Objectives

Discuss about the Marketing Strategy and Plan for Vodafone Australia.

The aim of the report is to prepare the marketing plan for the selected business that is operating the business in the local market. The report will throw light on the challenges that are faced by the company or the opportunities of the company in the current market in which the company is operating its business activities. The company that has been selected for the marketing plan is Vodafone Australia. This report will include the marketing objective of the company in the current market, analysis of the 5Cs, targeting of the business which reflects the market to whom the company is willing to offer its product on the primary basis. The marketing mix strategies are recommended to the company to improve the position in the local market of Australia. 

Vodafone Australia or VHA (Vodafone Hutchison Australia) is well-known mobile telecommunication company who operates the business in numerous countries including Australia. The company is the joint venture entity that is owned by the Hutchison telecommunication Australia and the by Vodafone Group Plc on a 50-50 basis (Vodafone, 2018). The company offers different services to the customers of Australia which include mobile and fixed broadband services with the 4G mobile network that cover more than 22 billion Australians. The company is operating its operations in the market with more than 3,000 employees in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth offices contact center of the company is placed in Hobart and in more than 120 country-owned retail stores across Australia (Vodafone, 2018).

The major objective of the company is to enhance the position of the company in the local market and to become the leader in the mobile carrier in terms of the speed and reliability. Along with this, the company is willing to globalize its Vodafone new 4G network which will provide the users with the HD broadband. This will accomplish another objective of the company that is bringing the rise in the revenue of the company in the Australian market.

These objectives of the company are linked to the vision and the mission of the company that is: –

• Vision: – The vision of the company is to deliver connectivity and innovative services to bring the improvement in the livelihoods and quality of life to approx. 434 million customers. The company believes that to achieve the vision the company needs to be committed towards its vision along with this they need to manage the operations responsibly with ethical activities (Vodafone, 2018).
• Mission: – The mission of the company is to enable the opportunities every day with the support of the information for which the company takes the stand. This helps the company in making the profit in an effective manner. The company believes that this is the way to which they are contributing to the society by making the mobile working possible. The overall mission of the company is to give the customers a high degree of flexibility and freedom that they are not having today (Vodafone, 2018).

This marketing plan of the Vodafone Company has been prepared with the motive to accomplish the objective of the company. The plan will draw the challenges that are faced by the company in the local market while accomplishing the objective. Along with this, the marketing plan will also include the opportunity that the company should grab to accomplish the objective.

5Cs Analysis

The situation analysis refers to as the collection of the method that the managers make use to evaluate an organization’s internal and external environment because this is essential for the company to understand the capabilities of the organization, customer and the business environment (Blackwell and Eppler, 2014)). The analysis can be done with the help of the different marketing tool. The Vodafone Australia Company makes use of the 5Cs analysis for analyzing the situation analysis in the local market.

The 5Cs analysis is a technique that is used to conduct the situational analysis. Vodafone Australia makes use of this tool for analyzing the internal and external environment that leads to the challenges and opportunities for the company while accomplishing the objective of the company (Cateora, Gilly and Graham, 2013). The 5Cs analysis includes the assessment of the Company, Customers, and Competitors, Collaborators, and Climate.  [Please refer appendix 1 for the further discussion of these elements of 5Cs]

Vodafone Australia believes in providing the effective and improved services to their customers in the local market with the high speed which helps the customers in communicating effectively. These issues lead to the problems in the services that they are offering to the customers due to which many customers register the complaints against the services that they are getting (Vodafail, 2018). Though, the company takes the immediate actions due by providing the appropriate reply to the customers which helps them in handling the issues. The internal operations of the company need to be strong because this is the only way through which they can give tough competition in the market and can improve the services in the market.

Vodafone Company is working and performing the activities just to satisfy the needs of the customers in the Australian market. Some of the major problems identified by the customers include: –

• The company charged inappropriate amounts on bills.
• The network offered by the company has less speed and reliability.
• The customers of the company reported the issues related to the plethora of issues.
• The customers highlighted the issue as they have to stand in a long queue or even on call line for having the word with the support team (Vodafail, 2018).

The company knows the fact that they need to ensure that they are able to meet the needs of their customers. The company needs to bring the improvement in their operations so that they can easily satisfy the needs of the customers. The use of the advanced technology will support the operations of the company. Along with this, they should apologize for the inconvenience that is faced by the customers because of the company.

Vodafone Company is well-known telecom company who faces the tough competitors from the Optus Company which is recognized company in the market of Australia. The company offers the wide range of the communication services that include mobile, long-distance services, local and the international telephony and many others. The position of the company has improved in the market of Australia from last two years as the company is holding approx. 20% – 25% of the telecommunication market (Harpur, 2018). The major of the market share of the company is based on the mobile service which means this is the strength of the company. Though, the company is weak in expanding the market share at the time when Vodafail.

