Big T coffee shop marketing plan in details

The Big T coffee shop is a nearby coffee/bar/tapas house that offers friendly service and an effective and exclusive spot for singles to meet, as well as another bundle for families. It offers a one-of-a-kind program called the organized chat method, which allows singles to meet and speak about their passions and lives with one another. The formal framework instills trust in the consumers by creating an environment in which singles can participate in thoughtful dialogue without feeling inhibited. The shop separates their services and service sections into singles and family people. The shop separates their services and service sections into singles and family people. It is because they want these two groups to interact with each other without interference from another group as they have totally different interests. Whereas the singles group would like to meet a partner or hang out with their fellow singles, married ones would like a calm and cool environment to talk about family issues or other family related topics with their colleagues. They also have children who might find some of the behaviour of the singles ones a bit awkward hence giving these two groups different environment away from each other. In addition, there would be different prices for the family and single groups. The singles would also be offered coupon for friends up to two while family will be given one coupon for their partners if they visit for the first time. In addition, there would be different prices for the family and single groups. The singles would also be offered coupon for friends up to two while family will be given one coupon for their partners if they visit for the first time.

Marketing Plan: The Big T Coffee Shop

Background

The Big T Coffee shop is the business facility that is located in the new house along Pennsylvania Avenue immediately adjacent to the United Mall and Pennsylvania University. The business derives its name as Big T due to the road intersection on the street, where it was founded which forms a T shape. The organization was formed three months ago as a partnership between three brothers.

Micro-Environment Analysis

It is the internal environment of the business. It includes all the departments that might influence marketing in one way or another. The finance department is responsible for budgeting and funding of marketing activities and thus must do their job well for marketing plan to succeed. Research and development would be tasked with gathering information from the market periodically to be used in decision making. Similarly, the management department would be responsible for organizing and implementing various marketing activities.

Macro-Environment Analysis

The business will analyse their macro environment to establish any external factors that might be unfavourable to the business. Some of these factors are political, social, technological, legal as well as environmental.

Political Factors

It is the factors that would determine the extent of the government as well as the political situation in the country affects the business. Big T will analyse the tax policies as well as other levies that are imposed on businesses before making a better marketing plan to encounter them.

Economic Factors

It is the various economic situations that the country usually faces which can affect its business in one way or the other. The political stability in the country has given the business a peaceful and conducive environment to operate in (Percy 2014, p.38). Some of the factors to consider here would be the rate of inflation, the interest rates and how it can affect the business. When there is high inflation, people will not buy much since borrowing would be expensive and people would rather reduce their spending. At times like this, the business would lower their prices a bit to encourage customers to buy their product and services.

Social Factors

The social factors such as demographics, population analysis as well as the behaviour or the lifestyle of people around market environment would be analysed. Some of the trend established by the Big T coffee shop is that family people rarely go to places where there are many young single adults as they are considered dramatic group by the family people. It made the business to segment their market into two, namely, for the married and the single people sections.

Technology

Technology innovation has been a key contributor to many firms in the market. In the coffee industry, it will be used by the Big T coffee shop to improve their efficiency in making orders. The customers would find a place to make an order on the type of coffee they would like and the table that waiters should take their coffee (Baker 2014, p.33). It would help manage the traffic of people getting into to the shop to make an order.

Legal Factors

Consumer laws and safety standards are some of the legal factors that would be considered to ensure the business adheres to all the rules and regulations about customer_x0092_s safety.

Environment

The surrounding environment was considered. The best places to set up the shop were determined by the majority who frequently visit such places.

