International Marketing Mix Management of Ecostore - Case Study Example

MARKETING ANALYSIS OF ECOSTORE (Student Name) (Course No.) (Lecturer) (University) (Date) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Ecostore stands out as one of the leading manufacturers of products which are free from chemical substances. These products result from the processing of organic raw materials which further develop eco-friendly commodities. The market has increasingly demanded such products which promote their health and preferences. The company performs diverse production base including dish products, hair products, laundry products, baby products among many others. This paper established the marketing analysis of the company in different areas. The paper is dived into various sections which contain different themes. The Marketing background details some for the supplier and customer information, product portfolio and services offered by the company. The paper also discusses the three important marketing mixes which include the pricing strategy, promotion strategy and the distribution strategy employed by the business. Also, it focuses on the strategies used by the competitors and the recommendations to enhance the competitive ability of the company. TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary Table of Contents Introduction Marketing Background of the Company Competitor Analysis Recommendations Conclusions References Appendix INTRODUCTION The global business environment continues to experience various changes and dynamism which requires a sufficient marketing strategy for every player. Any organisation seeking to succeed needs to have a detailed strategic plan integrating modern marketing techniques. Besides, the kind of business performed by an organisation determines the level of competitiveness and potentialities. Australia stands out as one of the competitive markets across the globe. Players within this niche, therefore, require more robust marketing plans to remain competitive enough (Kapoor & Halder 2011). Ecostore is one of the companies which continue to perform desirable in the Australian market. The eco-friendly player focuses on coming up with an array of products aimed at satisfying the green market. However, the achievements of this company depend entirely on the level of market plans which the management has been observing. This paper intends to discuss and analyses the marketing strategies and practices of ecostore. This analysis tends to regard the competitor assessment, the marketing background of the company, the marketing mix and any other adjustments relevant in the running of the marketing of the company. Besides, this study aims at coming up with the SWOT Analysis of the company and identifying various success opportunities and abilities available to the management of Ecostore company (Assael 2004). MARKETING BACKGROUND OF ECOSTORE Ecostore exemplifies a green business which aims at conserving the environment against toxic and harmful chemicals. The companies deal in manufacturing and marketing various products which are friendly to the environment. The main goal of the industry is to advance the health condition of the users of these products. 5heerfore, the company, develops various products which are friendly to the health of the users and also to the environment. Several products are covered in the production unit of Ecostore. The intention of covering a wide spectrum of products is to ensure that the various users have a wide variety of basic commodities which are healthy and also conserve the environment against toxic chemicals. Therefore, this has made the products from ecostore desirable in the Australian Market and beyond (Menezes 1985). Type of company Ecostore is a typical example of a green company this implies that the company engages in the production of various products which are friendly to the health of the users and the environment. Adverse health effects normally rise from the use of products which contain harmful chemicals. The ultimate result of their usage is an adverse effect on the health and life of a particular user. The desire of the company was to develop various basic categories of the commodities and products used on a regular basis that benefit the health of individuals. This was the brain idea behind Malcolm Rands and Melanie in starting the ecostore company (Bowman & Gatignon 2010). Besides, the business is an environment-friendly initiative aimed at producing various products that impact positively on the environment. In many cases, the environment suffers from the release of toxic substances and materials used by people in their ordinary course of activities. Many products contain harmful and toxic substances. Whenever they get released to the environment, they bring negative impact on the otherwise supportive ecosystem. Therefore, Ecostore Company is an example of a green business which is aimed at ensuring that the environment is conserved and protected from harmful and toxic materials. This explains the kind of technology used and the nature of products marketed by the company which ensure that the environment is kept free from toxic substances (Zentes et al. 2011). Sustainable practices Production of toxic free substances Ecostore has adopted the practising of advancing the production of various products which are free from harmful substances and chemicals. The green production technique adopted by the production department aims at developing safe products used by the consumers. The intention of coming up with such a sustainable practice is to ensure the development of a healthy clientele and a safe environment. The toxic free substance has a positive effect on the livelihood of the public. Minimising chemical wastes into the environment The other consideration which ecostore has regarding its production concerns the great minimization of the productions channeled to the environment. The greatest goal of the