Dynamic Pricing Competition Strategic Customers †MyAssignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about the Dynamic Pricing Competition Strategic Customers. Answer: Introduction: In order to be successful in a business, it is necessary that an organisation maintain marketing objectives. It has been seen that while marketing goals tend to change based on the situations, the marketing objectives contain similar principles (Hollensen, 2015). In this regard, the four different types of marketing objectives include: Objective based on the profitability that determines the expected income of an organisation based on the strategy used for promotion Objective based on the market share that depends upon the market that is needed to be gained Promotional objective that helps in identifying the level of product and service awareness of an organisation Growth objective that helps to analyse the size of the market and the aim to grow in the future Innovation matrix is used to analyse the capabilities that an organisation possess. Based on the capabilities of the organisation, the innovation matrix is analysed. The innovation matrix of a company is based on the external internal and mixed capabilities of an organisation. According to Armstrong et al., (2015), an organisation cannot rely entirely on the external capabilities. Hence, the innovation matrix helps to analyse the growth of a business organisation. It also calculates the rate of innovation based on the issues that are needed to be tackled by an organisation. Innovation matrix also helps to reduce the risk factors that may threaten the prospect of innovation in a company. The capabilities of an organisation are based on the level of intensity it has on the market. Discussing portfolio analysis Portfolio analysis is considered as a portfolio of an organisation that analyses the products and services in a systematic manner. Most organisations are involved in more than one business. These are termed as the Strategic Business Unit (SBU) of the organisation. Each of these SBUs maintains products and services that help in the growth of a business. The portfolio analysis helps to distinguish between products that need to be emphasized from the products that need to be rejected. Portfolio analysis encourages management to allocate resources and evaluate the objectives of an organisation. It also analyses cash flow availability of an organisation that can help in its growth and expansion. Portfolio analysis is a disciplined as well as an organised way of measuring the asset allocation. Branding often helps organisations in gaining the required publicity. According to Huang and Sarigll (2014), branding helps organisations to convert casual customers into loyal purchasers of a product. It helps in educating customers about the particular brand and creates different mindsets for the customers. It helps in creating the meaning of the brand and provides value to the lives of the people about an individual purchase. Branding also helps to create the powerful emotional connection with the customers. Most customers recognise an organisation based solely on the brand. A proper branding can help in gaining competitive advantage based on the power it holds in the market. Hence, customers tend to remain loyal if the quality of the brand is good. Discussing acronym of SMART Specific: This refers to the specific area that an employee or organisation needs to target. The focus remains on only one objective that needs to be developed on a priority basis. Measurable: In this case, an indicator of progress is suggested. In this regard, an employee or organisation needs to estimate the level of progress that can be measured (Okonkwo, 2016). Achievable: Here the objective needs to be agreed upon. This includes identifying the people that need to be involved while attaining the objective. It also needs to be seen whether the objective set can be attained or not. Relevant: This identifies the relevant or realistic solutions that may be achieved after successfully attaining the objective. The available resources that an organisation possesses are analysed in order to get the relevant results. Timely: This implies the time required to achieve the result. This is done after proper analysis of the resources and capabilities of the employees as well as the organisation. Discussing reasons for tension between short-term and long-term objectives Misaligned goals may lead to the cause of tension between short-term as well as long-term goals. This is mainly because of the fact that the long-term goals may get miscommunicated due to the focus being more on short-term goals. Apart from this ineffective management system may also lead to the failure of maintaining both goals. This is because the required resources and capabilities for achieving the goals are different. Hence, it is necessary to implement operating principles that can help in guiding the decisions and develop a proper structure in the organisation. Madsen Walker (2015) stated that balance scorecard approach is considered as a performance matrix that is used by strategic management in order to improve as well as maintain the internal functions that exist in an organisation. The main purpose of this approach is to provide feedback to organisations. It identifies four key functional areas that need to be analysed in order to ensure stability in an organisation. It is also used to achieve objectives, measurements and initiate goals that arise from the business processes, customers, growth and finance. These are also considered as the four pillars of the organisation that define its success. Implementation of strategies