Pret-a-manger Market - Coursework Example

Prêt-a-manger Contents Contents 2 Question 3 The framework of SWOT and PESTLE 3 Question 2 6 Question 3 8 References 10 Question The purpose of this paper is to make understand about the fast food chain market in UK with some of the frameworks that include the SWOT and the PESTEL analysis of the market so that it can make a difference in the internal and external market as well. Strength and weakness of the company are considered in analysing the internal characteristics of the firm while opportunities are threat are considered as the external characteristics. The fast food industry is experiencing boom and therefore the brands like Starbucks, McDonalds’ are trying to capture more markets around the globe. Pret a manger is no exception. The company under consideration is on the verge to cement its footprints on new markets with new products and flavours in the basket. The company started with some of the natural ingredients in the food avoiding too much of junk food. The food which remains unsold at the end of the day was collected by the charities. The paperboard is rather used instead of plastic bags. The organisational structure was divided between the stores and the main offices of the organisations. The store manager is the operation manager who is the charge of the group of about 10 stores in the UK. With coordinating in entire region the prêt does not use any franchises, for keeping the management strategies uniform across the world. The prêt manger demands to go beyond the traditional requirements of the fast food centre in the UK. The effective labour is working for the development of the organisation to manipulate the economical condition of the organisation (Hasan, 2013, pp.25-30) The framework of SWOT and PESTLE When it is planned to set up a business then it is important to understand the external and internal factors of that particular product in which the business will be developed with that particular product. SWOT analysis can be broken down into in the following ways: Strengths: Prêt is a very renowned company in UK and enjoying an annual turnover of 150 million pound. It is the global coffee shop which has built a reputation for its rich coffee beans and the coffee beans are used within two weeks after roasting for keeping it fresh. Weakness: The Company is dependent for its main competitive advantages for preparing fresh and good foods to the customers. The Company has a strong market in the United States and Hong Kong which is situated in the home market. Prêt A Manger has a good reputation for introducing special dishes in every week and it can be a failure to the invention that they are trying to do. Opportunities: Prêt a manger has an opportunity to expand its business globally. Currently the company under consideration is on the verge to pin point on new markets. India and some other countries in the Pacific region have been identified as the new target markets. They are currently on the verge of introducing new coffee products and dishes made from coffee in these countries. Threats: The competitor of Prêt a manger is McDonald’s as it is using a very good strategy in the fast food and the beverages sector while an alternative strategy snacks sector basically for the college students. Prêt a manger should also innovate some new ideas to keep the market of its own in the mind of the customers. Sometimes the SWOT is also referred as the liability for any of the business that is being set up in the future or has been working through the different successes of the project or the failure of it. PESTEL analysis is the external factor analysis of any the business that is on the threshold of opening up or on the threshold of expanding into new market ventures. Political Factors: While venturing into new markets, it is important to consider the political factors of that country into consideration. The political condition of United Kingdom is more or less stable and therefore Pret a Manger is free from the curse of unstable political condition. The main objective of prêt a manger was to serve sandwiches to the customers throughout the year. When McDonald brought 33% of stakes from Prêt a Manger it faced a huge fall in the investment. Economic Factors: The economic condition of United Kingdom is improving and improved condition brings in opportunities. The brand Prêt a Manger wants to make free flow of work opportunity in the economical condition. The brand also hit losses when they tried to set up their stores in Japan, as because the way they started to expand the business it was very fast for the development of the company. Social Factors: Prêt a Manger have its own image for all the customers and most of the customers are familiar with the prêt outlook. The food is served fresh and all the food which are excess are given to the homeless people and even the food is packed in a recycled paper for the eco-friendly environment. These initiatives are remarkable from the societal point of view. Technological Factors: Prêt has used the technology for its own benefit and enables the workers to put more effort in a lesser time. Prêt has used a technology to keep a track record of its in-house resources, stocks and other things that are needed. From any prêt branch they can check their leave credits, offsets and all sorts of their personal details. Legal Factors: In the Prêt a manger restaurant the brand has to undergo with some legal issue as well. An incident occurred in London restaurant where an agent was poisoned while dinning. But later it was proven that it was not from the stores but the person came in contact with poison before entering the store. In this controversy many of the customers have complained about the sandwiches but prêt has managed to keep it stale free. Environmental Factors: It is a very honest brand which provides the best quality food to the customers and it also accept all the people of all the races. Prêt a Manger welcomes all the races and culture to their stores and provides best services to them (Hastings, 2011 pp.100-110). Question 2 As stated earlier, the company is on the verge on