company is to develop environmental-friendly products which aim at protecting the environment. The biodiversity requires a clean and non-polluted environment. This has therefore informed the decision of the company to focus solely on the products without toxic substances. It has perfected the art of producing commodities which are friendly to the environment (Oh & Pizam 2008). Maximising resource used in production The production technique used by the company is aimed at reducing the resource quantity applicable in the production process. Most of the resources used are developed and acquired locally. In many cases, the company has centered on the use of organic raw materials which have a positive effect on the environment. These products are easily retrieved within the surrounding. Therefore, this concept has greatly reduced the amount of wastes channelled to the environment (Gates et al. 2011). Reduction of production cost The technology and the nature of products used in the production of various commodities are relatively cheaper and affordable. The cost implication of producing environmental-friendly products is normally regarded as relatively cheaper than those heavily bound by chemicals. This is attributed to the heavy reliance on the readily available raw materials and relatively cheap technological procedures required for the production. In essence, this practice has been sustainable to the company in regards to conservation of the production costs and materials (Prenzel 2010). Utilising the readily available raw materials The products manufactured by ecostore are mainly the products of readily available raw materials. The nature of production takes deep consideration of the effect of chemicals on the lives of the users. Therefore, this has seen a great reduction in the level of dependency on the chemicals used in production. Instead, the company has advanced on the reliance of the readily available materials for production. This has been a means of achieving sustainability in the production process (Codita 2011). MARKETING MIX Ecostore deals in a range of products specifically for home use. The wide range of products focuses particularly on those regularly used in within the home. The intention of the company was to advance the nature of products applicable in the normal course of activities within a household. Therefore, a lot of focus and energy was directed at the usually consumed products in a typical house. The following is the major product portfolio maintained by the company; Laundry products- the company, focuses on manufacturing various laundry products which are free from toxic chemicals. Some of the common laundry products produced and marketed by Ecostore include laundry powders, laundry liquid, fabric softener, stain removers and wall & delicates. These are products made out of a careful technological process to ensure elimination of any chemical substance (Richter 2012). Skin care products; the company, equally focuses on the production of various skin care products. These are green products which are free from chemicals. Therefore, they are intended to protect the health of the user. Some of these include body lotions, body butter, lip balm and hand cream. Dish products: the intention of developing these dish products is to ensure that the kitchen uses a range of chemical free substance. The ultimate impact of the dish substances was to protect the lives of the various users of these substances. Some 3of the common dish products made by ecostore include dish liquid, rinse aid, dishwasher powder and dishwasher tablets. Hair products: The hair is one 0f the parts of a person which normally experience the application and use of various substances. For example, ladies and women use a wide range of hair products for the purpose of improving their hair quality. Therefore, ecostore focused in the production of friendly hair products; both to the environment and to the users. Some of these products include normal shampoo, normal conditioner, volumising shampoo and conditioner, ultrasensitive conditioner and shampoo, dandruff shampoo and conditioner as well as dry shampoo (Mitchell 1975). Home products; the company concentrates on the production of a range of home products such as toilet cleaner, liquid scourer, multi-purpose spray, glass and surface spray and bathroom spray. Baby products: the baby products which are normally produced by the company are aimed at helping the baby develop without any chemical interference. Some of these products include baby soap, nappy balm, bubble bath, baby shampoo and baby moisturiser. Hand and body wash products; some of the hand & body wash products include body wash, hand wash, coconut soap, vanilla soup, lemon grass soap among many others. The basic services supplied by the company are the Fundraising Range Services. These are financial services aimed at empowering the users of these products to easily raise money. The company undertakes to assist the users to organise any successful fundraising activities by saving $1 per every soap bought by the customer. This cumulatively helps a user during a fundraising initiative such as raising money for school fees (Kerin & O'Regan 2008). The Main customers are those of middle range age group who normally desire to use products that have a great impact on their health and beauty. The customers are however spread across the age groups and normally seek to buy a particular product which interests and satisfy their preferences. Also, the company relies on suppliers of various organic raw materials required for the development of the products. These raw materials are normally of great benefit to the company which concentrates on organic substances. Marketing Strategies used by Ecostore Company Pricing Strategy Ecostore employs Cost-based pricing strategy as its mot preferred cost strategy. This strategy aims ate setting the commodity process based on the implicit costs of distribution, sales