marketing plan

2. Economic analysis

Due to the rising inflation according to Einhorn, (2013), this could affect our company, and when the economy deteriorates, it affects the company as well. Despite this being a threat to the company, it is as an advantage opportunity for the company since, the sudden inflation means that the consumer prices would also increase, therefore, more customers would be willing to pay higher prices to buy the products.

3. Social-culture analysis

Due to the continuous development and rapid growth of the economy, demographic factors also changes, And from the recent report from BBC(china) the number of people living in the city has grown, outnumbering the rural population for the first time, China is the fastest growing economy today (BBC, 2013). This is an advantage to our company as more people lives in the city, which simply means that they are probably earning more income to enable them afford lining in the city, instead of rural areas. This would increase the number of customers that could buy our products; hence this would create an opportunity to increase the price of our products as more consumers are able to afford it.

4. Technology analysis

Soda streams International LTD is well known for its' beverage carbonation system. The company claims it will be providing a more environmental friendly and more cheaper alternative bottles to soft drinks, they have also created a do-it yourself beverage carbonation system due to the new technology which would be a big threat to our company, therefore, before Soda streams enters the Chinese market, we have to develop a strategy to overcome this threat which are; to conduct effective promotions and marketing and also to provide a wide variety of products to choose from, hence, it would give the consumers opportunity to choose from, as they compare them to products that Soda-streams offers.

We have two targeted market, which includes; primary and secondary markets. Our company target demographic is so broad due to our products appeal and popularity. This is based on the consumer age, marital status, income and household size. Our primary targeted market age is 25-34, which is composed of 70% due to its higher volume potential, while the secondary targeted market are 18-23 years old and those who live in a household of 3 or more individuals. This is due to their high ranks and potential volume, with a weight of 30%.

Brand strategy

Since our company is well known and popular in the soft drink market, we use interactive feedback and online consumers dialogue tools to reach and listen to the ultimate customers who are also our fans, we interact with them so as to enable us understand how to use this findings in expanding our customers ideas and creativity. We have also amended our 60:30:10 rules, where 60% is low risk content, 30% is medium risk content and lastly, 10% is the high risk content. We believe that, if we focus more on the risky 10%, since these ideas could be tomorrow's 30 or 60% share of the revenue. And due to the fact that our brand name is popular in the market, we plan to introduce a new product extension based on our brand name.

Performance Analysis

Our objective is to increase our profitability index, therefore in-order to be successful, we have to watch out what our competitors are doing as well, therefore, in order to be ahead or on top of the competition, we choose one of the most competitive company in the business, which is Coca Cola Company. This is called benchmarking. This will help us to be updated and keep up with the competition. They have acquired most of the market share in soft drink industry; therefore we have set benchmarks at a rate of 50-75% per annualized plan, to enable us to be proactive in our operations as well as in the business as a whole. In order to know how the company is performing, we have set up a Company website, which has all the information about our company information as well as our products.

Our customers can forward their inquiries, responses, and ideas about our services and products through our website, here we are able to know the number of visitors we have, hence, the number of visitors can show the popularity index of a company. We are able to get customers reactions, responses and complains on time since, we have various ways that they can get in touch with us, and due to the new technology advancement, we have social networks which we use to market our products as well as the complains and responses from our customers, hence, we are able to response to them in appropriate way and time, therefore, a good customer management is develop. Based on our benchmarking, we have been able to acquire the strategies Coca-Cola has been using to help us in increasing our market shares as we retain more customers due to the high quality drinks we are producing as well as our effective Customer Management. We have managed to capture more customers creating customer loyalty. In order to increase our profits, extensive marketing promotions are being conducted, and since we distribute our products to both retailers and wholesalers, we have to practice both the Qualitative and quantitative marketing.

Qualitative marketing objectives involves;

Image- Qualitative marketing objectives related to image which includes increasing the perceived value of a product, which we have manage to accomplish through promotions and advertisements while establishing a good relationship with our customers as well as establishing products as to the standard of quality required of the soft-drinks industries based on benchmarking.

