Edible Arrangements Product Development Strategy

Edible Arrangements Product Development Strategy 

Product Development Strategy

Edible Arrangements’ marketing department has the sole responsibility of developing services that will not only see the company retain its current customers and attract new ones, but also ensure that customers always consider Edible Arrangements’ products an first priority when buying (Krum, 1969).   That role is achieved through development of a marketing strategy, and putting in place all the necessary needs to have it implemented to enable the company to achieve its primary objectives, that is increase sales and subsequently profits (Krum, 1969).

In addition to the presentation that is due to be presented to the company CEO, the introduction, and issuance of coupons will help promote the marketing activities enabling the business to achieve its objectives. 

Introducing In-store Promotional Coupons

Other than the integral marketing strategy, the introduction of coupons in the market is likely to stimulate demand, as well as provide a platform to fast sale products that risk expiration while in our possession. Coupons are tickets that can be redeemed at specific outlets for company products, with a discount or commission attached to it (Kaufman, 1991).

The introduction of coupons at Edible Arrangements looks beyond having customers make purchases at their primary places of residences, with the coupon they can just buy from any outlet even while in overseas markets with the full benefits. Edible Arrangements has for several years of its operations noted that outside what the company specializes in the offering, there have been other products that go hand in hand. It is therefore in the best interest of the company to facilitate its clients in easily getting these products. Thus, the coupons will also be applicable in selected businesses to purchase specific services and goods that compliment or supplement Edible Arrangement’s products (Kaufman, 1991). This is majorly aimed at creating value addition to the customers, and installing the sense that as a company we care about customers which in the long run will increase customer loyalty (Dhar & Winer, 2013)..

The service will have some experience attributes that will enable customers to use it with ease. First, is to give it easy accessibility such that anyone who qualifies for it gets it without undue hindrances. It can be available online, and the conditions of qualifying for one is to register and be a regular customer for some time (Kaufman, 1991). For the service to be appealing to the customers, it must have great features that include being usable at the most convenient period to the customer (Dhar & Winer, 2013). The marketing team, through its customer relations section, will ensure it offers the best assistance whenever needed to ensure the customers have the best experience with the service.

Use of Technology to Promote the Service.

Technology is today’s nerve center for any business offering, particularly services ("Technology-Driven Online Marketing Performance Measurement", 2014). Unlike tangible products, services can be offered by the use of technology, improving efficiency, quickness, and convenience. Coupons can come in many forms, as tickets or even as numbers that can be fed into computers to enable a customer to redeem his or her product.

It is, therefore, worth noting that technology is central to all these. First, it specifies that numbers can use the coupon online by redeeming the unique coupon code at check-out. Other than that, technology particularly the internet will be central in obtaining these coupons ("Technology-Driven Online Marketing Performance Measurement", 2014). Customers do not need to appear in person in any store to get them, they can apply online and after being reviewed, the customers can be given unique numbers to redeem the coupon or special online.  Customers will not have to go into the stores, but can make use of virtual shopping through apps and promotional coupons available on their smart phones (Dhar & Winer, 2013).

Quality of Service. One of the Marketing Team’s roles is to conduct market research in its broadest manner. The main essence of market research is to find out what customers expect what they get (Freeman & Dart, 1993). Measuring the quality of coupons will be necessary to ascertain its effectiveness and the value it brings to the company considering it is something that comes with costs.

Customers will be provided with a platform to give their feedback, and other avenues will be created from time to time to survey the actual perception among customers about the new service (Dhar & Winer, 2013). Among the service qualities that will give the product a thumbs up is how reliable will it be. Efficiency in reliability means that the product can be used conveniently as per the needs of the customers (Freeman & Dart, 1993). Generally, a positive feedback from customers will mean good service quality.

Challenges in Globalizing the Coupons. Developments in technology have made it easy for coupons to be globalized by companies operating outside their native countries. But is not to mean there have been no challenges. Being based on discounts, commissions, and offers, offering it in a global market presents such a challenge since it is a very expensive service to run (Dee Zive, 1981). Other than that, lack of standardization in global prices due to different environments in different countries will also compromise on the offers. There exist price discriminations based on respective’ countries business environment, and offering coupons on a global scale will mean different clients may have different offers.

