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LEGAL DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY AND INDEMNITY
Whilst an earnest effort has been by the research team to ensure the high quality and accuracy of
the report and its recommendations, the members of the research team, Lejla Hajdarhodzic,
Sean Liebel, Jake Malarz and Qazi Mohammad shall in no event be held liable for any actions or
consequences that may relate to the report.
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- 4. iv
© 2007 Brick City Consultants: Lejla Hajdarhodzic, Sean Liebel, Jake Malarz, Qazi Mohammad – Permission Required
- 5. v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY …………………………………………………………………………… vii
PREFACE ……………………………………………………………………………………………. ix
ASSUMPTIONS ……………………………………………………………………………………... x
INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………………………. 1
The Goal of the Report ………………………………………………………………………. 1
Mahany Welding Supply …………………………………………………………………….. 1
Analysis and Research Methods …………………………………………………………... 1
OVERVIEW OF CLIENT’S CURRENT SITUATION …………………………………………….. 2
Environmental Audit – External Business Environment ………………………………. 2
Porter’s 5 Forces Model …………………………………………………………………... 2
Customer Analysis – Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning ………………………….. 4
Competition Analysis ……………………………………………………………………… 5
Environmental Audit – Internal Business Environment ……………………………….. 6
McKinsey 7s Model ……………………………………………………………………….. 6
Supply/Value Chain ……………………………………………………………………….. 8
Current Marketing Activities ………………………………………………………………. 9
Current Website Traffic …………………………………………………………………… 10
SWOT Analysis ………………………………………………………………………………... 11
Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………….. 11
INTERNET MARKETING OBJECTIVES ………………………………………………………… 13
Ansoff’s Growth Matrix ……………………………………………………………………… 14
Objectives ……………………………………………………………………………………… 14
POSSIBLE STRATEGIES ………………………………………………………………………….. 15
Internet Marketing Strategies ………………………………………………………………. 16
Online Branding ……………………………………………………………………………. 16
Online Advertising …………………………………………………………………………. 16
E-commerce Business Models …………………………………………………………… 16
Relationship Marketing ……………………………………………………………………. 16
E-Procurement …………………………………………………………………………….. 16
Partnerships with Colleges ……………………………………………………………….. 17
Training Facility Expansion ……………………………………………………………….. 17
Welding Certification ……………………………………………………………………… 17
SELECTED STRATEGIES ………………………………………………………………………… 18
Selection Criteria ……………………………………………………………………………… 19
Cost and Return on Investment ………………………………………………………… 19
Target Market ……………………………………………………………………………… 19
Competition Benchmark Analysis ………………………………………………………... 19
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Strategies Map ………………………………………………………………………………… 20
Online Store ……………………………………………………………………………………. 21
Tactic 1: Online Store ……………………………………………………………………... 21
Tactic 2: E-Procurement ………………………………………………………………….. 33
Online Branding ………………………………………………………………………………. 34
Tactic 1: Website Design …………………………………………………………………. 34
Tactic 2: Online Partnerships …………………………………………………………….. 38
Tactic 3: Customer Testimonials ………………………………………………………… 42
Search Engine Marketing ……………………………………………………………………. 45
Tactic 1: Search Engine Optimization …………………………………………………… 45
Tactic 2: Google Adwords ………………………………………………………………… 50
Tactic 3: Online Portals …………………………………………………………………… 56
Relationship Marketing ………………………………………………………………………. 58
Tactic 1: Customer Relationship Marketing …………………………………………….. 58
Tactic 2: User Accounts …………………………………………………………………... 59
Tactic 3: Online Referral System ………………………………………………………… 60
Tactic 4: Online Instruction Videos ………………………………………………………. 61
Tactic 5: FAQ Section ……………………………………………………………………. 62
IMPLEMENTATION, METRICS AND CONTROL ……………………………………………….. 63
Timeline of Implementation …………………………………………………………………. 64
Metrics and Controls for Each Strategy …………………………………………………. 64
Internet Marketing Objectives Control …………………………………………………… 65
Online Store Control ………………………………………………………………………. 65
Online Branding Control …………………………………………………………………... 66
Search Engine Marketing Control ………………………………………………………. 66
Relationship Marketing Control …………………………………………………………... 68
The Changed Internal Business Environment – 7s Revisited ………………………… 68
Cost and Return on Investment ……………………………………………………………. 71
Contingency Plans ……………………………………………………………………………. 71
EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT ………………………………………………………………... 72
CONCLUSION ……………………………………………………………………………………… 73
WORKS CITED ……………………………………………………………………………………… 74
APPENDIX A – CUSTOMER SURVEY AND FLIER …………………………………………… 77
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The research team conducted primary and secondary research to first evaluate Mahany’s current
situation. This research consisted of competitive benchmark analysis and weekly meetings with
the client. Further research included consultation with internet marketing experts (Thomas
Craver and Neil Hair) and outside vendors (Stream Team) and a review of relevant marketing
literature.
The research team concluded that the proposed e-commerce strategies should create value for
the current customers in addition to attracting potential new clients. Thus the proposed internet
marketing plan aims at achieving three objectives within the first six months:
Market Penetration:
1. Maintain the current 100% customer retention rate through online-enabled customer
value creation.
2. During the first six months of the plan’s implementation increase repeat purchase by
10%.
Market Expansion:
1. During the first six months of the plan’s implementation increase customer base by 3%,
or by 20 customers (on top of the semi-annual 3% growth rate).
To achieve these objectives the research team recommends implementing four strategies. These
were selected from a pool of possible strategies on the basis of four criteria: cost, return on
investment, benchmark of competition and the target market. The four strategies and their
underlying tactics are depicted below. The Online Store strategy facilitates online purchase and
thus supports all three internet marketing objectives. The Relationship Marketing strategy and
the Online Branding strategy also work towards the three objectives and they support online sales
conversion by creating value for customers. The Search Engine Marketing strategy supports the
three marketing objectives and it promotes the other three strategies.
