On 3 July 2006, Texaco Limited became Chevron Limited. But Chevron is still committed to the Texaco brand and the Texaco name will continue to be seen at service stations, on road tankers and on Havoline lubricant packaging. The move is part of a global project to change the corporate name to Chevron Corporation. Chevron is best known for selling petrol and its Havoline brand of motor oil products at Texaco branded service stations. But alongside its top motor vehicle products, it supplies fuels and lubricants to major airlines and shipping customers. It also provides products and services for industrial and commercial use.
Tube: Wood Green (0.36mi, 0.58km) Railway: Alexandra Palace (0.78mi, 1.25km) Airport: London City Airport (9.26mi, 14.91km) Every business, small or large, will be more successful with a business plan. And the key component of a business plan is the marketing plan. A good marketing plan summarizes the who, what, where, when, and how much questions of company marketing and sales activities for the planning year:
Who are the target buyers?
What sources of uniqueness or positioning in the market do they have?
Where will 24/7 implement their marketing spending plans?
When will marketing spending plans occur?
How much sales, spending, and profits will they achieve?
Providing goods and services to the local or wider community.
Surviving as a business or expanding.
Maximising sales or improving the quality of a product or service.
Providing a highly competitive service.
Objective 1: Making a profit (or surplus)
The first objective of any business is to make a profit. Without profit, a business like 24/7 cannot do all that it wants to achieve. Profit is defined as the difference between the total revenue of the business and the total cost of running it. If the business fails to make a profit, it can have a number of serious consequences 24/7 have not experienced high profits as of yet and will be hoping something will happen for them soon. If this does not happen for them, they cannot keep its shareholders happy, it cannot invest in better technology and therefore improve its products, customer confidence in the business drops, and staff morale also drops as they start to worry about their jobs and also worry about being paid in this case only one but is still the same procedure as Mr Patel is very wary about wage prices as he likes to give as little away as possible. It also means that they cannot reward their employees for good work or give money to charities, as that is a good chance to improve their public relationships.
Objective 2: Increasing sales or market share
Many businesses such as 24/7 strive to be market leaders and will fight very hard to achieve it. Most of them are too aware of the importance of this as the business that does this is best placed to make large profits. A company which has a large market share can mass produce products and can buy products and materials at a discount from suppliers, this is the sort of offer that 24/7 have received from their bagel suppliers and they will offer 24/7 more discount as they order more. This is because 24/7 has remained loyal to the bagel company and never fails to order on a regular basis. 24/7 can then spend more on advertising etc. Once the business has established itself as a market leader, if it ever does, it puts money into investment, product promotion and research and development to keep hold of the status that they have achieved. Market share can also lead to lower costs as if the total output produced increases over time, the cost of producing each unit will fall. The more you do something the more experience you get, and so next time it is likely to be better as you can iron out any faults. Subsequently, companies that have a high market share should have accumulated more experience, and therefore companies should try and get a high market share. The best indicator is the ratio of one company's market share to that of its nearest competitor.
Objective 3: Surviving
One of the main objectives for 24/7 is primarily to survive. The survival of the business depends on it making enough profit in order to make it worthwhile to continue. Many businesses go out of business because they are not making enough profit and the owner/owners lose interest and feel that it is not worth investing more money or putting more time and effort in. You don't have to make a profit to survive; just simply avoiding making a loss can help a company survive but in a business such as 24/7 cost is involved throughout. Some businesses may have to obey new legislation and if don't they could lose favour with consumers then they could also disappear. 24/7 can make little or no profit but at least it will survive to compete in the market well in to the future.
Objective 4: Providing services to the community
Businesses do not exist just to make a profit; there are other businesses that exist to also provide other services. 24/7 offers a self car wash service for the public to use for free as well as offering free tyre pressure. The local and friendly atmosphere helps the feeling of the area and gives a positive feel in the store.
Star Bucks This place has grown ever so quickly in the local area and has offered a good competing wave in the way it has come in and done wonders in the way they have taken the coffee market to a whole new level. The drinks that 24/7 will be much cheaper but wont have the same level of comfort that star bucks offer.
