Internal and external issues faced by the organic skin care company

Question:

Develop a Marketing Plan.

Issues Statement

The company deals with products that help in taking care of the skin of the consumers. The ingredients of the products are mainly natural and does not constitute of any harmful chemicals that may result in damaging of the skin. Currently, the organization consists of a CEO, an Operations Manager, Sales Manager, Marketing Assistant, five Customer Sales Officers and five Administration staffs. The products of the company are mainly sold in the health stores across the country along with their own websites that help them in selling online.

The internal issues of the company are that it wants to expand its business with the help of efficient human resources so that the marketing of the products can be done in an organized manner. It will help them in increasing their customer base.

The external issues are that the company wants to sell more through the online platform by exploring the opportunities that are present by optimizing the search engines and increase the use of the social media. This will help them in increasing their share in the market to a higher number by identifying new markets where the chances of selling the products are huge (Hollensen 2015).   

Political ·         Pressure from the government in accepting new reforms ·         Stress on manufacturing eco friendly products	Economic ·         The rate of inflation is high in the present market ·         The economic recession has affected the nature of the business	Social ·         Aged population is the highest purchaser of these products ·         The women are interested in it because they like to take care of their skin
Technological ·         The company has a good research team who develops products in an innovative manner ·         The use of natural ingredients has helped in upgrading the products and being recognized by the consumers	Environmental ·         The changes in the climate has affected in getting hold of the natural ingredients ·         Manufacturing the products are done by using green products	Legal ·         Code of Practice has to be followed by the company so that it can help in minimizing the risk of breaching regulatory provisions ·         The employees will act in a professional manner in accordance to the code of conduct with the customers ·         The promotions for the company will be done according to the code of ethics by using the channels over which the company has a certain level of control

SWOT Analysis

Strengths Well established in the Australian market, which has increased the sale of the products The advertisements of the products have featured in major magazines, which has grabbed the attention of the customers Company has made good profits that shows its brand value within the market	Opportunities Expanding in a foreign market like Japan Increase its share in the market by selling more products Increase the online purchases by developing better search engines
Weaknesses The products are priced at a higher rate Jurilique and Botani are the competitors of the company with respect to the price and the products	Threats ·         Competition is intense, as the rival companies are producing the same products at a cheaper price Availability of human resources is less, which has decreased the efficiency of the company

Corporate Mission Statement

The mission statement of the company is to provide the customers with the best and natural ingredients that are available so that it can help them in creating values within the market. The source of the products will be natural so that it does not harm the skin of the customers, which will help in gaining the trust of the customers.

Marketing Objectives

The importance of marketing objectives is that it helps the company in planning its course of actions so that by following these steps it will help them in positioning their product in the market. This will help the company, as the customers would be aware of the products and will be interested in purchasing it for their uses.

• The objectives with respect to marketing for the company will be to increase its number of retail outlets in the current market to 150.
• The company also wishes to increase the awareness about the products among the customers within the market by 20 percent.
• This will result in increasing the share of the market by 15 percent.
• The company also plans to expand in a new country and explore the opportunities that are present in that market so that the profits of the company can be increased to a great extent.
• This will help the company in increasing their growth on an annual basis over the next three year to around 10 percent (Berkowitz 2016). 
• This can be achieved by maintaining better relations with the stakeholders and the employees so that it can help in increasing the loyalty among the customers.
• The percentage of the sale of the products can be increased by producing the core brands that is available within the company.
• The company also needs to increase its budget in the advertisements of the core products so that it can help in selling the products in a better manner.
• The new markets need to be explored by applying proper methods of research and development along with the process of innovation.

• The feedbacks of the customers need to be taken in to consideration so that it can help in providing them with additional offers along with the main products (Chaffey, Smith and Smith 2013).

Target Markets

The company would target the women who are working and are between the ages of 25-55 years. The research that was conducted by them showed that almost 70 percent of these customers are interested in the skin care products. Since of the customers in the current scenario are concerned with their health, taking care of their skin will also be important. The women customers are keener on taking care of their skin, as they are conscious about their beauty and will look in to the opportunities that are being provided by the company. The company will also provide products for children and male counterparts as well, which will help them in attracting a major number of customers towards themselves (O’Donnell 2014).  

Factors affecting business growth- PESTLE analysis

Positioning

The company will position itself in the ‘high price, high quality’ segment of the positioning chart. This is because the price of the products are high because if the use of natural ingredients so that the customers can be satisfied in using the products. Since the level of competition is high in the market, the company will try to offer the products in a better manner so that the quality is assured for the customers for the price that they are paying. This will help the customers in trying out the products rather than purchasing the products at a cheaper price sold by the competitors (Parente and Strausbaugh-Hutchinson 2014).

