Samsung Company - Marketing Planning - Case Study Example

INDIVIDUАL RЕFLЕСTIVЕ RЕРОRT – МАRKЕTING РLАNNING Name: Institution: Table of Contents Introduction 3 Marketing objectives 3 Current state 3 Objectives 4 Target marketing 5 Positioning 7 Marketing mix plans 8 Pricing and product strategies 9 Distribution strategies 10 Promotion strategies 10 Conclusion 11 Individual rеflесtivе rероrt – маrkеting рlаnning Introduction This report recommends that the Samsung Company ought to establish a marketing plan to make it more competitive in the future. A SWOT analysis of the company’s marketing strategies indicates that it has to address various issues. To remain competitive in the market, the company has to advance customer relations management systems and improve online marketing platforms. To counter the perpetually increasing competition, the company needs to have a deeper and wider market penetration through online avenues that target international markets. In addition, the organization should review its market segmentation strategies to maximize sales in the current and dynamic market trends in the electronics business. To enforce these changes, this report details the marketing objectives the firm should adopt in one year. Recommendations on improved market segmentation, and product positioning schemes that will be best for the company are discussed. The report also discusses how the changes will be absorbed and implemented to achieve the desired goals. This report concludes by reviewing the benefits the changes will have to the firm in both the short term and long term cycles. Marketing objectives Current state The first step in setting marketing objectives is to conduct an internal and external research on the market environments. This enables the firm to identify opportunities available effectively and react to threats that arise in the market equally. This is achieved by maximizing on the firm’s strengths and managing its weaknesses. The company is currently, the second most dominant in the market, enjoying a 15% market share internationally. This is as a result of the firm’s massive brand awareness efforts across the world. Its success is also based on large scale production, which yields economies of scale. Decentralization of the firm has also contributed to its success by responding to issues aptly across all market regions, facilitating timely performance. The company has conducted a far reaching promotional program and expanded the range of products it produces. Nevertheless, the company is yet to incorporate an integrated customer relations system that combines all its market segmentations (Blick, 2011). This, therefore, poses a threat of poor customer retention strategy, which increases the risk of losing customers to competitors. In addition, the firm has low online presence, especially on social media platforms. This makes it miss a large pool of potential consumers who use the online platforms. The firm would lose a large number of potential customers, especially the youths, to the competitors who utilize social media sites for promotion and online sales. Therefore, a marketing plan ought to be developed to address the two issues and counter the heightened competition (Ottman, 2011). Objectives To address the concerns raised and manage the situation, the firm ought to develop detailed, realistic, quantifiable, and manageable goals. They will determine how the firm will perform in the future in comparison to the present state. The goals must remain in line with the overall organizational objectives, as well as its vision and mission. Good service to the clients is important for the success of the firm, considering the intense competition today (Shankar &Carpenter, 2012). In addition, re-assessment of the range of brands the company offers to its clients should be reviewed to meet all consumer needs and develop user confidence in the firm, which is likely to challenge the competitors. An integrated customer relationship management system will promote growth through improved customer satisfaction, which will expand the firm’s market share across the world. Improved online presence will also supplement advertising efforts by making the firm’s brands popular, allowing it to counter competition easily (Viardot, 2004). To achieve the desired market in the future, the firm has to put the following factors in place in the next six months: a. Establish a central integrated customer relationship management system that can support unlimited data entries. This should improve customer services by 15%. b. Establish online sites, including social media accounts, websites, live chat, and organizational blogs to interact with customers throughout the day and night. These sites should keep customers updated on events, new products, and other service related information. c. Establish a fully operational online selling platform, which is active throughout. This should improve sales by 10% over the next one year. d. Expand the total market share by 5%. Target marketing Market targeting and segmentation are critically important in effective market planning. A defined target market provides a foundation for consistent decision making processes. Market segmentation is crucial for any business, since it enables the firm to concentrate its resources on the most promising region. In addition, segmentation of the market facilitates market differentiation to allow the firm to address diverse issues in many market segments (Hunt, 2010). The firm targets a wide international market that needs to be segmented to ensure effectiveness in customer satisfaction. The international market exhibits diversity in terms of psychographics, behavior, and demographics. However, the firm should focus on adding value to segments it has not yet ventured into. This should be done after conducting a market research to find out if venturing into the segment would be profitable. As a result, the firm should expand its approach of segmentation to cover a wider region of the target market (McDonald & Dunbar, 2012). The firm should consider developing and implementing an integrated segmentation process that considers all marketing factors. This type of segmentation is more effective since it focuses on addressing the issues of specific segments’ separately. The company will, therefore, strategize on its marketing plan based on the needs of each segment to ensure it remains relevant to its customers. Specific brands would be produced targeting precise market segments. In terms of demographics, the market would be segmented based on age, location, income, and life cycle. For instance, age would be differentiating the customers into three groups, the young, middle-aged and the elderly. On psychographics, the market would be segmented based on value estimation, generational priorities as well as behavioral tendencies. It is recommended that the firm targets the age between 25 and 50 years as the central target. This is because they represent the highest population and earn the highest income. In addition, more than three quarter of this segment use smart phones forming a wide potential market (Wedel & Kamakura, 2009). Those below the age of 25 years and have medium income should form the secondary target of the organization’s brands. This is because these segments represent a group that is potentially viable and is most likely to use the products in the near future. Attention should be focused on all electronic users and those in areas that have supporting factors such as electricity and internet. Research shows