A Marketing Opportunity for Powerbike in Thailand - Assignment Example

 A Marketing Opportunity for Powerbike in Thailand Executive Summary Powerbike is a firm based in Thailand which provides a range of bikes to customers according to their requirements. It was formed in 2006 as a cycle and accessory shop. Lately the firm has been focusing on segmentation of its market. Proper market segmentation will help it to succeed. The project highlights how the firm can adopt demographic and psychographic segmentation to target different group of customers. Demographic segmentation consists of segmentation of the target customers on the basis of age and gender, whereas psychographic segmentation consists of segmentation on the basis of lifestyle and activities and interest. Powerbike has also been using various positioning and segmentation strategies for increasing its customer’s base. For proper positioning in the market, Powerbike needs a proper body copy which would attract a large number of customers. The firm holds good prospect in future. It needs to focus on its target market and provide quality products at a reasonable price. Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Market Analysis 3 Demographic Segmentation 4 Psychographic Segmentation 5 Positioning & Segmentation strategy 6 Body copy 10 Prospect of Powerbike in Bangkok 12 Conclusion 13 References 14 Bibliography 15 Introduction Bicycle is considered the best mode of transport around the world. Now-a-days amidst the concerns over global warming cycling also helps to reduce carbon emission. Various countries round the world are stressing on the use of cycles for the purpose of travelling because of global warming being the key worry for the governments. The government of Thailand has been giving high priority to the use of bicycle as a form of transport in order to address the issue of pollution. Tourists are also encouraged to travel on bicycles as it will give an excellent view of the sights also it would help them to merge and network with the locals in a better manner. The potential of a cycle manufacturing organization is high in Thailand because of the population as well as the government's determination to work hard to curb global warming. Powerbike is a small family run organization of Thailand which provides variety of bikes according to the requirement of the customers. Powerbike was established in 2006 in the north eastern part of Thailand. Powerbike was set up by two sisters Ning and Nui. Powerbike is a premier cycle and accessory shop. The company is a bike retailer where variety of bikes is available according to the requirement of the customers. For example mountain bikes, road bike, women's specific bike, children bike, hybrid bike as well as bicycle motocross. Market Analysis An analysis of the consumer market for the products and services offered by a business organization is the vital for developing a successful marketing strategy. The market in which a business operates provides extensive opportunity to the business firm (Stevens, Sherwood, & Dunn, 1993, p.8). For identifying the target market for Powerbike segmentation of the market in Bangkok and its allied areas where the company wishes to set up a new retail bicycle office is needed. Market segmentation is the process of identification of the various user groups within a particular market. These market groups are the major target group of the firm and they would be offered with various products of the organization. Market segmentation will help the firm to have a competitive advantage in the market. Segmentation of the market would also help the firm to offer a particular type of product to a homogeneous group of consumers having similar needs and requirements. In this way the firm can satisfy its consumers to a greater extent by offering them what they need. In this report the segmentation of the market is done based on demographic and psychographic characteristics. Demographic Segmentation In this type of segmentation the market is segmented using different factors such as age, gender, income, education, etc. This is a reliable and popular method of segmentation. Powerbike can use demographic segmentation in the following manner: Age: Market of bicycle users can be segmented based on different products to cater to the needs of consumers falling under different age cluster. People of different age have different preferences and these choices can be utilized for the segmentation of the market effectively by the firm. Gender: Market segmentation can be also carried out based on gender of the target customer group. Since bikes are hugely popular among the female population in Thailand, the company can get huge benefits by selling specially designed women bikes to this group. Unique products of the firm such as Women bikes are comfortable to ride and hence popular among the women. Psychographic Segmentation Such segmentation tries to combine demographics and psychology in order to segment the market. As a result they support in the process of understanding the buyer behavior. The foremost factors for segmenting markets on the basis of psychograph are interest, activities, values & attitudes, personality traits, standard of living or by blending of all mentioned factors (Sargeant & Shang, 2010, psychographic segmentation). Accordingly in the framework of the project, the company manufactures and markets mountain bikes, hybrid bikes and bicycle motocross bikes which can be segmented by employing psychographic segmentation technique. Lifestyle: The market can be segmented on the based on lifestyle or the standard of living. In the lifestyle category there are people falling in the category of adventurous, experimenters and different other terms. Based on this the company can segment its mountain bikes for the adventure seekers. There are also a group of people exists in the society who likes to accomplish adventures actions but for some reason they are unable to fulfill it. However they can make use of the adventure equipments if they can employ it in a risk free zone. Such is the case of a hybrid bike. This bike is meant for those people who feels like to have adventure in the own set. The bike is designed like a mountain bike but has the functionalities of a road bike. For that reason the mentioned group can easily satisfy their needs with this particular offering from the company. Activities and Interests: The market can also be segmented on the basis of the individual activities and interest. In the context of the company the product bicycle motocross (BMX) bike is to be mainly targeted to the group of people who display signs of unusual activates and interests like street riding, dirt jumps, poker runs, slow cycles and different other cycling stunts. Positioning & Segmentation strategy Positioning strategy can be generally developed from a number of points like competition, object