Strategic Marketing Plan for Classic Designers - Case Study Example

Executive Summary This report analyzes the marketing plan for Classic Designers so that better strategies pertaining to marketing can be developed. The report will analyze the different strategy that Classic Designers will take in relation to market entry; the product life cycle; strategy in relation to being a pioneer or a follower; strategies in different phases of the business like growth, shakeout, mature and decline phases; the organizational structure which will be adopted by the business; the marketing plan and marketing metrics and audit. The analysis of the different aspect will help Classic Designers to develop and prepare for the required strategies. This will help to use the different resources in the most productive manner and will multiply the customer experience and ensure better services and products to the customers. The report presents the complete marketing plan for Classic Designers by looking the different directions through which different phases of the business cycle is analyzed. It is seen that Classic Designers is at the introduction phase and has limited competition. Being able to market aggressively and creating a niche market will ensure maximum gains for the business. Classic Designers aims to multiply its product line and looks at product extension so that better facilities can be provided to its customers. This is matched by the different strategies which have been identified for the different phases so that better productivity can be ensured. This will thereby bring the required transformation through which effectiveness will be gained and will ensure opportunities of growth for the business. Table of Contents Introduction 3 Basic idea about the service 3 Product Life Cycle 4 New Market Entry 6 Pioneer or Follower Strategy 8 Growth Strategy 9 Shake out, Mature and Decline Strategy 11 New Economy Market 13 Organizational Structure 14 Marketing Plan 15 Marketing Metrics 16 Marketing Audit 17 Conclusion 18 References 19 Introduction This report will analyze the marketing plan for Classic Designers so that better strategies pertaining to marketing can be developed. The report will analyze the different strategy that Classic Designers will take in relation to market entry; the product life cycle; strategy in relation to being a pioneer or a follower; strategies in different phases of the business like growth, shakeout, mature and decline phases; the organizational structure which will be adopted by the business; the marketing plan and marketing metrics and audit. The analysis of the different aspect will help Classic Designers to develop and prepare for the required strategies. This will help to use the different resources in the most productive manner and will multiply the customer experience and ensure better services and products to the customers. Basic idea about the service Classic Designers as the name suggest will sell fashion clothes specifically for women. The business will offer wide range of stocks of cloths which will be manufactured from different fabrics like silk, wool and cotton which are readily available in different colours, prints and designs. These clothes will be designed using the most up to date fashion trends that customers will like. Classic Designers will be run by persons who are well experienced in dealing with designer clothing. With the manager having more than ten years of experience in designer business, Classic Designers is expected to pick up sales at a very high rate. Furthermore, the location of the business will necessitate sales. This business will be located in Canberra city, after which other stores and selling outlets will be opened in other states of Australia. Classic Designers have no doubt in their customer service, uniqueness and designing of quality clothes and shoes for their customers. These will the designer to be the preferred shopping experience among women and the place for quality, affordable and ever present women wears. Classic Designers have chosen women as their customers because they want to specialize in specific customers as this will avoid missing their best customers. Vision The vision of Classic Designers is “To be renowned women wear designer acknowledged globally for our products setting lifestyle, fashion and trend.” Mission Classic designer’s mission is to provide timely clothing solutions for women at any given time. The business objects to make available clients clothing needs in their convenient manner. It will endeavor to make its services and products inclusive and dynamic for its customers. The products targets women and the business will make available all clothing that women need. It will aim to make its products the better options. Its credibility will be guided philosophy, strong ethics and an objective of service beyond expectations. Product Life Cycle The product life cycle identifies the different phases through which a product undergoes and being able to identify the correct phase helps to develop strategies accordingly. Correct identification of the different phases reduces the chances of wastage of resources and provides an opportunity to develop strategies which will ensure better return and growth (Awni, 2008). The detailed product life cycle is as Introduction: This is a starting phase of a product when the product is being launched or will be launched in the market. This stage characterizes very little information in the market and requires strong marketing and promotional methods to be able to create awareness among the people (Drummond, Ensor and Ashford, 2007). The phase requires development and highlighting the manner in which customer experience will get enhanced and will determine whether the product or service will be successful or not. Growth: This phase ensures more return compared to the investments which have been made. The return is more than the risk because of increased customer awareness and promotional methods has helped to attract more and more customers towards the product or services (Drummond, Ensor and Ashford, 2007). The business as a result is able to earn higher than normal profits. Maturity: This phase characterizes a phase where the product or service has reached its peak. The return at this phase is slow as the business is able to earn normal profits (Drummond, Ensor and Ashford, 2007). This stage has stiffer competition and requires proper services so that customers can be retained. Businesses require innovation and development at this stage to stay ahead of competition. Decline: This is a phase where the returns become negative and the product or services will slowly become obsolete (Drummond, Ensor and Ashford, 2007). The profits starts to fall and increasing investment in the