Marketing management fresh and fresh - Essay Example

MARKETING MANAGEMENT – FRESH AND FRESH INTRODUCTION Businesses have always been dependent on the marketing of its products and service for developing interaction with the customers. However, in the modern world marketing of products and services has moved on from traditional perspectives (Cranfield School of Management, 2000). With intense competition in every industry, simply making customers aware of the products and services of the organization is a strategy that will result in an organization lost in the fog (Baker, 2003). Modern world requires businesses to equip itself with a set of tools that enable business to consistently interact with customers in mere accordance with various approaches preferred by the customers. Hence, marketing of the contemporary business world has moved on towards engaging, motivating and satisfying customers with personal values orientation than product featuring in fragmented mediums (Kotler, and Keller, 2009). This basic criterion of customer orientation drives marketing in every industry (Doyle, 2002). For example, high competitive retail industry requires marketing tools will higher value proposition such as loyalty cards etc. On the other hand, the distinguished forest industry has also realized the importance of scope of marketing on different levels of products such as ecology friendly forest generation, logging and related products etc (Lintu, n.d.). This reflects the growing up realization of the importance of marketing across various industries. In the similar context, this report is aimed at developing a marketing plan for the Fresh &Fresh which is a retail salad bar in Manchester (UK). For developing concrete and effective marketing plans, the report has conducted situation analysis with SWOT and drove consumer insights to achieve the outlined marketing objectives. Finally, followed by the strategies for four Ps of marketing the report has provided the implementation and monitoring and evaluation plan. This will ensure that plan remains aligned to the defined objectives successfully. 2. INTRODUCTION TO THE COMPANY Fresh and Fresh is a retail salad bar in the state of Manchester (UK). The business is a based on providing customers with the freshly prepared salad from fruits and other vegetables with a unique mix of nutritional value. Having considered the growing health consciousness of the customers, the Fresh and Fresh has set up to provide customer with the exclusive experience of freshness without any artificial additives. According to research from GFK (2013), the personal care market in UK has grown their spending out of health consciousness. The report claims nearly six percent rise in the volumes purchased in personal care market while eight percent rise in the sales value for the year 2013. Similarly, latest figure have also revealed that sales of organic food spending in UK has increased to £187.4m in 2013 from £179.9m in 2012 with around 22% rise from 2008 (Herald & Times Group, 2013). Along with these factors at work, the market for the ready to eat meal also moved on from frozen to chilled food due to freshness and health consciousness of customers. As a result, nearly 57% of the market of UK prepared meal was comprised of chilled meat while as a whole, the market is of immense size with the value of £ 2.6 billion (Winterman, 2013). Hence, Fresh and Fresh started out of these opportunities in the UK market with the objective of providing customer with the highest level of freshness without any additives or preservative. The distinctive feature of salads as compared to all other frozen, chilled, ready to eat and salad serving businesses is that Fresh and Fresh has promised detailed expertise towards the nutritional value from salad. This is unlike other businesses who take salads as part of product lines. 3. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION Fresh and Fresh has a range of salads that are offered with a variety of tastes and nutritional values. The blend of recipe at Fresh and Fresh considers the nutritional value for customers by considering various factors in addition to the customers’ tastes preference. Six product lines are offered at Fresh and Fresh for morning, brunch, lunch, snacks, dinners and late night salads. Each line has five variations suiting to the nutritional value suitable to the needs of the customers. Also, a specialized deli-line can also be prepared for the customized serving. As the products at Fresh and Fresh are aimed at targeting customers with greater orientation towards ready meal; therefore, the packing or the serving dish is also designed with consideration of making it easy to handle. With all these factors at work, the Fresh and Fresh has the mission to provide customer with fast, fresh and favorite salads for fitness. Fresh and Fresh focuses on providing customers with the idea to live fresh by eating fresh. 4. SITUATION ANALYSIS Obesity is among the rising challenges for the people in UK. In addition to the increasing pressure on the medical expense of the individuals, it has now become a serious challenge for the government in UK. Fresh and Fresh in the wake this rising unhealthy habits among the people of the UK has gained wide array of advantages which are serving the business as its strength. The comprehensive analysis of its core strengths along with an eagle eye on the weaknesses of the business is assessed in this section. Using SWOT tool, the report has also highlighted the opportunities present for the Fresh and Fresh while identifying the potential threats to business. a. SWOT Analysis STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES The business of Fresh and Fresh has received significant accreditation from various health conscious organizations including newspapers etc. Fresh and Fresh is a SME based business which limits the additional operational costs; hence, enables a business to provide customers salads as reasonable and affordable price. Fresh ingredients have managed to attract a large number of customers and gained the loyalty within short span of time. High consideration to the nutritional value and customization has added valuable strength to the business. Ease of online ordering while on ways to get the salad has added value to the service. Limited business resources constraint affects its ability to serve the large customer base. The business idea is not inimitable, and so it is the biggest weakness of the Fresh and Fresh. Consistently increasing customer awareness of the nutritional value could affect its ability to satisfactorily serve the customer demand. OPPORTUNITIES THREATS Due to wide range of food lines available, it has been forecasted that marginal growth in the healthy and packaged