Marketing Strategy, Experimental Test - Juzi Accessories - Case Study Example

Marketing Strategy: Experimental Test Plan [Name] [Professor Name] [Course] [Date] Abstract: Analysis of capability of the options with reference to performance, risk analysis and economic analysis during Juzi’s business case analysis concluded that implementing a ‘dynamic marketing strategy’ was the most preferable option. The option integrates vibrant Sales and marketing power as well as investing in marketing and public relations to achieve the much-needed global acceptance (Woodside n.d.). It is most likely to ensure more profitability and visibility of the company as it satisfied most of the assessed criteria, thus proving as the best intervention. This paper details the experimental test plan for the option (Assel 1985). I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This experimental test plan features the experimental process involved in the evaluation of the performance, appropriateness and effectiveness of its sales and marking option, with the aim of increasing its visibility geographically as well as increase its profitability. The experimental design will assess marketing strategy option (which the company selected in assignment 2) and find out how well it will perform compared with the old marketing strategy. Juzi has attempted to adopt unique business models that are accustomed to the delivery of its ambitious growth strategy leading to its domination in the retail jewel market. Its successful strategy had initially relied on four aspects that were key contributors to its successful business (Tracy 2000). The four include its competitive strategy, good executive leadership and its strengths and weaknesses assessment. Juzi expects to expand its outlets in Asia and the United States to cater for the growing demand of eco-friendly jewellery in the regions, even as it currently has 12 outlets across Africa and Europe. Unfortunately, the company is currently operating under strict budged even as it experiences losses. Given the rising demand for eco-friendly product, Juzi has considered further expansion to satisfy the high demand as well as increased the size of its staff. Juzi is however faced with stiff competition and its financial reports have showed that the company is losing its customer base (Juzi Online n.d). The experimental plan is expected to take three months. The experimental test plan is intended to evaluate the performance, appropriateness and weaknesses of the sales and marketing option as it seeks to apply practical strategies that optimise its core capabilities and dynamism (Leahy n.d). Ideally, the company faces potential competition from jewellers who show the potential to venture into using ethically sourced materials, which could further affect its market share. Beside, an analysis of the entry barriers shows they are comparatively low as the company has not set up strong distribution chains even as it lacks a strong financial background. This shows the company has no upper hand over competitors. Even as the enterprise has employed strategies, it is confronted by different challenges that have prompted it to diversify their strategies to maintain their market share, extend geographical frontier through acquisitions and organic growths (Wen-feim 2004, p2). Faced by the imminent threat from online jewellery stores, Juzi is unceasingly in pursuit of horizontal, vertical and geographical expansion by pushing for technology applications as an integral part of its strategy. The company has trampled on its competitors through its supremacy in inventory management and supply-chain logistics (Gamble, Strickland and Thompson 2007, p102). Juzi expects its online strategy to contribute further to the bottom line. II. CAPABILITY OPTION DEFINITION Juzi Accessories plans to integrate a dynamic sales and marketing strategy in order to improve its competitiveness and operational efficiency. The company is conducting an experimental test plan to assess the applicability, suitability and efficiency of the option. The option is not meant to replace but to supplement four parts of its corporate strategy. Juzi has clear and distinct objectives accentuated by four parts of its corporate strategy. The four parts include dominating the jewellery market, expanding globally, global recognition and customer satisfaction as well as branching out into new sectors. Juzi’s options can be evaluated based on these objectives. Although the existing corporate strategy is not a liability to the organisation, it has not been effective in achieving the much-needed global acceptance, which would consequently make inroads for future expansion plans. The marketing strategy will be required to create superior customer value. This is congruent with Juzi’s existence as a market-driven company. The strategy will bring a set of values and principles that put the interest of the customer at the fore. The strategy will be required to develop a market orientation to ease the creation, dissemination, and application of market information and to coordinate application of resources that can deliver greater customer value (Porter 1996). The superior sales and marketing capabilities will enable the company to create and make informed decisions on actions and reactions of competitors in the new frontiers. The process will generate knowledge and information that can be applied in ways that can support delivery of greater customer value, which will help the firm in developing a strong