The Impacts of Competition
With these different types of competition jus local to 24/7 it has almost forced them into making a vital change and into becoming known competitors in the area. Also 24/7 may feel if they don’t, there is only one way they will be heading. The thing is that wood green has almost every thing you are looking for, not just once but many times. The products and services that 24/7 offer has become almost an everyday thing for the area of wood green. Businesses are finding it hard to create USP’s in the way that there is nothing left to think of whatever competitors are coming up with has already been done in the local area. 24/7 need a fresh idea and need it fast if they are to survive in this area. 24/7 was one of the first stores to set up in this area. The locals love it in a way that they don’t want to let it go but are feeling they may have to. The supermarkets such as Sainsbury’s and Morrison’s are offering a better range as well as some better offers. If 24/7 have seen the building of these companies but didn’t ever experience competition. I believe competition is good for 24/7 as they would not have changed things as they believe customers didn’t have anywhere else to shop. Now that there is, I believe it can only be positive and 24/7 will build greater and stronger for the coming future. The fact that there is so much pressure to do well for the cafes in a congested area urges the managers of Bon Appetit on to keep working hard and keep maintaining progress to earn sales.
Marketing Warfare Strategies
There are 4 types of market warfare; this is almost a fight to the top. The way in which business can compete vary and this give an edge as some companies may use different ones to their rivals but when they clash there could really be a battle to becoming a market leader.
When businesses such as 24/7 are under this type of attack they usually tend to go into this type of defence as their small backbone may not be able to cope with it. This can be carried out in several ways such as offering a product mix and sometimes even changing the marketing mix. This would include something such as 24/7 offering the goods into the car while people fill their petrol (like a drive through) this is something that any other business would never try at a petrol station but this is what sometimes happened when small businesses like 24/7 are under attack. This tyoe of stragegy intends to keep the level of the business at the one it is currently at instead of trying to increase market share because this could easily cause the decrease of it.
Competitive Positioning Strategies
This is a way of differentiating and making the offering of your product or brand unique. When guiding the local market to a product that is different and at the same time unavailable elsewhere in the local supermarket sector, it will be easier to acquire more customers and cut short the dominance of the market leaders in the local area such Morison’s
Flanking
This is a type of strategy that consists at a type of no danger and consequence for the business. This could be something like targeting different markets. I have demonstrated this in the way that I will be recommending that 24/7 target different segments of the markets at different times. This will have no danger as it will not involve competitors and also they may not even see this while it is happening or even happened.
Guerrilla
Unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results from minimal resources. As 24/7 cannot compete with the resources that their competitors have they can only do with what they have and try build on this. This may be in the form of flyer being posted out around the local area about their recent offers. This is a low budget activity but may have a better outcome than others.
Market segmentation - Target market
Age:
The age group in which I will be targeting would be usually drivers stopping off for petrol and maybe a snack. This would mean that the age group would be 17+. This is because this is the legal age for drivers to be on the road. This could affect the performance of the product. This is just most people that would be purchasing these products, but there will also be people that will go in just to shop for their normal things. So this is hard to tell as the audience that would be targeted are the drivers that will be using the station frequently.
Gender:
I believe that the targeted gender would be male as most drives are males these days. As women would also be driving in and filling up I still believe that the male population would browse more around the store whereas the female population are in more of a hurry when filling up petrol. This is me personally saying this as I had observed that station for only one day but this is what I had found out. Also I had found out that nearly every male has to purchase at least one thing before leaving the petrol station.
Social class:
Firstly I believe that most people will have own cars, this is an automatic boost in their social class. They must be above the lowest to have a legal car on the road as cars come with many expenses. Also, in general, petrol station prices for their non petrol products are seen as being higher than most local stores. This also affects the social class of the people who visit the stations.
Geography:
This means where the customer comes from, I believe that this will not affect the target market as all the people that will be buying products would be drivers or general local residents of the area, this area doesn’t have a population of one race that over powers another. It is quite clearly a multi – cultural area and this would reflect on the geography of its customers. The income of the area also has an impact on whether people are even shopping in their local stores. Supermarkets are running this sector by having a branch on almost every corner of every street.
