Marketing Plan and Marketing Mix

downloadDownload
  • Words 1194
  • Pages 3
Download PDF

Introduction

Understanding a business thoroughly requires deep concentration on its marketing plan. A marketing plan is a significant part of the business plan which lists actions regarding marketing strategy and how a business will build credibility among customers and increase their profit by fulfilling sales target (Pulido Polo, 2018). A marketing plan gives an overview of the market with related ancillary factors like its objectives, various strategies and the overall landscape of the business. In a nutshell, how a business deals with its overall future plan and acquiring them

In the previous report, a PEST analysis for Hollister on the perspective of China has been shown. In this report, a marketing plan regarding Hollister’s expansion will be described to better understand the market and what strategies Hollister needs to take for achieving the goals.

Click to get a unique essay

Our writers can write you a new plagiarism-free essay on any topic

Hollister’s marketing strategy for China

Target Market

As aforementioned, Hollister focuses on teens. So, the target customer has aged 13-25 years old teenager, popularly known as Generation Z, born after the year 1995, young and trendy, connected with updated technology. So, in China Hollister will target teenagers from high school, who are interested in moulding quality and fashion together. China’s huge population is an advantage for Hollister to expand the market.

Positioning

The first thing that will be noticed in case of Hollister is their store designing, giving a pinch of beach feeling, it is similar for every store of Hollister anywhere in the world. This unique design can attract customers especially teenagers as they are prone to innovative things. Hollister maintains a balance between price and quality, it also offers the differentiated product in colours and contents with a cosy shopping experience than its competitors (Saxena, 2010).

Marketing Mix

Marketing mix includes strategies Hollister will implement for their Product, price, place, promotion. What type of product they will launch, in which places, how they will set the price and which ways they will promote the products and below figure shows the constituents of the marketing mix:

Product Strategy:

For the teens of China, Hollister will come up with high quality, comfortable, theme-based products of various styles & colours. In the case of product strategy, Hollister can use a glaze of celebrities. That means by celebrity advertising, where popular celebrities of China will be shown using Hollister’s product. This direct marketing will help to attract customers easily. Hollister also provides related information regarding products to build customer credibility. But to build a strong customer relationship in China Hollister needs to spread brand awareness.

Pricing Strategy:

In China Hollister can use a value-based pricing strategy which refers to a value perceived by the customers. In the case of Hollister, quality & comfort is the top-notch area for perceiving value for 60% customers. Hollister can use two types of Value-based pricing, they are high-low pricing that is setting the price in the scale of demand. Another strategy is value-added pricing which refers unique features which competitors lack to deliver and charging a price for that quintessential feature (Hiebing, Cooper and Wehrenberg, 2011). Besides price skimming strategy can add a value to maintain brand image than Hollister’s competitor like GAP and American Eagle. It will also support the product quality. Besides introducing seasonal & quantity discounts on occasions like the new year, Mid-autumn festival of China can attract more customer for Hollister. Selecting this strategy will benefit Hollister for being the new market entrant, it will earn brand value and different perspective from its competitors, also to fulfil sales target within a short time.

Placing strategy:

For placing Hollister can use their Physical stores and web-based online store. In the case of stores, Hollister can set up their stores in vast shopping malls where gatherings will be in huge amount. In this way, Hollister can reach the customers. To implement this strategy Hollister can use Vertical Marketing Strategy (VMS). Hollister can use VMS because it will help to minimize delay time and make distributing more efficient (Gök and Hacioglu, 2010). Also, through VMS Hollister can lower the cost of distribution which will increase the good impression of customers. Besides Hollister is popularly known for their stylish coastal atmosphere store, it will also add value towards Hollister’s placing decisions.

Promotional strategy:

Hollister’s maintain top-notch Public Relation strategy to attract the customer. As Hollister focuses on teens of China. China is already technologically updated. So, to capture China’s market Hollister will use social media to build image & publicity of the brand. Besides special events like opening a new store can increase customer gatherings. Another strategy is sales promotion, giving small discounts on a specific amount of purchase, coupon, free sampling of first products etc. Sales promotion is appropriate for letting people know about the product. Advertising is another prominent promotional tool, be it in billboard or newspaper or Electronic media. Brand’s logo and tagline also work as a persuasive promotional strategy. Apart from these advertising via celebrities or direct marketing like mail, newsletter etc. Promotional strategy is vastly used for one simple purpose, reaching target customer in the simplest way.

Through an implementation plan deviation of Product, price, promotion, the distribution can be measured. In terms of Product: the cost of manufacturing, shipment and launching cost will be calculated. In the case of distribution, the cost training and developing sales representatives & employees will be monitored as well as the cost of launching new stores (Saxena, 2010). In promotion: the cost of social marketing and other advertising and events will be covered. Last but not the least Pricing will include target costing and related pricing of selection. An implementation plan is necessary for balancing between the planning and control.

Aforementioned components of product mix are given below:

  • Product High quality, Comfortable, occasion-based product. Attract customer, building customer loyalty.
  • Price High low pricing, Value-added pricing. To fulfil the sales target within the short time period
  • Place Physical store, Online To increase the direct involvement of customers
  • Promotion Direct marketing, Advertising To reach customer easily

Conclusion

Setting strategy is easy but implementing them is crucial. So, after setting all these strategies, Hollister can concentrate on the implementation plan. It can be done on monthly basis. Modern business is shaping every day, every now and then in various ways. To keep balance and grab new market having a good marketing plan is essential for every business as it provides an outline for the future plans. On this report, a marketing plan has been described for Hollister on the perspective of China to expand the business. How it can arrange its product line, what pricing strategy to increase profit and place & promotion strategy to reach the customer easily.

References

  1. Corporate.abercrombie.com. (2018). [online] Available at: http://corporate.abercrombie.com/our-company/our-brands/hollister [Accessed 13 Dec. 2018].
  2. Gök, O. and Hacioglu, G. (2010). The organizational roles of marketing and marketing managers. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 28(3), pp.291-309.
  3. Hiebing, R., Cooper, S. and Wehrenberg, S. (2011). Successful Marketing Plan. Blacklick: McGraw-Hill Publishing.
  4. Hitt, M., Ireland, R. and Hoskisson, R. (2017). Strategic management. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
  5. Palmer, A. (2014). Principles of services marketing. London: McGraw-Hill.
  6. Pulido Polo, M. (2018). Acts or events? A perspective from the marketing mix. IROCAMM-International Review Of Communication And Marketing Mix, (1), pp.56-66.
  7. Rozelle, S. and Zhang, L. (2016). Introduction: China’s Rural Economy And Human Captial. China & World Economy, 24(3), pp.1-2.
  8. Saxena, R. (2010). Marketing management. New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill.

image

We use cookies to give you the best experience possible. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy.