The Future Marketing Direction of Tipu Sultan Restaurant - Report Example

Tipu Sultan Restaurant Contents Introduction 3 Target Market 3 Marketing Issues and Opportunities 8 Image and Positioning Strategy 11 Low Quality 13 Marketing Strategies 14 Tactical Marketing Campaign 15 Market Structure 15 Competitor Analysis 15 Target Market 16 Marketing Mix 16 Marketing Staff 18 Marketing Budget 18 Potential Issues 19 Conclusion 20 Reference List 21 Bibliography 23 Introduction Since, the emergence of trade liberalization, the extent of competition across all the industrial segments has substantially increased. Marketing and strategic management have become crucial factors of business in the contemporary era. This essay focuses on the future market direction of Tipu Sultan restaurant, a popular majestic dinning hub of Mosely, Birmingham, U.K. The restaurant was founded in 15th of September, 2013 and primarily serves Pakistani and Indian cuisine (Tipu Sultan, 2014). The context of the essay will elaborate the detailed marketing strategies of Tipu Sultan restaurant, for a particular target market segment. Target Market Market segmentation is the process through which a company segregates its loyal customers on the basis of certain factors. The segmentation process ensures that each segregated group of customers entails similar characteristic features. Tipu Sultan restaurant can focus on its most potential clientele through demographic means of market segmentation. The segmentation can be done on the basis of specific demographic attributes like age, occupation or social class, race, religion and family life cycle (Ibrahim, 2012). Figure 1: Family Life Cycle Segmentation (Source: PPT) From the above family life cycle segmentation analysis, it can be claimed that 46% of customers of Tipu Sultan restaurant are single or not married. On the other hand, 40% of its customers are married. Finally divorced and separated family status exists for 14% of the company’s customers. From the above table it can be analyzed that the most potential target customers of Tipu Sultan restaurant should be the unmarried single individuals. This is because, the proportion of unmarried customers are highest for the company. With time, some of these individuals can get married and thereby increase the demand generated by their family. Moreover, it is likely that unmarried individuals would prefer to taste good food of Tipu Sultan restaurant more than the married customers, as they are more spend thrift in nature. The discretionary spending powers of the married customers are lower than that of the unmarried clientele (Stryker, 1998). Figure 2: Age Segmentation (Source: PPT) The above schedule shows that 35% customers of Tipu Sultan restaurant are middle aged individuals between age group 25 to 44 years. It is highly rational for the company to Target unmarred customers between 25 to 44 years. This is because most of these buyers represent the middle aged workforce or entrepreneurs of an organization. It is likely that the income earned by this age group of individuals would increase in the long run and hence they would enhance their demand for the services of the restaurant. Moreover, young individuals between 16 to 24 years are not potential customers of the restaurant because they would not be able to afford its moderate cost prices. The individuals falling within the 45 to 64 years age group are older people and they would not regularly prefer to consume the rich Indian and Pakistani cuisines of the restaurant. Children of under 15 years old are non professional and hence do not possess the purchasing power to avail the services of the restaurant substantially (Ibrahim, 2012). Thus according to the age and family life cycle classification, the target customers of Tipu Sultan Restaurant should be the unmarried individuals between 25 to 44 years age. Figure 3: Occupation and Social Status Segmentation (Source: PPT) According to the occupational and social status classification, the target clientele of Tipu Sultan restaurant can be the individuals professionally working in Moseley or outside Moseley, in Birmingham. Approximately 36% and 18% of its customers from Moseley and Birmingham (respectively) professional working people and they belong to social class A. These individuals would be able to afford the moderately priced food services of Tipu Sultan restaurant (Ibrahim, 2012). Figure 4: Racial Segmentation (Source: PPT) Tipu Sultan restaurant serves authentic Indian and Pakistani dishes. These food recipes are rich and spicy unlike the traditional continental dishes preferred White British and African people. Thus, on the basis of racial segmentation, the target customers of the restaurant are the ethnic White individuals (11472). 64% of these customers reside in Moseley, 59% belong to Birmingham and 85% lives in England. British consumers are likely to prefer Indian and Pakistani cuisines as these are not readily found in Britain. Moreover, they would readily accept the moderate price offers of the company. Figure 5: Religion Segmentation (Source: PPT) The target customers of the company on the basis of religion are the Christian, Muslim or no religion group of individuals. Tipu Sultan restaurant provides halal meat which is substantially preferred by the Muslin customers (Ibrahim, 2012). Final Target Market On the basis of the above segmentation factors it can be stated that the best target clientele for Tipu Sultan restaurant are the unmarried professionals of these British, Irish or other racial origin between 25 to 44 years age. These customers primarily live in Moseley or Birmingham or England (Ibrahim, 2012). Marketing Issues and Opportunities Strengths and Opportunities The Tipu Sultan restaurant is an “oasis to relax”. The unique group floor