BSBMKG609 Develop a Marketing Plan Assessment Task 2

BSBMKG609 Develop a Marketing Plan

Assessment Task 2

1. For the organisation outlined in the case study materials from Assessment Task 1, and using the strategies and tactics developed in Assessment Task 1, you will need to prepare a marketing plan using the headings below.
2. Executive summary

A marketing plan is a comprehensive document or blueprint that outlines a company's advertising and marketing efforts for the coming year. It describes business activities involved in accomplishing specific marketing objectives within a set time frame.

Houzit is a chain of homewares stores in Brisbane that specialise in bathroom fittings, bedroom fittings, mirrors and decorative items. They currently have 15 stores spread across the greater Brisbane area, with all stores being managed and coordinated from their head office in Milton.

I have recently been appointed as the marketing manager and must now review the organisation and devise marketing strategies that will move Houzit towards its strategic goals.

The CEO has also asked you to consider some marketing opportunities that may assist Houzit in reaching its goals, and provide him with brief summary evaluating two alternatives, including the benefits and risks associated with each option, and making a recommendation for the opportunity most likely to produce results.

Houzit is close to entering its fifth year of operation; offering a wide range of home-ware items on easy-to-manage payment terms and supplies a three year guarantee on every item sold.

The typical target customers have the following characteristics:

sophisticated people who are house proud

shoppers who will drive to an easy-to-access store

customers who require payment plans to spread their commitment over an extended period

renovators and new home builders

20–50 year olds.

Houzit recognises the following trends and focuses its efforts on them.

Quality – Preference for high quality items is increasing as customers are learning to appreciate differences in quality.

Unique items – Customers want homewares that stand out from mass-produced, low quality items.

Selection – People are demanding a larger selection of choices, they are no longer accepting a limited selection of homewares.

1. SWOT analysis

Strengths:

• Excellent staff who are highly skilled and knowledgeable about homewares.
• Great retail space that is bright, functional and efficient for a commercial urban district.
• High customer loyalty among repeat customers.
• Assortment of offerings that exceed competitors’ offerings in quality, range and accessibility.

Weaknesses:

• A limited marketing budget to develop brand awareness due to the lack of critical mass and store cover.
• The struggle to continually fund the growing long-term repayment plans taken out by our customers.

Opportunities:

• A growing market in a high growth area with a significant percentage of the target market still not aware of Houzit’s offer.
• Increasing sales opportunities outside of our target area – greater Brisbane.

Threats:

• Competition from local independent retailers can drive down prices, as owner operators have lover overhead costs than our staff-run stores.
• Competition from national chains moving into the Brisbane market.
• A slump in the economy reducing customer's disposable income spent on homewares.

1. Marketing objectives
2. Increase sales from $15million per year to $20million per year in the next three years.
3. Increase our loyalty customers list from 10,000 to 15,000.
4. Establish brand recognition in Brisbane so that at least 1 in 3 people recognise our brand in a random survey taken in 18 months time.

1. Strategies

Before you start making changes, it's a good idea to make sure you have a full understanding of the factors affecting your business success.

These may include your current business practices, market trends or changes to the wider environment in which you operate.

Tools which can help you assess your business's situation include:

• SWOT analysis- helps you identify your business's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
• Benchmarking- measures your business's performance against similar-sized businesses in your industry.
• Market research- investigates your business's market and industry to identify trends, changes and customer or client demands.
• Trend analysis- uses business data collected over time to identify consistent results or trends.

Set clear goals

Business goals can be as broad or as specific as you want them to be. Writing down your goals clearly will make it easier for you to achieve them. Make sure your goals are:

• specific- state clearly what you want to achieve
• measurable- make sure you can evaluate success
• achievable- check your objective is something you have the time and resources to meet
• relevant- make sure your objectives improve profit drivers and improve some part of your business
• timely- set a specific date for completion.

Once you have written down your goals, you should prioritise them to decide which ones to focus on first.

1. Implementation

There is a big push by governments on the issue of sustainability. This focuses mostly on environmental issues of waste management and energy conservation. Houzit stores have been deliberately designed in the past to be bright and comfortable places to shop. This means a significant cost in electricity usage to run the lights and the air-conditioners. With the new regulations we are going to have to find ways to still provide customers with what they want without the high electricity usage.

Strategies for improving employee performance:

1. Acknowledge to the employee the specific contributions he/she is making that positively impact your organization’s success.
2. Be supportive when your employee experiences failure. Frame it up as a learning opportunity and alleviate the pressure for perfection.
3. Align the employee’s job responsibilities with their strengths and passion. We all do better when we are assigned tasks/projects we excel at doing.
4. Pay attention to signs of burnout and encourage self-care such as time off, regular lunch breaks and exercise.

1. Setting up the franchising system tactics

2. The advertising tactics

Reasoning for choosing these tactics

• Effectiveness
• Price
• Efficiency
• Ease of Implementation
• Able to reach a wider audience

Outline the process for reviewing performance.

We will compare the estimated expected performance with the actual performance using KPIs and targets. The variances will be recorded and reported.

Product

Our products enable our customers to experience support, gather ideas and options, and accomplish their decorating goals. They will be able to create a look that is truly unique to their home. They will not be able to do this in the same way through any other resource.

Price

Product pricing is based on offering high value to our customers compared to most price points in the market. Value is determined based on the best quality available, convenience, and timeliness in acquiring the product. We will consistently be below the price points offered through interior designers and consistently above prices offered through the warehouse/seconds retail stores, but we will offer better quality and selection.

Promotion

The most successful advertising and promotion has been through the following:

Promotion Through The Product Life Cycle

As products move through the four stages of the product life cycle different promotional strategies should be employed at these stages to ensure the healthy success and life of the product.

Promotion strategies that can be employed at each stage of the Product Life Cycle are as follows:

• Introduction

When a product is new the organisation's objective will be to inform the target audience of its entry. Television, radio, magazine, coupons etc may be used to push the product through the introduction stage of the life cycle. Push and Pull Strategies will be used at this crucial stage.

• Growth

As the product becomes accepted by the target market (at this stage of the life cycle) the organisation will employ strategy to increase brand awareness and customer loyalty.

• Maturity

At this stage of the life cycle the product will be experiencing increased competition and will need persuasive tactics to encourage consumers to choose their product over their rivals. Any differential advantage/benefit will be need to be clearly communicated to the target audience.

• Decline

As the product reaches the decline stage of its life cycle, all the organisation can do is use strategy to remind consumers about the product in a bid to slow the inevitable.

BSBMKG609 Develop a Marketing Plan Assessment Task 1