The Market Position of Pret a Manger - Essay Example

The Market Position of Pret a Manger The current market position of Pret is that it is the fourth coffee brands, and stores, it appears 3rd in the revenue, with approximately a market share of 16%. The conservative estimate is about 350 million from its overall 450 million. The shares are somehow high with prêt compared to EAT and the chart below shows the marketing analysis of prêt. Pret is leading in the positioning map. It retains the first position as the most admirable brand in UK, food, and beverage companies. It produces natural foods and beverages in variety that suits the needs and desires of the clients in the positioning Map, statistics shows that it leads while MacDonald takes the second position, and then followed by Waitrose; with the credit of high quality goods and services, Starbucks follow this. Prêt is the highly admired brand in the UK, and it understands well the main loyalty drivers for its target market, as well as has developed the marketing strategies required to keep it at the top position and have the competitive advantage Source: From this we realize that Pret generates twice more revenue from every store compared to Eat and Starbucks. This may be because it gives more food offers as compared to EAT.It also speeds up its sales as shown, compared with Starbucks, the customers services are somehow low so they can even wait for more than ten minutes before they are served The targeting position Prêt targets the town centers since its shops are in the urban centers, this targets the middle and upper class clients. Those who come from the offices and the towers, as well as the businesspersons. Such group demand for quality, and variety of goods and products, that Prêt is able to deliver instantly. Currently, there are many opportunities for Pret at the city center, where it receives the wealthy tycoons as the target customers. The case study indicates that the products are tangible and identifiable. Every product can be identified by the description. Therefore, Prêt has the unique products that are full of baguettes, coffee, soup, and salad. It also prepares desserts, and Muffins, which are part of the American variety. They also produce noodles, and sushi. They also have the options for vegetarians such as roasted vegetables, hummus wraps among others. In the marketing, it produces the foods that are fresh that consist of natural ingredients. They keep their food fresh on the day of selling in the shops. Their packing is also attractive in that the foods cannot be contaminated or be affected. They pack their products in paperboards and not the sealed plastics. Their packages have the recipe for the products so that those who wish to make the same sandwich can learn from there. This attracts and motivates the customers. They try all they can to meet the needs of the clients. They make sure that they produce the variety of the food that can accommodate other cultures from other backgrounds. Moreover, they target the middle and upper class clients, businesspersons and women, especially those who are served with coffee before going for the job, especially in the city center. Their branches are located near the tube stations, train stations, canary Wharf, as well as in London (Barrow15, 2011). Competitors and the competitive advantage Prêt has Starbucks, EAT, Waitrose MackDonald Costa, and Nero, In fact, Starbucks stands out to be the biggest threat as it is the biggest coffee house in the globe. Currently in the UK, there are around 240 Prêt shops and their turnover is around 270 million each year (Cummings and Groom09 2008). EAT produces the same food like those with Pret Menger. It is its greatest competitor, but Pret has some good Customer Relationship Management as compared to Eat, it also has good and quality services that they offer. This gives it a competitive advantage over its competitors. In addition, Pret gives more food offers as compared to EAT. P 1.1 Situation Analysis Even though the situation of the company needs to look for the opportunities to be able to satisfy all the clients’ needs. There is also the need for changes. They need to make marketing planning which involves marketing. This has an important function in the business and should be done at a constant interval. This helps to evaluate the internal factors and anticipate for the stakeholders and the other external factors that can affect the business. This helps the business to carry out a review, as well as modify the marketing strategies based on the past and the present performance (Barrow, 2011). Strengths Pret has a nonstop production of the new products They always give offers They give cheaper prices as compared to their companies with the same products They have the best services and package They always come up with new adverts and marketing strategies The services are quick and easy Limitations The goods are not very healthy, especially when not sold in time They always advertise using unhealthy products like burgers The foods they sell, promote obesity Their products are full of sugar Opportunities They exploit healthier feeding The sponsors help them to sell their products The conduct home deliveries Threats They have the competitors who produce the same products, and that they might produce better than theirs might. The prices of their competitors are sometimes lower Their laborers need extra wages The high rates of international exchange Other factors that affect the business include, economic, technology political and social P 1.2 Pret has established two mission statements: Turnover-currently is 270 million and is expected to rise by 9% in the coming two years To increase the stores in this year at least three more stores to be opened in Birmingham. Pret’s turnover is rising for the past few years, even though the economic problem is over The business has been able to make more profit; therefore, its financial status is stable and safe. P 2.1 Marketing Barriers These are the obstacles that affect the marketing plan. They are external and internal barriers and these include: Lack of knowledge on the product Lack of knowledge of the competitors Lack of knowledge towards the market trends The need for capital P 2.2 Strategies for marketing barriers Knowledge of the product Knowledge and understanding of the competitors Studying the market trends P 3.1 For the company to be successful, it needs to produce the new goods and services that can satisfy the need of the clients. Pret has managed to win the needs and satisfaction of the clients. It does not necessarily depend on its products; it invents new products to obtain the competitive advantage. That is it studies and implements the innovations, and improves the current products, as well as tries to imitate from their competitors (Cummings and Groom 12, 2008). Induction It began on a good note Growth The products started selling and increased gradually in the sales Maturity As the sales continued to grow, the profit increases, then more clients continue to come and the prices may fall because of competition Saturation The marketing falls due to the competition from other similar companies as well as the economic crisis P 4.1 Pret also hold the ethical concern to the market. It is concerned with the morals, roles, ideas, and justice. The laws and regulations are always set and that is where Prêt makes its decisions. They have established rules approach and the feedback approach. In this case, rules approach is that the product that the company sells is good and of good quality to the clients, and that is ethically right. The company conducts ethical practices when it wants to make maximum profits. There are no redundancies that do not have the reasons. Whereas on the outcome approach, prêt brings its products in the market, yet other companies have already established the same product and brought to the market, but it does not put its prices lower because that sounds an ethical to other companies (Barrow. 23, 2011). P 4.2 Marketing Mix Pret has a complete power over the business and in this case, there are four main categories: pricing, product, location, and promotion. Pricing The prices of the products with Prêt are somehow costly because of the quality products that they produce. Therefore the average cost, as well as the services together with the profit margin is high as compared to other companies. Place The branches and channels of distribution are located all over to serve the clients. There is also direct marketing through the internet and online sales. They sell quality and healthy products in a clean and attractive environment. They are mostly located in the city center and the bus stations to meet the target customers. Promotion Their sales and marketing is conducted through word of mouth with the help of the staff, ordinary people as well as the clients who feel satisfied with the goods and services. They also distribute leaflets, online marketing, target advertisements where they target old, middle and first class clients (Cummings, and Groom. 23, 2008). References Barrow, C. (2011). The 30 day MBA in international business: your fast track guide to business success. Philadelphia, PA, Kogan Page. Cummings, J. & Groom, R. (2008).Branding inside out: the Pret a Manger story. Mankato, Minn, Capstone. Read More