Marketing Planning For Wilson Cycles - Essay Example

? Marketing Planning for Wilson Cycles AFFILIATION: Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Audit of Wilson Cycles 4 Challenges for Wilson Cycles 5 PESTEL Analysis 5 SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) Analysis: 6 Marketing Plan for Wilson Cycles 7 Marketing Mix Description 8 Product 8 Price 8 Place 8 Promotion 9 Marketing Strategies 9 Traditional and Online channels to reach customers of Wilson Cycles 9 Online Marketing Tools for Wilson Cycles 10 Implementation and Control 11 Conclusion 12 References 14 Introduction In every business organization, the management needs to make effective plans for everything so that they are well-aware about their existing position and have a vision in mind about their future growth (Brushett and Franklin, 2010). Orrick et al. (2010) and Yang et al. (2010) in their studies about the cycling industry in UK have concluded that marketing planning is crucial ingredient for the success of any organization. Hence, every cycling company, whether the manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers; every one of them will have to develop marketing plans for themselves so that they can compete successfully in today’s dynamic environment (Hill, 2009). In the last couple of years, the number of fatal incidents in UK of the cyclists has increased considerably (Knowles et al., 2009, Lusk et al., 2011 and Morgan et al., 2010) and government is taking preventive measures to ensure that the infrastructure of the country is suitable for this mode of transportation (Reynolds et al., 2009). Since the government intervention for safeguarding the cyclists’ safety and promotion of it for various health benefits, the number of cycle users has increased by 110% since 2000 and 12% in the last ten years and the number of health issues has decreased significantly as well (Ewing and Cervero, 2010 and Ogunmokun and Nyanzunda, 2009). Cycling in UK has grown so much in popularity because of the success of Team GB in Beijing Olympics in 2008. According to Ledwith (2012), last year, UK’s biggest bike retailer Halfords declared increase in their sales by 5.7% i.e. every one of four bikes was sold by Halfords. The bikes have grown to become the status symbol and many of affluent class people are now shifting to bikes for their transportation as compared to cars or other modes of transportation. Audit of Wilson Cycles The case study of Wilson Cycles reveals that the owners have a vision and have implemented appropriate marketing plan for the success of their business venture. But realizing the demand of the customers and shift in the usage of cycles from leisure activities to health purposes, it is important that the owners make some changes in their marketing plans. According to Brushett and Franklin (2010), there are four most important elements for the successful designing and implementation of marketing plans i.e. knowledge (what are the customer needs and demands), research (information about the industry and product so that the compatibility between the two can be determined), focus (clarity about company’s direction) and communication (ability to reach the customers with right channels so that they make repeated purchases). The sons of the owners are aware of the demands of the customers and want to expand their retail activities by making proper use of online mediums of communication. The growing trend of the cycling industry alongwith the changes happening in the global world, it is recommended that they go ahead with the third options that they are considering which is revamp the Wilson Cycles’ image to a retail store that has good range of branded products at affordable price ranges. The primary area of focus is the development of a website so that the shop has one more source of sales generation. After first year of operations as rebranding Wilson Cycles, next year it will develop the strategy of developing a triathlon shop as it will provide services for the road and time-trial bikes alongwith the swimming and running apparel and clothing. Hence, with clear strategy in mind, the owners of Wilson Cycles will be able to reach their target market easily. It is important for the owners of Wilson Cycles to review the changing demands of the customers so that they can make modifications in their marketing plans. Hence, the management needs to be assured that their plan is flexible enough so that any change can be appropriately incorporated and immediate action can be taken that will not have negative effects on the company’s sales. Challenges for Wilson Cycles Since Wilson Cycles is facing huge competition from the well-established brands and recently Halfords started its operations on the Ford bridge Retail Park. In order to have a detailed understanding about the real issues that the company will face will comprise of evaluation of both external and internal factors. External factors will be evaluated using PESTEL Analysis while internal analysis will be done using SWOT Analysis. PESTEL Analysis PESTEL stands for Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal. Hence, the company will have to do PESTEL analysis to evaluate the factors that can hamper as well as support the launch of new company’s image in the market. The political condition in the country is stable and the rules and regulations for re-launching Wilson Cycles will be easy as there are no strict regulations that need to be followed. However, for online marketing i.e. E-marketing, the company will need to understand the new rules and regulations that have been recently introduced by the government to boost the concept of e-marketing and ensure that the privacy of the customers remains secured. Since the transactions are mainly done online via credit cards and other payment systems, the retail shop owners will have to ensure that the contents of the website are secured and no one can access the private information except for the authorized personnel. The technological advancements happen on a continuous basis so it will be vital for the management to ensure that effective mechanisms