E-Business and Marketing Plan Assignment Sample

• Subject Name : Marketing plan

Executive Summary

The report focused on a new organization that was following business to consumer business model. The product that was taken for this particular report was a gaming console. In this report, it was identified that the gaming console provided with the gaming interface that was new as well as innovative and had not been used by any other organization that functions in the same industry. It was discovered that there can be two potential competitors for the organization namely play station and Xbox, one comes from Sony and the other comes from Microsoft respectively. The main aspect of the industry is technology. If the organization can fully utilize the technology they can come closer to x box and play station. However, if they are unsuccessful to do so, they will become obsolete. The complete budget of the organization was stated at 30,000 Australian Dollar, because of which the organization was left with minimum mediums through which it can promote its product and get the valuable feedback from the customer.

Contents

Introduction

Product Description

Customer analysis

Problem

Solution

Market Segmentation

Target Market

Positioning Strategy

Industry Analysis

Competitive Analysis

Strength and Weakness of Play station

Strength of Weakness of X-box

Market Structure

Social and cultural 

Technology

SWOT Analysis

Strength

Weakness

Opportunity

Threat

Market Strategy 

Pricing Strategy

Promotion

Analytics

Conclusion 

References

Introduction

Marketing plan refers to a strategic roadmap which is prepared by the organization so that the organization can easily organize and execute their marketing strategies with time. If an organization has multiple departments, then it is common to find out different marketing plans used by different departments (Wood & Jobber. 2016). However, the main goal of the organization remains the same for each department. In addition to this, the business model also plays a crucial role to help the organization to determine the profits that can be achieved by the organization (Bocken, De Pauw, Bakker & van der Grinten. 2016). For this particular report business to consumer business models will be incorporated, where the customers can easily get in touch with the organization using the organization app or website and place an order. However, the customers can also take the help of other third-party retailers such as Amazon to place their orders. In this particular report, a detailed analysis of the product will take place, from the initial days of production to up to the product being delivered to the consumer. Apart from that, it will be identified which particular marketing tool can help the organization to operate efficiently without incurring losses.

Product Description

Gaming consoles come under the entertainment category. They are simple to use and can be easily connected to any display device with the help of some cables. However, the quality of the display device I directly connected to the compatibility of the gaming device (Lendino, 2018). Teenagers and young adults are quite attracted to gaming consoles as this particular technology help individuals to escape from reality and allows them to live a life they have always dreamt of. The consoles help the gamers to have high-end graphics, the games played using the console seems so realistic, that the people get addicted to the product. The recent events have made the whole world full of despair and sorrow, but this particular product can provide the user with the strength and joy that the individuals can utilize to fight this pandemic.

Videogames have always been seen playing a negative role in society, however, it has been identified that videogames are not as bad as they are portrayed to be, video games can help people to enhance the critical thinking and their decision-making process. However, the gaming console does not help to enhance brain activity but along with that, the product provides people to socialize virtually.

Customer Analysis

Customer analysis is one of the most basic yet crucial parts of an organization. Customer analysis helps the organization to identify the customer who will be the end-users of the product, their needs, and how a particular product can satisfy the consumer’s needs (Halvorsrud, Kvale & Følstad). The other reason why customer analysis is an important function that should be conducted by the organization when launching a new product in the market is that these particular tools help the organization to easily identify its target market.

Game consoles are quite popular among the age group of 18 to 35. It has been observed that the percentage of male users is quite high as compared to the female user for this particular product. Not only does this particular product help the users to escape from reality, but it has been observed by many researchers as a learning tool, which can help the individual with critical thinking (Hamari et al. 2018).

Problem

There are times when individuals cannot meet their friends or family and are not able to enjoy each other’s company. Also, with the ongoing pandemic where all the people are advised to stay home a physical connection cannot be established, phone calls and video calls are some options which an individual can use to connect to his friends and family, but at times conversations using these mediums become too monotonous and boring. Also, there are times when the individuals might think that the sources used to converse are not safe and this might lead to a privacy issue.

