Chi_H_BUS121H Fundamentals of Marketing

Monday, February 27, 2012

Final Project- Implementation Evalution Control

“Marketing implementation is the process that turns marketing plans into marketing actions in order to accomplish strategic marketing objectives. Whereas marketing planning addresses the what and why of marketing activities, implementation addresses the who, where, when, and how.” (ARMSTRONG, KOTLER, Marketing An Introduction, chapter 2, page 33) Now we have our plan ready to go. We know what the product is. We know how we are going to sell it. We also know where to sell it. However, the questions come. Which domain do we buy? Which server hosting service do we use to handle the flow? Which local chocolate shops do we approach first? What promotions do we push out first? Questions like those can be asked all day long. The list can be endless.

“Many managers think that “doing things right” (implementation) is as important as, or even more important than, “doing the right things” (strategy). The fact is that both are critical to success …still, implementation is difficult—it is often easier to think up good marketing strategies than it is to carry them out.” (ARMSTRONG, KOTLER, Marketing An Introduction, chapter 2, page 33) Talking and drawing on papers are always easier to take actions. We also have to outlines the control that will be using to monitor the sale progress. After we able to answer most or all of the questions, then we can present our product to the world by different stages.

Final Project- Promotion

“Sales promotion is the most short-term of the promotion mix tools. Whereas advertising or personal selling says ‘buy,’ sales promotions say ‘buy now’” (ARMSTRONG, KOTLER, Marketing An Introduction, chapter 13, page 36). Promotion is short-term. The tools that will be used are samples and coupons. If you signed up for the newsletter from the website, you will receive a small sample. Sound great! But wait, it is the most effective way but it is also the most expensive way to promote a product. So the signed up for free sample will last a very short term.

The longer term promoting method is giving out coupons. Each of the people who signed up for newsletter will receive a unique coupon code every month. A coupon will expire in 30 days and it can only be used once. From 15% - 30% off to free shipping, we do it this way for the customers so that they feel unique and special. “Most consumers love coupons. U.S. package-goods companies distributed more than 317 billion coupons last year with an average face value of $1.44. Consumers redeemed more than 2.6 billion of them for a total savings of about $3.7 billion” (ARMSTRONG, KOTLER, Marketing An Introduction, chapter 13, page 39). The impact of coupons is huge. And online coupon is even better. Who wouldn’t want to enter a simple code to get free shipping? That is one of our ways to keep customers in a good relationship.

Final Project- Distribution

Sweet Nightmares is a brand. It is not the most expensive-high-class chocolate brand but it is a special and unique gift brand. Seriously, if you buy yourself a gift, there will be no surprises. That’s why it is a gift brand. And it cannot compete with the low price chocolate brand because there is always one that has the lower price.

It has to choose its distribution technique carefully. Exclusive distribution is the one of the best way to go. We do that by “giving a limited numbers of dealers the exclusive right to distribute the company’s products in their territories” (ARMSTRONG, KOTLER, Marketing An Introduction, chapter 10, page 26). The product distributes through mainly the local chocolate shops. People would be able to walk into one of the local chocolate shops to buy our unique Sweet Nightmares products.

“Good-value pricing has involved redesigning existing brands to offer more quality for a given price or the same quality for less” (ARMSTRONG, KOTLER, Marketing An Introduction, chapter 9, page 8). Yes, people can still buy our products online. However, we will team up with most of the local shops to offer even lower prices and no shipping involved. It means that if you walk into the shop, you can get it right away at a cheaper price. And all the local chocolate shops can get our products at the lower price. Customers pay less and get same quality, which also create a win-win-win situation for the brand, customers, and the local shops.

Final Project- Price

“For most purchases, consumers don’t have all the skill or information they need to figure out whether they are paying a good price” (ARMSTRONG, KOTLER, Marketing An Introduction, chapter 9, page 42). Yes, they don’t have the time and ability to figure out if they are getting the best price. Most of the time, we have to give helpful hints like: price-matching guarantees.