business wouldn’t provide the same return thereby increasing the risk for the business which thereby leads to closure an shut down of operations. Classic Designers is in the introduction phase as the business concept is new and the area lacks other players or people working in the same direction. Classic Designers will have an extra advantage in that the market is not saturated. Major and special brands are costly and not typical enough to fully satisfy the ever changing taste and references of customers, therefore Classic Designers will put forward products that are at the forefront of the curve and thus within the means and so clients will come back again to the outlets frequently to look out what’s new. This phase will require that Classic Designers looks at aggressive promotional method so that increased awareness can be created among the customers (Stubbs & Cocklin, 2008). This has to be matched by quality product and services so that they are able to attract and retain customers. Classic Designers has to look at gaining momentum and will require to invest heavily so that they are able to create the required momentum which will help them to increase their returns in the future. New Market Entry New market entry aims at covering areas which will determine the manner in which the organization looks to develop strategies so that better customer satisfaction can be ensured. This can take different forms like entering a new market, developing a new product line, complete retransformation and repositioning of the business, reduce cost and so on (Ismailpour & Ghafarieashtiyani, 2002). The new market strategy will help to formulate strategy based on the needs and requirements of the business and will be thereby able to bring the required change and transformation through which effectiveness and efficiency can be gained. Classic Designers has developed a business model where they look to work differently and look to develop a niche market for its product and services. To deal with the new market entry phenomenon Classic Designers looks at entering new markets and developing its products line so that people from different segment and areas can be attracted. This thereby highlights the following strategies being adopted by Classic Designers Entering new markets: Classic Designers has little presence in Australia as the business concept of selling fashionable clothes to people is new. Since, the first store will be launched at Canberra the organization looks to expand its business by moving into new markets across Australia. Classic Designers further has ensured that they are able to deal with the other international brands as similar design and clothes will be provided at competitive rates which will provide an opportunity for all segment of the customers to purchase it. This will help them to expand and enter new markets across Australia and can also look to target the global market which will provide them with an opportunity to ensure consistency in growth. Develop new product line: Classic Designers at the present moment looks to attract women by offering fashionable clothes along with shoes to them. The growth management strategy will be aimed at multiplying the product line. The business owners will diversify the products with a variety of women wears and shoes once it is well established in designer business. The present target market of women can be extended to men wears and children. It will endeavor to bring fashionable styles and designs in its range of products. This will help it to maintain customer base while the designer clothes grow. This will thereby create new markets and product line through which sustained growth and opportunity to succeed can be ensured. Classic Designers has thereby identified the market entry strategy and will use it as and when the need arises so that growth and success of the brand can be ensured. Pioneer or Follower Strategy Organizations looking to work in the market determine the strategy which they will follow and can be either a follower or a pioneer strategy. Pioneer strategies are those strategies which are innovative and new in the market. Such strategy characterizes less competition but higher risk as the business strategy is not tested and increases the risk for the business. Follower strategy on the other hand characterizes one who follows a business model or strategy which has been tested (Dimitroff, Schmidt & Bond, 2005). This thereby reduces the risk but also limits the return that the business can earn over a period of time. Organizations based on their product or service offering has to determine the strategy which they will follow so that the resources can be diverted and used in the appropriate manner. Classic Designers aims to be pioneer in the field of fashion clothing as the concept and business model is new. Classic Designers will have an extra advantage in that the market is not saturated due to little competition. The major and special brands are costly and not typical enough to fully satisfy the ever changing taste and references of customers, therefore Classic Designers will put forward products that are at the forefront of the curve and thus within the means and so clients will come back again to the outlets frequently to look out what’s new. To deal with its pioneer strategy Classic Designers has aimed to use the following strategy Classic Designers will look to target a niche market as the product offering is being directed towards women who prefer fashionable clothes. Since, there is an increasing demand for fashionable clothes among women it will help the organization to structure its business accordingly. The organization in the future further aims to diversify and aims to attract men and children towards their fashion clothing. Since, there are hardly any players offering the same it will thereby help to reduce competition and will help them to work as a pioneer in the field of fashion industry. Classic Designers looks to work on the skimming strategy as the organization has looked to develop fashion clothes for women based on the needs and requirements of the society. The process of skimming will help Classic Designers to restructure its business in such a manner that a niche market for its products can be developed. The process of skimming will help to bring the required changes and will ensure that Classic Designers is able to develop the correct products and meet the need of society. Growth Strategy Growth strategy determines the manner in which the organization plans to use its resources so that the objective can be achieved. This also helps the organization to determine whether it wants to act as a leader or a follower as the different strategies are based on it. Organization which looks to work as a leader will use strategies