restaurant is an excellent entertainment as well as relaxation destination for customers. Restaurant service is considered to be a luxury service in the market. The consumers accept paying above low prices for Tipu Sultan restaurants services because of its fine dining ambiance and intrinsic comfort providing services. The well decorated ground floor banquet and entertainment suite of the restaurant provides special private meeting spaces for professional customers. It is considered to be the most perfect restaurant for friends, families and couples. Thus, the professional individuals selected as the target customers of the company get special opportunities to socialize their business affairs or conduct team recreational programs in the banquets of the restaurant (Spich, 2000). At the same time, since these targeted individuals are young (25 to 44 years) and belongs to superior social status (A), they would substantially prefer to avail the luxury services of the restaurant. Since the emergence of trade liberalization and globalization, popular cooking chefs of India and Pakistan have travelled overseas to open Asian restaurants at different marketplaces of U.K (Spich, 2000). The native British, Irish or other western racial customers are at present preferring to consume rich, spicy Indian and Pakistani cuisines (Chowdhury, 2014). The demand for chilies, in different food preparations are significantly increasing among the British customers. Thus, considering the changing tastes of the British individuals, it can be claimed that the target customers (British, Irish and others) would substantially prefer the items of Tipu Sultan restaurant. At the same time, superior food quality, open kitchen system, rare interior decoration and utilization of modern cookwares are brand and customers utility augmenting features of the restaurant (EVD, 2009). Since the economy is reviving after the financial crisis in 2008, it is expected that the aggregate discretionary power of the customers in U.K. on luxury products are increasing (Spich, 2000). This will likely enhance the demand for the restaurants services in the near future. Thus above context explains the strengths and opportunities of Tipu Sultan restaurant that will help it in enhancing its revenue and demand from the selected target clientele (Tipu Sultan, 2014). Issues and Threats Though the quality of food served in the restaurant is unique, it is claimed that its staff is not efficient. Growth of any concern within the restaurant industry substantially depends on the quality of service. If the services of Tipu Sultan restaurant are not efficient to meet up the expected standards, then it would lower the utility rates of the target customers and would not make them loyal towards the company. Moreover, the biggest issue or weakness of the restaurant is regarding the alcohol license. The company does not own an alcohol license and hence cannot afford to serve it. Fine dining is always associated with rare wine or any other alcohol. The targeted British professional young customers would not prefer to regularly visit Tipu Sultan Restaurant because of this factor (Kitchen, 1999). The new immigration laws have imposed strict controls for Asian immigrations in U.K. (GOV, 2014). This is a moderate threat for Tipu Sultan restaurant because the researcher claims that it will primarily target British, Irish or other western cultural individuals. The extent of market competition within the hospitability industry is substantially increasing with time. Rawal Village, Raza Grill and Akbar’s, Diwan Balti, Kabanish and Sabai Sabai are some potential rivals of Tipu Sultan restaurant (Zomato, 2014). High competition is lowering the switching costs of the consumers and makes the demand for Tipu Sultan restaurants services highly volatile in nature. Moreover, it is found that the transportation services to Tipu Sultan restaurant are poor. Thus, individuals owning their own cars can only afford to avail the services of the concern. The above context analyzes different factors that act as threats or weaknesses to Tipu Sultan restaurant. The popularity of the company and its services can significantly fall to the target customers due to such reasons. Image and Positioning Strategy The target customers of the company are unmarried young professionals between 25 to 44 years. Thus, the marketing experts of the company should try to upkeep the traditional look but entail signs of modernism within it. (Source: Tipu Sultan, 2014) The above picture shows that the company already maintains traditional ambience to attract the young professionals. The interior designing of its banquets and restaurants are marks of royalty. The restaurant experiences an open kitchen and it prepares its food with the most modern cookwares. The young professional individuals prefer such facilities. Moreover, the quality of food supplied by the concern is superior and is perhaps the most prominent factor with which it can attract its target customers (Stutely, 2002). The food prices of the restaurant are moderate (not more than £ 15) and hence are highly affordable for the top class working professionals of England, Birmingham and Moseley. Figure 6: Positioning Map High Quality Low Price High price Low Quality (Source: Author’s Creation) The company should position its brand according to the above position map, to the customers in the target group. It should claim that its offers superior, high quality Indian and Pakistani menus at reasonable prices. The company must market or promote its image to the target clientele on the basis of its inherent strengths. The visitors should be greeted well by its staffs and the services provided to them should be customized. Recently the owner of the restaurant has claimed that two well finished