This paper explores a case of Mimzcup&cakes Company that has been actively in the market for roughly one year. The company operates in the city of Doha in Qatar and involves in baking cakes and chocolates. It has a capital base of around $100,000. This work attempts to aanalyze the marketing dilemma Mimzcup&cakes Company experiences in its quest to penetrate into the markets of Doha City as well as the markets beyond. In particular, the exploration bases its arguments of the dilemma that face the company as results of its age in the industry, size and demographic factors of the city in which it is located. It looks at the history of the company and outlines the company profile and its postulated growth capabilities.
Problem Frame and Objective
Although the company does not have a long thread of financial years to gauge its financial performance upon, the general picture is that it is making normal profits, with a significant portion of its existing clientele being university and college students. It suggests solutions to the dilemma the company is facing at the end of every challenge identified. It dissects the possibilities of Mimz cup & cakes Company penetrating the cake and confectionary market of Doha City amidst the market dilemmas.
Target Audience
The target audience for this report are first time entrepreneurs. The process of setting up a new enterprise and getting the right clients for products and services can be quite an uphill task. This report looks at these challenges with reference to Mimzcup&cakes Company and with a view that can give new and prospective entrepreneurs a lee-way on the best strategies to take to stay relevant in a particular industry.
Teaching objectives
This case analysis labours to give insights on the right marketing frameworks a young company should take in trying to build its brand image. Brand image is an essential facet of any business survival. However, small and new enterprises need to concentrate on direct response marketing programs as opposed to expensive marketing and advertisement techniques established corporations use. The company makes a lot of chocolate flavours, but most of them get expired because nobody buys them. There is, thus need to find solutions to the company’s inability to sell by understanding the market structure and forces that affect buying and selling in Doha City. In addition, the case study analyses e-commerce and the attributes of a market a business may have to consider before engaging in sole e-commerce practices.
Company Profile
Mimzcup&Cakes is part of Al‐Mazar group which was founded year 2002. Al‐Mazar group specializes in a variety of businesses such as contracting, beauty and massage centres. The young company is situated in Doha City of Qatar. It began as a home-based business in the year 2006. Later in 2012, the company expanded to have a total of 5 bakers and decorators. With a bid to satisfy the needs of its consumers, the company manufactures customized cakes with 3D and 2D handmade gum, designed cupcakes, push cakes, cookies, cake pops, paste toppers and an assortment of properly crafted chocolates with varying flavours and fillings
Mimzcup&Cakes Company is famous for its rich cupcake and velvet cake. In addition, it has experienced considerable success with other flavours of cakes and chocolates as well. In a bid to enter the market as fully as it would wish to, the young company experiences several challenges and dilemmas related to marketing. This is a stage that the entrepreneurs believe is common for all businesses that are in their initial stages of take-off. Mimzcup&cakes has a small capital investment and asset base of $100,000. This is the capital the company invested in setting up the business premise, buying a car for delivery, raw materials for baking the cakes and processing chocolates as well as buying bakery equipment.
In the midst of challenges and marketing dilemmas affecting Mimz cup & cakes Company, it has emerged triumphant and widened its range of products to impressive levels. The company provides a variety of choices to ensure that its clients get all that they are in search of. These include traditional flavours popular in Doha and the larger Qatar such as Karak. Furthermore, the company takes care of growing contemporary demands and health concerns. In order to sort the contemporary minds, the company produces sugar-free cupcakes, gluten-free cupcakes, nut-free cupcakes and fat-free cupcakes. Further, it has other flavours in the form of common fruits and vegetables and other harmless cocktails. These include flavours of Banana, Carrot, Chocolate, Chocolate peanut butter, Coconut, Dates, Ferrero rocher, Nutella, Peanut butter choc chip, Pistachio, Raphaella, Rose, Strawberry Cheesecake and Vanilla.
The company became established and gained recognition within Doha City in 2012 despite having been in existence from 2006. It delivers its products on a door-to-door policy within the city of Doha to ensure that its clients receive what they want. One of the significant aims of the company is to expand beyond its current limits by setting up shops in the prestigious areas of the city. Entrepreneurs believe that setting up shops will enable the company’s clients see and affirm their work before placing orders. The long term plan of the company is to expand and become a global figure in supply of confectionaries. In particular, the management is confident that it will be able to capture the market in gulf countries as markets in the states have the same tastes and preferences.