Market Segmentation and Targeting

Vodafone shareholders include employees, investors, customers, and many others. The collaboration is done between the two people or parties with the motive of their self-interest in it such as employees are collaborating with the Vodafone with the motive to get the good salary package, better working condition with employee’s benefits. On the other hand, the company hires the employees so that they can operate their business in the market of Australia effectively. The employees work like an asset for the company due to which the collaboration between the both takes place (Chernev, 2018). Moreover, the company always try to fulfill the needs of the shareholders as this is the only way through which they can make the smooth working in the country.

The climate analysis can be done by the company with the help of the PESTLE analysis.

Political Factors	The political factors include the rules and a regulation that is formed by the government affects the working of Vodafone. The roaming packages in Australia have a direct effect on the business which increases the prices (Vodafone, 2018).
Economic Factors	Australia economic freedom score is 80.9 which make the economy the 5th freest in the year 2018 index. The GDP of the country is growing which means the rise in purchasing power of people. This leads to opportunity for the company.
Social Factors	Customer satisfaction plays a vital role in the Australian market. The change in the work patterns is making the people rely on communication technologies. Moreover, the people are going green and aging population affect the working of a company (Dudovskiy, 2018).
Technological Factors	The company is dealing with the technological issues such as software programming issues which caused the outages in the market of Australia. The company has the opportunity to bring the changes to the effective use of the technology, software’s, communication techniques and many others (Sousa and Tan, 2015).
Environmental Factors	Vodafone Australia ensures that they are able to meet all the social obligations which provide the benefit to them.
Legal factors	The change in the legal factors might affect the working of the business. Vodafone company ensures that are able to meet all the legal obligations.

This sector of the report includes the market segmentation, targeting, and positioning of the company. The marketing strategies of the company help the company in accomplishing the objectives. Vodafone strategy related to the Segmentations, targeting, and positioning are discussed below: –

This is the process of breaking the buyers into the various small groups to whom the company is offering its product (Samiee, Chabowski, and Hult, 2015). Vodafone Australia segments the market on the basis of the Demographic, behavioral and physiographic segmentation.

Demographic: – Company segment the people on the basis of age, income, and another factor. The company offers its services to people with the age group of 18+ to 60+ with the all the income group people.

Behavioural: – This segment shows the behavior of the customers towards the product and services offered by the company. This has been observed by the people that there are numerous customers who make use of the products on the frequent basis (Lovelock, 2011). Moreover, the Australian people like the brand and their products and services.

Psychographics: – The fact is that the Australian standard of living is high and well maintained due to which the company can bring the changes in the plans that they are offering to their customers. The company can form different kind’s rates as well as traffic plans in the Australian market.

The target market is the group of customers to whom the company focuses on offering its products and services. The company makes use of the multi-segment marketing strategy in which they target all the markets (Kurtz and Boone, 2012). Vodafone will offer the services to every market segment and the company will offer the quality products and services at the comfortable and affordable prices to their customers. Age is one of the most important factors in the telecom sector and company target different group with the major emphasis on the age group of 18-25 years. Considering the lifestyle of the people along with the needs Vodafone can bring the numerous traffic plans which will help them in satisfying the needs of the customer. These strategies will future help the company in achieving the objectives.

Trends in the Market

The positioning of the company can be defined as the image of the company in the eyes of the customers. The company needs to make use of the effective strategy to form the positioning in the market of Australia (Kurtz and Boone, 2012). The company needs to form the proper offering to its customers by maintaining a proper pricing strategy and with technology upgraded products. This will help the company informing the strong image in the Australian market. The effective image of the brand market is possible with the customer satisfaction. Though, the presence of the competitors in the market affects the positioning of the company because every competitor wants to prove that they are offering effective services to their customers.

Vodafone offers a wide range of products and services that include voice, messaging, data and fixed-line solutions and devices to support the end-users in fulfilling their total communication needs. The company seeks to meet the needs of the customers available in the market.

• Improved packages: – The customer wants to improve packages of internet services which will meet their requirement for the products.
• Innovative voice and messaging services: – Customers find different similar services in the market due to which they want to get something innovative. The company provides them value as they focus on pricing and innovation in bundles of voice and text services.

The trends of the market are dynamic and keep changing with the change in the fast-moving environment. Vodafone Telecom Company adopts the strategy in which adapts to be fit to, shape and a fast-moving environment. The consistency in the commitment is to bring differentiation through investment in the company (Vodafone, 2013).

The above image reflects the rise in the trends reflects the rise in the users of the service available in the market.

