Marketing Strategy for Houzit
Houzit is a chain of home-ware stores located in Brisbane. Recently, the company intends to develop a marketing plan for fifteen stores that were established twelve months ago. In this context, it became important to plan a marketing strategy to revive those stores. It can be stated that the role of the marketing plan is to create a better market capitalisation for the company to sustain its business in the high competitive market. From that perspective, the purpose of this report is to discuss the marketing activities and the monitoring process. In addition to this, the key performance indicator, delegation and the distribution and pricing are also incorporated into the discussion in order to evaluate the efficacy of the newly adopted marketing plan.
Magazine Advertising
The marketing manager of Houzit envisaged the opportunity of the magazine advertising. According to Chandra and Kaiser (2014) magazines are contributed more intensely on the dedicated market. Moreover, the magazine advertisements are based on the specific hobbies and passions of the consumers therefore it provides a better market penetration for an organisation (Ylänne 2015). In response to this, incorporating the local demands will provide a better understanding related to the popular demands in the market. At the same time, the local customers are also getting acknowledged with the reputation and product description of the company. Therefore, Houzit will get a strategic advantage in expanding its business effectively.
Public Relationship
For direct selling practices it is important for the organisation to put more emphasis on its relationship with the customers. In response to this, creating better communication with the customers can be formulated through the public relationship. As per the research conducted by Johnston (2014) it was opined that the paramount role of the public relationship is to increase awareness among the public so that they can easily trust the brand. In this context, Bir, Suher and Suher (2017) tried to differentiate between the advertising and the public relationship by stating that the role of public relationship is to manifest the unique features of the product or the brand directly that advertisement cannot do. Therefore, in case of the Houzit, PR is identified as an significant factor to set up effective market capitalisation.
Webpage development
Tiago and Veríssimo (2014) argued that with the advent of the social media and technological advancement it became an intrinsic factor for the organisation to exploit these methods by involving it to the advertisement mechanism. From that point of view, the marketing manager of Houzit is also envisaged the possible opportunities of the webpage development that brings profit and prosperity for Houzit. On the contrary, Bilgihan and Bujisic (2015) advocated that the cost effectiveness of the webpage development drove the companies to opt for the webpage development more than the traditional advertising methods. Therefore, this factor is also influenced Houzit to take the website development option in consideration.
Pricing and Distribution Strategy
Integration of organisational activities
On the basis of the marketing practise and the range of promotional activities it can be stated that the company does not want increase the sales growth rigorously. For this reason, they are opting for a moderate marketing plan that can be beneficial to check the sales growth increase up to 1% in compare to the previous financial year. In this context, it can be stated that the role both the operation and the marketing department will cooperate with each other where the marketing team will keep its focus on the public relation and the planning a marketing strategy and on the other hand the operation department will be more interested on developing the website and make it more user friendly.
Monitor progress
As far as the product pricing and marketing is concerned it can be stated that it requires the understanding of the current situation of the market and the pricing strategy that can influence the business orientation quite extensively. According to Moon, Bimpikis and Mendelson (2017) it can be argued that the pricing strategy of an organisation is responsible to deliver an perception regarding the target market of the company and side by side the expected market expansion can also be figured out through the pricing strategy. Therefore, it is highly important for the marketing manager of Houzit to identify the current market situation and on the basis of that knowledge it is important to set a pricing strategy so that the company will be benefitted.
In this regard, the objective of Houzit is to increase the market share of the company by 1%. It means the previous market share was 11% and the company is now looking for expanding the market share up to 12%. In addition to this, there is also a willingness of Houzit to increase the sales by 8.5% in compare to the previous financial year. The intense competitiveness of the Australian market further pushed the company to heighten its revenue generation up to 10% whereas the last year revenue collection was estimated approximately $175 million. Therefore, it is important for the marketing department of Houzit to implement an effective strategy that will be beneficial to achieve the objectives that are envisaged by the company.
In addition to this, the current market of Australia is the high time for Houzit to deliver an effective marketing strategy because of the seasonal growth in the market of home-ware. However, there is a serious threat to the marketing expansion of the organisation in terms of the fluctuation of the Australian dollar that complex the situation intricately.
Communication Plan for Houzit
Distribution and pricing
As it can be seen that the fluctuation and instability in the value of Australian dollar caused a series of problems for the local imports therefore it requires a better understanding of the distribution and pricing of the products. It also needs a strategy that can facilitate better framework for the benefits of the strategy. From that point of view, it is essential for the company to initiate a better communication plan to generate a flawless distribution system. According to Petersen, Kushwaha and Kumar (2015) it can be stated that the continuous communication with the distributors and giving them feedback in order to encourage the practice is referred as one of the most important aspect on which any company must rely. It can produce a sense of transparency that would be beneficial for both the company and the distributors (Waisbord 2018). On the other hand, the Lamberts Consulting had suggested that keeping an eye on the fluctuation in the Australian dollar and at the same time compared the price with the competitors would cater better result for the market capitalisation for Houzit. From that point of view, that will be a strategic step for Houzit to keep the checks and balance of their pricing strategy with the fluctuation in the Australian market.