Solution

The organization's gaming console helps individuals to connect with their friends and family and play games together, with the help of a stable connection, however, there are some modes where previously connected players can play without the use of the internet. This not only makes staying home more stress-free but also fun. Also, the use of virtual reality technology has been upgraded in the product, where people can select a suitable environment as a background, where the consumers can go to adventures or play sports or just lie down and visit different places throughout the world. The biggest factor which differentiates the gaming console from the rest of the console is that there is no restriction on the number of users entering the same virtual room. Also, this particular gaming console puts its consumer privacy on top of any other policies. The organization has strict laws placed regarding the privacy breach. Apart from this, the console uses a firewall system that cannot be hacked easily. It was important for the organization to keep in mind the budget as well, even with such superior technology; the prices are not as high as it would be expected by its consumers.

Market Segmentation

Market segmentation is an important function that is carried by almost all organizations throughout the industry. Using this particular process the organization divides its consumers or potential consumers into a different group. These groups are created using the characteristics that are portrayed by a consumer. Segmentation helps the organization to place consumers in such a manner that all the consumers in a particular segment might have similar interests, needs or they are from the same location. This particular process helps the organization to minimize their losses as they can easily identify which particular segment is going to be most beneficial for the organization.

The product will be segmented considering the behavior of the consumers. The organization has to monitor the habits of the individual, as the product will mainly be sold using the e-business platforms. The organization has to identify whether the people will be using the mobile application or the company's website to buy the product. Also, the organization should monitor the traffic that is being generated on their particular website. It will help the organization to identify, whether or not the consumer will be ready to adapt their product or not.

Target Market

The target market refers to an identified group of people who can become the potential customers of the organization. If an organization can identify its target market half of the work is completed as the organization can easily assess the needs of the target market and design and position their product accordingly.

The target market for this particular product will range from people who fall into the age group of 18 to 35 years (Lee, Clarke & Kim, 2015). However, it has been identified that there is no fixed age limit when people turn towards gaming, but the majority of the consumer are young adults or teenagers. In recent years it has been identified that more and more people are turning towards console gaming and with the rapid conversion from PC gaming to console gaming, it will provide a big and sturdy platform to many gamers (Brown, 2016).

Positioning Strategy

Position strategy plays a significant role whenever an organization tries to launch a new product in the market. the organization needs to place the product in such a manner that the consumer is forced to think about the product it can be the design, the features, or their superficial characteristics, which might draw consumers closer to the product. However, in this particular scenario, the organization has a new introduced an entirely new concept of gaming, which will change the way people used to enjoy their video games. The technology provided by the new console device has not been witnessed by any individual and it can help capture a large market share. The gaming community always analyze before making the purchase, however, the gaming community is always ready to try something new.

Industry Analysis

The industrial analysis acts as the guiding principle for any given product, as it helps to identify, the products that already exist in the same segment as the product launched by an organization. It helps the organization to estimate what are the driving forces of a given industry and identify the future steps that should be taken by the organization (Anwar & Hasnu, 2016). In addition to this industrial analysis is also helps a well-established organization to get a competitive edge over the rest of its competitors. This can be achieved if the organization can easily predict the opportunities or the threats that might hinder their operations in the long run.

Competitive Analysis

The main competitors of the organization product are Microsoft X-box series and Sony play station series. Sony is one of the biggest players in the entertainment market. in the three-year strategy plan, the organization aims to increase their profits in all the segments where the organization operates. On the other hand, Microsoft does not entirely focus on the gaming industry, the organization is trying to increase the number of cloud users, that is the organization is aiming towards data safety and ease in data accessibility. If only the Play Station and X-Box franchise are considered both the organization target people who fall in the age group of 18 to 35 years of age. However, if their other products are concerned, the age group varies from business to business. Sony tries to make the entire product easy to use. It has been observed that the technology used by the organization is quite sophisticated, but still, all the products of the organizations are quite a user friendly.

On the other hand, Microsoft tries to provide its gaming community with technologies that cannot be used found on other platforms. Both the products that are the play station as well as the x-box have their retail outlets, apart from that people can order these products online (Onnen, 2019). However, at times heavy taxes have to be incurred while buying the product online rather than from a retail outlet or any other store. Both the organizations spend lots of money in public relation in addition to this both the organization heavily promote the product with the help of heavy advertisement. Apart from that the organization also uses non-mass media such as influencers on social networking websites, to portray their product to the rest of the world. These organizations try to create demand for the product.