food industry but 70% of the votes of the survey participants favored such foods (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 2011). This offers considerable growth potential. The immigrants’ influx to UK has increased the population by nearly 12% which leads to the expected population base of 67 million people by the end of 2030 (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 2011). Rising health consciousness will continue to the increase in market share by fresh food provider 2014 (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 2011). The researchers are also favoring the eating habits of fruits and salads by declaring juice not a low calorie solution (English, 2013). Big retailer such as Tesco and other food chains have much resource to capitalize the idea of Fresh and Fresh at a broader level. Rising fruits prices are a serious threat to the business. CPI in UK reported 10 percent rise in fruits prices (Hawkes, 2013). In addition to the predicted rise in prices, weather is another serious threat to the ingredients. b. Consumer Analysis And Insights The SWOT analysis reveals that the company needs to devise the comprehensive strategy. With these strategies, the company would be able to engage the satisfied customers with Fresh and Fresh. In order to continue the customer relationship with Fresh and Fresh, the understanding of the decision making process of the customer is crucial. Simple consumer decision making process is a six stage process which is as follows: (O’Connell, & Cuthbertson, 2009) For each step of this purchase decision, marketing of an organization is required to be effective, so that customer ends up at purchasing the product or service of the organization. Furthermore, the post purchase experience is also required to be pleasant and valued that customer quickly lands to the products and service of the organization whenever the need is recognized. Therefore, for understanding the customers need and components of the decision making process. It is crucial to develop some insights about the factors that affect customers while making the purchase decision. The recession of the 2008 has not only struck the financial markets and business, but the limiting and squeezing disposable income has turned down the health eating habits. According to the Metro Newspaper, most of the households are making their way to cheaper food options and most often end up at low quality, high fat and calorie food that adversely affect the health (National Center for Biotechnology Information, 2013). This reflects that customers’ choice of food is highly affected by the price of the food especially in the current economic environment where issues pertaining to job securities are high. Huffington Post (2013) has reported that the research of Institute for Fiscal Studies has stated that sky rocketing prices of the healthy and nutritional value of food has increased the weight of an adult man by 8.6 Kg. On the other hand, for a woman this has increased the weight by 7.9 kg and constant drive towards it is leading towards growing obesity (Huffington Post, 2013). In addition to this, researches have revealed that search for the solution to obesity is high. For instance, McFerran et. al, (2010) concluded that customers are more driven by social factors and opt for the type and quantity of food used by people with fitness and body shape that the customer wants to have (McFerran et. al, 2010). An interesting insight presented in the similar context revealed that acceptance of the fact by the person eating healthy in mandatory is effective as after eating such with acceptance person does not feel hungry and so does not look for other food (McFerran et. al, 2010). This implies that value of the food serving has to prove not only on the health front but at the same it equally requires endorsement from economical, social and psychological aspects. All these require that a business Fresh and Fresh is required to market its products in a way that successfully passes the standards of economic, social, economical and psychological. This in turn will result in the selection of Fresh and Fresh as the final choice by the customers in all stages of decision making process. 5. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES Assessment of the position Fresh and Fresh in SWOT and the assessment of customer insights have collected sizeable valuable information for the Fresh and Fresh. In the light of this information, Fresh and Fresh has set following goals and objectives for the business for the year 2014: To promote and endorse the pioneer position of the brand Fresh and Fresh as the only business with retail salad as its only business by nearly 25%. To increase the market share by nearly 15 percent by the end of 2014. To increase the customers loyalty and engagement with Fresh and Fresh by nearly 45% for the year for which this plans is devised. 6. TARGET MARKET AND SEGMENTATION The total population of UK is growing at a rate faster than any other European Union country (Waterfield, 2013). The size of UK population is expected to rise to 63.13 million people while by 2030, the population will increase to 66.09 million people. Within this population base, the customers of the age within 15 to 65 will be 40.65 million at the end of 2014 while it will reduce to 40.36 million people at the end of 2030. Additionally, the population in the urban regions counts to nearly 51.01 million and 56.24 million for 2014 to 2030 respectively. Importantly, the obesity rate is as high as 32.94% in adults with age of 30 years and above (IFS, 2013). Total spending by the people on health care for the year 2013 has remained 18% and it is expected to maintain the same percentage spending in the year 2014. The trend of spending will be as follows: (UK Public Spending, 2012) It is important to mention that a significant portion of this spending constitutes of medical expense. According to the BBC reports on the assessment of 15,850 British households’ purchase data, the spending on the fresh foods has declined by 8.5% due to squeezing disposable income (Jeavans, 2013). The change in spending is between in 2010-12 as compared to 2005-07 have all noticed negative percentages as depicted as follows: (Jeavans, 2013) Importantly, the people of all ages especially the urban segment of 15-65 are increasingly concerned for their social acceptance. A good percentage of people living in the urban locations is either students or working class. This increases the pressure of acceptance among colleagues. Also, the health and fit candidates are preferred by the organizations while making the hiring decision along with other factors. Most importantly, the era of technology has impacted this dimension of life as well. People today are connected on the social website, and this has increased psychological pressure to look good so as to share on social sites their special and even daily moments. Hence, all these customers constitute the target market of the Fresh and Fresh. As a matter of fact that Fresh and Fresh has existence in the five locations in the initial phase, therefore, its target segment is limited to the locations of its existence. As noted above, the economic factors is among the dominant factors to drive change in the healthy food spending. Therefore, medical expense will be used to inform the customers about the trade-off between healthy spending to medical spending being done customers uninformed. The role of the social and psychological factors will be also be made use of in the marketing plan to engage customers. 