With information readily available in the distribution channels about the different offerings, customers’ loyalty is likely to be compromised in the long run.  It will be important for coupons to limit the scope or geographic location of redemption.

Strategies to Implement the Service. The specific product, in this case, is the coupon. It is a product that is majorly being built for the already existing customers and potential ones. Due to its features that include enabling the customer to claim offers, buy at discounts and commissions, it is set to be a success (Dee Zive, 1981). The other major issue is the price, which in this case is the cost it will cost the company to offer the product. The said cost to the company is the price enjoyed by the customers. Due to the fact that it cuts down the price by allowing discounts and commissions, it is likely to stimulate demand. Edible Arrangements will bank on more sales to cover up the huge discounts and commissions. Coupons will have several different impacts when launched.  People that regularly purchase Edible Arrangements’ products will be enticed to purchase sooner with the discount, people will be persuaded to make a purchase they may otherwise waited to make, regular customers will use the coupons as a bonus, and competitors’ customers may switch to Edible Arrangements because of the coupon (Dhar & Winer, 2013).

Edible Arrangements operates on a global scale, and therefore its place of the offer is in all its global markets. One of the strategies to offer is to avail them online, where customers can claim the coupons and use them later in their respective stores (“Technology-Driven Online Marketing Performance Measurement”, 2014). Lastly, it is the promotional method that will be used to popularize the product. There is nothing that can come out of a good product if customers do not know about it. It is under such notion that Edible Arrangements has to undertake deliberate promotional activities that will enable customers to take maximum advantage of the coupons. Exploiting media channels like social media and online advertisement can go a long way it popularizing the coupons. Other promotional activities like instore and strategically placed banners and billboards can also play an important role.

Conclusion. Developing a marketing strategy, that involves coming up with specific services to achieve the primary objective of the company is central to the market team’s roles. The roles encompass all activities including but not limited to the creation of services, identifying the likely challenges, devising ways to measure quality and effectiveness to implementing them (Dhar & Winer, 2013).

References

Dhar, Russ Winer and R. Marketing Management, VitalSource for Kaplan University, 4th Edition. Pearson Learning Solutions, 2013. VitalBook file.

 Dee Zive, J. (1981). Solving Marketing Problems through: Creative Promotions. Cornell Hotel And Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 22(3), 57-61. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/001088048102200314

Freeman, K. & Dart, J. (1993). Measuring the perceived quality of professional business services. Services Marketing Quart., 9(1), 27-47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15332969.1993.9985072

Kaufman, C. (1991). Coupon use in ethnic markets: implications from a retail perspective. Journal Of Consumer Marketing, 8(1), 41-51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/07363769110034956

Krum, J. (1969). Perceptions and Evaluation of the Role of the Corporate Marketing Research Department. Journal Of Marketing Research, 6(4), 459. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3150083

Technology-Driven Online Marketing Performance Measurement:. (2014). International Journal Of Online Marketing, 4(4), 0-0. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/ijom.2014100101

New Balance Hubway: The Healthy Way

Distribution Strategy 

Visit http://www.thehubway.com and browse the site. You'll find that the New

Balance® Hubway brand uses the online environment to encourage

participation! 

The New Balance Hubway encourages participation by being a completely online or tech savvy business. In order to rent a bike, you use a kiosk to purchase the bike by using a credit card and you never meet face to face with a customer service representative. Questions regarding how to handle a flat tire and overflow at a bike station is all answered online on their website. After watching the video, searching around their website, and watching their short video available on their site, I would definitely try out Hubway without visiting a kiosk first. If I were traveling to an area, such as Boston, I would go ahead and pay for my time I knew I would be there so that I could explore as much as I wanted.

The Hubway goes the extra mile by providing customer service 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. It also has a customer service email. I believe I would use the email version of customer service so long as it wasn’t an emergency. I find email to be convenient if you have an important appointment that you can’t miss but you are able to check your email during the duration of the meeting.

