Market Position of Aston Manor Brewery - Essay Example

? Aston manor brewery Reflective ment The previous research report was meant to analyse the market position of Aston Manor Brewery. In order to do so, we have collected data from several sources and both primary as well as secondary data has been collected from the market. The principal aim of that report was to understand the position of Aston Manor Brewery in the cider market of United Kingdom (UK). The sources of data we have used to make the analysis and present the data in a meaningful form to our client company Aston Manor Brewery, we have considered collection secondary data from the authentic electronic sources. As mentioned in the methodology, information was collected from Birmingham City University electronic resources and official website. In addition, we have also collected the information from the client itself as well. This data was achieved from client presentation. The client also presented us with their latest market reports and markets trends they are currently experiencing. The client was basically asked three questions which was as follows:- What is the marketing planning in the 2013? What is marketing planning promotion between 2012 and 2013? Example something new and improve something. In the Corporate Social Responsibility, Aston Manor Brewery has made certain achievements, such as charity fund and sports aspects. But in the future, corporate will be in the new field take more social responsibility? Can you explain how to do that? After doing this market research project, I have become aware of a number of facts. Hence, the assignment has helped me to learn a number of new things which I considered to be the most useful knowledge I have gained so far in my career. The assignment has allowed me to gain both theoretical knowledge as well as practical knowledge. One of the moist essential learning from this resit portfolio was to know how a marketing plan is formulated. The information provided by our client pertaining to their marketing planning of 2013, I have become aware of the elements that are to be put into a marketing plan of a company or the factors considered by companies while formulating the marketing plan of their respective companies. Most interestingly I also become aware of the number of promotional techniques used by companies in promoting their products and services in the marketplace. I have identified that companies use different promotional techniques such as promotion through print media, broadcasting media, social media and several other traditional form of promotional techniques. Lastly, in terms of the theories I became aware about the importance of corporate social responsibility of the organizations. Having to revise my work, one thing became apparent to me is that client always needs the most appropriate solution to their problems. Moreover, in the context of the writing of the paper, I learnt several new things. For example, the introduction which I wrote about the company was simply discussing the company’s overview but hardly there were any discussions pertaining to the product portfolio of the company and the subject of the company. After revising the work, I came to know about the importance of providing introduction of a company pertaining to the subject of research. In addition, highlight the product portfolio of the company is also of similar importance. Hence, I believe the learning which I got after accomplishing this assignment is extremely important. Moreover, I also believe that these learning will allow me to excel in both academic as well as profession career. 7 items to submit in your Portfolio from list of artefacts While suggesting the client about the marketing strategy they should be putting into practise for improving their market share are depth interviews, survey, competitor analysis, detailed target market analysis, internet advertisement, print advertisement, and e-mail or letter. The above are the 7 items chosen during the process of presenting the most appropriate marketing strategy to the client. The subsequent section of the study will now discuss about the elements used in the study in more details. Depth interviews: - The depth interview is a process of data collection used by researchers around the world. It is basically a qualitative form of analysis where researcher mostly intends to collect in-depth information about the subject of concern (She?edi, 2005). This process is considered to be highly secure way of collecting information from the associate members of the study. It is a confidential process which only involves the presence of the respondent and the interviewer. The questions asked to the respondents are basically related with the subject of concern and the session also encompasses several ethical stand points. The method is more appropriate when the researcher tries to gain deeper insights into the examination of the specific materials. For example, it has been observed that depth interviews provide best results when used for the purpose of evaluating the new packaging of a product or for analysing the impact of an advertisement on the target group. Hence, from the discussion it is evident that the study seeks to investigate about qualitative data rather than quantitative. In addition, several scholars in this context have put emphasis on the fact that in-depth interview is most appropriate for the studies that involve evaluation of something which is highly controversial