Weaknesses
Weaknesses are the restrictions of Elken might face in the development or implementation of the marketing strategy. Elken needs to acknowledge the weaknesses and handle it without procrastination.
One of the weaknesses of Elken is that some of the products of Elken are expensive. The high price of Elken product may cause the consumer to purchase other products from the competitors. To overcome this problem, Elken should have better marketing planning, and reduce the costs for product development but in the same way maintaining the products’ quality. To allow the customers to purchase the products in a lower price, Elken can encourage the customer to join and become Elken’s members, thus, inform them that there is special offer for Elken’s members, and Elken’s members are allow to purchase Elken’s with a discount.
Besides, Elken does not fully utilize its own website homepage. It does not include some important customer services into its online system. The online website only allows the consumers to get the company background information, products details, and some of the company news. It should included some online purchasing service into the online website.
Competitors are encouraging people to join their direct sales business too. They offer many different types of rewards and benefits to their members. Competitors can offer similar benefits as Elken offers to its employees and members. To compete with the competitors, Elken should always improve its compensation and incentive strategies. Elken can always inform all the people around the world about the benefits of joining into Elken. Elken can motivate and incentive the employees by offering different types of compensation and benefits. Other than that, Elken should have some seminars to let the employees to share their experiences and how they succeed in their jobs in Elken with the new employees and customers.
Opportunities
Opportunities are the favorable and beneficial conditions that could generate rewards for Elken. Elken needs to find the potential opportunities in order to continue to grow within the marketplace.
One of the opportunities of Elken is that they can improve its online customers services by included some features such as online catalogs, online purchasing service, online consultations, online applying Elken’s membership, online appointments booking on the installation and maintenance services for RO Water Purification System, and online points checking. With all these features, it can increase the effectiveness of current customer services.
By recruiting more quality, professional and potential employees, Elken can allows online recruiting system. With this online recruiting system it allows Elken to recruit experts and quality people from different places and countries.
Since the people and consumers are concerning the healthcare problems nowadays, Elken can have chance to develop and sell more healthcare products. They can have R&D to analyze and find out the needs and demands of the consumers today’s. For instance, Elken can introduce and sells some massage and spa products since the consumers nowadays are concern about stress and pain reduction issues. With this chance, Elken can also produce and sell products to different category of consumers. They can produce products for children, teens, adults and the old individuals.
Since Elken is a well-known direct selling company in Malaysia, it allows Elken to takes this chance to open more outlets and stores in Malaysia. Besides the head office in Kuala Lumpur, outlets in Johor, Sarawak and Sabah, it also can open stores and outlets at different locations, such as Pahang, Kedah, Penang, Terengganu, Kelantan, Perak, Melacca, and Negeri Sembilan. It can expand its business all over in Malaysia.
Technologies trends are keep on changing. This had lead Elken to take the chance to improve its IS and IT in the company frequently. It leads Elken to use the computerized database and inventory system to keep track of products, stocks, employees and its members’ details. By using computerized database and inventory system, it allows Elken to have easier referencing on the products information, products’ stocks, and employees and members’ details. It also saves costs for storing the details.
Besides, the changing of technology trends also had caused Elken to be aware of using new technology to produce the products. The using of new technologies helps Elken in producing and developing of products. With this opportunity, it allows Elken to increase the production and productivity and producing better quality products.
Threats
Threats are the conditions or barriers that may prevent Elken from reaching its objectives or harm to it. The Threats are such as the population shifts, changes in purchasing preferences, new technologies, changes in governmental or environmental regulations, or an increase in competition.
One of the threats of Elken is that there are many competitors in the industry. The number of competitors are keep on increasing. The competitors of Elken are such as Amway and Cosway. To gain competitive advantage in this industry, Elken needs to improve the quality and variety of products by using advanced technology tools in product development and have more R&D for the development of more creative and higher quality products. With the more variety of high quality products, it will allow consumers to purchase the products based on their personal preferences.
Competitors sell the products with lower prices. These may influence the consumer buying behaviors. Elken should make their products price more reasonable, and have promotions to the consumers. Other than that, Elken can educate the consumers that when purchasing the products, besides consider of products’ prices, they should also consider of the product quality as well. Elken can educate the consumers on choosing the suitable products based on their needs and demands. Elken can also introduce and promote their products by using some critical slogan to attract the consumers. By adding more unique features on the products, the Elken customers will feel that is more valuable and benefits on purchasing Elken’s products.