Currently, the company has 6 bakers and a decorator. In addition, the three entrepreneurs help in the day-to-day running of the business errands. It is planning to increase the number of employees as it perfects its marketing strategies and expands its clientele base. This will enable it to serve its clients more efficiently and provide customized services. The directors believe that proper marketing is the core of survival of Mimz cup & cakes Company.
Marketing Strategy
Marketing strategies for Mimz cup & cakes Company are online based given the capital the company has. Whereas there are several other avenues for marketing the company could take to popularize its products and services, their capital and resources cannot allow for these elaborate marketing and promotional activities. For this reason, the company uses online marketing. It advertises its products and services on social media such as facebook and Twitter. The most helpful media of advertisement for the company is instagram account at @mimzsbakes. Clients get to see the products the company provides and place their orders through phone calls and whatsapp. These social media channels allow the young company to sell their ideologies and knowledge of services and products to the masses in Doha at little or no cost.
The Marketing Dilemma
In order to understand the full extent of marketing dilemmas for the company, it is imperative to have a clear comprehension of its place of location. In that respect, it is crucial to have a rough knowledge of the demographics of Doha City. The demography of the city is quite unusual. This is because a majority of the population in the city are expatriates. Qatari nationals form the minority residents of the city. Doha is a city that hosts expatriates from all parts of South East and South Asia. A majority of the residents are from Nepal, Sri-Lanka, Philippines, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia. In addition, some come from Levant Arab countries, East Asia and North Africa. United Kingdom, Germany, Unites States of America and Latvia are other countries that contribute a large number of residents of the city. The markets for all products in Doha grow exponentially every year given the thousands of people who immigrate into the country every year.
Having looked at the population composition of Doha, it is now possible to relate this population composition with the challenges that Mimzcup&cakes Company faces in its bid to expand its clientele base. Mimz cup & cakes Company recognizes that efficient marketing is tantamount to its development and existence. Efficient marketing entails recognition and understanding of a company’s target market and the environment in which it operates. Mimz cup & cakes Company realizes that there are no secrets and silver bullets in conducting efficient marketing. One of the first challenges it faced as it tried to deep its roots in ensuring successful marketing was the misleading advice of marketing gurus who insisted on pricey attendance of their expensive seminars and workshops. As the company failed to get any viable solution to the marketing problems of the business, it realized that triumphant marketing principles are established and well known. They are not secrets of any particular groups of people and professionals in the society.
Despite having a complete knowledge of the marketing success secrets, the company still has dilemmas in implementing them due to a number of reasons. The first is the difficulty Mimz cup & cakes Company has in finding new clients and customers. The company has been in the public domain for barely a year. During this short period of time, it has not been able to ascertain who its clients are. Given the composition of Doha City, Mimz cup & cakes Company has not been successful in recognizing the tastes and preferences of the many nationals living within the city. For this reason, it has not put in place a marketing tool that addresses the particular needs of the target market. A majority of the population within Doha immigrate into the country at working age. Expatriates come into the city with already formed opinions on the types of confectioneries they consume. A marketing that may appeal to all these people of different backgrounds, beliefs and customs becomes an uphill task for the management of Mimz cup & cakes Company.
In a bid to understand their customers and potential clients, the company has not been in a position to answer a few fundamental questions. It is in a dilemma to comprehend fully who its best customers are. In addition, Mimz cup & cakes Company has no answer to append to the motivations of its target customers. It does not understand the motivations and the driving force behind the decision by its customers and prospective clients to use its products and services. Further, Mimz cup & cakes Company does not understand the buying and purchasing patterns of the customers of its goods and services. Lack of understanding of the purchasing and buying criteria keeps the company at a distance from achieving its most successful marketing strategy. Additionally, the company experiences marketing dilemmas as it does not comprehend the purchasing cycle of its customers and target market. Having a clear understanding of the events that instigate the market’s need for a particular product would make Mimz cup & cakes Company formulate formidable strategies of reaching its market.
Amidst challenges and marketing dilemmas affecting Mimz cup & cakes Company, it has emerged successful and widened its assortment of products to remarkable levels. The enterprise provides a range of choices to guarantee that its clients get all that they need. These incorporate traditional flavours fashionable in Doha and the larger Qatar such as karak. In addition, the business takes care of growing modern-day demands and wellbeing concerns. In order to sort the present-day minds, the establishment produces sugar-free cupcakes, gluten-free cupcakes, nut-free cupcakes and fat-free cupcakes. These are products that are geared towards satisfying the needs of the vastly educated and up-to-the-minute expatriates within the city of Doha.