Key performance indicator (KPIs)
The senior management of Houzit has set a benchmark of 15% sales growth in the upcoming end of the financial year. On the basis of this understanding, it is important to track the progress of the sales in a monthly basis. Moreover, a monthly track of the progress will generate advantages to cope with the market fluctuation. According to Lop, Ismail and Isa (2017) the KPI is a specific objective of a company but it relies on the success of the monitoring and adaptive nature of the management.
Subject: Draft for staff engagement in the new marketing plan
Sir,
This report is related to the draft for staff engagement in the new marketing plan. In this regard, I am going to notify you that a new team is formed comprised of Marie and Tony besides me. Marie is entitled to deal with the advertising and public relationship sections in order to develop a better promotional strategy whereas Tony will look after the webpage designing and the required operational specifications. Moreover, we seek help from the Lamberts Consultancy to help us in developing the online customer order and payment interface.
Action Plan
Therefore, I need your approval to proceed further.
Thanks and regards.
For the communication plan it requires equal involvement of all the actors. At first it is important to identify the problem. It depends on different variables like the customer specifications and the market situation (Batra and Keller 2016). After that an analysis of existing market and environment for business are important to figure out. The next step will be planning a strategy to cope with the changing situation. It is followed by pointing out the objectives that are significant for executing a marketing plan. These objectives must be specific and realistic (Killian and McManus 2015). The next step is resembled with the positioning of the company in the competitive market. The position of the competitors is also discussed in this segment. Then a proposition for a proper marketing plan will be addressed. Finally, the action plan will be staged to make the plan successful.
Action |
Purpose |
Responsible person |
Estimated time |
Expected outcome |
Problem identification |
To identify and resolve the issues |
Marketing team |
1 weeks |
Problems will be highlighted |
Analysis of the existing market environment |
To figure out the challenges and threats in the current market |
Marketing team and the senior executive |
1-2 weeks |
Initiate a plan based on the issues |
Implementation of strategy |
To resolve the identifying issues |
Marketing team, operation management and Lamberts Consultancy |
1-2 weeks |
An effective marketing plan will be delivered |
Figure out the objectives |
To ensure the efficacy of the proposed marketing plan |
Marketing team and the senior executives |
1 week |
Provide the marketing plan a purpose |
Initiate a positioning Analysis |
To compare the situation between the existing market and the company position. |
Marketing team |
1-2 weeks |
Enlisting the threats and issues that the company is facing and the advantages that it enjoys. |
Action Plan |
Conducting the process as per the marketing strategy |
Marketing team |
3-4 weeks |
Facilitate better business environment for the organisation. |
Action |
Timeline |
|||
Weeks (1-4) |
||||
Week1 |
Week2 |
Week3 |
Week4 |
|
Problem identification |
||||
Analysis of the existing market environment |
||||
Implementation of strategy |
||||
Figure out the objectives |
||||
Initiate a positioning |
||||
Analysis |
||||
Action Plan |
Conclusion
It can be concluded that the marketing plan for Houzit is based on precise but effective strategy in order to meet all the objectives of the company. Moreover, the communication plan illustrates the entire process so that every actor will know their role and act accordingly. Therefore, the plan is creative and seems to be effective enough.
References
Batra, R. and Keller, K.L., 2016. Integrating marketing communications: New findings, new lessons, and new ideas. Journal of Marketing, 80(6), pp.122-145.
Bilgihan, A. and Bujisic, M., 2015. The effect of website features in online relationship marketing: A case of online hotel booking. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 14(4), pp.222-232.
Bir, C.S., Suher, I.K. and Suher, H.K., 2017. The Conflict: the Attitudes of the Public Relations and Advertising Agency Employees towards Each Other’s Careers. International Journal of Innovative Research and Development, 6(2).
Chandra, A. and Kaiser, U., 2014. Targeted advertising in magazine markets and the advent of the internet. Management Science, 60(7), pp.1829-1843.
Johnston, K.A., 2014. Public relations and engagement: Theoretical imperatives of a multidimensional concept. Journal of Public Relations Research, 26(5), pp.381-383.
Killian, G. and McManus, K., 2015. A marketing communications approach for the digital era: Managerial guidelines for social media integration. Business Horizons, 58(5), pp.539-549.
Lop, N.S., Ismail, K. and Isa, H.M., 2017. The Implementation of Key Performance Indicators in the Malaysian Private Finance Initiative Projects. Environment-Behaviour Proceedings Journal, 2(5), pp.95-104.
Moon, K., Bimpikis, K. and Mendelson, H., 2017. Randomized markdowns and online monitoring. Management Science, 64(3), pp.1271-1290.
Petersen, J.A., Kushwaha, T. and Kumar, V., 2015. Marketing communication strategies and consumer financial decision making: The role of national culture. Journal of Marketing, 79(1), pp.44-63.
Tiago, M.T.P.M.B. and Veríssimo, J.M.C., 2014. Digital marketing and social media: Why bother?. Business Horizons, 57(6), pp.703-708.
Waisbord, S., 2018. Family tree of theories, methodologies, and strategies in development communication. Handbook of Communication for Development and Social Change, pp.1-40.
Ylänne, V., 2015. Representations of ageing in the media. Routledge handbook of cultural gerontology, pp.369-375.