Free Cherry Tree Case Study Sample

- Introduction
Cherry Tree Learning Materials Company wants to diversify its business from just selling its products to children with special needs to also selling them to normal children which will increase the company’s revenue. My role is to advice the company executives on what they need to do in order to achieve their goals.2.0 Problem Statement
At the moment the company is unable to fulfill the needs of the special needs market as it only sells to teachers and yet there is the untapped market of the parents of the children with special needs. The company needs to find strategies that will help it enter this untapped market.
Cherry Tree needs to find a suitable strategy that will enable it to push its products to parents with normal children as there is a risk of these parents rejecting their products because they are perceived to be manufactured for children with special needs.
Though the products that are manufactured by Cherry Tree are of good quality and are durable, they are similar to other products that are manufactured by its competitors. The challenge that Cherry Tree faces is that of differentiating its products in a way that they stand out in the market.
In its quest to enter into new markets, Cherry Tree faces the challenge of finding the addresses of the parents of children with special needs and those of normal children so as to send advertising materials such as catalogues and brochures.
Since the parents of children with special needs have a lot of financial obligations especially in the healthcare of their children, it will be difficult for them to buy additional materials as most of the schools already have materials for children with special needs. The challenge that Cherry Tree faces is that of convincing these parents that their products are worth the extra expenditure.
3.0 Proposed Solution(s)
In their quest to fulfill the needs of the special needs market, I would advise Cherry Tree executives to advertise in the ‘Closer Look’ magazine that is guaranteed to reach the parents of children with special needs. The company can also ask the magazine company distribute their brochures together with the magazines so that these parents can be able to see the wide variety of products available. This approach is easier than trying to get the magazines’ mailing list as the magazine cannot release personal information due to privacy rights.
In the case of parents with normal children, Cherry Tree can advertise in magazines such as Parents and attach brochures containing a list of their products to the magazine. These advertisements should only contain products that are relevant to normal children such as sequential memory exercise cards, storytelling post cards, coin rubberstamps and time teacher.
Since most of the Cherry Tree products are not innovative and can even be made by the teachers, the company should add value to their products by modernizing them. According to Pawlowski and Thomsen “toys need effects such as lights, bright colors, movements and sounds” (76) in order to maintain the attention of children, Cherry Tree needs to incorporate such aspects into their products so that they can stand out in the market.
In order to attract the parents of children with special needs who do not have a lot of disposable income, Cherry Tree should create a payment plan of about two months to credit worthy parents. This will make it easier for these cash strapped parents to buy the products while increasing the revenues of the company.
Cherry Tree should create a company website where all its products are displayed; this will enable the company to reach out to millions of potential customers at minimum fee. The website should be easy to navigate and customers should be able to buy the products online. This approach will put the name of the company in the public domain leading to positive recommendations which is a very important aspect as most parents value products that have been recommended to them either by friends, family or other parents in similar situations. (Pawlowski & Thomsen, 50)
4.0 Analytical Elements
4.1 Costs
Cherry Tree will incur about $800 in the designing and hosting of their new website. The company will also have to pay for the printing of the brochures that are going to be distributed together with the magazines; this will cost about $2000 as these magazines have thousands of subscribers. The Company will also have to pay for advertising space in the magazines which will cost about $5000.
4.2 Forecasted Markets
Cherry Tree intends to start selling their products to parents of children with special needs and also to parents of normal children. Later the company can get into the equipping classes for children with special needs.
4.3 Potential New Profits
The company is set to make more profits from direct sales to parents of both normal and special children. This will increase their profit margin by about 50% and has the potential to get to more than 100% once the advertising starts taking effect.
4.4 Money Well Spent Now
The company should invest in an advertising manager or contract the services of an advertising agency. This will enable it to craft the right message and image which will have positive effects when conveyed to the public.
5.0 Conclusion
Cherry Tree has a huge potential for growth as the market it is in is largely underdeveloped. If the company takes into consideration all the recommendations that have been put forward it will grow its clientele base and increase its profit margin.REFERENCES
Pawlowski, Pia and Thomsen, Christina. “Parents to Disabled Children’s Purchasing Motives When Buying Toys.” Aarhus University. August 2011. Retrieved February 11, 2014. Web.