1. Just Us Final Assignment
Prepared By Fred M’mbololo Page 1
Term Paper on Marketing Planning at Just Us Café
which is based in Canada
Prepared by Fred M’mbololo (Kenya) specifically for
Slide Share viewers and members
Dated: 08/05/2013
2. Just Us Final Assignment
Prepared By Fred M’mbololo Page 2
Executive Summary
In Section 1.0, this report starts with analysis the current and future market
situation at Just Us cafes using the 5C analysis framework. It also highlights
ethical trading issues that have faced the company and it postulates some of the
remedies that the Industry should adopt to eliminate unethical practices and
ensure that all the companies in the Industry are operating on the same playing
ground.
In section 2.0, the report also uses the BCG matrix to classify and analysis the
competitiveness of Just Us café products and at the same time alluding some of
the strengths and limitations of the matrix. Problems of product deletions are
also meticulously considered in the light of concentrating on selling only the
products which currently have a high margin of profits in comparison to the other
products.
In section 3.0, it also addresses the challenges the company struggles with in
terms of improving customer services and trying to increase its customer loyal
base.
In Section 4.0 the report culminates by making recommendations on how the
company can improve its outdated marketing plan by using the 4P’s of
marketing, using social media such as face book and twitter, usage of free
samples of their new products and creating brand value among other measures.
3. Just Us Final Assignment
Prepared By Fred M’mbololo Page 3
In Section 5.0 the report has all the appendices used for the purposes of
illustration and elaborating some of key issues opined here. Financial diagrams
were also used repeatedly to try and emphasize on some of the fundamentals of
marketing principles.
In Section 6.0 lastly but certainly not least the report shows all the materials that
were used for the purposes of compiling it. Among the documents that were
used were books, journals and conference papers
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Table of Contents:
1.0a 5C Analysis framework for Internal and External
Environment……………………………………………………P5
1.1a Customer Analysis……………………………………...P5 to P6
1.2a Competitor Analysis…………………………………….P7 to P9
1.3a Climate (Context)………………………………………..P9 to P11
1.4a Company……………………………………………….P11 to P12
1.5a Collaborators…………………………………………….P13
1.0b Ethical trading………………………………………….. P13
2.0a BCG Matrix……………………………………………...P14 to P16
2.0b Problems of Product deletions…………………… P16 to P17
3.0a Improve Customer Service………………………….P17 to P19
3.0b Ways to increase customer loyal base……………P19 to P22
4.0a Outdated Marketing………………………………….P23 to P27
4.0b Social Media…………………………………………..P28 to P30
5.0a Appendices…………………………………………….P31 to P38
6.0a Bibliography………………………………………….. P39 to P41
6. Just Us Final Assignment
Prepared By Fred M’mbololo Page 6
From the above analyzed we see that the University market sector is lucrative
and prefers what Just us Café has to offer. Therefore they should defend their
position so as not to lose some customers to small independent customers are
mainly in the community and that could easier extend to include the Universities.
And from an offensive position (exploitation of various forms of synergy in order
to gain entrance into new markets), to establish critical interactions between
different areas of activity by seeking a comprehensive answer to purchase and
consumption requirements is very important. Again, a constant focus on the
customer is critical to strengthen and supplement the value proposition.
Just Us Café could joint venture with Proctor and Gamble as they are an
International company, giving instant access to the U.S.A market and they would
share the same ideology. Just Us Café could also consider having a strategic
alliance with Kicking Horse as they are likely to have the qualified personnel to
assist Just Us café to tap the e-based clients and more clients across the globe.
But on a closer look Kicking Horse already has a shop in Halifax and is in direct
competition with Just Us Café. Moreover they don’t promote the idea of certified
fair products and they could be a conflict of management in future.
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1.2(a) Competitor Analysis
Competitor
Products
Sold
Customer
Base
Locations & No
of Stores
Fair
Trade
certified
or not?
Second Cup Coffee Retailer
6 in Nova Scotia
(360 in total)
No
Tim Horton
Fresh coffee,
pastries,
lunches
Restaurant
2 in Wolf Ville and 21
in Halifax (170 in
total)
No
Starbucks
Brewed coffee,
hot chocolates,
espresso, teas
and other
specialties
Coffee Shop
5 in Halifax and Nova
Scotia.
(Various across the
Globe)
No
Trident
Bookseller
and Cafe
Organic Coffee
Bookshop
and Coffee
Shop
1 in Halifax.
(1 in total)
No
Java factory
Organic Coffee
and fair-trade
Certified Coffee
Coffee shops
1 each in Halifax,
Dartmouth and
Upper Tantallon
(3 in total)
Yes
Just Us Cafes Coffee and tea
Cafes and
University
outlets and
grocery
chains
4 cafes in Nova
Scotia and 2 in
Halifax and 3
university outlets
(9 in total)
Yes
Kicking Horse
Coffee and
food
Shops, food
stores,
grocery
chain and
restaurants
Various shops in
Quebec, Ontario, 1 in
Halifax.