attributes, the customer types, or the product characteristics. Segmentation of market of the consumers primarily consists of five forms. They are: a) Demographic, b) Psychographic, c) Geographic, d) Volume and e) Benefit (Gitman, & McDaniel, 2008, p.299). These are different approaches which can be used for developing the strategy. All of these points create a positive image in the mind of the customers and audience as well. Powerbike has to position itself in the market in such a way that people understand the usefulness of the product and buy the product as well as recommending others to buy the product. Powerbike has got immense success with the help of its positioning strategy and is working hard to improve its position further. The company has to further strengthen its position in the market so that competitors cannot affect its business and innovating new marketing ideas will help to attract new customers. Production in anticipation to the demand of the customers will ensure safe future of the business. Continuous innovation and change according to the changing demand will help the organization to grow and be successful in future. Effective future marketing can be successfully done with the help of positioning strategies (Hooley & Graham, 2008, P.14). Powerbike has been using pricing as a positioning strategy. It has been providing quality product at low cost. Powerbike has been providing vivid description of features of their products in the catalog of the products provided by them. They have been innovating and providing a variety of products to carter to the needs of an array of customers. The company specialized in providing a variety of cycles and their product meets the needs of different classes of customers. Powerbike has been scheduling its positioning strategy to compete against the competitors in the market. Positioning is also done with the help of cultural symbols. This invariably helps in the process of proper positioning one’s product in the market. When a product is properly positioned then it can beat competition. The organization can also build a positive image in the mind of the public; it can ensure the future of the organization and bring new innovative products into the market to carter the demand of the customer with the help of proper positioning of the product. Positioning has changed the way advertisement is done today (Ries, & Trout, 2003, P.4) Proper brand positioning strategy helps to overcome various hurdles, like the organization can get easy finance from various sources like banks and other financial institutions as well as show its strong future position to the shareholders who are the actual owners. A firm can chose among various positioning strategy which includes strengthening the position of the organization (Ferrell & Hartline, 2010, p. 214). The organization has set up new base in Bangkok which has huge business market. There are many competitors who have their bases set up in Bangkok so setting up bases will require proper planning in such a way that they can make an impact while setting up their base in Bangkok. Providing a proper body copy to the consumers will help in building a proper image in the mind of the customers regarding the cycles and the services provided by Powerbike. This will help in reducing competition and will lead to increase in sales of the organization. After shifting the base to Bangkok where there is a huge potential market, the organization needs to provide shows for free where they will display their cycles and even allow public to use the bikes so they get a firsthand experience of the product. People can then be asked for testimonials which would be valuable for the organization when the organization prepares a body copy for the purpose of advertising the products available. Along with this, innovation must be the driving force which will help in differentiating the product from that of its competitors. Proper positioning in the market can be done with all these things going hand in hand. Powerbike has to not only highlighted on the brand positioning but also on the body copy and effective marketing for the purpose of growth and development of the organization. Powerbike is in the growth stage so it has to follow various advertising mechanisms for the purpose of creating an appropriate image and position of the organization in the market. Positioning is initiated for a product but it does not affect the product any way. Positioning affects the mind of the probable buyers i.e. positioning is done to position the product in the mind of the buyer. Now-a-days there are too many products and too much marketing thus positioning is very crucial in the market. In this society where marketing plays a crucial part in the existence of an organization, positioning helps to concentrate exclusively on narrowing on potential target who will be interested in buying the products or service. In the era where competition is a killer, there is a situation where an organization needs to produce a product that is different from the products of its competitors or perish due to stiff competition. Earlier this problem was faced by various organizations in the west but now due to globalization all of the organizations in the world have been facing tough competition. An organization having a good position in the market will automatically have a strong brand position which will help it to further excel and grow. There are a lot of companies in the FMCG market whose sales directly depend on the positioning of their brand in the market (Sengupta, 2005, p. 2-3). The brand in superior position always has a higher sales volume. For example Procter & Gamble has a good position in the market and its sales volume is higher than its competitors. Proper positioning can be effectively done by providing proper services to the customers. In the words of one of the proprietor of Powerbike, customers do expect friendly as well as fast services when it comes to bicycle maintenance. Powerbike not only provided the products but also the services for the purpose of repair work of the cycles. This has enormously helped the organization in positioning a proper image in the market as compared to its competitors. Powerbike works overtime to provide goods and services within a short period of time. Powerbike provide bikes within a period of 6 hours to its customers and services throughout the north eastern part of Thailand. Body copy Body copy consists of the authentic message with which the organization aims to attract more customers. When a customer reads the message in the body copy, he must be interested to buy the product otherwise the body copy needs to be changed. When a body copy is written one thing should be kept in mind that the message must be attractive so that the readers will not only be attracted to the product but they will also remember the name of the