or issues which are sensitive. One of the biggest advantages of using in-depth interview is that respondents get enough time to respond and gets the option of demonstrating their individual point of views. For the client, Aston Manor Brewery, depth interview was one of the critical elements towards gaining the information about the subject of concern. My role in this context was also crucial as I played crucial roles in formulating the questions to be asked in the in-depth interview session. Apart from that I have also assisted the interviewer in arranging the interview session and contacting the respondents and requesting them to take part in the interview. Since, the intended respondents were the managers of the organization, approaching them were not a difficult task for me. Some of the questions which were asked to them for gathering the information about the subject of concern are presented below: - Q1. Kindly elaborate on your intentions to launch new Cider with a new flavour? Q2. Do you consider a new flavoured Cider is important to gain or maintain the market as customer tastes and wants are dynamic in nature? Q3. What are your thought on the current industry situation and market structure of Cider in UK. Do you find differences or similarities, when this market is being compared to the global Cider market? Kindly elaborate your thoughts. Survey: - The next important element chosen for the study was survey. There are different types of surveys used by researchers around the world. According to several industry experts and practitioners around the world, survey methodology is one of the best ways of collecting data from the market (Sapsford, 2007). In addition, if the survey conducted by the researchers is on the basis of a structured form the outcomes are expected to be superior. The principal reason behind undertaking surveys is to formulate a statistical inference about the studied population. Hence, it is a part of inferential statistics and as a result of that the outcome of the effectiveness of the survey is greatly dependent upon the questions used in the survey process. Some of the most evident examples of survey process are public health surveys, government surveys, market research surveys, censuses and Polls about public opinion (Bethlehem, 2009). Thus, survey methodology answers different questions about the studied population. For example, the consumption pattern, the buying behaviour, the brand preferences etc are some of the common topics. The different survey techniques used by the researchers across the globe are telephone, mail (post), online surveys, personal in-home surveys, personal mall or street intercept survey and hybrids of the above. However, the selection of the type of survey to be employed depends upon a number of factors such as the coverage of the target population, cost to be incurred by the company, flexibility of asking questions, response accuracy as well as respondents' willingness and enthusiasm to participate in the study. The response format chosen in this context are open ended questions. The sample population to be surveyed with the help of questionnai9re survey are the intended consumers of the company. The intended consumers are also called the target population of the country. My role in this context was extremely critical as unlike the in-depth interviews this time I was not responsible only for assisting the interviewer in formulating the questions but also to conduct the entire questionnaire interview session. The questions put forwards to the sample respondents are presented below. The questions asked to them were meant for unearthing their preferences of Cider brand as well as their consumption pattern. Due to limited budget, the methodology pursued was online surveys and the sample population was 100. The sampling technique was simple random sample so as to avoid any kind of biasness. Q1. Approximately how much quantity of Cider do you intake in a month? Q2. Given a choice between Beer, Wine and Cider which one will you prefer and for what reason? Q3. Are you loyal to a particular brand? If so, kindly explain the reason behind the maintaining the loyalty. Q4. To what extent do you get influenced by the advertisements of the products? Among the different advertisement media which one influences you the most? Q5. Do you get influenced by the celebrity endorsement? If so why? Do they bring more visibility to the product and increase the level of trust for a product being marketed? Competitor analysis: - One of the most pivotal tasks of formulating or recommending marketing plan and strategies to a client is the analysis of the customers. Competitors play a crucial role in shaping the strategies of a firm (Varghese, 2012). It has been observed that companies made certain changes in their system of operation as a result of a certain change in the strategy brought in by the competitor in their operation. Moreover, reports have suggested Cider marker is highly fragmented and saturated and thus the significance of getting in-depth insights of the competitors are necessary. Competitor analysis in strategic management and marketing is an assessment of the potency and weaknesses of the potential and current competitors of a company. The analysis offer companies both defensive as well as offensive strategic context for the principal purpose of identifying the threat and opportunities present in the market. A number of authors have put emphasis on the fact that competitor