Executive Summary

Running head: STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN 0

Strategic Marketing Plan:

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INTRODUCTION

An online alcohol delivery service company.

Online delivery of food, vegetables and clothes is no new phenomenon. Why, then, not alcohol too? While this is relatively new to the market, the few firms that are in this business do not do it optimally. The existing firms that offer this service either charge high prices the drinks or they are ineffective in terms of the time they take and their personnel being uncultured.

While moderate alcohol consumption can be beneficial for health by decreasing the risk for heart diseases and decreased risk of diabetes, there comes situations when one wants to have alcohol indoors but they do want to go through the trouble of going to a liquor store as it is time consuming and tiring. Therefore, delivery of beer, liquor or wine to the customers’ doorstep is a service that most of the alcohol consumers can prefer.

According to a recent research by National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) over 56.0 percent of people over twenty one years of age in the U.S are reported to have taken alcohol in the past month, while 70.1 percent reported to have taken alcohol in the past year. This means that alcohol is a widely consumed good. This business, if well marketed can bring high profits to the owner. Moreover, it would help the consumers of these drinks save their time and energy since the alcohol is now just a beep away.

OBJECTIVES AND MISSION STATEMENT

The mission is to use technology and human resources to ensure convenience, quality and optimal satisfaction to the customer.

The firm aims at making 10,000 sales in the first year and making $100,000 dollars in sales in the first year. The firm also aims at having $20,000 dollars in profits in the first year. Being a start-up company, expecting extremely high profits would be illogical. The firm also aims at having 2% of alcohol consumers in New York City being frequent customers.

TARGET MARKET

The firm targets adults who are aged over 21 years in New York City. New York City is estimated to have a population of approximately 9 million, with an average of 2.5 million people being aged between 20- 60 years (Dyson, 2013). New York City is known to be one of the wealthiest cities in the world. The New Yorkers enjoy a relatively higher minimum wages than most cities. Moreover, their ability to continue meeting the living costs in the city is an indicator that they have the purchasing power to spend money on alcohol and to use this service in doing so.

COMPETITION

The 2 main competitors are Drizly and Minibar delivery. Both of these firms offer online delivery services for alcohol. Drizly was established in 2012 and they offer alcohol delivery services in 24 markets in Canada and U.S, among them New York City. On a negative note, they only have a website from where the customers can order their alcohol. Having an app can be more effective (Dasan, 2011). Moreover, their prices are relatively high as compared to the retail prices, which can be a demotivating factor for the customers.

Minibar delivery partner with local liquor stores in over 40 cities. Their strength is that they have developed an app which the consumers can use to order their drinks. On a negative note, their prices are fairly high. Moreover, it takes over half an hour for the delivery to be made, which is a fairly long time. This firm has also been in the business for long and have accrued customer loyalty over the years.

The newest trends in the industry have been the use of mobile applications rather than a mobile site to order goods. Moreover, most of the upcoming firms have their deliverers using motorbikes, rather than vans, to ensure quicker delivery. The firm aims at delivering the alcohol delivery service optimally by ensuring that the customers gets standard goods at rates that are lower than those offered by the competitors and ensuring that the delivery is done in a shorter time than that used by the competitors.

SERVICE FEATURES

This service intends to ensure delivery of quality alcohol products to the customer in less than 30 minutes, which is a gap that most providers of this service fail to achieve. Efficiency shall be achieved by the use of mobile applications that a customer can install and use to order for the given drink, which is then delivered to their doorstep. The deliverers shall use motorbikes to help them avoid traffic, thus enhancing timely delivery. Moreover, the firm aims at keeping the cost of delivery at only 5% of the good delivered.

This idea is innovative as the firm intends to offer lower prices than the competitors and only offer these services in New York. While operating in many cities may be cumbersome and compromise the quality of services offered, operating in only one city shall enable the management to easily manage the operations as there is a smaller workforce, such that efficiency is achieved and therefore building customer loyalty.

One of the major legal issues that shall face the process is that alcohol should not be sold to individuals who are below the age of 21. For this reason, the personnel shall have to verify the customer’s age by checking their ID. Those aged under 21 shall not have the alcohol handed to them.

