Complete Marketing Plan Assignment Part。You are now spitting away from your group. Based on the work you have already done together, you will now individually develop a strategy for the same product.

RUNNING HEAD: Environmental Plan & Situational Analysis

The Fierce Ladies: F.L. Technology

Environmental Plan & Situational Analysis

Jennifer McGregor - C0353998

Mika Yamada - C0475426

Jenny Zhuang - C0479528

Ming Han

2020/06/23

MARK 110 - D01

Company Description:

At F.L. Technology, our goal is to incorporate products to add ease into everyday life. Customer satisfaction is our highest priority, and our main focus is to find products that are reliable, low cost, and desirable. Primarily, we patent products that are compatible with iPhone and Android smartphones, since they are becoming more widely used worldwide. F.L. Technology is a small company located in Victoria, British Columbia. They plan to become more well recognized in the next few months in British Columbia, and in hopes provide products to many Canadians in the near future.

Product Description:

F.L. Technology has created a new USB plug for transporting documents. Unlike many other USB sticks available, our product has adaptors to connect between a PC as well as an iPhone and Android adaptor. This allows easy transferring of documents from a person’s personal device, and then can be reuploaded into a computer. There are many sources that offer storage for pictures, music and files, such as iCloud and Google drive. However, what keeps people from using those sources is the cost is high, and provides limited storage. This flash drive eliminates the time to transfer data to the computer and to USB. The transfer speed is faster so it could be easily done transferring large data from your phone to the flash drive. Once files have been uploaded onto the flash drive stick, they are safe to be deleted from your handheld device or computer. This product is perfect for people who use large files or want to keep pictures, video and music out of devices as well as for people who need large files without using a network. In 2013, smart phones accounted for 54% of the market, It is expected that smartphones will remain to be more than 50% of cell phone purchases (Flash Memory Market, 2013). F.L. Technology has invented a device that is easy to use, travel size, and great for business workers, photographers and students that use their devices frequently. Our company is past the planning stages, and we are ready to implement this flash drive in the market.

Strengths:

Affordable price to sell

Our USB flash drive could be produced at relatively lower costs. Therefore, it can be offered to our customers at an affordable price. Currently many companies offer online storage for free for a certain amount of data, but it is not as big as what our USB iOS flash drive could store.

Easy to transfer

Transferring data by using a USB flash drive can be done quickly. It does not require you to go through a complicated process. Our product comes with 2 plugs: one for phones and one for computers. It is useful transferring data from phones to computers. With 2 plugs together in one USB flash drive, it enables direct transfer from phones and computers to the USB flash drive. Which keeps phones and computers’ storage available.

Smaller size

The USB flash drive is portable and easy to carry. This USB flash drive can be even used while taking a picture. The pictures will directly be stored into the USB flash drive instead of saving them in the phone's storage first. It takes space to bring PCs or a laptop. But, the USB flash drive can be easily taken anywhere.

Data storage units market revenue in Canada is increasing

According to the survey by Statisia, data storage units market revenue in Canada keeps increasing since 2016. (Statisia, 2016) This shows that data storage products are in need. It could be expected that this area of the market will keep growing.

Usage of camera/ photo editing apps

The survey shows that 52% of the people in Canada use their camera or photo editing apps regularly (Statisia, 2020). Storage for pictures is easily consumed and this product is perfect for those people who need more storage for their phone. Given the fact that many people use their camera or photo apps regularly, it can be anticipated that there is a demand for USB flash drives that can connect to phones.

Weaknesses:

Vulnerability of loss

Since our USB flash drive is small, its smallness could be one of the weaknesses. Losing a USB flash drive is common due to its lightweight and portability. This could cause a huge problem. In 2011, it was reported that medical records of 430 Vancouver General Hospital patients went missing (Medha, 2011). According to the article the data was kept in a laptop and USB drive. Although the data was passworded, it could have caused a serious problem if the records had been released.

Limited life span

USB flash drives can be totally useless if they are broken. Our product especially, has two plugs which makes it even easier to get broken. Using our product with phones might be concerned with bending the soft metal because the plug for phones is smaller than it is for computers.