The website uses Intensive Distribution as a strategy, which is “aimed at maximum market coverage.” (Lamb, Hair, McDaniel. 2014). I think that whatever area Hubway is in, they make their product very accessible. For example, if someone needs to get blocks away in a decent amount of time, they need to have kiosks with bike that are available. Potential customers for Hubway may not have a lot of time to search for a kiosk to get a bike so having several for convenience for the customer is nice because they can pick up or drop off the bike at the nearest stations.
New Balance Hubway is an automatic vending type of nonstore retailer. I chose this answer because they use a kiosk or machine to conduct most of their business. They do not conduct business by going door to door or having home parties like Direct Retailing or Direct Sales. Hubway also does not conduct their business via the telephone but conducting cold calls or generate new business. This company is also not on the television shopping network asking for customers to call in to rent a bicycle. Hubway does allow customers to approach the kiosk or machine and rent a bike by purchasing the product through the machine via credit card.

I believe New Balance Hubway has a low level of service with a narrow product line. The company offers one style of product. There’s no upgrade or different style bicycles. The product line is very basic which in turn, allows the service to be a low level as well. They offer the best with the product they have which helps them stand out. They have

New Balance Hubway uses a retailer channel in their company. Their main goal is to sell mainly to the consumer. They do not want to go through another channel in order to conduct business with their customers. They want to get their product on the forefront and allow the customers to rent their products quickly.

     

 I think the most influential factor on the method and level of distribution is the Market Factor. New Balance Hubway has based most of its business near larger cities where tourists visit, college students attend school and work, and bigger businesses are so more people are walking instead of driving. This factor allows the company to look at “Who are potential customers? What do they buy? Wheredo they buy? When do they buy? How do they buy?” (Lamb, et al 2014.) These questions can determine where Hubway needs to place a new station or if they need to place a new station. This determines a lot for this type of business.

     

Specialty store best describes Hubway. This type of store is a store “specializing in a given type of merchandise.” (Lamb, et al 2014). It is also described as having a more attentive customer service. Hubway specializes in bike renting and bike renting only. There is no store to walk into and it sells no other products.

     

I believe Hubway is trying to manage service capacity. The company is trying to figure out which stations are being utilized the most so they have room for drop off and pick up docks for the bikes. They need to make sure that customers have the product when they want and where they want but they also need to drop the bike off where they want and when they want. This type of business is based around the convenience of the customer. If it doesn’t benefit them or work for them they way they need it to, they may not continue to use the product.

I feel this answer is true but it is not the main reason. I feel the Spotcycle app was developed to help aid in managing service capacity and show the customer where to dock their bike. It comes back to what I stated earlier, if they can’t drop it off at their convenience then the customer may not return. Secondly, I feel it is to minimize wait times.

     

Absolutely! They are essentially an online and kiosk based company. Their business pushes people to step into the technology side of the century if they haven’t already. It is where our generation is heading and they are allowing their business to thrive before others are even there. I think the fact that they prove new technology can offer great customer service is a bonus.

     

Sandals Resorts Marketing Report

The purpose of this report is to analyze the four components of the marketing mix of Sandals Resorts brand. Sandals has proven to be highly successful, based on their innovative marketing concepts.
Sandals Resort offers an innovative concept in their all-inclusive environments, contrived to give vacationers completely worry-free accommodations. This allows guests to relax and more effectively utilize their vacation time. Sandals prides themselves with introducing the couple’s only concept.

They provide a range of activities for the various types of travelers, whether it be scuba diving for the dive enthusiast or a rigorous hike for the nature lover. They employ guest coordinators, trained to be experts in human relations, to make guests feel at home, coordinating the guest activities and making sure that everything works the way it should. They practice TQM (Total Quality Management) throughout all levels of staff.

