- Base on the worldwide economic research, the GDP of the whole world is in positive area. It means that the economy of the world is growth up.
- Therefore, the purchasing power of citizens is become larger and they have the ability to purchase more on the product to upgrade their daily life especially on the environmental friendly product.
- It means that our new product has the potential to competitive in market.
- Population nowadays is trend to growth up year by year especially the population in urban area.
- Focus on the urban consumers that always willing to upgrade their life quality to get a simple and healthy life.
- Working citizens percentages divided by age group:
- 16- 29 18%
- 30- 39 34%
- 40- 49 30%
- 50- 65 18%
- Base on the research above, our new product should focus on the higher percentages group that mean them have the higher purchasing power.
- There are some trends to changes the life and working style in our society. For family, there is a trend that the amount of single households increases day by day. For working style, it also trends to change the traditional working style in office to home working (SOHO).
- These trends make people more focus on the household care products to have a balance lifestyle. This will be the opportunity to our company to launch out a new innovate product that can match their desires.
- Education, health and welfare
- The level of education nowadays increases to compatible with the competition in the market. Through this phenomenon, people tend to be known well in the important of healthy lifestyle and welfare.
- Healthy and welfare lifestyle can be archive through many sectors, such as food and beverage, donation, recycling activities, environmental friendly products, and also charity funds.
- In fact, people will active in response to the activities or products that relative to the objectives above. So our new product can help citizens to achieve their goals in daily life.
- New production techniques
- The enhancing in technology result in the launch out of new production techniques. The successful in production techniques help supplier to reduce cost of product and increase the productivity in production.
- For example, fully automatic production techniques make many manufactures achieve their higher production rate and gain more profit.
- Impact of changes in information technology
- The changes mention above change the way of communication between two relative working partners. For example, between supplier and business partner, between supplier and agents, and also between branches and agents.
- The communications through email or teleconferencing make product become more effectiveness and efficiency.
- Besides that, the duration of time in production also can become shorter due to the enhancing in communication.
- All the factors above shown that companies gain the superiority in launch out a product.
- The use of internet let organization can promote their products easier, faster, and also efficiency.
- Due to the advantages, organizations nowadays prefer to advertise their product through Facebook, SMS, and also MMS rather than flyers, posters and so on.
- Besides that, the enhancing of technology, the advertising in market tends to be using animation to promote their products. This help companies can be easier to position their product and also attract consumers effectively.
Auditing Company and Environment—SWOT Analysis
- Internal Factors—Strengths and Weaknesses
- High energy efficiency that reduces utility bills.
- Quiet operation to avoid annoying us or others.
- Efficient size that doesn’t crowd our living space.
- Unique design that complements our house.
- Environmental friendly product.
- All products earned the Good Housekeeping Seal.
- Nearly half of York@ air conditioners, heat pumps and furnaces are built to proudly display the ENERGY STAR label (save at least 15% to 25% more energy than standard products).
- Energy efficient products help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce pollution, and also resulting in significant cost savings.
- Excellent after sale service—Extended Protection Plan
- Launch out the YorkCare Extended Protection Plan to built products right for the long haul. This plan picks up where the regular limited warranty leaves off and it extends buyers parts, labor or parts-and-labor warranty for up to ten years, and there are no limits to the number of the service calls and repairs that are cover by the policy.
- To produce an environmental friendly product, it needs many high technology elements in the production process. These kinds of elements always at the higher cost compare to the standard product cost, therefore our company product always with the characteristic of high cost but only can gain the low profit.
- Inefficient in production
- To development a new product, in the process in production always face many kind of problems in technology, raw materials, manpower and so on. With the factors above, it cause the inefficient in production and the loss of capital.
- A developing market such as internet
- For the example, the developments in communication like Facebook are a new resources to help our company to promote the important and also advantages of the environmental friendly to society.