basis for competitive advantage, which would result in better financial performance. To ensure this however, the strategy would have to ensure that the sales and marketing criteria can sustain their capabilities, add value to the firm and be difficult for competitors to imitate (Bernhardt et al 1983). This experimental design will take 3 months. The period will allow for the strategy to be conceived. It will also allow for the sales staff to be trained before the sales and marketing strategy is integrated into the business. The period is also adequate for the company to appraise how best to optimise the implied strategy. The sales and marketing staff will be trained by a hired consultant in collaboration with the company’s human resource department. The training is to ensure that the sales and marketing staff consistently apply knowledge and skills in meeting the company’s marketing needs. In the course of meeting the marketing needs of the company tangible and intangible resources will have to be combined. In this way, marketing capabilities will not be viewed as resources but as integrative processes through which the resources as used to add value to the firm. Following these concerted efforts, coordinated efforts between the sales and marketing staff and other resources take place. Thus the strategy must ensure it coordinates the sales staff and the resources repeatedly. Through this, the company is able to develop processes from which the marketing capabilities can be based on. Additionally, the staffs are able to put into use their knowledge and skills in meeting the marketing needs of the company. When the company’s staffs are ultimately able to apply the knowledge to meet the company’s marketing needs, the company’s marketing capabilities will be improved. Ultimately, when the capabilities at the functional level that add value are incorporated across the company and across a range of product-market to ensure and sustain competitive advantage, then the company’s core capability will have been developed. III. EXPERIMENTAL MEASURES The new marketing strategy will be appraised based on measure of effectiveness (MOE), measures of performance (MOP) and measure of suitability (MOS). The main parameters for the experimental test plan, including MOE, MOP and MOS, will be evaluated, as indicated in the table below. The parameters have been validated against the criterion, such as reliable, valid and credible. Rational Measure of effectiveness (MOE) Segment combination development To establish whether the marketing strategy can be integrated fully into the business by examining any limitation or additional requirements. Support To establish whether the marketing strategy can support the marketing needs of the business, and find out whether there is any equipment, methods or instruments needed to ensure the task is completed. To be assessed to determine the better equipment, methods or instruments to ensure the task is completed first. Training To find out the best means of implementing the strategy to meet the marketing needs of the company. Measure of performance (MOP) Customer satisfaction To determine whether the marketing strategy can influence customer behavior and sustain the behavior across all seasons. Measure of suitability (MOS) Sustenance To determine the factors necessary for maintaining the marketing mix, as well as evaluate better methods of enhancing its implementation to increase its suitability and reliability. Reliability Availability Table 1: Experimental measures IV. EXPERIMENT VARIABLES To guarantee the success of the experimentation, the variable, indicators and attributes will be evaluated under controllable and uncontrollable factors (Tracy 2000). They are summarized below. Controllable Location – the setting of a specific marketing scenario can be controlled although to a limited extent. To manage the scenario during the experiment, the length of time must be defined for the data to be collected and recorded. Cost – the cost of each marketing scenario under experimentation is controllable as it can be predicted and scaled out to fit the specified budget. Time – the scheduling of certain marketing mix for specific scenarios when the experiment is being carried out can be flexible. If the circumstances for managing a scenario have no specific approach, then starting it can face some form of holdup. Documentation – the daily marketing scenarios can be controlled using various suitable documentations, such as documented procedures and data collection sheets. Events – the actions that will take place within each scenario can be controlled. The researcher should schedule his time adequately in each marketing scenario for the date to be captured and validated. Human factors – for the specific marketing scenarios to be completed successfully, then the proper personnel should be appointed to the right scenario. The personnel should as well be trained to ensure they are proficient so that they can observe customer behavior, assess certain marketing mix and evaluate possible interference in the experimentation. The personnel should also be competent enough so that they can understand the elements and significance of each marketing mix to ensure the data collected is reliable and valid. Uncontrollable Weather – controlling the weather, although controllable when experimenting specific marketing scenarios are selected at the right time when the weather is favorable, can as well be uncontrollable when the weather conditions of the experiment