paper

Part 2 (Group work for Liquid Tea Bar)

Current Product/Service problem to solve(Kyla Coles)

·      Problem Characteristics: Coronavirus, this problem is making it increasingly difficult because it is discouraging people from either ordering in stores or by delivery. It is also is concerning because you no longer can sit inside and enjoy their food or drinks. You can only sit outside on patios right now; and most people don't want to sit in 90 degree weather or higher. 

Another issue is that there are many competitors that have stores nearby. This makes competition rise even more with current global issues because competitors might be having sales on products. Another issue from this is that the other locations are closer to the school campus, so when CSUSB was open other locations could possibly get more foot traffic because of location. 

As well as people complaining that the boba is undercooked, this is a newer establishment and has limited funds so the newness of this store increases issues such as learning on the job because it is newer. 

·      Problem effects on stakeholders: All of the stakeholders are very concerned right now because of the current global pandemic. This is because the cash flow might not be high right now. The reason for this is because customers don’t feel like they want to risk getting sick for boba and food. Another problem for stakeholders resulting from the virus is that the nearest college campus, CSUSB, is closed and is online until the end of this year. This can result in the stakeholders losing lots of money but they must stick through this if they feel like Liquid Tea Bar will survive this pandemic. Other stakeholders such as employees might be scared right now too because they are working in an environment that they can get sick in easily if they don’t take the right precautionary measures. The owner might be struggling as well because, he can be losing lots of revenue making it difficult to stay afloat and keep business open. As for the supplies of this company, they can be losing lots of money as well because The Liquid Tea Bar isn't ordering as much as they use to, slowing production down. 

·      Why is it important: All of these issues are important because they are relevant to making sure the company stays in business. The virus is a major issue because it is not going away any time soon, it keeps changing the way the business operates and how much they are making in sales. In the future, the company could learn from the virus and create new marketing measures, other things could be cleanliness. Since production is slowing down they could also use this time to perfect their boba during down time. This could become a new marketing pitch “new and improved boba”, better boba will make old customers come back to try it out and even invite new consumers as well.

Product Characteristics (Valeria Martinez)

Uniqueness, niche - Liquid Tea Bar’s niche is selling boba fruit teas, milk teas, milkshakes and smoothies that includes  allowing the customer to customize the drinks with a variety of toppings, flavors, and sweetness levels. Liquid Tea Bar also has unique house special drinks such as their Mangonada, Pina Colada, and Bo's Coffee.

 High/low cost - Liquid Tea Bar is a low cost business and their products are reasonably priced. All products on their menu are less than $5 dollars. Compared to their competitors, their drinks are much cheaper.

 Distribution channel of product/service - Liquid Tea Bar receives its supplies to produce boba from Bossenstore.com, a wholesale supplier for boba tea businesses. Liquid Tea Bar being the retailer, sells its products directly to the consumer at their storefront. They also sell their products online through online delivery services that receive commission from each sale such as Grubhub, Doordash, Ubereats, and Seamless.

SWOT Analysis (Shenhao Sun)

Internal Factors

Strengths

Great service – Liquid Tea Bar offers great service made possible by a team of dedicated staff. Many customers have given reviews commending the restaurant’s welcoming and friendly staff always ready to help. They also have an online platform where customers can place orders and have them delivered at no extra cost.    

Great and unique products – The restaurant offers a variety of tasty and healthy tea available in different flavors. Other products include sea salt foam, milk shake, milk smoothies, milk tea, liquid yakult, flavored fruit tea, and many more.   

Reasonable prices – The products offered at the restaurant are reasonably priced and relatively cheap compared to those of competitors. This is despite the fact that the products and services are highly ranked.

Great environment – Both the exterior and interior of their premises are well-designed, always clean and tidy. This makes a safe and attractive place not only for customers but also for employees to work in. 

Weaknesses

New – Compared to many of its rivals, the restaurant is new in the industry and not well established (started in 2018).

Undercooked bubble tea - Occasionally, customers complain that the bubble tea is undercooked.

Limited funds – Given that the restaurant is a start up in its initial stages of expansion, it has access to limited finances and other resources. 

External Factors

Opportunities

 Expansion – The restaurant has the opportunity to expand around San Bernardino neighborhoods and into other towns and cities around California and the United States at large. The company also has an opportunity to add more products such as doughnuts, cakes, burgers, croissants, and other related products into its menu. 