from market expansion, flanker, confrontation, fortress and contraction strategies. On the other hand a follower will strategies like gorilla, frontal, leapfrog, flank or encirclement strategies (Syed, Alwi and Da Silva, 2007). The correct selection of strategy provides an opportunity for giving the required direction through which better standards can be developed. Classic Designers as already highlighted looks to be pioneer which will thereby make them work as a leader who will determine the path for others to follow. Classic Designers on the other hand has shown innovativeness by developing fashionable clothes for women will help them to differentiate their business model from others. For the growth strategy and to act as a leader Classic Designers looks at the following strategy Confrontation Strategy: Classic Designers through the process of confrontation strategy looks at continuous innovation and development of its product through product line extension and improvement. Classic Designers at the present moment looks to attract women by offering fashionable clothes along with shoes to them. The confrontation strategy will be aimed at multiplying the product line. The business owners will diversify the products with a variety of women wears and shoes once it is well established in designer business. Slowly, with the passage of time Classic Designers will attract even men and children towards their product offering which will help to ensure product line extension. Market Expansion: Classic Designers to be a market leader aims at using the strategy of market expansion and moving into new markets. Classic Designers has little presence in Australia as the business concept of selling fashionable clothes to people is new. Since, the first store will be launched at Canberra the organization looks to expand its business by moving into new markets across Australia. This will help them to expand and enter new markets across Australia and can also look to target the global market which will provide them with an opportunity to ensure consistency in growth Shake out, Mature and Decline Strategy The different phases of the business require formulation of different strategies so that the business is better prepared to deal with the challenges. Shakeout is a period where the business finds it difficult to deal with increasing competition as competitors start to control the market (Russo and Clark, 2008). This will require development of strategies through which competition can be better dealt with. Classic Designers to deal with the shakeout period aims to use the following Competitive Advantage: Classic Designers will act as a differentiator as it will provide fashionable clothes to women at competitive price. This will help to attract people as it will target all segment of women and provide an opportunity to maximize customer satisfaction. Since, the degree of competition is low it will help to develop a pool of loyal customer through which better services can be delivered and products can be sold. Transition: Classic Designers during the phase of shakeout will aim at transition where they will look to target other segment of the society by diverting their target segment to men and customers. The process of transition will help to provide different growth opportunities through which the chances of being successful in the future will increase. Classic Designers has identified the strategy which will be used during the shakeout period. Businesses also undergo a period of maturity where the business has reached the maximum point and starts to move downwards. This phase requires development of strategies through which new blood can be infused and the business is able to bring a change in the working process (Porter, 2004). This period thereby makes organization search for market expansion, increased penetration and extended use. Classic Designers for this phase has identified the following strategy Increased Penetration: Classic Designers will look to penetrate the market by developing new products and services. This will help Classic Designers to tap new segment of customers like men and children. Adding and extending the product line will provide the required framework through which value addition will be generated. This will thereby help to use the opportunity which the market provides and will ensure better penetration in the market. Market Expansion: Classic Designers during the maturity phase will also aim at developing and moving to new markets. The new markets will be moving and spreading the business to all across Australia and also to other countries around the world. The addition of multiple lines and product extension will ensure that market expansion becomes easy and will help to deal with the complex situation of maturing market Classic Designers has thereby identified the strategy to be used during maturity. In a similar manner organization also faces a declining phase where the return decreases despite increasing the investment. Organizations at the phase look to close down operations and develop strategies which are based on harvesting, maintenance, niche or profitable survivor so that a mechanism to deal with the prevalent market condition becomes possible (Chrisan, 2001). Classic Designers has thereby identified the following strategy for decline phase Harvesting: Classic Designers will look to reduce the expenses so that better returns in the short term can be ensured. Reducing cost will help to provide an opportunity for new development which will provide an opportunity to improve the manner in which better products can be delivered. The process will thereby improve the level of efficiency and bring the change that is required in the business process. Niche: Classic Designers will aim to eye a different niche market by developing and extending its product line to men and children. This will provide a new avenue to carry on business and will ensure better use of the resources. This will help the business to function normally and bring the required transformation through which business will be able to perform in a better manner Classic Designers has thereby developed different strategy for different phases of the business which will help to ensure effectiveness and ensure proper use of resources New Economy Market Organizations to be successful have to ensure that they are able to deal with the changing environment so that the different complexities are dealt in a manner which will ensure maximum effectiveness (Waeraas, 2008). Classic Designers based on the industry which they are performing has identified the following mechanism through which better services can be delivered in the new markets Increase in promotion: Classic Designers will aim to promote about their store aggressively