International Marketing Opportunities Assignment Sample
Background
In this modern era, every company is focusing on finding international marketing opportunities as a result, the management of B2C FURNITURE is also focused on identifying new business possibilities in the global market. B2C FURNITURE is mainly known for producing quality dining chairs, tables, beds and other furniture items and the company is currently operating the Melbourne and Sydney (B2cfurniture.com.au. 2022). In this report, the international plan of the company regarding the expanding to the UK market will be discussed critically.
Market overview
Pestle analysis
Pestle analysis is one of the most innovative and effective situational analysis tools which is used by most organizations as it will help a company to understand the external business environment and factors (Perera, 2017). B2C FURNITURE is currently operating in Australia, however, if the company will take an entry in the UK then it is necessary for the company to identify the business opportunities of the UK by Pestle analysis.
Political
The political condition of the UK is extremely stable and suitable also which will help B2C FURNITURE to achieve optimum business opportunities and possibilities in the country. Suitable business conditions may result in the growth and success of the business and this political environment of the UK may be beneficial for B2C FURNITURE in creating a more competitive advantage for the company. A company that wants to expand in a new country in upcoming years is required to identify, screen and evaluate the business opportunities in this foreign market or else the company may have survival issues in the country (Cavusgil et al., 2004).
Economic
The UK is one of the most developed countries in the world and for that reason, the economy of the country is extremely developed even though due to the negative impact of Brexit and Covid-19 the economic growth of the UK has been disrupted. Analysing the report of The World Bank it may be stated that in 2020 the per capita income of the UK was 41,059.169 which is extremely high and suitable for the growth of furniture business in the UK (Data.worldbank.org. 2022). Additionally, if the income of people in a country is high then it indicates the high purchasing power which will stimulate the business growth and sales of modular sofas for B2C FURNITURE in the country.
Social
There is a huge need for furniture products in the market and the increasing youth population of the country is also able to purchase many furniture items which will ensure the proper growth in the UK. However, the market may be extremely competitive as there are many furniture companies in the UK such as IKEA, Habitat, Chill Sofas, DFS and many more. Due to the extreme competition level, B2C FURNITURE needs to implement an effective marketing strategy and needs to analyse the social environment effectively which will help the company to understand the actual preferences and demand level of customers in the UK.
Technological
The UK is one of the technologically advanced countries of the world and for that reason, every foreign company need to incorporate many technical tools which will help the company to increase production. The use of advanced technology also helps B2C FURNITURE to reduce the extra operational cost which indirectly impacts the competitive advantage of the company in the UK. Additionally, if a company is able to use effective information technology then it will increase the effectiveness of the supply chain resilience of the company and create a positive impact in improving the performance of the company (Gu et al., 2021).
Figure 1: Market overview of B2C FURNITURE in the UK
(Source: Gu et al., 2021)
Legal
The legal framework of the UK is extremely strict and it is the industry of every company to follow the legal acts such as Employment Act 1996 in order to achieve more business growth. The Employment Act 1996 deals with minimum wage, protection of wages, holiday play, working houses and many more which needs to be followed by B2C FURNITURE to understand the marketing environment effectively (Legislation.gov.uk. 2022).
Environmental
The furniture industry is responsible for creating lots of waste in the environment, however, if B2C FURNITURE will follow the environmental rules and regulations of the country and develop effective management then the business growth of these companies will be ensured in the UK.
International STP
Segmentation
Market segmentation is one of the most essential and integral parts of marketing and for that reason, it will be beneficial for B2C FURNITURE if it will implement a proper segmentation approach. Market segmentation may be treated as an important decision-making tool for the manager of a company as it is mainly used to target the market by dividing the customers into subgroups (Dolnicar et al., 2018). On a specific note, it will be helpful if a company will be able to implement demographic segmentation then the company will be able to know the personal attitudes, occupation, gender and status of customers. More specifically, the demographic approach may create many beneficial impacts for the company such as it will provide the personal preferences of every customer to B2C FURNITURE which helps the company to design modular sofas according to the preference of customers. The successful implementation of geographic segmentation will also help B2C FURNITURE as it will provide the actual information of furniture selling rate in the UK by dividing the market geographically. It has been observed that the demand for furniture such as and sales of modular sofa is extremely high in the city regions of the UK which indicates that B2C FURNITURE needs to target the people who live mainly in the city and small town.
