Marketing Plan Case Study

INTRODUCTION

The following is the marketing plan for Ballantynes my brand of sweatshirts. Marketing segmentation refers to the process of dividing a market into segments or groups of customers with similar needs or wants who are likely to show similar purchase behavior. After market segmentation we get to know the different types of customers with different types of needs and desires. The target segments for my business would be young generation and mature people. I am opening sweatshirts business in Christchurch city.

            (Ballantynes, n.d)

Two bases selected for market segmentation in my sweatshirt business are

• Demographic ( Gender, Income, lifestyle)
• Behavioral (Attitude and Benefits looking for)

PROSPECTIVE CUSTOMERS

Youngsters: – The target audience would be between the age group of 16-25. I would like to open the shop in near the Christchurch university area as it a busy area and youngsters normally hangout in that area. I would target both male and females as both of them wear it. I would target youngsters who are from middle -higher class, because students would normally prefer reasonable and trendy clothes. I would have clothes from medium to higher range.

Professionals and Mature People: – The target audience would be both male and females between the age group of 26-40, I would like open it in CBD area, as there are many corporate and tourist in that area and they can buy in during their break time, or while doing window shopping, Similarly tourist can buy products as CBD is a famous tourist place. I would target customers from middle class to higher class. Corporate people would prefer trendy sweatshirts which is easily feasible for them.

Old People:-The target audience would be males and females between the age group of 50-75, I would like to open it in North shore as there are many retirement villages and the crowd is posh and they prefer trendy clothes, I would target income group from middle to higher class, Old people love to have comfortable and feasible clothing. So I will make it easily accessible to them.

I am going to focus on Youngsters and Professionals as two potential target markets for my business.

Type of market	Demographic and Behavioral Characteristics
Youngsters	I am going to cover age group from 14 to 25 years in both male and female. They look for style and new designs in the product like chain, hoodies, colorful, pictures of stars and sports personalities, and some motivational quotations to have a unique personality in the society. They are bit price concerned as their income is limited and are probably dependent on parents in early ages. They belong to the category of different size and range of price. They are knowledgeable about brands but not loyal to them as they only want to look different. This market is large in size but less frequent user of sweatshirts. They have least concern with service but much sensitive about replacement and return guarantee. They consider price while buy products.
Professionals and Mature people	This segment belongs to the age group between 25- 50 years. They have potential to buy quality products and thus have less price sensitivity but look for casual designs with sober colors and convenient to wear during office times. They look for brands and quality stuff used to prepare the product. This segment mostly prefers simple and plain sweatshirts with benefit of warmth and personality feature. They sought for product which has brand value in the market and is seen number of times in public through print or electronic media. This segment prefers to have sweatshirts with detachable hoodies so that they can use it without it. They love to buy more durable products while buying clothes.

Company objectives and resources

Company objectives and resources: Company’s objective will be maintaining loyalty with existing customers and by making good profit attracting new customers too. Company will focus to reach its break even as soon as possible by setting some targets and achieving them on time. Company will use various resources to meet their targets like advertisement resources. 

Definability of segments:

Competitive rivalry – Will be high for the product as there are many clothing shops in Christchurch and everyone is competing.

Bargaining power of suppliers: The bargaining power of suppliers would be low as there are many suppliers in the market

Bargaining power of customers:  The bargaining power of customers would be high as there are many clothing companies’ joints in the market and they can bargain.

Threat of new entrants: The threat of new entrants is high.

Threat of substitute products or services: sweatshirts can be replaced by coat, jackets T-shirts etc.

Current Size of the Market

Population of youngsters: – 300,000

Population of Professionals: – 465,000

Industrial growth: – 15% of total population

The above statistics gives me assurance about my product and segment attractiveness in the market. And my business is having growth potential in long run due to the necessity of it as per climatic conditions in New Zealand.

(statistics New Zealand, n.d)

Task 3

A differentiated marketing strategy is when a company creates campaigns that appeal to at least two market segments or target groups.  I am targeting youngsters through styles, design, varied price range, stuff like cotton, woollen, synthetic and pictures of personalities, wording they do like to see on cloths, glowing colours, hoodies attached and promoting through social media.