that the highest online spending individuals fall in the age bracket between thirty and fifty years. The online platform should, therefore, be utilized to target this group. Positioning The firm has adopted a competitive market positioning strategy with a focus on mass production, enabling low pricing, which facilitates realization of economies of scale. Nevertheless, the firm has failed in the customer management and retention processes. This includes slow responses to customer related issues, issuance of warranties that are sometimes not delivered, and poor customer service. This fails to meet the expectations of the consumers exposing the firm to replacement by more efficient competitors. The also fails to meet all the thresholds it advertises in its operations frustrating customer expectations. This would also shift the customer’s confidence to the firm’s competitors who are keen to deliver their promises to the letter (Burkard, 2011). The main reason why the competitors are encroaching into the firm’s market share is because they deliver quality after sale services in addition to quality goods. They offer detailed information about their products and services, attracting an extensive share of the market. The competitors deliver their promises to customers on time and with quality. Extensive training of the work force is another strategy the competitors have adopted to satisfy customer needs and expectations. They also play quality and assurance alongside low prices to command a wider market share. It is recommended that the firm review these shortfalls to counter the competitor’s effort to command a wide market share. The market share of the firm would shift positively when concentrated on customer satisfaction as opposed to what the firm can produce (Luther, 2001). This will attract more customers, creating a wider market segment. Research indicates that most customers are service oriented more than product oriented when they are purchasing a product. An online selling platform will be of great importance to the firm, especially while targeting the segment between the age of 25 and 50. This group spends more time and resources and would be effectively reached through this channel. Utilization of online services would enable the firm to offer detailed information about its products, services, prices, and variety of products and services. In addition, it would enhance a more effective form of communication between the organization and its customers. This way, the firm would reach the younger generation better, which forms its central market segment and is hardly accessible through the traditional approaches in the modern technological world. The firm should aim at utilizing these platforms to expand its market position to enhance customer satisfaction. It is, therefore, recommended that the firm develops a marketing mix from product to service orientation perception. The firm is also recommended to improve its online activates to tap a wider market share, especially the young people. Marketing mix plans This aspect is adopted by an organization to add value to its effectiveness in its marketing strategies. It is crucial that the firm aligns its strategies, policies, procedures, business plan, goals, vision, and mission to maintain consistency in their operations (McDonald, 2011). It ensures that the company provides reasonable and quality propositions to the customers. It is recommended that the firm reviews its marketing strategies to integrate modern marketing trends, especially to due to technological advancement (Stephenson, 2005). Pricing and product strategies The firm ought to review the relevance of its brands in the target market relative to those of its competitors. The firm ought to establish whether to expand on its current wide range of smart phones or advance into more innovative products. This factor has been the key to differentiation by competitors who have previously developed more advanced electronic models. Failure to review this aspect would confine the firm to its current market position (Gelder & Woodcock, 2003). This creates a differentiating aspect by competitors that could offer a competitive advantage. It is, therefore, recommended that the firm ventures into more innovative electronic products that would offset their competitor’s to create a wider brand variety and a greater market share (Weingand, 2009).. Additional segments may be realized as a result of development of new products, hence creating a wider market for future and formerly produced products. However, the firm should not venture into producing products that require additional staff training as this would pose a challenge in its marketing process. Subsequently, it should engage in producing simple-to- use products that will target a wide range of users without additional training on its use. This is because the firm targets an international market, which may be a challenge to train, especially in a competitive field. This will also ensure that the firm minimizes its costs while ensuring quality and customer satisfaction (Dent, 2011). To counter competition effectively, the firm should create awareness of its lines of products to all potential customers or the target market for specific products. The firm may also embark on installing more features in its products to enhance their quality. Using the online platforms to make sales, the firm should carry out assessments to track the purchasing trends in the market. The information collected should be utilized to differentiate market segments and ensure each segments’ needs are met. It is also important that the firm avails detailed information about its products and services through the internet. This is because the customers cannot touch the products physically to evaluate their features. Products sold online should have extended return services and warranties to foster customers’ confidence (Ferrell & Hartline, 2011). This is because trustworthiness is a great deterrent to online purchases. It is also important to utilize online marketing strategies to promote price comparison compared to the competitors’ prices. Justification for reduced prices would be launched to foster customer loyalty. However, the firm should concentrate on not only prices, but also in confidence, details, and customer privacy. Distribution strategies The firm should establish functional and transactional online platforms to integrate into the procurement systems, shipping procedures, and customer relations. The website should be easily navigable, fast, and reliable. The delivery process of online purchases should also meet customer expectations (Paley, 2007). This would ensure effective distribution from the firm to all the clients, regardless of their location. This would be enhanced by establishing a central distribution unit in the firm. Promotion strategies The firm should maximize online promotional methods, while not undermining other aspects of promotion. Televisions, radios, catalogues and print media should also be utilized to reach out to the clients (Green, 2006). Links between elements in marketing All marketing is interdependent in achieving marketing goals. A consistent plan should integrate all the elements to achieve the set goals (Rogers, 2001). The management should keep monitoring the progress of all the elements to ensure they achieve the best results. Conclusion The report mainly focuses on market analysis that seeks to expand its market share and improve its promotion strategies. 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