CORE STRATEGY

The marketing mix refers to the set of decisions on communications and promotion, channels of distribution, customer management and the price (Dyson, 2013). Integrated marketing communications refer to the sum of all methods of brand promotion which are aimed at promoting a given good or service among the target customers. Sales promotion involves the use of short-term incentives to encourage the customers to purchase the goods (Dominici, 2009). Advertising involves the firm paying for a non- personal promotion of their goods or services. Personal selling involves the top management being involved in actual sales with an aim of building a strong customer with the clients. Direct marketing involves face to face communication with targeted individual consumers. Public relations involves the attainment of a positive public image by building good relationships (Dasan, 2011).

Advertising is highly effective. The use of media to promote sales is bound to promote sales. However, this method is very expensive and is mainly used by well established companies. Personal selling is highly effective as the business owner has a chance to interact one on one with the customer, therefore addressing his queries and building a positive image. This method is however time consuming. Sales promotions tactics such as ensuring that the selling procedure is simple and providing special offers is bound to attract customers. Direct marketing is effective in the scenarios where the firm is sure of one customer who will buy in bulk. Public relations helps build customer loyalty, though it may take long for the customer loyalty to be built.

Being a start-up, the use of sales promotion tactics, advertising and personal selling are highly effective in promoting the sales. While the development of a mobile application would help in easing the procedure that the customer uses to order for their alcohol, providing special offers on the service for the first three months can help in promoting the potential customers’ familiarity with the service. These shall include the introduction of ‘fun Saturdays’ offers where the customers receive 5% discount on the alcohol delivered. Moreover, the management shall ensure that the customers’ complaints are adhered to. This helps to improve the relationship with the customers thus promote sales. Advertisement shall be done by the use of social media platforms and brochures which shall be given to potential customers on the streets of New York. Lastly, the management shall be used in personal selling, whereby they shall personally deliver at least three orders per day for the first 6 months.

The aim of these tactics shall be to spread awareness on the service to the New Yorkers. Moreover, the firm aims at creating a positive first impression by showing that the management are themselves concerned about the contentment of the customers. This shall be achieved by the use of the personal sales tactic. The use of social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter is inevitable as they can be used to spread awareness on the service and acquire the customers’ feedback on the quality of the service they receive (Dominici, 2009).

The effectiveness of the advertisement efforts can be measured in terms of the customer feedback and the level of sales. Positive feedback from the customers is an indicator that the efforts are fruitful and this eventually reflects in a higher level of sales and increasing profits.

MARKETING MIX: PRICE

The firm aims at setting a price that is lower than that of the competitors. This shall help in attracting customers. However, the price should be high enough that the firm has enough financial resources to pay for the costs incurred and adequate profits to ensure expansion of the business. For this reason, break-even pricing is the pricing method that best suits this firm. The price of service is set a particular percentage above the cost of production.

Moreover, pricing shall be used as the firm’s positional strategy as the management ensures the prices offered are the lowest in the market, but this does not compromise the quality of the service offered.

MARKETING MIX: CHANNELS OF DISTRIBUTION

Online distribution shall be used. The clients shall order their alcohol by the use of the mobile application or by the use of the established website. The local store near the location of the customer sends one of delivery personnel to deliver the alcohol. Payment is made upon receipt.

MARKETING MIX: CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

Customer relationship management shall be done through direct sales, as this gives the management to directly interact with the customers and hear their comments on the quality of services that are delivered and their suggestions on how the firm can serve them better. Moreover, ensuring provision of quality services by ensuring that deliveries are timely and the goods are of the right standard helps in maintaining a good relationship with the customers. Being a service that is enabled by technology, the firm shall have to invest in ensuring that the platforms used to make the orders are easy to use for the customers and the systems are well maintained so as to ensure they are never down, which could cost the firm a lot in sales. Moreover, social media platforms shall be used to improve customer relationships by giving the customers a chance to give their complaints and the firm can assure the customer of the relevant changes being made.

CONCLUSION

Evidently, the marketing strategies used by a firm are a determining factor for the success of a firm. The management should invest in the use of sales promotion, public relations, personal selling, advertising and direct marketing in promoting the sales of the firm.

References

Dasan, P. (2011). A Study on Small & Medium Enterprise: Using Marketing Analytics in India from Logistics Perspective. Indian Journal of Applied Research, 3(10), 1-5. http://dx.doi.org/10.15373/2249555x/oct2013/78

Dominici, G. (2009). From Marketing Mix to e-Marketing Mix: a literature overview and classification. International Journal of Business and Management, 4(9). http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v4n9p17

Dyson, T. (2013). On Demographic and Democratic Transitions. Population and Development Review, 38, 83-102. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2013.00553.x