Unable to charge during a transferring process

Phones usually have only one connection, and it is where they are connected when phones need to charge. In order to transfer data, phones need to have enough power. However, it is not possible to charge phones and transfer data at the same time. Phones must have enough charge before transferring data and it could be a barrier to finishing a work done slow.

How many target markets are there?

According to the survey, only 22 % of people in Canada are interested in or like to do

photography as their hobbies in 2020. (Statisia, 2020) Although not only people who like to do photography need data storage, it could be anticipated that less people need a USB flash drive with a phone plug. Taking a picture became easier since people started to have their own smartphones, and they take pictures and videos with multiple purposes. However, there would not be many demands if people are satisfied with their storage in their phone. Therefore, it might not be expected that many people would like to use a USB flash drive with a phone plug for their personal use. Also, many individuals claimed they do not use their personal devices when dealing with business (Cint, 2018).

Competitive Opportunities:

Our product allows transfers of documents, but it also is able to include more. It has the ability to study notable business events, including: corporate deals, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, partnerships, product launches and brand promotions (Market Watch, 2020). This has more advantages than other common hardware.

Economic Opportunities:

Nother America is estimated to grow at a stable rate in the USB Flash Drive market over the upcoming years. Asia-Pacific is anticipated to exhibit a higher growth rate / CAGR over the forecast period 2018-2025. Due to steady economic growth, growing consumption of computing devices and rising adoption of storage devices across the region (Market Watch, 2020). The USB flash drive market is divided into end users, which also focuses on the market size, sales volume, growth rate and market stake for the end users (Fernandes, 2020).

Political/Legal/Regulatory Opportunities:

It emphasizes the initiatives undertaken by the companies operating in the market including product innovation, product launches, and technological development to help their organization offer more effective products in the market (Fernandes, 2020). The USB flash drive market is divided into product types which includes the revenue, price, production, growth rate and market share for each of its product types.

Demographic/Social/Cultural Opportunities:

Continuous innovations in memory capacity is one of the major factors that are likely to create lucrative opportunities in the near future (Fernandes, 2020).

Technological Opportunities:

USB flash drives are small in size, great speed for uploading, and high compatibility that also results in the increasing demand of USB flash drives among end-users across the globe (Market Watch, 2020).

Natural/Ecological Opportunities:

“If your energy use is concentrated on the manufacturing process, recycling is not a solution if all your energy use is concentrated on the manufacturing process.” The good news is that USB flash drives have a long, long use of life (as long as the technology does not become obsolete). It can find vendors who offer “eco-friendly” flash drives, which generally means that the electronic’s casing was manufactured out of recycled plastic or bamboo. One wholesaler also claimed to have “lead free” flash drives that they claimed decompose better than traditional flash drives. Considering the high number of largely unknown gases, chemicals, and minerals that are discussed (but never directly), lead may be the least of our problems (Norton, 2011).

Competitive Threats:

Our biggest competition are the well known electronic product companies. Their product diversity allows a range of possible purchases from customers. Their services are also more comprehensive because they tend to have quality checks, consulting, and references to supply help to the user.

Economic Threats:

The Canadian economy looked like it was in for a strong rebound after 2020. Until January when COVID-19 swept the world. Since then Canada has been in an economic crisis during this pandemic. This will sadly affect our company's attempt at revenue in the beginning (The Conference Board of Canada, n.d).

Political/Legal/Regulatory Threats:

There are a lot of regulations and permits to adhere to when beginning a new business. Costs such as business licenses, CRA accounts, and worksafe B.C. coverage for our employees. All these costs needed to be paid long before operation began, this started our company off on a blank slate. Filling out these forms for permits and licenses also takes a lot of time, and delays the work of our company (B.C. Government, n.d.).

Demographic/Social/Cultural Threats:

Since Canada is experiencing a current downfall in sales everywhere, this will affect our companies revenue. Canada’s social environment has also spiraled down since the beginning of COVID-19, people are being recommended to stay home. This is supplying people with less need to purchase new products.

Technological Threats:

The Apple company is notorious for changing their look with every update. This occasionally contains the charging ports as well. The Apple iPhone is one of the best selling on the market for smartphones. Their charging port is a type C-port on it’s latest iPhone 11. There is no telling how long these ports will stay in with the iPhone design.

