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Bottle Green Case Study Analysis
Question 1
Consumer behavior of Green Bottle users can be understood in two ways. First way of understanding consumer behavior defines purchasing decision of consumers due to habitual buying. This means that most of the consumers buy the company products because they are habitual of buying Bottle Green drinks (Solomon et al. 2014). They are not directly engaged in perceiving the company brands or products. Another reason to buy Bottle Green drink is the low price of the drinks as compared to the competitor brands. This implies that pricing of food item influences consumer purchasing behavior more than any other element, except some high-end five star hotel’s food. Another reason to buy the drink is its taste as some clients do not care about brands but only go after the taste and features of the product.
Consumer’s behavior is also influenced by word-of-mouth marketing (Solomon, Russell-Bennett & Previte 2012). Word-of-mouth marketing is one person advocating the product in front of other people, who may be moved to purchase the product. In this regard, Bottle Green can use T.V chefs such as Delia Smith and Jamie Olive (who are fans of Bottle Green) to directly influence the consumers. The case study makes it evident that the company relies on samples and free drinks sent to various places, to promote the taste of the company among its potential customers. The company understands that the samples can do the magic by creating brand image in the target consumers’ mind who will then purchase the drinks in future for long term (Quester et al. 2007).
Consumer behavior of Bottle Green consumers can be influenced in many ways. The first way as discussed above is using the T.V chefs who can influence the viewers to such a deal that the consumers get moved to purchase the drinks, without thinking much about it. In this way, the company that is already dealing with little sales volume would not have to spend hefty amounts of funds on television advertising. Chefs can keep Green Bottle drinks closer to them while cooking and describing the benefits of the drink in a natural way. This will not only help in brand awareness but also move consumers to purchase the drink (Schiffman & Kanuk 2009).
Question 2
Modern business organizations know the significance of marketing information, which has given rise to the provision of marketing information to customers, suppliers, distributors, and even sales team of the company. Firstly, Simon needs to understand the nature and significance of marketing information and marketing information system, which go hand-in-hand. The marketing information is managed using Marketing Information Systems (MIS) using the modern technology, which supports the management in making decisions regarding the marketing strategy. MIS helps in the process of information gathering, storing, distribution, and analyzing, depending upon the manager’s requirement of the information (Armstrong et al. 2014). Simon has various reasons to use MIS as this will not only help him understand the consumer behavior but also work on the future projects, based on the information of the consumers. The information required regarding consumers can be gathered by collecting data from data warehouse of MIS. Then onwards, the manager at Bottle Green will organize the marketing information based on the market segmentation, pricing, demographics, or target market. The information can then be stored and retrieved whenever the management needs it (Ismail 2011). This process will help Simon in identifying the problem areas or give a better understanding of the consumer behavior to him, so as to make the process of planning the upcoming marketing activities according to the consumer needs. For instance, the analysis of drink samples and chef endorsement requires constant monitoring of customer feedback and sales increase, so as to evaluate the marketing plans conveniently. In this regard, Simon can gather information through direct consumer feedback taken through website and Facebook page, which will act as the primary data. He can make use of secondary data, which is already stored in MIS to help the company management (Kotler & Armstrong 2010). By using both forms of information, Simon can decide about the most appropriate form of marketing activities to give boost to the company sales, which will eventually help the company in financial terms so as to reduce the debt level.
Question 3
Digital marketing is the use of internet and social media to promote the company products and brands. Digital marketing is the new face of electronic advertising and marketing campaigns as majority of the modern population relies on the internet and social media to read news, purchase needed products, and tend to try new brands promoted on the internet. In this regard, digital marketing can help in close monitoring of the target market by providing insight on user data. Such as, Facebook allows user visit and activity insight to the business page owners (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick 2012). This proves to be beneficial in providing important marketing information to the company. Cost of marketing can be significantly reduced by using digital form of marketing as there is no large sum of fee to be paid to the television or radio channels and newspaper. It is only a matter of few hundreds of dollars to promote a website, Facebook page, and Twitter and Instagram accounts as well as pace place banners on renowned blogs and websites. In the light of these benefits, it is inevitable for modern business firms to adopt digital marketing in order to stay ahead of the competition (Ryan 2014).
Green Bottle can use digital marketing to give boost to its slow-paced sales volume and increase its revenue. The company needs to design an interactive but user-friendly website and upload the company and product information on the website. The website will carry the product pricing as well as visual ads of the drinks to attract the customer attention. There can be information regarding the availability of the drinks so as to ensure the consumer awareness of the brand. Consumer feedback section can help in gathering information regarding customer complaints and suggestions. The website can be promoted through Facebook page and Twitter account. Facebook page of the company should have interesting posts and memes to engage and attract consumers while promoting the company products at the same time (Chaffey, Smith & Smith 2012). Company can also initiate an official blog where users and customers can discuss about the company products openly. This can prove to be beneficial in two ways. Firstly, the customers can discuss and clarify confusion regarding product information or share their experience of the drink. Secondly, it can provide insight on customers’ perception of the brand to the management, which can help in improvement of the products. In this way, digital marketing can be a turning point in the marketing efforts of the company.
Bibliography
Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S., & Kotler, P. (2014). Principles of marketing. Pearson Australia.
Chaffey, D., & Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2012). Digital marketing. Pearson Higher Ed.
Chaffey, D., Smith, P. R., & Smith, P. R. (2012). eMarketing eXcellence: Planning and optimizing your digital marketing. Routledge.
Ismail, S. T. (2011). The role of marketing information system on decision making: an applied study on Royal Jordanian Air Lines (RJA). International Journal of Business and Social Science, 2(3), 175-185.
Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2010). Principles of marketing. Pearson Education.
Quester, P., Neal, C., Pettigrew, S., Grimmer, M. R., Davis, T., & Hawkins, D. (2007). Consumer behaviour: Implications for marketing strategy. McGraw-Hill.
Ryan, D. (2014). Understanding digital marketing: marketing strategies for engaging the digital generation. Kogan Page Publishers.
Schiffman, L. G., & Kanuk, L. L. (2009), Consumer behavior, New Delhi, PHI.
Solomon, M. R., Dahl, D. W., White, K., Zaichkowsky, J. L., & Polegato, R. (2014). Consumer behavior: buying, having, and being. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Solomon, M., Russell-Bennett, R., & Previte, J. (2012). Consumer behaviour. Pearson Higher Education AU.