For each tactic the research team specified a set of metrics and targets for measuring progress
and success. A number of control tools were also identified, such as Google AdWords and
Analytics, Alexa.com and Stream Team’s website logs and reports. The research team’s timeline
of implementation recommends implementing the Online Store, Online Branding and Relationship
Marketing strategies immediately by purchasing Stream Team’s online solutions suite. It is
recommended to implement the Search Engine Marketing strategy next in order to promote the
online store.
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The quoted cost of Stream Team’s online solutions suite is $3,500. The cost of the Search
Engine Marketing strategy is $450. Thus the total estimated cost of the proposed marketing plan
is $4,000. The projected revenue increase in the first six months is 3% (on top of the semi-
annual 3% growth), which amounts to $7,500. Thus the return on investment within the first six
months is $3,500.
Jun 06 – Nov 06 Dec 06 – May 07 Jun 06 – Nov 07 Dec 07 – May 08
Cost $4,000 $300 $450 $300
Increase In $7,500 $7,500 $7,500 $7,500
Revenue
Return on $3,500 $7,200 $7,050 $7,200
Investment
Aggregate ROI $3,500 $10,700 $17,750 $24,950
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- 9. ix
PREFACE
The marketing report is written within the framework of five questions1. The first question is an
overview of the client’s current business situation. The research team answers this question
using the Environmental Audit and the SWOT analysis. The second question involves setting
goals for the marketing plan and it is answered in the Internet Marketing Objectives section. The
next question looks at the possible means of achieving the set objectives. It is here, in the
Possible Strategies section, that the research team considers the client’s and the marketing
plan’s goals and finds creative online means of reaching these goals. The next question,
answered in the Selected Strategies section, requires an analysis of the proposed strategies and
selection of the optimal mix of strategies. Here, the research team develops each strategy and
describes in detail the tactics that support each strategy. Finally, the fifth question deals with the
implementation, cost, return on investment, and control of the marketing plan.
The research team recommends reading the report in the order it is written. The first section (the
first question) is a testimony to the research team’s due diligence in the research it conducted to
clearly understand Mahany’s business, customers, competition, and goals. The objectives
section provides the focus of the report and is crucial to the remainder of the report. It is also
important to recognize the fact the research team considered a wide range of strategies and that
it chose the optimal ones after careful analysis.
The report clearly explains how each strategy works towards the set objectives. Each tactic is
carefully explained and precise details are provided on how it is to be implemented. The
research team provides the metrics, targets and tools for measuring the success of each tactic.
These last two sections, Selected Strategies and Implementing, Metrics and Control, are equally
crucial to grasping the main thrust of this report.
1 Gilligan, C. AND Wilson, R.M.S., 2003. Strategic Marketing Planning. Burlington: Butterworth-Heinemann
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ASSUMPTIONS
Overall the research team conducted this consultancy with a very clear understanding of the
client’s needs and his attitudes towards the proposed ideas. This was done thanks to the weekly
meetings with Mahany’s president. As such, the team was operating under only a small set of
assumptions.
The first assumption concerned the budget for this plan. The client did not specify what he would
be willing to spend on the proposed internet marketing campaign. He did say that he was willing
to invest into the proposed ideas if they were justified by return on investment estimates. Based
on this assumption the research team did not stick to a strict budget but it did provide the return
on investment estimates for the proposed plan.
The research team also made a number of assumptions regarding Mahany’s customers. The
proposed customer survey was not published on Mahany’s website in time for the results to
weigh in the recommendations of this proposal. As such, the research team had to rely on the
client’s experience with his customers and on benchmarking against the competition.
While the cost estimates contained within this report are fairly accurate, the returns on investment
figures are based on the assumptions that the minimum targets and objectives are met on time.
These figures may differ depending on actual customer demand after the implementation of the
online store.
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INTRODUCTION
The Goal of the Report
The goal of the report is to document the research team’s consultancy process and to present the
findings, suggestions, and conclusions of the proposed Mahany internet marketing plan. The
report follows the research team’s efforts to audit the client’s current situation, to set the internet
marketing objectives, to identify and select strategies and to specify costs, return on investment
estimates, metrics, and controls.
Mahany Welding Supply
Mahany Welding Supplies is a family-owned small business located in Rochester, New York. In
addition to selling welding supplies and equipment Mahany also offers welding certification
courses, welding courses, consultancy, and equipment rental. Mahany Welding is very much
customer focused and its mission statement is: “We don’t have customers; we have friends that
buy from us”.
Mahany’s shared values emphasize trust, customer retention, frequent contact, quality over price,
and building a customer for life. The company prides itself for providing a complete service rather
than just a product, and for creating a “clean image” within the welding industry. Mahany’s goal,
as conveyed by the company’s president, is to become the best welding supply store in
Rochester.
Analysis and Research Methods
The research team referred to several models during its analysis process. These included:
Environmental Audit
Porter’s 5 Forces Model
Customer Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning
Competition Benchmark Analysis Matrix
McKinsey 7s Model
SWOT Analysis
Ansoff’s Growth Matrix
The research team conducted the following primary research:
Weekly meetings with Mike Krupnicki, president of Mahany
Consultancy with Thomas Craver, Web/Database Specialist
Consultancy with Neil Hair, Professor of Marketing at RIT
Benchmark Analysis of 7 competitors
The research team designed a customer survey which Stream Team is in the process of
publishing (on Mahany’s website). A copy of this survey is found in Appendix A. The team also
designed a flier which the client mailed out to his current customers, along with their monthly
statements. The flier can also be found in Appendix A. Secondary research of relevant literature
was also conducted to further substantiate the research team’s findings.