Market Structure

The main driving force of the organization lies in the wider consumer base, which seems to only increase over the time period. However, multiple gaps can be identified in this particular market. There is no certainty whether a loyal customer will remain their customer throughout the operation of the organization. It has been identified that many people stop the usage of the product abruptly due to multiple reasons such as marriage, childbirth, lack of time, and many more. The competition is quite high in the market. However, the numbers of players are quite low as compared to other markets. The market is said to be growing with new consumers linking with different organizations daily.

Social and Cultural

Organizations need to identify the social and cultural beliefs of a country, otherwise, there are chances that the organization might fail. Organizations like Nike have suffered heavy losses as they were not able to comply with the social and cultural laws of a particular country. On the other hand, Starbucks was able to identify the needs of its customers and started selling tea in its Japan-based retail outlets (Yu & Melnyk, n.d.).

Just like other industries, social and cultural factors play a major role in this particular industry as well. It has been identified that in the past year's multiple games were banned or had to be changed as these games hindered the cultural and social beliefs of the people (Liboriussen, White & Wang, 2015). There has not been any scenario where the games or the organization was praised in the social and cultural aspect after launching a particular game. There are times when the opinion of the leaders also affects the sales of the product as if they deem that any product is culturally unfit they might not allow the usage of the product, however, sometimes these are the personal thoughts of an individual leader.

Technology

Technology will play a major role in determining whether the product will be successful or not, as technology is one of the biggest aspects of these kinds of products. In this particular industry if an organization is not ready to change it becomes obsolete. However, if the gaming console technology is kept up to date it will not be easily used by the competitors in the same industry. Technology will play a major role in determining whether the organization will be able to succeed or not. The new upgraded virtual reality technology is patentable and other organizations will not be able to use this particular technology. The organization needs to identify the importance of technology if the organization do0es not change with the changing technology there are chances that the products of the organizations may become obsolete and unwanted in the market place. Kodak was one of the organizations that introduced the digital camera to the world but as the organization was not able to identify the change in technology they had to file for bankruptcy in the year 2012 (Prenatt et al. 2015).

SWOT Analysis

Strength

The organization has a large consumer base. If an individual leaves this particular market they can be substituted with someone else. The consumer traffic in this particular market does not stop and as this particular technology is new and no one had come with a concept of the console with ultra-realistic graphics, this particular product might become more preferred as compared to its competitors.

Weakness

The biggest weakness that is faced by this particular organization is that its competitor has acquired a large market share which might hinder the operations of the organization, apart from that as compared to its counterparts the design of this particular product is quite simple which might not look appealing to the consumers.

Opportunity

It has been identified that technology is evolving daily if the organization can identify the technology that should be used for their particular product it is quite likely that the organization might be able to come at par with its competitors. Also, the gaming industry has evolved significantly, the number of online as well as offline gamers is increasing at a significant rate.

Threat

The market is highly competitive, as there are no entry or exit barriers in this particular industry. It has also been observed that technology is not evolving in one particular sector. With the advancement in technology the mobile gaming industry has also evolved significantly and been portable, it has become one of the leading choices for gamers.

Market Strategy

Market strategy can be short term as well as long term, this particular element plays a crucial part in the success of the organization. With the help of an efficient marketing strategy, a business can easily get an edge over its competitors. This particular strategy helps an organization to identify and understand the needs and wants of their respected consumers.

Pricing Strategy

Multiple pricing strategies can be utilized by the organization name, economical pricing, value-based pricing, and price skimming. Economic pricing refers to a scenario where the organization starts from lower prices and gradually increases its product prices, whereas value-based price refers to a scenario where the organization price its products according to the external environment. However, both these options cannot be treated as a reliable option for pricing the product.

Price skimming will be the best option that would be available for the organization, as the product is as well as the organization is new they should try to gain reasonable profit so that they can function properly (Toptal & Çetinkaya, 2015). However, the pricing should not be very high as compared to the competitors as it will lead to a decrease in market share. Extremely high prices can only be placed when the consumers are aware of the value that is provided by the organization. Also, the price skimming strategy will become successful because it can easily record the costs that were incurred during the production.

