A2Z Solutions Pty. Ltd: A Marketing Plan

Market Analysis

The first step of the marketing process is the analysis of the environment. The organisation should research the marketplace, customer’s needs and preferences. The second step involves the designing of the customer-driven marketing strategy. In the second stage, the market is segmented and a group of customers is targeted. The next steps involve the creation of the marketing mix, i.e. deciding the product, price, place, and promotion for the decided segment and the targeted customers. The last step involves the implementation and the management of the plan. The follow up of the marketing strategy is also necessary and the is an integral part of the marketing process (Armstrong, Adam, Denize& Kotler, 2014).

• Tapping the markets of cities other than Brisbane:

As visible in the case study, the company is major based in Brisbane and have not touched the markets of other cities over the five years. With the brand value and goodwill earned over the five years, it would be easy for the company to tap the new markets.

• Targeting the middle-class customers:

The general pattern of the customers of A2Z Solutions Pty. Ltd, as described in the case study, is sophisticated upper-class people, who are fond of decorating their homes. The company can develop the market for the middle-class people as well with the products of slightly lower range, but upfront payment terms.

Ansoff’s product – market growth matrix is a strategic tool for the planning of the marketing activities and provides an insight on the market opportunities in order to increase the revenues of the entity, either through the development of the new products or the tapping on the new markets (Bocken, Fil&Prabhu, 2016).The four major components of the matrix are Market Penetration, Market Development, Product Development and Diversification. Market penetration provides information about how to sell the existing products more in the existing markets. Market development helps to design the plan for entering new markets and product development is for the development of the new products or services. Diversification concerns with the new markets and the new products.

Michael E Porter had developed Porter’s Five Forces of Competitive Position Analysis in the year 1979 (CGMA,2018). The five-force analysis mainly comprises of the evaluation of the following.

• potential entrants
• the power of the buyers,
• information about the rivals,
• powers of the suppliers and
• the substitutes of the products, in relation to the company.

 Accordingly, the potential entrants for the business of the A2Z Solutions Pty. Ltd could be local. The potential entrants give the information about the competitors that may reduce the profitability by entering into the market of the said entity. The power of the buyers helps in evaluating the important information about buyers such as how easy it is to drive the prices down by the buyers, the cost if switching for the buyers. Information about the rivals helps in gaining insight into the number and the type of competitors. The suppliers have the power to drive the prices up; also, each of the suppliers can affect the business according to the relative size and strength. The likelihood of substitution of the new products for the consumers would reduce both the power of suppliers and the attractiveness of the

Ansoff’s Product – Market Growth Matrix

Some of the major legal and ethical requirements that can have a severe impact on the marketing operations of the business of A2Z Solutions Pty. Ltd is as follows (Business, 2018).

• Corporations Act, 2001 (Cth);
• Contract Law;
• GST and PAYG;
• Competition and the Consumer Act 2010;
• ADMA Code of Practice in relation to direct marketing;
• Spam Act, 2003;
• Do Not Call Register Act 2006;
• Pricing Regulations;
• Permit requirements for signage and the insurance of the same;
• Supplier Agreements in relation to the terms of credit, supply conditions, risk management and any marketing and promotion support;
• Regulations of the Council;
• Intellectual Property (IP) regulations including trademark laws, when using the other person’s business or property for marketing;
• Privacy legislations and
• Discrimination regulations.

There are four components in the marketing mix strategy (Khan, 2014). The components of its marketing mix (4Ps) of A2Z Solutions Pty. Ltd is as follows.

The first P, that refers to the products gives the information about the products and the features of the entity. The entity A2Z Solutions Pty. Ltd mainly deals in the homeware products. The main lines of the business are bathroom fittings, bedroom furnishings, mirrors, decorative items, and the lighting fixtures. The second P deals with the pricing of the products of the entity. Accordingly, it is known that as the customer served by the said entity are sophisticated upper-class people, the process is generally high, in order to maintain the quality of the products. The third P of the marketing mix deals with the promotion. The main strategy for the entity over the years, to advertise and promote the brand is by opening the easy to access stores, which are the one stop for all the home ware requirements. The fourth P refers to the place. Accordingly, it is known that the main region of promotion, as decided by the entity is Brisbane. This is visible by the fact that there are 15 stores in the Brisbane area itself and no other store in any other region.

Some of the strategies or the indicators of the measurement of marketing performance are as follows:

• The volume of the sales
• Brand awareness
• Customer acquisition
• Customer retention
• Website Traffic
• Average Customer Value
• Cost per Lead
• Return on Investment on marketing expenses
• Social Media Engagement

The few of the elements of an effective and a good marketing plan are listed as follows.

• An effective plan is organized, written down and is collective of the data with respect to the-Existing customers; their demographics, buying decisions, needs and more,current sales pattern and the industry benchmarks, Information about the competitors’ products and suppliers and the influence of the suppliers in the market. It includes executive summary as well (Pride, Ferrell, Lukas, Schembri&Niininen, 2012).
• A good marketing plan talks about the target markets and the information about themwith respect to the applicable laws, regulations, influence of the government policies, level of technology used, types of the customers, suppliers and more.
• It talks about the vision and the mission statement of the entity and breaks down the same into the qualitative and the quantitative terms.
• The plan should comprise of the marketing strategies that were adopted by the entity, according to the background of the entity and the potential marketplace and the customer demographics (McDonald, 2016).
• The marketing plan includes the marketing budget, forecasts and information with respect to the Pricing, Positioning, and Branding (Tanner & Raymond, 2015).
• The plan should document how effectively it was implemented and controlled.
• The plan should be monitored timely and adapted according to the feedback.(Chari, Katsikeas, Balabanis& Robson, 2014).The plan should be aimed at maximizing the participation and the satisfaction of the customers.

Some of the common marketing strategies are listed as follows (McDonald & Wilson, 2016).

• Direct marketing efforts;
• Advertising;
• Training programs to increase awareness among customers.
• Trade shows; exhibitions and
• Press releases.

Direct Marketing deals with the activities like door-to-door selling, handling of the brochures and the sales letters. This involves the direct interaction with the customers.

Advertising can be done either through print media, i.e. with the help of pamphlets, directories, magazines or through social media, i.e. online communities, website, emails and text messages.

References

Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S., & Kotler, P. (2014). Principles of marketing. Australia: Pearson.

Bocken, N. M., Fil, A., &Prabhu, J. (2016). Scaling up social businesses in developing markets. Journal of cleaner production, 139, 295-308.

Business. (2018). Legal obligations of marketing. Retrieved from: https://www.business.gov.au/marketing/advertising/legal-obligations-of-marketing

Chari, S., Katsikeas, C. S., Balabanis, G., & Robson, M. J. (2014). Emergent marketing strategies and performance: The effects of market uncertainty and strategic feedback systems. British Journal of Management, 25(2), 145-165.

Chartered Global Management Accountant. (2018). Porter’s five forces of competitive position analysis.Retrieved from: https://www.cgma.org/resources/tools/essential-tools/porters-five-forces.html

Khan, M. T. (2014). The concept of’marketing mix and its elements (a conceptual review paper). International journal of information, business and management, 6(2), 95.

McDonald, M. (2016). Strategic marketing planning: theory and practice. In The marketing book. Oxon: Routledge.

McDonald, M., & Wilson, H. (2016). Marketing Plans: How to prepare them, how to profit from them. UK: John Wiley & Sons.

Pride, W. M., Ferrell, O. C., Lukas, B. A., Schembri, S., &Niininen, O. (2012). Marketing principles. Boston MA: Cengage Learning.

Tanner, J., & Raymond, M. (2015). Principles of marketing. United States: University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing.