Background of the Business

Shop Veg is one of the m-commerce online vegetable delivery service wherein the different farmers around the world will be provided with a chance to showcase and sell the vegetables to the customers through the assistance of the respective platform. The respective online delivery service will be providing the customers with the different options to select from the variety of range as this will be beneficial for the success of the organization in the overall market. In this respective business, there will be availability of different offers and discounts to the customers which will be valuable for the company in order to gain competitiveness in the market.

The rationale of the business is to help the different vegetable sellers to come together in a single platform to sell the different kinds of vegetables at a fixed price. Furthermore, this will be beneficial for the customers to buy and choose from the various ranges at an affordable rate without moving from one place to another. The delivery will be received by the customers within 90 minutes from the different stores which are from the different neighbourhood stores. The vision of the company is to build network to the different top cities for attracting huge number of customers in the market.

With the help of the PESTEL analysis, the different kinds of issues have been taken into consideration which will be beneficial for the firm in understanding the different issues and solve them in an effective manner as well.

Political Factors- This is the first aspect in which the UK country is politically stable in nature and the government is proactive in nature. This can be beneficial for the Shop Veg m-commerce company as they can implement their business without any kind of uncertainty in the respective market (Banerjee 2017).

Economic Factors- This is the other aspect in which UK has strong economic position in relative to the other countries. The country has the 5^th highest GDP in the entire world and the diversified economy will help Shop Veg in increasing the foreign direct investment. Moreover, the large population of UK has allowed the small companies to become more profitable in nature and this will be beneficial for the Shop Veg Company (West, Ford and Ibrahim 2015).

Social Factors- This is the aspect in which the standard of living is high in nature and this can help Shop Veg in a positive manner. The densely populated country has more than 64.1 million inhabitants which are helpful in creating and establishing new services in the UK market (Sargeant and MACQUILLIN 2016).

Technological Factors- The quality of the innovation skills is effective and the expertise in IT is high in UK which will be beneficial for Shop Veg Company. With the technological innovation, the Shop Veg is one of the m-commerce companies that can help in stimulating the growth of Shop Veg as this will help in managing the innovation skills.

Legal Factors- This is the aspect wherein there are strict legal rules and regulations which are required to be followed by the different companies which are setting up their business in the market. However, there are different regulations such as minimum wage laws along with safety and health laws which can be beneficial for the company for setting up in UK (Banerjee 2017)

Rationale of the Business

Environmental Factors- This is the last aspect in which there are different environmental rules and regulations which are responsible for regulation of the different companies in the entire market. The sustainability in the UK market is efficient in nature which will be beneficial for the overall growth of the economy in an efficient manner (Charter 2017).

With the implementation of SWOT analysis, the different kinds of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats which are required to be analysed in an effective manner.

· The range of the product is the first strength wherein the vegetable products will be crossing the range of about 18000 vegetables · The exotic range of the vegetables will be easily available in the nearby neighbourhood stores which will be catering to the needs of the customers · The low fixed cost model of the business which are perishable in nature and this means that there are no such inventory costs included in the same

· The variable cost is huge in nature for Shop Veg in which there is inclusive of the delivery trucks, delivery guys and the storage of the perishable goods which will be beneficial for the running of the m-commerce store · There can be cancellations of the order which is being dependable on the number of stores which are present nearby. When the different items are not available in the market, there can be cancellation of the orders and this will make the customers unhappy in nature

· There can be expansion of the Shop Veg Company in different cities which will increase the market share of the company positively (Eriksson et al. 2015) · There is increase in the growth of the grocery m-commerce store which will be beneficial for the Shop Veg Company to expand their business operations effectively

· There is huge competition in the entire m-commerce market which can create a negative impact on the Shop Veg Company. There are other bigger players in the market which are entering the lucrative market and this can increase the rate of competition as well · The retention of the customers is difficult as there are other competitors which are providing similar kinds of products and services to the customers at heavy discounts and offers which can affect the sales of the company in a negative manner

• To increase the market share of the company by 20% within 2020
• To engage in sales worth 1 million by 2020
• To expand into four new countries by 2025

                       

                                                                          Figure 1: Segmentation

                                                                                       Source:

Segmentation- Proper segmentation helps in including the group of customers which are based on certain kind of criteria wherein Shop Veg will be including the different kinds of customers (Hill 2017).