(Various across the
globe)
No
Proctor &
Gamble
Coffee Direct Sales
United States and
Canada
Yes
Kraft food Coffee
Stores and
University
United States and
Canada
No
Nestle Coffee Direct Sales
United States and
Canada
Yes
Coburg Coffee Coffee house Canada Yes
Small
Independent
Cafes
Specialty and
Premium
Coffees
Cafes Canada No
8. Just Us Final Assignment
Prepared By Fred M’mbololo Page 8
From the above analyzed table, it is clear cut evident that Just Café has several
competitors and some of them are International companies with shops across the
globe like Proctor Gamble, Starbucks and Kicking Horse among others.
(Bergen and Peteraf, 2002), favor a two-step approach to consider competitor
analysis. The first step is listing all the competitors, the products they sell and
their location. Just Us Café can identify all the direct and potential threats. It can
strategize to cope with the new entrants. I would suggest that Just Us Café go
into Joint Venture with Proctor gamble as they are in United States and Canada
and better still they promote the same ideology of certified fair trade products like
Just Us Café.
The second step is evaluation of the competitor’s resources and predicting their
next course of action. By looking at how big the competitors are, their financial
base and their global trading. Just Us Café can be able strategize, for instance
Starbucks has 5 stores in Halifax compared to Just Us Café only 2 stores in
Halifax, therefore Starbuck pose a significant threat to Just Us Café, as they
have the financial muscle as well.
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Prepared By Fred M’mbololo Page 9
The second stage of the framework model is concerned with the evaluation of the
competition’s resources and the prediction of rivalry. They discuss how by
understanding your competitor’s resources you can predict the scale of future
threats. Therefore for Just Us cafe they need to understand who they are
competing with within the local market and big players entering that market, i.e.
Trident only have one shop so Just Us Cafe could in turn be a threat to them
whereas Java factory could be a threat to Just Us Cafes.
Just Us Cafes should also watch out on Second Cup which has 6 cafes in Nova
Scotia compared to its 4 cafes, it should likewise be worried by the competition
posed by Kicking Horse which has cafes across the Globe. Moreover, Second
Cup, Kicking Horse and Starbucks have the financial muscle which Just Us Café
should strategies itself and deal with the situation.
1.3(a). Climate (Context)
Climate has all to do with the external environment influences and how Just Us
Café has to adapt to them. I have used the Pestel framework that was designed
by M.E Porter and they stand for: P-Political issues, E-Economical issues, S-
Social issues, T-Technological issues, E-Environmental issues, L-legal issues.
(a) Political issues:
At the moment Just Us Café operates only in Canada which is politically stable
and has minimum trade restrictions to foreign competitors like Starbucks and
Kicking Horse. Another factor is that the government recognizes certified fair
trade products and the importance of equality and fairness in the community.
(b) Economic issues:
Canada is experiencing recession and some consumers have budgeted
incomes, they could consider Just us products as mere substitutes despite their
premium quality so that they can save some pennies. However, in the long-term
there seem to be a good chance of the economy stabilizing and providing Just us
with an opportunity to grow and serve more customers and market.
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(c) Social issues:
Just Us mission to inspire and nurture the human spirits and souls by promoting
the community to participate and interact with the company while telling their
stories.
Just Us goals are continuous improvement in services and premium quality of
their products. They thrive to ensure that customers are offered high levels of
customer experience. Just Us wants to raise living standards of third world
farmers and ensure direct ethical sourcing from them by eliminating middlemen
who exploit the farmers.
To develop relationships among co-operative members, employees, business
associates and the broader community based on honesty and respect and to
maintain an ongoing commitment to education, innovation and collaboration.
(d) Technological issues:
Just Us Café should try to improve their distribution network. The retail outlets
are not reliable. They should seek to get a transport and logistics partner to deal
with that issue. They should invest in modern high-end brewing machines and
other product lines to increase their customer base.
They should introduce membership cards and loyalty reward card by partnering
with a credit card provide like Visa or Master. They should also invest in social
media and have a person to monitor and maintain it. They should hire a
Computer expert to install the software and hardware’s required.
(e) Environmental issues:
Just Us Café uses green sources of energy like solar panels and water.
However, they should introduce key performance indicators in this area and
reduce energy consumption further by at least 20%. They should invest in water
saving technology in their equipment specifications so as to reduce water
consumption.
At Just Us Café they should reduce recycle their waste products like paper etc.,
use reusable cups and composting more of the coffee and tea grounds.
On the brighter side they are beginning to build new company owned stores and
will be able to promote further their ideas of certified fair trade which retail outlets
often ignore.
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(f) Legal Issues:
Employees at Just Us should be paid according to Canadian working laws and
adhere to the required working hours, minimum age allowed to work, minimum
wage guidelines so as to avoid fines and penalties for non-compliance.
Just Us Café should also have health and safety regulations which all employees
should be educated and trained on.
1.4(a) Company:
A useful framework to analyze the company is the SWOT analysis, which stands
for S-Strength, W-Weakness, O-Opportunity, T-Threats. Ideally, the company
wants to align its strength with the opportunities in the market, whilst making sure
that its weaknesses are not exposed to any potential threat.