brand. Powerbike is in a strong position in terms of its brand and it must create a proper body copy to attract potential customer and increase its scale of business. A strong body copy will help Powerbike to leave an excellent impression in the eyes of the consumers at large. In this age of globalization, creation of a proper image is very essential for the very existence and the future of the organization. Many factors contribute to Body Copy. For example a sales message will shine if it is been prepared in bullet points and will help in attracting more customers. In Australia a car company did a body copy in bullet points and highlighted the message clearly which helped in improving sales of the organization and create a good brand image in the market. Testimonials are a very important part of body copy because they help in building social proof as well as trust. These factors are important factors which help in developing a proper image in the mind of the customers. The organization having a testimonial that is bold claim can be put on the top of the body copy. This will first get noticed and will attract attention of the customers. Powerbike must ask for testimonials from its customers and highlight the good testimonials which would help in developing trust for the brand. The potential customers will get a vivid knowledge about the cycles as well as the services provided by the organization through the body copy. The people providing good testimonial must always be approached to buy the product because they are the potential customers who will not only help in building a good brand image but also helps in the increasing sales volume of the organization (Entrepreneurs-Journal, n.d.). Customers have an inclination towards trusting the testimonials written by the other customers. In case of Powerbike the entire section of the public is its target market so having an excellent and explicit body copy will be highly beneficial for the organization. In the case of mountain bikes it must be mentioned how these bikes can be run on any terrain and the process to use them is easy. In case of road bikes are lighter than mountain bikes and are often used for the purpose of competition. In case of women's bike, the features that are included consist of saddles which are fitted and the frames are also small to fit better. In case of children's bike, the feature that is added is that they come in a lot of sizes. In case of hybrid bikes, the features generally consist of heavy bikes which can be easily used on road as well as on the mountain. In case of the bicycle motocross can be used in dirt jumps, BMX racing as well as street riding. The feature of each of the cycles must be mentioned in the body copy so that the public can have full knowledge about the products available and the features of each of these products will help them in deciding which product to pick and choose from, according to their requirement. Obtaining testimonials of those who have used the cycles will be valuable. Prospect of Powerbike in Bangkok Powerbike has been considering a future expansion and has changed its base from north eastern part of Thailand where the population is not favorable for further expansion to Bangkok which is the heart of business in Thailand. Correct planning and expense would be going hand in hand as they would have to spend considerable amount on marketing and brand positioning. These decisions need to be taken carefully. A very imperative strategy of retail is location and Powerbike being a retail organization has to focus specifically on location if it wants its future plans to be fulfilled. The organization has been working hard on finding a suitable location in Bangkok to open their retail office. Bangkok is well-known for its terrible traffic congestion and cycles will solve the problem of traffic jams. Hence opening office in Bangkok will help in addressing this issue. The traffic jams also leads to pollution and a cycle will not only address delay in time due to congestion but being environment friendly will attract many people to buy cycle. Even the government has launched many cycling tours to promote cycling. Powerbike must tap on this opportunity and must collaborate with the government for these tours. This would help in developing awareness in the mind of the general public as well as providing them with a mode of transport that is low in cost and eco friendly. Therefore Bangkok is a suitable market for Powerbike. Proper business plans need to be prepared along with proper body copy which would help the organization to grow (EC21, n.d). Powerbike have set up their base in Bangkok and for effective advertising strategy they have prepared a body copy which consists of the testimonials of the contented customers. This would invariable help it in future positioning of its brand. Powerbike have lots of competitors in Bangkok so it needs to devise a strategy such that its products are accepted and it becomes a leader in the market. Becoming a leader is a tough job which requires carefully planning all activities. Powerbike has the potential to be the market leader as it has a good track record and huge list of satisfied customers. Conclusion Powerbike has been profitably doing business for all this time but they have to keep a watchful eye and good strategies to grow and have a stable business in future. In order to ensure smooth success and stable future, Powerbike have to keep innovating and providing differentiated products than that of its competitors, only then it can stand the competition and becomes a market leader. Having a successful marketing strategy will ensure this success. Suitable body copy will ensure that the product and service have a positive brand image in the mind of the customers. This will help in increasing the sales of the organization. Positive sales will guarantee the future of the organization. Appropriate strategies ensure that the brand has left a mark in the mind of the customer. In this way success would be assured. References EC21, No Date. Body Copy [Online] Available at [Accessed 07 June 2012]. Ferrell, O.C., & Hartline, M., 2010. Marketing strategy. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Gitman, L. J., & McDaniel, C., 2008. The Future of Business: The Essentials. 4th Ed. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Hooley., & Graham, H., 2008. Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning. Noida: Pearson Education India.  Ries, A. & Trout, J., 2003. Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Sengupta, S., 2005. Brand Positioning: Strategies for Competitive Advantage. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Bibliography Belohlavek, P., 2007. Introduction to Unicist Market Segmentation: Design Globally Operate Locally. USA: Blue Eagle Group. Burgemeister, S., 2003. Market Analysis. 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