Position-We have company's website, were customers can forward their ideas, inquiries and complains. We are able to get customers opinion about our products which has been positive, and due to our benchmarking Coca-Cola Company, which has been the leading company in the industry, we have been able to increase our market share in the recent years and now we are the among the top three companies leading in the market.

Awareness-Our company products are very popular in the market hence with the new products line we produced last year, based on the brand extension, we have been doing aggressive and more effective advertising to create awareness of their existence to customers. And I believe that due to the brand extension strategy, the product adoption rate will increase, since our products brands are well known in the market.

Attitude- this is similar to image, with the constant interaction with our customers, through qualitative marketing survey, where we have been able to know how they think and feel about us, based on environmental protection and fairness in competition.

Quantitative marketing objectives.

1. Increase Market share by 10%- Through effective advertising, we have been able to increase our market share, hence, we will be able to reach our goal

2. Increase ROI on media advertising by 50-75%- the company website by ¼/2014 had a retention of customers rate of 40% (400 of our 1000 existing customers have ordered products) hence they have been retained, and by the end of 12/31/13 our retention rate was now 70% (700 of our existing customers have order before) hence our performance analysis, therefore our retention rate increased by 75%. While due to continuous benchmarking, we are able to keep up with this stiff competition in the soft drink industry, hence, our sales volume has been increasing due to effective advertising, resulting into an increase profitability index. We have been able to pay out dividends to our shareholders without constrains, the business is doing great.

3. To improve the customer satisfaction by 30 points we have develop a company website where customers can forward their complaints, and ideas, as well as social media sites, hence, we are able to interact with our customers, as well as react and response to their complains on time and appropriately. In addition, we have been able to produce high quality beverages, which satisfy our customer’s needs.

4. To increase the brand equity. This entails both the both qualitative and quantitative measure, our current brand extensions have been doing great. We plan to invest more on the market research so that we can produce more of free-carbonated drinks which has high demand I the market. People are very conscious of their health today.

SWOT Analysis

The following SWOT analysis shows the main strengths and weaknesses of our company products.

Strengths

1. Customer loyalty- Our Company enjoys having one of the most loyal consumer groups. In the soft drink industry.

2. A high level of consumer satisfaction in test markets has proven that the consumers trust the company and its products.

3. Due to the strong financial resources it has enable our company to employ the best design and technology team to guide from research and development and also through to marketing and launch.

4. Strong marketing and advertising. Our company's advertising expenses accounted for more than $2.3 billion last year, we have been able to increase sales as well as brand recognition.

Weaknesses

1. Brand failures - The Company have been selling more than 250 brands but only a few of them has had a sales volume of more than $ 1 billion sales. And many of the new introduced brands have been weak in the market.

2. Significant focus on carbonated drinks. We have been focusing more on carbonated drinks but with time, the sales will drop as people are fighting against obesity, hence consumers are being more health conscious.

3. Negative publicity-Our company have been continuously criticized for using a lot of water in areas with water scarcity as well as using harmful ingredient in the manufacturing drinks.

4. Undiversified product portfolio- Our company is still focusing in producing beverages only, unlike competitors in the market. With the growing economy, we stand a chance of facing difficulties as we penetrate the other market when the time come to change or be more diversify with our products portfolio

Opportunities

 Increased market potential from internet retailers and advertising, we have the ability to increase profit margin through efficient production and marketing.

 Increase customer loyalty and satisfaction through appealing product and becoming a leading company in quality and affordability.

 Increasing demand for healthy food and beverages- People have become health conscious, hence are fighting obesity, therefore a high demand for healthy beverages and food has highly increased lately. Therefore we have an opportunity to invest more in increasing our product range which are carbohydrate free.

 Growing beverages consumption in emerging markets- Soft drink consumption continuous to grow in emerging markets such as BRIC countries, hence our company can increase while maintaining its soft drinks market share.

Threats

 Competition from Coca Cola Company - Coca cola has capture a most of the market share and especially BRIC countries such as India (Datamonitor, 2006).

 Changes in consumer tastes- Consumers around the world become more health conscious and reduce their consumption of carbonated drinks, drinks that have large amounts of sugar, calories and fat. This is the most serious threat as Coca Cola is mainly serving carbonated drinks.

