Introduction
The common perception about marketing is that it is refined to the activities which are associated with product selling and advertising. However, this is not a true depiction of this field. The concept of selling or advertising is one of the areas of marketing. Marketing is a management discipline that lookup for the strategies and ways for best satisfying consumers’ needs and wants, not just that, but it also creates needs among potential customers. Business can flourish by taking into account the marketing process within their business discipline. This process gives insights about the existing or potential market of the business. Smart marketing would lead businesses towards success. There are many businesses that adopt clever marketing techniques and become the success stories. To effectively market the product/service, there is a need to evaluate and comprehend the offered end product before it reaches to the final customer. It is significant for the companies to develop and analyze marketing mix. The marketing mix is essential for the existing, as well as, new businesses.
The study relates the marketing mix concept on new business venture. Commencing a venture is the most challenging task for the new entrepreneur. The success of the venture is utterly depended on the business idea. The entrepreneur must have a feasible yet practical business notion. After that, a business owner must be aware of the insights of the products which it is going to be offered in the market. He/she needs to evaluate what a new venture is going to produce, its pricing strategy, distribution channels, and marketing strategies. To analyze all the above areas is not sufficient enough for the business success, some more insights need to be known. Traditionally, businesses evaluate four Ps of a product/venture. The four Ps are as follows: product, price, promotion and placement. However, still many areas were untouched when it comes to attaining profound knowledge about the product/venture. So, extended marketing mix concept has been introduced which touches all the untapped yet significant aspects of marketing product/venture effectively. The extended marketing mix includes the following components: Product, Price, Promotion, Placement, People, Process and Physical Evidence (Levens, p.15).
The reason for considering extended marketing mix is that to run a successful business; there is a need that the product or business must be customer-centric. The extended marketing mix enables firms to consider customers as their priority. This project discusses all the details and analysis that are required before starting a venture. The chosen business idea for the course project is to place small Croissant stall at the Qatar University premises. The report discusses extended marketing mix about the new business venture and its products.
Marketing Mission
The business venture is a small Croissant stall placed at Qatar University premises. The name chosen for the venture is “Le Croissant.” The mission of this venture is to provide healthy yet delicious refreshment meal to university staffs and students. Le Croissant believes in providing the best and unique flavored Croissant along with the fresh juices to the target market. It plans to launch in Qatar University premises; if the business performs well then, expansion plan would be considered. Cheap yet effective marketing techniques would be used for venture promotions.
Extended Marketing Mix (7Ps)
As discussed above, the extended marketing mix comprises of 7Ps which include: product, price, promotion, placement, physical evidence, process and last not least people. This section includes the detailed description of all the 7ps concept along with its relation to the new business initiative “Le Croissant.”
Product
The product aspect of the marketing mix includes the following description: what are the material products that will be provided with the service? The level of quality? Packaging? What is the trade mark? Slogan? Any other related aspects. It is understandable that no firm wants to offer product and service which has no value for the customers. There are businesses that fail because they introduce the product first and then start finding its right market. Successful companies like Apple and Samsung evaluate first what are the needs and wants of their customers. According to that, they launch their innovative products in the market (Peter p.12). “Le Croissant” is going to launch croissant along with the fresh juices in the Qatar University.
The perfect product is the one which adds value for the customer. The idea of launching croissant in the university is that the existing food court although provides a variety of cuisines but lacks in offering fresh homemade juices along with the delicious desserts. The business notion to offer homemade croissant in the university helps in rejuvenating mentally exhausted staffs and students, and the products help to refresh their minds. The food court of Qatar University offers artificial flavored packed juices along with the oily cuisines. The concept of introducing homemade dessert and fresh juices focuses on providing the healthy diet to the employees and students. The research has proven the fact that sugar contained products not just energize the human body but also fasten the metabolism. Our products are different from the traditional croissants; we are planning to add the original French flavor in the product. We are going to offer homemade croissants; the product will have cheese, Lotus, Nutella and peanut butter filling in it.
The taste of the product would be as similar as Oriol Balaguer’s prize winning croissants because our chef was once worked in that pastry shop in Madrid. We would be offering our customers the value added product sidelines like chips and berries which we will serve with our main dessert, i.e., flavored croissant. As our mission is to provide high quality and healthy products to the customers that are why we are offering homemade dessert along with fresh juices. The fresh fruit juices will be packed in the cornware disposal cups. The below image depicts the size and design of the cup in which we are going to serve our fresh fruit juices. Paper wrapped croissant is going to be served to our customers in a booth. The picture below depicts the packaging idea of our product
Figure 1: Packaging Sample
The trademark of product or venture is eminent as it helps in creating a unique brand identity of the product/business. The chosen trademark of "Le Croissant" is mentioned below:
Figure 2: Trademark of ‘Le Croissant.'
The slogan helps in communicating the business mission to the customers through its product or services. The slogan for "Le Croissant" would be "Yummy and Healthy for Tummy.”