Improve dining experience – Liquid Tea Bar has the opportunity to win more customers by organizing dining events for people with children.

Threats  

Looming stiff competition – Although Liquid Tea Bar is a relatively new business concept, many other players are coming in, given the ease with which one can enter the industry. The company itself started as a small shop with only three workers. 

Reliability, Stability, Expertise, Company Reputation, Location

 

Competitive Analysis Worksheet

For each factor listed in the first column, assess whether you think it’s a strength or a weakness (S or W) for the business and for the top 3 competitors. 

Then rank how important each factor is to your target customer on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = very important; 5 = not very important). Use this information to explain your competitive advantages and disadvantages. 

First 5 factors -Valeria, second 5 factors- Shenhao and last 5 factors- Kyla

 

FACTOR	The Business: Liquid Tea Bar	Competitor A: Tea Terminals	Competitor  B: The Ant Hub	Competitor  C: Chaca Tea Bar	Importance to Customer
Products	Liquid Tea Bar offers Fruit teas, Milk teas, Milkshakes, Smoothies, Yakult Drinks, Sea salt foam drinks with the options of adding  toppings such as honey boba, egg pudding, lychee/rainbow jelly, and aloe vera.	Tea Terminals offers milk tea, fruit tea, ice blended drinks, and butterfly pea drinks. They offer toppings such as boba, popping boba, a variety of jellys, mochi, and egg pudding.	The Ant Hub offers boba drinks, green tea based flavored teas, smoothies, create your own boba drinks, and bubble waffle options.	Chaca Tea bar offers milk tea, flavored green and black teas, sea salt cream drinks, frappes, slushies, smoothies, and specialty drink options with toppings such as boba, jellys, fresh fruit, and even ice cream.	Products are very important for the customer as it solves their want/need and is what makes each shop different.
Price	Drinks start at $3.35 to $4.75 and toppings are additionally $0.50 each	Drinks start at $2.95 to $5.00 and toppings are $.50 cents each.	Drinks start at $4.25 to $6.50 with add ons starting at $0.50 to $0.75 each. Their waffles start at $4.00 to $4.50 with add ons being $0.50 to $0.75 each.	Drinks start at $2.95 to $4.99 with each topping being $0.50.	Price is important for customers as the majority of the target market is college students that don't want to spend a lot of money on a single drink.
Quality	According to Yelp reviews, the drinks are high quality and very tasty at a great price. The boba has sometimes been reviewed to be undercooked.	According to Yelp reviews, the quality is decent, some have reviewed it to be mediocre.	According to Yelp reviews, the quality is very high. This shop offers unique drinks that are the perfect amount of sweetness. The quality of their waffles is also very good.	According to Yelp reviews. The drinks are high quality at a decent price.	Quality is extremely important for the customer as it is what makes the customer want to come back after their first time. It will also set the shop apart from competitors to the customer.
Selection	Liquid tea bar currently only offers drink options but is considering expanding to offer shaved ice by the end of the summer.	Tea Terminals only offers drink selections.	The Ant hub offers drink options as well as bubble waffles to eat.	Chaca Tea Bar currently only offers drink selections.	Selection is important to the customer in order for them to fulfill a want/need.
Service	According to Yelp’s reviews of liquid tea bar, they are mostly great at customer service and are quick when making their drinks. However, there are a few reviews that mention the manager being rude sometimes.	According to Yelp, the service is not always great. Employees have made orders wrong multiple times and due to high volume there is nearly always a wait.	According to Yelp, their service is extremely good, as there are no negative reviews about their service.	According to Yelp reviews, the service at chaca tea bar is fast and friendly, there are no bad reviews for their service.	Service is extremely important for customers because it makes them feel appreciated for supporting their business. If the business has bad service the customer will spread the information to friends, family, and reviews.
Reliability	Highly reliable regarding the accuracy of orders and delivery time	Highly reliable – delivers accurately and fast	Highly reliable – accurate orders, quality drinks, fast delivery	Highly reliable – accurate orders, quality drinks, fast delivery	Helps consumers know if they can always be assured of high quality teas delivered on time
Stability	Quite stable, given that is it still in operation despite the COVID-19 pandemic	Stability cannot be determined given that it was opened less than a month ago	Relatively stable. In San Bernardino, the company has been operational for 5 months despite the COVID – 19 pandemic.	Relatively stable. It has been able to withstand various economic and financial challenges	Stability helps consumers know if they will continue getting the product they love into the unforeseeable future
Expertise	Has the right expertise in various areas including marketing, accounting, management, and culinary	Its staff is highly skilled in various fields including cooking, marketing, finance, etc.	Staff highly qualified in culinary skills, marketing, finance management, etc.	Has qualified personnel in various fields required to run a restaurant.	Customers use this to determine if they are getting products and services from the best professionals there can be
Company Reputation	The company has a positive reputation	Going by its reviews, the firm has a good reputation	It has built a good reputation through excellent service and quality products	Good reputation according to its 5-star reviews	Helps consumers the best from among many
Location	Located near CSUSB where with its key market being students	Located at the heart of San Bernardino	Main outlet located in Ontario, California but has recently opened a branch in San Bernardino city	Main outlet in Redland, CA, but has opened a new branch in San Bernardino	The closer to the consumer, the better
Appearance	Outside is industrial and kind of dirty. Inside looks modern and has a giant purple octopus on the wall.  The containers the drinks come in are clear with writing, they look cool with the drinks in them	Outside is like a shopping center  Inside has lots of seating and is plain Drinks are in rounds containers	Outside is a shopping center, clean and it is redish  Inside is very cute and chic, very aesthetic looking, inviting. Drinks are in a clear long cup with a ant sticker.	Outside is industrial looking Inside is cute and has string lights Drinks in short clear cups with writing	The appearance is a important because it can make people want to try the place out if it is inviting. Other factors are uniqueness, people like to post their cool drinks on social media
Sales Method	Business to consumer
Credit Policies	Customers are required to pay  before receiving product. If declined customers aren’t allowed to get anything. No credit can be used here.	Same as Liquid Tea Bar	Same as Liquid Tea Bar	Same as Liquid Tea Bar	Thi is important for the stores because it allows them to not loose product or money if people can't pay
Advertising	They use Twitter, Instagram, Yelp, word of mouth and Grubhub to advertise.	Twitter, Instagram, Yelp, word of mouth	Twitter, Instagram, Yelp, word of mouth.	Twitter, instagram, Yelp, Word of mouth	The more platforms the better because it can reach  more people. Word of mouth is the number one way to get your product across to many people
Image