- These kinds of messages through internet symbolize the technological advancement already reach the main role of society. Therefore, all of these messages can help to improve the knowledge of society and also help to promote our new innovation product to society and also improve its image automatically.
- Moving into new market segments that offer improved profits
- Transportation development
- The development in the transportation area help our company can ship products to other states or countries at a very low cost. This helps to save cost of company and increase profit.
- Price wars with competitors
- In the competitive market, besides the functions, the price of the product play an important role while they making buying decision.
- A reasonable price very important to gain a competitive edge in the market although it just can gain a low profit in the beginning.
- A competitors has a new, innovative product or service
- The air conditioners’ companies in the market nowadays come out with many innovative at the difference types of functions and also pre-sale services or after sale services to competitive with their competitors. These become the threats of company in launch out another new type of air conditioner.
3.0 Marketing Objectives
The overall goal of YORK Company to launch out the whole new air conditioner is to improve the quality of living environment of human. The innovation in this product not only produce advantages to the buyers but also an environmental friendly product to protect the whole environment or our mother land to reduce the pollution rate and also decrease the destroy rate of our ozone layer to built up a peace and lovely earth.
Our company use SMART analysis that contains the five factors below to set up a set of marketing objectives for our new product:
- S—Specific
- M—Measurable
- A—Achievable
- R—Relevant
- T—Time Frame
Marketing Objectives:
- To achieve high market share of 55% by March 2012.
- 10 million units of sales all over the world before March 2012.
- Receive total revenue or sales values at RM2, 200,000,000. 00, the amount is based on 10 million units x RM2200.00 per unit by March 2012.
4.0 Targeting and Positioning
Targeting
The target market of our company new product is the citizens between the ages from 30 year old to 49 year old. The citizens that conclude in this age group have the highest purchasing power among the entire group. Our company estimate there will be more than 75% of the sales of our new product will be sold out to the age group between 30 year old until 49 year old. In conclude, this age group is the most suitable and potential target market of our new product to focus on.
Positioning
- YORK products are always in the situation of environmental friendly. Our company always put many efforts on this area to enhance the quality and also the efficiency of our products to make sure it achieves the goals in this aspect. The sale point of YORK products like the new innovative air conditioner that we launch out nowadays is also on the environmental and family friendly product that improves the quality of life, protect environment, and improve our health.
- To achieve the objectives of the our company, YORK, we cannot only focus on the traditional households and organizations but also the non-traditional households, single households, and home working to make our consumers range become bigger and gain more benefits from it.
- In our company, we have many types of air conditioner that can suitable to difference situation of places like household, office, school, and so on.
- For our company new product, it suitable to be use in almost all kinds of situation places with the different voltage of this product.
- Our new innovative air conditioner is totally different with other standard air conditioners that only function as a heating or a cooling machine.
- Air conditioner of YORK is also help buyers to maintain the air freshness inside the room and reduce the dirty air that easily influence our health. Besides that, our air conditioner also has the function of filter the harmful gases that release by the machine and protect environment to become more terrible that other standard products would not contain.
5.0 Marketing Strategies
- The internal air recycling system will automatically refresh the indoor air and reduce the dirt in the air.
- The filtration system will filter the gases that release by the machine to reduce the rate of harmful gases release that affect health and environment.
- 15% to 25% of energy efficiency that reduces utility bills.
- Quiet operation to avoid annoying buyers or others.
- Efficient size that doesn’t crowd our living space.
- Unique design that complements our house.
- All products earned the Good Housekeeping Seal.
- Energy efficiency that reduces utility bills.
- Environmental friendly product.
- Reliability and maintenance
- Extended protection plan to guarantee the product life cycle.
- Strong durability due to the low maintenance rate from the research.
- YORK is a successful brand in the heating and cooling structures that famous over the world. Now, the launch out of the new model of air conditioner is the additional items under it with the new features.
- The activities of designing and producing the container or wrapper for the product. It will include the primary container, secondary package that can be recycling when the product is ready to be install, and also shipping package on the product.