so that more awareness about the product can be spread. This will help to create the required urge and will help to attract people. The store will further look at ensuring that providing different lucrative offers and promotional scheme so that the customer base can be increased and more and more people can be attracted towards the store. Improve customer satisfaction: Classic Designers will look to enhance customer satisfaction by providing quality products at competitive price. This will be matched by hiring the best employees so that the needs of the customers are understood and based on it quality products and services can be provided to its customers. Organizational Structure Organizational structure helps in decision making as it helps to develop authority and responsibility relationship through which better decisions can be taken. Organization looks to follow different structure like functional or product management or marketing management or matrix based on the need and requirements of the organization (Hines, 2006). Organization looks to choose a structure through which will provide best opportunity of growth. Classic Designers looks to use a matrix form of organizational structure so that every employee within the organization will be able to communicate with employees at even the top level. This will also make use of a vertical approach so that authority and responsibility relationship can be developed and will help to provide an opportunity for all employees to carry out the different functions (Doyle, 2008). The fact that Classic Designers looks at moving towards other markets so the organizational form of structure will help to bring the required changes and thereby ensure that the business gains from the structure so that better decisions are arrived and business opportunities multiply. Marketing Plan Classic Designers has identified the internal and external environment which has helped to come up with the following SWOT analysis Strengths Weakness Quality fashion clothing at competitive pricing enabling every section of the society to purchase it Limited brand name due to the fact that the organization is new and is not recognized in the market Increase in the customers looking for fashionable clothes High infrastructure cost Working on a different model which will ensure differentiation from others Unaware about the success and return due to new business opportunity which hasn’t been tested Technical and production know how of dealing with the different business needs Opportunities Threats Unfilled customer needs as people in search for new products which are fashionable is increasing Increasing cost of raw materials might impact the final price of the product Growing population base Rapidly changing consumer taste which might result in some of the products and clothing becoming wastage Improved technology Classic Designers also has developed a contingency plan to deal with the issues so that in case any problem arises and the original plan doesn’t provide the same return than it can be used. This will help to use the resources in the most effective manner and will ensure that wastage gets reduced (Clegg, Kornberger & Pitsis, 2012). The development of a contingency plan will provide an opportunity of continuous improvement and help them to work on their strengths so that a backup is developed which will assist the main objectives. Marketing Metrics Classic Designers will look to develop its market share by providing quality products at competitive rate so that better facilities can be provided to the customers. Classic Designers to develop its market share will look to maximize customer satisfaction by providing quality products as it will help them to develop a pool of loyal customers so that better services can be ensured (Alvarez & Casielles, 2005). Classic Designers can develop a pool of loyal customers only through the process of improved customer services. This will help to improve the market share as it will act as a point of differentiation and will provide an opportunity through which better products and services can be provided. Spreading awareness will act a point through which more and more people can be attracted and will help Classic Designers to develop a pool of loyal customers through which market share of Classic Designers will increase (Beal, 2000). The advantage at the juncture is that the degree of competition is very low which will help them to act as a leader and increase their market share. Marketing Audit Marketing audit is a process through which checks and progress can be monitored so that steps can be taken to improve the style of working. Organization looks to use different method of audit which can be based on market environment audit or objectives and strategy audit or organisation audit or company ethical audit etc (Aaker and McLoughlin, 2007). Classic Designers has identified the following marketing audit method Strategy Audit: Classic Designers through the process will look at continuous monitoring and making changes as and when required. The process will ensure that Classic Designers is able to understand the needs of the customers and is able to make changes so that better use of resources becomes possible Objective Audit: Classic Designers through the process of objective audit will aim to find out whether the business has been able to achieve its objective by making the required strategy changes (Berkman & Gilson, 2001). This will help to improve the process of developing new process so that transformation helps to ensure better business opportunities and will thereby ensure that the objectives of the business is achieved. Conclusion The report presents the complete marketing plan for Classic Designers by looking the different directions through which different phases of the business cycle is analyzed. It is seen that Classic Designers is at the introduction phase and has limited competition. Being able to market aggressively and creating a niche market will ensure maximum gains for the business. Classic Designers aims to multiply its product line and looks at product extension so that better facilities can be provided to its customers. This is matched by the different strategies which have been identified for the different phases so that better productivity can be ensured. This will thereby bring the required transformation through which effectiveness will be gained and will ensure opportunities of growth for the business. References Aaker, D. and McLoughlin, D. (2007). Strategic Market Management European Edt John Wiley Awni, R. (2008). Strategic position indicating. Translated by SeyedAmir Poya seyfzadeh, Management Selected Monthly, 78, 70. Alvarez, B. & Casielles, R. (2005). 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