cannot be controlled. In this way, the results of the experiment can be compromised as the events may have to be altered and not finished appropriately. In addition, observations may be difficult to be carried out when during unfavorable weather. Human factors – There is no guarantee that individuals carrying out the experiment cannot influence the elements of the experiment. They may be less objective on their observation and recording of data. They may also record misleading data once they misread or miss crucial data during significant marketing scenarios. In addition, they may not fully understand the purpose of certain marketing scenarios and at some instances change the results of the experiment. Timing and cost of experiment – the timing and cost of experiments can also be uncontrollable when equipment and tools used in conducting the marketing experience fail, thus delaying the allocated time leading to change of schedule. In such instances, unforeseen events, bad weather, unavailable personnel, inaccessible location can as well interfere with the allocated schedule. In addition, repairing the failed components may increase the cost of the experiment, thus interfering with the allocated budget. Overall, the relationship between the variables (input and output) is that the inputs will be assessed based on specified test parameters where the output is mapped against MOS’s, MOP’s and MOE’s, to verify that the test plan is useful. V. EXPERIMENTAL OVERVIW AND PROCEDURE The experiment is expected to take three phases, namely the pre-experiment phase, the experiment phase and lastly the post-experiment phase. a) The pre-experiment phase This phase includes generating test plan and composing the modifications for the marketing strategy. The test plan is supposed to feature the aspects of the parameters that should be tested such as segment combination or suitability of the specific marketing mix. The test plan should as well indicate where and when the experiments will be carried out and how they will be sustained. Modification of the marketing strategy will depend on whether it can integrate a range of marketing mix at specific marketing scenarios. This may call for addition of certain elements of the marketing strategy or deletion. In addition, certain elements of the old marketing strategy may be transferred and incorporated in the new strategy. b) Experiment phase The marketing test is expected to take a period of three months, meaning the marketing strategies will have been formulated and implement within the time. At the same time, the sales and marketing staff will have been trained. In all, the training will take one week. The assessment of the test will involve a review of the marketing options and the specified marketing mix at various marketing scenarios. Here, marketing option models will include unique modeling solution as they have the potential to influence the mix of marketing options that are likely to influence individual customer behavior within a strategic segment. c) Post-experiment phase This face will involve collection of date, assessment of the success of the experiment at various marketing scenarios and reviewing the results of the experiment. In all, the experiment results of the test plan will be evaluated and the analysis results be incorporated into the new marketing strategy to improve its functionality. The results will further show the performance of the business in the future, particularly in influencing customer behavior and influencing sales. The results will be crucial for fixing problems that may arise, thus improving the effectiveness, reliability and appropriateness of the marketing strategy. VI. DATA COLLECTION To assess and collect the data for improving the marketing strategy during the experiment phase, the methods of test plan will involve a case study of the marketing mix within specific marketing scenarios. In order to examine the everyday functioning of marketing mix, it is essential to scrutinize them in context. This method of research will focus on understanding the fundamentals of the marketing mix. Typically, case studies make use of varied data collections methods such as interviews, observation, questionnaires, document analysis and observation. In conducting the research, the data collection method will set off with observation of the customer behaviour, preferences and response with regard to the company’s products. Quasi experiments tend to be very practical, which is also their key strength (Polit and Beck 2008). In the practical world however, the method may be difficult to use in conducting true experiments, as it may prove difficult to deliver innovative treatment on random basis to some respondents but not to others. This kind of empirical study will be used for estimating the fundamental effects of company products on its target population. These experimental designs will have some research control in cases where full experimental strictness is not attainable. Further, they will not involve random assignments; they are in a better position to be accepted by a broader group of people. Sequentially, this affects the generalizability of the results although the major problem is that the results are often less irrefutable (Denzin and Lincoln, 2000). Methods of data collection will include use of questionnaires, interviews and observation. a) Questionnaires Questionnaires will be issued out to the customers at the Juzi retail outlets. The questionnaires may also be distributed to those customers whose emails are recorded in the company database. The questionnaire will be prepared by the company’s marketing department and will query issues such as the customer preferences and experience on using the company’s products. A sample questionnaire is provided below. Juzi questionnaire 1. Would you recommend Juzi products to your friends? Yes No 2. Was the customer service provided satisfactorily? Yes No 3. Do you feel that Juzi products meet your preferences? Yes No 4. How did you learn about Juzi? 5. How do you rate our services? 