production and promotion services. Therefore, the company aims at setting the cost which also promises a return on the goods produced. This strategy has been used by the management of Ecostore as a means of ensuring profitability for every product line developed. Usually, the company engages in a wide range of products. Therefore, the cost-based strategy has been beneficial in allocating or apportioning costs for every line of production and also ensuring a given level of return from the product activities (Ottman 2011). The markup pricing is the particular cost-based pricing strategy currently employed by the company. This is a strategy named at ensuring that the company assigns a particular profit margin or markup for every item sold. The relevance of coming up with this strategy is to ensure that the company benefit from each range of product developed and distributed. Besides, it was adopted as the easiest way of assigning costs to every product line developed and advanced by the company. Promotion strategy Ecostore is regarded as one of the best companies regarding employing effective and modern promotional mix. The kind of products manufactured by this company requires a robust promotional mix which aims at reaching a wide clientele base and the market at large. The company uses a mix of online, physical and electronic promotional mix. The physical means have been perfected by the use of various sales personnel employed by the company. In many outlet branches, the sales team performs the role of penetrating the market with the products and also letting the product information spread across the market. The online platform has been one of the greatest platforms for purposes of promotion for this company. It runs an official website which contains all the relevant product information, types and categories for the customers. The use of the website and the official blog run by the marketing department has served the purpose of enlightening the market and also making the product information reach the market quite conveniently. This has promoted marketing (Kapoor & Halder 2011). Lastly, the company uses electronic means such as the television networks and the radio channels to reach a large audience. These products have found a wide airing on the television advertisements as well as the radio channels across the country. Distribution Mix Ecostore runs a wide range of distribution mix which is normally aimed at making the products available to the customers at their disposals. The company runs some outlets and branches across the country and beyond. These outlets are opened and opened by the management staff of the company. They service the purpose of making the products of the company easily available to the customers across a wide market range. The outlets have official management and uniform pricing as those of the head office. Also, the company operates an online platform which enables the user to modern for the products and then the company ships such products to the intended destination. The network created by the use of online platform has enabled an effective ordering and shipment services of the products to various users overseas and across the borders of the nations. This has made the company to easily satisfy the foreign and the local markets with convenience and with a lot of easy (Dauvergne & Lister 2013). COMPETITOR ANALYSIS The competitors within the Australian market and beyond normally employ wide range o strategies that enable them to remain dominant in the market. Most of the competitors have increasingly engaged in the production of eco-friendly products with a view of expanding the competitive advantage. Currently, the company faces stiff competition from both local and foreign markets. The level of competition has risen due to the advance of modern marketing strategies used in the market. Direct and indirect competitors Some of the renowned competitors of Ecostore include Recycling Centre Australia, Transpacific Industries Group, AMCOR, OONET Communications, Amalgamated Instrument Company among many others. Most of these competitors engage in the production of environmentally friendly commodities which would make the customers opt for their products instead of these of Ecostore. Also, the competitors have been in operations for quite some times now as compared to Ecostore which began flourishing a few years ago. Therefore, the level of competition in these companies has been heightened and increasingly great due to the fight for market dominance and control. Several players in this sector employee various strategies to gain dominance (Wenderoth 2009). These competitors may not be in the direct line of the company’s business. However, one factor which binds them together is the creation and sale of the eco-friendly products. This normally tears the decision of a user apart especially those not decided on which eco-friendly item to purchase. The competitors remain a threat to the company’ growing success (Mowen 1995). Marketing Mix of the competitors The competitors of Ecostore have maintained a strong purpose in their activities regarding the marketing strategies and mix applicable. Most of them run the online platform which is currently operated by Ecostore. In fact, all of them have websites which enable them to reach the market. However, most of them operate on Customer Value-Based Pricing Approach. This approach normally sets prices depending on the value attached to a given product rather than the costs associated with the manufacturing. This is a possible strategy applied to competitors since most of them have been in the market for a pretty long time. Therefore, this marketing mix concept has enabled them to advance their activities in many areas (Grey House Publishing 2002). Besides, most of these competitors use the piggy back distribution technique. This strategy enables the companies to ride on the distribution channels of other companies to allow