Figure 2: International STP model for B2C FURNITURE
(Source: Dolnicar et al., 2018)
Targeting
B2C FURNITURE also needs to implement an effective targeting strategy as in this case the company will execute differentiated or segmented marketing strategies in order to target different groups. In the modern era, most of the companies of the world are not focusing on mask marketing strategies while targeting smaller groups will be more effective and profitable (Camilleri, 2018). The segmented or differentiated marketing strategies may generate extra business opportunities for B2C FURNITURE in the UK as a request the company needs to incorporate customized marketing approaches to achieve more competitiveness. Along with that, the company is required to target the middle or working age group whose age range will be between 25-55 years old. One of the main benefits of targeting the working-age groups is that these groups have the maximum purchasing power in the UK which will be useful for B2C FURNITURE in increasing the sales of modular sofas in a fruitful manner. The company also needs to analyse the demand of the target group and it needs to be mentioned that other age groups of the UK do not have a huge demand for modular sofas. Therefore, if the company will be able to target this group then it will enhance the sales and earn more profit which directly impacts the brand identity of B2C FURNITURE.
Positioning
It is one of the biggest responsibilities of the company to execute a unique positioning strategy that will help the company in strengthening the position of the furniture industry of the UK. An effective market positioning strategy is immensely useful for the brand performance and market orientation of the company which indicates that a strong brand positioning strategy plays a crucial role in improving the performance of the brand significantly (Iyer et al., 2019). Due to high competition in the furniture market of the UK B2C FURNITURE needs to implement a low producing strategy that will attract a huge number of customers and increase the sales of modular sofas of the company. The low pricing strategy may ensure a strong position in the furniture market of the UK, however, the company needs to be extremely focused in order to maintain the quality of modular sofas. Apart from that, a strong customer service strategy will be also beneficial for the company as after purchasing the modular sofas the company needs to ensure effective and quick customer service to improve the brand possession in the UK.
Action programme (marketing strategies)
Product
B2C FURNITURE is immensely famous in Australia for manufacturing and delivering different kinds of furniture items, however, in this case, the company will mainly focus on increasing the sales of modular sofas in the UK. It needs to be mentioned that the product is not the brand extension of B2C FURNITURE as it is one of the top-selling products of the company in Australia. B2C FURNITURE will sell the products under the same brand which denotes that the company will not create a new brand extension in order to sell the modular sofas in the UK. Product launch is one of the most essential portions of this action program and the company will launch the product under the same product line, therefore, the company needs to launch the product effectively which will attract a huge number of customers. The standardized approach may not be impactful for the company in the UK and for that reason, an adaptation strategy needs to be executed by the company to increase the sales of modular sofas in the country. Standardization mainly refers to the same product quality or design while adaptation strategy always modifies the design and quality of the product during the taking of an entry in a market (Larsson and Jakobsson, 2019).
Place
In that case, the company will adhere to a direct distribution channel which indicates that the company will implement a Business to consumer business model to deliver the modular sofas to end customers. It is one of the prime duties of an organization to identify and select an effective distribution channel to achieve success and ensure the availability of products in the international market (GÖRGÜN and BARDAKÇI, 2020). In Australia, the company also maintains the same distribution channel which indicates that there will be no middlemen or intermediaries during the selling of modular sofas in the UK (Refers to Appendix 1). The company needs to establish a multi-channel distribution strategy that will directly deliver the product to customers such as the company may launch an online website and some offline showrooms in the UK. In Australia, the company also has an online shopping website and showrooms in Melbourne and Sydney whereas in the UK the company does not need to adopt any kind of new strategy to deliver the products (Refers to Appendix 1). The main advantage of direct distribution strategy is that it reduces the distributional cost as the existence of middlemen in the distribution channel may result in a higher distribution cost which increases the price of the products.
Price
The company will launch modular sofas in the UK which means that the colony will be penetrated in the furniture industry of the UK for that reason B2C FURNITURE needs to implement penetration pricing strategies. Currently, in Australia, the company follows affordable pricing strategies while the penetration pricing strategy is not so different in comparison to the affordable pricing strategy. The main advantage of the penetration pricing strategy is that in this highly competitive market this strategy may provide an extra business opportunity to the company by increasing the sales of modular sofas. Additionally, after strengthening the passion in the market B2C FURNITURE may increase the price range of the product in the future.