7. MARKETING MIX For the identified segment of the target market, the following marketing mix is derived: a. Product As noted earlier business of Fresh and Fresh is aimed to serve the customers with the salad made from fresh food. Also, the serving of the salad has been designed in accordance with the nutritional value requirement in different times of day. Therefore, the products piece will put greater emphasis on the valued consideration on the nutritional requirement of customers in different times in a day. As the market has reduced the spending direct spending healthy food due to high price of these foods and fruits, the product will feature the value of all healthy food in one reasonably priced package. It will be notified to customers who are either working or student or even if household; hence everyone who is considering health as important. Also, it will be notified to the customers that the product is freshly made for service still it does not require the customer to wait for long. b. Price As noted above that the target customers of the Fresh and Fresh are those who have squeezed their spending on the healthy food due to rising prices, the price of the serving will be maintained at a competitive level. The regular serving will be priced at £1.25 (Tesco, 2014) while customized or deli-line will be priced at £1.50 to £ 1.75. These prices will be a compelling attraction to customers as less than a competitive price of sandwich while offering an attractive value for money. c. Place At the initial stage, the service will be five locations of Manchester. These five locations are selected strategically. For instance, three of its service centers are in and close to service business centers. This is aimed at attracting the footsteps to the Fresh and Fresh and within lunch hours or on the way to the office. Many of the offices have 24 hours service; therefore, offering light and healthy food in ever time of the day. One store will be located close to Manchester University for serving students in order to serve student will healthy food during university hours. As a matter of fact, many of the students are immigrants so the late night meal will be available so that students can also take healthy salad for late study sessions. Finally, the fifth store at this stage will be opened in the shopping street. It is vital to offer the equal opportunity to the household and retired people to find east way health food. Also, online existence is another location of existence. d. Promotion The promotion of the Fresh and Fresh will be based on the three points: the notification of importance of healthy food. This will use as a psychological factor. The trade-off that the customer is making with the medical expense while turning to other unhealthy food. It will use the economic factors. The importance and value that physically and mentally fit person is given in the society. The social factor. For the purpose, the traditional and contemporary mode of advertisement will be used. As TV advertisement is costly and it is also not suitable due to the limited existence at the initial phase. Therefore, print medium and billboards from the traditional form of advertisement will be used. Furthermore, from the contemporary mediums social media including facebook and twitter will be used for engaging the customers. Social media has become an important aspect of marketing strategies (Andreason, 2001). The advertisements and marketing content will include the general public at the initial stage to create awareness that smart, attractive and fit personality can be a defining characteristic of every human being and not only celebrities. 8. IMPLEMENTATION AND ACTION PLAN Effective implementation is crucial for the success of the plan. The marketing plan will be implemented for the entire year 2014 to develop the strong bonding of the customer will the Fresh and Fresh. Following schedule will be followed across the year: Jan Feb Mar Apr May June Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Print Billboard Social Media Therefore, in the first month, all three mediums will be striking the customer. Furthermore, the pamphlets will be spread across the locations of existence to create awareness about the company. As the first month is over, the billboards and hoardings will be employed to retain the visual captivation of the customer while on the way to the destination. Therefore, onwards the strategy will continue to swap the marketing either on the billboard or in the print medium. Social media requires consistent engagement and so it will be used across the timeline by using different digital media tactics. Also on the basis of the basis of the special events and responses of the medium of advertisement, the adjustments will be made in using the medium. 9. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION Marketing has gained an increasingly important position in the business in the contemporary world. Moreover, marketing itself has transformed significantly since the recent and organizations are concerned for developing a marketing program that is driven in accordance with the demand of the customers. As a matter of fact, this principle of customer orientation is embraced across the business functions. The above report is based on the marketing plan for the salad’s business Fresh and Fresh which is based in Manchester (UK). Owing to rising health issues, the business is aimed at exploiting the opportunity of serving customers with health food at a reasonable price. The marketing plan devised the comprehensive strategy for engaging customers while defining 4 Ps strategy on the insights about the target segment. As a matter of fact, the business idea has long term potential; therefore, it is recommended Fresh and Fresh shall constantly explore the insights about the customer that are provided in terms of response to the marketing plan activities. 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