The Marketing Mix of a South African Company - Term Paper Example

International Marketing Mix (Authors Name) (Institutional Affiliation) International Marketing mix Abstract The purpose of this report is to assess the marketing mix of a South African company that produces tissues called Twinsaver. For over thirty five years Twinsaver has been South Africa’s most popular and loved brand. Twinsaver has been able to produce reliable products that target the family. The colors of Twinsaver portray warmth and friendliness and it is because of this that it has become a largely popular brand amongst South Africans. Introduction A marketing mix is described as decision making framework that is comprised of four factors that together are aimed at satisfying the consumer needs. The four factors also referred to as the 4P’s include the product, price, place and promotion (Kotler 2006). Product Twinsaver has a variety of products that are manufactured for different uses in the family setting. They include the facial tissue that is manufactured with a blend of premium fibers that is intended to be kind on the consumer’s skin. The different types of facial tissues include the 2-ply tissue for the face, the 3-ply designed for sore irritating noses, the convenience packs that are pocket friendly and the style packs that that are tube shaped and fit in many cars. Twinsaver also produces the toilet paper that is endorsed using SABS so that they always remain soft and strong to the consumer. Twinsaver also produces roller towels that are absorbent and are intended for cleaning up spills. They also produce a variety of products under the category house and leisure. These are disposable products such as plastic bags, serviettes, cups and paper plates. These products are best suited for holding events such as kid’s parties and picnics. Twinsaver lastly produces the Hulett Foil that is available in both heavy and light variants and are essential in roasting and for home baking. The foils in the family setting are used to wrap up leftovers and packing lunch for the children. Price The various changes in the toilet paper regulations industry helped support the growth in the industry. One-ply toilet paper could only be sold in 500-sheet rolls, while the two-ply could only be sold in 350-sheet rolls. Twinsaver took advantage of this to put up a competitive price that catered for the needs of the low-income consumers. The two –ply tissue is sold at R222.00 compared to its competitors who are priced at R255.00. The Twinsaver one-ply tissue market price is currently R250.00 which is also favorable to both low-income and wealthy consumers. Place Twinsaver is mostly selling their products on major malls across South Africa which attracts a high number of consumers. For example during the “Soft side” campaign Twinsaver was able to attract over 2 million patrons through its massive involvement in the malls. The number of South African large, regional and super-regional currently is estimated to be 180 which is double the amount that was there 5 years ago. Most of South Africans go to their favorite malls sometimes to purchase an item or just for the experience. Thus Twinsaver availability in the malls makes it more reachable to its consumers. Promotion Twinsaver launched a campaign called getting South Africans on “the Soft Side”. The theme and the promotional activities were handled by promotional specialists called Isilumko Media. The objective of the campaign was to raise funds and also inform the people about Twinsaver’s cause which was to raise funds that will enable disadvantaged communities to start up organic vegetable gardens. The campaign took place and involved over 2 million mall patrons who were exposed to the promotional activity. The campaign strategy aimed at getting there involved maximum attention to the public about its initiative. The campaign also involved children who took part in coloring competitions. This allowed the Twinsaver campaign team to have more time with the parents and explain to them the fundraising initiative of the campaign. Part of the campaign was also to provide the people with an educational DVD that illustrated a step-to-step process on how to build your own organic garden. Twinsaver initiated this campaign due to the fact that campaigns that are driven by community based initiatives attract more support from the public resulting in a positive brand image. Figure 1.1 Twinsaver “soft side” promotions poster Standardization-adaptation framework The framework argues whether a company should standardize the marketing activities of its products all over the globe or adopt its marketing to a specific country. Svensson (2002) argues that cultural, political and economic conditions differ between nations thus this causes considerable difficulties to standardization of marketing activities. Other scholars for example Green (2008) support the importance of standardization as they state that globalization has homogenized the world markets and thus companies must focus on developing marketing strategies that target similar consumers across the world. Supporters of adaptation however argue that a company should keep into consideration that there is great cultural difference across countries (Theodosiou 2003). There are several factors that favor adaptations and they include the possibility of the company to gain high profits due to differentiation of their products to fit the needs of the consumers of the host country, there is less problems associated with government regulations and policies, the company can also has competitive advantage due to specification of its products and the subsidiaries are allowed to act autonomously and thus they are able to develop new products of their own that fetch high prices in their markets. Twinsaver on entering the Australian market should realize that the sanitary paper production industry in the country has been struggling for the past five years due to a rise in the imports that have greatly affected the profits margins. The industry has also been characterized with increasing input prices thus causing a decrease of 0.3 percent in revenues in 2013 to 2014. The Australian sanitary paper industry is in the withdrawal stage in its life cycle. Twinsaver should therefore focus on developing relationships with its customers and thus structure its products so that they can fulfill the needs of its customers in the Australian market. Twinsaver must thus position itself as company that successfully satisfies the needs of the people in the Australian market. Due to the fact that the industry is in the decline stage Twinsaver must thus also review its pricing in order to offer a price that gives it competitive advantage over its competitors. Due to the declining nature of the industry massive advertising will be costly to Twinsaver. The company should thus focus on building its brand and positioning itself as an international brand that produces the best quality sanitary papers that target the family setting. The Australian people choose their sanitary papers in terms of quality, value and price thus Twinsaver should position its brand to meet all these attributes. The Australian sanitary paper industry is segmented into four segments that include luxury papers, standard, economical and recycled sanitary paper. The nature and design of Twinsaver will allow it to sell its products under luxury, standard and economical sanitary papers. This will enable it to fetch huge profits in the market and also have a competitive advantage over its competitors Twinsaver marketing mix should also put into consideration environmental factors such as the legal and cultural factors and even the competition in the market. The biggest competitor to Twinsaver is Quilton from ABC. The company was the leading brand in 2011 and also in 2012. It has positioned itself as an affordable luxury toilet paper and has thus attracted a large customer base in Australia. References Green, M. C (2008) Global Marketing, 5th ed. NJ: Pearson International Edition Kotler, P. and Amstrong. G. (2006) Principles of Marketing, 11th ed., Pearson Education Inc, New Jersey Lages, L.F., Abrantes, J.L (2008). The Stratadapt Scale: A mearsure of marketing strategy adaptation to international Business Markets. International Marketing Review, Vol.25 (5) Theodosiou, M., & Leonidou (2003), Standardization versus Adaptation of International strategy: An intergrative Assessment of the Empirical Research. International Business Review, 12, 141-71 Svenson, G. (2002). Beyond Global Marketing and the Globalization of Marketing Activities, Management Decision, Vol. 40 (6), 574-583 Read More