Designing a Successful Business Plan: Marketing Strategies - Assignment Example

Part one: Business outline and Research needs for Success Business plan Outline for Granola Munches- A new health food/fast food restaurant to be test marketed and later franchised by McDonald’s Corporation 1.0 Executive Summary Granola Munches will be involved in specialty coffee, baked goods and beverages. There is low competition and high demand. Objectives To be a leading player in the specialty coffee industry and add value to the McDonalds business Keys to Success Trained employees Strategic location Only specialty coffee maker in the area, hence reduced to no competition Mission To be a leading coffee specialty coffee shop in the region 2.0 Company Summary Granola Munches is a franchise of Starbucks dealing with specialty coffee, baked foods and mixed drinks. 2.1 Company Ownership Granola Munches will be run as a franchise of McDonalds but Mike Davis will supply startup capital for setting up infrastructure and money for operating expenses. 2.2 Start up summary The idea of Granola Munches came up due to the lack of owing to lack of specialty coffee in the Kingston upon Thames area. Davis raised 60% of the capital and gained a loan for the balance to start the company. There has been compliance to legal and lease requirements for business set start. Employees’ training is currently ongoing and preparations are in its final stages for the grand opening in two weeks. 2.3 Location Penrhyn Road in Kingston upon Thames Surrey KT1 2EE and has ample space to sit 250 customers at once. 3.0 Products The main products will be percent Colombian coffee owing to untapped market, mixed beverages, and baked foods. 3.1 Description of the Product Coffee will be brewed from high-grade coffee berries imported from Colombia served at a higher price than the market price. Beverages will range from alcoholic to nonalcoholic to meet the demands of the customers while baked foods will be offered for takeaway as well as serving within the Granola Munches. This will lead to high quality and customer satisfaction. 3.2 Sales projection/ forecast High sales are projected from the newness of the idea and the availability of demand and this will be boosted through flyer distribution, 10 percent discount for the first 1000 customers and takeaways for rushing customers. Sales are forecast to be high in the first three months but could fall due to holidays by the students. However, the uniqueness of the venture and high quality will see the rise in sales in the next three years. 4.0 Market Analysis Summary There has been increasing demand for quality coffee served in a comfortable environment and Granola Munches aims at fulfilling this demand. The main target market of Granola Munches is students, teachers, and local community members. 4.1 Market Segmentation The main target customer segment in the market will be the students in Kingston University. The proximity to the campus is an added advantage in achieving this goal as well as the increasing number of visitors to the institution. The teachers and the local community follow in the order of the targeted market for Granola Munches Coffee shop forming the second and third customer segments. 4.2 Target market strategy Mainly this population is of a young age and requires quality and the best service. Granola Munches aims at ensuring the tastiest coffee of the highest quality as well as the other products in the shop. Future marketing strategy is improving the products offered and the development of new product offering to improve market share. 4.3 Industry Analysis The coffee industry has had an outstanding increase in the last decade due to coffee’s nutritional advantages, coffee’s refreshing and stimulating effect. Conducive environment and the cold season favor coffee consumption and act as meeting place. 4.4 Competition Main competitors are restaurants within the area that offer full course meals, beverages and coffee but this will be countered by socialization in coffee making and maintenance of high quality and providing an encouraging relaxing environment. 5.0 Strategy and Implementation Summary Aim at acquiring new clients and retain them to high quality and customer suitable environment provision. 5.1 Competitive Edge The competitive edge is unique venture, quality provision, providing a relaxing environment, trained personnel, and strategic location. 5.2 Sales strategy Ensure service efficiency; advertise using flyers, banners, and customer referrals requiring efficient operations and high quality provision. 6.0 Management Summary The management of Granola Munches will be led by Danny Samuel a renowned hotelier who will be responsible for general running of the shop and procurement. He has masters in business administration and has had numerous awards in the hotel industry. He will be deputized by George Henry who will take on sales, community development, and public relations. 6.1 Personnel plan Granola Munches will have five employees with training in catering to serve the clients with one of the employee having computer skills and will enter data as in the course of the day, two bakers, security person, and a juice mixer. 6.2 Premises The lease requirement for the premises is for two years and is renewable costing $ 1000 per month. There is adequate security, the premise is easily accessible with fixtures, and fittings fixed having been a restaurant previously. Research Requirements for success Granola Munches is a new health food/fast food restaurant to be test marketed and later franchised by McDonald’s Corporation and will specialize in specialty coffee, mixed drinks, and baked foods. There is a need to understand the target population through research for the success of Granola Munches. There is a need to conduct research on the demographic requirements of the population to forecast demand due to an understanding of the gross and disposal income level, ratio of the old to the young population, to have an understanding of the ability to make purchases from Granola Munches (Abrams, 138). This data will allow the management of Granola Munches to segment the market