Promotion

As the budget for the new product is significantly low as compared to its competitors, the organization can take the help of social media to promote its product. Personal selling can also become one of the alternatives to showcase their product to the rest of the world. In

addition to this, the organization can also take the help of the newspaper, as the cost of a newspaper advertisement is significantly low as compared to a television advertisement. Apart from these other sources of non-mass media can also be utilized for the promotion of this particular product. It has been identified that the non- mass media has very high news value and it can become a crucial tool in making the new product awareness to the target market.

Analytics

The organization should focus on after-sales services and take the help of feedback to identify whether the users were satisfied while using the product or not (Maslovat & Franks, 2019). Apart from feedback surveys can also be concluded which will help to determine whether or not the product was appreciated by the consumers or not. There is a very thin line between success and failure if the consumers are happy and satisfied they will provide positive feedback whereas if they even find a single glitch they will justify the product as bad or not usable. As the budget does not allow mass production, the company should try to arrange for a venue where they can provide a free trial for the game. It will help the organization to assess the total number of potential consumers that might be interested in buying a particular product. If the organization utilizes make to order they can easily avoid incurring heavy losses.

Conclusion

It was identified in the report, a single product cannot determine its success or failure the supporting activities are as important as the product. The gaming console is the concept that has been heard of however, there has always been advancement in technology in this particular industry. It was identified in the report that the majority of the customers of this particular product are teenagers and young adults who lie in the age group of 18- 35. The thing that makes this particular console from the rest of the console is that it provides a user with an efficient interface, where they can enjoy and communicate freely with the help of this console. It was discovered in the report the organization has two major competitors who were catering to the same market play station (Sony) and Xbox (Microsoft). Who has been in the industry for far too long! One of the biggest shortcomings of this particular industry is that loyal customers can also leave the market abruptly, which makes it quite hard for the organization to identify which particular consumer of theirs will remain as a loyal consumer till the time the organization operates. Being a new company without a huge budget can place the organization in a tight spot, however, if the organization uses make to order that is produced only when the order is confirmed, this will not only enhance the efficiency but this will also lead to customer satisfaction.

References

Anwar, J., & Hasnu, S. A. F. (2016). Business strategy and firm performance: a multi-industry analysis. Journal of Strategy and Management.

Bocken, N. M., De Pauw, I., Bakker, C., & van der Grinten, B. (2016). Product design and business model strategies for a circular economy. Journal of Industrial and Production Engineering, 33(5), 308-320.

Brown, J. A. (2016). Exploring the next generation of older gamers: Middle-aged gamers. In International Conference on Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population (pp. 308-318). Springer, Cham.

Halvorsrud, R., Kvale, K., & Følstad, A. (2016). Improving service quality through customer journey analysis.

Hamari, J., Shernoff, D. J., Rowe, E., Coller, B., Asbell-Clarke, J., & Edwards, T. (2016). Challenging games help students learn: An empirical study on engagement, flow, and immersion in game-based learning. Computers in human behavior, 54, 170-179.

Lee, J. H., Clarke, R. I., & Kim, Y. S. (2015). Video game information needs and game organization: differences by sex and age.

Lendino, J. (2018). Adventure: The Atari 2600 at the Dawn of Console Gaming. Ziff Davis.

Liboriussen, B., White, A., & Wang, D. (2015). 16 The Ban on Gaming Consoles in China. Video Game Policy: Production, Distribution, and Consumption.

Maslovat, D., & Franks, I. M. (2019). The importance of feedback to performance. In Essentials of performance analysis in sport (pp. 3-10). Routledge.

Onnen, J. (2019). Microsoft Store Strategic Audit.

Prenatt, D., Ondracek, J., Saeed, M., & Bertsch, A. (2015). How Underdeveloped Decision Making and Poor Leadership Choices Led Kodak into Bankruptcy. Inspira: Journal of Modern Management & Entrepreneurship, 5(1), 01-12.

Toptal, A., & Çetinkaya, S. (2015). The impact of price skimming on supply and exit decisions. Applied Stochastic Models in Business and Industry, 31(4), 551-574.

Wood, M. B., & Jobber, L. (2016). The marketing plan handbook. Pearson.

Yu, W., & Melnyk, M (n.d.). Intercultural communication in business communication–a case study of Starbucks (china). Innovational Processes of Economic, Social, and Cultural Development: Domestic and Foreign Experiences, 213.

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