Part 3

Customer Analysis (Shenhao)

·      Total Market Size 

·      Target Market trends growth/shrinkage 

·      Market Potential and realistic future forecast 

·      Barriers to entry such as technology, qualified employees, high startup costs

Demographic Market Segments:

·      Age - History

·      Gender 

·      Marital Status – Family Life Cycle

·      Income – Social Status

·      Education – Social Status

·      Purchase behavior

·      Communication Style 

·      Geographic

·      Other 

  Psychographic Consumer Behavior:

·      Personal activities

·      Group activities

·      How time is spent

·      How they think (decision process)

·      Other

Media and Communications used (Kyla)

·      Traditional

·      Nontraditional

·      Social

·      Search engines

 

Marketing Objectives and Goals 

·      Expected results

o   Within course time frame

o   Future

Strategic and Tactical Recommendations (Valeria)

Liquid Tea Bar is a newer small business in the San Bernardino area, where there are multiple competitors nearby. It is important for us to create a strong business plan with strategic and tactical goals that will ensure that Liquid Tea Bar will stand out from its competitors, reach financial success, and satisfy its customers.

·      Strategy to accomplish goals: 

o   The tactics to meet the strategic goals

·      Increase customer traffic/ build customer loyalty 

o   We will begin to offer special BOGO free drink specials every Thursday in order to increase customer traffic. 

o   We will monitor traffic levels and sales daily to ensure we are meeting our daily goals for our efforts to increase traffic. If goals are failing, we will evaluate our efforts and determine if we want to offer specials through social media platforms.

·     Increase customer satisfaction

o   In order to increase our customer satisfaction, we will train all employees on excellent customer service skills, as well as in ensuring that customers are always happy.

o   Make efforts to read online reviews and determine what we are doing wrong/ what we are doing right.

o   Encourage our customers to leave a yelp review online and tell us how we are doing.

·      Ensure quality and efficiency of drinks

o   We want each drink to satisfy each customer and if a customer is unhappy with the quality, we will offer to make a new drink.

o   To ensure drinks are being made quickly and efficiently, we will train employees on how to make drinks quickly and correctly.