analysis is a crucial part of the corporate strategy of an organization. Despite that reports have suggested that a number of firms do not carry out this analysis or put the required efforts. As a result of that several firms around the world operates on the basis of conjectures and informal impressions. Out client in this assignment was of Aston Manor Brewery, which belongs to the cider industry of UK (Astonmanor, 2013). Hence, a thorough analysis of the cider market of UK was carried out to assess the market position of the company. This is also an opportunity to know where the company is presently standing and where it wants to reach. My role in this context was to collect data on the competitors of Aston Manor Brewery so that a fair idea about the compactors is gained and accordingly the company can formulate their business and marketing strategies. On analysing the industry of Cider in UK, I found that it is the third largest player in the Cider market of UK. The company currently holds 8% of the market share. The first and second spot are held by Heineken UK and C&C Group respectively. Currently, the market leader Heineken UK is holding 38.3% of the overall market share. On the other hand, C&C Group embraces 18.5% of the market share. Apart from them, some of the other competitors of the company are Kopparber (4.9% market share), Westons (2.9% market share), Private level (8.1% market share) and others (19.4% market share). Figure 1 – UK Cider industry Market Share (Source: PRLOG, 2012) Hence from this findings it is evident the industry is facing stringent levels of competitions and need well defined strategies to reach its desired goals. Detailed target market analysis: - The success of a product is greatly dependent upon the acceptance of the product by the primary target market. In addition, the success is also dependent upon how effectively the target market is catered or reached (Coade, 1996). However, due to the dynamic nature of the customer needs, companies nowadays focuses more on the target market and accordingly develops the marketing as well as the business strategies. The elements of marketing strategy are greatly dependent upon the outcome of the analysis of the target market. The marketing mix variables such as the product, place, price and promotion are formulated on the basis of the needs and wants of the target population of the company. One of the biggest advantages of a detailed target market analysis is that companies are able to reduce mitigate risks pertaining to a product or service failure. One of the vital elements associated with the determination of target market is segmentation. In general companies segments market on the basis of geography, demography, psychograph and behaviour. Our client has segmented the market of Cider on the basis of a combination of behaviour and demography. The target market of the company is the young blood. Most young people will be curious and emulative to buy the Cider. My role in this context was to find the market size and get an overview of their preferences of Ciders. The secondary research revealed that the market size for Cider is nearly 70, 00000, which is around 12.8% population of the country (CIA, 2013). In addition, the market trends as well as the preferences of the consumers pertaining to Cider consumption will be identified by the help of questionnaire survey from the consumers. Internet advertisement: - One of the recent buzzwords in the field of advertisement is internet advertisement (Percival, 2012). Companies around the world nowadays consider internet advertisements as the cheapest and effective forms of advertisements. The biggest advantage of using internet advertisement is the mass reach and that too in a cost effective way (Dahl, 2011). Customers of distant places can be easily targeted at a low cost. Studies have revealed that around 38 % of the world population now uses internet and hence companies are also capitalizing on these opportunity. The most striking fact is that majority of population consider online information to be equally authentic like other form of gaining information and has the ability to influence people to a large extent. Business houses are considering it to be an effective business channel as along with the promotional activities, they gets the opportunity to sell their products (Rigdon, 2009). Some of the techniques used in the process of internet advertisement are search engine marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, mobile advertising and several other types of display advertising such as web banner advertising. My role in this context was to frame out an internet advertisements strategy for our client firm, Aston Manor Brewery. According to a survey carried out by Internet Advertising Bureau (2013) found that internet advertising is growing a robust pace and have even surpassed the total revenue when compared with the advertising revenue of cable television in USA. The internet advertisement segment also experienced a staggering growth of 15.2% since the last year (Morningadvertiser, 2013). Hence, with these findings, it is evident that internet advertisement will indeed increase the efficiency of the company and will acts as a value addition in the terms of its promotional aspect. The company is recommended to invest much more on the online advertisement channels. It is highly recommended that they should make their presence in the social networking websites as it will greatly increase