Topps Tiles for 2009 - Business Plan Example

TOPP TILES MARKETING PLAN FOR 2009 Plan Outline Executive Summary Action Plan Collaboration & Advertisement Social Outreach Initiatives Controls Executive Summary Top tiles are the most favoured brands in the tile segment, which covers both floor and wall tiles in addition to floor finishes, across UK and other major European countries. The year 2008 continues to be going well for Tope tiles Plc. Having opened 10 new stores across different places in UK and trading from the centres whose numbers have been raised to over 300, the revenues reported have shown a marginal increase than the that of the previous year (Topps tile , 2008). Inspite of the prevalence of highly turbulent business climate and reduced consumer spending, the company was able to wither the problems and maintain the required business by appropriately strategising its marketing plan. The additional spending it had made on a national level TV advertisement campaign coupled with the inflationary trends have resulted in the increased gross expenditure of 43 percent of the total revenue, while it was only 41 percent the last year. On the basic earning reported per share, the results showed a reduction of about 16.5 percent (Topps tile , 2007). But initiatives are being taken to position Topps tiles as the most favoured brand through different customer relationships initiatives, advertisements and also variety of social outreach programmes. Action Plan The marketing plan for the Topp tiles have been prepared after a very careful analysis of current market position and anticipated growth for the current year. The plans would include all the possible stakeholders in the business of tiles. They are the customers, builders association in UK and also other business players targeting similar set of customer needs. The primary approach is to create a wide range of product choices that would make the customer with excellent choices and hence the purchase could be completed for the choice expected by them. The broad distribution of buyers are shown in the figure 1. (1 – Individual buyers; 2 – Company & 3 – Others) Figure 1: Distribution of Markets Innovative strategies are adopted for the effective marketing of Topp tiles across U K and Holland. The emphasis would be on strengthening the existing customer base at the current sales locations and hence concentrate more to stabilize the leadership position in the tile segment. In one of the important plans proposed, the effort is given to motivate a buyer to have more purchases in the period even though the market studies have shown the prevailing tendency among the customers as to reduce the buying choices to the most minimum levels. Hence, it is to be planned that every prospective customer need to be motivated to have a higher volume of choices, which could offset the reduced volume of sales. In the proposed plan, a cost effective seasonal offer that could combine an exclusive pack proposed for new build house which combines the requirement for all types of tiles - floors, walls or other finishing needs. As the tiles required for floors and walls are different, for a specified floor area an equivalent area for wall surface using the tiles could be estimated and a bundle pack shall be proposed. Once a customer decides to carry such a combined offer a few selected bathroom fittings of specified class could be given as a bonus thus eliminating the customer to have a purchase for these items. This enables the customer to plan his budget to include only floor and wall finish and include a basic combination of the bathroom fittings with out any pressure on the budget. This would certainly motivate the owners of newly constructing houses to have a combined purchase that helps to get three different items within the budget earmarked for the two. Thus the sales volume of the tiles that would have been less as per the prevailing circumstances have now been rejuvenated due the proposed incentive for customer. Though the number of purchases is expected not have any considerable reduction, they have started exercising reduced spending rates. Thus, it would be possible to maintain the earlier sales that were reported during the pre-slowdown period by exercising consumer friendly strategies. Extending the Topps relationship for marketing to other segments of household accessories like lighting and illumination could also elevate the sales than the reported level in the previous period. The biggest advantage of such a relationship would be to offer the best output for the expectation of the customer. In the case of bathrooms, the best experience in the bathrooms would certainly depend not only on the wall and floor finish but also on the illumination components provided. So exclusive bathroom packs could be promoted to have the best values for the customer money. This could also be packed in different price ranges and targeting different buyer groups. Also measures to motivate the customers shall also be included, like the free support to ensure the clean air in the bathrooms by the supplying an excellent exhaust air unit along with the combined business offer. Thus the customer who would buy tiles essentially as a necessity would now be stretched to extend his sales to meet