Family income
Very high
Interest in current affairs
Very high
Housing - with mortgage
Medium
Educated - to degree
Very high
Couples with children
Low
Have satellite TV
Low
Here is an overview of the likely preferences and features of the neighborhood: According to upmystreet.com many of the people who live in this sort of postcode will be affluent urban professionals living in flats. These are known as type 15 in the ACORN classification and 1.17% of the UK’s population live in this type. The relevance of this table is to show the overall income of the area, this has and effect on the way that people spend and to the extent that they do. People in this type are very highly qualified; one in four people have postgraduate and professional qualifications. They work in professional and senior managerial occupations, with many spending very long hours at work. This population graph clearly shows that the age range that is over powering all others in the local area of wood green is the range of 25-29 years of age. This is down to the amount of people coming into the area who are single, own a flat and have a job in the area. The advantage of this graph is that it shows me the area of market in which I should be targeting and also the different numbers in ages that exist. This may also help me when trying to differentiate the market at different times. I could target different age groups of the market at various times during the week. Most residents are either young singles or couples. There are very few children and those there are tend to be under five, which suggests that young families move on from these areas. This graph shows the house prices in the wood green area compared to the national average and it is clearly stating that housing prices are increasing heavily by year in this area and is becoming a much more popular area of residence. This could affect prices in general around the local area. I am hoping to differentiate the market at different times. In saying this I mean that I will target different segments of the market during the weekdays, evenings and also weekends. I believe that in doing this 24/7 will have the ability to please different markets with for example different offers on at different times. At the moment I am targeting the current market of single males ages 18 – 25. This area of the market is very popular in the local area as shown in the population graph.
Product Life cycle
Introduction – this is where the product has first been introduced into the market, and has not really built up much of a reputation for itself, as people don’t really know about it.
Growth – this the part of the cycle where the product has been discovered by the public and they are developing a taste for it where sales just keep going up and up.
Maturity – this is the peak part of a products life, companies try and keep there product in this area for as long as possible as this is where the most sales are achieved.
Saturation – this is when a product may start to lose its novelty value and people begin to lose interest. There are now many competitors and the market is saturated.
Declining – The final stage in a product life is the decline, this may because the product has gone out of fashion or the novelty has completely worn off, it could be for any number of reasons but the final outcome is always the same, with a decrease in sales.
The Boston Matrix is another marketing tool used to help look at the position of the product in the market. Used with the product life cycle it can help to confirm the results. This is the Boston box and this when used in sync with the product life cycle can be a very strong set of marketing tools to define where a product stands within a market. Will be very useful for both me and 24/7 in finding out how successful the product range could be. This The Boston matrix is a portfolio analysis that assists with decision making
Stars – this area of the Boston box is the high profitability, good market share with a high growth rate. At 24/7 this could be the petrol as people are always buying this and has a high growth rate
Question marks – low market share in a high growth market, this means that cash in required maintaining or increasing their market share to become stars or they will lose their share of the market.
Cash cows – these produce a lot of cash and have a high market share but have a fairly low growth rate. This could be things in the shop such as certain things that they may be restricted to order as much but has a high popularity. Probably a food product.
Dogs – these have a low market share and a low growth rate and need to be withdrawn as they will only end up losing the business in this case 24/7 money. These are the current bagels that they are selling, these are always there and is never sold and it always being ordered fresh everyday.
Ansoff Matrix
The Ansoff Matrix is a tool that helps businesses decide upon which product to use as well their new market growth strategies.
Ansoff’s product/market growth matrix suggests that a business’s attempts to grow depend upon whether it markets new or existing products in new or existing markets. `
Different forms of marketing that I will consider for 24/7:
Market Penetration is a strategy for growth as it is when a business focuses on selling existing products into already developed market places. 24/7 may sell their new products to the existing market.
Market development is a growth strategy where a business tries to sell it existing products into new markets. 24/7 may sell their new range to a complete different market by targeting a new one.
Product development is a growth strategy where a business aims to introduce new products into existing markets
And the final one is where a business takes a new product and introduces it into a new market.
These are the only four types of marketing a product and no matter what 24/7 does to marketing; it will always fall into one of these categories.
Marketing objectives
These are objectives that 24/7 already have but have not been able to achieve. The new targets have been set and the recommended strategy will contribute into helping the achievement of these.
To take a percentage of share in the local supermarkets by the end of 2009
Increase and maximise profits in the same financial year
Target different markets for the boost of sales
Develop a product mix. Adding the proposed style of food into the store.
Product range
24/7 already offer light packed snacks in their store such as well known crisps and chocolates. I believe in adding the warm fresh snacks, it will give them that little bit extra in the selection in what they offer. A lot of people now care about what they are eating and seem to pick something freshly made rather than these so called packed snacks. Here is a range of products that I insist 24/7 input into their local business for the boost of overall sales.
Sausage rolls
Fresh sandwiches
These are some of the products that will be on offer at 24/7 once the equipment has been inputted into the store. If Mr Patel is serious about putting this into his store he will have to do a 2 week training course on how to provide these services himself. Its is a simple 3 day course over 2 weeks which teaches him how to use all the appliances and then he may do it himself of sub contract someone into doing this while he serves other customers.