the visibility of Cider. In addition, promotion through company website is also recommended to the company. The major driver for undertaking these activities is the low cost and greater impact. Lastly, the company is also recommended to consider web banner advertising in websites with high traffic. Print advertisement: - Although internet advertisement is the buzzword and is the communication channel accepted by mass, there are still people who believe in print advertisements (Berger, 2011; Kelley and Jugenheimer, 2008). More that belief, the question is about the reach. For example, in rural areas internet is not that much vibrant as it is in a city or town, hence people from such places depends largely on print advertisements to get information about the products or the services. Print advertisements are the traditional forms of advertisement. Earlier print advertisements were the only source of promotion. Some of the common print advertisement tools are newspaper, magazines, books and flyers among others. Although with the passage of time, several new forms of advertisement have emerged, the significance of print advertisement remained almost the same. A number of industry experts in this context have put emphasis and thrust on the fact that print advertisements can still be one of the powerful and strongest medium for communicating the messages of the company to the target customers (Creativebloq, 2013). However, due to limited marked reach and high cost associated with it, markers have slowly started shifted their focus to television advertisements and internet advertisements. However, after analysing the target market of Aston Manor Brewery, it has been identified that majority of the target population belong to the rural places. In addition, it has been also discovered that some of the members of the target population are involved in such activities where television advertisements and internet advertisements will have less impact. Hence, the only solution to this problem is development of print advertisements. Moreover, a combination of print advertisement, internet advertisement and broadcasting advertisement will allow the company to carry out comprehensive promotion. My role in this context was again related with the development of framework of print advertisements. I have considered the use of newspaper advertisements and advertisements in magazines. The target population for the media are people who are active readers of newspaper and do not have enough time to surf the internet for gaining information about products, those who hardly uses internet and people who are frequent travellers and read magazines on a regular basis. Another fact is that the newspapers will be chosen astutely so as to get the most out of it. For example, the company is recommended to provide advertisements to only those newspapers, which are the highest selling, are favourites among the mass. In the similar way selected magazines will be considered for providing advertisements. E-mail or letter: - Nowadays, public relation is considered to be one of the vital marketing activities of an organization. The turbulent business environment and severe competition levels in the market has compelled business organizations to make efforts in satisfying their existing customers and increase the loyalty. A number of scholars have put emphasis on the fact that without loyal customers, a company will face difficulties in effectively functioning in the market. The advantages of having loyal customers are that companies are able to ensure repeat purchase from their customers and often loyal customers become word of mouth promoter for the company (wisegeek, 2013). As a result of that companies are able to bring more businesses and can earn more revenue. For this reason companies are adopting different techniques through which they can enhance the loyalty of their customers. Some of the common techniques used by companies to increase the loyalties of their customers are preferential treatment, appointment of public relations officer, providing bonus points, offering complementary products and paying attention to what customers are saying about the products and services (Greenwel, 2012). Hence, for our client organization, Aston Manor Brewery the importance of having loyal customers is equal. To increase the loyalty, preferential treatment is recommended to Aston Manor Brewery. To do this, the company is recommended to make use of emails and letters (Arnold, 2011; Mullen and Daniels, 2011). My role in this context was to deliver those mails and letters to the customers by identifying the loyal customers of the company. The data about the loyal customers of the company will be tracked from the customer data base of the company. In this context, one of the advantageous factors for the company is that the company maintains customer relationship management (CRM) management software which encompasses data about the customers. On the basis of the number and volume of purchases of the customers, I have sent them different promotional mails. Hence, with the above mentioned elements it is believed that the company will be able to outshine the competitors. 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Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing. Varghese, J., 2012. Competitor Analysis: Working Paper. Bloomington: AuthorHouse. Wisegeek, 2013. What Are the Benefits of Customer Loyalty? [online] Available at: [Accessed 29 June 2013]. Read More