The Forces Affecting a Products Chance for Success - Assignment Example

After reading about my restaurant and the startup information behind it, answer the following questions. DELIVERABLE 2 Using Environmental Scanning and Environmental Management discuss the forces affecting your product’s chance for success. A useful business environmental scanning tool is PEST Analysis where the influences of political, economic, social, technological effects on business are considered. For the Aegean Sea Express – Greek Take Away restaurant, the impact of these forces can be as follows: Political – Political impact for this product is rather low. However, with issues like terrorism people are going out less and new trends of “cocooning” and staying in are emerging. Thus, take away and home delivery of food businesses may have positive effect. Also, the US emigration policies will influence the number of Greeks migrating and settling down in USA. In the long run, this too will have an influence on the business, if plans for nationwide expansions are considered. Economic- The country is undergoing economic crisis with Wall Street collapse and many of major banks facing financial difficulties. In the face of such depressive economic conditions, the consumers will be more price sensitive and opt for take away food instead of dining in food. However it is important to price reasonably in the take away category. Social – The trend for increased urban population, single parents and nuclear families, unmarried singles etc, all affect positively towards the take away food business. Technological – With increase use of the web and other telecommunication means, the awareness of customers of available restaurants and locations have increased. This has both positive and negative effects on the business at it brings in customers for the business but also create competition. New technologies aid the business to use state of the art modern kitchen equipment to deliver quality fast. This will benefit the company. Within the Competitive Environment who are some of this product’s competitors? Direct competitors: Other fast food restaurants such as Mc Donald, KFC Sandwich bars and coffee houses Other Ethnic food take away restaurants – Chinese/Korean/Italian etc. Secondary level competitors: Dine in restaurants What are some Ethical Issues related to this product? Fast- food and take away foods are associated with unhealthy eating patterns especially due to high fat contents and also the fizzy colas on offer with the menus. Food is ideally to be healthy and fresh and home cooked. Aegean Sea Express will need to address these ethical views. How would you use the Internet in the marketing process? The restaurant can have its own web site as well as be listed in some of the online directories that provide surfers with maps, location details as well as ratings for best restaurants in town. While the own website can be an interactive site where information on Greek cuisine, recipes, etc are available. The site can also be used for online ordering and run promotions. What are some Security and Privacy Issues regarding e-commerce? If the Web site is a ecommerce platform where customers can place orders and make payments, then their credit card details will be recorded. The privacy and confidentiality of these information must be assured. In the same manner, security to the system has to be provided where hackers cannot exploit the system and steal information. Another security issue is that some customers practice what is termed as “charge back” when using credit cards which the site should be protected against. DELIVERABLE 3 How would you utilize Interpersonal Determinants and Personal Determinants to influence Consumer Behavior in marketing your product? Interpersonal determinants include friends, family and in-groups which the customer belongs to. Personal determinants include the income, age, occupation, lifestyle and personal image. The Aegean Sea Express can utilize interpersonal determinants by making sure that consumers receive a memorable experience when they take away food from them so that the friends, family and in-group members will give good word of mouth recommendations of the place. They can also utilize the personal determinants such as lifestyle and occupation to influence consumer decision by offering lunch time executive packs, single parent packs where food includes a small “child meal” as well. Personal image can be utilized to influence the consumer by creating an up market image for the place by tastefully decorating the take away waiting area with ethnic and exotic Greek ambiance. Does this product follow the usual stages of the Consumer Decision Process or do you think consumers may skip or reverse some of them?  Explain. The usual consumer decision making process includes the following stages: Need recognition – Information seeking – Evaluation of alternatives – Purchase decisions – Post purchase behavior. This product will also go through this CDM process but in some cases, the information seeking may be bypassed and consumer may use his existing knowledge. Buyers tend to seek additional and new information mainly when they are purchasing high cost durables such as a computer, TV, car etc. This is why the new restaurant will have to make sure their name is already in the consumer mind through marketing activities. Which Component of the Business Market would most likely demand this product?  