case study for international marketing

Case Study -3

SECTION C

 

1. A five star hotel has consulted you to find out the reasons for decline in their repeated customers. On observation you found that the service mix is good and when you interacted with the customers, they expressed satisfaction in this background: a) what could be the probable reason for the decline in the repeated customers?

 

Ans: Reasons for Decline in Repeated Customers

1.Loyalty Problems: When companies institute a systematic process for “listening” to customers and the market, they are less likely to have serious loyalty problems. Customers are not shy; they openly share their concerns and problems, directly or indirectly letting an organization know when they are considering defecting. It may happen that customers are getting better services and prices at other five star hotels.

2.Misconception About Price: There is a misconception that price is the primary cause for customer attrition. While price is a contributing factor, particularly in the current environment where most customers – consumers or businesses – perceive the majority of products and services is the primary differentiator. But the term “service” encompasses all aspects of a customer’s relationship with a company –from the initial touch , through the sale, product performance, ongoing support , and replacement.

3.Contact Center: The contact centre plays a crucial role in retaining customers throughout the customers life cycle , particularly at the pivotal point when a customer is reconsidering the value proposition of the hotels products and services. If the receptionists and managers are well-trained, empowered to act, and have the necessary systems and data to determine the right actions, they will be able to retain at-risk customers by meeting or exceeding their expectations.

 

 

 

 

2. How will you do the media planning and selection for a new soft drink to be introduced in the market?

Ans: Media planning and selection for New Soft Drink “Lime Cool”

1. Target Audience: a target audience is the primary group of people that something, usually an advertisement is aimed at appealing to. A target audience can be people of a certain age group, gender, marital status etc. The Lime Cool can be targeted on the basis of age (25-18) and occupation like working people (age greater than 25) middle income and higher income group. The Lime Cool basically can target college students as they are more fond of such drinks.
2. Media Objectives: the objective of the media planning is to initiate strong awareness about the launch of Lime Cool and to win market shares over out top functional drinks competitor, such as Coca Cola and PepsiCo. The prime objective of the media plan are strategically centred on 3 criteria:
   1. To create a strong consumer awareness towards a completely new soft drink.
   2. To establish a wide brand recognition through the capture of market shares in the functional drinks segment.
   3. To become the top market leader in that particular segment within the forecasted sales figures.
3. Media Strategy: the new soft drink company would spent a considerable amount on advertising its product Lime Cool. Besides print advertising, the company would put up large number of hoardings and kiosks. It was trying to set up a thematic campaign to build stronger brand equity for Lime Cool. Vans with Lime Cool logos roam the city, handing out brochers about the company and its services to all customers in famous places like Jantar Mantar. Lime Cool can formulate an advertising campaign which may rope in famous movie actors as celebrity endorsement is a suitable way to promote the brand and is an effective tool for expanding market share.
4. Budget Considerations: their total advertising budget can be somewhere closer to 150 Crores annually nation wide. One of the more important decisions in the development of media strategy can be determined  by how well it delivers the message to the audience with the lowest cost and the least waste.
5. Reach and Frequency: Lime Cool is a brand that is planed to be marketed through entire company. The soft drink company should use geographic weighting in their campaign to determine in which regions of the country the advertising campaign would be effective. The company found that the consumers in the Northwest and Midwest regions have indexes over 100. In contrast, the South and West regions have indexes below 100 and are less likely to purchase the drink. So the advertising would be more heavily weighted in regions with higher indexes to keep the sales high.
6. Media Selection: due to the popularity among Indian youth of the internet, it is a medium the company would intend to use to reach the target audience. The various media re as followed used to target audience are as follows:
   1. TV: TV is an excellent medium to advertise the new soft drink with the maximum amount of reach and frequency.
   2. Radio: the company’s second preferred medium is radio, indicating that the target audience is more likely to listen to the radio than to read the newspaper or a magazine.
   3. Internet: the internet is a very cost efficient and low cost medium for advertising which is why we are incorporating into our media mix.
   4. Newspaper and Magazines: in efforts to expand the brand’s reach and frequency company would add print advertising to the Lime Cool’s media mix.