• The people who are having moderate and the high-level income are segmented in an appropriate manner.
• The individuals are either housewives or the working individuals who do not have time to purchase the different products and services form the market and the age group ranges from 25 years and above (Piercy 2016)

• Urban Areas of United Kingdom

• The different individuals who belong from the upper and middle-income groups

• Internet Savvy Users along with not afraid of online shopping
• People who loves various offers along with discounts
• The individuals who wants and wishes to try new products and services in the market

Targeting- This is the other aspect in which this can be seen that Shop Veg can target the middle and high-income group customers in the market through concentrated marketing technique. There are different strategies which can be applied by Shop Veg in order to target more customers in the market are as follows:

• Use of the mobile applications to increase the customer base
• Targeting the different individuals who can rely on internet for shopping the different kinds of goods and services
• Increasing the target market by partnering with the different corporate houses which will be beneficial for Shop Veg

Positioning- This is the last aspect which is required to be taken into consideration while performing the STP analysis. The positioning of the brand is required to be done as per the desires of the customers which will be beneficial for the overall success of the firm. Shop Veg is required to be position themselves as the discounted platform in the entire market which will be beneficial for the company to gain competitive advantage in the market as well. 

                                          

                                                            Figure 3: Positioning Map of Shop Veg

                                                                       (Source: Hakansson 2015)

The company can try to reposition themselves in such a manner which will be beneficial for the company to check on the quality to satisfy the customers in the market. Shop Veg needs to reposition themselves to offer quality goods and services which will help them in remaining highly qualitative in nature to improve their market share. The Shop Veg can operate as the high quality and moderate pricing technique which will be beneficial for the overall efficiency of the firm in a positive manner (Foxall 2015).

                                              

                                                                          Figure 4: Ansoff Matrix

                                                          (Source: Tomczak, Reinecke and Kuss 2018)

From the above Ansoff Matrix Model, this can be analysed that Shop Veg can apply the market development strategy which will be beneficial for the company to seek growth by targeting the different kinds of customers by entering the new market segments efficiently. The options relating to the market development will be assisting Shop Veg into spreading in various other locations for expanding their business operations in the different regions to gain more competitive advantage effectively. Shop Veg needs to apply the market development strategy wherein the different core competencies such as faster delivery will be beneficial for the overall success of the firm in an appropriate manner (McDONALD 2016).

As per the Porter’s Generic Model, this can be analysed that

                                              

                                                                    Figure 5: Generic Strategies

Macro and Micro Environmental Analysis

                                                                       (Source: Chernev 2018)

From the above figure, this can be analysed that Shop Veg will be applying the Differentiation Strategy in the competitive environment which will assisting them to be unique in the different kinds of operations in which the major dimensional change will be based on the nature of the market in which the company will be operating their services. 

The Shop Veg will target the broad kind of market which has unique kind of features making it more attractive in comparison to the other competitors in the market. The effective marketing is essential wherein the Shop Veg will be able to understand the uniqueness and this will be flexible approach to adopt quickly to the changing conditions in the market effectively as well.

The marketing mix plays a major role which is being used by the organization to promote the product in the overall competitive marketing environment. With the implementation of the marketing mix techniques, this will be beneficial for Shop Veg to become more competitive in nature and this will be beneficial for them to become successful with the different approaches. The four marketing mix approaches are described as follows:

Product- As the respective company is mainly focusing on the m-commerce market which is already competitive in nature, the main product for Shop Veg will be the application and the website which will play a major role for the company to gain profitability in comparison to the other competitors. Furthermore, the respective product will be providing access to the different users in order to buy various kinds of vegetables which will be helpful for them to increase their customer base in a unique manner (Proctor 2014).  

Price- This is the other aspect which is required to be analysed by Shop Veg wherein the pricing should be competitive and moderate in nature in order to attract the various ranges of customers in the market. There should be inclusion of nominal discount which is required to be offered by the company which will be competitive in nature in order to become more competitive in nature.

Place- This is the other aspect in which place should be expanding their business operations in various areas which will be beneficial for the overall success of the firm in the competitive market. There can be inclusion of standard and express delivery which will be beneficial for the overall success of the firm in order to meet the different demands of the customers (Kim, Shin and Min 2016).     

Promotion- This is the last aspect which is required to be considered seriously which will be beneficial for the overall success of the firm. With the advertising techniques along with the other digital marketing campaigns, this will be effective for the growth of the firm.                                                                                                   

Serial Number	Actions	Activities	Person Responsible	Time frame	Budget
1	Market Research	Proper analysis of the background of the other companies in same business	Marketing Manager	1.5 months	$1000
2	Overview of the macro and micro environment	Conducting PESTEL and SWOT analysis	Human Resource Manager	1.5 months	$1500
3	Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning	In this process, the higher income groups have been selected	Marketing and Sales Manager	3 months	$2000
4	Creation of Objectives	To achieve the sales of more than 20% till 2020	Marketing Executives	4 months	$500
5	Marketing Plan and Mix	Promotional Activities have been taken into consideration and price should be competitive	Marketing Manager and Sales Manager	2 years	$5000
6	Measurement and Evaluation	Proper implementation of the different kinds of activities which will be beneficial for the growth of the firm	Sales Manager	1 month	$500