Price
Pricing is an eminent aspect of marketing. If the product pricing strategy is not set as per the target market, then the chances of failure product increase (Peter p.12).The successful product is which its customers ready to spend money what they are asked for. Before setting pricing strategy, it is eminent to make sure whether the offered product gives value for money. The ideal pricing strategy for a product must be set by reviewing similar competitors’ products’ prices. It is essential to keep an eye on the competitors’ product pricing strategy, as well as, consider own profit margin. Le Croissant pricing strategy will be set after reviewing the market price of the similar products and calculating the profit margin. The decided price for the delicious Croissant will be around QAR 2.00 of 100g weight. The juices price would be QAR 1.5. The market price of the similar product is QAR 2.00 but what is different from our pricing strategy is the weight. The 60g weight in 2.00 QAR is offered in the market. However, we are offering 40g more weight on the similar product with reasonable pricing. Customers need to pay the same amount which they pay to buy croissant of 60g but with more quantity.
Promotion
Promotion can be defined as the process which is used for communicating customers that what it does produce and what it can offer to the customers. The promotional strategy must be effective enough to take the competitive edge over others. There are different types of promotional strategies which a firm can use. However, we are going to implement those promotional strategies which are cheap, as well as, effective. As we are going to place a small booth in the campus area so we are distributing, as well as, sticking pamphlets in the campus. Pamphlets will be placed on different departments' notice boards. Apart from that, the most effective marketing medium is social media. Different courses and academic discipline groups are already created by Qatar University students. We are planning to use those mediums to promote our products. As the target market for our product is campus population which includes students and staffs, so we need to restrict our promotional strategy within campus premises. The official website of Qatar University is also a great medium which helps in creating awareness among the faculty members, as well as, alumni. Free samples will be provided for a day before commencing business. On and off, promotional games will be introduced on the social media along with some offered deals.
Placement
‘Le Croissant’ will place its booth within the campus premises. However, the product sales are direct proportion to its placement. The more customers accessible the product is, the more sales is expected (Levens, p.15). Before choosing product placement, we have analyzed the virtual map of the university. The above picture depicts our plan to place Croissant booth. The existing foodcourt is near to administration block. However, the academic buildings find it quite far to reach cafeteria. We are going to place our booth in near academic buildings, and ultimately administration block is not far from our booth. So, we are targeting both buildings with the ideal location.
As this would be a small booth/business so initially we do not require the bulk of storage space. We will bring the homemade products in an estimated quantity. We will prefer to sell out total inventory in a day, that is the reason, the quantity would be limited. To find out the estimated consumption rate, the survey would be conducted by the staffs and students of the University.
People
People here means the staff members or employees. Maximum customer satisfaction is only attained if the staff is fully motivated. Employees motivation is eminent for the firm’s success. As ‘Le Croissant’ is a small business so we are not going to place much staff members in the booth. We are placing four staff members in the booth, two for dealing with customers and taking orders. The other ones will be responsible for handling the cash counter. As the staff members are business students of Qatar University so, they know well about customer services. However, some briefs will be provided to them so that they would be able to meet maximum customer satisfaction.
Process
Process plays an eminent part in the success of business. Customer psyche has changed, they do not want to buy the product but invest in the entire experience. Everything matters whether it is the behavior of a person who sells the product, customers’ waiting time, information was given to the customers, etc. There are some other ways to improve and advance the business processes. However, for our business, we aim to manage the waiting time of the customers. Two separate lines will be formed in which separate cashiers, as well as, staff will be assigned. Apart from that, the information about the products will be provided to the target market through social media, as well as, placing pamphlets. Constant briefings would be given to the staffs who deal with the customers to give best customer services.
Physical Evidence
Physical evidence is important to build customer trust. The physical evidence also includes the detailing of how will the interior environment be decorated? What is the necessary equipment needed to deliver the service? Staff uniform?. Le Croissant will provide free samples for a day within the campus for specific hours. The feedback would be taken from the customers who purchased the products. We are going to share the video of that day along with customers feedback on social media which will help in marketing our product and building trust among potential customers. The packaging is another important aspect of product success. A famous phrase is " what is seen is sold." The more good product looks like, the more people gets attracted to purchase. The packaging of the product will be wrapped up with a paper which is cost effective yet looks sophisticated as well. The drinks will be served in a printed floral cups which helps in grabbing customers attention more easily. The booth will be decorated with white and blue balloons. The surrounding area would be decorated with balloons. The papers and cups would be the necessary equipment to deliver the services. White T-shirts will be the designed uniform for the staff members.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that marketing mix is the most effective aspect of marketing process which needs to be considered in a new business venture, as well as, existing ones. The project discusses a small business venture initiative on extended marketing mix. All the 7ps depict that the new initiative has high chances of success. The product which is going to be offered is unique, healthy yet affordable. Apart from that, the promotional strategies discussed are cheap yet effective, the placement and process strategies seem feasible and realistic. Le Croissant marketing mix depicts a positive picture, and it shows that the business would become a success story.
Works Cited
Levens, Michael. Marketing: Defined, Explained, Applied. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2012. P.15
Peter, J. Paul., and James H. Donnelly. Marketing Management: Knowledge and Skills. Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2007. P.12