Services strategy

It can be recommended that the search engines for the website of the company needs to be developed in a better manner so that it can help the customers in accessing the products in an easy manner.

The use of the social media such as Facebook, Twitter and others needs to be done so that the customer base can be increased. As most of the customers in the present market are using the social media platforms in an extensive manner, it will be easy for the company to reach the maximum number of customers.

The retail outlets need to be increased in new places so that the customers can visit the stores and purchase it after viewing the products.

The staffs who will be employed in the stores have to take note of the customer feedbacks so that the company can provide the products according to their needs and preferences.

The company also needs to try the door-to-door selling so that the customers who cannot come to the stores or have no access to the internet can get better information regarding the products produced by the company (McDonald and Wilson 2016).

Pricing strategy

The prices of the products need to be changed gradually so that it can help in identifying the products that are selling at a faster manner. The decrease in the price of those products will help in increasing their profits as well.

The company during the time of deciding the prices; needs to identify the strategies of the competitors so that it can help them in putting the price price tags on the products, which will help them to be competitive.

The company needs to provide the loyalty cards, bonuses and discounts for the customers so that it can help in increasing the base and the loyalty of the customers towards their products (Solomon 2014).

Marketing Objectives and Target Audience

Distribution channels (Place)

The relationship with the suppliers has to be maintained by the company so that the products can be obtained from them at a cheaper price. This will help inthem in keeping the margin of profit low from the customers.

The company needs to ship its own products to the identified wholesalers so that they can supply it in the local market.

The products that are present in the retail outlets needs to be monitored so that the stocks can be replenished and the customers can purchase it.

The use of proper network of communication has to be maintained so that it can help in transferring the messages easily (Fleisher and Bensoussan 2015).

Promotional strategy

The company needs to use the print media so that the products can feature in the newspapers and the magazines for the readers to know more about the products.

The social media platforms will provide the company with a good customer base, as it will help in attracting most of the customers.

The availability of premium products needs to be done by the company so that it can help the customers in recognizing the different products that are available.

The company can sponsor wellness events so that it can help in associating the brand with the customers about taking care of their skin (Solomon 2014).

Packaging

The packaging of the product is important for the company, as it will help the company in preserving the product by packaging it in a better way. The transfer of the products from one place to another may result in damaging the product, which can be taken care by providing a better package.

It also helps in attracting the customers towards the products. The choice of the colors will help the company in grabbing the attention of the customers.

It plays an important role in the promotion of the product as well. The information that is available on the outside of the product will help the customers in getting the information about using it in the right manner.

The packaging will also help the customers in getting all the information regarding the content of the ingredients that are present within the product. This will help in facilitating the decision to purchase the products by the customers (Parente and Strausbaugh-Hutchinson 2014).

Action Plan

Action Plan Timetable (Period Plan Covers eg. Nov 2017 to Nov 2018)
Details of Activity	Employee Assigned	Timetable (Start and Finish Dates)
Pricing of the product	4	1st week to 3rd week of Nov
Promotion of the product	6	4th week to last week of Dec
Finalizing the products	2	1st week to 2nd week of Jan
Packaging of the products	3	3rd week of Jan to 1st week of Feb
Distributing in the retail stores	4	2nd week of Feb to 3rd week of Nov
Calculation of the profits	3	3rd and 4th week of Nov
Publishing annual report	2	Last week of Nov

Monitoring Procedures

The company needs to monitor the changes that are taking place within the company so that it can help them in understanding the way the strategies taken up are working in the market. The financial perspective will be monitored by the accountants so that it can help in understanding the profits or the losses that the company is facing in every month from the stores and the online selling.

The customer perspective will help the company in monitoring that the products are being designed according to the needs of the customers so that they can be interested within the products. The perspective of innovation also needs to be taken in to account so that it can help in understanding the process of innovation that has been taken up by the research and the development team in making the products according to the likes of the customers (Chaffey, Smith and Smith 2013).

Reference List

Berkowitz, E.N., 2016. Essentials of health care marketing. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Chaffey, D., Smith, P.R. and Smith, P.R., 2013. eMarketing eXcellence: Planning and optimizing your digital marketing. Routledge.

Fleisher, C.S. and Bensoussan, B.E., 2015. Business and competitive analysis: effective application of new and classic methods. FT Press.

Hollensen, S., 2015. Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.

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

O’Donnell, A., 2014. The contribution of networking to small firm marketing. Journal of Small Business Management, 52(1), pp.164-187.

Parente, D. and Strausbaugh-Hutchinson, K., 2014. Advertising campaign strategy: A guide to marketing communication plans. Cengage Learning.

Solomon, M.R., 2014. Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being (Vol. 10). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.