 Water scarcity- Water scarcity has been a major issue world-wide; hence it has increases both in cost and criticisms over that large amount of water used during the production.

 Strong dollar- Generally, most of the company income are from outside USA, hence a strong dollar affects the overall income of the company negatively.

Marketing Strategy and Action Plan.

The current soft drink industry shows that consumers want high quality, carbonated free-beverages, produced with minimal waste and are also environmentally friendly (Cateora, Gilly, Graham, 2008). Our company new line is focusing on those factors. Hence, our production methods are faster, our products quality are high, and also our costs are low if compared to our competitors. We have implemented a three-step marketing strategy approach for these carbonated free soft drinks, known as Zero Calorie Drinks through marketing to a various customer base, while adopting a penetration pricing plan which they use to enter the market for the first year then later changes it with a competitive pricing approach.

Product Strategy

(1) The Zero Carolina Drinks are produced without carbohydrates contents hence is good for health

(2) The product packaging is disposable, and can be recycled. Environmental friendly product is important.

Price

1. Penetration pricing will begin at $14.99 and increase to competitive pricing at $29.99.

2. Specialty and limited edition products will be competitively priced starting at $39.99.

3. Combination bundles which includes; two limited edition series products, which will be priced at $59.99.

The Zero-Calorie soda will use a competitive pricing strategy. Since customers, pricing and consumer satisfaction usually goes together. Therefore, our pricing is based on our breakeven point, that is why we have chosen to use the three step pricing plan. The PPB will have a penetration base price of $29.99 per units which will enable us to remain competitive without our company affecting quality. The base price is comprised of all available standard edition designs and all the special and limited edition designs includes; colors and sports team logos which will have a base price of $39.99 while the standard unit will be increased to $49.99 once a market share of 3% has been achieved.

Distribution

 November 2014 distribution to specialty retailers begins with tactical eye-appealing, and in-store displays.

 October 2014 will be the official product launch to limited consumers at the National RV show.

 December 2014 distribution to traditional retailers will begins which will also include internet retailers.

Promotion

 On September 2014- Both the Social networking and email campaign begins with sweepstakes to win a PPB

 August 2014- Television and Radio campaign in cooperation with National RV and Camper shows begins.

 October 2014- Newspaper (retailer inserts), and in-store display campaigns begin

Action Plan Time-line.

The tasks below should be finished and completed by the date listed. Each and every stage will be monitored by their heads, namely; Distribution and product development which will be monitored by the Distribution Manager and the Advertising and promotions will be monitored by the Promotion Manager, hence, each manager should verify the timely execution of each task and also in a professional way.

Monitoring Procedures

The main purpose of this marketing plan is to start a guide to introduce our carbohydrate free product line. Therefore, for us to gain a strong market share with our new product line we have to be stable and maintain a high competitive stand in these areas namely; area of research, development, and lastly technology.

And our key to success is based on the strong relationship with our distributors, suppliers, and also our consumer. Therefore, for this new product and the rest of the product line to succeed. Our Company has to monitor the success of the company on a monthly and annual basis to check if everything is running appropriately as expected.

Monthly and Yearly Evaluation:

 Advertising effectiveness (evaluating the most effective)

 Retail sales (evaluating effective sales or lack of sales in each retail started)

 Expenses: Labor, advertisement, distribution,

 Customer satisfaction (surveys through telemarketing, direct mail, and email)

Reference:

BBC News "China Profile.". (2013). Web. 20 Mar. 2013.

Cateora, Philip R,. Gilly, Mary C,. Graham, John L. (2008). Coke and Pepsi Issue.

International Marketing.

Datamonitor. (2006). Coca-Cola and Pepsi Criticism in India. Retrieved from;

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/558924/cocacola_and_pepsi_face_criticism_in_india/i

ndex.html.

Einhorn, Bruce. “China's Inflation Fight Starts to Squeeze Consumers”, (2013). An article Retrieved from;http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-03-11/chinas-inflation-fight-starts- to-squeeze-consumers

Robert, Dexter. “ China Sets Up a Food Safety Super-Regulator”, (2013). An article Retrieved from; http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-03-14/china-sets-up-a-food-safety-super-regulator