Secondary Research

·      Review of published databases, journal articles, trade magazines, newspapers

     News publications: Obtained from CSUSB Library, 

PRESS RELEASE: OutRank by Rogers' Small Business Customers See 60% Rise in Web Traffic From Mobile Devices. (2013). Dow Jones Institutional News, pp. Dow Jones Institutional News, 2013-02-06.

o   News publication highlights the rise in media usage through mobile phones. Small businesses are able to grow their customer traffic quickly through the use of social media alone. 

      Journal Article: Obtained from CSUSB library

Mobile coupons drive loyalty, customer engagement. (2019).             MobilePaymentsToday.com, 2019-02-22.   

o  Journal highlights how customer engagement through the use of mobile coupons builds customer loyalty for businesses.

      Magazines: Obtained from Google 

                        “ Michigan Daily; Community discusses significance of bubble 

                          tea as the number of bubble tea stores in Ann Arbor doubles.”

                          Ruprecht, M.   (2019).

             O This magazine article mentions the importance of quality boba drinks due 

              to  “A lot of people post on social media about it,” Gao said. 

·     Justify Market and Goals

o   By focusing on the goals such as increasing customer loyalty, ensuring customer satisfaction, and ensuring the quality of drinks, we are able to create a positive reputation for the Liquid Tea Bar. This will ensure that we are able to increase customer traffic and stand out from competitors.

Primary Research Results

·      Personal interviews 

The following link is the results to our personal interview survey https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1kOF7VVwpPrJKPTwRCHLJccRlBOAK8K76vbqGmor00uw/edit#responses , where we interviewed 15 of Liquid Tea Bar’s customers.

o Survey data collection and analysis

From the Data recorded from the survey results, the age group 18-25 is the majority at 46.7%, and 60% of customers are female. 60% of customers consider themselves single. 40% of customers drink boba drinks every week. 64.3% of customers say that they check Yelp reviews of a boba shop before trying a new place. 46.7% of customers say that their favorite type of drinks are fruity sweet drinks. 60% of customers like to add toppings to there order. 93.3% of customers like to listen to music at Liquid Tea Bar. 40% of customers rate the comfortability and ambiance of Liquid Tea Bar a “3”. As well as 33.3% of customers prefer Instagram.

·      Focus group

·      Survey data collection and analysis

 

Group Members Contribution:

·      Member 1                   0-33%

·      Member 2                   0-33%

·      Member 3                   0-34%

                                                100%

Shenhao Sun:

Customer Analysis

The total market size for liquid tea is very dynamic and thus not easy to determine. This is because this type of tea is consumed by people from across all ages. For the Liquid Tea Bar at CSUSB, its target market is mainly the students and workers within the college. However, the target market can be the people who live within the college’s vicinity and even those who live in various estates within the city. Reaching these customers is made easy by online ordering and delivery. The target market is expected to grow as more people discover the benefits of liquid tea. This industry does not have many barriers to entry since it does not require technology that is too sophisticated. Further, start-ups do not require high startup costs and the training is neither too expensive nor does it take too long. Many employees can learn while on the job.

Demographic Market Segments

Generally, tea consumers come from across all ages and all genders (married or otherwise). The youth, middle-aged people, and old people have been observed to love their tea. That being said, the target market for the Liquid Tea Bar at CSUSB is mainly the youth in college. However, this does not rule out other consumers including university employees. Liquid Tea Bar targets people with low-to-middle incomes and while it does not target any specific education qualification, the market at CSUSB consists mainly of people with some University education. The consumer purchase behavior of the targeted market includes actions such as social media engagement, looking up on search engines, and many other actions. The communication style among the target market (mainly the youth) is through online and electronic rather than face to face communication. While the geographic location of the Liquid Tea Bar is mainly at CSUSB, it is not restricted to this location as customers from various places within the city can order through online means.

Psychographic Consumer Behavior

Focusing on the CSUSB Campus students, some common personal activities that they engage in include watching movies, doing assignments/homework, attending classes, and reading among others. In groups, college students engage in activities such as games, parties, clubs, student government activities, volunteer work, professional and academic organizations, and art-related activities. On a typical day, a student wakes up early and spends the day doing things such as taking breakfast, attending classes, doing presentations, meeting lecturers and group members, having lunch, and dinner. Basically, most of the individual and group activities mentioned above fall under how students spend their time. University students tend to have flexible minds and can think fairly analytically. They often develop loyalty for products they love, but can change their mind if the quality drops.