can also be done using the balanced scorecard approach. Product differentiation refers to the distinction between different products and services based on the quality, type of service, target market and the power it has to attract customers. The product differentiation strategy helps an organisation to make the products unique from one another. It provides an organisation with an opportunity to outwit its competitors. The competitive advantage of a company is sometimes based on the uniqueness of the product. This is because most industries are involved that manufactures similar products. Hence, it is necessary for organisations to manufacture products that are different from its competitors. According to Keller Kotler (2016), customers tend to prefer different products so that different things can be taken into consideration. Hence, this strategy is important in order to make the products unique in every manner. Explaining two common sources of differentiation Two different sources of differentiation involve the cost and product differentiation. The cost differentiation involves the difference in costs of two similar products. On most occasions, it is seen that the similar products have fluctuating costs. This is mainly because of the quality of the product, brand and the demand for the product from that particular company. Sometimes this also prevails in order to attain a competitive advantage over its rivals. The product differentiation involves the quality of the products and the methods used to manufacture it. The process of making the product presentable to the public also causes differentiation among the customers. Both these sources help an organisation to plan the qualities and cost of the product after analysing the market thoroughly and identifying the strategies of the competitors. One of the biggest disadvantages of product differentiation is maintaining the cost of the product. As observed by Bresler Lubbe (2014) companies invest a heavy amount in order to manufacture a product. Hence, the cost of which the product is being sold needs to be makeup for the costs incurred for the product. However, in order to gain a competitive advantage in the market organisations need to lower the price of the product. Another disadvantage is the fact that loss of customers may is another threat from product differentiation. This is because, in order to maintain differentiation of product, organisations tend to lower the price or make it higher. Thus, most people cannot afford to purchase the high priced product due to financial instability. Apart from this, people also prefer to purchase same product at a low cost. Explaining concept of competitive advantage Competitive advantage refers to a situation wherein a company is placed in a favourable position than its competitors. Competitive advantage can be obtained by maintaining proper strategies that help in understanding the requirements of the market. Some of the factors that lead to attaining competitive advantage include the cost of a product, brand and quality of products along with the support of the customers. These factors are taken into consideration while formulating strategies. Competitive advantage can be derived from the economies of scale and the demographic factors that may involve the strategic positioning of a company (Jooste Strydom, 2014). After viewing the marketing plan of 7-Eleven, it can be said that the objectives of the company are to ensure that the customers are satisfied. The satisfaction of the customers needs to be done by analysing the market and identifying the needs and preferences of the customers. According to Foxall (2014), analysis of the current situation can help in 7-Eleven to formulate the objectives in a proper manner. In this case, the situation in the market of 7-Eleven consists of identifying the immediate threat to the business. As per Campelo (2017), products and service quality of a company helps it to remain competitive in the market. 7-Eleven manufactures Slurpee beverages, big gulp beverage cup, gasoline, coffee, candy and other food items. The characteristic of the products is similar to other companies in the industry manufacturing edible items. The company provides online delivery services and promotional services for the launch of new products in the market. The current promotional activities that are the company uses are the advertising media. It has been seen that 7-Eleven invests more in the advertising of the product via television and print media (Brander Spencer 2015). This is an effective media promotion as the company aims to reach the target market in a broader manner. Thus, the current promotional activity of the company is useful for the company in order to fulfil the marketing objectives. Current pricing strategies The current pricing strategy of the company is to minimise the cost of the product. Liu Zhang (2013) stated that the company faces threat from similar beverage industry as well as food retail companies. Hence, it is necessary that the company minimises the cost of the products. This may lead to the loss if the company does not provide coupons along with the products. Hence, the minimising pricing strategy can help 7-Eleven to maintain a stable competition in the market. The distribution of the products to the customers is directly from the company. The company is a retail store that provides customers to shop by visiting the stores. Apart from this, application of online shopping method is also available. Wagner Hollenbeck (2014) stated that in the age of technology, online shopping is the most preferred mode of shopping. Hence, direct approach to the customers can help 