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OVERVIEW OF CLIENT’S CURRENT SITUATION
The research team first examines Mahany’s current business environment using the
Environmental Audit framework. The team’s findings are then summarized in the SWOT Analysis
and appropriate conclusions are drawn. This analysis forms the basis for the next stage of
planning, namely setting the objectives and selecting the strategies.
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Environmental Audit1 – External Business Environment
The three main components of the External Business Environment are the Porter’s 5 Forces
model, the analysis of the customer base and the overview of the competition.
Porter’s 5 Forces Model2
The Porte’s 5 Forces Model allows the research team to assess the competitive nature of the
welding supply industry. Figure 1 below depicts this model, and what follows is its application to
Mahany Welding.
Figure 1: A diagram of Porter’s 5 Forces
Bargaining Power of Suppliers:
The research team looked at several big suppliers, such as Miller Electric and Airgas, to
determine how influential these companies are within the welding supply industry. Unfortunately,
given the fact that Mahany is a small company, compared to some of its suppliers, it does not
have any influence on the business operations of its suppliers. As such, the bargaining power of
Mahany’s suppliers should be considered.
Bargaining Power of New Entrants:
The research team did not identify any recently formed welding supply stores. Because the
barriers to entry are quiet high in this industry it is safe to assume that the bargaining power of
new entrants will be marginal.
1
BROWNLIE, D. 1999. Benchmarking your marketing process. Long Range Planning. 32 (1), 88.
2
REIMANN, C., R. 1989. Sustaining the competitive advantage. Planning Review. 17 (2), 30.
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Bargaining power of customers:
Mahany does not have big customers, since no one customer accounts for more than 5% of the
business. Furthermore, Mahany sells welding supplies to a wide range of industries, which
reduces the company’s exposure to downturns in certain industries. Lastly, as described by
Mahany’s president, the business is not seasonal and the demand for certain products, such as
the welding gas canisters, remains steady. Thus the bargaining power of any single one customer
is not that great.
Threat of Substitutes:
There exists a threat of current customers switching to other suppliers, be they online or offline.
The research team learned of several unsuccessful attempts by the competitors to steal
Mahany’s current customers. It is unclear how big this threat is but it should certainly be
considered as more companies start buying their supplies online.
Conclusion – Competitive Rivalry Within the Industry:
As more companies switch over to e-procurement the welding supply industry will become more
competitive. The research team observed this increased competition on the national scale and
suspects that it is only a matter of time before smaller companies, such as Mahany, Jackson or
Danes also experience it. It is therefore crucial for Mahany to prepare for this shift by
implementing the right e-commerce strategies.
Customer Analysis – Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning1
Customer Analysis allows the research team to better understand Mahany’s customers and to
identify potential new ones.
Segmentation:
Mahany’s current customer can be segmented based on several criteria, including the customer’s
industry, volume of business, geographical location and the types of products/services it
purchases.
Most Mahany customers can be categorized within the following industries:
Sheet metal companies
Fabrication businesses (building companies)
Trucking companies
Collision shops
Farmers
Highway department
Other entities that have a maintenance department
Private individuals and hobbyists
Mahany’s customers can also be divided into three revenue groups: the top 25 customers, the
next 700 active customers and a couple thousand of other, inactive, customers that reside in
Mahany’s database. Geographical segmentation reveals that most of Mahany’s customers are
located within a 40-mile radius of the company, whilst others remain in the Western New York
area.
1
MAGRATH, A. 1988. Segmentation and differentiation positioning strategies are timeless. Marketing News. 22 (22), 18.
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Lastly, Mahany’s customers can divided based on what they purchase. The following is a list of
the main products and services sold by Mahany:
Welding supplies (consumable goods such as welding wire)
Welding capital equipment (such as welding machines)
Welding training
Welding certifications
Consultancy
Targeting:
The research team identified local area customers (within a 40-mile radius) as the current target
market. Possible target markets, besides the current one, include nationwide customers from
within the same industry as current customers.
Positioning:
In order to further penetrate the current market, and to expand into new markets, Mahany needs
an e-commerce business model. The research team believes that this approach will be the most
effective method of reaching the desired target market.
Competition Analysis
Mahany’s president estimates that there are roughly 5,000 welding distributors in the US. The
research team has identified and examined several competitors that can be classified into one of
three categories: direct local, direct national and indirect.
Direct Local Competitors:
Mahany’s biggest local direct competitors include:
Jackson Welding Supply - http://www.jacksonweldingsupply.com/index.php
Jackson Welding Supply is seen as the current market leader in Rochester but it
is declining.
Rochester Welding Supply - http://www.rochweld.com/main.shtml
Rochester Welding Supply Corporation is wholesale and retail distributor of
industrial gases and other welding equipment.
Danes Welding Supplies - http://www.danesweldingsupplies.com/
Danes Welding Supplies is another local distributor of welding supplies and
equipment.
Direct National Competitors:
Mahany’s direct national competitors tend to be bigger firms. These include the following:
Cyberweld - http://www.cyberweld.com/
Cyberweld is an impressive online store. It implements Yahoo’s E-Commerce
solutions, including an online store and PayPal.
Indian Oxygen Company - http://www.indianaoxygen.com/
Indiana Oxygen is a family-owned welding supply store. Its website contains an
excellent product catalog and links directly into an e-Bay online store.
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Quimby Corporation - http://www.quimbycorp.com/
Quimby’s online store and catalog are perhaps the most basic ones from the list
of websites that were thus far reviewed by the research team.
Airgas - http://www.airgas.com/
Airgas is perhaps Mahany’s biggest national competitor. It is a big company and
its online store and catalogs are exemplary.
Indirect Competitors:
The research team identified several indirect competitors that do not specialize in welding
supplies by nonetheless sell them. The two main categories that these indirect suppliers fall into
are mailing catalogs and local industrial suppliers.
