Marketing Plan Phase Essay

Marketing increases awareness of an organization’s products and services. In the current technology driven market, organizations must constantly develop and promote new products and services to meet customer needs. The following plan outlines a proposed Kids’ Area for Best Buy. Company Overview Best Buy is a growth company focused on better solving the unmet needs of our customers, and we rely on our employees to solve those puzzles† (Best Buy, 2009-2015). In 1966 Robert Schulze and his business partner James Wheeler opened Sound of Music Inc. in an effort to produce a share of the home and car stereo retail market. In 1970 Schulze decided to buy out his partner and continued to develop his retail chain. Schulze began to realize that he needed to alter the direction that his company was going in, so he attended a seminar that brought him to turn the possibilities into a reality. The first change was to expand the offerings of the organization that would include VCR’s, and appliances, which would ultimately bring in more revenue for the company, about 9.3 million for the year to be exact. In 1983 Sound of Music changed their name to Best Buy, and aimed toward a broader more comfortable customer base. As of today Best Buy has more than a dozen brand names, operates on four continents, in over 3000 stores (Best Buy, 2009-2012). Best Buy’s mission is to continue to profit and grow as a team by providing their customers with exceptional value and a great shopping experience (Best Buy, 2009-2012). Service Proposal Kids Corner will give parents a valuable service who have the desire to get in and out of Best Buy without acquiring the hassle of going from place to place to find items for their children. Kids Corner comes as a benefit to parents and their children who want to buy the hottest games and other little gadgets for their children. This particular area is a place where parents and children can find the electronics and accessories that kids want in one location instead of running all over the store to find what they need. Another added perk of Kids Corner is the online features and service that will give children the opportunity to play online games, parents can evaluate different products and modify their online profiles. Kids Corner will be separated according to age groups ranging from: 3-17 year olds. Grouping according to age is how Best Buy will decide what products go where. The three to five year old sections will consist of mostly educational and some electronic games, kid’s movies and dvd’s. This area will add an extra touch with decorated pictures of Disney, marvel, and educational characters. For the six to ten10 year old area it will feature educational games, software, video games, music and dvd’s. The 11-14 year olds (pre-teens) will have music, dvd’s, gaming accessories, educational games and software, cell phones, and cameras. The 15-17 year olds (teens) area will consist of music, music accessories, video games and accessories, dvd’s computers, cell phones, and other gadgets. Marketing Approach Approaching marketing research for the idea of a Kids Corner for Best Buy would need to include different fundamentals, such as consumer analysis for demographics, psychographics, behavioral patterns, including buying habits, and geographical scenarios. The goal of marketing a Kids Corner for Best Buy is to make Best Buy widely known and recognized for promoting a kid friendly environment. Another important aspect for research is the competition of competing with other electronics stores that offer the same service. Researchers perform psychographic research by engaging the consumers to say yes or no to activities, personal interests, and personal opinions about the marketing research conducted. When research has been completed the results are shared in regard to geographic and demographics, according to characteristics of the target area (Business Dictionary, 2013). Psychographics will generate an in-depth profile of the consumers who participate in the research. The research will p resent an opportunity to collect data on activities, interest, and opinions that will be advantageous to both the consumers and Best Buy’s sales power. The success of Kids Corner will depend on a solid marketing plan that must be focused on the consumers more rather than the power of the service offered. The plan will cover advertising, promotions, public relations, and sales. Strategically, although quality service is also crucial, the buying public still has their personal preferences Clancy, 2008). If Kids Corner targets more of the consumers needs, they will come back again and bring along potential customers. The research plan will include research on other competing electronics stores to allow Best Buy to identify if the needs for a Kids Corner would be beneficial to the organization’s needs. If the data collected shows the service is already offered by the competitors than Best Buy can shift is marketing strategies to accommodate consumers, by marketing a scenario that the other electronics stores does not offer. The marketing strategies will also need to focus on the contributions of consumers who in turn will contribute to the success of Best Buy Kids Corner and their needs. Pricing is another important aspect of the marketing strategy, and it will need to be affordable. The results of the surveys conducted as well as the needs of services will help determine Best Buy Kids Corner geographical areas depending on Best Buy stores locations. Understanding the markets needs, consumer contributions, developing, and building upon the strategy proposed, and implementation of the plan, to include monitoring the plan are the marketing steps used to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the marketing approach (Clancy, 2008). SWOTT Analysis A SWOTT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and trends) analysis on the new Kids Corner service offered at all Best Buy store locations: Strengths: Best Buy’s internal strengths include their available resources and capabilities that can be used in the development of a competitive advantage. * The innovative development of a new service called Kids Corner * Best Buy is a $50 billion Fortune 100 company (Best Buy, 2009 – 2015). * Best Buy has an average of 1.6 billion visitors per year via in-store, on-line, and mobile device (Best Buy, 2009 – 2015). * Best Buy continues to experience