Pastries
Cookies
Also their will be a self service machine for hot drinks which will give the customers a choice of 12 different types of drinks to choose from and purchase. I have designed a drinks menu for this as a prototype for the business. This is what I came up with: These are the drinks that the customers can choose from and with each drink on the menu come a description of what the drink consists of. Marketing research can be defined as the collection, collation and analysis of data relating to the marketing and consumption of goods and services. Market research aims to identify product development opportunity by providing information about customers as well as their wants and needs. Market research:
Should be an ongoing activity.
Must be relevant- the information gathered should inform the marketing problems faced by the firm.
Information obtained should be recorded objectively and systematically so that the firm can draw on it at a later date.
Information must be analyzed and presented so that it can be acted on by management, research and development departments or promotion agencies.
Primary research is information which does not already exist. In other words, it has to be collected by the researcher. Most primary information is gathered by asking consumers questions or by observing their behaviour. The most accurate way to do this would be to ask or observe all consumers of a particular product usually known as the population. It is usual to carry out a survey of a sample of people who are thought to be representative of the total market. There are various types of primary data’s used by organisations which are listed below.
Questionnaires-There are certain features that a business must consider when designing a questionnaire. If it is poorly designed it may not obtain the results the firm or organisation is looking for. This was the type of research we
Advantages of interviews that I could have carried out for 24/7 are that
Additional information can be obtained through observation of the person
The information is likely to be more accurate as you can clarify what the person is saying
The questionnaire can be longer than with any other method
Relatively high response rates are obtained.
Disadvantages are
The method is time consuming: this is a major disadvantage as the person might get bored during the interview this is one major reason I will not be using this method.
Interviewers have to be trained and experienced, in our young enterprise group none of our member is experienced enough to conduct an interview.
They are expensive to do and also analyze
There is a possibility of bias in the way the interviewer asks or records the answers to questions.
Market research is necessary to lower risk of failure and to refine and acknowledge where and if there is a demand for the product. Market research can tell a business where and how to present or introduce the product to the public. It finds out which people would be interested according to gender, age and socio economic groups. Market research can inform you and businesses of what type of people already use a similar product, this can help businesses accurately predict a good location, where these people prosper, to begin business in.
Research objectives
Firstly the market research helps a business understand the key features of their needs. To understand the key features of buyer behaviour
Their attitudes towards the style of food being offered by 24/7 and their views on this.
Secondly market research can add to an understanding about the marketing activities of the business and its competitors.
How the business is currently attempting to meet the needs of its customers, just the way that the products that 24/7 already offer.
The businesses marketing capabilities of 24/7. its customer satisfaction
The way competitors are trying to meet customer’s needs.
In relation to 24/7 I have already completed my first part of market research by firstly doing an observation and also handing out a collection of 50 questionnaires with valid results. I am going to devise a questionnaire to help my awareness of the current customers and the target market for the business. Firstly I will ask Mr Patel to hand out one of my questionnaires to every customer on a regular working day and as an incentive I have offered a free key ring to ensure customers participate as freebees always go down well with the public in this local area.
Advantages of primary research
You collect exactly the data elements that you need to answer your research question.
You can test an intervention.
You cam control the data collection process, so you can ensure data quality, minimize the number of missing values, and assess the reliability of your instruments.
Another advantage is that the firm which initially collects it will be the only organization with access to it.
Can cover a large number of people or organization.
Relatively cheap.
Disadvantages of primary research
Design problems.
Questions have to be relatively simple.
Historical low response rate.
Time delay whilst waiting for responses to be returned.
Require a return deadline.
No control over who completes it.
Problems with incomplete questionnaires.
Questionnaire
Here are the results along with the questions. I had given Mr Patel 50 copies along with 50 hey rings and he didn’t fail to impress.
This will help 24/7 when deciding on targeting their products at both genders. Here they will be able to see the percentage of their market on a small scale as well as being able to analyse and target it.
Question 2
24/7 will look at this graph and find out the age in which they could rather be targeting than the ones they already are. It also gives them an idea on what products are going to no use and they can also get an idea on what proportion of people and their age shop at their store.
Question 3
Here there is area for 24/7 to see who is married single or probably in a relationship, this could help them to also see who has families and may target their market at different times to children as their kids with special offers and rewards.