Most importantly, it is not how much they pay. It is how much value they get. Would someone pay $99999.99 for a box of chocolates? Yes, of course there is. Would the Sweet Nightmares sell at that price? No, because it doesn’t worth that value. It would be in the $20- $60 pricing range. There is also be promotional pricing, “temporarily pricing products below the list price, and sometimes even below cost, to increase short-run sales” (ARMSTRONG, KOTLER, Marketing An Introduction, chapter 9, page 42). The Sweet Nightmares will do promotional pricing during holidays including: New Year, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and etc.

The Sweet Nightmares is a product of happiness and surprises. In another words, it is a box of chocolates which has ten same looking but different tastes chocolates. Happiness, surprises, and chocolates are just wants not needs, people can survive with them. But if we set the right price to persuade people that they are getting the right values, then it would be win-win situation.

Final Project- Product

“Quality has a direct impact on product or service performance; thus, it is closely linked to customer value and satisfaction.” (ARMSTRONG, KOTLER, Marketing An Introduction, chapter 7, page 13.) Product quality is the major tool to position itself in the market. When we talk about product quality, it has two dimensions: level and consistency. Level is the most important key factor to position itself. The Sweet Nightmares is an online chocolate product brand. It is a low-to-middle gift brand. We do that by keep our costs as low as possible. Actually, a box of same looking chocolates can reduce our costs. When it comes to different tastes, we have to place special orders on manufactures. We offer not a box of chocolates but happiness and surprises.

“Beyond quality level, high quality also can mean high levels of quality consistency.” (ARMSTRONG, KOTLER, Marketing An Introduction, chapter 7, page 14.) The Sweet Nightmares will strive for high levels of conformance quality. Since the business has none official line shop, it focuses mainly online. In another words, we have more money for higher quality of the products. The Sweet Nightmares will constantly remind people its own features: ten same looking but different taste of chocolates in a small-fun size gift box, using only the fine chocolates, and fast shipping. And it offers happiness and surprises!

Final Project- Target Market Strategy

The strategy we will be focusing on is standardized global marketing which stands for “an international marketing strategy for using basically the same marketing strategy and mix in all the company’s international markets” (ARMSTRONG, KOTLER, Marketing An Introduction, chapter 15, page 26). Can you design a strategy for everyone? The answer is no because it is impossible.

At first, we did try to adapted the business market strategy to fit everyone since different parts of the world has different cultures. However, after doing the market targeting by “process of evaluating each market segment’s attractiveness and selecting one or more segments to enter” (ARMSTRONG, KOTLER, Marketing An Introduction, chapter 6, page 4), we decided to target the most general targets: 16 to 45 age group of customers or the “Generation Y or called the "Net Generation."

Most importantly, the Sweet Nightmares is not an expensive product. It is a product for fun and happiness. Most of them are willing to try new things and shop online. We keep the prices in the right range that they feel they get the right value. When you buy our chocolates, you buy happiness and surprises.

Final Project- Situation or SWOT Analysis

Since the Sweet Nightmares is a new brand. And it will be hard to put it up in line shops when we start. In another words, we will be focusing on online first. It will be mainly an online business at a start.

SWOT analysis (Sweet Nightmares and Online business):

Strengths: Sweet, Cheap, Global reach of business, Purchase price will be less than off line shops, Low cost to maintain the website, Easy to keep in touch with customers by emails, sms, and etc. in order to build a great relationships

Weaknesses: Causes health problems (come on, it is chocolate…), Difficult to manufacture (because our product is a box of chocolates which they all look the same, to reach that goal, we will place order on manufacturers to fit our need), Lack of shop brand recognition (Do you order chocolates from eBay?), Take time to build trusts with customers

Opportunities: target on 16 to 45 age group of customers or the “Generation Y as the "Net Generation," internet users in their twenties do not dominate every aspect of online life. Generation X is the most likely group to bank, shop and look for health information online.” (Sydney Jones, March 12, 2012, http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1093/generations-online), Use SEO to reduce advertising costs

Threats: “Threats are unfavorable external factors or trends that may present challenges to performance” (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, print page 55), let put it into simple words: there are other many online websites, which sell chocolates.

Those above conclude all the SWOT analysis. We will be going online since it is cheaper to maintain so we can offer cheaper prices on the chocolates. But we have to do special orders to the chocolate manufacturers (but it is our selling point!). Sweet Nightmares will focus on the Gen Y, the net generation. However, we are not the first one to come up with that idea but we will be the best one!