Strengths:
Just Us Cafes has a strong brand which is a certified as fair trade and a
loyal customer base
The atmosphere in the cafes provides customers with a feeling of
knowledge and belonging. This has turned into a Just Us culture.
They have attracted employees who are eager to communicate the
message of their products and promote equality in society.
Weaknesses:
Many customers believe that coffee is a substitute product meaning that
people will buy substitutes depending on price and availability.
Although Just Us thrives to provide excellent customer experience, they
do this at a cost. They pay their producers fairly and incur costs of
certifying fair trade products. This results in high production costs.
Low of sufficient marketing budget.
Lack of multi channels of distribution network.
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Opportunities:
Emerging domestic and International Markets.
Use of social media to attract more customers.
Threats:
The Canadian economy is in recession meaning customer have less
disposable incomes.
There emergence of both International and domestic competitors.
A number of coffee distributors had developed their own fair trade
offerings.
1.5(a) Collaborators.
They include distributors, suppliers and alliances. Baden-Fuller and Stopford
(ibid, p16) have pointed out that strategic inertia is in-fact far riskier, since it
systematically leads to the decline of the company. Just Us café is in a mature
market and can’t afford to remain in status Quo.
They have to get a transport and logistics partner to deliver their goods as they
can’t just rely on retail outlets who don’t promote their products and ethical
training. They can team with Proctor and Gamble to gather more customers. On
the other hand their suppliers are reliable and supply environmental friendly raw
materials for production.
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1.0(b). Ethical Trading:
(Adams, 2002,147) postulates that it’s no longer sufficient for leading retailers to
provide consumers with superior product value and customer service, they must
also demonstrate their role as citizens. In the above diagrams only few
producers pay minimum guaranteed price directly to the producer co-operative
as a marketing manager, I would push for legislation for all producers to pay.
The Canadian government should also compel all producers to be fair trade
certified. Members and obtain licenses to prove the same.
The government should also enforce a compulsory code of ethics on all
companies and penalties and interest introduced for non-compliance of the
rules.
14. Just Us Final Assignment
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2.0(a) BCG MATRIX:
JUST US CAFE BCG MATRIX ANALYSIS:
Products
Market
growth
rate
2007
Market
Share
(2007)
Relative
Market
Share(2007)
Coffee 55% 80% 1.00
Cocoa 0% 9% 0.11
Sugar 63% 8% 0.10
Tea 342% 3% 0.03750
15. Just Us Final Assignment
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(Proctor and Hazard, 1990a) suggest that, it is a basic assumption of the BCG
model that there will be close association between sales volume and
profitability/cash flow. A product’s market share and growth rate of the market are
the two dimensions of the BCG matrix.
According to the current Just Us prevailing portfolio as collected above, the 80%
market share was used to calculate the relative market share by dividing all
values of the market share of 2007 by 80%. And plotting them on the BCG
Matrix, we will get the following results.
Cash cows-coffee, has low market growth but high relative market
share
Problem child- tea, has high market growth but low relative market
share.
Dogs will be Cocoa and Sugar, have both low market growth and
relative market share
Stars-none., have high market growth and high relative market share
Coffee is the cash cow and it will therefore, under BCG matrix it will create
positive cash flow and it will not be developed to grow. The management of Just
Us would therefore relax and could miss out on the new opportunities of serving
more university students by opening more cafes or attracting the new
environmental conscious customers to buy their coffee.
The cash flow that’s created in the cash cow (coffee in this case) would be
invested in the problem child (tea) to increase market share and reach a strong
competitive position. This would then bring the unit of the tea into the star square
and when the market reached saturation point the star would become a cash cow
to provide cash flow for other units.
The two products cocoa and sugar have a low relative market share and a low
market growth rate hence is in the dog unit. Under the BCG matrix one would
harvest the money before the product died. These products would be financially
starved off instead of being invested more into therefore Just Us would lose
potential growing market.
Richard Hammer mesh, who made a study of the disadvantages of the BCG
matrix, considered that the portfolio planning was earlier on useful when making
decisions such as disposing off business units, but was much less useful in
connection with growth and business development therefore Just Us might not
launch the new products like Pumpkins and Cinnamon.
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The BCG matrix confuses resource allocation with strategy. Planning is not a
substitute for visionary leadership, careful attention must be paid by Just Us to
the strategy of each business unit and not the strategy of the whole portfolio,
which is of course the aim of BCG matrix.
Usually products under star have major share in the growth market and relative
high market share. Such products may enjoy rapidly growing sales and profits
and are likely to generate large cash flows. Just Us has reached the maturity
stage and none of their products have such attributes.
(Proctor and Hazard,1990b), posit that the limitations of the BCG model are its
reliance on market share and market growth as the only two dimensions to be
used in assessing product portfolio health. It’s difficult to classify a product as
having high or low market share. Also, the current market share held by a
product tells us little about the possibility of increasing or maintaining that market
share. Some high growth markets are not necessarily attractive. They may well
lack size (current or potential) and stability.
2.0(b) Problems of Product deletions:
According to George J. Avlonitis, the problems of product elimination are:
(a) Market reaction, using the BCG matrix Just us would eliminate coffee and
sugar and this would have an impact on the company image and could
make it lose customers to their rivals.
