Introduction
Nowadays, the coffee shop market undergoes considerable changes and improvements. Organisations that make their decisions to enter this market and open new shops have to be ready to work hard and develop effective marketing plans to identify important goals and actions. In this marketing report, several elements of the marketing process will be discussed in terms of a new coffee shop that has recently been opened in London and the extended marketing mix.
A new coffee shop in London has opened, and its employees have to deal with fierce competition in the market. It is necessary to identify the strengths of the shop to develop a marketing plan. Cooperation with three junior assistants are appreciated in this task. Additional training and the explanation of the marketing concepts is appreciated.
Marketing Process Elements
Situation Analysis
The marketing process consists of a number of steps to define a company’s goals, strengths, opportunities, and limitations. The success of any marketing plan depends on employees’ abilities to apply different marketing strategies, tactics, and theories (Chernev 2015). The situation analysis helps to assess competitors and customers within the chosen marketplace (Kahn 2014). In this case, a new coffee shop has to be ready to compete with its main competitor, tea industry, that is popular and preferable in many regions of the United Kingdom on the one hand and other available coffee shops in the same region on the other hand. A SWOT analysis (Figure 1) shows the fields the café is good at, and the issues that have to be improved.
Marketing Strategy
According to Musenge (2014), a marketing strategy is a long-term plan with certain tactics that aim at achieving goals. It is necessary to develop at least one SMART idea and investigate if segmentation, targeting, and positioning are appropriate for its achievement. In this case, it is expected to increase the number of regular customers at to 50% by the end of this year. To succeed in this task, it is necessary to clarify the demographics and psychographics of the chosen region and check of special rooms for children, wi-fi, and home-made cookies are what customers expect, confirm that coffee is the best product for people, and think about a further development of the services, including candies and ice-cream.
Marketing Tactics
Regarding the goals of the organisation and the chosen location, several marketing tactics can be applied. For example, it is possible to investigate the opinions of customers concerning what they want to see in a coffee shop. Not all cafes promote the development of trustful and friendly relationships with their customers. Therefore, the marketing process of this café should be based on friendship and communication with customers so that people come not only to take a cup of coffee, but also to enjoy a friendly atmosphere and learn something new about the world of coffee products.
Implementation and Control
Effective marketing is a social and managerial process where a person or a group of people set the goals and get what they want with time (Mutunga, 2014). Implementation and control of a marketing plan is a process that cannot be neglected by leaders and managers of a company because it ensures certain achievements of a campaign and a possibility to improve services and products with time.
Taking into consideration the fact that this coffee shop is new and does not have a solid customer base, implementation and control should occur in the following way: the number of customers is checked and compared every day, the budget is under control of a leading manager to compare how much money was spent to open a shop and what incomes are observed at the moment, and the opinions of customers are gathered through short questionnaires on tables or in an electronic form.
Marketing Mix and Marketing Planning
The marketing mix is an important concept that defines a set of specific tools that a company is free to use (Brooks and Simkin 2012). There are seven main elements in any marketing mix, and the identification of each of them helps a company to understand what kind of work can be done and what improvements should be expected. These marketing elements are “product, price, place, promotion, personnel, process, and physical evidence (Khan 2014, p. 95). The contribution of each element is unique to the work of a coffee shop in London.
The identification of product as the main item that should be marketed is necessary. Coffee and all supportive products and services are under consideration. Price is the element that has to be established regarding recent financial changes if any and the analysis of the coffee market. Price should be competitive and explainable so that customers can trust the company. Place contribution plays an important role as well because the chosen location may influence further growth and development. There should be no other coffee shops in the same trend in about several kilometres to make sure that customers choose this shop.
Promotion is the element that includes a variety of advertising, selling, and sales. People should understand that café workers want to cooperate and create the best conditions for their regulars. Effective promotion includes booklets, songs, and a person with a cup of tasteful coffee outside. The role of personnel cannot be neglected in this marketing plan. People should be properly trained to cooperate with customers and make them choose this shop and have to be true experts in coffee making, history, and promotion.
Process should help to increase the value of products. It is important to create appropriate working conditions for employees, provide them with training and counselling, and give clear directions for their work. The process of communication with customers is indispensable in the coffee industry. People may not decide what kind of coffee to drink, and a piece of advice can be rather helpful. The main task is that employees have to understand that their initiative, desire to work, and develop new working approaches can make this shop unique.
Regarding such intentions and goals, the worth of physical evidence is inevitable. People pay much attention to the environment in which they ask for services and products. Visible surroundings may affect people’s impressions and their further decision to visit this place again (Khan 2014). Impressive but unobtrusive décor, coffee elements, smell, and appropriate musical background are the main components of the coffee shop. Everything should be clean and properly introduced to every customer.
In general, the analysis of the parts of a marketing process and the discussion of the marketing mix elements help to understand that a new coffee shop in London has enough opportunities to be developed and supported. At the same time, certain threats and weaknesses have to be elaborated and improved to make sure that a coffee shop can stay competitive and financially beneficial.
Reference List
Brooks, N., and Simkin, L., 2012. Judging marketing mix effectiveness. Marketing Intelligence & Planning. 30(5), 494-514.
Chernev, A., 2015. The Marketing Plan Handbook. 4th edition. Chicago: Cerebellum Press.
Kahn, K.B., 2014. Product Planning Essentials. 2nd edition. New York: Routledge.
Khan, M.T., 2014, The Concept of ‘Marketing Mix’ and Its Elements. International Journal of Information, Business and Management. 6(2), 95-107.
Musenge, K.K., 2014. Entrepreneurship-Business Manual to Be a Successful Entrepreneur. Morrisville: Lulu Press.
Mutunga, J., 2014. Marketing Principles. München: GRIN Publishing.