The marketing plan
The mission of Sarto’s gourmet pasta is to provide customers with the best quality meal with an exuberant dining experience. The marketing objective is to maintain a steady and positive growth throughout the month and extended the consumer base and the number of loyal customers. The company targets different segments of the population: individuals who dine by themselves, families that dine out together every once in a while and people who prefer take-outs for dining at home. The Sarto’s gourmet pasta intends to direct the age group of 25-50 in its current marketing campaign. The Graceville area is the immediate geographic target of the company. The marketing plan aims consumers with an income over 60,000 dollars, prefer elite restaurants and eats out several times a week.
SWOT Analysis:
Strengths- The retail space of the company is good and bright, and the relationship with vendors are quite strong. Gourmet Pasta offers ready supply of organic foods and enjoy excellent customer royalty among long-term customers. The staff is highly efficient and the food exceeds expectations in term of taste and presentation.
Weaknesses- the marketing budget of Sarto’s is limited which hinders proper awareness of the brand. Brand equity is another aspect that Sarto’s lacks, it is continuously struggling to appear as cutting edge.
Opportunities- A significant ratio of the target market is not aware of the existence of Sarto’s gourmet pasta. The family business can increase the opportunity of sales. Sarto’s will be able to extend its networks widely over numerous revenue centers during this expansion and also be able to decrease the costs in individual stores.
Threats- Local restaurants give Sarto’s a tough competition with their exotic offerings at cheaper prices. Graceville has new gourmet pasta chains soon arriving at markets. Moreover, the economic slump might compel customers to reduce their eating out habits.
The methodology which will be used in conducting the audit is that:
- The focus group will be divided into sample size of twenty each
- After this a set of questions will be asked to each sample size and based on this the data will be gathered.
- The data will then be gathered using analysis and then trend analysis would have been done.
- Lastly the results, would have been analyzed.
The time frame for the auditing is around 3-5 months
The customers: The customers will be playing an active role in the given motion.
The chefs: The chefs who will design the product will also play an active role in helping to determine the package.
The market surveyors: Various market surveyors will also be involved in order to ensure success
The main characteristics of the marketing audit:
They are required to e comprehensive in nature and have a broad focus.
They are required to have an objective exercise and independent of the managers
Micro and macro factors that might affect the marketing operations
They need to be systematic in nature and follow a designated set of steps.
It is required to be carried out periodically and on a regular basis to identify different opportunities.
The market audit needs to have the following elements:
- A SWOT Analysis
- The customer and prospect research
- Analysis of competition
- The market overview which covers the external factors such as the PESTLE Analysis
- The overview of marketing the internal factors and measuring extent of internal communication.
The marketing audit form which would be best suitable for the marketing strategy will be a marketing environment Audit
The marketing environment audit comprises of the analysis of the external environment of the company. This includes the natural environment, the political, economic and the demographic environment. Moreover, it also analyzes the consumer and competition present in the workplace. This goes a long way in assisting to make the marketing strategies.
Another form of a marketing audit would be a Marketing Systems audit. This form shall not be appropriate for the business because it looks out the manner in which the business can control activities which is not required in this case.
Market characteristics:
Economic: The economic forecasts suggest a fall in the interest rates, which will consequently create more disposable incomes and families, will have more read money to dine out. This is favorable for the potential sales and increase the available credit. Although the reduced interest rates may later prove disparaging since some families may be keen on saving up by avoiding to eat out.
Political: The recent focus of the Australian government in the balance between work and life is positive for the business model of the company. More people will be drawn towards leisure as a result of the government’s legislation of maintaining a healthy personal life along with a sustainable professional life. However, the renewed tax plans of the government that charges more tax on high-profit organizations will oblige the company owners to increase VAT. Customers will not be willing to pay more for the same services; this will affect the annual profit of the company.
