Marketing Plan of Customized Electronic Notebooks - Case Study Example

Marketing Plan of Customized Electronic books Table of contents INTRODUCTION 2 PRODUCT IDEA 4 NEED OF PRODUCT & TARGET MARKET 5 COMPETITORS ANALYSIS 6 PEST ANALYSIS 7 MARKETING PLAN 9 BIBLIOGRAPHY 13 INTRODUCTION One of the highly growing industries in the world is electronic and technology industry. The global financial crisis has affected this industry seriously however; the demand of IT related products have remained significantly higher. After exploring the changing professional and student needs the idea of introducing Elecwrit has been presented. Elecwrit is a customized electronic notebook, which can be used as a substitute to traditional notebooks. The notebook can be used as a writing pad, in which information can be feed through keyboard or microphone. The plan is to launch this product in Australian diverse market, which has become attractive for immigrants. This report also discusses the major competitors and substitutes of Elecwrit and how our product is different from them. Based on the needs of customer segments, target markets including professionals and students have been selected and finally marketing plan has been presented. PRODUCT IDEA The new product that will be introduced is customized electronic notebooks. The electronic notebooks will be used to record information in various forms such as texts, graphs, numeric and drawings. Unlike traditional pages, the information recorded on the electronic notebook will be easily readable and navigated more easily. Special software will be used to improve the appeal and feel of electronic notebook. Like a typical laptop, the information could be put in by a mouse, keyboard, microphone and other input tools. Moreover, the electronic notebooks will be customized according to the desires of the customers. For example, on the covers of the electronic notebooks, the users will have the option to get their pictures or any other image. This notebook will be different from computer and laptops because it will be only an electronic version of a traditional notebook. A sample of the customized electronic notebook1 has been shown below. Most importantly, the customized electronic notebooks will be easily portable and small in size so that they could be carried in a normal size handbag. NEED OF PRODUCT & TARGET MARKET Demand of laptops and computers is increasing in Australia because of increasing internet users. The program of One Laptop per Child got very popular in Australia because of increasing computer awareness among children. It has noticed that companies are spending millions to buy notebooks, papers and writing pads. Moreover, university students are spending huge amounts to buy traditional notebooks and saving them become impossible after two semesters. The customised electronic notebooks will be used to store all kinds of lectures and notes and rather than getting photocopies students will be able to share notes electronically. Therefore, Elecwrit will be a substitute of traditional notebooks especially for those who want to save everything, even after years. The huge Australian market will be divided based on demographics including income and profession. We will target medium to higher income group segments including professionals and students. For targeting students and professionals, accessing educational institutions and profit and nonprofit organizations will be easier. COMPETITORS ANALYSIS XO laptops that are being sold by OLPC as a result of One Laptop per Child Campaign (Moses, 2008) can be considered as a competitor of Elecwrit. It is a non-profit organization and it distributes low cost laptops around the world and in Australia. Our product is different because we will offer only an electric notepad with customized options and simple interface and usage. All computer and laptop manufacturing companies are also our competitors and many of them are offering small notebooks but none of them is offering a simple electronic notepad kind of product. Moreover, traditional note books are the major substitutes of our product but it is believed that by using our product, people will be able to store their school life to university life lectures, notes and assignments and even their professional assignments. Handling electronic notebook will far easier than maintaining and keeping traditional pages. Therefore, because of simple writing features and portability, Elecwrit is expected to overwhelm the Australian market. PEST ANALYSIS Politics Economics - The political risk perception among investors is increasing according to UBS AG’s local unit (Raja, 2010) - In general, Australian economy has parliamentary democracy and Labor government (APL) objective is fair distribution of resources, people welfare and reallocation of resources (USDA, March) Australian economy is resilient against regulatory and economic risks Recent emission trading scheme and super profit tax have poorly affected investors confidence 17 years consecutive economic growth and positioned better than other economies during economic slump (USDA, March) GDP/PPP Per Capita income was $28,900 in 2003 (12th in world) (Singapore Mirror , 2003) and in 2009 it was $40,000 (19th in world), which shows a growing trend in economy (CIA, 2010) Social Technological Workforce has increased such as number of working mothers have increased (Grimshaw & Murphy, 2005) One of the most culturally diverse state in world (Benevolent Society, 2009) Increasing population because of immigrants rather than fertility (Birrell, 2010) Educational trends are increasing and 99 percent literacy rate (PENG & CHAPMAN, 2009) Information and communication technology market of Australia is 4th largest in Asia and 11th largest in world and in 2006-2007, 73% homes had access to home computer and 64 had internet access (Australian Government: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2008) Australian Information Technology Industry is considered as one of the most competitive industries in the words as reported by Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and Australia has been ranked 5th in the world and 3rd in Asia Pacific Region (IBS, 2007). MARKETING PLAN Product The product, I am planning to launch in Australian market is customized electronic notebook. This small mini-laptop kind of book will