3.3 Assignment: Research-based Marketing Plan Initial Proposal - Internal and External Marketing Environments

3d Printing for Home Use 

Business planning involves the development of business strategies for pricing, promotion, and distribution channels. The business strategies enhance companies to gain a competitive edge, improve performance, and increase revenues Papageorgiou et. al., (2019, p.759). Cite should be in parenthesis when it’s at the end of a sentence (Papageorgiou, et.al, 2019, p.759).

Thus, businesses should develop comprehensive and practical pricing, promotion, and distribution strategies for increased sales and higher profit margins. For example, JGJ Inc. can gain success in the long run by developing effective marketing strategies for its new product. 

When a company introduces new products in the market, pricing decisions are the most challenging but crucial to its profitability (Jensen, 2013, p. 3-4). According to Li et al., (2019, p. 287), a pricing strategy ensures branding and captures customers' willingness to make payments. Are you sure you are quoting this correctly? It doesn’t make sense as it’s written,

The pricing models enable companies to choose prices that enhance shareholder value and maximize their profits while considering the market and consumer demand. Current pricing models include premium, economy, skimming, bundle, psychology pricing, and pricing for industry penetration. Economic pricing is a strategy that businesses use to minimize the expenses associated with production and marketing to keep the product prices low. Economic pricing strategy is effective for firms with considerable sales volume and dangerous for small companies because low prices make it challenging to gain profits with their small sales volume. Price skimming is another pricing strategy that helps companies increase sales of new goods or services by setting high rates during the penetration period and lowering the prices gradually as competitors enter the market. This pricing strategy allows companies to maximize profits and creates a notion of exclusivity and quality during the early periods of a product in the market. Furthermore, psychology pricing is another pricing strategy that companies use to obtain consumer responses based on emotional and not logical levels. Psychology pricing aims to make consumers feel valued and increase the demand for products. 

Another pricing strategy is bundle pricing, which companies use to sell multiple goods at lower prices than the prices customers would get if they purchased an item. Bundle pricing is an effective strategy for companies selling complementary products. Also, it is an effective strategy for moving unsold products from the shelves. Moreover, companies use the penetration strategy to attract consumers through lower prices on products and services. For example, Food Lion, a JGJ competitor, lowers prices on various products for consumers. The Food Lion pricing strategy is based on the company’s new items on the shelves. As a result, the company's low prices increase sales volume increasing the profit margins. Also, the company’s low prices compared to its competitor attracts new customers maintaining a competitive edge. The company uses this strategy to draw attention and gain market share, and in the long run, after a product has penetrated the market, it raises prices to reflect its state in the market. 

Food Lion is a grocery store and not a competitor of JGJ as a manufacturer of 3D printers. If you want to use Food Lion and Whole Foods as examples, you need to follow the examples with an application for JGJ. What I’m saying is that you will lose JGJ’s CEO’s attention because he/she will be wondering why you are using a grocery store as examples for a manufacturing business. So, tie the examples to JGJ’s situation or use examples from technology manufacturers.

 Premium pricing is another pricing strategy used by businesses to set higher prices than their competitors. Often, this pricing strategy is beneficial to small companies selling unique products and effective during the early stages of a product life cycle. For example, Whole Foods Marke, another competitor of JGJ, uses the premium pricing technique. The company sets relatively higher prices compared to its competitors. The consumers of Whole Foods Market products are always willing to pay for the high prices because of the sustainable and high-quality assurance offered by the company. Along with high-quality products, the company uses better marketing strategies, good product packaging, and store décor to complement the premium price. 

What you have are definitions. JGJ doesn’t need definitions of every type of pricing strategy. They need you to tell them what price range or strategy they should use. So do these suggestions:

· Go to competitive websites and see what 3D printers are selling for and create a comparison for JGJ then give them a recommendation of an actual price that will penetrate the market

· Provide a definition of penetration pricing and move your recommendation into this section with your explanation as to why penetration is the best strategy for JGJ.

Promotional strategies are crucial to positioning a brand in the market, creating product or service awareness, and informing consumers of the benefits of choosing a particular product. Various promotional strategies help businesses obtain a competitive edge by turning the audience into loyal consumers. Content marketing, social media, email marketing, public relations, and consumer loyalty programs are some of the promotional strategies currently used in the market. The promotional strategy of Whole Foods Market is based on the conditions of industry and seasons. The company's promotional activities involve advertising, sales promotions, and public relations.  The company uses regional and national advertisement campaigns that highlight its purpose and health issues. Also, the company participates in various public relations activities in the region. These public relations enable the company to build brand reputation, increase its visibility, create business partnerships, and build a community. Additionally, as a way of sales promotion the Whole Foods Market provides products discounts to its consumers. Whole Foods Market focuses on these marketing mix components to build its brand image and stay competitive. Food Lion uses an advertising strategy to promote its products. The company's advertisement strategies are online-based, including social media and email marketing. The company integrates multiple approaches, including radio, print, in-store, digital and indoor advertisements, to reach and attract many consumers.  

Same advice as above. Too many grocery store examples without a tie-in to JGJ’s goal of promoting a 3D printer. If you were personally looking to buy a printer for your home-use, where would you go to find information about it? Bring your recommendation up into this section and tie it in with other information you want to provide.

The use of the current distribution model determines a company's success. Developing an effective way of reaching consumers is key to every business. A distribution model reflects a company's communication method with its clients to sell its goods or products. According to Tošović-Stevanović et. al., (2020, p.1), an efficient and suitable distribution channel enables easy delivery of products to consumers. In perfectly competitive markets, the goods and services sell themselves; however, this is not always the case, and companies develop distribution models to get clients attention, help consumers see the product value as their problem solver, develop trust with consumers, and make it easy for consumers to accept and make payments. The distribution channels are divided into two categories the indirect and direct. The direct channels allow consumers to purchase products from producers directly. Food Lion is one of the companies that use the direct channel to distribute its products to consumers. The company allows consumers to place orders and pick up products from their stores.  I would take out the Food Lion example and provide a 3D competitor instead.

On the other hand, the indirect channels to purchase products from retailers and wholesalers. The retailers and wholesalers purchase products from a producer and sell them to the end-user. Businesses using this channel must develop a large base of retailers and consumers while maintaining a good relationship to develop a better brand image and market their products well. Whole Foods Market is an example of a company that uses the indirect channel to sell its products. The company distributes its products to various retail centers, which in turn sells them to end consumers. 

Food Lion and Whole Foods Market companies use specific approaches for pricing, promotion, and distribution of their products, and they focus on value delivery to target consumers, which enables them to remain competitive in the market. These two companies are among JGJ's competitors in terms of market share and revenue.

Move your distribution recommendation up to this section.

Therefore, JGJ will implement particular pricing, promotional, and distribution strategies to obtain a competitive edge with its new product. For this, I recommend penetration pricing, social media advertisement, and direct distribution channels for JGJ company to achieve ultimate success in the new product offering. 

Penetration pricing will enable JGJ company to start with low prices and gradually increase as the demand for the new product increases. This pricing strategy will lead to high conversion rates and put the company in the spotlight. Once the product has penetrated the market, the company can increase the price based on a consumer product. 

Social media advertisements will enable JGJ company to advertise its product directly to consumers in a relaxed environment. This promotional strategy will enable the company to interact with consumers and engage them at a personal level. Consequently, consumers will gain a familiar and appealing image of the company. According to Garabinovic and Papic (2018, p.57), conducting advertisements on the internet creates new opportunities and access of products to the limitless public in the world. However, due to intense social media competition, JGJ company will have to consistently use the latest techniques and trends to promote its product. The techniques include running contests, advertising the product, running promo and deals codes, and sharing visual content. Social media will prove to be the best source of quality leads for JGJ's product by attention to these techniques.  Don’t forget to recommend that JGJ needs a website, YouTube videos, recommendations from technology experts in the 3D business, and popular magazine sites such as Popular Mechanics, Newegg, PC Magazine, cnet, etc.

A direct-distribution channel will allow JGJ to distribute its product directly to the end consumer. As a result, the direct distribution channel will enable the company to have better relationships and connections with its customers. Additionally, the company will have more control over prices, new products, and removing inefficiencies. What about Amazon?  I think JGJ will need to place this in specialty retail stores too that focus on technology, maybe at a minimum two stores would be Best Buy, and Micro Center. The product would go directly from JGJ to the distribution centers of these companies.