Lemonade Stand Informal Business Report
INTRODUCTION
‘Lemon-Aid’ is an attempt at satiating customer demand for healthy, freshly-prepared and affordable drinking solution. Combined with environmental and social consciousness, Lemon-Aid aims to bring the local community together at relishing some fun moments while enjoying freshly prepared lemonade drinks in their hands. The name of the product speaks the story- Lemon which will aid customers in quenching their thirst and pushing them ahead in their journey to stay fit and healthy.
BRANDING STRATEGY
The branding strategy is aimed at developing emotional connect with people to develop prompt brand recall. Lemon-Aid’s for 4Ps of marketing mix are designed in a way which fulfill this objective. The core product features nutrition, fresh ingredients, quality packing and information labels which invoke a high degree of product utility to the customer (Courtland and John, 2012). In terms of price, penetrative pricing featuring lower prices will attract customers to at least try out the drink once. Later, the freshness and the quality of the product will keep up the momentum. In future, pricing will be increased as more taste variants are developed to attract customers and offer product variety. In terms of place which refers to the distribution and supply component (Kotler, 2007), the beverage will be sold at the stall to maintain the core elements of quality and freshness. After achieving economies of scale, investment in preservation techniques would allow shelving Lemon-Aid in local stores and popular eateries. Lastly, promotion will be conducted with the help of tools and techniques like personal selling, discount schemes like 1 for 1 and combo packs for family/students, word-of-mouth publicity and newspaper and billboard advertising to attract local customers.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR NEW LOCATIONS
Expansion will be sought once the stand gets successful in the neighborhood. For potential new locations, criteria such as specialty store or grocery store, direct distribution or channel supply, level of inventory and transport and similar would be placed to conduct assessments (Kotler, 2007). Initially, expansion too will be in adjoining areas and neighboring cities to make the brand popular nationally. Once enough capital is possessed and internal competences are developed, international expansion will be considered (Courtland and John, 2012).
PROMOTION PLANS
With a budget of $10,000, Lemon-Aid will first strive to educate its customers about the product offering. It will be done through newspaper and health magazine advertising to make people aware of the stand (Courtland and John, 2012). For a month’s advertising, it is supposed to cost around $2000. Once the stand receives footfall, sales promotions will be undertaken by offering samples (mini cups) and product demonstrations which will further cost around $2000. Offers and schemes like student discounts, family combos, event and festival scheme, etc. will be offered to promote the trend of healthy and fresh beverage consumption as against colas and sweetened beverages which are unhealthy and high on calorie and fat. Promoting on social media apps like Facebook is also considered which will be a great means to capture customer feedback (Kotler, 2007). For example, by making a Facebook page for Lemon-Aid stand, users would be allowed to post their comments, preferences, future expectations and any suggestions or issues. This will help connect with people in real-time as well as draft future strategies for expansion and modification (Courtland and John, 2012).
EMPLOYEE TRAINING
The Lemon-Aid serves drinks primarily but the component of human interaction also matters in greeting customers, accurate order processing and maintaining cordial and supportive relationship. Hence, the staff will be first trained on the significance of developing long-term customer relationships to help sustain the business. In this respect, employees will be first educated about the product, its features, benefits (some customers may ask the staff the benefits of drinking lemonade) and other elements so that they are able to solve each and every customer query effectively (Kotler, 2007). Next, the employees would be trained on aspects like interpersonal skills, communication, order taking and processing, handling crowd and completing orders successfully. It will help offer to the customers an enriching experience which they will remember and promote further (Courtland and John, 2012).
CONCLUSION
Lemon-Aid is a novel concept to be realized in the neighborhood. It will capture the urgent need of people willing to have a healthy drinking option close to their home and reasonable to the pocket. For students, elderly, children, family and others- Lemon-Aid appeals to all market segments which explain its future feasibility and growth potential. Staying glued to environmental and social responsibility, Lemon-Aid aspires to defeat colas and sweetened beverages by bringing people closer to the nature and natural products.
References
Courtland L. and John V. (2012). Business in Action. Prentice Hall.
Kotler, P. (2007). A Framework for Marketing Management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