be used as an electronic writing pad. The distinct features of this notebook are its portability, small size, and easy information storage and access and data software. Price Since product life cycle is very short in technological industry because of high imitation therefore, price skimming strategy will be used rather than price penetration strategy. In consideration to our manufacturing costs and overheads, we believe that potential price of our product will be around $600. Place The product will be sold in Australian market which will be divided into geographical segments. Our products will be manufactured in Australia and in the beginning we will only sell in Australia and oversees (if customer accepts to pay shipment cost). The specialized traders and importers will be also attracted to distribute our products through their channels. Promotion Elecwrit will be promoted through Trade fairs and following are the trade fairs where we expect to participate Trade Fair Date Venue TradeTech Australia 28-FEB-11 to 01-MAR-11 Sydney The Westin, Sydney, New South Wales IT Matters 07-OCT-10 to 08-OCT-10 Melbourne Crown Conference Centre, Melbourne, Victoria Retail Expo 20-SEP-10 to 22-SEP-10 Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Sydney, New South Wales Strong relationships will be established with major IT brands, so that that may also promote our product The statistics of 2008 shows that total spending on all digital services in Australia was $17.9 billion and $3 billion was spent on TV advertising, $3 billion on Print advertising and $1.5 on internet advertising (4webmarketing website, 2010). Therefore, we will focus on all internet, TV and printing media for advertising. Online promotion will be done through establishing and online website. Moreover, Twitter and Facebook will be two main social websites where we will interact with our customers. Open discussion, solutions to problems, suggestions and other information will be available on these two platforms. The expected online marketing investment is $80002. The printed ads will be published in newspaper “The Australian” and mono ads 10x2 will be given for the first three months on weekends. The colored ads cost for strip ads is $795/ad (The Australian). Promotions will be also done through radio channel FM 88. We will purchase two packages of the company, one with 50 ads per week from 6am to 6pm at $95 and other with 50 ads per week from 6pm to 6am at $70 (Australia Trade, 2010). We will also visit the corporations and companies and we will offer discounts on huge bulk purchases. Moreover, institutions and universities will be also visited. The flyers will be designed and distributed. CONCLUSION The analysis of the report shows that Elecwrit can appear as a successful product in the Australian market. Based on the PEST analysis, the market attractiveness has been analyzed and it has found that Australian market has attractive economic conditions, political stability, and favorable social and technological changes. Finally, marketing plan has been presented in which the idea of adopting price skimming strategy has been presented. Moreover, 4Ps also highlight that Australian market will be divided into geographical segmentation to finalize our sales and distribution channels and through TV, newspaper, radio and trade fairs, promotions will be done. BIBLIOGRAPHY 4webmarketing website. (2010). Marketing Media Comparison. Retrieved September 4, 2010, from http://www.4webmarketing.biz/marketingmedia.htm Australia Trade. (2010, June 16). Advertising Rates. Retrieved September 4, 2010, from http://www.australiatrade.com.au/Radio/Advertising/rates.htm Australian Government: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. (2008, August). Information and communications technology. Retrieved September 4, 2010, from http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/ict.html Benevolent Society. (2009, May). Influencing Social Change in Australia. Retrieved September 4, 2010, from http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:UElHDJ3QDVkJ:www.bensoc.org.au/uploads/documents/influencing-social-change-in-australia-jul2009.pdf+social+changes+in+australia&hl=en&gl=pk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiqJE0zvPin-Z5AHqkVSghYFtV7kmX_JFQUKVR07_sz_dFs20EJL-Yt Birrell, B. (2010, Januray 14). Reality check on growth . Retrieved September 4, 2010, from http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/reality-check-on-growth-20100113-m6ue.html Biz Trade Shows. (2010). Trade Shows in Australia. Retrieved September 4, 2010, from http://www.biztradeshows.com/australia/?p=4 CIA. (2010). Country Comparison :: GDP - per capita (PPP). Retrieved September 4, 2010, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html Grimshaw, P., & Murphy, J. (2005). Double Shift: Working Mothers and Social Change in Australia. Retrieved September 4, 2010, from http://www.assa.edu.au/publications/workshops/file.php?id=38 IBS. (2007, September 14). General Business News. Retrieved September 5, 2010, from http://www.logisticsit.com/absolutenm/templates/article-news.aspx?articleid=3251&zoneid=1 Moses, A. (2008, May 8). Low Cost Laptop in Australia. Retrieved September 4, 2010, from http://www.smh.com.au/executive-style/gadgets/lowcost-laptop-in-australia-20090518-b97m.html PENG, L. Y., & CHAPMAN, K. (2009, April 18). Room to improve literacy rate and quality. Retrieved September 5, 2010, from http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?sec=nation&file=/2009/4/18/nation/20090418184915 Raja, S. (2010, August 19). UBS Says Foreign Investors Shunning Risk in Australia. Retrieved September 4, 2010, from http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-08-19/ubs-says-foreign-investors-shunning-risk-in-australia.html Singapore Mirror . (2003). HIGHEST GDP/PPP PER CAPITA (in U.S. dollars): Economic Statistics by Country, 2003. Retrieved September 4, 2010, from http://www.singaporemirror.com.sg/ind_toppercapita.htm The Australian. (n.d.). The Australian. Retrieved September 4, 2010, from http://www.4webmarketing.biz/images/theaustralianadrates.pdf USDA. (March). AUSTRALIA – AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY AND POLICY REPORT. Retrieved September 4, 2010, from 2009: http://www.fas.usda.gov/country/australia/Australia%20Agricultural%20and%20Economy%20Policy%20Report.pdf Read More