Purpose and overview
This report is meant for the vice president of marketing at Aussie Pooch Mobile. The report is meant to help Aussie Pooch Mobile identify the best marketing strategy to use in order for it to be among the best dog washing company and also help it stay profitable and ahead of its competitors. Identifying the areas the company can tap into, that is the external opportunities, the competitors that are likely to pose a threat to Aussie Pooch Mobile and diminish its revenue base, will do this. The report will also analyze the strengths of the company that it needs to build upon and, the weaknesses or the things the company is not doing the way it should be done and find a solution to improve these areas altogether.
Necessary recommendations and assumptions will be made to the company from the above-mentioned analysis that is based on the Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and strengths of Aussie Pooch Mobile. All these recommended strategies will help APM in expanding internationally. Also, different issues will be examined in the international expansion process: issues such as where to expand to, when to begin the expansion process and how the company will expand. APM will also bring awareness to its services by making use of the recommended promotional activities
Summary of our Past and Current Situations
Aussie Pooch Mobile is Australia’s largest mobile dog wash company; they provide this service by taking it to their customers’ homes directly and saving them the stress of having to take their dogs to a basic home garden for a wash. Australia has a population of 19.3 million (2001), there were about four million domestic dogs and approximately 42% of the nation’s 7.4 million households owned at least a dog. This percentage means that almost every second household has a dog. It was estimated that Australians spend about $1.3 billion on dog-related goods and services. Their objective was to create a niche market of dog bathing industry and then go international. Aussie Pooch Mobile’s image in the market is so great that they offer free services to customers about the dog’s diet, health care and skin problems.
They use special hydro bath equipment that enables the operators clean the dogs very well than it is possible in a basic home garden, they discovered that hydro bath could reduce and eliminate fleas and ticks, improve its skin condition and clean its coat and make dogs smell good. They use brightly colored trailers that help promote their services, and also ask satisfied customers to use word of mouth to recommend service to their neighbors. They people who can afford between $15-$30 based on breed, size, condition of coat and skin and geographic location etc. They use different kind of coupons like washing 2 or 3 dogs much cheaper or offer valuable and supporting info about dogs. APM bathed more than 20,000 dogs each month, which gave them an annual turnover of $3 million. Aussie Pooch Mobile has two prominent competitors, the Jim’s Dogwash and Hydrodog. Jim’s Dogwash applied the strategy of creating smaller territories and lowering the price of recruiting new franchises. Hydrodog on the other hand sold food products but, no special offers like APM’s use of coupons.
The strategy used by APM is providing franchises that create large territories and sell franchises within it. APM needs to reduce the time spent in non-revenue providing activities and instead focus on operating efficiently to maximize profit. APM needs to increase their marketing and promotional activities such as website, telephone hotline service, public relations and encourage customers to use word of mouth by giving them an incentive to do so. All these will make them stronger and more successful than their competitors. Their point of view is that what counts are the quality of service provided and not the size; therefore they should focus on their strengths and improve on their weaknesses. The SWOTs in bold fonts above, but not limited will help APM a great deal in expanding its business internationally.
External Opportunities Aussie Pooch Mobile should exploit.
Service industry is growing
Growing demand for dog washing services
Changing household model, that is dual income families who don’t have time More people decide to have a dog, which will create an opportunity for the dog washing business Australians are spending an estimated $1.3 billion on dog-related goods and services
External Threats to the success of APM
Growing competition of Jim’s Dogwash and Hydrodog
Lack of information about potential international markets
Recruitment problems in other markets like the one Jim’s Dogwash had in the US markets The English trends of infrequent dog washing
Regulations by the government, which will create bottleneck effect on the franchising sector. Low barriers to entering the dog wash business
Internal Strengths to Capitalize on
Mobile service, taken to the customers’ homes
Prices lower than their competitors
Additional services of aromatherapy and blow-drying
Additional information provided such as dietary, skin care and grooming recommendations Experience in the business
Friendly working environment
APM has a flat structure for flexible decision-making process.
Internal Weaknesses to Overcome
Controlling problems associated with recruitment
Problems with master franchises lead to controlling problems Limitation on the capacity of the trailers, which can only take 80 dogs per week
Assumptions on which the strategies are based
The US has the population base and spending power that will help boost the revenue base of Aussie Pooch Mobile. Poor Eastern European countries will not use the services, so they should focus on Western Europe. It will be hard to get customers in the UK going by the trends, but once they try the service they will use it in the future. Due to increase competition there will be increased spending on advertising and promotional activities in the near future. The franchising business will become more lucrative with continued degree of success. More people will wash their dogs primarily for the hygiene benefits.
Marketing Strategies that Emerge From the SWOTs
It is highly recommended for Aussie Pooch Mobile to expand to the international markets with a lot of potential and the management should make sure the expansion takes place in countries where they are already operating and new countries as well. Premium should be placed on more advertising to gain more customers and should provide incentives to customers who recommend the services to friends or families. APM should focus on the bigger cities and the richer parts to increase profitability. In countries like the United Kingdom whose behavior is not advantageous for APM, because they wash their dogs infrequently and themselves, it will be a good thing is they offer the services at a discount first or for free so as to gain more customers.
The US as a market is similar to the Australian market because of its vast size; it is even a better market because the population is more than Australia’s and the number of households owning a dog is higher about 45 million and pet expenditure of about $39 billion should be tapped into. APM should be aware of the failure of the Jim’s group in the US; APM should set up a franchise in well-populated areas such as New York and Los Angeles, California with good weather conditions. APM should also provide little gifts such as a free aromatherapy for dog if the customer uses the service often to entice them.
Summary and Request for Action
My recommendation is for APM to expand internationally because the Australian market is becoming saturated due to growing competition from Jim’s Dogwash and Hydrodog. In order for APM to grow it needs to explore more international territories and open its doors to other countries with huge potential and that are underserved such as the United States. APM should also take promoting by Word of mouth more seriously in countries like the United Kingdom, as this is the best