The major mailing catalogs include the following:
Grainger catalog
MSC - http://www1.mscdirect.com/cgi/nnsrhm
McMaster Carr - http://www.mcmaster.com/
Some of the local industrial suppliers include the following:
Hanes Supply - http://www.hanessupply.com/
Abrasive Tool Company - http://www.aaabrasives.com
Brede Supply - http://www.bredesupply.com/
Admor - http://www.admor.co.uk/
Specialty Tool Depot - www.specialtytoolsusa.com
Tractor Supply - http://www.mytscstore.com/
Environmental Audit – Internal Business Environment
The main components of the Internal Business Environment are the 7s Model, Supply/Value
Chain, and the current marketing activities.
McKinsey 7s Model1
The McKisney 7s Model is used to analyze Mahany’s internal business operations and
organizations. The seven components of this model are depicted in figure 2 below.
1
Kaplan, S., R. (2005). How the Balanced Scorecard Enhances the McKinsey 7-S Model [online]. Harvard Business Online.
Available from:
http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b02/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=B0503D [Accessed 4 May 2005].
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Figure 2: A diagram of McKinsey 7s Model
Shared Values:
Mahany Welding is very much customer focused and its mission statement is “We don’t have
customers; we have friends that buy from us”. Mahany’s shared values emphasize trust,
customer retention, frequent contact, quality over price, and building a customer for life. The
company prides itself for providing a complete service rather than just a product, and for creating
a “clean image” within the welding industry. Mahany’s goal, as conveyed by the company’s
president, is to become the best welding supply store in Rochester.
Structure:
Mahany has two facilities that act as store houses and distribution centers for welding supplies.
There are only two levels of management that comprise of the president and everyone else.
Systems:
Mahany’s current website is hosted and supported by Stream Team. The Stream Team can
implement an e-commerce module into the website along with other upgrades. Mahany’s current
accounting system has been described as a “fortress” by the company’s president. This refers to
the fact that the consultant who built and maintains this system is not keen on changing it or
allowing any one else to access it. This presents a possible problem, and Mahany’s president has
indicated that he is willing to purchase a separate accounting system for the e-commerce
venture.
Style:
Mahany’s business style focuses on quality, not quantity of business, and on building a customer
for life. This means that customer retention and increase in repeat purchases is sought in favor of
new customer acquisition
Staff and Skill:
Mahany employs fewer than 20 staff members. There is only one salesman and no one is in
charge of marketing. Mike Krupnicki, the president, fulfills many of the roles within the company
that are not covered by any particular staff member. Outside consultants, such as the Stream
Team, are hired to fulfill other tasks (such as managing the website).
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Strategy:
Mahany’s basic business model involves buying welding supplies form suppliers and selling them
to welders, in addition to selling training and certifications, renting equipment and offering advice.
Mahany’s business strategy focuses on customer retention and increasing repeat purchase,
especially from the top 25 customers. This really is a defensive strategy which yields annual
growth of roughly 6%.
Supply/Value Chain1
In order to map out Mahany’s supply chain the research team interviewed the company’s
president and conducted online research. Figure 3 below depicts the Mahany’s supply chain and
it helps one visualize how customer value is created and added on along this chain.
1
FOSTER, T., 2007. Into the depths of the I-E-I framework: using the internet to create value in supply-chain relationships. Supply Chain
Management, 12 (2), 96.
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Figure 3: Mahany Business Flow Model – Supply/Value Chain
Current Marketing Activities
Mahany’s president estimates that the company holds a 15% local market share in the welding
supplies industry. On the national scale the firm’s $2.5 million annual revenue is small compared
to the $2 billon industry. Mahany’s annual marketing budget is roughly $10,000 (plus give-aways),
$6,000 of which is spent on an ad in Yellow Pages. Most of the new sales at Mahany are made
by the one salesman over the phone. New customers tend to learn about Mahany through
referrals. Other than these few efforts Mahany does not do much marketing.
Mahany’s marketing objective is to increase repeat purchase and to maintain a high customer
retention rate (which is close to 100%). The company wants to increase the visibility of all its
products within the current customer base in order to reach this objective.
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The research team used the 4P’s model1 to further analyze Mahany’s marketing activities.
Mahany does not want to compete based on price, because in order to do so it would have to
significantly cut its profit margins. Since the highest margins are earned on the consumable
products, such as the welding gases and wires, Mahany wants to focus on selling and promoting
these. Unfortunately the promotion of these products has been limited to what the research team
already pointed out in the preceding paragraphs. Similarly, the placement of these products has
been restricted to the two physical Mahany stores.
Current Website Traffic
The research team was able to obtain Mahany’s current website statistics from Stream Team’s
website logs and reports. The table below lists these statistics. From this table it appears that
Mahany’s website is attracting 55 unique visitors per day on average, or 1650 visitors a month.
General Statistics
Hits Entire Site (Successful) 641,021
Average Per Day 815
Home Page 27,677
Page Views Page Views (Impressions) 194,199
Average Per Day 247
Document Views 75,607
Visits Visits 43,245
Average Per Day 55
Average Visit Length 00:04:17
Median Visit Length 00:01:08
International Visits 3.4%
Visits of Unknown Origin 10.86%
Visits from United States 85.73%
Visitors Unique Visitors 10,412
Visitors Who Visited Once 7,606
1
MA, H. 2006. Key components and implications of entrepreneurship: A 4-P framework. Journal of Business Venturing,
21 (5), 704.
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SWOT Analysis2
The research team next summarizes the findings of the environmental audit using the SWOT
analysis. This analysis outlines Mahany’s core strengths and how these can be used to overcome
the firm’s weaknesses, minimize threats and take advantage of opportunities.