all the other connected need through the same outlet. Thus this would help to retain the customer for further purchases, as it is the shop that meets the purpose than just the product. Collaboration and advertisement. In a major initiative in marketing, thrust is given for establishing collaborative programmes between Topps tiles and other organizations connected with the building and construction sector in UK. The organizations like UK Builders forum could be one such group who would have better interests for such cooperative endeavours. The collaborations could be to share the mew information that Topps tiles might have acquired from the market for the benefit of the industry in total. Different types of seminars targeting various building engineers for updating them on the industry practices are one such initiative. This could also provide a reflection of other operators on the customers and projects and help the Topps tiles to learn the process from a different perspective. This would also help them significantly in the process of future plan preparation to address new issues for the benefit of the industry. In order to boost the sales, advertisement is considered as the most important activity. On the details of the advertisements planned, the most prominent would be the prime time advertisement that would be broadcasted across entire UK to have better strike rate among the audiences. In addition, various small level advertisements through the print media are also considered to reinforce the recollection rate among the prospective buyers. The advertisement expenses would not see a significant increase and it would be an identical budget with that of the previous year. The major thrust would be given in widening its relationship with other groups and organizations. Continuing the existing facilities of online sales and selection of products would be continued. Further , a well planned customer relationship management team would be in operation to reinforce the relationships that would keep emerging as the outcome of the planned events. The expected generation of sales during the period of paln is presented in the figure 2. Figure 2 : Generation of sales during the period of plan Social outreach initiatives. In order to position the company and its products among the public as part of the promotional initiative the social outreach programmes have a big role to play. All the social outreach programmes that had been in operation in the previous years would also be continued. A few of such events are the mosaic competitions that are regularly conducted every year. The programme is open to all the UK nationals who could prepare a mosaic drawing on a glass or any specified materials using the type of colours as mentioned in the competition guidelines (Topps tiles, n. d. a). This could create a interest among the colour combination on the materials besides creating a image among the minds of the public that the interest the company takes to acknowledge the talent of the people. It could also help to educate the public on different types of the colouring shade and also leads to appreciate its different tile designs. The similar competition could also be launched for the students to create an interest among students on the mosaic preparation (Topps tiles, n. d. a). The school level competition too would become more prominent. This would help the Topps tiles to have a comprehensive family level appreciation of its initiatives. In addition to these initiatives Topps tiles too conduct programmes to draw wider attention of public on various issues. The funds raised for cancer research in UK and the football matches conducted to support the wounded army man and women are the events in this category (Topps tiles, n. d. a). . Controls The prevailing economic climate forces the management to take a very cautious approach in the day-to-day operations of the business. The costs are being tightly controlled and a thorough review on all the major suppliers is being undertaken. Still, the currency movements and the appreciation of Euro have indirectly influenced the margins generated from the business. Exploring the possibility of re-sourcing the materials and identifying the opportunities for better margin are underway against the backdrop of this situation (Topps tile , 2008). The board members dont expect a sudden change in the business climate but are confident that the robust model on which the Topp tiles operate would help to sail through the not-so-favourable period quite successfully. They are also optimistic that company could generate healthy return during the remaining period of the current year and also during early next year (Topps tile , 2008). References. Topps tile (2008), Interim report, Accessed on 30 November 2008 from http://miranda.hemscott.com/ir/tpt/download/pdf/Interim_R_A_2008.pdf Topps tile (n.d.a), Topps in community, Accessed on 29 November 2008 from http://www.toppstiles.co.uk/page56/topps-in-the-community.html Topps tiles (n.d. b), Topss TV Ads, Accessed on 30 November 2008 from http://www.toppstiles.co.uk/page55/our-TV-ads.html Topps tiles(2007), Annual report and financial statement, Accessed on 29 November 2008 from http://miranda.hemscott.com/ir/tpt/download/pdf/2007Annual_Final.pdf Read More