A report on the marketing objectives

Task 1

Introduction

A report on the marketing objectives and strategy that should promote long term customer loyalty as well as profit, sales and market share for Tip Top Accessories Oxford. The structure of the report can be divided into four sections. The first section is introduction where the report expresses its objectives. The second section is findings/discussions in which the report outlines the key concepts of marketing and also provide example of marketing oriented organization, which in this case is CAFÉ NERO UK, an Italian coffee company. Additionally,the report evaluates the advantages and cost of implementing the marketing approach in order to prosper TTA’s retail business. In the fourth section the report draws conclusion based on thefindings and discussion. The last section consists of recommendations.

Findings/Discussion

There has been several definitions of marketing present in the literature. As defined by Business Essentials (2010), the concept of marketing can be understood by the approach that business should operate in a way to fulfill customer requirements efficiently and profitably. According to American Marketing Association, the process of marketing can be of planning and execution of the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods and services in order to form exchanges that satisfy and fulfill individual and organizational goals. The marketing concept consists of three elements: customer orientation, co-ordination of market activities and profit orientation. An organization that lacks customer centric approach in its business is less likely to achieve success at the market place. Marketing oriented organizations have gained competitive advantage over the years. According to Business Essentials (2010), the retail sector is highly competitive and low profit margin and wide research in consumer needs play a substantial role in marketing concepts.

The market-oriented organizations produce the products and services that meet the requirements of the customers (McDaniel et. al, 2009). These types of organizations always focus on research and development and also focus on long-term relationships with high customer satisfaction and loyalty.For example; CAFÉ NERO has introduced a gift card as a marketing approach to hold the customers for long term. The chain of café offers every 10^th coffee absolutely free when a customer purchases nine cups of coffee within an extended period of time.  Here it can be seen that the concept of 10^th coffee free may encourage the customers to get the drinks from CAFÉ NERO in order to claim that free coffee. So, the market-oriented strategy of cafemay not only satisfy its customers through long-term relationships but also increasing its sales volume at the same time. As per the marketing literature, it is evident that a small amount of repeat purchase generates significant profit for any business (McDaniel et. al, 2009). This marketing orientation of CAFÉ NERO makes it a sales orientated company with an understanding of consumer behavior.

According to the case study,Tip Top Accessories Oxford deals in limited range of hats, scarves and umbrellas. Its customers are mostly over thirty years of age combining with a seasonal but vital student market. Applying the marketing theory to Tip Top Accessories retail store,customer retention is significant because it may attract new customers by word of mouth marketing and also cuts the cost of advertising.

There are many benefits associated with TTA for being marketing oriented company such as large sales volume as many people would get to know about products and promotions. Out of this large number of customers many may become TTA’s loyal customers. This marketing can be achieved by placing posters all around the store inside and outside to let, as many people know about theses promotions.  The advantages of marketing at TTA outweigh the cost of it. The cost of such marketing techniques will be very low as it involves only creative skills transferred on a piece of paper.

Benefits of Marketing

Costs of Marketing

1. More customer would know

2. Large sales volume

3. Building brand image

4. Loyal customers

In- store marketing such as posters, creativity on walls,

Less profit margin for TTA

Effective promotional activities

Very less marketing cost

Conclusion/Summary

It can be concluded from above findings and discussion that implementation of marketing concept plays a vital part in the success of any retail business. Tip Top Accessories needs to increase its sales volume through applying the right marketing strategies that focus on fulfilling customer’s individual requirements along with the profitability of its retail business. The marketing concept applied at this retail store should contain all the three necessary elements. The retail business should tailor the products/services according to the customer’s needs in order to achieve high standard of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The business should also consider integrated marketing and profit through customer satisfaction. In order to remain competitive Tip Top Accessories store should continuously be in touchwith the market trends. It should also focus on relationship marketing (RM) and total quality management (TQM), which involves good relations with customers and fulfilling their needs.