growth via acquisitions and mergers, i.e. Magnolia Hi-Fi, Inc. and Geek Squad (Best Buy, 2009 – 2015). * Best Buy leads the way in Consumer Electronics compared to other discount stores such as Walmart and Target. Best Buys largest competitor is RadioShack Corporation. * Reorganization of the existing space in the already large Best Buy stores to make room for Kids Corner. * Use existing â€Å"sample/interactive† products, i.e. hand held video games, toys, etc. as tax write-offs. * Knowledgeable customer service and highly trained/tech savvy staff to serve the customers. * Competitive edge over other electronic department stores with the existing branded image and children’s focused department. * Best Buys Trade-in program compensates consumers in a variety of ways for used electronics products. Weaknesses: Best Buy’s internal weaknesses are items not as transparent to consumers and may be viewed as weaknesses. * Lack of knowledge specific to children’s electronics/toys. * Undifferentiated products or services in relation to Best Buy competitors. * Interactive displays may expire quickly with overuse in the Kids Corner. * If RadioShack Corporation were to offer a similar service this could lead to confusion of consumers and possibly damage the brands. * Training staff specifically to children’s electronics and toys ma y lead to additional funds for re-training the Kids Corner if the strategy is reconsidered. * Success of the Kids Corner is dependent upon consumers seeking child specific products. Opportunities: Best Buy has many external opportunities with the addition of the childcare center. * Best Buy could expand Kids Corner to online and mobile service with children’s electronics/toys customer service readily available via online chat or by telephone. * Increased sales by customers simply spending more time on their personal shopping by having the ability to have a highly visual Kids Corner in-store where knowledgeable staff is available to assist with products specific to the Kids Corner. * The implementation of the Kids Corner opens doors to other growth opportunities, such as mergers or acquisitions pertaining to children’s products. Threats: Best Buy’s potential threats from the external environment * Competitors could develop a similar service and cause consumer confusion of the brand and possibly damage the brand. * Increase in labor costs specific to hiring and training for children’s electronics/toys offered in Kids Corner * Online competitor’s ability to sell consumer electronics at lower prices. * Online gaming sites are reducing the consumers need to purchase games. Many websites offer free games for children, i.e. Disney.com and Nickelodeon.com. Trends: Best Buy’s management team has various avenues of marketing research available to determine the success of the Kids Corner service. * Demographically, Best Buy stores are generally located in city suburbs that encompass large amounts of families. The large amount of families in a close radius to Best Buy locations encourages the implementation of the new Kids Corner service. Changes in demographics could lead to Best Buy restructuring or reconsidering the Kids Corner service. * Economic environments of city suburbs include both large corporations and small business with low amounts of unemployment. Best Buy’s m anagement can review the markets economic status by assessing various publicly available reports both finance and employment rates. Management can make decisions to develop new strategies to encompass the changing economic environment. * Best Buy practices sustainability in their Trade-In program available to customers who want to trade used electronics to receive in-store credit or check on site to refurbish or recycle used electronics. *Children’s electronic products are included in the Trade-In program. * Best Buy’s primary focus is on technology and offering the most advanced consumer electronics to consumers. Best Buy learns about consumers needs and wants by performing extensive research by in-store customer interaction and consumer purchases, online research of publicly available survey results, reviewing the success of their primary competitor’s products, and by conducting online surveys available on the Best Buy website. This data allows Best Buy to determine what products and services to offer next such as the Kids Corner. Marketing Strategy â€Å"8- to 12-year-olds spend $30 billion of their own money each year and influence another $150 billion of their parents’ spending† (Lagorio, 2009). Best Buy is making their kids products easier to find and to purchase. With the marketing strategy, Best Buy notices a high conversion rate of children’s products, but doesn’t want to dilute their other client segments by turning the culture of Best Buy into a kid’s store. Best Buy has found a way to grow their child customer base, while making it easy and convenient for the parents, children and other customer segments. Location of the Kids Corner will be a major part of executing this strategy. By consolidating the children’s products into a specific part of the stores globally, called the Kids Corner, it offers a better overall culture to the client segments Best Buy has identified. The parents who are looking for their children can get all their children’s needs at one, convenient place, while Best Buy continues to cross sell and up sell. Pricing causes challenges and in many cases, Best Buy and other stores have hard times cutting prices in the latest and greatest electronics and toys. Offering a specifically targeted shopping convenience is proven to increase revenue with new and loyal customers. Promoting with both in store and online ads will drive awareness. Online marketing will make it easier to market toward those you know have kids. Emails and banner ads showcasing the Kids Corner will be sure to keep parents coming for more. Conclusion The Kid’s Area seeks to enhance the shopping experience for Best Buy’s customers. By conveniently gathering products for children, Best Buy targets products more accurately. This accuracy increases the likelihood of success for Best Buy’s overall market strategy. Reference About Best Buy. (2009 – 2015). Retrieved from http://pr.bby.com/about-best-buy/ http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500823_162-2798401.html Lagorio, C. (2009). Resources: Marketing To Kids. Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500823_162-2798401.html