective production process of the company will enable them to have better cost advantage. Brand name and cost effective production process can be considered as the core competencies of G Electronics. Weakness: The main weakness of G Electronics is its current marketing plan. The current marketing plan is weak compared to the marketing activities of the rivals. It is difficult for the company to reach the targeted customers with the existing marketing plan. Another weakness is that the company has few products in the portfolio compared to that of the competitors. Also the G’s products are not as visually appealing as that of the major competitors. Opportunities: G Company has immense opportunities in the market. The primary opportunity for the company is that its brand name and logo is easily identified by majority of the customers. This means that the company enjoys good brand name in the market. Also, G has now developed an environmental friendly product in a market where such products are of high demand. If required, for the production process, the company can easily raise capital because of the high credit rating. The cost effective production process is a good opportunity for G Company competitively price the new product. Threats: The main threat for G Electronics is the substitute and similar products available in the market. As seen in the five force analysis, the threat of rivalry and buyer power is very high in the industry. There are a lot of other established brands that are capable of developing similar products and production process in the future. Therefore, the company should formulate strategies to eliminate the threat of substitutes, rivalry and buyer power. Marketing Strategies Based on the five force analysis and SWOT analysis, the following strategies should be incorporated in the marketing activities of the company. Focus on the core features of the product: The main feature of the product is that it consumes 30% less electricity than that of the existing models in the price range. The next feature to be focused on is that it is 20% less heavy than the existing models. All advertisements of the product should focus on these core features. Advertisements should include comparisons of M2030 with existing products. This will help to create awareness in the minds of the customers. Setting up demo counters for actual demonstration of the power consumptions would help to create awareness. The personnel to be appointed at the counters should be properly trained for demonstration. Adopt competitive pricing: The new technology enables G Electronics to minimize wastage and optimize the production process. M2030 should be priced slightly higher than the other products. There should not be significant price difference between the products because the customers might settle down for low cost products. Maintaining a small difference will help the customers to realize that the switching cost towards M2030 is very less. Invest more on distributor level marketing: G Company should invest heavily in dealer level marketing. The dealers should be offered good incentives for promoting G2030. The dealers should be given good margin on the products as it will help them to stock more of M2030. The dealers should also be provided incentives for displaying posters and other marketing activities of M2030. Most of the demo counters as discussed previously should be set up at the dealer level. Invest in direct selling for corporate customers: Big companies are one of the leading customers of micro wave ovens. They provide their employees with the facility of microwave oven at the offices. Separate direct selling agents should be employed to promote M2030 among the corporate customers. These combinations of strategies will help G Electronics to emerge as one of the leading players in the small appliances industry. As the company has competitive advantage due to low cost production and brand name it is easier for them to capture the additional market share. Training of direct selling agents is required because, corporate customers depend more on quality, better bargaining position and reliability of the product. They do not follow advertisements. Therefore, all these strategies will work well as a best marketing mix for the company. Action Plan The marketing strategies that were formulated should be implemented effectively for better sales of the product. The following actions should be implemented for better marketing of M2030. Advertising: 1. Creation of TV, print and online ads. 2. Recruitment and training of product demo executives. 3. Developing the theme of eco-friendliness and efficiency. Price Fixing: 1. Collection of price details of existing products in the market. 2. Analysis of data to arrive at the best average price. 3. Deciding the price based on the pricing strategy identified. Distribution Strategy: 1. Convincing the distributors of the incentives that will be provided for generating more sales. 2. Supplying them the required demonstration products and display items. 3. Providing them goods on credit. Recruitment & Training: 1. Estimating the human resources requirement and recruiting additional if required. 2. Providing adequate training. 3. Executives should be paid fixed salary and commission based on extra sales. Time frames and Areas of responsibility Price fixing should be the first activity to be carried on. Price fixing should be done within a time frame of two weeks. The nest process is to train executives. Executives are to be given two weeks of continuous training. This process should be done just after the price fixing process. The executives should approach the major dealers and convince them one month before the actual launch of the product. This will help to stock required quantities at the showrooms just after the launch. Based on that, the company should create the marketing activities. Advertisements should frequently appear for three months in all major advertising media. The company should make sure that the products are available in the market when the ads go on air. There should be enough supply in the market so that the customers does not return or buy other products due to non-availability of M2030. A separate marketing team should be formed in order to regularly monitor the progress of M2030’s marketing activities. Solution Analysis The plan should be evaluated before its implementation as well as after its implementation. The plan can first be analyzed by implementing a pilot implementation. This can be carried on for a month before the actual launch. The products should be taken to the households and other areas. The features and price of the product should be explained properly to the customers. Data should be collected from a large number of customers. These data should then be analyzed to understand if the product features, price and other factors are accepted by the customers. If the customers seem to be dissatisfied with any of the marketing mix of the product, it has to be changed to the customers’ expected level before the actual launch. A similar kind of analysis should be made during the period of one month after the launch. The data should be analyzed after one month. But a post launch changes is possible only in the case of price adjustments. References Office of National Statistics, (2011). Family Spending 2011 Edition. Retrieved December 4 2011. From: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/family-spending/family-spending/family-spending-2011-edition/index.html Boone, L, E., Kurtz, D, L. (2011) Contemporary Marketing. (14th Ed.) Mason, Ohio, USA: South Western Cengage Learning. Mind Tools. (2011) Porter’s Five Forces. Retrieved November 30, 2011. From: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_08.htm Read More