are in place to be assured that the computers are up to date and have all the latest features that are demanded by the customers. The economy is getting out of recession and the rise in people’s incomes and earning power ensures that people will buy bicycles for their personal uses. However, Wilson Cycles will have to do a lot of efforts to attract the customers towards its website. The management will have to develop effective marketing strategy to attract the customers. The social environment is also conducive as the people are now shifting to online shopping for all their purchases and they are even now using cycles as the best mode of transportation. However, the direct competition is from Halfords as both brands have almost same range of products and getting the market share in such tough competitive environment will be a bit difficult. SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) Analysis: Strengths Weaknesses Strong market presence Loyal customer base Effective traditional marketing campaigns Highly skilled and trained management and workforce Limited resources for new market Less experience in online marketing Limited options for e-marketing Opportunities Threats Diversify in international markets Make available other sports’ equipment and accessories Stricter government regulations Slump in economic growth cycle Increase in interest rates More tighter consumer protection laws Hence, there are some challenges that Wilson Cycles will have to address and take into account when designing their marketing plan so that they have proactive approach. The owners of Wilson Cycles need to understand that if they want to be successful in today’s business environment, then they will have to develop marketing plans so that they have clear direction about their strategy alongwith goals and objectives (Yang et al., 2010). Marketing Plan for Wilson Cycles Since Wilson Cycles is considering revamping its image as the best bikes provider at discounted rates, the best way to get started on this aspect is do online marketing i.e. e-marketing. The primary marketing objective of Wilson Cycles e-marketing is to facilitate the revenue generation so that the market growth is profitable and it will be done alongwith on-line and off-line marketing activities which are consistent and effectively co-ordinated with the new brand image of Wilson Cycles. Hence, the objective of Wilson Cycles marketing campaign for its products can be broken down into as follows: 1. To enhance the image and awareness of Wilson Cycles as an innovative and distinctive product of the company while limiting the cannibalization of other ranges of products’ sales and image which is developed among its users. 2. Efficiently and cost-effectively promote Wilson Cycles’s products, apparel and other accessories in physical stores and on-line at the Wilson Cycles’s store by offering wide range of options for customers in terms of price, design, features and components. The marketing objectives will be measured by applying the evaluation tools as discussed in the implementation and evaluation section. Marketing Mix Description Product The product range of Wilson Cycles in the first year of its operations as new brand will remain same. However, the following year, the owners will launch swimming and running apparel and equipment alongwith wider range of bike’s options. In order to attract the customers to the stores of Wilson Cycles, they will be offered discount coupons which they will be allowed to use when they will make purchases of more than ?50. On the website, the customers will be allowed to post their review about the quality of products alongwith the service quality. The customers will be allowed to get their bikes made in a customized manner and they will be asked to place orders at least one month in advance. The competitive edge that Wilson Cycles will have over its competitors is that the customers will have access to all the latest products on our website and as soon as they place the order, it will be immediately dispatched to their premises. Price The prices of the products will be kept in accordance with the prevailing market conditions so that Wilson Cycles’s price ranges follow the competitive pricing strategy. However, for initial two months after the re-launch of Wilson Cycles, the customers will be given the option of buying the products at 10% discounted prices. Place All the products of Wilson Cycles will be sold both online on the retail shop’s online store and also at the stores that are available on the high street end. Although some bikes will be distributed on limited retail stores but only for certain time period to create brand awareness. Afterwards, the products and accessories will be available on all the stores. Promotion The promotional activities will be done in collaboration with the brand image of Wilson Cycles and the products will be of high quality and will be made with highly innovative technology so that it has all the features that the customers are looking for. The promotional theme will be simple, elegant, sophisticated, high-tech and innovative. Marketing Strategies The basic foundation of Wilson Cycles’s marketing strategy will be as follows: 1. Bring the customers on the website 2. Serve them well 3. Learn about the customer’s personalities 4. Induce the customers to make repeated purchases Traditional and Online channels to reach customers of Wilson Cycles Wilson Cycles can implement following techniques for promoting its image in the next two years: 1. Above The Line (ATL) activities – The organisation can do promotions on TV channels such as The Daily Show on Comedy Central, TBS, TNT, VH1 and MTX; magazines and newspapers such as The Economist, Harvard Business Review, Oracle and etc. 2. Below The Line (BTL) activities – Wilson Cycles will do promotional activities via posters, brochures, billboards and viral marketing. 