(b) Financial implications, involving the determination of the product’s
contribution to profit centre and the impact of its elimination upon the
company’s total sales volume. Eliminating coffee and sugar which have
low growth rate could affect the overall profitability of Just Us.
(c) Range policy considerations involving an analysis of the impact of product
elimination upon the company’s “full-line” policy. By eliminating products
like pastries, pumpkins and Cinnamon will prevent existing purchasers of
the coffee brand from purchasing more products in addition to the core
line.
(d) Eliminating products would give the management of Just Us a headache
on the possibility of exploration of the executive and selling abilities freed
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by the product in particular to decide which ventures to invest in that give
better returns.
(e) Product elimination may prevent management to identify potential new
products for instance the introduction of tea and coffee which are not
certified fair trade products.
3.0(a) Improve customer service
(Macaulay and Cook, 1995) give ten ways to become closer to the customer.
They say that in serving the customer, teams must learn better ways and
sharpen their skills if they are not to be overtaken by smarter competitions who
practice continuous improvement here are some ideas to improve customer
experience.
(1) Just Us cafes should educate everyone to know their customers and their
needs. They carry out systematic customer surveys to gain first hand
understanding of their needs the staff should then be empowered to put
into action improvements like playing soft music in the background and
having sleek, comfortable and decent furniture.
(2) Just us café should keep staff informed through regular communications
meeting.
They should be short and might be results of customer surveys, letters
received from customers on the quality of service costs for the month
output from the department. A service notice board should be placed in a
visible place with regular performance and formation updates
(3) Set clear service standards and objectives and monitor and jointly review
individual and group performance against them. Just as café should
involve staff setting standards such as how long it takes to process
customers order letters to customers conforming to company style, use of
telephone greeting and handling customer complains. Just Us should also
draw up a checklist for the teams to use for monitoring performance.
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(4) Just us café should give regular feedback to each person on how they are
performing. This should include managers as well as staff. This would
make the managers more focused on the needs of the team.
(5) Encourage suggestions and ideas of procedures day by day. Just us café
could also consider buying high end brewing and expresso machines that
will allow baristas to act more easily with customers.
(6) Occasionally organize out of work events to cement team spirit. A six-
monthly team weekend should be initiated based on outdoor activities
which could promote a much stronger sense of team identify and
belonging
(7) In recruiting new staff Just us café should be sensitive to how that person
will fit into the team as well as the technical or professional knowledge
they bring particular care should be taken to introduce new members by
setting clear standards offering appropriate training and coaching them in
culture of sharing stories of all stakeholders in the business.
(8) Just us café should encourage a cooperative supportive approach towards
one another. A positive climate will be readily picked up by the customer
create a first name open environment with the chief executive
demonstrating by example.
(9) Encourage knowledge and understanding of one another’s job to give the
team flexibility. Some job rotation could be introduced. Just us café
should hold a “get to know your customer” event by inviting members of
staff to be customers for the day. Staff will learn to appreciate different
roles their colleagues undertake and expertise could be shared in
improving customer experience.
(10) Just us cafe should also keep a close watch on team morale which
is prone to dip in pressured service environments and lead to bad temper
with colleagues and customers or poor performance. Customer
outstanding issues should be solved quickly and amicably.
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(11) Furthermore Just us café should introduce a Facebook page and a
twitter account to be able to process customer order quickly and get
instant feedback on certain services and products offered.
(12) Occasionally send out some gifts like calendars, coffee mugs and
cards which have a company logo and as that will make the customers
feel appreciated and important.
3(b) Ways to increase customer loyal base
Just us café should
(1) Build a loyalty ladder to create “Raving fans”, loyal customers are ideal
customers, they are loyalists who refer other customers to the business
and are even more valuable because they are active advocates. The most
valuable because they are active advocates. The most prized clients and
customers of all become so energized about the level of service they
receive and cannot stop telling others about it. These raving fans are a
golden asset and a tremendous source of new customers.
Just us café should make concerted effort to identify loyal customers and
then offer them such a high level of services that they become
cheerleaders for the business, the investment will pay off many times
owner by expanding the customer base with many premium customers
acquired.
(2) Identify a target market for direct mail.
Direct mail campaigns work best for reaching a consumer demographic that
is defined and identified as a focus group. It arrives at the doorstep of those
consumers who are already known to be great candidates for products and
services
The least expensive and often most effective way to generate an
appropriate mailing list is to hold a given way contest. Those who submit
their mailing address on an entry form are obviously interested in winning
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that product or service so this helps to pre- screen them as potential
customers.
(3) Create a referral program.
Just us café should design a referral program that rewards customers for
bringing others into the customers base. Referral rewards could be in the
form of discounts gifts, invitations to special events or closed door sales
events where only certain customers are invited to participate and take
advantage of savings, exclusive products or other preferred customers
perks.
Referral is a natural process of growing the customer base by using
existing customers as a resource for community outreach.