Market Size

The first few months, the size of the market is expected to be small as the business is still introducing itself into the market. However, the market size is estimated to increase by over sixty percent in the next six month and continue with the same trend till it reaches 90 percent of the market share (Westwood 2016, p.28). It means that the first few months, sales are expected to be slightly above $ 2.000 a month and increase to about $5.000 per month. The expected to continue till the business reaches its peak where sales would be about $15.000 every month.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

The advantage that the Big T coffee shop has over other business is its ability to bring the singles together as well as family people separately. It has given the market another look as these two groups can now enjoy their coffee and have a relevant conversation without interference. Moreover, the business offers the best quality and prices in the market as compared to its rivals. The ability to partner with the restaurant and other joint owners has made it reach so many consumers hence increasing its sales by bigger margins (Bowie, Buttle, Brookes and Mariussen 2016, p.22). In addition to the strength mentioned above, the firm has excellent staffs that are highly trained and are customer attentive.

Weaknesses

There is the limited budget to grow the business as per the demands of the market. Besides, the shop has limited brands of coffee due to the fact that has turned away some customers. Promotional topics are also running out of fashion, and the business constantly struggles to invent new methods of promoting their sales among other things in the market.

Opportunities

There are lots of opportunities to grow in the market. The demand is high, and the shop can only serve a section of the market. Besides, the business can lower variable cost through the efficiency margin. A good number of the target market are still not aware of their services and thus gives hope of more market returns in the future.

Threats

There is the threat of stiff competition from the rival business that is also keen on adopting the marketing tactics of the Big T coffee shop. There is also the competition from other joints that are offering single meeting services that are beyond coffee. A slump in the economy might prove to be decreasing the spending and thus the reduction in sales.

Market Research Requirements

For a successful market research, the business would need to develop the questionnaire where the customers would be expected to give their feedbacks on a number of issues such as the level of service quality as well as their prices. Furthermore, the business will develop the research and development center that will be in charge of getting market information from the market that would be used to improve their services.

There will be a focus group that will provide insight into the process of making critical decision of marketing concerns. In addition, the business will set up a dynamic system that will provide useful market research feedback from the market and suggestions.

Consumers

The Big T consumers are mostly the people of the age below 30 and those who are above thirty but less than 60 years old. They are people with families and the single ones in the society. The singles have low income, and thus the business offers a package that fits exactly that. Most of them earn below $250 a month and thus can only spend little of this amount on coffee. However, they like to meet other singles in the joint coffee shops and hence the reason why they were the target market.

Another group, the family group, is made up of people with slightly high income and stable economically. They earn above $1.000 per month and like cool environment with low sound music to relax during their weekend. Because they like going to the joints with their families, the Big T coffee shop thought it was good to give them their respect hence separating them from the singles by separating their coffee shop. Moreover, the majority of these customers are people who like hanging out and not those who like staying a lot.

Conclusions and Key Issues Emanating from Audit

To sum up, the Big T shop would like to develop a perfect environment that fits everyone in the society for relaxation and interaction. It would be possible by erecting more shops for the singles and family people in the society separate from each other. Therefore, the organization will evaluate its growth every year and establish areas that need more concentration so that they can have a consistent growth and development.

Key Marketing Objectives

The key marketing objectives of the Big T coffee shop are the following:

to develop their brand awareness through increase of customer base every month;

to improve and make the customers to be aware of their services for the single and family men and women in the society;

to enhance as well as increase their sales while decreasing marketing expenses so as to achieve highest level of profitability.

Core Marketing Strategy

The Big T_x0092_s core marketing strategy will be based on conveying its values to their customers through proper communication. It will be carried out using a variety of methods. First, the business will use advertisements on print media, social media as well as mass media to reach out to their customers. The Big T targets young people in the society and thus would prefer social media as its main source of advertisement. They believe that more than half of the population of young people above the age of 21 years is active in one or more social media sites across the country.

Another marketing strategy will be to construct or rent shops near college and campuses and offer affordable coffee to students (Armstrong, Adam, Denize and Kotler 2014, p.12). In addition, forming partnership with various clubs and lounges in the country where young people usually spend their weekends is being considered. Further, the coupon will be used to entice the customers to buy their products. It will be given to the customers for their friends who would like to try the Big T coffee for the first time. It will be added a referral force to its strategy as those who have tasted their coffee will have opportunity to invite their friends through this method.