white stone lions and wooden cannons are built in front of the restaurant for attracting customers. Thus, good in quality and reasonable in price should be the primary image building positioning strategy for Tipu Sultan restaurant for all the customers in the target group (Ibrahim, 2012). Marketing Strategies Superior information, pictures and videos of the restaurant should be posted in the websites that are visited often by customers through the local search engines as Google. Through this approach local visibility can be created for the company at free of cost. These search engines can be accessed by a wide base of customers through different technical gadgets as car GPS. Higher traffic can be achieved by Tipu Sultan restaurant through word of mouth marketing activities. Such practices can be entertained by the concern through separate social media sites. The social networking services like Twitter, Youtube and Facebook have become highly popular in the contemporary era. Marketing messages like “Follow us in Facebook” can be used by the marketing professionals of Tipu Sultan restaurant (Evans, 2013). Through such viral marketing means, the company can significantly enhance its brand value and sales in business. The marketing expects of Tipu Sultan restaurant can spread its takeout menus to local customers through direct mails. Through this method the company can make individuals aware about its variable menus and prices. Thus mail marketing is one popular way through which Tipu Sultan restaurant can enhance its revenue and thereby park more loyal customers. Special community franchising programs can also be conducted by the concern. Through this the company would be able to park new consumers and provide higher value or utility to its existing consumers. Special offer can be provided to the local communities on occasions like Christmas. It is claimed by some researchers that for the concerns within the restaurant industry, marketing activities within four walls are effective. The staffs of Tipu Sultan restaurant should assure that the services and food quality provided to its visitors are best. If the visitors’ experiences are good then they would refer the name of the restaurant to other prospective customers. Thus, for encouraging word of mouth marketing, the quality of services provided by the staffs of Tipu Sultan restaurant should be rare and inimitable. Since the last few years the bottom line costs experienced by the restaurants are increasing due to rises in food prices. The price menu engineering analysis of Tipu Sultan restaurant should be efficient. The company should increase the prices of certain recipes according to cost price inflations. However, it should be noted that the prices of food menus experiencing elastic demand should not be substantially increased by the concern. By implementing the above marketing strategies it is expected that Tipu Sultan restaurant would successfully expand its clientele and business profitability in the long run (Doward, 2014). Tactical Marketing Campaign The following context of the essay will explain the tactical marketing plan for Tipu Sultan restaurant. Market Structure Tipu Sultan restaurant is a popular majestic dinning hub of Mosely, Birmingham, U.K. The company operates within the restaurant industry of U.K. The industry is worth £ 40 billion and branded companies like McDonalds, Greggs and Starbucks holds superior positions with the essence of cost effective menus, brand value and experienced business sense (Angelis, 2013). Competitor Analysis Tipu Sultan restaurant sells unconventional (Indian and Pakistani) cuisines in U.K. Through its services are differentiated, it faces severe threats of competition. Figure 6: Close Competitor Analysis The above chart depicts that the company operates in a monopolistically competitive market structure and is less experienced than many of its market rivals. Target Market The best target market for the company is the group of unmarried White Ethnic professional workers between the age group 25 to 44 years living in England, Birmingham or Moseley. Marketing Mix Higher revenue and competency can be gained by Tipu Sultan restaurant with the essence of differentiated marketing mix strategies. Product The concern should constantly try to improve the quality of its food. Food taste and quality is the most important aspect that determines the loyalty of the customers towards a restaurant. During occasions special one day menus should be launched by the company (Nielsen and Media, 2014). Price The prices of Indian and Pakistani menus of Tipu Sultan restaurant are moderate. The company can change premium prices for some of its newly prepared items. According to the Veblen theory, individuals would justify the higher prices in terms of superior quality such pricy food recipes. However, if the company desires to extend its business branches in new markets then it can implement penetrating pricing strategy for tapping new groups of customers (Stolzea and Lampkin, 2009). Place The company can always decide to expand its branches in some other locations of U.K. The new locations should be positioned in strategic places where the transportation and communication facilities better than its existing branch in Moseley (Peng, 2008). Promotion The in-house services of the staffs of Tipu Sultan restaurant should be proficient enough to enhance the utility levels of its visitors. This would help to promote the brand value of the concern through referrals. E-marketing and viral marketing activities would also help to enhance the sales of the company. Direct mails, advertisements in social networking sites and local search visibilities are different e-marketing means that Tipu Sultan restaurant should adopt. Special discounts can also be offered