- Some concepts will be use in the packaging of the product:
- Product safety like tamper-resistant.
- Environmental concerns to meet the requirements of society and also company’s objectives.
- Must contain the label of YORK company to let the product and brand can be identifies easier.
- On the packaging, it will also has a part of it describe the details of product such as when it was made, where it was made, its contents, how it is to used, how to use it safety, and caution steps.
- Some attractive symbol graphic on the packaging help to promote the product.
- Price: RM 2,200.00 per unit.
- Discount:
- Discount of 10% of the product normal price for the first 1000 customers.
- Discount of 15% of the second purchase of the YORK selected items.
- Because of the new government measurement, every consumer that purchase go green product will get the rebate of RM200.00.
- Credit terms or payment period
- Installment plan with the payment with credit card by selected bank with 0% interest for 12 months or 24 months.
- Payment make by the selected bank’s credit card will get the rebate of 8% of the normal price of product.
- Setting a promotion price and discount on the air conditioner to fulfill the theory of low entry price with increase later can attract new customers and maintain the quality and positioning of our company, YORK.
- Look outwards from the production line and also always focus on the customers’ responsiveness to different price levels.
- Always adjust the price through the demand of market, when it is high, price goes up; when it is low, price goes down.
- Use the other forms of demand based pricing such as price lining, bundle pricing or promotional pricing in different time period.
- Using selective distribution strategy to distribute their products via fewer outlets but provide deeper sales support
-
YORK’s product can be group into shopping products that are less frequently purchase consumer products & services that the customer compares carefully on suitability, quality, price, & style. Therefore, customers spend much time & effort in gathering information & making comparisons.
- Producer- Retailer- Consumer
- Choose to use the short channel above that always the most popular for large retailers that they buy in large quantity and obtaining special prices and delivery arrangement.
- Advertising—need to be better planned, more imaginative, more entertaining to consumers to gain attention and also should be communicate well to the society.
- Products oriented advertising—focus on the product or service being offered.
- Use when introducing new product to create awareness.
- Aim to inform customers about the details of new product.
- Indirect comparative advertising
- Compare with the competitors to present the unique functions and benefits of air conditioner that other products do not own.
- Institutional advertising—aim to build a sound reputation and image for the company.
- Inform the public or customers about our company development such as our company achievement, new technology, award, and new machineries.
- Show the caring to society or environment through charity fund, donation, or environment friendly activities.
- Presenting our company’s point of view on an issue.
- Sales promotion-- Held some activities like road show and contest to stimulate customers to purchase our products.
- Money-based sales promotion methods
- Get rebates from YORK when become the early birds customers, purchase second items in YORK’s retailers, payment with the selected bank’s credit card.
- Get rebates also from government when purchase the go green products like our new innovate air conditioner.
- Merchandise-based sales promotion methods
- Sweepstakes—offer attractive and valuable incentives.
- Every consumer that purchases our new product will get the chance of winning the valuable prizes due to the lucky draw.
- Face to face activities undertaken by individuals, representing by our company to inform, persuade, or remind consumers to take buyer decision, as required by the sponsor’s representative.
- Most effective method at certain stages of the buying process, particularly in building buyers’ preferences, convictions, actions, and developing customer relationships.
- Information distributed via the postal service to a recipient’s home or business to promote our products.
- Direct response advertising
- Done this with a standard broadcast and print media designed to generate a direct response, whether an order or personal visit.
- Through the advertising and also catalog that our company launch out to promote our new product, consumers can choose to purchase it straightly with the mail order that meet our company requirements.
- Magazines
- Websites
- Annual report
- Press releases
- Press conferences
- Press receptions
- Social events
- Factory general
6.0 Implementation and Control
7.0 Conclusion
In the conclusion, before launching our new product—CFE conditioner to the market, the preparations and analysis should be done to make sure company has a right direction to launch out this product to competitive with competitors.