I will attract my second target market of professionals and mature people with casual look, brand logo, simple designs in sweatshirts, dual colour and quality stuff to protect from cold and have hoodies which can be removed too. I will provide unique designs to give a feeling of personality symbol to them and approach through social media, T.V advertisement and  promotion through magazines. (ballantynes, n.d)

Task 4 As there are many competitors of my company Ballantynes, the major competitors

  Cottton on

The above diagram demonstrates my positioning of my product in the market.. Ballantynes is moderately priced with reasonable price and quality. Nike, Adidas, Puma are high in quality and even the price is higher. Cotton On is below me though it is low in price but the quality is not good. So I feel I can compete and sustain on the, market with giving reasonable pricing and good quality sweatshirts.

Task 5

Product: 1. PRODUCT:

• What does the customer want from the product / service?
• What needs does it satisfy?

I have a wide range of products such as sweatshirts for women, men sweat shirts, Kids wear, and fashion accessories. My product strategy will be latest design, fashionable, stylish, varied size with hoodies and Chain, pockets inside and outside, replacement or return facility in limited period to attract youngsters. I will provide specific logo on the sweatshirts front and back side. I will provide different fabric style sweatshirts it may be design with cotton stuff and woolen as well. I will give products in varied colors like plain, combination and quality stuff to attract my mature and professionals target market. I will provide different sizes for sweatshirts for example small, medium, large and extra large size.

Price:

• What is the value of the product or service to the buyer?
• Are there established price points for products or services in this area?

Price is the factor which attracts the customers that’s why company’s product is from low medium price range. Its service and stuff is very fine so people like to wear this brand and its price is also very reasonable. The competitors of sweatshirts are selling their product at comparatively high price, so that is great advantage because target segments are attracting towards sweatshirts product as it provides affordable and good quality products.The price range for my sweatshirts would be between $12-$150

• Promotion: What is the value of the product or service to the buyer?
• Are there established price points for products or services in this area?

For advertising we will advertise in magazines that mostly attracts customers. Billboards are good tool for advertising, they are attractive and everywhere could see them. Advertisements have to be written in simple language and easy to understand. We would promote them on social media as it is cost effective and can reach the mass market.

Place:

• Where do buyers look for your product or service?
• If they look in a store, what kind? A specialist boutique or in a supermarket, or both? Or online? Or direct, through catalogue?

Will open the  store Ballantynes  at  23/  Cashel Street Christchurch besides, that I will also make the product available online = in about nine languages in order to reach all its target segments from different nationalities. Through the website, customers can book their orders, check the latest offers.

Task 6

Plan of monitoring and mechanisms:

Feedback through Questionnaires: The feedback of customers is so important because feedback decided the sales or popularity of the product. So, I will do survey about our product in open market and will collect feedback from existing customers. This will have few questions which they will answer and it will help me to know what they think about our product, what are their future expectations and why they give priority to it in the market? We can send questionnaires to our customers through email also. Their positive feedback will be success of our marketing plan.

Sale Trend through financial Information: I will also keep check on my financial information whether the business is in profit or loss. If my sale is going up it means my marketing plan is working and I can achieve my objectives. I will check all the reports once in the month to be updated.

Market Research eye on my competitors will help me to understand what is market trend or demand in the market and availability of respective products. If my product is fulfilling the need and is having advantage on competitors it means my marketing plan will work and I can attract more customers.

Ballantynes. (n.d). History. Retrieved March 21, 2017, from https://www.ballantynes.co.nz: https://www.ballantynes.co.nz/history

statistics New Zealand. (n.d, n.d). Youth Population is ethnically diverse. Retrieved March 26, 2017, from www2.stats.govt.nz: http://www2.stats.govt.nz/domino/external/web/nzstories.nsf/fb471f7feb8c8d5fcc256af1000fa1c1/a9f90227a3017a3ccc256b17007aaef3