(4) Weed out bad clients and cater to the best
Contrary to popular belief it is sometimes advantageous to lose
customers, if the business owner deliberately orchestrates the loss such
customers allows a company to focus on attracting those desirable
customers who represent the bulk of the business and contribute most to
the profit.
Identify who the best customers are by applying rule the “80-20” rule
which states that 80% of a company’s business comes from 20% of its
customers. They from the core of the customer base and by cultivating
them, it is possible to create more customers who are similarly
extraordinary, loyal and lucrative.
(5) Create strategic business alliances
Just us café should partner with kicking horse as it has shops in Europe
USA and Canada there is a common customer demographic but no actual
direct competition Just us café can expand its customer base across the
USA and Europe. Those customers who trust kicking horse and have
proven their loyalty to them will be inclined to follow their
recommendations or perceived endorsements of an alliance partner.
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By choosing good alliances it is possible to build all sorts of creative
campaigns to increase the customer base. They could advertise jointly
throw a party or event together team up to support local charities.
The alliances are a form of networking that shares the common goal of
growing each other’s customers’ base because two heads are often better
than one.
(6) Use Radio TV and Newspaper advertising, Just us café through mass
media can vastly increase the number of customers but many business
devalue this kind of effort because they are not willing to pay for
advertising.
As Just us café is on a tight budget, classified ads in local newspapers are
an easy way to enter the local and market. There are many neighborhood
papers, professional newsletter trade journals and other publications that
offer strategically targeted ad opportunities.
Just us café could also use press release in case they change their menu
and offer more products like cinnamon and pumpkin.
(7) Train and support employee to improve their skills.
Valued employees are the ones that Just us café should invest in to help
them further their careers and skills by developing a sense of ownership
and responsibility that can boost a business customer’s base dramatically.
These employees might profit through attending sales or marketing
workshops but these investments all payoffs when the employees are able
to attract more customers from outside the business and perhaps even
charge them a higher rate for more specialized service.
(8) Improve the conversion rate for leads and Contacts.
Keeping tabs on leads or sending contacts costly mailing can be a drain
not an asset.
Just us should know their customers personally understand their wants
and needs, once a new contract enters the leads database they are
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automatically cultivated and nurtured to become paying clients without
doing any extra marketing or advertising.
(9) Covert a single customer into multiple customers.
One of the easiest ways to increase the numbers of customers is to concentrate
on those already in database Just Us café can introduce new products lines and
convince the existing customers to purchase them which is also good as landing
a new customer.
(10) Introduce new media social media and improve the website.
Social media like a Facebook page and a twitter account will act as a customer
magnet that never sleeps and a business presence that extends around the
entire world almost overhead free.
Make the website interested and easy to navigate make incentives irresistible
and continue to emphasize a call to action, otherwise internet surveys will never
convert into useful leads and real customers.
Just us rather than asking for extensive information, for instance, they should
only get mailed email address so that follow –up can be done through other
methods and means.
By Just us café attracting only one percent of them and 1,000 new customers will
show up within the first four weeks an astonishing results that is entirely plausible
and achievable.
(11) Increase visible exposure
Brand recognition is powerful Just Us café should capitalize on visible exposure
at every possible opportunity and it will increase the customer base while
strengthening the brand
Just us café should not use generic shopping bags but put business logos and
tagline on them. They should give away key chains, coffee mugs that double as
promotional items looking for every chance to come out from the shadows. Put
up signs; buy uniforms with logos on them and plain delivery vehicles with
advertising messages. To be seen by potential clients, the greater is the chance
for that business to increase its customer base in a short period of time.
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4.0(a) Outdated Marketing:
3. Should Just Us! Integrate new media to promote its brand.
Introduction:
Presently at Just Us Café, print media and the cafes themselves are used for
local advertising from Exhibit 8; the current marketing program could be
improved through increasing the advertising budget and using student
magazines and discount coupons on a monthly or quarterly basis to tap the
student market.
Also Public Relations events and sponsorship should be increased to at least 3
or 4 times a year.
Electronic newsletters could be issued monthly to existing customers and
prospective new customers at very low cost and could reach a new market
segment and target market.
(Bridges, 1992, p92-123), say that brand equity is of interest to managers
because of brand loyalty and brand extensions. Brand equity has a positive
relationship with brand loyalty. Brand extensions are areas that are affected by
the original brand’s equity.
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At Just Us the brand is well recognized at its locations and could be improved,
extended to the Major Universities and all the stores and distribution outlets in
Canada to start with by offering more products.
(West, Ford & Ibrahim, 2006) describes brand personality as the embodiment of
personality traits of the consumer in the brand itself. Just Us Café could leverage
its brand through multiple channels of distribution besides the grocery stores.
Just Us could set up cafes and carts in hospitals, banks, office, buildings,
supermarket and shopping centres.
Office coffee suppliers, hotels and airlines are large segment markets which an
established brand could tap through licensing agreements.
(McGuiness, Brennan, Gendall, 1995) define product sampling as a sales
promotion technique by marketers to encourage “consumer trial”. ‘Free Samples’
could be issued to introduce new products into the market and they normally
have long term effects which could potentially increase the current market share.
Just Us Café should introduce loyalty card scheme and member’s scheme and
award loyal customers after attaining certain spends.