7-Eleven to understand the needs of the customers. Thus, the distribution strategy adopted by the company is useful for gaining customer loyalty. In order to execute the strategies set up in the marketing plan, it is necessary that the employees, as well as the manager of 7-Eleven, understand the roles and responsibilities (Laszlo Zhexembayeva, 2017). The role of the employees is to abide by the rules and guidelines of the company. The managers, need to encourage the employees in terms of increasing the efficiency and motivate them to achieve the organisational goals. Developing communication plan Audience Message Media or vehicle Frequency Timing Responsibility Activities Employees Help in attaining marketing objectives Meeting with the employees Yearly during setting up of goals TBA Manager The activities that will be undertaken include motivation of the employees. It will also contain benchmark of the products manufactured by other companies. The meeting will demonstrate the ways to execute plans in order to meet the objectives. Table: Communication plan (Source: Created by author) Conducting a PESTEL analysis The political situation in Australia is transparent in the case of permitting organisations to set up business. Therefore, a company like 7-Eleven can fit in the Australian business market without any resistance from the Government. The economic situation fluctuates owing to the changes in the rate of a dollar in the country. A company like 7-Eleven need to analyse the factors that affect the market. As observed by Hoberg Phillips (2016) the social and technological factors in the country are updated and most people rely on the improvement of the conditions of the community. The social factors include the life style of the people. It has been seen that the people in the urban regions of the country has had a high level of exposure to technology. This can be considered as a huge advantage for the company as it is looking for improvement in the retail business market. However, the legal factors are strict, as the Australian legal system set up several laws and legislation that may cause hindrance to the business. The basic laws such as the employment law, safety and security and so on exist in order to help the business formulate policies in the business. In this regard, 7-Eleven needs to take into consideration the environmental safety of the country (West, Ford Ibrahim, 2015). The company manufactures beverages, gasoline and dairy products, the wastes of which needs to be dumped at a proper place safe from the society. Analysing impact of marketing conditions Based on the PESTEL analysis, it can be said that 7-Eleven needs to be more sustainable in the manufacturing of the products. This is required in order to ensure that the Australian environment is protected from any types of wastes that are caused by the company. The company also aims at improving customer relationship and aims to provide the best quality of beverages at a low cost in the country. The fact that the company provides free Slurpee to the customers is also an indication about the manner in which the company take care of its customers. Thus, after the completion of the PESTEL analysis, it can be said that 7-Eleven needs to make minor changes in the company in order to survive in the Australian market. The marketing plan of 7-Eleven can be analysed based on the sales data of the company. It has been seen that as compared to the past two years, the sales of 7-Eleven have raised by 7%. The profit from sales made by the company in the past year is about $682.6 million. The company aims to open stores in Western Australia and target customers based on the tastes and preferences of the society. The marketing expenses budget indicates a significant increase in the advertisement of the product (Refer to appendix for marketing expense). Analysing current marketing performance As observed by Punjaisri Wilson (2017), the current market performance of 7-Eleven has been on the rise. This is because the organisation has witnessed a considerable amount of profit in the current year. The profit has mainly been based on the proper advertising of the product. With the opening of new stores in the country, 7-Eleven aims at improving the revenue of the company. Hence, it can be said that the marketing performance of 7-Eleven has been venturous as the company takes up new challenges in its improvement. Despite the rise in competition, the company have witnessed significant growth in the food market of the country. After the analysis of the marketing plan it can be said that the marketing plan of 7-Eleven have seen profits made by the company. As compared to the profits earned last year, the 7% increase has resulted mainly based on the improvement in the advertising of the company. However, an area of improvement that needs to be made is in the training and development of the employees (Govers Go, 2016). With the improvement in technical expertise it is necessary that the company train the employees in terms of using these equipments. 7-Eleven needs to invest more in the training of the employees. The company needs to provide on-the-job training in order to gain profit as well teach employees about the ways to perform the work. Conclusion Thus, after the analysis of the report it can be concluded that 7-Eleven needs to utilise all the elements of the marketing mix in order to ensure that it gets good exposure to business. Conducting a proper PESTEL analysis can help the company to identify the required changes that need to be made in order to survive in the retail business of Australia. 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