Educational Programs to Improve Reading and Writing Skills of English as a Second Language Students - Example

Market Feasibility Analysis Student Name: Institution: Date: Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 3 2.0 The industry for educational toys and programs in Australia 4 3.0 The target market for educational toys and programs products 5 4.0 Major competitors and how they position their products in the industry 6 5.0 An estimate of the size and percentage of the niche market targeted 9 6.0 A description of the products and their various lines 9 (i) Educational Toy products 9 (ii) Learning programs 10 8.0 Comments on the market feasibility of the educational toys and programs idea 12 References 13 Waksman, K., (2011).Marketing Strategies for Wholesale Toy Products. Retrieved April 25, 2013 from, 14 14 Market Feasibility Analysis to tailor educational toys and programs to improve the reading and writing skills of English is a Second Language (ESL) Students Introduction As a teacher for students with learning difficulties and for whom English is a second language (ESL), it has become quite to me that the educational toys and programs that are sold on the market for enhancing the reading and writing skills of such students are not specifically tailored to their needs. From the observation of a few carefully selected toys and programs such as Quicksmart that have been used to test the market, I developed a strong conviction that this niche can be filled by addressing the really needs of students with learning difficulties and who also learn English as their second language. Having taken keen notice of the learning and excitement of my students as they played with the toys and programs, it meant that if different toys and programs could be tailored to the really and specific needs of specific students their levels of reading and writing would be improved. Although my students are basically from the low and middle income families, it is motivating that their parents are interested in and wiling to invest in their children’s education. Therefore, involving parents in their children’s learning meant enabling them to access the toys and programs tailored to needs of their children even at home. The parents of my students were invited for a meeting and were presented with samples of the toys, explaining to them how such tools could be effective for improving the reading and writing abilities of their children. They entirely showed genuine interest in the toys and programs. Selling the toys at a reasonable profit whilst improving the reading and writing skills of English are a second language students became the main idea for this project. Therefore, the intention of this project is to work with the manufacturers to develop and supply toys and programs tailored specifically to students or people with learning difficulties and who also take English as their second language as the niche market for this project. The market for the proposed educational toys and programs has been invested and findings provided in this report. 2.0 The industry for educational toys and programs in Australia The quality of Australian educational toys is of high standard and the value of its toys that offers appropriate training or instructional benefits for students is infinite. Therefore, parents who intend to purchase educational toys for their children, it is important to mention that Australia is the best place to do it because it has access to high quality material across the world. In regard to educational toys and programs, Australia has been considered the leading market. For example, Learning House is one of the principle sources educational toys in Australia. Today, most of the Australian children are in need of more sophisticated toys.  Research indicates that fashion and peer pressure are more favorable to them than brand loyalty. As a result parents are demanding value for money as well as higher levels of safety as they purchase educational toys for their children. It is surprising that Toy sales within Australia are seasonal, with about 8% sales made during the Christmas season as well as in January summer holidays (ASTM Subcommittee, 1997). Due to the advances in electronic as well as interactive items, the educational toys and gaming industry in Australia has experienced increasing growth in the development of new learning products. The country’s wholesale market for educational toys and game products has largely been affected by retailers that choose to evade the wholesalers based on competitive prices offered by manufacturers. The future demand for educational toys and game products is most likely to be negatively affected by uncertainties in the global markets as well as contradictions within the trade-weighted manifestation. Consequently, this will affect the prices of material that are imported to develop educational toys and programs, manufacturers and wholesalers. On the other hand, sales will be strongly affected by competition from the imported merchandise or increased wholesale bypass. This implies that demand for educational toys and programs will as well be affected by a stiff price-based competition in the entire industry (IBISWorld, 2012). 3.0 The target market for educational toys and programs products In this educational toys and programs marketing plan for students with learning disabilities and whom English is a second language, two main customer segments will be targeted. The first segment is the individual customers that involve parents who purchase such learning products for their children. The second market segment to be addressed is the wholesale purchasers such as organizations that purchase learning toys and programs for their clients with reading disabilities to use, for example the care centers or special education institutions (Waksman, 2011). Basically, developing creative, educational as well as engaging toys will be the three keys to guide the purchase decisions and this will in turn promote the continued achievement and enhancement of the reading and writing skills of the students as the desired results. Therefore, educational toys and programs will be tailored to ensure that they are instrumental within the sustainability of the special learning business (Dell & McNerney, 1997). In addition, strict and favorable financial controls will be adopted, and thus it will be important to listen to customers’ changing needs, effective creation of feedback mechanism. In doing so, the developed toys and programs will be improved to support the writing and reading skills of students who are new and learners for English language and with learning disabilities. It is also important to note that educational and play value will also be considered substantial issues, while safety will be viewed as a paramount consideration for parents whilst purchasing educational toys and programs for their children. 