Marketing communications plan
In order to create a marketing communication plan for B2C FURNITURE’s internationalization, it needs to be kept in mind that without a proper strategy of the same, the company will not be able to reach out to its consumers within an international market effectively. A marketing communication plan is a relevant strategy to inform the target audience about the significant products or services than an organization may have and the concept of marketing communication may be attained in different ways, such as the traditional approach, digital or the mixed approach of both. The fundamental basis of the marketing communication strategy is to provide thorough information to the audience in order to encourage the consumers to buy a given product and for that it is essential to make changes to the communication strategy too (Bayazovna, 2020). It is completely dependent upon the type of international market an organization is trying to enter and for example if B2C FURNITURE is attempting to enter the UK international market then adopting a digital approach may be more effective.
Developed countries, such as the UK are extremely advanced within the context of technology and the majority of the population spend a substantial amount of time on the internet, thereby adopting the digital approach, such as social media advertisement may be helpful for targeting more audiences. Digital marketing is paving the way concerning new features to inform, reach, engage as well as selling products to consumers and it is predicted to remain at the foreground of the technological revolution (Kim et al., 2021). The targeted consumers for selling furniture may be able to find the digital advertisements more easily rather than the traditional ones, such as print media, TV advertisement, billboards and more. The current marketing approach that the given company follows in the host country is the mix of both traditional and digital marketing communication, however, entering a different international market may require a different strategy to effectively communicate with the target audience.
However, when entering an international market, it needs to be kept in mind the kind of media that the targeted audience in that place would consume more and based on that the marketing communication plan needs to be formulated. In addition to that, if the company follows the marketing communication plan that it does within the home country then it may end up being too costly, since communicating with the targeted audience with a mix approach would require a significant amount of investment. In order to effectively create a marketing communication plan for the international consumers the concept of culture also needs to be kept in mind and in that context the aspect of language is the most relevant thing to consider. Moreover, some aspects of an advertisement may not be accepted in a specific culture or community and may come across as obscene which will impact the business of the company and may even lead to losing all its targeted consumers as well. According to research, whether or not communication is successful depends significantly on the capability of others to understand the differences between language and culture (Costeleanu, 2021).
Strategic planning, implementation & control
In order to successfully enter an international market, the fundamental duty is to take the help of the Uppsala model of internationalization in order to first learn about the local environment of the market that it is trying to enter. By doing that the company will learn the specific requirements that the consumers have and make products based on that. It needs to be mentioned that there is an extremely relevant and imperative role that the deployment of an organization’s resources plays in influencing the decisions regarding the selection of a particular foreign market along with the strategy of entering an international market (Katsikeas et al., 2019). In addition to that the organization will also need to select a given market entry mode that will be the best suited to gain a significant amount of revenue from that international market and avoid facing any losses. However, foreign market entry modes for the organizations are often quite more complex than it is perceived by different theoretical frameworks which may benefit from restructuring and extending in order to acquire explanatory power (Blackburne and Buckley, 2019).
It may be taken as an example that if the enterprise choses the market entry mode of direct exporting, then there will be significantly reduced risk of experiencing any losses as in such a strategy there is no middleman to divide the share with and the process will also become much simpler. One of the fundamental strategies that is also required to be followed by the furniture company is conducting a thorough analysis of the external market that B2C FURNITURE is trying to enter in the form of pestle and in this case the UK. In today’s age the analysis of the external environment regarding business activities has an extremely crucial part in terms of the development of any enterprise owing to the fact that the contemporary external environment is characterized by a significant high magnitude of uncertainty and complexity (Shtal et al., 2018). In order to evaluate if the given marketing plan is working effectively a thorough analysis of the sales revenue in UK will have to be conducted and if the sales go higher than anticipated then it will be assumed that the plan has worked. In addition to that, the engagement in the social sites of the company will also indicate if the strategic plan of the furniture company is working within Australia too.
Conclusions
Finally, it may be concluded that in order to enter an international market, it is extremely imperative that the company has a strategic plan of action established to successfully enter the market without facing any difficulty. In the context of B2C FURNITURE a thorough analysis of the external environment of the UK has been conducted to understand the aspects that influence its market to ensure that the company is able to do business in an efficient manner in the country. Significant emphasiz has been put on the aspect of marketing communication to make sure that the given company is able to communicate with its target audience in an efficient manner regarding the given product it is trying to sell.
References
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