(Holmes and Lett, 1977) free samples are generally considered to be delicate to
new products. They are effective in generating world of mouth for new products.
Just us café should use free samples to increase new products segment
penetration and expand its customers through this.
At Grand Pre location, the visitors should be given coupons and promotion ads
on the products and cafes of Just Us so as to tap a new market segment.
(Ries and Ries, 1998a) emphasize the importance of being the owner of a word
in the customer’s mind and that impression of quality is more important than
actual quality. Just Us café should reiterate their story of humble beginning and
the fact that they are certified fair trade pioneers.
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Brands connected to quality in the customers mind are more successful in
respect of both market share and profitability. Hence by Just Us introducing new
variants through brand extensions, purchasers of the old brands would have
something new to try in addition to the core line.
(Kotler and Keller, 2012) allude that brand value chain is a structured approach
to assessing the sources and outcomes of brand equity and the way marketing
activities create brand value. (See Figure 9.6). It’s based on several premises.
First, brand value creation begins when the firm targets actual or potential
customers by investing in marketing program to develop the brand, including
product research, development, and design; trade or intermediary support; and
marketing communications. Just Us Café should increase its marketing program
budget to cater for the fore-mentioned activities.
Next, they assume customers’ mind-sets, buying behavior, and response to price
will change as a result of the marketing program; the question is how. Finally,
the investment community will consider market performance, replacement cost
and purchase price in acquisitions (among other factors) to assess shareholder
value in general and the value of a brand in particular.
The model also assumes that three multipliers moderate the transfer between the
marketing program and the subsequent three value stages.
The program multiplier determines the marketing program’s ability to affect
the customer mind-set and is a function of the quality of the program
investment.
The customer multiplier determines the extent to which value created in
the minds of customers affects market performance. This result depends
on competitive superiority (how effective the quantity and quality of the
marketing investment of other competing brands are), channel and other
intermediary support (how much brand reinforcement and selling effort
various marketing partners are putting forth), and customer size and
profile (how many and what types of customers, profitable or not, are
attracted to the brand).
The market multiplier determines the extent to which the value shown by
the market performance of a brand is manifested in shareholder value. It
depends, in part, on the actions of financial analysts and investors.
Just Us café should embrace the concept of the Brand Value chain by
narrating their early humble beginnings and their high ethical standards of
their products. Perhaps Just Us café could consider partnering with major
competitors to increase their customer’s size and profile and at the same time
minimize competition rivalry.
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(Doyle and Stern, 2006), suggest the below drawn framework for improving
brand performance. Just Us Café should improve the brand performance by not
including too much information on it and focus on its core value of being a
certified fair trade producer and build around it. It will improve productivity and
raise sales volume.
(Ries and Ries, 1998b) also further emphasize that first publicity then advertising.
At Just Us to be successful in launching new brands it has to concentrate more
on publicity (as opposed to advertising) in the media. The best way for Just Us
to do this is to be the first brand in a new category. When the novelty value has
subsided there has to be investment to maintain the brand’s position. This
should be treated as an investment, not a cost.
The increased advertising budget could be used to increase public relations
channel so as to improve the brand awareness and should also be used to
promote TV advertising and Radio Interviews as this reaches a large number of
local people.
Improving Brand
Performance
Raise Volume Improve
Productivity
Brand
Revitalization
Brand
Repositioning
Raise Prices Cut Costs
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4(b) Social Media:
(Birgelen, Wetzels, Ruyter, 1997) submits that the benefits of customer loyalty to
an organization are numerous, loyal customers are less price sensitive. Just Us
Café should introduce loyalty card program and they should offer member-only
deals, rebates at some threshold level of spending, redeemable points, and/or
eligibility for drawings and contests.
Sales promotion can be used to boost the loyal customer base especially during
the slack periods like January although its effects are usually short term.
(Erdem and Swait, 2004) when a brand fails to deliver what has been promised,
consumers are likely to doubt the sincerity of a brand’s intention.
The Internet website could be improved by having online questionnaires of what
new products the customers want. Also to use cookies to monitor customers
trends and explain why certain customers were not being converted into buying
their products on visiting their websites.
Just Us should cease from acquiring old cinemas which are costly to renovate
and probably will not yield appropriate profits in return but instead open more
coffee shops in Nova Scotia and Halifax to try and consolidate the local market.
To expand the customer loyal base, just us cafe not only have promoted credible
brand products but also to advertise the same. Ideally just us cafe should as
social media to expand the loyal customer base via face book, twitter and a
reliable updated website.
In the Strategic Direction Journal, Vol 28 issue 6), pp24-27, it states that
“Electronic marketing is free. There are no printing paper, postage or
mailing costs. By dedicating one person to social media marketing, you
will reach thousands of consumers who are waiting to hear more about
your brand. It’s not the size of the business but the speed that matters”.
Therefore Just Us café should embrace social media like face book and twitter.
The benefits associated with social media are that the business would tap into
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this data stream and connect on a personal level, it would catch trends and
market shifts as they happen.