Strengths Weaknesses
• Good distribution business • Size disadvantage over bigger
• Personnel – experience, passion and competitors
enthusiasm • Human resources management
• Well financed • Only recently hired an outside salesman
• Size advantage over bigger competitors • Company is in transition
• Only 2 layers of management • Lack of e-commerce business
• Facility and training lab • Lack of marketing staff
Opportunities Threats
• E-commerce • AirGas (customer loss)
• Offer training to new markets (convicts, • Growth of e-commerce
immigrants) • New York State Government
• More work with colleges • Other industrial supply firms that sell
• Increase repeat business within the welding supplies and equipment
current customer base
• Weakness of competitors
Conclusion
There are several conclusions that can be drawn from the preceding two sections. Given
Mahany’s strong focus on keeping current customers happy, the selected e-commerce strategies
should create value for the current customers in addition to attracting potential new clients. In
order to increase repeat purchase within this customer base Mahany wants to increase the
visibility of all its products. This certainly can be achieved using e-commerce.
Mahany is also interested in using e-commerce to pull in new customers. The company’s
president has expressed the desire to separate the online markespace from the offline
2
AUTRY, C. AND BOND, E. AND HARVEY, M. AND NOVICEVIC, M. 2004. Dual-perspective SWOT: a synthesis of marketing intelligence and
planning. Marketing Intelligence & Planning. 22 (1), 84.
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marketplace. The research team recognizes the fact that this would require a separate back-
office system, which is something the client is willing to implement.
The internet marketing campaign should carry several themes that are in concert with Mahany’s
shared values and other marketing efforts. The website, for example, should convey Mahany’s
focus on customer relationship building, the company’s competitive advantage (after sales
support, knowledge solutions, staff) and the clean image. It should also promote Mahany’s
involvement in the community.
Lastly, the research team recognizes the difference between products that can be categorized as
“razors” (such as the welding machines) and the “razor blades” (the consumable products such
as welding gas). It is important to make this distinction because the “razor blades” yield higher
profit margins and thus should be promoted more than the “razors”.
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INTERNET MARKETING OBJECTIVES
The research team’s next task is to articulate the internet marketing objectives, using the analysis
of the previous section as the basis for this process.
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Ansoff’s Growth Matrix1
The Ansoff’s Growth suggests four strategies for achieving growth, as depicted in figure 4 below:
Figure 4: A diagram of Ansoff’s Matrix
The research team recommends pursuing two growth strategies. The first one is market
penetration, and this focuses on capturing a wider current market share. The second one is
market expansion, or capturing new customers from different markets.
Objectives
The research team has set the following as the objectives for each growth strategy:
Market Penetration:
1. Maintain the current 100% customer retention rate through online-enabled customer
value creation.
2. During the first six months of the plan’s implementation increase repeat purchase by
10%.
Market Expansion:
1. During the first six months of the plan’s implementation increase customer base by 3%,
or by 20 customers (on top of the semi-annual 3% growth rate).
1
ALLAN, P. 2002. Hornby Trains and Ansoff’s Matrix. Business Review. 8 (3), 1.
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POSSIBLE STRATEGIES
After setting the objectives the research team next identifies possible means reaching them.
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Internet Marketing Strategies
Online Branding1
The online branding strategy would allow Mahany to promote its values, competitive advantage,
and its value proposition. This strategy has the potential to attract new customers and increase
repeat purchase.
Online Advertising2
Online advertising is one of several strategies that can be used to draw traffic, and thus potential
customers, to Mahany’s website. Other strategies for achieving this include search engine
optimization, portal registration, and email.
E-commerce Business Models3
There are several e-commerce business models that Mahany can adopt in order to launch its e-
commerce venture. While certain models, such as an online auction host, are not practical other
models, such as online infomediary or an online store, are considered by the research team.
Relationship Marketing4
Relationship Marketing, or Customer Relationship Management (CRM), is a powerful online
strategy for building and strengthening customer relationships. It can be effectively used within a
company that is already customer-focused.
E-Procurement3
The E-Procurement strategy involves utilizing the internet to fine-tune a company’s supply chain
management process. This can result in reduced procurement costs and greater customer value.
1
ROWLEY, J., 2004. Online Branding. Online Information Review, 28 (2), 131.
2
NICHOLSON, S. AND SIERRA, T., 2006. How much of it is real? Analysis of paid placement in Web search engine results.
Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 57 (4), 448.
3
JAWORSKI, B. J. AND RAYPORT, J. F., 2003. Introduction to e-Commerce. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
4
GRONROOS, C., 1996. Relationship marketing: strategic and tactical implications. Management Decision. 34 (3), 5.
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Partnerships with Colleges
Local colleges such as Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Brockport, and Monroe
Community College are already using some of Mahany’s services such as training. This strategy
will become useful online with adding links to their webpage which will enhance the association
with educational facilities.
Training Facility Expansion
The expansion into a new training facility will be a huge opportunity for Mahany, to create more
training traffic. The area needed in order to expand facilities already exists, and Mahany can use
the Internet to find new markets for training new elders.
Welding Certification
A possible strategy Mahany is pursuing is government certification for welding professionals,
which could potentially become a large market. The Internet would enable Mahany to advertise
the certification program as well as find new markets online or offline.
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SELECTED STRATEGIES
The research team next selects several internet marketing strategies based on certain criteria.
The team then explains how each strategy contributes to achieving the objectives and then
outlines the specific tactics for each strategy.
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Selection Criteria
Cost and Return on Investment
The cost of each proposed strategy is the first selection criteria used by the research team.
Given the fact that the budget for this marketing plan is relatively small the research team rules
out those strategies that heavily rely on expensive software, such as supply chain management
and SAP. The return on investment (ROI) of each strategy is also considered and used to pick
out only those strategies that will yield the highest returns. Relatively inexpensive strategies such
as search engine optimization, webpage redesign and online store are thus considered ideal.
Target Market
The second selection criteria are target markets of this marketing plan. Mahany clearly wants to
focus its efforts on attracting local customers from within the Western New York sate area. As
such the selected strategies should not overreach in an effort to attract national customers. This
means that complex CRM systems will not be necessary and thus they will not be considered for
this marketing plan.