Explain. Offices based in close vicinity of the take away restaurant may make use of the restaurant to place orders for refreshments and meals for meetings and brainstorming sessions or workshops. Monthly sales force meetings etc, usually have after meeting meals sponsored by the companies. What cultures and customs should your product be concerned with when marketing in the International Social-Cultural Environment? Food is a very culturally sensitive product. Alterations to original product, marketing strategies etc is required in international environment. For example, pork and lard are to be strictly avoided when marketing in Islamic countries. Some countries such as India has large proportion of vegetarians. Thus menus may need vegetarian dishes. Eating habits also have to be considered. In most of the Latin American countries, meals are home cooked and shared within extended family settings. Marketing to these customers will have to aim at changing these habits and try out the take away option, may be on the justification that the host will be less tired to enjoy the company of those they are entertaining. In some cultures as Japan, pushy marketing tactics are seen as offensive and the brand receives a negative image from such advertising. Care should be taken avoid such pitfalls. DELIVERABLE 4 What types of Secondary Data Collection or publicly available information do you think was used in researching this product? Total population of the surrounding localities. Number of Households Average Income per household in the area Traffic count of the road way of restaurant location Breakdown of population of locality by ethnic distribution Number of restaurants in operation in the area Number of take away businesses in the area The four major variables that might be used in segmenting consumer markets are: Geographic, Demographic, Psychographic, and Product-Related. Explain which of the four major variables would best fit your product in segmenting its consumer market? Psychographic variable is most suited for segmenting the Greek take-away food market. Segmenting with psychographic variables make use of Social class, Life Style and Personality of the consumers. Preference for Ethnic food and take away meals are influenced by the income which is reflected in the social class; the life style such as busy executive or power mom etc. and the personality of the consumer. Explorative and adventurous people tend to try out ethnic food than sticking to their own native tastes. Based on these factors, psychographics is the most suited segmenting variable for this product. Explain which of the Strategies for Reaching Target Markets would work best for this product? Cross promotions with local supermarkets, fuel stations etc where a trial inducing discount coupon can be issued to those who purchase over a minimum bill value. The discount should be substantial as 50% off during 1st and 2nd months of operation so that new customers will try out the product. Few other strategies should include flyers enclosed within the weekend newspapers circulated by the local news paper agents and an opening day celebration where customers are offered free samples of some Greek food delicacies. Advertising in local Radio channels for the first month of opening is recommended so that awareness is created quickly. Explain which approaches you would use in Selecting and Executing a Strategy? Selecting and executing strategies should be based on an internal and external environmental scan which will provide the company with a set of Opportunities which they need to exploit and threats which they need to counter and guard against. This has to be done with optimizing the use of internal competencies and strengths while developing weaknesses of the company. When strategies are selected based on SWOT of the company, they are more effective when executed. The execution has to be done by communicating the strategies to the whole organization and linking the action plans of different organizations to give a combined effort towards achieving these strategies. The whole company and all employees should be aware of how their responsibilities will link up to achieving the overall organizational goals driven by the set strategies. What organizations would mutually benefit from Co branding and Co marketing with this product?  Explain. Greek Wine companies Greek Specialty food shops Bottled and Canned Olives and olive oil marketing companies Local supermarkets and department stores Which of the Types of Consumer Products does this product best fit?  Explain. Out of the three types of consumer products, Convenience, shopping and specialty products, the take away restaurants fall in to convenience category. These type of products are purchased by customers frequently, immediately and with minimum comparison and buying effort. How can this product achieve Brand Equity? The company should position the restaurant brand in the mind of the consumers effectively to own up a niche which the other fast food outlets are not occupying and then proceed to consolidate the brand position by delivering on their promised position massage to achieve customer satisfaction and brand loyalty which will accumulate in to long term brand equity. DELIVERABLE 5 What types of Channel Conflict may develop between channel members and is it destructive or potentially beneficial? Channel conflicts can be either vertical or horizontal. Vertical conflicts arise at different levels of channel members while horizontal conflicts are among the same level members. For example if Aegean Sea Express were to execute its plans for having Franchisees, then vertical channel conflict occurs between its franchisee and the Aegean Sea Express. On the other hand, the horizontal conflicts may be when one franchisee complains of another franchisee circulating their outlet leaflets within the other’s territory. While channel conflicts are destructive in general and tend to harm brand equity as well as create unnecessary costs and inefficiencies, the resulting competitive behavior can sometimes benefit the overall brand. What type of Store Atmospherics would serve this product best? Store atmospherics refers to the interior of layout and design of the outlet. Elements included color, light levels, sound, scents and design which will influence the customers. A spacious and comfortable waiting area is recommended with Greek background music and Greek art décor. Scents and fragrances of Greek cooking herbs, olive oil and olive leaves are recommended to add to the ethnic food experience. The service crew can be dressed in a uniform that incorporates some elements of Greek ethnic clothing while retaining staff uniform functionality and work comfort.   