Business plan

Assignment 2

Arabicana Coffee Company

Professor. Henry Kerich

Omar Alzyoud

Strayer University

Date:5-14- 2019

Introduction

Arabica is a newly established company, which intends to commence its business operations in the city of Baltimore, Georgia. Similarly, the company aims to introduce a new product to its targeted consumers in the region in a process that requires effective strategies, plans, and vigorous marketing. Therefore, the success of the company depends on how it advertises its product to attract consumers. However, before commencing an advertising campaign, it is imperative for the company to identify its target market and different consumers segments in Baltimore. Arabica intends to market its product to younger children and older people because these age groups have limited knowledge of the health benefits of beverages. For this reason, the marketing campaign will target parents that take care of their children and the aging population that is growingly becoming health conscious and require information on healthy ingredients and lifestyles.

Target Market

The city of Baltimore is the targeted market for Arabica where the sales and advertising campaigns will commence. According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2010), Baltimore city had a population of 805,029 people, which is expected to reach over one million in the next census. It is an ideal market for Arabica to sell its coffee owing to its population, thriving real-estate business, steady household income, associated tourism activities, and heavy investment in different sectors. The population of young children and the elderly groups in Baltimore keeps increasing as evident in the comparison of 2000 and 2010 census (‘U.S Census Bureau’, 2010). Arabica’s products will be sold at the local or neighborhoods retail stores to make them accessible to the families of the targeted groups of consumers. There are many retail stores across the neighborhoods in Baltimore, which will facilitate faster distribution of Arabica’s products.

Market Competition

Some of the establishments that present competitive challenges to Arabica include Baltimore Coffee and Tea Company, Dunkin, High Ground Coffee Roasters, and Eagle Coffee Inc. (Landsel, 2019). Equally, the emergence of small companies that sell non-alcoholic beverages has intensified the level of competition in the region. Majority of these companies sell diverse beverages that are suitable for different age groups and suited for different occasions. Contrarily, Arabica is a relatively small firm with limited market experience. The company focuses on selling healthy and quality beverage with tastes that appeal to diverse consumer groups. More so, Arabica intends to beat the competition by introducing a low pricing strategy, to boost its sales volume. In addition, the company will sell different varieties of natural flavors that are processed using healthy ingredients from reputable distributors. Whereas other competitors employ expensive technologies and finances for marketing, advertisement and production, Arabica only requires effective supplier line and distribution network to distribute its products and gain a competitive edge. Furthermore, the management will utilize its few resources for market research and advertising, which is crucial compared to the financial capabilities of the competitors.

Company Message

The Five F’s, which stands for functions, finances, freedom, feelings, and future, allow companies to market products that meet their consumers’ expectations in terms of quality, costs, and accessibility. Also, it allows firms to provide more information to targeted buyers with the aim of convincing them to purchase the product over other alternatives. By employing the Five F’s, Arabica will come up with a slogan, “Healthy beverage at low costs for all generation”. This message is simple, readable and will attract different groups of consumers. The function of the message is to inform the consumers that the company values their wellbeing and encourages them to save their finances by purchasing goods at low costs. Nonetheless, the message gives freedom to consumers to make informed choices by purchasing healthy beverage that is less harmful to their health. The consumers will experience a different feeling of having to purchase quality flavors at affordable costs. Furthermore, the company’s products and pricing will impact consumer future purchasing decisions and choices.

Marketing Vehicle

According to the Management Association and Information Resources (2017, p.811), a marketing vehicle is an advertising tool that is employed by companies to popularize their products. Since the future of advertising is technologically driven, Arabica will utilize social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to advertise its products to target more customers. Given the financial limitation of the company, social media is the cheapest and accessible option of advertising and marketing products. More so, it will allow Arabica to receive and respond to consumer feedback and queries.

Recommendation

To compete against well-established and financially stable competitors, it would be recommended that Arabica positions itself strategically. According to Abrams (2014, p. 142), the strategic position is a premeditated plan whereby a company differentiates its products and mode of its operations compared those of the competitors. Consequently, Arabica should consider unique strategies that allow it to overcome the current competition. In this case, the company should purchase quality ingredients from green suppliers, which are natural and healthy. Additionally, the company should produce sustainable products that are packaged using materials that are eco-friendly, degradable, and recyclable. Also, Arabica should guarantee its customers quality beverages, and refund unsatisfied customers. Furthermore, the ingredients used by the company should be indicated in the packaging materials and be shared on the website to make it accessible to consumers for transparency purpose. From the market assessment, the company’s competitors have not attempted these strategies, which should be beneficial because they are designed to aid Arabica to attain its short-term and long-term goals.

Conclusion

Conclusively, Arabica is a new establishment with limited marketing experience. The company has identified Baltimore as the target market. This market is suitable for the company’s operations based on its vibrant growth, population, and household income. Due to an increasing position, the company will employ different strategies to differentiate its products. The Five F’s will help the company in creating its slogan to appeal to health-conscious consumers. Additionally, the company will utilize social media as a marketing vehicle because it is cheap and accessible.

References

Abrams, R. M. (2010). The Successful Business Plan: Secrets & Strategies, 6th Edition. New York: The Planning Shop.

Landsel, D.( 2019). Best Coffee Every State America2019. Food and Wine. Retrieved from https://www.foodandwine.com/travel/united-states/best-coffee-every-state-america-2019

Management Association, Information Resources. (2017). Advertising and Branding: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications. Hershey, Pennsylvania: IGI Global.

U.S Census Bureau. (2010). Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010. Retrieved from https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=CF