Distribution Strategy - Group Project - 1.5 pages case study

Week Due

Sections

Description

Week 2: Draft 1

Marketing Environment

Analyze the dynamics of the marketing environment for your company's product.

· Summarize the marketing mix for your company's product and explain which market orientation (or combination thereof) you will adopt in setting product strategy.

· Who is the most influential actor in the microenvironment for your company's product and why?

· What is the most influential force in the macroenvironment for your company's product and why?

Buyer Behavior

Determine the purchase decision process for the buyer of your company's product.

· What is the purchase process for your company's product? Is it B2C or B2B? What stages of the buying process are most critical for the buyers of your product and why?

· What are the strongest buying influences on the purchasers of your company's product, and how can you use an understanding of those influences on your buyers to a strategic advantage?

· Where does your company's product fall on the diffusion of innovation curve, and what are the strategic implications of this on the marketing of your company's product?

Week 4: Draft 2

Insights and Segmentation

Segment a market to identify the target customer of your company's product.

· Which three types of primary research do you think would be most effective for your company's product and why, and what ethical implications may exist for the types of primary research you recommend?

· Who is the target customer for your company's product?

· What is the value proposition of your company's product?

Product Strategy

Evaluate the brand equity of your company's product, and recommend an ethical development process and life cycle management for your company's product.

· Describe the brand equity for your company's product. What is the differential influence the brand can impose relative to competing brands?

· Discuss the ethical implications of your company's product, from development, through use, and to disposal. What strategic advantage can you develop based upon these practices?

· Draft and share a product positioning statement for your Course Project company. Be sure to include

· the target segment;

· the target segment's unmet need;

· the product concept; and

· specific points of product differentiation.

Week 6: Draft 3

Pricing Strategy

Recommend value-driven pricing for your company's product.

· Estimate the BEP for your company's product. What pricing implications does your BEP present for achieving a short- or long-term ROI?

· Is your product's price relatively elastic or inelastic, and what implications does price elasticity present for your product? For example, how might its price elasticity affect sales volumes, inventory costs, price adjustments, and so forth?

· What is the best pricing strategy for your product and why?

Distribution Strategy

Recommend a distribution plan for the new product.

· Considering your company's product from a strategic perspective, would you recommend creating a wholesale distribution channel, focusing on retail distribution, or using a multichannel approach that incorporates both wholesale and retail distribution?

· What types of retailers or wholesalers (or mix of both) would you recommend using?

· Given your recommended distribution channel strategy, what decisions about the retail or wholesale marketing mix must be made to form a viable retailer or wholesaler marketing strategy?

Week 8: Final Draft*

Promotional Strategy

Recommend a strategy to position and promote the new product.

· What promotional mix would you recommend for your company's product?

· Would you recommend using a push strategy, a pull strategy, or a mix of both to promote your company's product?

· Who or what are the competitors for your company's product, and what strategies would you recommend to promote the competitive positioning of your company's product?

Ethical Implications

Create an ethics statement for the new product.

· Assuming that you have decided to sell your company's product to a foreign market, which entry mode would you recommend and why?

· For a global expansion of marketing for your company's product, which product, pricing, distribution, and promotional strategies would you recommend and why?

· Considering the ethical implications of selling your company's product in domestic or foreign markets, write a brief ethics statement that captures how your company's brand and product address environmental sustainability and social justice issues.