6. What would you suggest to make us improve our services? 7. What do u think we should do to improve our services 8. What do u think we should do to improve our services Table 3. Juzi evaluation questionnaire The questionnaire is intended to indicate to the business whether its products meet customer needs, the areas that need improvement and whether the company’s customer service is provided excellently. In all, this provides data whether the company’s segment-based marketing is appropriate or whether they are futile. The participants will respond voluntarily and the questionnaires will remain anonymous. Even so, the identifying data of the customers who choose not to respond to the questionnaires will be recorded to exempt them from assessment compliance (Denzin and Lincoln, 2000). The total number of responses will then be collected and the date processes and analyzed through the Microsoft Excel program and the SPSS (Denzin and Lincoln, 2000). Interviews The company’s sales staff with carry out the interviews. They will be required to interview the customers verbally at the retail outlets or through the telephone. Some of the questions to be included in the interview include. a) Are you satisfied with Juzi’s customer service? b) How did you learn about juzi products? c) Do you feel that Juzi should improve its marketing strategy? d) What are your suggestions on how Juzi should improve its services? In all, the interviews will provide the company with the basis on what needs to be done to improve the appropriateness, reliability and performance of its marketing strategy. The responses will enable the company to modify its marketing strategy. a. Observation The customer behaviour will also be observed while using the Juzi products. Here, it will be critical to understand whether the marketing strategies in force have influence customer preferences. For instance, whether more sales are reported and wether the high sales are seasonal and what fashion in trend influences the types of products the customers buy. The results of the observation will offer the company the trend on how the customer behaviour can be modified or sustained, and whether there are some requirements needed to improve the effectiveness of the strategy (Crotty 1998). The observational method, interviews and the questionnaire instruments have extensive applicability. When used jointly, they have the potential to gather information on characteristics, behavior, conditions of individuals, performances and activities. The observational technique can be applied in measuring the range of phenomenon, such as the customer behavior and preferences. In addition, small elements of activities and global behavior of customers with regard to the fashion in trend can be made directly through the human insight (Denzin and Lincoln 2000). VII. EVOLUTION OF EXPERIMENT To indicate the evolution of the experiment, a section of the test plan will contain tests of different parameters. From the outset, the sales staff will be trained no how to put the marketing strategy into force. The sales team will further be trained on how to adjust themselves in different marketing scenarios and how to interact with the customers during collection of data in a professional manner. Any issue or actions observed will be documented. Later, the marketing strategy will be tested on the number of marketing mix it can integrate and how effective they are. The information will also be documented and compared to the old strategy and evaluated, so that in case there is an area that needs improvement, then it will be modified. Limitations The major limitation is the customer response. There is no guarantee that the customers will want to answer the questionnaires, and whether they will return the questionnaires within the specified time. In addition, the sales team who are conducting the experiment may not be in a position to predict customer preference just by observing their behavior. This may further be hindered by the fact that analysis of customer behavior may require significant amount of time as typically, customer behavior is affected by the season or the current fashion (Gamble, Strickland and Thompson 2007). References Assel, Henry. 1985. Marketing Management Strategy and Action. Boston: Kent Publishing Company. Bernhardt, Kenneth L., and Kinnear, Thomas C. 1983. Principles of Marketing. Scott, Foresman and Company. Crotty, M. 1998. The Foundations of Social Research: Meaning and Perspective in the Research Process. London. SAGE Publications Ltd. Denzin, N. & Lincoln, Y. 2000. Handbook of Qualitative Research. London. Sage Publication Inc. Gamble, J., Strickland & A, Thompson, A. 2007. Crafting & Executing Strategy, 15th Ed., New York, McGraw-Hill Juzi Online, n.d. Juzi [Online] Retrieved from [http://www.juzionline.com/about-us-pg-1?osCsid=7dkvs8k6mkcr3jekol8cb97dk7] 16 May 2013 Leahy, K. n.d. Marketing Options Models. 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