Strategic Report And Marketing Plan Of Houzit

Strategic Directions And Organizational Objectives

The paper is a combination of two tasks. First part includes a strategic report on Houzit and the second part includes a marketing plan of Houzit. Systematic structuring is followed in both tasks.

Strategic Directions And Organizational Objectives

The vision statement of Houzit is- To be one of the national retail homeware brands, emphasizing on the various home makers’ needs and providing a range of high quality and unique home wares to all customers by means of our flexible and easy payment plan of ours.

The mission statement of Houzit is- Houzit will focus on having a substantial retail homeware presence in almost every capital city of Australia by the end of 2020, starting with a limited number of 15 stores in Sydney and increasing the number to 100 considerably in the coming years.

Objectives

• Increase in overall sales in the coming 3 years from $15 million annually to $20 million annually.
• Increase the list of loyal customers from 10,000 to 15,000
• Focus on brand recognition establishment in Sydney, so that 1 in 3 people recognize Houzit brand when a arbitrary survey is conducted in 18 months’ period interval.

The Current Size, Capabilities And Resources Of Houzit Including Notable Strengths And Weaknesses 

Current size	1000-1500 sq. mts
Capabilities	The main USPs of Houzit are quality, uniqueness and choice preference options
Resources	Have 15-20 full time employees and some casuals.

Strengths And Weaknesses

Strengths	Weaknesses
· Excellent staff support, who are highly skilled and have prior knowledge of homewares · Excellent location and great retail space that is functional, bright and commercially efficient for urban district. · High customer loyalty among existing customers · Offering high quality products in comparison to customers	· A limited marketing budget for developing brand awareness. · Lack of critical mass and store cover · Growing long term repayment plans of customers made the company struggle on fund supply issues.

Gaps Between The Objectives And The Current Capabilities And Resources

Resources are not in pace with the objectives of Houzit because limited resource of 15-20 employees will not be sufficient for meeting the said objectives.

Two marketing opportunities that meet the objectives of Houzit are,

• Scope of increase in sales outside the target area of Sydney.
• A noteworthy part of the target market is not conscious of Houzit and its market contribution.

Risk of increase in sales outside target area Sydney is that market competition will increase and covering a larger sales area with limited resource is not an easy task. Penetrating the target market will be secondary if focus is shifted to newer areas. Benefit is that customer gain will improve and brand recognition will increase considerably.

Risk of non-market awareness about the company will not have good impression on end results as customers will need time and buying experience to have loyalty and trust on it. So, in-spite of huge promotional campaigns sales will not be achieved. Benefit is that people may try this new brand as Houzit is offering more than its market competitors. 

Best opportunity may be new market exploration and targeting sales outside Sydney. Because if new market can be attracted then positive word of mouth will help in engaging customers and so both objectives will be attained considerably.

Marketing mix based on capability and resource

Marketing mix(4Ps)	Attributes
Product	Bedroom fittings and bathroom fittings products need to be emphasized more as their sales will increase considerably. Product quality, uniqueness and large choice selection options need to be focused more. Newly added product of lighting fixture needs more attention due to sustainability issue raised by government. First purchase opportunity for mirrors and decorative items need to be specially designed so that customers are satisfied with their purchase.
Price	Prices are fair and payment options are also good but the long-term repayment plan need to be revised so that contingency situation can be limited.
Place	New places outside Sydney need to be focused so that the company’s brand name and recognition enhances. To support company mission diversification of stores is mandatory and new stores should be set up all over Australia.
Promotion	Loyalty in customers will help in promoting the brand by their word of mouth. Higher offerings in relation to competitors will help in better product promotions and their bright lighted up store uniqueness will be their Unique Selling Proposition.

When the marketing mixes are considered, every strategy adopted are in line with organizational mission and vision.

The competitive analysis model will help in better performance review of the marketing objectives of Houzit. The analysis strategies include,

• Both Company’s customers and competitor’s customers were consulted and their feedback is collected. Their comparative feedback will help in better product knowledge.
• Competitors’ strategies need to be follow-up-ed so that value offerings gain added advantage.
• Competitors products and services need to be purchased and their process output need to be followed if required
• Application of reverse engineering in competitor’s product supply will help in better marketing insight knowhow
• Every employee related to the field need to be enquired and their feedback is to be collected to have a clear position of the company in the market.

Ansoff’s product market growth matrix will help in measuring marketing performance by suggesting business growth strategies.

Objectives

The tactics used by Houzit may include TV advertisement, commercials, magazine ads, social media promotions and other retail promotions. The activity scheduling process involves focus on best alternative, here retail promotions of a wide range of product variety, communicating with end customers about the benefits of the promotional tool and how they could gain competitive advantage in purchase over other competitive stores. The best payment options are provided by Houzit where customers could avail long term loan repayment option with three-year product guarantee. Regular and timely follow up will end in high rate of success. The cost of the products should be lower in comparison to the competitors and Houzit should show more accountability and responsibility in areas of product delivery and product fittings. Being a homeware store Houzit should include KPI of quality product delivery at the most affordable cost and some unique product development strategies.

For retail promotions the company need to abide by the legal governmental rules of sustainability focusing on waste management and energy conservation and considering ethical requirements, employees need to be transparent while providing customers about the product details. No information should be hidden from the customers and need to be treated fairly under any circumstances.

The tactics fit well within the organizational resource and capabilities and provide short term solutions to support company vision in the long run.

Marketing plan

Houzit is a chain of homewares in Australia and is operating for its 5^th year in this segment. It aims at having national brand recognition by providing wide range of unique home supplies to customers by the help of its easy payment plans. It also aims to have significant retail homeware presence in every Australian market by the end of 2020. It aims to diversify from 50 stores in Sydney to 100 all over Australia.

Strengths · Excellent knowledgeable staff support · Great retail space and store positioning · Existing customers have high loyalty levels · High offering levels in quality, accessibility and range in comparison to customers	Weaknesses · Limited budget for promoting brand awareness and lack of store cover · Difficulty in funding long term repayment plans of customers
Opportunities · Has high growth area and target market is not aware of its growth and offers so there is an opportunity for success · Increased sales opportunity outside Sydney	Threats · Competition from local and independent retailers · Low overhead costs and store prices · Competition from global retail chain (like Amazon) · Reduced spend of disposable income on homewares by customers

The SMART Marketing objectives include increase in sales from $15 million to $20 million in the next 3-year timeline, loyalty customer list need to be expanded from 10,000 to 15,000 and finally focus on brand recognition so that one in three Australians could identity the company and its brand name.

Houzit in order to make national impact on Australian market need to focus on new market entrance opportunities and also on brand name. Existing customers’ loyalty basis is to be used as a tool for having new customers and risk of market failure and gap analysis is to be made based on SWOT of Houzit.

For the next three years

Expense items	Year 2018	Year 2019	Year 2020
Advertising	$2.5 million	$2.5 million	$2 million
Promotions	$2 million	$2.5 million	$3 million
Product development	$5 million	$5 million	$7 million
Customer services	$5 million	$5 million	$6 million
Employee training	$0.2 million	$0.2 million	$0.2 million
Other	$0.3 million	$0.3 million	$1.8 million
Total	$15 million	$15.5 million	$20 million

The tactics devised include enhanced retail advertising support along with extensive communication with customers so that their loyalty remains undisturbed and they find the product of their choice from the wide variety of product line. Governmental issue on sustainability need to be addressed at the earliest. 

Conclusion

To conclude it can be said that Houzit need to be stronger in its marketing strategies and need to increase workforce support to have long term goal accomplishment.