 

7. Media Scheduling: Advertising media scheduling is the process of choosing the most cost-effective media for advertising, to achieve the required coverage and number of exposures in a target audience. The advertisement of new soft drink must be telecasted frequently throughout the day but initially at prime time at high frequency, as the target audience sits in time at high frequency, as the target audience sits in front of the television at night, this will also reduce wastage. Sponsoring of television serials with high TRPs can be another technique used under media scheduling. TV news channels, Star Plus, Zee, IPL, first page of leading newspaper cab be used to give an ad during the initial phase of the launch.
8. Media Buying: now all this stage media operations department takes over for the implementation of media plan. All formulated media strategies should be implemented so that they could generate the favorable response for the other tools of promotion and could be combined with them. The implementation of the media plan requires media buying, i.e., buying time and space in the various selected media. The buying of media is handled by the advertising agency on behalf of the advertiser.

 

2. The Panthers are self-priming rotary vane pumps with cast iron pump bodies for diesel transfer only. They are fitted with internal, 100 micorn filters, which are easily accessible for cleaning. panther pump is planning to set-up a direct distribution network to sell electric motors and pumps. Discuss.

Ans: One Possible Solution:

Panther pump is planning to set-up a direct distribution network to sell electric motors and pumps. Direct distribution network is the shortest channel, to which Panther pump can easily adopt for distribution of goods or services. In this system, goods move directly from the producer to the consumers without any middleman or a merchant. Panther pump chooses the direct distribution network due to the following reasons:

1. If the buyers prefer direct marketing
2. If the competitors are following direct marketing.
3. If the firm has adequate financial resources for investing in the marketing.
4. Non-availability of suitable middlemen to handle the product.
5. If the firm has marketing expertise
6. If the firm is able to perform the marketing activities at a reasonable cost

This is one of the oldest method of distribution, which was being widely used by producers to sell goods and services prior to the advent of industrial revolution. Under direct channel of distribution network, the manufacturer can adopt one of the following methods of selling:

1. Selling at Manufacturer’s Plant: this is otherwise known as direct selling. It is one of the earliest , easiest and cheapest method of distribution of goods. Under this system, the goods are sold by the producers directly to the consumers. Direct selling is generally preferred in case of perishable products like bread, milk, ice cream, fish, meat, egg, vegetables and agricultural products, etc. these products are directly sold to the consumers because they lose their value or become unfit for use if they are stored or transacted for long.
2. Door to Door sales: salesmen employed by the manufacturers call at the door of customers. They move door to door. This system works better when a new product is introduced into the market. Dealers may not have knowledge of the goods or they need a good margin of profit or they do not want to stock unknown products; for them this system is good. Selling under this system may be costly but when the market is known, it can be reduced. But, at the initial stage, when the market is unaware of the product even at higher cost, this system is better.

3.Sales by Mail Order Method: it is a system by which products are sold fee consumers. The post-office plays a significant role. This system is also known as shopping by post or mail order business or selling by post. It is impersonal Belling, branding, grading, standardizing, packing etc., facilitating the growth of this system. Customers are approached by sending catalogues, price lists, pamphlets, etc., by post. Advertising adds further speed in the selling e.g., books, drugs, watches, toys, small appliances, clolthes, seeds, jewellery etc.

4. Sales by Opening own Shops : it is common that producers of perishable and non-perishable goods sell their products to customers, by opening their own retail shops. It is also common that manufacturers of clothes, foot ware, certain electrical equipments etc., can push the goods quickly through retail shops and can offer satisfactory service to customers, thereby building goodwill. It also facilitates the producers to study the market trends, fashion preferred by buyers and style trend of people. This system offers a two way communication and the price is regulated.

Along with its advantage, it also have some disadvantage to which panther pump should consider before adopting direct distribution network., these disadvantages are as follows:

1. It is un economical to have a direct contact with the customers, who are countless and scattered all over.
2. It is not possible for a direct contact with the multi-millions of potential customers for the products.
3. Manufacturers, generally, may not have talent of salesmanship.