Competition Benchmark Analysis
The research team also bases its selection of strategies on what the competition is doing. The
following table depicts a matrix of various online marketing tactics. It also indicates which
competitors have already adopted each tactic.
Competitor Client
Online Marketing Airgas Jackson Cyberweld Rochester Indiana Danes Quimby Mahany
Tactic Welding Oxygen
Online Store Yes Yes Yes No
X
Online Catalog Yes Yes Yes No
Google Ads Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Portals Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Forums No
User Accounts Yes Yes No
Customer Yes No
Testimonials
Online Referrals No
FAQ Section Yes No
Customer Feedback Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Online Customer Yes Yes Yes No
Support
Search and Yes Yes Yes No
Navigation
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It is quiet clear from this benchmark analysis that Mahany is falling behind the curve in terms of
online presence. It also appears that certain online tactics, such as Google Ads, the online store
and online portals, are used by most of the competitors. Other online tactics, such as online
referrals, have not yet been tired by the competition. Mahany can use these tactics to not only
catch up to its competitors but to also get ahead of the curve.
Strategies Map
Figure 5 below depicts the four strategies and how they fit within the framework of this marketing
plan. The Online Store strategy facilitates online purchase and thus supports all three internet
marketing objectives. The Relationship Marketing strategy and the Online Branding strategy also
work towards the three objectives and they support online sales conversion by creating value for
customers. The Search Engine Marketing strategy supports the three marketing objectives and it
promotes the other three strategies.
Figure 5: A diagram of the Strategies Map
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Online Store
The Internet is rapidly becoming an indispensable business tool, creating unprecedented
opportunities for organizations of all sizes. At the same time, consumer Internet usage is growing
dramatically around the world. A well-designed online store can create competitive advantage in
the marketplace, develop loyal customers, and most importantly increase your bottom line. This
strategy creates an additional channel to reach current and new customers. As such, it works
towards increasing repeat purchase and overall sales.
Tactic 1: Online Store
Description:
This is exactly what one may intuitively understand. This is they way B2B markets are headed in
the future. The online store works like a mail order business, except the organization who is
selling the products expand their reach to get customers to a global level. With the help of the
SEO, buyers can get on Mahany’s website and purchase any of their products. If they are willing
to pay the price for shipping and handling, they can have their product. Let it be kept in mind that
Mahany does not only want to sell welding products, but they also want to sell welding solutions.
Execution:
There are three online store systems that the consultants have come up with for Mahany.
Option 1: EBay Store
EBay is its own world. For its popularity as an electronic auctioneer, millions find what they want
just by using EBay’s SEO. They provide various online solutions for business who want to make
that step. They having their own payment systems using credit cards, checks and Pay Pal. EBay
has made it easy for a small company, with one or two extra staff member, such as Mahany to
make good margins on eBay. The online Auctioneer provides three solutions for hosting stores.
Basic Store - The basic store is an ideal solution for lower-volume sellers who already sell on
eBay but want to take the next step with an easy-to-use, customizable Web store. This is viable
for Mahany if they are trying to get rid of certain special inventory which might have accumulated
over the years, or was the product of a sunk cost.
Featured Store - The featured store provides all of the benefits of a Basic Store plus more
advanced customization and business tools. This is a more comprehensive solution for a small to
medium-sized seller who wants to aggressively grow their online business.
Anchor Store - An Anchor store provides all of the benefits of a Featured Store plus increased
marketing support, making it an optimal solution for larger-volume sellers who are looking for
maximum exposure on eBay. Figures 6 and 7 below depict the Basic and the Anchor stores.
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Figure 6: Basic Layout of eBay store Example (eBay)
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Figure 7: Advanced Layout of EBay store Example (EBay)
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Managing Sales on eBay - EBay store includes powerful tools to help manage a business. In
addition to these built-in features, some of the most popular eBay Seller Tools are offered free or
at a discounted price as a benefit of your eBay stores subscription. Mahany can list items using
the “Sell Your Item form” or its favorite “seller tool”. All listing formats, including Auction-style,
Fixed Price, and Store Inventory, will automatically appear in the Store.
Store Inventory - Mahany will have exclusive access to the Store Inventory listing. This lists
products for longer durations. Store Inventory is complementary to Auction-style and Fixed Price
listings. EBay also provides tutorials which help learn the inventory management software.
Store Inventory listings appear in your Store with other regular Online Auction and Fixed Price
listings. They also appear in certain circumstances on eBay.com search results pages.
Visibility on Ebay - When using eBay, Mahany’s store Inventory items will appear in the following
portals:
• eBay.com search and browse results (when eBay's main search returns 30 or fewer
Auction-style and Fixed Price results)
• Mahany’s eBay Store can filter search results and Cross Promote related goods. (This is
consistent to Mahany’s philosophy of providing welding solutions)
• Buy It Now tab (matching Auction-style and Fixed Price results)
• Web searches (see Search Engine Optimization)
• eBay Express (for qualifying Sellers and items)
• eBay express is a faster and easier method for customers who don’t want to deal with
auctions. Everything on eBay Express is offered at a fixed price by top eBay sellers. This
is when just in time sales can occur for Mahany
When customers on eBay express are purchasing from multiple merchants into one shopping
cart, it is possible that some of the products that a purchaser will add to their shopping cart will
belong to the competitor. This allows the purchases to sort out the suppliers and get the best
price.
EBay Tools - Listing and Sales Management
• Markdown Manager: Sales can be increased by creating a Sale that discounts the prices
of your items.
• Vacation Hold: It is possible to put the Client’s listings and Store "on hold" while business
is closed using Vacation Hold. Client can add messages to listings so that buyers know
when the seller is not doing business and when they will be back online. This tool comes
free with an eBay store.
• Turbolister2:Turbolister2 allows more goods to be sold in less time; this is a free
downloadable tool. Using Selling Manager saves time managing sales, re-listing items,
and communicating with buyers. This tool comes free with an eBay store.