Question 5
Here the store may be able to see how many people that are shopping in 24/7 are actually shopping their consistently. They may already be able to see a familiar face to one that isn’t but they can easily see how their competitors compare to other customers around the area.
Swot analysis
Strengths 24/7 has a lot of strengths in the way in which the area it is located, transport links, close neighbourhood and also they have the chance of hiring staff easily and get exactly what they are looking for. This is because of the opportunities n the area. They also have low salary coming out which benefits the overheads. They are quick to respond to market changes.
Weaknesses 24/7 has missing expertise in some areas such as marketing and planning. The project planning side is also non existent. The workload that they carry at the moment is hard for people to cope, especially with them having such a low employee rate. They do not have high profit. Also they are a small business. They are in need of human and physical resources.
Opportunities As many people in the are looking for jobs they are lucky that if they feel the need for a burst in employment, the resources are still there and are offered to all businesses of wood green and Haringey. They could also hire someone to hand out leaflets about offers in store and this could have a positive outcome.
Threats These weaknesses allow their competitors to move in and capitalise on these areas. This is also a place that an employee sees as negative with the workload on one person is great. Customers may go and find an alternative and move on and start shopping at a competitor. Overall the threats are huge for 24/7
The Marketing Mix
This looks at the four elements consisting of product, price, promotion and place. These are marketing tools that are used by many businesses when creating a strategy. 24/7 will asses the four p’s and then decide upon which one on more to input when deciding upon their strategy. Now I will go further into looking each tool to see which once is vital into the success of 24/7.
Product
The new product range that will be offered by 24/7 will give the visiting customers a wider variety of choice when stopping off at the station. This type of range has not been inputted in any other petrol station or supermarket in the local area. This will create a bigger mix for the customers and give them a harder choice when choosing what to purchase at 24/7. These foods will give 24/7 that extra more whet they have been looking for and will also consist of some of the old favourites while still pleasing a new market. The drinks will offer a range of coffee’s and other hot drinks for customers to enjoy from a easy self service machine that will entice customers into using the store regularly.
Here I have designed a perceptual map and shown the quality and price of local competition in the area.
Promotion
In this part of the marketing mix I will be looking at gaining awareness of the new product range and the way I will get people to hear about it. One way in achieving this is word of mouth and just making people tell their friends and family about the new products. This is still not enough for 24/7 to promote their new range. I will be making flyers for the business to hand out in the store as well as being inserted in the local newspaper for a small price. This will help the business in achieving its aims.
Place
This is the end of the chain and is where the customers will actually receive their products. 24/7 already has the store to distribute the products and there will be a new opening by the back of the store offering a drive through sort of procedure. They can purchase the new range through this window including snacks and their hot drinks. Customers will also receive a loyalty card and will be able to get it stamped while buying the products. The more that they purchase, they will receive more gifts, such as a free coffee or bagel.
Recommending a marketing strategy
I am giving you, Mr Patel, the change to help your business in a way that you haven’t seen it before, by saying this I mean that I have created a new product range for you to offer at 24/7 and use it to your ability. I believe that promotion was the problem in your store and not many people were getting to know either you or your business well enough to use it regularly. I had created a marketing mix and I believe that promotion will firstly boost the sales of existing products. The target market will be interested in what you have to offer and the new style will gasp a breath of fresh air around the area. I will be creating flyers and asking the local newspaper for an add that I can produce promotional activity around the borough of harinngey. Your have been almost throwing away your money on the recent marketing that oyu have been using. I believe with my help and direction you will be maximising the ability of your marketing capabilities along the right track there are many cheap ways of advertising and I believe that in using the cheaper options will give you a wider range of different activities you may use for 24/7. using one main activity and wasting all the money will be very dependant on that one task. I advise you to stop any activities that aren’t working and start fresh. Just because other businesses are doing it and it is working it doesn’t mean that you should too. Your business is unique to others and will have different marketing techniques. Many businesses use this procedure and fail when trying to make a healthy profit. This introduction to this new range will give 24/7 that extra competing edge that it lacked over the recent years. These strategies will help the business into being well known in the area and hopefully become popular with members of Haringey. 24/7 will now have that extra advantage of a fresh market and will hope to build on these strategies.
Bibliography
www.upmystreet.com www.google.com/images www.business.com www.morisons.com www.sainsburys.com www.bbc.com Book used
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Business Essays - Marketing Strategy Business. (2017, Jun 26).
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