4.0 Major competitors and how they position their products in the industry Basically, a number of educative toys and program products are imported from the low-cost manufacturers from Asia in particular, Taiwan, Thailand, and China.  However, local manufacturers only occupy a small percentage of the toy and program market and the two main local competitors are Wesfarmers Limited, Toys R" Us Pty Ltd, Associated Retailers Ltd, Woolworths Ltd, ToyLearn and Geo-Australia. The main success factors for these competitors is developing sustainably creative and engaging educational toys and programs. In addition, the companies have adopted flexible financial controls and pay close attention to the needs of their customers who are generally wholesale purchasers (IBISWorld, 2012). For this market feasibility, the plan is intended to leverage educational and engineering expertise as the two main competitive edges. This will be required for sustainable production of educational toys that are fun and learning programs that are engaging for students with learning disabilities to use in order to successfully build their reading and writing skills (Lenz & Scanlon, 1998). Close attention will be given on the recognition and exploitation of the core competencies particularly in the field of education and engineering. This will enhance the quick gaining of the market share for educational toys and programs as well as developing a good reputation for producing effective teaching toys and learning programs. In addition to the stiff competition from different overseas suppliers, the market for educative toys and programs is often price sensitive. Therefore, the success of this project will depend on the capability to secure a specific niche of people with learning disabilities within the market.  Research also indicates the Australian toy market is more price competitive based on quality, design and innovation as well as promotional capabilities (Bulgren et al., 1998). Such important market aspects will be taken into consideration when entering the market for educative toys and engaging programs. Research reveals that Australian people in particular, children and youths have a tendency of being receptive to toy brands and products from U.S as it is evidently reflected in the continued demand and interest in those film and television from the U.S (The Disabled Living Foundation, 2005). The focus will be on getting manufacturers from the U.S and maintaining profitable relationship with them to ensure that the products are made available and to the expectation of students or people with learning disabilities and new learners of English as their second language. This is simply because Australian consumers tend to be willing to pay for those toy and program products that are of high quality, and thus this benefits U.S. manufacturers who satisfy this need. From the research analysis the supply management of educative toys and programs, it has been discovered that U.S. suppliers have sustainably maintained a steady market share of 15% of the total import market (Wisconsin Technical College System, 2002) As a strategy for moving far away from the competitors and setting a high standard for the market entry, Start-to-Finish literacy program will include Starters books written based on MEville and WEville curriculum. It is important to point out that each book will include three other book types to promote literacy development. Specifically, the enrichment texts will signify language learning as well as help in the development of concepts on print, conventional texts will enhance word reading within the connected text and transitional texts will significantly involve print referring and processing with less demand on the language or word reading. The marketing strategy for toys and programs is to create the message that they are truly educational and fun products. It has been considered that parents will always prefer to see their children enjoy playing with toys, and thus the message of truly educational and fun becomes critical in such a case. Therefore, it is important to point out that the toy element as a learning product is to create a sustainable engaged between the student and product, an idea that is difficult to implement with most educational devices. 5.0 An estimate of the size and percentage of the niche market targeted The two main customer segments that will be targeted in this educational toys and programs marketing plan for students with learning disabilities and whom English is a second language are individual and wholesale purchasers. The individual customers will involve parents that are middle-income earners and who purchase such learning products for their children. The second market segment to be addressed is the whole purchasers such as organizations that purchase learning toys and programs for their clients with reading disabilities to use, for example the care centers or special education institutions. However, educational toys and programs will be tailored to ensure that they are instrumental within the sustainability of the special learning business (Almqvist, 1999). In addition, flexible and favorable financial controls will be adopted, and thus it will be important to listen to customers’ changing needs through effective creation of feedback mechanisms. 6.0 A description of the products and their various lines (i) Educational Toy products In developing educational toys and programs as learning tools, the main focus will be on building and enhancing the reading and writing skills of students with learning disabilities (Azoulay, 2001). The three main educational toy products to introduce in the market for students with learning disabilities and learners of English as a second language will include, Number Toy, Letter Toy and Phonic Toy. The Number Toy is aimed at proving students with number skills, Letter Toy to help the students to quickly understand the alphabet and Phonic Toy that will be uniquely developed to resemble the mini personal computer to teach them phonic and the math skills. On the other hand, developing educational programs will involve research-proven approach to address the significant disabilities who are also learners of English as their second language. (ii) Learning programs The MEville to WEville will be developed as a literacy starters program. Since these programs are tailored for ESL students, it will be important to pair it with the age-appropriate contents specifically for students with significant learning disabilities. The curriculum for this educational program will enable the teachers to accelerate the performance of such students by teaching generalized literacy skills. The ME ville and WEville Literacy Starters program will be uniquely developed to offer a more research-proven curriculum as well as age-appropriate contents for mature students. Other educational programs will include the Start-to-finish Literacy books for Starters and Switch-accessible online books that will be written for the MEville to WEville curriculum and sold in a single convenient package. In order to differentiate this educational program in the market, the MEville to WEville will be extended to include lesson with Start-to-Finish literacy for the starters. The plan is to ensure that reading and writing, speaking and listening as well as augmentative communication will be integrated into different lessons and activities. This will be designed to create a classroom community to foster a sense of belonging. 