Internet Marketing in the International Arena - Assignment Example

I.T. Strategy for Club IT Introduction The Club IT is a day and night club that aims on attracting people of all walks of life with an anticipated growth of membership of 10 percent every month after the launch of the new look website with enhanced member only section and the computerized transactions. The club covers an area of approximately 6,000 square feet, of which 600 square foot is allocated for dance floor, the seats occupy 220. It has a kitchen to serve short orders and appetizers. Club IT also has a bar with contains four pour-stations.  The club has embarked on a strategic plan to increase its operational efficiency, minimize costs, and computerize some of its operations and a have a bigger web audience in order to increase its profits. The club has two founders and owners; Lisa and Reuben. They both graduated in the 2000 with Business Administration. They got interested in entertainment while in college and after graduating they come together to start the Club IT. They are looking forward for an IT strategy that will boost their business to even greater heights. Club IT Mission and Primary Clientele. The mission of Club IT is to develop a conducive surrounding that accurately satisfies the dynamic tastes and wishes of its core clientele; college and middle aged women. Men are equally need, for when women come, men follow them. To attain this objective, Club IT will constantly improve its service quality and response to meet that of its customers in terms of drinks and foods, entertainment, environment and security of its customers. It’s not only the sounds, the liquor nor the lights of the club but its’ customers will come number one. We believe it will be fun. Club IT Information Resource. Club IT will have a strong pull of online resources that be shared between its customers. Each of the customers will have a portal where he or she can chat online with customer care staff. Customers will share all sorts of issues with fellow customers and using the invite friends tab, all people in their mail address contacts will receive such an invitation to join the Club IT. To minimize the time taken between ordering meals experienced by the current manual system, customers will automatically request for orders through an online real-time system to be implemented. The design of the Club IT Meals and Beverage System will have a minicomputer attached to each of the clients table. The customers click on the food and drinks of their choice and the information is forward to the receiving order computer in the Club IT kitchen. The orders are received with information indicating the table number the customers are. The receiving computer has a printer which prints the customer’s request list. This list is them given to the serving staff that has to serve the meal in less than three minutes. Unlike the current physical way where waiters have to be stationed at specific locations of the club taking orders from customers and taking them to the kitchen, the online system will reduce the redundancy where waiters have to manual take orders from customers take it to the kitchen and come back with the food or drinks. Waiters will be stationed at the Kitchen’s receiving order computer and only come with the food and drinks to the specified tables of the customers. The small size of Club IT has seen waiters congesting the flows and being too close to the customers. Some customers are uncomfortable with waiters who are close to them listening to their conversations. There will be two options of payment; cash and credit card. As the customer order for the meals he or she must choose the mode of payment. If he chooses the credit card he or she has to swipe his or her credit card in the card reader that is attached to each ordering computer on the customer table. Otherwise the ordering processing will not be complete and the order will not print at the other end. For customers who choose to pay cash, the system will simultaneously print a receipt at the cash office on a separate computer that has cash staff. Immediately this prints outer the cash staff will come to the table where the receipt originated to receive the money and he or she gives the receipt. This must be done before the waiter brings the food or drinks ordered. After the meals are brought the waiter has to sign on the receipt as he or she counter checks the meals bought against the meals paid for. Club IT Cost Leadership as Competitive Advantage Cost leadership can be applied at Club IT as a business strategy. Cost leadership basically defines how a Club IT will create the competitive advantage. Because of the improved online ordering system Club IT can operate at the lowest cost of operation in the nightclub business. This will be easily attained by Club IT because of the improved efficiency, scale, size and its manager’s cumulative efficiency. The reward scheme and the purported heavy interactive web presence is estimated to boost the number of customers in the club within short time. This increased population of customers is likely to drive costs low. Memo From: To: Lisa and Reuben Subject: Reward Scheme. The Club IT will run a reward scheme for all its registered members. Upon registering as members of Club IT, customers will receive a Club IT membership card. Each time a registered member has meals at the club, he or she will receive points to be determined by the managers of the club. These points are automatically generated depending on the cost of food he or she took. Members will also receive points for just hanging around the club for entertainment. However they will have to swipe their cards at the entrance of the club at the club’s card reader. The scheme will also involve introducing a friend to the club which will be automated. The customer can redeem their accumulated points through free meals and free entertainment at the club. There will be seasonal and even annually events to reward the customers with the highest points with free trips to tourist destinations as deemed by management and amount of customer’s points. The costs associated with this scheme are likely to diminish as the number of customers join the club and by extension the reward scheme. Reward Scheme Percentage Cost Reward Type 3% 10% Food 1 1.5 Drinks 2 3 Introducing a member 2 2 Entertainment 1 1.5 Total 6 8 Conclusion If the above strategy is implemented Club IT will be in a position to provide exceptional services that will develop a strong bond between the club and its members cum customers. Consistent tailor made entertainment atmosphere that is to be created by this strategy and high quality of service delivery will enhance the market share of the club IT with a high increase of membership each month. It will be equally easy to manage its cash flow and internal finances that will enhance an upward growth of the capital. Reference: Edward G. T. (2008). Internet marketing in the international arena: a cross-cultural comparison. International Journal of Business Strategy. Retrieved February 18, 2010 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_6766/is_3_8/ai_n31128434/?tag=content;col1 Read More