Just Us café would less likely to be caught with a warehouse full of outdated
inventory or unfilled back orders as they would be listening to customers in real
time. They could re-innovate their product lines and improve service.
For multi-location business like Just Us they would hear about customers
experience with the company via social media before a disgruntled customer
calls in and complain. Social media marketing would give the company an
opportunity to personally monitor the quality of the company’s customer service.
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Just Us Café should also use the 4P marketing program for all their products as
illustrated below.
Source: Adopted from Marketing Management book by Philip Kotler and
Gray Armstrong, 13th
Edition, 2008, pp76
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5.0 Appendices
Appendix: The 5C analysis framework:
Please refer to the detailed 5C analysis as outlined above.
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Appendix : Pestel Analysis Framework:
Please refer to the detailed Pestel analysis as outlined above.
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Appendix: Swot:
Weaknesses
-Availability of
substitutes.
-High Production costs
-Lack of sufficient
marketing budget.
-Lack of multi channels
of distribution.
Strengths
-A Strong Brand &
Certified Fair Products.
-Loyal Customer Base.
-Unique Culture.
-Promote equality
Opportunities
-Emergence of
International and
domestic markets.
-Social Media.
Threats
-Emergence of
International and
domestic competitors.
-Economic Recession.
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Appendix: 7 steps of franchising 1
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Appendix: Financial Diagrams
JUST US CAFE VARIANCES ANALYSIS
ANALYSIS OF THE ACTUAL REVENUE VS BUDGETED REVENUES
BY CAFÉ AND PRODUCT CATEGORY
Grand Pre
Variance
Barrington
Variance
Wolfville
Variance
Spring
Garden
Total
Variance
Average
Variance
Coffee $ (12,022.00) $ (13,713.00) $ (14,650.00) $ (8,152.00) $ (48,537.00) $ (12,134.25)
Drinks $ 12,263.00 $ (32,706.00) $ (80,553.00) $ (44,045.00) $ (145,041.00) $ (36,260.25)
Just Us! Products $ (19,893.00) $ 88,729.00 $ 125,507.00 $ 124,022.00 $ 318,365.00 $ 79,591.25
Merchandise $ (41,349.00) $ 3,039.00 $ (10,777.00) $ (10,273.00) $ (59,360.00) $ (14,840.00)
Bodum $ 4,850.00 $ (767.00) $ (2,453.00) $ 97.00 $ 1,727.00 $ 431.75
Lunches $ 9,772.00 $ 16,332.00 $ (12,808.00) $ 26,931.00 $ 40,227.00 $ 10,056.75
Bakery $ 2,184.00 $ (22,563.00) $ (21,186.00) $ (29,519.00) $ (71,084.00) $ (17,771.00)
Other $ 5,600.00 $ (216.00) $ 9,683.00 $ 119.00 $ 15,186.00 $ 3,796.50
Total Revenues (38,595.00)$ 38,135.00$ (7,237.00)$ 59,180.00$ 51,483.00$ 12,870.75$
Grand Pre café needs to be advertised more through the Radio, TV and word of mouth
Wolfville could be advertised through posters, brochures, leaflets distributed in the hotels and shopping malls
JUST US CAFE REVENUES
QUARTERLY SALES ANALYSIS
BY CAFÉ AND PRODUCT CATEGORY
Grand Pre' Wolfville Barrington Spring Garden
Total for
Quarters
Average for
Quarters
Quarter 1 Sales 134,625.00$ 123,912.00$ 90,562.00$ 123,709.00$ 472,808.00$ 118,202.00$
Quarter 2 Sales 175,217.00$ 138,898.00$ 104,877.00$ 148,356.00$ 567,348.00$ 141,837.00$
Quarter 3 Sales 215,909.00$ 142,984.00$ 112,504.00$ 152,758.00$ 624,155.00$ 156,038.75$
Quarter 4 Sales 213,673.00$ 134,205.00$ 111,142.00$ 180,625.00$ 639,645.00$ 159,911.25$
Sales for the Quarter 1 is less than the other quarters therefore sales promotion and personal selling will be appropriate for this period
as its effect is short term and that’s what Just Us Café requires.
