Circular Distributors Marketing Services - Essay Example

?Circular Distributors Marketing Services Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Circular Distributor’s Ltd: A Brief Overview 3 Market Analysis: Circular Distributor’s Ltd. 4 Service Development 5 Implementation 8 Conclusion 9 Reference 10 Bibliography 11 Introduction Services can be defined as the economic activity which takes place between the buyers and sellers for the exchange of values in a market place (Lovelock, 2010, p.13). A service providing organisation is also another firm which provide different kinds of services to the host organisation. Service organizations have been the major consumers as well as the producer of refined services. In the present scenario information plays the most fundamental role in order to target new customers and also helps to embrace the existing customers of the firm. Now a days with the easy availability of information, companies generally wishes to target individual customers rather than going for a mass population. Therefore it has provided a huge opportunity for the firms indulged in supplying of services. Apart from providing information about the consumers to their clients these organisations on behalf of the client also communicates the messages to the target consumer group. The report is principally focused on the market analysis of Circular Distributor’s Ltd. In this process the report will try to make an analysis of their service offerings and portray it in a meaningful way. The report will also try to put out a new service development strategy for the company. Apart from this the dissertation will also highlight some of the ways to implement the newly developed strategy. Circular Distributor’s Ltd: A Brief Overview Circular Distributor’s Ltd. is an organisation which is considered as the pinnacle of information providing service industry. The company is in business for more than 50 years. The company mainly work as the supplier of services to the target consumers of their clients. As like the other companies, Circular Distributor’s Ltd is also getting hugely affected by the rapid changes in the marketing environment. The company also gets adversely affected by the technological changes which influences the way it operates in the market place; high demands from the consumers and also the activities of the competitors. Therefore it is highly recommended that that service organisations should constantly keep an eye on the turbulent marketing environment and take necessary steps in order to respond quickly to the demanding situations. The company is mainly in the business of providing direct marketing services for its clients. These include selling of informational services, door to door delivery and later came up with different publications. The company is also in a strong association with its client Lever brothers, for them the company has delivered around 10 million free samples to different households throughout the United Kingdom. The important and noticeable publications of the company include Emma’s diary, one step-ahead publication, Emma’s diary pre-school guide and married life. Each of the variants was meant for different segment of customers. For example Emma’s diary was only intended for pregnant women (Emmasdiary, n.d.). Since the company is associated into diversified business lines there will be availability competitors from different segments, but the major competitors of the company are Claritas, ICD and Experian. Market Analysis: Circular Distributor’s Ltd. Circular Distributor’s Ltd. started its marketing operations in the form of scatter gun approach but later changed to distribution mode. The company generally delivered promotional leaflets as well as Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) like soaps, shampoos and tea bags among others to the households of different consumers. But such system is considered quite one-dimensional in current scenarios and therefore some new techniques were necessity for the company to survive in the long run. And with the course of time industries like FMCG had more exciting ranges of value added marketing services available and could easily target the customers through more cost effective methods. Therefore in order to survive in the market place the company diversified its business line to publications as well. The revenue gets generated mainly from the space bookings in the magazine by different Companies. The revenue also gets generated for the distribution of free samples to the households of intended consumers. The growth of company was very slow as they have mainly focused on filling envelopes and devoted very limited time to the collection, evaluation and selling of the marketing information. The marketing strategy of the company which is in practise currently is illustrated below:- The company belongs to the core service industry. The services offered by the company are information about consumers, door to door distribution of different items and publishing of different magazines like Emma’s diary, married life etc. The Company from its registered office in UK operates throughout the country for delivering the services on behalf of their clients. But later in order to keep the pace with its competitors they expanded in different parts of Europe. It now holds the capability to distribute services to 140 million homes across the houses in France, Spain, Germany and Italy. The company offers a one stop shop solution for the clients of United Kingdom. Service Development The company needs to regulate its current service offerings and therefore a new service development strategy is needed. So in order to have a new development strategy it is very much important to analyze the existing markets where the company operates, it includes the size, composition, trends of the market and also the location; the competitors of the company and also focus should be given to the internal capabilities of the organisation. However it is also necessary to define the exact segmentation, positioning and the target customer for whom the company is venturing. Segmentation, Positioning and targeting are the three most essential parts of a new service plan they are respectively defined as below:- Segmentation is the process of grouping the customers which exhibits similar buying behaviour, attitudes and needs (Stone et.al, 2005, p.208). Positioning can be defined as the act of portraying the image of the organization, so that the company can occupy an esteemed and valued position in the mind of the customers. Positioning includes creating a differentiation and making it known to others (Scheff & Kotler, 1997, p.115). Targeting can be defined as the process of choosing the right desired market in order to sell the products and services offered by a company (Keegan, 2002, p.51). The report has principally focused on the strategies by which the service offered by the company can be developed. In order to do that it is highly recommended that the company must open as much branch offices as possible in different places. This will ensure that apart from the existing customers the company will be able to make it-self available for new customers as well. Through the report it has been proposed that the company should focus on collecting, analyzing and exhibiting the information to its clients. In other words the company must devote more of its time to this business as it has been proven in the past that it generates huge profits for the company. The company must preserve its core business i.e. the door to door marketing. This business is the identity of the company. The position where the company is currently standing today is mainly because of the traditional business it has ventured in the past. The company must not lose its sight of its core letter box marketing which is still a cherished venture. But it is also recommended that the company must now start to deliver high value services along with its existing one. In order to conduct the business in a more modern way there is a need to alter the name of the company. It is highly recommended the company must use come catchy names but it should be in contrast with the business it is undertaking and also the previous name of the company. And to add to that if the company uses a catchy tagline like ‘we believe’, or ‘we can’ will immensely help in attracting the potential consumers. The company is in the business of publication as well. The publications are generally intended towards mothers and pregnant women. Therefore it is highly recommended that the company should diversify its publication line for teenagers, children’s as well as for some subject oriented sectors like car magazines, sports magazines etc. This will make sure the company to cater to more diversified segments. This will also ensure the company to generate more profits and volume of sales. It is very much important that the company must look after the ways by which it can expand internationally. Initially the international expansion process may be costly, but if the company succeeds to do so it will simply boost its financial situation of the company. More over it will also grab customers from different parts of the world and will aid in the networking structure of the company. The next vital task which the company should take into account is about the new ways of delivering the services. Direct marketing is a good way of delivering service but apart from this some innovative ways of delivering the services to the customer can be thought off. The innovative way of delivering the services can be discovered through brain storming sessions from the employees and customers of the firm. The company should not only consider the ways of service delivery but also should focus on the variety of services it can offers to its customers. The company presently offers the information on customers for its different clients. The other service offers can be information about different companies, the product price of the companies. On a broader aspect the company can also provide information about specific industry such as FMCG, retail, automobile etc. The next important recommendation is that the company should try to improve the quality and productivity of the services. In this present scenario it is highly recommended that information technology must be used to the fullest extent in order to have a competitive advantage. Information technology offers a lot of applications such as data digitalisation, core data services, data storage etc. It also offers the reach of mass customers through the availability of internet. Therefore online media can also be used in its promotional strategy. The final recommendation is that before taking up any new venture the company must perform a feasibility test, which will ensure the company do not faces any crisis situation. Implementation The above recommended part can only be converted to proper forms if it has been properly executed. In order to implement it appropriately the following ways can be considered:- The company should set up a separate market research department who will be looking after the collection and analysis of the data. They will be solely responsible for the management of data. A strong IT department for the data storage, digitalisation and data transmission. There may be client from other parts of the world who will be looking for information’s via internet. In other words a client from Australia may ask for some information about a company in UK. Therefore in such cases it will be feasible for the company as well as the client if internet is used to transfer data. The company needs to hire knowledgeable and expert employees in order to carry out the operations properly. In case of international expansion the company can enter the foreign market through franchised mode or joint ventures. Therefore sound infrastructure also needs to be developed in the target countries as well. Conclusion The report is about the way by which the company can generate more business through the use of new service development strategy. The report also focuses on the possible new developments of the services. In order to conduct the research mainly books and articles about Circular Distributors Ltd. has been consulted. Therefore after conducting all the required researches it can be concluded that the company needs to adopt modern business techniques in order to stay in this turmoil business environment. Therefore it is highly recommended that the company should upgrade to modern method keeping its traditional business. Reference Emmasdiary. (No Date). Emma’s diary. [Online]. Available at: http://www.emmasdiary.co.uk/sitemap.aspx. [Accessed on 10 May 2012]. Keegan. (2002). Global Marketing Management. Delhi: Pearson Education India. Lovelock. (2010). Services Marketing. Delhi: Pearson Education India. Scheff, J., & Kotler, P. (1997). Standing Room Only: Strategies for Marketing the Performing Arts. Boston: Harvard Business Press. Stone et al. (2005). Key Account Management In Financial Services: Tools and Techniques for Building Strong Relationships with Major Clients. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Bibliography Gilmore, A. (2003). Services Marketing and Management . California: SAGE. Read More