entering into new markets. The first and the foremost steps that it should consider before taking the decision of entering into new markets will be analysed in this section. The marketing segment of Pret-a-Manger can be categorised into kids, youth and adults. A study of the fast food market will reveal that the already existing companies have offered products directed to the masses. There has not been a product which has been categorised as only for kinds or youth. Here lies the level playing field for Pret-a-Manger. The competitive environment calls for market segmentation and variety of products offering for each segment. Pret-a-Manger can offer products which will attract the kids mostly. Pastries and cakes will lay the foundation stone. It is not a hidden secret that Pret-a-Manger is under serious threats from the large companies and will have to face tough competition from them. Such a strategy will be an added advantage for them and by the time other companies come out with other strategies, Pret-a-Manger can gain competitive advantage. The marketing mix of Prêt-a-Manger can be followed by product, place, promotion and price (Rolnicki, pp.55-60). Product: A wide variety of goods and the services are provided by the Prêt-a-Manger in UK to its targeted customers. Pret-a-Manger should introduce new innovative products in the market for the customers such as energy drinks and the children’s fruit drinks and entirely new range of products targeted towards the youth and middle aged customers. Price: The amount of money the customers pay for purchasing the products are in line with the pricing strategy of the high quality products. The managers of the company can offer a product range for different products and some discounts to the customers to visit the shops frequently. Place: The distribution strategy of the sales is available in the retail stores and is evaluated to increase the number of outlets that are depending on improving the accessibility. Pret-a-Manger can use the supermarkets to sell the new proposed products. Promotion: The activities are used by Pret-a-Manger to communicate with the customers. Prêt-a-Manger should continue with the current promotional strategy such as advertising through internet, personal selling, public relations and sales promotion that are used to differentiate with the promotional strategies. Today’s generation are internet savvy and so promotional advertisements through social networking sites like Face book, LinkedIn will attract the eyes of more customers. In the respective view, Pret-a-Manger should try to introduce new innovative products in the market for making the market more demanding with their products. They should segment the target market and offer a variety of products to the customer ranging from Kinds to the adults of all age groups (Walker, 2006, pp.65-75). Question 3 Product distribution is one of the major elements in the marketing mix. Distribution is the process of making a product or service more useful for the consumption of the consumer using it in the direct means with the intermediaries. This takes place in the means of the channels and is set as the interdependent of the organisation in the market. Pret-a-Manger should focus on time delivery and effective supply chain distribution. They need to distribute their products in every outlets and this can only take place if they follow an effective supply chain management. They can follow the strategy of “Just in Time” of McDonalds. In this way they can compete with the existing brands first and then take the initiative to build effective marketing channels. The marketing channels that can be used by Pret-a-Manger are private outlets, franchises and joint ventures. The private outlets will sell all the product offerings of Pret-a-Manger and may also offer some attractive discounts for the customer. Pret-a-Manger follows this type of distribution strategy as of now and this seems to work well for the company since the other two modes of distribution may not work well. This part of the paper will analyse the reasons why other modes of distribution channels like franchises and joint ventures will not be effective for Pret-a-Manger. In case of franchises, the liability is shared and the franchises will not have enough responsibility to attract more customers into the outlets. The same goes for joint ventures and the company may be under serious threats if the contracts made at the time of venture are not respected by any of the contracting parties. It may have to close down the outlets at some point. Therefore it would be best to go for private outlets with the sole focus on selling the products of Pret-a-Manger (Ferrell and Hartline, 2012, pp.150-160). Pret-a-Manger can also take some initiative to sell their online. Sometimes customers are not ready to go to the shops but rather to order their requirements from their home. If Pret-a-Manger sells their products online they can attract more customers who will avail this service. But effective advertisements and on time delivery commitments are required from the side of Pret-a-Manger before launching such initiatives. So it is important to build a strong supply chain and distribution network first before taking such initiatives. If the aim of the company is to reduce risks and gain maximum customers, then it can supply their products to the supermarkets. The footfalls are large in the supermarket and the company can also minimize the cost of building up new stores. But in order to create brand vale and establish itself in the competitive market it is important to create their own flagship stores or offer their products online. References Ferrell.O.C and Hartline.M. 2012. Marketing Strategy. Mason: Cengage Learning. Hasan, R. 2013. PESTEL analysis, Porter’s 5 Forces analysis, SWOT analysis: New Delhi: GRIN Verlag. Hastings. R. 2011, Channel sales and management in distribution. London: Businessman. Rolnicki.K., Managing Channels of Distribution. New York: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn Walker, O. 2006. Marketing Strategy 5E. New York: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Read More