Nowadays, there are a lot of companies and organizations provide online purchasing services and online consultation service to the consumers. To increase the effectiveness of customer services, Elken should allow its customers to enjoy the online purchasing services. Online purchasing allows the customers to make orders and purchase Elken’s products via the Internet at anytime. It easy and it also saves times and costs. Customers no need to spend times and cost to travel to the Elken’s stores in order to purchase Elken’s products. To allow the customer to purchase the suitable products based on their needs, Elken can provide the online consultation services to consult the customers. Elken can recommend the suitable Elken’s products to the customers based on their problems and needs. For instance, Elken can recommend the customer who is facing overweight problems to use Dr Diet slimming products.
POSITIVE IMPACT OF IS/IT ON ELKEN
The used of IS/IT can be very helpful to Elken. By using the appropriate IS/IT, it allows Elken to expand its business globally. It also bring some positive impacts to Elken.
One of the positive impacts of IS/IT on Elken is that it increases the effectiveness of the customer services. Customer service department of Elken can improve the current customer service system by using the online customer services. With the online customer services, consumers can acquire the customer services anytime and anywhere. Customer Service Department can provide customer services via the Internet and deal with customers all around the world; indirectly it had increased the working performance. Besides, it also helps Elken to expand its business globally.
By using IS/IT in the business, Elken can receive feedbacks from its customers. Marketing department of Elken can used online questionnaires to receive feedbacks from the consumers, and find out what the consumers think about Elken, which areas of Elken Company needs to be improve, the comments about Elken products and services and so on. All these help the marketing department to speed up the performance in conducting the marketing research activities. In addition, marketing department also can use the media technologies in promoting Elken’s products and services. They can use TV and radio advertisement to introduce the new products and services offered by Elken. They can also promote the new products and services to people all around the world through the online advertisement.
The use of IS/IT also helps in product development processes of Elken Company. By using the suitable new technology in production processes, it can help the company in producing better quality products and it also increase the productivity. By using the machines in production processes, it replace and reduce the used of human powers. Machines can function in a longer duration than human. Employees stop working when their working hours ended, but for the machines, it can works in 24 hours, people can set the machine’s function’s durations accordingly. Other than this, using machine and the other IT tools and methods in production allow the employees to avoid from hazardous activities. IS/IT allows Elken to use machines and sophisticated tools and technologies to replace the employees’ works.
Other than that, the used of IS/IT also helps Elken in its sales and finance departments. The sales and finance departments from different branches can used the EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) technologies to exchange the sales and financial reports. They can communicate and understand the current sales activities of each branch. Elken Company can also always keep track of the branches sales and financial reports. They can check the products’ stocks of each branch too.
Furthermore, the use of IS/IT also allows the management of Elken to hold meeting through online video conferencing. Different managers from different branches can conducting meeting and discuss about the new business strategies via the video conferencing technologies. They can also shares and exchange ideas, and discuss Elken current business activities and conditions in the meeting through video conferencing.
BUSINESS IS/ IT (CONTINUE OF SHARON PARTS)
To satisfy the consumer needs and demands, Elken can sells some products such as the massage and spa products. Nowadays, people are concern about the stress and pain reduction issues. People are willing to spend money for relaxing activities such as having spa treatment, massage and other relaxing treatment in the spa and massage treatment centers. Thus, to allow the people and consumers to enjoy the spa, massage and relaxing treatment in home, Elken can introduce some body massager products, massage tools, body spa products and aromatherapy products for consumers in order to have DIY (Do It Yourself) massage, spa and relaxing treatment. Thus, it also allows the consumers to have these treatments anytime and anywhere.
To allow the consumers to purchase Elken’s products in reasonable and affordable prices, Elken should have better marketing plans. They should have analyzing on the consumers’ buying behaviors. They should have research on the consumers’ opinions about Elken’s products and the products’ prices. Elken Company needs to find out the current market prices for the products. The prices of the products should set according to the quality. When the products’ prices are decreasing by reducing the development costs, Elken should not reduce the products’ quality. Products’ qualities should be maintain and improve all the times. To decrease the products development costs, Elken can negotiate with its suppliers to reduce the raw materials costs.