Natural/Ecological Threats:

Every company is trying to reduce their pollution and waste. The more green and recycled products you are providing, the more appealing it is to customers. People feel better when they are purchasing something that isn’t going to harm the environment after it’s useful life is over. Unfortunately incorporating all recycled products is more expensive than other resources. This will end up costing the company more money to provide a product that is better for the environment.

Target Market:

Initially, F.L. Technology considered business people, lawyers, students, and photography fanatics to be our main market for advertising. We are also directing our sales towards iPhone and Android users. A survey conducted on Statista found that in 2018, 41.85% of those questioned used a Google Android as their personal phone. In the same survey, 27.87% of those used Apple iPhones (Cint, 2018). These two versions of cell phone software have collected the majority of users. F.L. Technology will begin their sales of this product in British Columbia alone, and then expand their sales to all of Canada. Although, these demographic customer ideas were just the beginning. Our team will market this product towards many other types of individuals. This device is perfect for someone to back up their contacts and information on to their computer for easy retrieval later. It is also a compact solution for individuals that carry a lot of information on their devices, and that need to clear up space.

Objectives:

Our team has found the best parts to use for minimal expenses for building the flash drive. We believe to have the product fully marketable across Canada within 6 months. Our team will begin with a 6 month trial targeting consumers in British Columbia that fit our criteria. If F.L Technology begins to see progress, demand and revenue during the trial, expanding nationwide may be sooner. We have 3 different memory capacities for sale, 16GB, 64 GB, and 128 GB. We expect our sales to be within $20,000 CAD within the first 3 months, and doubling that before 6 months. After our first year, we anticipate to have at least $125,000 CAD in sales.With help from our metal suppliers, and technology teams, this amount of revenue in the first year would cover our expenses.

Differentiation and Positioning:

Since our product is unique from our competitors, it is eye catching to our customers. Many other USB flash drives available are only compatible with a PC computer. Our company understands that technology today is so interconnected between the computer and their phones. Our product easily and quickly can transfer documents, contacts, photographs, notes, etc. straight to the computer without the need for additional cords. We propose our prices to be affordable for our customers. The 16 GB flash drive will be $15.00 CAD, the 64 will be $30.00 CAD and the 128 GB will be for sale at $50.00 CAD. Our customers will be responsible for paying the shipping costs of the product.

Issues/Concerns:

The biggest concern that F.L. Technology faces during the marketing phase of their flash drive product is the possible lack of need from consumers. In a previous survey a vast majority, at 70.02% claimed they do not use their personal device for business use. Our company was shocked to see the lack of business use on devices from this survey. Along with the 70% that do not use their personal devices for business use, 16.76% stated they use Apple (iOS) products for their business work. While another 14.71% use Samsung (Android) services (Cint, 2018). Additionally, our company is concerned about our possible competitors copying our product in the near future. With adding the cell phone adaptor into our flash drive device, it offers a new level of uniqueness, and accessibility for our customers. Concerns within our company are ideas such as: the limited life span of our product, and vulnerability to loss based on our target markets.

References:

B.C. Government. (n.d.). Your OneStop for business registrations across all levels of
government. Retrieved from https://onestop.gov.bc.ca/OSMA01.jsp

Cint. (2018). Canada: If you use a smart phone for personal purposes,
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Cint. (2018). Canada: What brand of smartphone do you use for business
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Fernandes, E. (2020). Market 2019 Break Down by Top Companies, Countries,
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Medha. (2011, Oct 29). Missing laptop, USB stick put VGH patient records at risk;

Medical resident attending conference lost his computer, but affected
individuals were not informed until weeks later. The Vancouver Sun Retrieved
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com.libsecure.camosun.bc.ca:2443/docview/901157335?accountid=26530

Norton, H. (2011). Is a USB Flash Drive “Green”? Anthropos Mundorum. Retrieved
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Statista. (May 1, 2020). What are your hobbies and interests? [Graph]. In Statista.
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bc.ca:2443/forecasts/998555/hobbies-and-interests-in-canada

Statista. (May 1, 2020). Which kind of smartphone apps do you use regularly?
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The Conference Board of Canada, (n.d.). Provincial Outlook Summary Spring 2020.
Retrieved from https://www.conferenceboard.ca/focus-areas/canadian-
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