Process: Situational analysis - SWOT, Product life cycle Flashcards
Overview of the SWOT
The most crucial step of the marketing plan is that management has an understanding of the business’s current position- a SWOT can assist with this.
A SWOT analysis involves the identification + analysis of the internal strengths and weaknesses of the business, and the opportunities in, and threats from, the external environment. The marketing plan should be modified to reflect this. This tool helps to develop a clear understanding of the environment in which a business operates.
Strengths
Internal
- What is the business good at?
- Is our product popular?
- Are out customers loyal?
- Do we have a skilled and motivated workforce
Weaknesses
Internal
- Do we have competent managers and staff?
- Is our computer system obsolete?
- Have we learned from past failures?
Opportunities
External
- What will new technology bring for us?
- is the national economy strong?
- are the interest rates below?
Threats
External
- What trends have been evident in out market?
- are there news laws regulating what we do?
- Emergence of competitors?
Messina case study of SWOT
Strengths
- Flavour specials - rotating weekly → providing variety
Expanding product range → merchandise + prepackaged ice creams
Strong customer relations → sometimes customers choose or come up with flavours
Vertical integration → e.g strawberries, dairy, hazelnut
Leading edge technology
Locations → expansion (growth) → customer visibility
Provide takeaway options + dine in → uber eats
Strong CSR → relations with charities (Oz Harvest) + sustainable packaging
Daily churned gelato → fresh
Active social media presence
Weaknesses
High prices (justified with quality)
Stores concentrated in Sydney → close proximity → not many outside australia (Hong Kong) or in other states
Low nutritional value
Specialised staff is required
Limited vegan options + accounting
for allergies (nuts, soy, wheat, halal)
→ no sugar free
Limited marketing → heavily social
media based
Threats
Seasonal/climate disadvantage → seasonal based business + floods/droughts in farms (issues in supply chain management) e.g. manage gelato
Change in social trends → healthy
eating habits + plastic packaging
(environmentally friendly)
High competition → not just gelato
stores but also woolworths, coles convenient stores, servos - whole tub for $6 vs a scoop at messina
Inflation - economic conditions → increasing living costs, people are more conscious of prices
Opportunties
(can come directly from threats → what can we do to solve them?)
In response to threats
Floods/droughts - vertical/indoor farming? → when they look for a supplier they could look for this
Healthy eating habits - create more healthy/sugar free gelatos + provide more nutritional information
Plastic - refining packaging
Competition - expansion (selling
prepackaged in other stores?
woollies/coles?) + lowering prices
Economic conditions - lowering prices
(reducing supply chain costs in ops)
General
Decrease travel distance/costs between supplier and stores
Expanding promotions + royalty rewards programs
Further investment in leading edge technology
Opening stores beyond sydney
Product life cycle
Once the SWOT analysis has been conducted, an assessment of the product’s position on the product life cycle should be carried out. This is necessary because different marketing strategies will need to be used at different stages of a product’s life.
The product life cycle consists of the stages a product passes through: introduction, growth, maturity and decline.
Introduction phase:
The business tries to increase consumer awareness and build market share for the product
Product - Brand and reliability are established
Price - often notably lower than competitors in order to gain a market foothold
Promotion - directed at early buyers and users. Communications seek potential customers about the merit of the new product
Distribution - distribution is selective, which enables consumers to gradually form acceptance of the product.
Growth:
Brand acceptance and market share are actively pursued by the producers of the product
Product: quality is maintained and improved and support services may be added
Price:
Price per unit of the production is maintained as the firm enjoys increased consumer demand and growing market share
Promotion:
Now seeks a wider audience
Distribution:
Channels are increased as the product becomes more popular
Maturity stage:
Sales plateau as the market becomes saturated
Product:
Features and packaging try to differentiate from the competitors
Price:
price may need to be adjusted downwards to hold off competitors and maintain market share
Promotion:
continues to suggest the product is tried and true - it is still the best
Distribution:
Incentives may need to be offered to encourage preference over rival products
Decline:
Sales begin to decline as the business faces several options
Product:
Product is maintained with some improvement or rejuvenation . cut the losses by selling it to another business
Price: Price is reduced to sell the remaining stock
Promotion:
Promotion is discontinued
Distribution:
Distribution channels reduced and product offered to a loyal segment of the market only
Product life cycle CASE STUDY
Ikea
Introduction: BLÅVINGAD Range
A new IKEA collection designed to inspire interest about life in the ocean. Packed to the brim with soft toys, aquatic textiles, submarine and fishing games and dreamy lighting, the collection was designed to spark play and curiosity about the ocean for children and young teens. The message behind BLÅVINGAD comes to life through the products that take small but significant steps to be more sustainable. A number of the products contain recycled polyester made from ocean-bound plastic (OBP) picked up from areas up to 30 miles inland from our coastlines.
Growth: YPPERLIG Range
Meet YPPERLIG, a collaboration between IKEA and the Danish company HAY. Founded in 2002, HAY creates furniture with an eye for modern living using sophisticated industrial manufacturing. The Ypperlig collection, which was first announced during IKEA’s Democratic Design Day event in
Sweden in 2016, was released in October 2017. The IKEA HAY pieces have a straightforward, functional and aesthetic design, whether it’s a sofa or a vase.
Maturity: BILLY Bookcase
One of IKEA’s oldest and best-selling products. It was dreamt up in 1978 by one of IKEA’s original employees. Now there are around 60 million Billy Bookcases and 1 is sold every 10 seconds worldwide. This product is an example of continuous improvement. IKEA is able to continuously lower the price of the Billy Bookcase due to advantages from global sourcing of raw materials and economies of scale.
Post maturity: LEDARE LED Light Bulbs
IKEA introduced its first LED product in 2007, its first LED light globe in 2011 and introduced the LEDARE LED Bulb range from 2012. These globes can use 85% less electricity and have the capacity to last over 20 years or 25-30 times longer than conventional globes. IKEA has subsequently phased out the sale of all conventional light globes (the first retailer to do so) and acted to lower the cost of LEDARE globes.