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JUST US CAFES REVENUES
MONTHLY SALES ANALYSIS
BY CAFÉ AND PRODUCT CATEGORY
Grand Pre' Wolfville Barrington
Spring
Garden Total Sales Average Sales
Jan 42,342.00$ 39,907.00$ 31,831.00$ 40,849.00$ 154,929.00$ 12,910.75$
Feb 47,541.00$ 41,493.00$ 30,182.00$ 41,064.00$ 160,280.00$ 13,356.67$
Mar 44,742.00$ 42,512.00$ 28,549.00$ 41,796.00$ 157,599.00$ 13,133.25$
Apr 51,744.00$ 47,461.00$ 32,537.00$ 49,115.00$ 180,857.00$ 15,071.42$
May 61,623.00$ 46,301.00$ 36,503.00$ 50,382.00$ 194,809.00$ 16,234.08$
Jun 61,850.00$ 45,136.00$ 35,837.00$ 48,859.00$ 191,682.00$ 15,973.50$
Jul 67,890.00$ 45,132.00$ 36,737.00$ 46,677.00$ 196,436.00$ 16,369.67$
Aug 79,159.00$ 47,902.00$ 36,015.00$ 46,679.00$ 209,755.00$ 17,479.58$
Sep 68,860.00$ 49,950.00$ 39,752.00$ 59,402.00$ 217,964.00$ 18,163.67$
Oct 75,790.00$ 44,780.00$ 40,229.00$ 61,334.00$ 222,133.00$ 18,511.08$
Nov 57,545.00$ 43,571.00$ 34,476.00$ 56,973.00$ 192,565.00$ 16,047.08$
Dec 80,338.00$ 45,854.00$ 36,437.00$ 62,318.00$ 224,947.00$ 18,745.58$
Total 739,424.00$ 539,999.00$ 419,085.00$ 605,448.00$ 2,303,956.00$ 191,996.33$
Monthly
Average 61,618.67$ 44,999.92$ 34,923.75$ 50,454.00$ 191,996.33$
The first three months that’s from January to March loyal customers could be given, allowances & small gifts to boost sales
37. Just Us Final Assignment
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FAIRVIEW TRADE OVERVIEW
Annual Growth in Volume of Fair Trade Certified Products Sold in Canada (%)
2004 2005 2006 2007
Average
Growth
Coffee 41% 52% 66% 55% 54%
Cocoa 115% 96% 91% 0% 76%
Sugar 139% 158% 97% 63% 114%
Tea 54% 74% 68% 342% 135%
Volume of Fair Trade Certified Products Sold in Canada
Average
Market
Share %
Average
Growth %
Relative
Market Share
Growth rate
(2007)
Market Share
(2007)
Relative Market
Share
Coffee 83% 54% 1.00 55% 80% 1.00
Cocoa 11% 76% 0.13 0% 9% 0.11
Sugar 5% 114% 0.06 63% 8% 0.10
Tea 1% 135% 0.01 342% 3% 0.03750
Growth rates(2007) for Coffee is 55%, Cocoa is 0%, Sugar is 63% and Tea is 342%
Market Share(2007) for Coffee is 80%, Cocoa is 9%, Sugar is 8% and Tea is 3%
To get relative market share all the market shareof the four products was divided by 80%
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FAIRVIEW TRADE OVERVIEW
JUST US MARKET GROWTH RATE VS RELATIVE MARKET SHARE FOR 2007
Products
Market
growth
rate
2007
Market
Share
(2007)
Relative
Market
Share(2007)
Coffee 55% 80% 1.00
Cocoa 0% 9% 0.11
Sugar 63% 8% 0.10
Tea 342% 3% 0.03750
Growth rates(2007) for Coffee is 55%, Cocoa is 0%, Sugar is 63% and Tea is 342%
Market Share(2007) for Coffee is 80%, Cocoa is 9%, Sugar is 8% and Tea is 3%
To get relative market share all the market shareof the four products was divided by 80%
40. Just Us Final Assignment
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Journals
1. Adams R.J 2002, “Retail profitability and sweatshops a global dilemma” A
journal of Retailing & Consumer Services (pp147-153)
2. Bergen, M and Peteraf, M, 2002, Competitor Analysis: A Broad-Based
Managerial Approach, Managerial and Decision Economics, Vol23. No
4/5, (pp1255-1271)
3. Customer Value Metrics by Bruno Busacca, Michele Costabile, Fabio
Ancarani, 2008, Journal in Advances in Business Marketing and
Purchasing.
4. Erdem, T and Swait. J (2004) “Brand credibility, brand consideration and
choice, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 31, No. 3,(pp. 191-8)
5. Holmes, J.H and Lett, J.D (Jr (1977), “Product Sampling and word of
mouth”, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 17 No.5, (pp35-40)
6. International e-marketing: opportunities and issues by Jagdish N Sheth,
Arun Sharma, an International Marketing Review Journal.
7. Maximising productivity and capability: issue of professional development
for franchisees, an International journal of productivity and performance
management, Vol 53 Issue 4 (pp. 345-352) by Paul Davis.
8. McGuiness, D, Brennan, M and Gendall, P (1995), “The effect of product
sampling and couponing on purchase behavior. Some empirical
evidence” International Journal of Advertising, Vol 14 (pp. 219-30).
9. Product elimination and the Product Life Cycle concept by George J.
Avlonitis. A European journal of marketing (Vol 24, Issue 9 (pp. 55-67).
10.Strategic Direction, Vol 28 Issue 6), pp24-27, A journal on new media
needs marketing.
11.Towards a New Model for Product Portfolio Analysis by R.A Proctor, J.S
Hazard (1990), Management Decision, Vol 28, Issue 3.
41. Just Us Final Assignment
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Papers
1. Birgelen, M; Wetzels, M and de Ruyter, K (1997), “Commitment in
service relationships: an empirical test of its ancedents and
consequences” EMAC conference Proceedings. University of Warwick,
(pp1255-71).
2. Bridges S(1992), A schema Unification model of Brand Extensions,
Report Number (pp92-123), Marketing Science Institute, Cambridge,
M.A