• Selling Manager Pro: Allows to Automate, improve, and streamline high-volume sales.
Also manages listings, sales, inventory, feedback, and customer emails in bulk. Plus, use
the Listing Designer. This tool comes free with Anchor and Featured stores.
• Picture Manager: Picture Manager is eBay's fully integrated picture hosting solution. The
client may upload, host, and organize photos from my eBay, and add multiple pictures to
various listings.
• Picture Storage space:
Basic Store: 1 MB
Featured Store: 1 MB
Anchored Store: 1 GB
• Accounting Assistant
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• EBay transactions and fee data can be viewed or directly transferred to QuickBooks®, for
record keeping.
Payments & Shipping
• Pay Pal: Pay Pal is a fast, easy, and secure way to receive payments on eBay. Listings
that offer Pay Pal are 6% more likely to sell and experience a 5% average increase in
final price.
• Shipping Center: Shipping Center can be used to order postage, manage shipments,
print labels, and track packages right from My eBay with no fees. Purchase and print
UPS and USPS postage/shipping labels and order free package pick-ups.
Option 2: Pro stores
Pro Stores is ideal for individuals and businesses who want to reach new customers, grow online
sales, and accelerate business growth.1
Pro Stores can help Mahany:
• Enhance brand with a customizable online storefront and a personalized web address
• Gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace by never missing a single opportunity to
make a sale
• Grow online sales and accelerate business growth through multiple online sales channels
Pro Stores offers a full range of e-commerce functionality, beginning with entry-level catalog,
shopping cart, real-time transaction processing, extending to high-end inventory management,
and sophisticated supply chain communication. You can build customized online catalogs, run
special promotions, offer affiliate programs and frequent buyer clubs, cross-sell and up-sell
products, perform detailed tracking of business metrics, and more.
Pro Stores let you present your best face to the outside world, but it also gives you unparalleled
ability to manage the internal workings of your business. It works with the tools you already use,
such as Excel and other common applications.
This option lets our client subscribe to four types of services that Pro Stores provides. However,
we recommend fusing with only one option “Pro Stores Advanced” due to the Size and nature of
Mahany’s business.
This suite is designed for small to medium sized B2B or B2C businesses that want to grow their
sales and streamline operations with advanced merchandising, promotion, inventory
management, and payment features.
This is great product for the client due to the following reasons:
Pro Stores Advanced is a complete e-business system designed for small to medium retail or
service businesses that want to grow their sales and streamline operations with advanced
merchandising, promotion, inventory management, and payment features.
Pro Store Tools - Website Hosting and Set Up:
• Website hosting with 10 GB storage space
• Personalized domain name registration
• Up to 100 unique email boxes
• 200 GB/month data transfer
1
ProStores an eBay Company. ©ProStores Inc. ProStores and the ProStores logo are trademark of ProStore Inc. Bay and the eBay
logo are registered trademarks of eBay Inc. Available at: http://prostores.com/ [Accessed May 15, 2007].
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• 180 easy-to-use customizable design templates to create a personalized, professional
look without hiring a web designer
• Ability to integrate 3rd party functions (including Dreamweaver, Flash and MP3s) to
further customize your store's look and feel
• Toll-free phone number for 24/7 technical support plus priority email support and online
help
• Payments
• Shopping cart with secure and SSL enabled checkout, plus password protected access
rights to different groups (employees, vendors, etc), anonymous checkout and shipping
calculator added to checkout pages
• Real-time credit card payment processing, plus Pay Pal, Wordplay, store card, checks,
and money orders
• Additional payment options: purchase orders, internal department orders and cash (COD)
orders
• Integrated with FedEx®, UPS®, USPS®, or Canada Post®, or create your own custom
shipping tables
• Sophisticated tax calculation functions
• Sale Management
• Schedule recurring billing for subscriptions, services, installment payment options, and
"product of the month" clubs
• Enable the sale of downloadable products such as software, e-books, and music
• Shoppers can store their shopping cart if they aren't ready to complete a purchase, and
can come back to add to their cart or pay for their order
• Buyers can save frequent shopping cart orders to make repeat purchases quick and easy
• Robust order management system allows you to update orders, issue credit, and create
reporting
• Add invoices for orders taken by phone, in person, or via email
• Upload and share your product, order and customer information with QuickBooks®,
Access and Excel
• 17 sophisticated reports to better manage your Pro Store
• Merchandising and Marketing
• Advanced promotional capabilities, including storewide sales, quantity discounts, and
promotion codes
• Issue store credits for orders, goodwill or promotions
• Create unlimited pages and sell an unlimited number of products *
• Organize and cross-reference your product catalog by category, product name, or
manufacturer
• Powerful search engine lets your customers search by price, keyword, SKU, category,
subcategory, price range or product name
• Daily submission to popular shopping search engines including Yahoo!® Shopping™,
Shopping.com®, Shopzilla™ and Froogle™
• Manage email marketing campaigns for your buyers
• Integrated with eBay.com and eBay Stores listing formats, so you can tap a marketplace
of 147 million customers directly from your Pro Store
• Fine tune your store with tools to help with search engine optimization
• Inventory Management
• Automate inventory management functions, including re-order threshold notifications by
product and attribute
• View online low inventory and backorder reports
• Hide products when products are out of stock, choose whether to display quantity
available to customers, and enable backorders
• Consolidate inventory management for all sales channels
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Option 3: Stream Team
Stream team is the local web hosting and developing company which is currently providing
Mahany with the website. They have an add-on software suite which is called Ecommerce
Templates that can be used to conduct E-business.2 This option is recommended due to
technical and cost reasons. The platform can be integrated with the current website as it is and
can be easily modified to our clients needs. Ecommerce Templates provides a powerful shopping
cart software solution integrating into the main HTML editors; Dreamweaver, Frontpage, GoLive
and CSS layouts. It is also possible to use our Generic version with an existing design.