Target Market and Segmentation

The Big T coffee shop targets mainly the young people in the society. It is the people below the age of forty years. However, the coffee shop has segmented its market into two namely; the young adult market and the older adults. The young adults are those who are below thirty years while the older adults are those who are over thirty years. This segmentation was done to separate the people considered to be family men and women with the singles ones who are still schooling. These two groups hang out different from each other and have a unique weekend activities. Whereas, those who are above thirty years are expected to have a busy weekend that is full of family activities, the rest below thirty years are mostly likely to hang out with their age mates, college colleagues or their girlfriends and boyfriends(Wood 2014, p.19). The Big T coffee shop has therefore prepared the package for each group to fit their needs and size. The shops for the older adults are also different from the ones for the young adults. It was considered so that the young adults would only interact with their likeminded people while the family group will find the peaceful environment to enjoy their coffee without any drama from the young adults.

Implementation

The following milestone must be achieved by the organization if it wants to be more successful in the market.

Advertising Start Date End Date Budget Manager Department Marketing plan completion 1/1/2001 2/1/2001 $0 Karen Department Advertising 1/1/2001 1/1/2004 $9.600 Karen Department Strategic relationships 1/1/2001 1/1/2004 $4.400 Karen Department Grassroots promotion 1/1/2001 1/1/2004 $4,800 Karen Department Setting up more shops 1/1/2003 1/15/2003 $0 ABC Department Partnering with other businesses 1/1/2003 1/15/2003 $0 ABC Department Creation of Research and Development department 1/1/2003 1/15/2003 $0 ABC Department Campus shops 1/1/2003 1/15/2003 $0 ABC Department Family shops 1/1/2003 1/15/2003 $0 ABC Department Other 1/1/2003 1/15/2003 $0 ABC Department Total Advertising Budget     $18.800 Positioning

The Big T coffee shop will position itself as the convenient coffee joint with reasonable prices both for the family men and women and the young adult. This strategy will give them an edge over their competitors. It is the unique approach to bring the singles and young adults together for socialization. On the other hand, the family people are will also get the opportunity to meet other family men and women. As a result, the discussion can go around raising children or family matters without interruption of the drama from the young adults.

The Big T coffee shop is distinguished by the fact that it concentrates on different groups of customers with different values and brings them together. It gives customer_x0092_s confidence as they feel they are a group of like-minded or people with almost same value and styles as in the society.

In addition, it positions itself as a business that makes high-quality coffee with no match with other shops across the country. It is evident from the referrals they have been receiving from the time it was launched. The business will also concentrate on the needs of their different clients and serve them respectively. It is like working together with the customers to generate values for them.

The system used by the Big T coffee firm is unique and has a competitive advantage. Most of its rival coffee shops do not have the niche that they are concentrating on but are just serving the customers in general, both the old and the young mixed together.

The Big T coffee shop also positions itself as the shop of choice that has high quality products. It also provides the services with low prices that fit the pocket of every customer segment of the business. Moreover, it will pride itself as the coffee shop that is in touch with the needs of the young college men and ladies with its style and services.

Pricing

The Big T coffee shop will use economy pricing strategy. It is because their customers_x0092_ targets are mostly price conscious people. The singles and college student would like a lower price but a better service from any shop. Besides, the family people would want a coffee shop that offers good price due to a large number of family members. Hence, it would give them the economy pricing to be friendly to their pockets (Tuten and Solomon 2014, p.56). With this strategy, the business will minimize the cost of marketing their products to keep the price low and that is why the social media is their major site for advertisement. It would make them give their customer better services without the need for the customers to frill.

