The company’s sales force after undergoing a series of interviews would be trained for one month, in order to make sure that they are capable of carrying out the company’s needs. Ice Cake would adopt a Customer Sales Force Structure so that the sales force would be organized along customer or industry lines. Marketing Research and Development (R&D) Program The company values research for it believes that it can easily assess market potential and market share. It would understand customer satisfaction, purchase behavior and even measure the effectiveness of pricing, product, and distribution and promotion activities.
The company would adopt a mix of observational and survey research to be able to know customer’s knowledge, attitudes, preferences or buying behavior. Product-Mix Strategies Ice Cake has only one major product line – cakes with ice cream, thus establishing a very narrow width and length. The company has a very deep depth for it would offer various combinations of cake and ice cream flavors. It is to be noted that the company will also be offering variety of beverages that would cater the needs of the dining customers. It also aims to have a consistent product line to be able to establish a strong reputation in the cake market.
Market Timing and Scheduling Strategies The key to the long-term staying power of a product in the market is smart and skillful product life-cycle management. Products should be kept fresh, relevant, and appealing to customers. Ice Cakes, might be seen only as a passing fad, therefore, adjustments are necessary to keep the brand out of decline. We now look at the strategies for each of the life-cycle stages. In the Introductory Stage low or even negative profits are expected to be incurred due to slow sales, high distribution and promotion expenses.
Huge amounts of money are needed to build up inventories and inform consumers of the new product. Ice Cake Corporation will focus on selling to those who are most ready to buy. As the market pioneer of selling cakes with ice cream, it is an advantage for Ice Cake Corporation because of the products’ uniqueness. If Ice Cakes satisfy the market it will enter a growth stage in which sales are expected to climb up. Favorable word of mouth will attract later buyers to follow the lead of the early adopters. New competitors will then enter the market because of opportunities for high profit.
Ice Cake Corporation will retain its prices while spending at a slightly higher level in educating the market about new product features, together with meeting the market competition. Capturing a high market share is now to be the main goal of Ice Cake Corporation. At some point in time, Ice Cake’s sales growth will slow down and it will enter a maturity stage. Ice Cake will then evolve to meet changing consumer needs. Research and Development budgets are to be increased to improve the product. New consumers and market segments are to be concentrated on together with finding ways to intensify consumption among present customers.
Also aggressive sales promotions are to be implemented. Once the company recognizes that the product has entered the decline stage, weak products are to be phased out. Further decrease in prices and reduction to the minimal levels of expenditures are the management’s ways to first maintain its brand with a hope that competitors will leave the industry. Then the company will reformulate the brand to move it back to the growth stage. Pricing Strategies In order to have a right mix of quality and good service at a fair price, the company will adopt a value pricing strategy.
The company aims to redesign existing products in order to offer more quality for a given price or even the same quality for less. The company also aims to adopt value added services to differentiate the company’s offers and eventually support higher margins. Channels of Distribution Strategies The company’s distribution would take the form of direct marketing channel, where no intermediaries would exist. As a company selling perishable goods, Ice Cake Corporation may require this to avoid delays and too much handling Channel flow would originate from the manufacturer to consumer.
It will make use of direct marketing channels. It will sell its products in its own store. Transportation and Delivery Strategies For Ice Cake Corporation, transportation and delivery means getting the right product to the right customer in the right place at the right time. The coordination of suppliers and the management is vital in providing maximum customer service. The choice of transportation carriers affects the pricing of the goods, delivery performance, and customer satisfaction. Highway is the transportation mode most appropriate for the delivery of ice cream cakes. Motorcycles, in particular, are highly flexible.
They offer faster service because its routing could be easily adjusted as well as its time schedules. But the delivery areas will definitely only cover reasonable tracts. The company has the right to suspend deliveries due to unfavorable weather conditions and security of the delivery personnel. Branding and Packaging Strategies Consumers view a brand as an important part of a product, and branding can add value to a product. Ice Cake Corporation would want consumers to perceive its line of cakes as high quality products. Brands tell the features, benefits, and prominence of the product.
A powerful brand enjoys an upper level of consumer awareness and loyalty and provides the company with competitive advantages like credibility, confidence, and acceptance. Brand Extension, existing brand name extended to new product categories, is the brand strategy for Ice Cake Corporation. The company can extend its Ice Cake Brand into new categories such as cake decors and ice creams. Good packaging entails suggesting certain qualities about the product, and for product protection. The size, shape, materials, color, text, and graphics of the ice cake boxes should be in line with the product’s advertising.
Labels should not be misleading; all required information must be accurately marked and printed so as to transmit it clearly to the buyers. Advertisement and Promotion Strategies At the onset of introducing Ice Cake to the public, the company will use Informative Advertising, thus building primary demand. In setting its advertising budget, it sees Objective-and Task method as the most logical. With this method of budgeting, it sees itself allocating its promotion budget based on what it aims to accomplish through promotion.
It also aims to relay imaginative and more entertaining advertising messages making it more remarking to customers. The possible media type to be used by the company would be television advertisements, for it has a good mass-market coverage, it is able to combine sight, sound and motion appealing to senses. Another would be published articles and picture in magazines, where there is high geographic and demographic selectivity, credibility and prestige, high-quality reproduction; long life and good pass-along readership. The company would make use of Consumer Promotion tools in order to increase hort-term sales or to help build long-term market share.
Ice Cake is open to the possibility of giving incentives like coupons, where it gives customers the opportunity to save when they purchase specified products. Cash refund offers would also be given to consumers, giving way to a price reduction in their next visit. Lastly, patronage rewards would be another form of incentive offered to consumers who regularly visit the shop. Storage and Warehousing Strategies Ice Cake Corporation should master the delicate balance between carrying too much inventory and carrying too little.
Supplies should last up to the critical days of operation so as not to cause emergency shipments of inputs. Supplies will also be kept in the Ice Cake Shop; the place shall be leased. Also no distribution center is necessary for the business. The integrated supply chain management concept will be highly recognized in the Ice Cake Corporation. It acknowledges that improved logistics requires teamwork in the form of close working relationships across functional areas inside the company and across various organizations in the supply chain. Physical Distribution Strategies
Ice Cake puts great emphasis on physical distribution for it involves getting the right product to the right customer in the right place at the right time. Improve logistics would give customers better service; it can also yield tremendous cost savings to both the company and its customers. Lastly, it is necessary in cases of explosion in the product industry. The company prefers customer-centered logistics thinking, starting at the marketplace and works backward to the factory or even to sources of supply. It would make outbound distribution where products are moving from the factory to resellers and ultimately to consumers.
The goal of its marketing logistics is to promote a targeted level of customer service at the least cost. The company adopts the concept of integrated supply chain management which recognizes the need for teamwork in order to provide better customer service and trimming down of distribution costs. It harmonizes all of the company’s logistics decisions. The company also envisions itself practicing a cross-functional teamwork inside the company where responsibility for various logistics activities would be assigned to different functional units.