Recommendations

After evaluating the findings and drawing the conclusion, it is recommended that the retail establishment should enhance its range of portfolio and also implement visual merchandising (posters and banners) in its two stores in Oxford in order to attract, engage and motivate customers towards making a purchase. The retail business should also strive to extend its range of customers’ particularly different age groups. Overall, TTA should put efforts in adopting viable marketing approaches in order to remain competitive at the market place for example reaching out to the university and college students through website or distributing pamphlets. Furthermore, it is suggested that adopting such marketing strategies will be proved cost effective for TTA.

Task 2

Introduction

I as a Marketing Manager have been assigned a task to write a report on exploring the concepts of segmentation, targeting and positioning for Tip Top Accessories Oxford.  The report is presented to the Managing Director of this retail business. The structure of the report has been divided into four sections. In the introduction section the report states its objectives. Findings/Discussion section analyses those macro and micro environmental factors affecting the marketing activities of Tip Top Accessories. Furthermore, the report explains the market segmentation and targeting strategy for Tip Top Accessories product range. Next, it also focuses on the importance of understanding buyer behavior and the need of repositioning Tip Top Accessories’ any one product. Then the report presents a conclusion and recommendations on the grounds of findings.

Findings/Discussions

The micro environmental factors can influence the marketing strategies of Tip Top Accessories in two ways. First the particular market in which the retail store is operating and second the internal features of this retail establishment (Broderick and Pickton, 2001). Its competitors in terms of pricing and product range can affect the retail business in Oxford. The stores’ internal resources can also impact the business in forming its strengths and weaknesses such as organizational culture and human resources. The internal structure of the retail store may be changing due to the stiff competition at the marketplace. The macro environmental factors consist of political/legal, economic, social/cultural, and technological factors (Broderick and Pickton, 2001). The retail store can identify opportunities and threats by examining the macro environment factors and as a result enable itself to form a proactive approach rather than reactive in taking any business initiatives.

Market segmentation can be understood by the diversification of the needs of the potential customers. The different buying attitudes of the customer can be categorized into segments, which require a different marketing approach for each segment (Kamakura and Wedal, 1999).  The market for Tip Top Accessories can be segmented on the basis of its customer’s age as a differentiating factor.  As explained in the case study, the majority of customers at Tip Top are over thirty, so there is a need of expanding various age groups of customers such as kids and teenager markets. Assuming that the retailer deals in summer hats and wooly hats and scarves, they can consider offering colorful and trendy scarves keeping in mind the kids and teenager segments. The market for scarves, hats and umbrellas can be segmented into three categories; children, teenagers and middle aged customers.

Differentiated marketing may prove vital in implementing targeting strategy (Kamakura and Wedal, 1999). Oxford is an international city surrounded by many schools and colleges so it can be assumed that there is an immense potential in teenage market segment. The store already has middle-aged loyal customers. Taking an umbrella as a product for kids and middle-aged market segment. It is likely that those customers over 30 years of age may have children. Therefore, the focus should be on selling colorful and trendy umbrellas besides sober colors for middle age customers.In this way TTA will be able to sell its product to various age of customers by adopting differentiated marketing techniques.

The understanding of buying behavior supports marketing mix, which satisfies the needs of the customers (Broderick and Pickton, 2001). Additionally it also promotes prediction for effectiveness of the marketing activities. For example, if a teenager would buy a wooly hat, they would be more likely to select a trendy hat as more of a fashion statement, on the other hand if a middle-aged person would purchase a hat, they may look for a wooly hat that would make them warmer regardless of its appearance. So TTA needs to understand the demographics of the region and the changing demands and buyers’ attitude. This may lead to an effective marketing approach for TTA.

Repositioning strategy is about changing the customer’s perception of a brand in terms of quality and price as a result of achieving competitive advantage (Business Essentials, 2010).  Tip Top Accessories should really consider the prospects of repositioning the summer and wooly hats by redesigning it to be more stylish and appealing for all three chosen segments. Therefore, it may be able to change the customers’ perceptio.............