Digital Marketing Campaigns	Budget
Facebook	$500
Twitter	$450
Instagram	$350
Total	$1300

S No.	Project Activities	Start date	End dates	Duration
		2019	2022	in days
1	Market research	02-Jan-19	15-Feb-19	44
1.1	Checking into relevant UK laws	02-Jan-19	10-Jan-19	8
1.2	Analyzing the market of UK	10-Jan-19	26-Jan-19	16
1.3	Analyzing the availability of different resources	26-Jan-19	15-Feb-19	20
2	Overview of the Macro and Micro environment	16-Feb-19	02-Apr-19	45
2.1	Undertaking external market analysis	16-Feb-19	28-Feb-19	12
2.2	Overviewing of the internal market	28-Feb-19	05-Mar-19	5
2.3	Engaging in risk analysis	06-Mar-19	15-Mar-19	9
2.4	Identification of crucial factors	15-Mar-19	02-Apr-19	18
3	Segmentation targeting and positioning	03-Apr-19	30-Jun-19	88
3.1	Segmentation the target market	03-Apr-19	15-Apr-19	12
3.2	Analysis of each target market	15-Apr-19	05-May-19	20
3.3	Development of strategies to cater to each market	06-May-19	27-May-19	21
3.4	Selecting the target market to be served	27-May-19	16-Jun-19	20
3.5	Preparing the deliverables	16-Jun-19	25-Jun-19	9
3.5.1	Positioning of the firm	25-Jun-19	30-Jun-19	5
4	Creation of objectives	01-Jul-19	30-Nov-19	152
4.1	The different resources of the firm need to be analyzed	01-Jul-19	27-Jul-19	26
4.2	The objectives are formed	28-Jul-19	28-Aug-19	31
4.2.4	Objectives are reviewed	28-Aug-19	30-Sep-19	33
4.3	Final selection of the objectives	01-Oct-19	30-Nov-19	60
4.3.1	Reviewing 1(after 1 year)	01-Oct-19	03-Oct-19	2
4.3.2	Reviewing 2 (after 1 year)	05-Oct-19	11-Oct-19	6
4.3.3	Reviewing 3 (after 12 months)	01-Nov-19	01-Nov-19	0
5	Marketing Plan and Mix	01-Nov-19	31-Dec-21	791
5.1	Framing the final marketing plan	01-Nov-19	07-Dec-21	767
5.2	Preparing the marketing mix	08-Dec-21	15-Dec-21	7
5.3	Discussion and Analysis	20-Dec-21	23-Dec-21	3
5.4	Implementation	24-Dec-21	31-Dec-21	7
6	Measurement and evaluation	31-Dec-21	31-Jan-22	31
	Project Activities	Start date	End dates	Duration
1	Market research	02-Jan-19	15-Feb-19	44
2	Overview of the Macro and Micro environment	16-Feb-19	02-Apr-19	45
3	Segmentation targeting and positioning	03-Apr-19	30-Jun-19	88
4	Creation of objectives	01-Jul-19	30-Nov-19	152
5	Marketing Plan and Mix	01-Nov-19	31-Dec-21	791
6	Measurement and evaluation	31-Dec-21	31-Jan-22	31

References 

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Chernev, A. 2018 Strategic marketing management. Cerebellum Press.

Eriksson, K., Johanson, J., Majkgård, A., and harma, D. D. 2015. Experiential knowledge and cost in the internationalization process. In Knowledge, Networks and Power (pp. 41-63). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Foxall, G. 2014. Strategic Marketing Management (RLE Marketing). Routledge.

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Kim, N., Shin, S., and Min, S. 2016. Strategic marketing capability: Mobilizing technological resources for new product advantage. Journal of Business Research, 69(12), 5644-5652.

McDONALD, M. A. L. C. O. L. M. 2016. Strategic marketing planning: theory and practice. In The marketing book (pp. 108-142). Routledge.

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Proctor, T. 2014. Strategic marketing: an introduction. Routledge.

Sargeant, A., and MACQUILLIN, I. 2016. Marketing for nonprofit organisations. In The Marketing Book (pp. 555-576). Routledge.

Tomczak, T., Reinecke, S., and Kuss, A. 2018. Marketing Implementation and Management Control. In Strategic Marketing (pp. 223-244). Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden.

West, D. C., Ford, J., and Ibrahim, E. 2015. Strategic marketing: creating competitive advantage. Oxford University Press, USA.