Which departments within the organization best illustrate the Importance of Teamwork?  Explain. The front end customer service department as well as kitchen production department are good examples within the organization that will illustrate the importance of Teamwork. The customer service crew will need to greet the customers, take their orders, suggest items, bill and then instruct the kitchen. When the food is ready, they need to pack and hand over to the customers. The success of fast food take away places will largely depend on how fast the customer is served. Therefore, the team work among the crew members of this department is essential. For example, if one cashier is taking orders, and the other cashier has finished serving his customer, he or she can pack the food for the customer who is being billed by the other cashier. In peak times, when the quest gets long, the whole crew has to combine their efforts in to serving customer in a friendly and efficient manner. Team work is extremely important in the Kitchen operations as well since they too have to cooperate and combine their efforts to provide very fast service to the customers. In the kitchen, when the place is dirty and needs cleaning, high team work environment will prompt members to take up cleaning voluntarily and without being prompted, even if it’s not in their own work stations. How can we use the two methods for performing message research in Measuring Advertising Effectiveness? Copy research technique is used by companies to evaluate the effectiveness of message within advertising. Some of the copy research techniques are scientific while others remain non scientific and subjective. These techniques can be used in combination during various stages of copy research testing the message i.e. – research prior to development, research during development, pre testing and post testing. Which of the Four Sales Channels is most effective in marketing this product?  Explain. The four sales channels includes: Manufacturer – Consumer Manufacturer – Retailer – Consumer Manufacturer – Whole Saler – Retailer – Consumer Manufacturer – Wholesaler – Jobber – Retailer – Consumer For this type of Ethnic food take away company, the fist type of channel where the manufacturer markets to the consumer directly is recommended as the product is perishable in nature and can not have a long chain of delivery. It also has a combination of physical and service elements which needs to be controlled fully which is not possible once intermediaries are involved. Which of the Pricing Objectives is most relevant to this product?  Explain. There can be various pricing objectives based on the situation of the company and the products. Life cycle, company status in the market, financial position, and company’s generic business strategy will all influence the pricing objectives. In the case of this Greek food take away restaurant, the following pricing objectives are most relevant: increase sales volume (quantity) – This is important as the company is new and success will depend upon how quickly the company achieve sales volumes which exceeds break even point, and generate income to cover the overhead expenses of the company and subsequently a profit. Company growth – As a new company, growth levels have to be steep and critical to stay in business. Enhance the image of the brand. – By pricing slightly above other fast food outlets such as Mc Donald, the Aegean Sea Express will aim to achieve an image of better quality food and a higher image for the outlet. Build store traffic – Pricing can be used to attract and build store traffic. If the food is priced affordably then consumers are likely to increase the number of times they visit the outlet. How might The Cannibalization Dilemma influence the success or failure of this product? Cannibalization dilemma has different aspects. Sometimes a new product to the menu can cannibalize on the sales volumes of an existing item in the menu. This should be acceptable as the final outcome of increased sales generation is beneficial to the company. Cannibalization can also happen if Aegean Sea Express appoint franchisees and they will take away some of the existing customers, especially those living at a distance from the existing restaurant but would be in close proximity to new franchisee outlets. While this cannibalization will reduce income in one side, the royalty and franchisee fees adds to the income of Aegean Sea Express on the other hand. The overall brand also benefits from easy accessibility provided by franchisee outlets and wider market coverage etc. Overall the cannibalization dilemma should be viewed positively and the companies should take pro active measures to kill their own products or locations and substitute them with new offers that meet changing needs of consumers, before competitors do so. Read More