The demand for the mobile services is increasing continuously in the market. In the past 5 years, the number of users has increased by an average of 14% every year because of the rise in the living standard of the people. According to the data, in the year 2012, 93% of the world’s population had mobile phone whereas 10 years ago the number was only 18% (Vodafone, 2013). The growth of the users increased majorly in the developing countries like China, India, and Africa. The result is that around 73% of the mobile phone users now come from emerging markets comparing it to 60% in the year 2007 (Vodafone, 2013).

Strength

• Transparency: – The transparency in the operations of the business is one of the effective ways through which the company can make the company believe on the prices that are charged by the company from their customers (Vodafone, 2013).
• Tough competition: – Company is giving the tough competition as it is looking to take leadership in growing Internet of things space.
• Products: – Company offer the wide range of products in the market.

Weakness

• Lack of communication: – The lack of communication and coordination among the staff of the company was another issue which affected the company.
• Customer Issues: – Company is not able to satisfy the needs of the customers due to which many customers visited for registering issues and complaints related to the network.

Opportunity

• Collaboration: – Company has the opportunity to form the collaboration with other companies, investors, and agencies that help to accomplish the objective.
• Expansion: – Vodafone has the opportunity to expand the business in the market.

Threats

• Competition: – The rise in the competition in the market is one of the biggest threats to the company.
• Regulatory pressure: – Vodafone might face the threat of the regulatory pressure in the market.

Vodafone company offer different products which include: –

• Handsets
• Smartphones
• Vodafone branded handsets
• Voice and messaging services
• Others

The company is recognized in the market and largest retailers who believe in offering different and unique services. The company helps the customers to choose their best device and price plan for their requirement complex data-centric environment. The key to the success of the company is the best device and price plan (Vodafone, 2013).

The competition in the market is major issues which are faced by the company. This leads to the huddle for the company due to which the company is not able to expand their business operations in numerous companies. The company should listen to their customer properly and acknowledge their queries and issues which huddles the growth of the business.

The tactical plan includes the marketing mix strategies of the company. This is the effective strategies for the company which is required to be evaluated by the Vodafone Australia for making the proper marketing plan that helps the company in achieving the position (Goryushkina et.al, 2016).

Vodafone Australia believes in providing the wide range of the services to their customers after considering the needs of the clients available in the market. The company offers the prepaid and post-paid services along with the value-added services which include instant balance inquiry, caller tunes, and instant 24 hours recharge facility and many others. In addition, the company ensures that there are delivering delight experience to their customers in which they are providing updates through SMS 24×7 (Vodafone, 2016). In the near future, the company will develop more innovative services with the help of the advanced technology. This clearly reflects that the company makes use of the diversification strategy for their business (Hultman, Katsikeas and Robson, 2011).

The Vodafone Australia requires developing an effective pricing strategy that leads to the competitive advantage for the company. The high competition in the telecommunication sector in Australia makes the company follow the competitive pricing strategy. The company offers an option of making my pack through which the customers can make their own plan which leads to customer satisfaction (Ingenbleek and Van der Lans, 2013). Though, considering the current scenario the company need to develop the strategy that helps the company in generating the high revenue which contributes to accomplishing the objective.

Vodafone penetration in the Australia market is very remarkable as the services and network which is identified in the different locations across Australia. The company has its stores, outlets and service stations through which the company offer its services and provide the support to their customers (Kotler and Armstrong, 2012). The telecommunication market is maintained by the company in a different area which includes 3g mobile sputum, mobile broadband and 4g mobile sputum. This shows that the company offers its wide variety in the wide range of the market. The customers can buy the services easily which means it is easily accessible to the customers. 

The company makes use of the aggressive marketing strategy in which they make use of the traditional and social media marketing (Mathews, et al 2016). The company makes use of both the ways to communicate the benefits and services that they are offering to the customers of Australia.

• Advertisement: – Company makes use of advertisement as a tool for promotion through which they promote the products through print media, commercial advertisement and many others in the market of Australia.
• Digital marketing: – The digital marketing is also used by the company in which they generate the awareness of product through social media channels, online marketing, and others. The company should make use of the effective use of the social media channels because this will help them in accomplishing the objective of the company.

Conclusion

In the end, it can be concluded that the report includes the challenges that are faced by the company along with the suggestion to bring the improvement in the operations of the company. The objective of Vodafone Australia can be achieved with the implementation of effective strategies of the company. The situational analysis reflects the evaluation of the current market in which the company is operating its business. The recommendations for the same has been shared which will further support the company to accomplish the objective. The STP strategies of the company will lead to the employee’s satisfaction which contributes to improve position and revenue of the company. The tactical plans include the 4ps strategy of the company in the Australian market which helps the smooth operations of a business in the market.

References  

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