edexcel Marketing Assignment

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Zulfa Kaseruuzi

Business coursework        

Introduction:

The assignment focuses on identifying customer needs and wants in a changing and competitive environment, and that’s what marketing is about.

This report is being written for as new retail business (shop). It could be a florist, nail bar, internet café or a sports shop opening in my area. The report is all about creating a marketing campaign in order to compete successfully and pursued customers to shop from the new retail business.

Name of business: T. Sports

Nature of business: Retail sector

Address of business: 18 Vicarage Field shopping centre,

Longbridge road,

Barking,

Essex,

IG11 8DQ

Telephone Number: 0208 565 5521

Target market: people aged between 15 – 25.

(1.3) Business aim: to own the best sports shop in my local market

Business objectives: 

  • To maximise a profit of £20.000 this year (SMART Objective)
  • To offer customer satisfaction
  • To offer more product range
  • To expand on our market segmentation
  • To expand our business all over the autopen market
  • To gain customer base

T. Sports is a local retail outlet and its target market consists of local people aged between 15 – 25, therefore this means that the marketing campaign should be a small scale rather than national or international.

I will be looking at the 4P’s (product, pricing, place and promotion). I will need to think about where the retail business (T. Sport) will be located then I will think about the pricing strategies. I will also think about how they promote their products and how similar their products are to mine. So I will curry out primary research search as questionnaire and surveys, and secondary research search as the internet in order to complete this report.

The type of retail outlet I will be creating the marketing campaign for is a ‘sports shop’ called T. Sport as mentioned above, which will be going to be located in Barking shopping centre. Barking is a new developing area compared to others such as Stratford and Eastham, some of the busiest.

(2.1)Key terms:

A new retail business (shop) (florist, nail bar, internet café or sports shop) is opening in your area. Other shops in the area sell similar products/services and these will be in competition with the new shop for the same local market. This means that the new business must have a very well thought out marketing campaign in order to compete successfully and persuade the customers to shop there. The business is a local retail outlet and its target market consists of local people, this means that the marketing campaign should be small scale rather than national or international. You will have limited money to spend on marketing, so the methods used must be effective.

(1.1)

  • Retail business: This is a shop which supplies products or services to the public. E.g. JD Sports and Bay Trading Company.
  • Competition: This is when you have another retail business (shop) that offers the same products or services as you. For example JD Sports will be in competition with All Sports.
  • Local market: business activities in an area. E.g. local retail shop, local super markets, high street markets and bank societies.    
  • Marketing campaign: This is a campaign put together in order to promote a product, service or business. E.g. radio, TV advertisements, magazines, billboards etc.
  • Small scale: A business which sells a small selection of goods from their shop they only sell limited goods, i.e. trainers only  
  • Target market: This is the same as market segmentation, e.g. teenagers, mothers, boys and girls. When promoting a product or service you should always consider who market segmentation is, then aim to grub their attention and convince then that your product is worth buying.
  • National: this is when a business is only present within the regions. For example England  
  • International: World wide or within the whole country.

 

Section 2 – researching the local market

Location:

Location is very important in retail business as it can affect the number of customers who are interested in the products or services you are offering. For example, if the retail business is setup to sell electronic for young adults but the area it is located in has a very low population and the majority are old people in a retirement home, then this will means that there will hardly be people interested in what you are selling. The choosing the location of your retail business you must consider:

  • The segmentation of the product or services you are offering
  • The population of the area you are location the business in, e.g. is there enough people in the area to keep the business standing?
  • How far this the business from the main road so that you can get customers from other people who are not from the local area.

If these points are not considering you might find that the business is making loses instead of profits. You must also consider the competition.

There new retail business (T. Sport) is going to be opened in Vicarage Field shopping centre. As the business owner, I suggest this location as a perfect area for the business because the population of the area is quiet high and as years pass by, the number of people in Barking gets higher, and a large number of students between the ages of 13 – 18 past through the shopping mall on their home from school. This is good because 13 – 20 years of age is the market segmentation. I also notice that there is a train station right outside the shopping mall this means that the transport is excellent. The shopping has a big car park and there are bus stops not far from it.  

Competition:

What is competition?

Competition is any other product or service a customer would choose or prefer or buy over that one of yours.

Your business can collapse within a very short period of time due to the competition in the area that your business is located. That is why you must know how to compete and who competing with before setting up any business. Competition is about knowing what to give to the customers so that they come and buy or use your products or services instead of others (competitors). This will include you promoting your business every now and then. When the competition in your local area is high you will need to find a way to let the people know not only what you do but that you good at what you do and the services or products you offer are the best in the area. This means that the products have got to be of high quality and understandable price level.

Before you all of that you must do mush research in order to find out the price level of your competitors, how they promote their business and how high their qualities are.

Pictures of my competitor

My only competition is JD Sports and the Barking Market. Although Barking market sells very low priced products, the quality of their products is low, yet my products are of high quality. This is an advantage for me because people would prefer my products to those of Barking Market. However JD Sports has a very good reputation when it comes to product quality and competing, convincing people that they are the best and ‘making money’. In 2004 there was another shop called ‘All Sports’ which sold the same items as JD Sports but JD sports was taking all the customers, eventually the shop had to close down, the same thing happened in another region called ‘Lakeside’. This shows that JD Sports is a high competitive retail business that I need to watch out for. Their unique selling point is the quality of their products, affordable prices and they have the same market segmentation as T. Sports, the new retail business. They are also direct competitors whereas Barking Market is an indirect competitor.

SWOT Analysis

The Market

A questionnaire would now be produced in order to give me information on my target market and the services they require. I will word process the questionnaire focusing on the marketing mix (the 4 P’s) the price, promotion, place and product. I will also try to ask a variety of people at random, the number of people I will ask will be about 25 – 30. After producing the questionnaire I will use it to observe my local market. My observation research will take place outside the JD Sports shop, where by I stand outside the shop to understand the type of people, age, and ethnics that shop in JD Sports. Then I will hand out the question to the people who will perches products from the JD Sports shop. I will also try to find out other information about JD Sports potential customers.

From my market research I am hoping to find out if my target market thinks the new shop is selling necessary or luxury products. Am also hoping to find out what product are demanded by the target market, and what price elastic is demanded for the products being sold. I would also like to find the benefits that the target market would expect from the new shop.

Here a sample of my questionnaire.

Questionnaire

This questionnaire was found as a mechanism to help me obtain information and people’s opinions. Therefore, in other words it will assist me finding out what people would think about the new shop (T. Sports) which is going to be opening in Vicarage Field soon. I hope find out what you would expect from it. Please take the time to answer these questions as they will help me to proved services which will reach your satisfaction. Please circle your answer. THANK YOU 

How old are you?

12 – 15

16 – 20

21 – 30

31 and above

Do you think it a good idea to set up a new sports shop in the shopping centre?

Join now!

Yes

No

What products do you buy from JD Sports the most?

Trainers

Tracksuits

Sports tops

Shorts

How much will you be willing to pay for a pair of trainers?

£30 - £60

£60 - £90

£90 - £110

How much will you be willing to pay for a tracksuit?

£20 - £40

£40 - £80

£80 - £120

Do you prefer sports clothes, which are by a brand, or not?

Yes

No

What do you like about JD Sports?

Quality of products

Prices of products

...

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