7.0 Different marketing mix use- prices, margins, advertising media and promotion budget, distribution mode Since it can be difficult to find educational toys and programs that can meet the really interests of students with learning disabilities and learners of English as their second language, it will be important to develop a website specifically to provide updates on the educational toy and programs as learning products. This will help to reach a wider market that can shop for educational toys and programs online. Advertisements and direct mailings will be used to market the tailored educational toys and programs. The advertisements will be made or placed in magazines and journals as well as in television programs that will be selected specifically recognizing students or parents whose their children have learning difficulties as the target audience. A promotional cost of approximately $ 8,000 on magazines will be considered for the individuals market, while journals and magazines approximately $ 12,000 will be used jointly for the market segment involved in the business of educational toys and programs and for television advert programs for educational toys and learning programs about $ 10,000 will be used to sensitize people on the availability of the developed products in the market. So, basically a total of $ 20,000 will be spent on promotion of the newly developed educational toy and programs within the first year. Operations strategies such as, outsourcing and reduction of financial risks by not involving in the expense of the manufacturing facilities will be adopted to make production costs variable and minimize promotional costs by using affordable media such as magazines, journals und websites that are easily accessible. As a distribution mode, tailoring the products for specific customer group will be the main sales strategy. For the individuals segment particularly students with learning disabilities, the sales strategy will be aimed at creating enough awareness of educational toys and programs to influence the customers demand more of them even from retailers. For effective management of the needs of business segment, addressing the issue of student’s learning difficulties and who are learners of English as a second language, the main goal will be to ensure that such businesses are not simply purchasing one or few of the products but encouraging them to buy in bulk so as address the different skills needed. Taking into consideration that businesses are basically the repeat customers, it means that if the customer or parents who buy educational toys and programs will feel satisfied with them as tools improving the reading and writing skills of their children (Longhurst, 2002). It cannot be doubted that such parents will develop into long-term customers, and thus they will not search for new vendors in the same industry. 8.0 Comments on the market feasibility of the educational toys and programs idea The market feasibility for this project of developing educational toys and programs is ideal because research from Australian market shows that children are demanding for more sophisticated toys.  It has also been discovered that fashion and peer pressure are more favorable to them than brand loyalty. As a result parents are demanding value for money as well as higher levels of safety as they purchase educational toys for their children. This creates more future opportunities for this project as it will mean listening carefully to the changing needs of learners or customers who purchase educational toys and program for their clients. In addition to the stiff competition from different overseas suppliers, the market for educative toys and programs is often price sensitive. It means that the success of this project will depend on the capability to secure a specific niche of people with learning disabilities within the market.  Research also indicates the Australian toy market is more price competitive based on quality, design and innovation as well as promotional capabilities. For the benefit of this project, such market aspects will be taken into consideration whilst entering the market for educative toys and engaging programs. Since Australian consumers tend to be willing to pay for those toy and program products that are of high quality, and thus this benefits U.S. manufacturers who satisfy this need. Therefore, this market feasibility study provides the view that ensuring the availability of educative toys and programs to improve the reading and writings skills of students with learning disabilities will only be achieved if the focus on getting the U.S based manufacturers. References Almqvist, B. (1999). Educational and creative toys as discussed in J. Goldstein (Ed.), Toys for play and promoting child development (pp. 46-66). Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. ASTM Subcommittee discussion on Toy Safety. (1997). Standardized consumer safety specification develop safe toys. West Conshohocken, The U.S Society for Toy Testing Materials. Azoulay, J. (2001). Measuring a balance on the toy market weigh scale of High and low tech, edutainment and licensing. Children’s Business, 16(2), 30-34. Dell, S & McNerney, P. (1997). Selecting appropriate toys for children with vision problems or motor challenges. (ED 437751). IBISWorld, (2012). Toy and learning programs Industry in Australia. A report on market research. Retrieved April 25, 2013 from, Waksman, K., (2011).Marketing Strategies for Wholesale Toy Products. Retrieved April 25, 2013 from, Bulgren, J.A. et al. (1998). Involving Adults with Disabilities in various Adult Education Programs. University of Kansas Center for Research and Learning. Lenz, B & Scanlon, D. (1998). Ensuring accommodations to minimize cognitive barriers for people with learning disabilities. Perspectives, 24(3), 16-19. Longhurst, G. (2002). How various physical education programmes affect the proficiency of children with learning difficulties. KwaDlangezwa. University of Zululand. Wisconsin Technical College System. (2002). Accommodations for Students with Disabilities Guidelines. Madison. Wisconsin Technical College Board. The Disabled Living Foundation (2005). Selecting the daily living equipment for children. Retrieved April 25, 2013 from, Read More