To complete the planning, objectives should be set up clearly and match with the set up of targeting, positioning, strategies, implementation, and control. Then we only can achieve our goals more efficiency.
8.0 References
-
Built Right, Built by York: Our Story, 2011. YORK. Available at: . [Accessed on 1 November 2011]
-
Energy Efficiency Leader, 2011. YORK. Available at: .[Accessed on 1 November 2011]
-
Extended Protection Plan, 2008. YORK. Available at: . [Accessed on 2 November 2011]
-
Air Conditioners, 2011. YORK. Available at: . [Accessed on 2 November 2011]
- Mason, C.H. & Perreault Jr. W.D. The Marketing Game! McGraw Hill Irwin, 2002.
-
Jobber, D. Principle and Practice of Marketing. 5th ed., McGraw Hill Irwin, 2007.
9.0 Appendix
Personal Reflection Report
In the process of preparation for the Marketing Plan above, as a marketer, I need to find out much information such as the trend of market in purchasing, what is the suitable company that can well present my product, and also understanding all the marketing concept or steps should be done and analysis before a new product launch out.
Besides that, when I start to prepare for the marketing plan, I get many different ideas and also opinions from different people. From the ideas and opinions gain from others, I realize that I should always think further for my ideas to avoid it to become useless or useful only in the small- scale. I should always pay attention to the changes around, evaluate it, and try to come out some ideas to overcome it. These can help us to improve our ability to analysis and also more creative in planning.
In the process of doing this marketing plan, I have review back all the points that important for marketer and clearly understand it. From this step, I not only know well in the areas of theory, but I can have the chance to apply it in my plan. This gives me a chance to practice all the knowledge we gain in the subject MKT203 The Marketing Challenge.
The knowledge such as ways to analysis, targeting, and positioning give me basic concept about launching a product. Analysis the situation from external and internal of company very important because it will affect the performance of the new product if there is a wrong time period or gain a strong competitor. The more detail the analysis, the more the product can be launching out with all right and on the right way to achieve the marketing objectives that set up for the new product in the beginning.
Next, a right direction on targeting and positioning also help me can easily to distinguish on what should be implementing to support my product and what should be take out because of the least affect on the product but with the non-reasonable cost. In the concept of targeting and positioning, I just realize that there are a lot of factors should be considered when doing decision on these two areas.
For targeting, I learned to evaluate the market segments before determine my product target market and consider which is the most suitable targeting strategy that should be apply to the categories of product base on our company background and future direction. For positioning, I need to give a clear position to my product to launch in the market. This not only will affect the performances of product but also the quality or image of company.
Another one concept that I have been learned through this marketing plan is the uses of marketing strategies on product or company. The main point of the marketing strategies can be defined by the concepts of 4Ps. Before I concern more on this concept, I though there are just some ways to make sure product can gain competitive edges in market. But after overview the whole definition and contents about it, I realize that it is not simple as I though before.
“Product, price, place, and promotion”, every marketing student will learn these four words in the first class of principle of marketing, and it’s seem easy and not important because its defined as the basic knowledge about marketing. But when come to the class of marketing challenges, I found out that these four words can influence any product in far-reaching.
Start from product, I learned to distinguish my product categories, enlarge the functions, benefits, and quality of it to become more attractive. Besides that, strategies use in brand defined, packaging, and labeling should be evaluate before making decision on the related method to maximize it edges and unique that others do not own. It is not enough if only the offer from product, I taught to combine the product concept with price concept while launching a new product. The pricing strategies are important for the product or company in the future performance and also the image in consumers’ mind.
After the evaluation of product, the suitable place or channel very important to a company to be success and achieve their goals. Chose the right intermediary can company increase their profit and also reduce the complexity.
When the 3Ps above done, the last P—Promotion is ready to be implement. In this category, promotion mix is the main knowledge for me to concern on. From the process of understanding the promotion mix tools, we can determine that the good use of the promotion tools will make product success in market and built up company image and brand.