them to reach far markets. Most of them have employed this strategy to cut on the cost of distribution and to remain still competitive in the local market. This is one of the marketing mix strategies which has seen the competitors access foreign markets with easy and therefore advance their market base. RECOMMENDATIONS The first recommendation focuses on the pricing strategy sued by Ecostore Company. Presently, the company dominantly employs the use of cost-based approach which assigns the prices by cost implication and the desired return margins. Therefore, the company aims at attaining the level of return form considering the costs of producing, marketing and distributing the product. However, little is placed on the kind of value attached to the products (Fuller 1999). Since the products of Ecostore are eco-friendly, this implies that they have an added value of positive impact on health and to the environment. This explains why their production process is relatively technical and why most customers have benefited from these products. Therefore, this paper recommends that the company turns around the pricing strategy and adopts the Value-Added Pricing strategy which determines the cost to the value attached to a product. Also, this paper recommends that the company operates franchising production channel to gain entry into the oversee markets. Franchising would grant permission and license to a foreign producer to engage in the manufacture of uniform products of Ecostore. This would be a proper means to compete for the piggy ridding technique currently used by most of the competitors. Conclusion The modern business world requires an effective production and marketing strategy as the only means to remain relevant in the market. Ecostore is one of the companies which have adopted the modern techniques of survival. The company which deals in the production of eco-friendly and healthy products for the nurses employ the modern means of marketing and distribution so as to enhance its competitive advantage Kapoor & Halder 2011). This paper focused on the marketing background of the company, the various products made and the kind of sales mix employed in the by the management. Besides, this paper evaluated the various strategies used by the competitors and their influence on the performance of ecostore. Therefore, this paper developed a set of recommendations and SWOT Analysis beneficial for the management of the company. References Assael, H. (2004). Consumer behavior: A strategic approach. Boston, Mass. [u.a.: Houghton Mifflin. Bowman, D., & Gatignon, H. (2010). Market response and marketing mix models: Trends and research opportunities. Boston: Now. Codita, R. (2011). Contingency factors of marketing-mix standardization: German consumer goods companies in Central and Eastern Europe. Wiesbaden: Gabler. Dauvergne, P., & Lister, J. (2013). Eco-Business: A Big-Brand Takeover of Sustainability. Fuller, D. A. (1999). Sustainable marketing: Managerial-ecological issues. Thousand Oaks, Calif. [u.a.: SAGE. Gates, D., Schatz, L., & Body Ecology. (2011). The Body Ecology diet: Recovering your health and rebuilding your immunity. Carlsbad, Calif: Hay House. Grey House Publishing, Inc. (2002). The environmental resource handbook. Millerton, N.Y: Grey House Pub. Kapoor, R., Paul, J., & Halder, B. (2011). Services marketing: Concepts & practices. New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill Education. Kerin, R. A., & O'Regan, R. (2008). Marketing mix decisions: New perspectives and practices. Chicago, Ill: American Marketing Association. Menezes, M. A. J. (1985). Product warranty as an element of the marketing mix: Theory, implications and experimental tests. Mitchell, A. A. (1975). Marketing mix optimization rules. University Park, Pa: College of Business Administration, Pennsylvania State University. Mowen, J. C. (1995). Consumer behavior. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall. Oh, H., & Pizam, A. (2008). Handbook of hospitality marketing management. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Ottman, J. A. (2011). The new rules of green marketing: Strategies, tools, and inspiration for sustainable branding. San Francisco, Calif: Berrett-Koehler Pub. Prenzel, I. (2010). Applicability of Mobile Marketing in the Marketing Mix of Trade Fair Organizers. Richter, T. (2012). International marketing mix management: Theoretical framework, contingency factors and empirical findings from world-markets. Berlin: Logos. Wenderoth, M. (2009). Particularities in the Marketing Mix for Service Operations. München: GRIN Verlag GmbH. Zentes, J., Morschett, D., & Schramm-Klein, H. (2011). Strategic retail management: Text and international cases. Wiesbaden: Gabler. Appendix SWOT Analysis of Ecostore Strengths Maintenance of low-cost advantage in the production of the products. Operating effective online marketing platform to reach a wide consumer base Production of healthy products and eco-friendly commodities free from toxic chemicals. Sound management team that has seen the realization of the strategic goal Weaknesses Lack of robust internal marketing network reducing the global market share percentage. Operations of a less inclusive pricing strategy which fails to capitalize on the value of the products Opportunities Efficiency of franchising technique for such a kind of business to enable it explore foreign markets Exploitation of other eco-friendly products besides the household products. Expansion of the outlet services to serve the current growing number of product users. Threats The emergence of established competitors seeking to capitalize on the market. Lack of sufficient capital to establish foreign branches. Position Chart Name of company Position Volkswagen-ACT 1 Recycling Centre Australia 2 Transpacific Industries Group 3 Ecostore Company 4 Amalgamated Instrument Company 5 ONETEC Communication 6 AMCOR 7 Spicers Paper 8 Sherwood Indoor Plant Hire 9 Read More