3. Direct Marketing – It can be done via two ways i.e. online channels which will comprise of SMS, MMS and e-mails and bulk SMS which is the unique message sent to multiple recipients. Online Marketing Tools for Wilson Cycles Wilson Cycles will implement the following digital marketing tools for attracting the customers to try its product and services’ ranges: 1. Placement of advertisement banners and interactive ads on most popular search engines such as Yahoo and Google; websites news portals which have focus on innovative technology and news. The company will try to get placement on various search engines so that when the bikes, cycles or sports keyword is typed, the user is given the link to Wilson Cycles’s website. 2. Wilson Cycles will also opt for search marketing in which it will have to pay the search engines for their ads to turn up when the customer is searching for a similar keyword on search engine. 3. Viral Marketing will be done via the chat rooms, e-marketing buzz on technological stuff and technology blogs. The company will start its own blog which will create linkage to technology sections of the new organizations such as CNBC, CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNET, Wall Street Journal and many other technology related websites. 4. Email solicitation will be carefully monitored of the potential computer user. The customers will be asked to give their feedback about Wilson Cycles’s products and will be asked to give recommendations as well. 5. Cross promotion will be done with social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn alongwith tech carrier services such as Vonage and Skype. These efforts will help to attract the customers and reaching the customers will be easy. 6. Beta Test market will be done via a small on-line community either with or without free Wi-Fi service with difference tech carriers so that the problems, features, price points and various Internet marketing strategies will be discussed as well. Implementation and Control The marketing efforts of Wilson Cycles will be reviewed monthly as the technological advancements take place on an ongoing basis and new products are introduced quickly as well. The initial source of evaluation for the company will be the difference in the estimated and actual sales of the product. On the website, the customers will be allowed to give their feedback about the product features and the existing customers will be asked to participate in the survey of the computers. However, some of the evaluation tools that will be used to measure the performance are as follows: 1. Keep track of the current and potential customers of Wilson Cycles’s bikes and their related services and also the new range of products and services by tracking the traffic clicks and exposure to banner ads on the website from cross-linked and redirected links created for promotional purposes of Wilson Cycles on media channels or websites targeted in the marketing tactics and key browsers or key search engines. 2. Carry out customer satisfaction surveys and gather information from customer reviews on various blogs and review the customer feedback by selecting the users from Beta test market both current and potential ones. 3. The evaluation of direct sales and surveys and e-mails designed for follow-up purpose with products recently purchased will give a proper indication about the customer’s satisfaction level and how successful the product is in view of the customers. Conclusion In today’s dynamic environment, it is important for Wilson Cycles’s to ensure that it has strong presence everywhere especially on Internet. One important element for the success of companies in today’s environment is to focus on market planning. The management of Wilson Cycles will have to do market survey on a continuous basis so that it has all the updated information about the latest market trends and changes happening in the cycle world. The cycling is growing to become the most important part of everyone’s life and the demand of these products will continue to increase at an accelerating rate. According to the experts in the cycling industry, the government of UK has started promotional activities so that they can induce the importance of cycling for healthy and well-balanced life. The marketing plan will help the management in designing appropriate strategy so that they are able to reap benefits in future in the form of consistent stream of revenues. The marketing plan will also help Wilson Cycles to make sure that they are able to follow their strategy and in case of any unforeseen events, they can take necessary steps for rectifying any form of deviation. The management will also have to develop some short-term goals so that the evaluation can be done on a more frequent basis. Hence, with clear direction and proper understanding about the marketing plan, the company will be able to achieve its goals and objectives. Ultimately, the company will be able to attract the customers and good stream of revenue as well. Therefore, it is expected that Wilson Cycles will meet the customers’ expectations and with more advancements in technology, more heavily designed and technologically sophisticated bikes will keep on coming in the market. Hence, if Wilson Cycles is able to satisfy its target market, it will definitely be able to get the market share with ease. Therefore, with the advent of time, the management will understand the dynamics of the cycling industry and respond proactively to the target market demand and gain good market share as well. References Brushett, L. and Franklin, G. 2010. Market Planning for Value-added Agricultural Products. [Online] Available at: http://agmarketing.extension.psu.edu/Business/PDFs/market_planning.pdf [Accessed 14 June 2012] Ewing, R., and Cervero, R., 2010. Travel and the Built Environment. Journal of the American Planning Association, 76(3), pp. 265-294. Hill C., 2009. International business: competing in the global marketplace. McGraw-Hill Knowles, J., Adams, S., Cuerden, R., Savill, T., Reight, S. and Tight, M. 2009. Collisions involving pedal cyclists on Britain’s roads: establishing the causes. [Online] Available at: http://www.worthingrevolutions.org.uk/sites/worthingrevolutions.org.uk/files/PPR445.pdf [Accessed 14 June 2012] Ledwith, M., 2012. 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