In the couples only market, created by them, they cater to different markets by offering three different levels of suites: the basic all-inclusive suites, the crystal suites that have their own private pool and the millionaire suites that are separate villas with butler service. Sandals Resorts International (SRI) is the parent company of Sandals Resorts. Gordon “Butch” Stewart the founder of SRI, who currently serves as company chairman, bought his first two hotels in 1981and in 1986 bought the third hotel, which is Sandals Royal Caribbean today. Sandals Resorts International is based in Montego Bay, Jamaica and is incorporated there.

The two largest target markets for Sandals resorts are honeymooners and married anniversary vacationers. For the honeymooners the target age is 26 to 35 whose dual income ranges from $100,000 to $120,000. The education level is a four year college degree. The social class ranges from lower-upper to middle-upper with a strong brand loyalty whose product knowledge is moderate to extensive. The benefit sought by this target market is a relaxing honeymoon getaway. For married couples vacationing and/or celebrating an anniversary the age range is 36 to 45 whose dual income ranges from $100,000 to $120,000. The educational level ranges from some college to graduate degree with a social class from lower-up to middle upper with a moderate product knowledge. Brand loyalty runs at medium and the benefit for these married couples is a vacation away from the kids.

Marketing Mix Product

Sandals has many luxury beach resorts to choose from with many inclusive elements including restaurants and bars, scuba diving, and water sports tailored towards couples and honeymooners. All within the Sandals Resorts International Corporation, Sandals, Beaches, and Grand Pineapple proudly represent the company with a variety of different resorts. Sandals alone has 14 different locations in St. Lucia, Jamaica, Bahamas and Antigua. The other members of the Sandals family of resorts include Beaches, Fowl Cay Resort, and Grand Pineapple. Beaches is tailored towards the entire family with activities for everyone, with 4 different locations in Turks and Caicos, and the Bahamas. Fowl Cay Resort is located in Exumas, Bahamas and boasts the luxury of escaping to your own private island. This resort is open to couples or families. Grand Pineapple supplies a taste of authentic Caribbean for everyone in Antigua and Jamaica. The number of inclusive items outweighs the additives that vacationers need to concern themselves with, allowing for the luxury of a true worry-free vacation.

Pricing

The need to clearly advertise on the Sandals website and commercials what times of the year are the cheapest for a couple to vacation. The benefit of this expands the profits of the company during the slow times, and also has the opportunity to create a new customer loyalty. It gives the couple more time to save money and the option of taking a later honeymoon. This will also improve the pre-purchase evaluation of vacation packages. Couple may miss the substitute lower price for amenities and could ultimately hurt Sandals profits in the long run drawing away from the high season.

Placement

New outlets within the United States would provide less expensive flights and honeymooners may feel more comfortable about traveling within the country under United States jurisdiction. An additional benefit is the proximity to supply chains as well as the target markets themselves. The negatives to new outlets within the United States is that is creates a large risk that may result in the loss of money. The other consideration is that Sandals resorts all offer a very luxurious beach destination and the states have little to offer in that category that is comparable. This may cause an irreversible damage to the Sandals image.

Promotional Mix

Sandals has travel agents in a wide variety of countries to help customers with access and information about traveling to many of their resorts locations. The list on their representatives section of Sandals.com is extensive and there are more outside travel agents. The website lists locations in: Miami, Fl; Ontario, Canada; London; Treviso, Italy; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Sao Paulo Brasil; Duesseldorf, Germany; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Moscow, Russia. The availability of information is extensive and each of these travel agents supply information to couples looking to vacation. Distributing catalogs and pamphlets on Sandals to locations that wedding planners and couples often frequent when planning a wedding. Examples include; florists, bridal boutiques, salons and spas, wedding locations, etc. Pros to this method are that brides are already in positive and excited moods. Point-of-purchase displays are also utilized and an expansion in the media which results in a better reach of the target market. Down sides to these methods is that there is no way to ensure that other companies are going to comply with Sandals requests. Many businesses have pamphlets and brochures that are thrust at the bride-to-be’s and many get lost in the mix. Wedding expo’s are also a very common place for brides to research honeymoon information and a Sandals table captures the attention of the bride and groom although this can be costly.

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