Although Gourmet Pasta is reputed to provide with high quality food, they are required to use top-notch ingredients as per the customer needs. The choice of options need to have a wider variety, and the managers need to take care of the restaurant’s accessibility. A park and ride lying adjacent to the restaurant is a feasible plan. Further, steps should be taken for reducing the issues associated with long waits and takeaway queues. As per market needs, the prices of the food items have to be more competitive since the other existing Italian restaurants in the market are offering similar choices and quality at cheaper prices. The staff pays adequate attention to the needs of the customers, although for attaining the market objectives, more attention should be paid to the presentation of the food, since restaurants these days specialize in top-notch presentation. Also, the menu is too limited for food enthusiasts belonging from the target age groups.
The company encounters competition both at national and local levels. Some of the rival companies include:
Pasta Mia- Offers fresh pasta with innovative flavoring at reasonable prices. The company better employees in terms of skill and experience and has worked visibly hard for the décor.
Pasta Buzz- They have introduced an exclusive choice for the customers who can select from the range of available sauces and flavors and get them customized according to their preferences.
Pasta Bite- Although the prices of the food items offered by this company is quite high, they have good reasons for charging so, because the quality and ingredients used for making their dishes are extremely rare and good for health.
Verdi Pasta- The prices of this outlet is extremely low since they use nothing beyond the basic, necessary requirements. There is very little effort from the staff and manager in terms of innovation and quality.
- Economic factors: The third year of the operation has been well received by the audience although the company has not been able to attain the marketing objectives. The fallen rates of interest will be a potential threat to the company’s sales. Further, the increased rates of unemployment might discourage people from buying luxury food items like pasta. The decreased disposable income will have bad consequences for all the eateries in the market.
- Demographic factors: As mentioned earlier, the immediate target of the company is Graceville and about 30kms of the targeted area is in need of the company’s target. The target consists mostly of youths who make more than 50% of the total market goers. Individuals who are high-maintenance and have a natural knack for high quality food are easy targets for the company. Areas resided by financially stable, or rather affluent families are highly suitable as a demographic factor of the company.
- Technological factors: The cooking process involves moderate use of technology and there are no gaps in terms of technical facilities available in the restaurant. For achieving higher sales, the company should launch android applications so that customers can order food online. This will help the company to reach out to a wider variety of consumer base and help improve the brand name.
- Political/legal factors: The government legislations concerning the taxes imposed on the restaurants is one the primary reasons of revenue deficit. Further, the increased vats charged on the food items discourages the consumers to make lavish purchases. Inflation is also a driving force in the sales of a company. Increased unemployment rates along with inflation are hiatuses for a company’s sales rate.
- Internal sales data
- supply chain management and logistics
- Functional efficiency
- internal interface with the organization
- Marketing systems in terms of marketing information, planning and control
- Profitability and cost effectiveness
The methodology which will be used are as follows:
- Certain interviews will be conducted by the company which will highlight the consumer demands
- The digital trends and searches will be used to audit
- Various governmental and statistical websites will be used to analyze the data effectively.
The quantitative methodology shall be adopted in this case whereby the interview responses which will be collected shall be set against certain parameters and using these parameters, appropriate decisions shall be made which will then assist in ensuring whether the designated market to be selected is correct or not.
Open ended questions:
When you think about packaged foods, what comes to your mind?
What is the best thing you like about our product?
What do you think is the best thing about our brand?
Which other brands do you prefer to use?
Close ended questions
Do you use our brand products?
Rate the product:
Are you satisfied with the product?
- Refer to excel
Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M. and Brennan, R., 2015. Marketing: an introduction.Pearson
Babin, B.J. and Zikmund, W.G., 2015. Exploring marketing research. Cengage Learning.
Goworek, H., McGoldrick, P.J. and McGoldrick, P.J., 2015. Retail marketing management: Principles and practice. Harlow, UK: Pearson.
Hair Jr, J.F. and Lukas, B., 2014. Marketing research (Vol. 2). McGraw-Hill Education Australia.
Lovelock, C. and Patterson, P., 2015. Services marketing. Pearson Australia.
Strauss, J. and Frost, R.D., 2016. E-marketing: Instructor’s Review Copy. Routledge.
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