and tailor the products offered to meet the needs of the community members in terms of food, coffee, and other products offered at the restaurant. The other research area is finding information on the most suitable area for an optimal location of the Granola Munches in terms of the accessibility by the members of the community, accessibility to suppliers, presence of high market, and infrastructure presence. There is also a need for researching the most effective sales and marketing strategies that should be implemented to ensure the company meets the sales and revenue forecasts and gain a customer base as well as meet the needs of the population in the locality. These research findings will work together to ensure optimality location, appropriate product pricing and quality, use correct marketing and sales strategies leading to the success of Granola Munches. Part 2: Monopoly Monopoly in the market place is shows the existence of a sole seller faced by all the sellers. The power of a monopolist is derived from exclusive ownership and control of production factory, ownership of patent rights for example soft drinks patent right by Coca cola. Other sources of monopoly power are market franchise where by law the seller has an exclusive right of supplying the product and having minimum average production costs by a firm leading to natural monopolies (Abrams, 48). There are different strategies of achieving monopoly power including barriers that ensure there is no competition against the monopolist for example price undercutting and resale price maintenance where a monopolist dictates the selling price of its products to retailers and wholesalers. Other strategies to gain monopoly power is exclusive dealing to supply and boycott where supply is only made to recognized sellers and making a condition for the sellers not to stock products from other companies or groups outside the monopolist. The other strategy for monopoly power is consumer exploitation through overcharging of products in three ways maximizing profits, forming cartels, and price discrimination. The measure to identify firms that have acquired monopoly power without breaking antitrust laws is a successful monopolist without any lawsuits by other supplies, community, government representatives, or a firm that has been given the right by the government for the supply. The pricing strategy that a monopoly firm will pursue is where of a price maker since it is a sole seller in the market. Therefore, the quantity the monopolist will sell will be determined by the amount of demand at the price set by a monopolist. The monopolists will therefore face a downward sloping demand curve and will seek at maximizing profit where the marginal cost equals marginal revenue. Prices for a monopoly will be higher than prices in a competitive market due to the restriction of quantity. A firm can sustain monopoly power through innovation to acquire patent rights on production methods, signing extension contracts with the government for exclusive product provision, creating barriers to entry into the market, and reducing production costs and economies of scale for the firm. Part 3: How to build marketing channels for a new vacuum cleaner To build marketing channels for a new market cleaner I would review the requirements of the consumers and incorporate them in the marketing channels. I will look for those channels that will engage the sellers to the consumer allowing for detailed information sharing and clarification on the vacuum cleaner. The marketing channels should also provide feedback and interaction capabilities as well as ability to make an impression on the consumers. The marketing channels that could meet these needs are social media, word of mouth advertising, generation of flyers, and print media. How to build distribution channels for a new vacuum cleaner I would build distribution channels through using a sales force to provide detailed information for the users and service including installation and using resellers including retailers and wholesalers. Train partners on use of vacuum cleaner, establish service requirements, set programs for partner support for augmented sales. Appointing a distribution manage to deal with distributors thus ensuring efficiency and high performance. Ensuring there is fair pricing to the partners to ensure the final consumer pays a similar price to that sold by our sales people to maintain integrity and fairness in pricing. The other way is providing direct service to the customers who require support that goes beyond the capability of the partners. Techniques would you use to build brand awareness for a new vacuum cleaner I would employ five steps in building my brand: a. Defining the strengths of the vacuum cleaner, service provision by partners and salespersons and the values of the company and the brand including environmental conservation, improving social and economic conditions of the consumers (low cost, great service, less cleaning time, and great output). b. Create a different advantage for the consumers through logos and color for an effective branding strategy. c. Ensure the values, strengths, and consistency in quality production of the vacuum cleaner is maintained. d. Ensures the personalization of the brand and identify with it among the favorite possessions they have in terms of functionality and efficiency of the vacuum cleaner. e. Continuous review of the brand in terms of performance to aid in future development and improvement needs as a means of maintaining brand success and relevance in the market. How marketing strategies are used to differentiate a product Marketing strategies can differentiate a product through setting lower prices in the market, packaging the product differently, targeting a give age group for a specific product, offering free delivery, adding features to a product, putting in place a strong marketing campaign to develop product difference in the minds of the consumers, and providing great customer service (Abrams, 134). References Abrams, Rhonda. The Successful Business Plan: Secrets & Strategies. Palto Alto, Calif: Planning Shop, 2003. Print. Read More