Develop a Marketing Plan Assignment

Case study

Houzit is a chain of homewares stores in Brisbane that specialise in bathroom fittings, bedroom fittings, mirrors and decorative items.  They currently have 15 stores spread across the greater Brisbane area, with all stores being managed and coordinated from their head office in Milton.

You have recently been appointed as the marketing manager and must now review the organisation and devise marketing strategies that will move Houzit towards its strategic goals.You are assisted in the marketing role by Marie and Tony. Marie manages the advertising/PR while Tony is a specialist search engine optimizer and webpage designer. You enjoy taking responsibility for the in-store promotions because it keeps you connected with the key personnel and the trends in merchandise category sales. Lamberts Consulting are also a preferred supplier of market research, marketing audits and marketing consultancy.

With the market for home-wares in Brisbane is estimated last year at $175 million per annum with an anticipated growth rate of ten percent in the coming year, the CEO has asked you to consider some marketing opportunities that may assist Houzit in reaching its goals, and provide him with brief summary evaluating two alternatives, including the benefits and risks associated with each option, and making a recommendation for the opportunity most likely to produce results.

You have gleaned the following information about Houzit:

Houzit is close to entering its fifth year of operation; offering a wide range of home-ware items on easy-to-manage payment terms and supplies a three year guarantee on every item sold.

The typical target customers have the following characteristics:

• Sophisticated people who are house proud
• Shoppers who will drive to an easy-to-access store
• Customers who require payment plans to spread their commitment over an extended period
• Renovators and new home builders
• 20-50 year olds.

Houzit recognises the following trends and focuses its efforts on them.

• Quality - Preference for high quality items is increasing as customers are learning to appreciate differences in quality.
• Unique items - Customers want homewares that stand out from mass-produced, low quality items.
• Selection - People are demanding a larger selection of choices; they are no longer accepting a limited selection of homewares.

The typical Houzit store has the following characteristics:

• Location - A commercial, suburban neighbourhood, or urban retail district.
• Design - Bright and functional.
• Size - 1,000-1,500 m2.
• Employees - 15-20 full time, plus several casuals
• Types of transactions - 60% cash, 40% on long-term repayment plan.

Sales break-ups between the existing Brisbane stores reveal:

• 30% bathroom fittings
• 35% bedroom furnishings
• 20% mirrors and decorative items
• 15% lighting fixtures (recent addition).

A new customer's first purchase is generally of mirrors and decorative items and this gives us the opportunity to sign them up to our loyalty program. 

In a brief discussion with the CEO, you asked about the changes taking place in legislation that could impact on Houzit's operation. The CEO explained:

'There is a big push by governments on the issue of sustainability. This focuses mostly on environmental issues of waste management and energy conservation. Houzit stores have been deliberately designed in the past to be bright and comfortable places to shop. This means a significant cost in electricity usage to run the lights and the air-conditioners. With the new regulations we are going to have to find ways to still provide customers with what they want without the high electricity usage.'

Strategic plan (extract) -

Vision

Houzit will be a national retail brand, catering to the needs of home makers with a range of unique, high quality homewares made accessible to all through our easy to manage payment plan.

Mission

By 2020, Houzit will have a significant retail presence in homewares in every Australian capital city, starting with 15 stores in the greater Brisbane area and growing to 100 Australia wide.

Objectives

1. Increase sales from $15million per year to $20million per year in the next three years.

2. Increase our loyalty customers list from 10,000 to 15,000.

3. Establish brand recognition in Brisbane so that at least 1 in 3 people recognise our brand in a random survey taken in 18 months' time.

SWOT Analysis -

Strengths:

• Excellent staff who are highly skilled and knowledgeable about homewares.
• Great retail space that is bright, functional and efficient for a commercial urban district.
• High customer loyalty among repeat customers.
• Assortment of offerings that exceed competitors' offerings in quality, range and accessibility.

Weaknesses:

• A limited marketing budget to develop brand awareness due to the lack of critical mass and store cover.
• The struggle to continually fund the growing long-term repayment plans taken out by our customers.

Opportunities:

• A growing market in a high growth area with a significant percentage of the target market still not aware of Houzit's offer.
• Increasing sales opportunities outside of our target area - greater Brisbane.

Threats:

• Competition from local independent retailers can drive down prices, as owner operators have lover overhead costs than our staff-run stores.
• Competition from national chains moving into the Brisbane market.
• A slump in the economy reducing customer's disposable income spent on homewares.

Task Description

You are required to submit a report that addresses the skills and knowledge in the following topic areas:

• Marketing principles and marketing plan development
• Marketing strategies and tactics
• Elements of a marketing plan
• Preparing and presenting a marketing plan.

Task 1 - Devise marketing strategies

1. Evaluate what are the marketing opportunities that the company would expect in terms of addressing its business objectives and evaluation of their business risks and, returns.

2. Develop an organisational overview(current status) that includes:

a. Marketing strategy direction (market penetration, market development, new products and services, or product/ market diversification) which are based from the organisational objectives(which should be based on SMART method)

b. Evaluate the current size, capabilities and resources of the organisation, including any notable strengths and weaknessesof the company

c. Identifies any gaps between the objectives, and the current capabilities and resources.

3. Discuss what would be feasible set of marketing strategies for the organization and provide justifications for it to ensure that strategies are coherent with the overall strategic vision of the organization.

4. Provide a marketing performance review with appropriate marketing metrics to ensure that the organization achieves its business performance against the planned marketing objectives. Using an appropriate tool (competitive analysis, life cycle tool, value chain analysis, etc.) to review the organization's performance.

Task 2 - Plan marketing tactics

Detail the tactics necessary to implement the organization's marketing strategy, you have outlined by including the following:

1. Provide a monitoring and review of the scheduling of activities (based on the proposed strategies) plan to ensure that the performance of the organization against objectives and budgets, and allow marketing targets to be adjusted if necessary.

2. Budget

3. A plan for coordinating and monitoring scheduled activities for each employee's accountabilities and responsibilities including identifying what are the expectations of meeting work performance (KPIs).

4. Outline any legal and ethical requirements what are the possible risks that would impact on the selected tactics.

Task 3 - Prepare and present a marketing plan

1. Develop a marketing mix plan which is based on the organization's marketing strategies incorporating how you would approach:

a. Address all elements in the marketing mix (product, pricing, placing and promotions) according to the organization's new marketing objectives

b. Provide the rationale for the organization's new marketing objectives to support the new marketing mix

2. Prepare a report to summarize the organization's plan (which should include; Executive Summary, SWOT analysis, Marketing Objectives, Marketing Strategies, Marketing Mix, Implementation) and demonstrate:

a. The appropriate communication skills to relate to a diverse range of people

b. Allow for feedback/ response from key stakeholders and revise the marketing presentation (if necessary) within the required timeframe

Attachment:- Assignment File.rar