As the company progresses and keeps operating in the city, it stands a chance of eliminating the dilemma of understanding clients and potential customers. However, it is not correct to conclusively state that Mimz cup & cakes Company has absolutely no understanding of its clients. There are a few groups of customers, especially college students within Doha that the company understands quite well. So far, it accounts for over 90% of its clients. The challenge comes in the wake of trying to embrace new customers. There is a likelihood that the company may overlook and neglect its existing clientele base. It is absolutely significant for the company to grow its operations and market with new clients. However, the old client’s database is a potential gold-mine if properly segmented and aligned with prospective clients. This is the challenge Mimz cup & cakes Company experiences in its bid to market and reach new targets. It suffers a degree of neglect of the existing clients.
Mimz cup &cakes has been experiences marketing dilemma in engaging marketing messages which generate results. The company has challenges engaging the use of direct response marketing offers. Currently, Mimz cup & cakes Company uses a “feel good or hopeful” marketing strategy that uses brand and image building over the internet. This company tries to build a brand name but lacks the capability to maintain the brand name building strategies as large corporations do. Direct response marketing programs are the only strategies that small and new businesses like Mimz cup & cakes Company can employ in building a brand image. This is a dilemma that has combated the company as it tries to be the name to be associated with confectioneries within Doha City.
As mentioned earlier, the company has relied on internet marketing to make its services and products known. From the paper “E-Business Use in the UAE”, governments in the region have placed tremendous efforts in ensuring that the populations of Qatar embrace the use of electronic commerce. These include improvement of electronic and networking infrastructure and actively encouraging people to embrace electronic commerce. In addition, there are legislative systems that work best to keep the population abreast with the application of e-commerce in their commercial transactions. Despite these efforts, the people of Doha have not been able to fully embrace the use of e-commerce. Instead, they have stuck to the traditional modes of conducting business. According to the paper, a number of factors influence the decision by the Doha, Qatar nationals not to grip the benefits presented by e-commerce to the business world.
The second reason why Mimz cup & cakes Company has not realized the benefits of e-commerce is because a large number of the population lacks understanding and appropriate education. According to the report, many people in the region have failed to understand how to use the internet efficiently for the short time that the internet has been in existence. Although there are numerous e-government services, there has been laxity in educating the population on the benefits of using e-commerce. According to a research conducted in 2007, Dubai had the same score as England on the services of the government provided online. Despite the number of services the government offers online, it lacks the capability to impart appropriate knowhow on e-commerce on its citizens, a factor that has hindered e-commerce from taking off.
Recommendations
For the company to realize its full potential, Mimz cup & cakes Company has to ask and get answers to some fundamental questions regarding the marketing dilemma it faces. These questions include:
- What are the possibilities of attracting new clientele group without losing the old clients?
There are high possibilities if the company understands the market trend ad purchasing cycle of both its present and target markets.
- What can Mimz cup & cakes Company do to improve the perception the clientele base has on electronic commerce? How can Mimz cup & cakes Company improve computer awareness among the residents of Doha so as to improve its chances of getting access to more clients?
- What message can Mimz cup & cakes Company include in their advertisements and marketing efforts and appeal to both international expatriates and the locals?
Currently, Mimz cup & cakes Company uses a marketing strategy that employs brand and image building over the internet. This company tries to build a brand name but lacks the capability to maintain the brand name building strategies as large corporations do. Direct response marketing programs are the only strategies that small and new businesses like Mimz cup & cakes Company can employ in building a brand image. This is the marketing strategy that the company must apply to capture more market share.
Upon finding the answers to these questions, Mimz cup & cakes Company needs to undertake intensive campaigns towards improving the impression of the locals on use of e-commerce. The company can serve as an example to how technology can be used to successfully create value to the people. In the opinion of a yearly survey conducted by Symantec, up to 75% of Doha, Qatar avoid shopping online for the belief that it is unsafe and risky. The society of Doha, Qatar is so collectivist that an episode of internet fraud spreads around and reaches everyone. The company should work hard and be an ambassador of change.
The company also needs to work on strategies to acquire new clients without losing the old ones. Although college students are the major clients of the company, it should work hard and inculcate the older generation in the clients’ list without sidelining the college students.
Conclusion
Despite Mimz cup & cakes Company’s quandaries in penetrating the market, the company has great chances of becoming a success in the industry. The market in Doha City is still young and the company stands good chances of becoming a giant in bakery and confectionary productions and supplies.
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