Place

In the attempt to gain successful entry into the market, the Big T coffee shop has different places for their different target customers. For college and campus students, the business will open shops in strategic places near the college campuses to tap the students who would otherwise go far to look for a convenient coffee shop when they want to relax and hang out. Besides, apart from the college campuses, the business would look for the places that are frequented by the young and singles such as near popular restaurants and bars or beaches (McDonald and Wilson, 2016, p.34). Moreover, the family members would have their joints in the shopping malls and general areas that a family man or woman would like to visit when relaxing on weekends and holidays.

Promotion

To promote their products and services, the Big T Coffee shop will engage in various strategies. First, they will give coupons to those who are visiting their shops for a visit their shop for the first time to come with a friend on their next visit. In addition, it will use product giveaways to attract more customers. It will include offering one cup of coffee for free if one buys one. It will use _x0093_buy one and get one free_x0094_ type of promotion (Ryan 2016, p.76). To family members, those who would visit the shop in a group of more than five will be offered up to three cups for free. It means that a family man or woman who visits the coffee shop together with his five family members will have the chance to take another three cups for free.

Another form of product_x0092_s promotion would be the use of social media to reach the youths. There will be different offers made to the singles like _x0093_come meet other singles for free by buying only one cup of coffee_x0094_ (Foxall 2014, p.23). It would attract more young men and women and thus would offer the business a great gain of market share. Further, there will be a customer referral program where the current customers will be offered free coffee on some days when they refer a certain number of customers. The one with the highest list of referral would be offered a holiday package with a family or friends of their choice. It will promote high sales for the shop.

One-Year Tactical Plan

The first two months, signing space deals with shops and lounges near campuses and colleges to enable the business tap into the young campus and college students.

The next two month, or the third and fourth month, the business will sign contract with coffee suppliers to be making constant suppliers to their shops without delay or hiccup.

The fifth and sixth month, the business will be working on more promotional tactics to attract both its market segments. It will include signing contracts with bloggers on social media for a year deal on advertisement.

Further, in the seventh and eighth month, the organization will get involved in measuring and preparing for any change that market might bring forth. It will include collecting and reassessing how the tactics employed so far are performing to make the firm achieve its desired success.

For the remaining four month, the Big T coffee shop will engage in evaluation of every feedback from the customers and improving their services according to these feedbacks.

Marketing Expense Budget

  2001 2002 2003 Advertising $4,800 $2,400 $2,400 Strategic relationships $2,000 $1,200 $1,200 Other $2,400 $1,200 $1,200   ------------ ------------ ------------ Total Sales and Marketing Expenses $9,200 $4,800 $4,800 Percent of Sales 5.23% 1.07% 0.97% Monitoring and Control

The purpose of this marketing plan is to monitor and control various activities of the organization that relates to its marketing, growth, and development. Some of the monitoring and control practices in this marketing plan will be the following.

Customer_x0092_s feedback monitoring

These are the mechanisms that will be used to monitor and respond to the feedback from customers concerning the services offered by the Big T coffee shop.

Target market and sales

It includes the measures that will be used to monitor the sales target in the market and will be carried out through market surveys.

_x000c_References

Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S. and Kotler, P., 2014. Principles of marketing. Sydney: Pearson.

Baker, M.J., 2014. Marketing strategy and management. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Bowie, D., Buttle, F., Brookes, M. and Mariussen, A., 2016. Hospitality marketing. London: Taylor & Francis.

Foxall, G., 2014. Strategic marketing management (RLE Marketing) (Vol. 3). London: Routledge.

McDonald, M. and Wilson, H., 2016. Marketing plans: How to prepare them, how to profit from them. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Percy, L., 2014. Strategic integrated marketing communications. London: Routledge.

Ryan, D., 2016. Understanding digital marketing: Marketing strategies for engaging the digital generation. London: Kogan Page Publishers.

Tuten, T.L. and Solomon, M.R., 2014. Social media marketing. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Westwood, J., 2016. How to write a marketing plan. London: Kogan Page Publishers.

Wood, M.B., 2014. The marketing plan handbook. Sydney: Pearson.