to the customers during occasions (Weber, 2007). Marketing Staff The researchers have claimed that the quality of service provided by the staffs of Tipu Sultan restaurant is not efficient. The company should conduct training sessions for its employees. Special motivational benefits should also be provided to them for improving the service quality of staffs. Free home delivery services should be introduced by the concern as soon as possible because this additional facility is provided by most of its close rivals (Griffin, 2013). Marketing Budget The marketing activities of Tipu Sultan restaurant cannot be successful without a proper marketing budget. Figure 7: Marketing Budget (Source: Author’s Creation) The above graph shows the approximate marketing budget for the company. The above graph explains that the marketing officials of the company should spent maximum money for direct mailing services. Thus, e-marketing is a very crucial factor for increasing traffic within the restaurant industry (Griffin, 2013). Potential Issues The marketing officials of Tipu Sultan restaurant will face certain issues while implementing, controlling and measuring the performances of its new marketing strategies. Since the emergence of global recession in 2008, the costs of borrowing money for new investments have substantially increased. Since Tipu Sultan restaurant shares a very negligible brand value in the U.K. restaurant industry, it would lack adequate funds for future investments or business expansion. Moreover, though the popularity of Indian and Pakistani cuisines is increasing with time but in reality the natives of U.K. are highly brand conscious consumers. They might not prefer to demand the services of the restaurant in the long run against certain special offers provided by the conventional restaurant chains of the country. Moreover, individuals are becoming more conscious about health and many of them prefer to consume less fating organic or natural food than the rich tasty items of Asian cuisine (Timmins, 2010). The company will low popularity that its competitors on certain special grounds. Poor transportation services and lack of alcohol service are some drawbacks of Tipu Sultan restaurant. The company lacks effective workforce in business. Thus the implementation plans and strategy measurement methods used by its workers might not be accurate. It might face legal issues pertaining to land acquisition for new restaurant branches. Moreover, any negative externality within the industry might significantly lower the revenue of the concern (Griffin, 2013). Conclusion It would be correct to conclude from the above context that marketing is an important aspect of business in the contemporary dynamic business world. This is the era of “consumerism” where the business firms try to implement new retailing strategies in ways that helps to enhance the satisfaction of the customers. Tipu Sultan restaurant conducts business in a highly competitive market and in order to frame new marketing strategies it uses demographic means of segmentation. It positions its brand by claiming that it serves high quality products at relatively lower prices. The company is facing certain potential issues in business but it is expected that with the above strategies and alternations it would be able to augment its brand value and sales in business soon in the near future (Zeng, Huang and Dou, 2009). Reference List Angelis, A. D., 2013. U.K. restaurant industry. [online] Available at: [Accessed 21 May 2014]. Chowdhury, S., 2014. Salt’n pepper london ~ specialists in pakistani cuisine. [online] Available at: > [Accessed 21 May 2014]. Doward, J., 2014. Organic food back in vogue as sales increase. 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Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Spich, R. S., 2000. Globalization folklore problems of myth and ideology in the discourse on globalization. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 8(4), pp.6 – 29. Stolzea, M. and Lampkin, N., 2009. Policy for organic farming: Rationale and concepts. Food Policy, 34, pp. 237-244. Stryker, R., 1998. Globalization and the welfare state. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 18(2), pp.1-20. Stutely, R., 2002. Definition of business plan. New Jersey: Pearson Education. Timmins, C., 2010. Consumer Attitudes towards Organic Food. [pdf] BOBL. Available at: > [Accessed 21 May 2014]. Tipu Sultan, 2014. Tipu Sultan. [online] Available at: < http://www.tipu-sultan.com/> [Accessed 21 May 2014]. Weber, L., 2007. Marketing to the social web: How digital customer communities build your business. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Zeng, F., Huang, L. and Dou, W., 2009. Social Factors in User Perceptions and Responses to Advertising in Online Social Networking Communities. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 10(1), pp. 1-13. Zomato, 2014. Zomato. [online] Available at: < http://www.zomato.com/birmingham/restaurants/pakistani> [Accessed 21 May 2014]. Bibliography Burt, S. and Sparks, L., 2003. Department of trade and industry: competitive analysis of the retail sector in the UK. [pdf] University of Stirling. Available at: [Accessed 21 May 2014]. Dewett, T., Whittier, N. C. and Williams, S. D., 2007. Internal Diffusion: The Conceptualizing Innovation Implementation. Competitiveness Review, 17(1), pp.8 – 25. Diabetes UK, 2010. Diabetes in the UK 2010: Key statistics on diabetes. [pdf] Diabetes UK. Available at: < http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Documents/Reports/Diabetes_in_the_UK_2010.pdf> [Accessed 21 May 2014]. Doward, J., 2014. Organic food back in vogue as sales increase. [online] Available at: > [Accessed 21 May 2014]. Evans, N., 2013. 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