Administration
• Full online control panel for simple admin management
• Dynamically populate product pages without the need to touch the database
• Password protected CSS based sinkable control panel
• Simple process for adding / modifying / deleting products and categories
• Full online order viewing by date selection and search
• Product search within the admin section
• Editable order details
• Affiliate program included with online viewing of affiliate sales
• Optional Customer login for order history viewing and creating accounts
• Downloadable product inventory
• CSV database upload
• Language specific admin available
• Up to 3 languages supported from the same database
• MS SQL Server compatible
Product / category options:
• Unlimited number of products
• Up selling of related, bestselling, recommended products as well as suggesting products
purchased by other customers Show multiple currencies
• Place products in several categories
• Up to a depth of 10 levels of sub-categories
• Extra detail page for more detailed product descriptions with layout options
• Allows for use of HTML in product descriptions to make formatting simpler
• Setup and assign Designers / Manufacturers / Drop Shippers to products and send them
order details if required on receipt of orders
• Provision of coupons so clients can purchase at a discounted rate by entering their
coupon code
• Apply discounts by product or category depending on total purchase or quantity ordered
• Specify the number of products per page
• Choice of product and category layouts, using one or multiple columns of products
• Optional images choice for categories
• Choice of product listing by price, id, user choice or alphabetically
• Product options allow for the selection of color, size etc. with price differences shown in
real time - choose between drop down menus and radio buttons
• Allow clients to type in their own requirements for a particular product
• Product options can have their own product ID
• Clone products and product options for faster input
2
Ecommerce Templates. ‘e-commerce templates’. © 2007 Shopping cart software by Internet Business Solutions SL - All Rights
Reserved - Ecommerce Templates™ and Ecommerce Plus ™ are registered trademarks of Internet Business Solutions SL. Available
at: http://www.ecommercetemplates.com/ [Accessed May 15, 2007].
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• Wholesale / retail pricing depending on login
• Quantity pricing option
• Option of showing the "buy" button or an "Out of stock message"
• Option of maintaining a product in your inventory but not showing on the store.
• Stock management feature permits you to define the number of products in stock, and
the store will automatically generate an "Out of stock" message once the last item in
stock has been purchased
• Stock management for product options
• Show number of products in stock on the products page
• Set minimum purchase total requirement
• Email to friend link option - product specific
• Choice of currency symbols and formatting
• Change all store generated language from one place Option to remove buy / checkout
buttons making the plus version compatible for other uses e.g. real estate listings, online
catalog etc.
• Order categories to suit your needs
• Option of showing list price / your price
Shipping / checkout features:
• Weight based shipping by zone
• Flat rate shipping
• USPS shipping rate integration and order tracking
• UPS shipping and order tracking
• FedEx shipping and order tracking
• Canada Post
• Free shipping option (choose by country and / or total order or number of items
purchased)
• Price based shipping
• Shipping estimator before checkout
• Customer shipping carrier selector
• Provide a different shipping method for international customers in respect to domestic
buyers.
• Global handling charge option.
• Handling charge per payment provider
• Offer customers a tracking number.
• Compatible with all major tax systems (including Australia & Canada)
• Offline credit card processing
• Complete integration with the top payment processors, and / or email notification only
• Order status look up page for customers
• Automatic email to customers on order status change
• Integrates PayPal's Instant Payment Notification for secure order processing
• Email notification once an order has been placed
• Printable receipt on thanks page
• HTML header and footer for the confirmation email
• Download orders to a .csv file
• Print packing slips from the admin orders page.
• Print invoices from the admin orders page.
• Collect email address on checkout.
• "Remember me" option for return users.
• JavaScript and Cookie disabled detection.
• Block IP’s or IP ranges
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• Design options
• Choice of template editor - Macromedia Dreamweaver, Microsoft Frontpage or Adobe
GoLive.
• Search engine friendly options such as static pages and generated title and meta tags
available
• Original .png files included for editing graphics in Macromedia Fireworks
• Global design changes made simple through Dreamweaver .dwt and .lbi files, FrontPage
include pages or GoLive components.
• Simple to change colors and personalize the store
• Multiple CSS classes available for key display options
• ALT information automatically added to category and product images
• General features
• Integrated product search page
• Built in modular fashion, allowing for free future upgrades and addition of new features
• 6 month free technical support
• Downloadable User Manual
• 30 day money back guarantee
There are some disadvantages to using this package. At this time the package does not use a
CRM system specifically used to asses market trends and at the same time provide value to the
customer outside the selling process. However, using analytics such as Google Analytics and
Web trends it is possible to research a custom add on to E-commerce templates. Another
disadvantage is the fact that multiple portals have to be used to gather data. For example: Pay
Pal has to be use in this case to keep track of accounting for the system.
Costs and Justification:
Costs involved with an EBay store:
Figure 8: eBay Store costs.
Starting at just 5¢ for every 30 days, regardless of quantity, Store Inventory allows you to offer a
greater range of inventory at a low cost.
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Figure 9: Inventory Insertion Cost
Store Inventory format basic fees:
As an eBay Store owner, you'll have access to an additional listing format called Store Inventory
format. Using this format to list the items at a set price, buyers can purchase items immediately
(no bidding).These listings have a longer duration and lower Insertion Fees but have limited
visibility compared to the Online Auction and Fixed Price formats. If your item sells, you also pay
a Final Value Fee.
Figure 10: eBay Fees.
Basic Store Picture Storage space:
• 50 MB for $9.99 per month
• 250 MB for $14.99 per month
• 1 GB for $24.99 per month
Featured Store Picture Storage Space:
• 50 MB for $4.99 per month
• 250 MB for $9.99 per month
• 1 GB for $19.99 per month
Anchor Store Sellers can subscribe to any Picture Manager tier for free.
Costs involved with an Advanced Pro Store:
• Monthly subscription fee of $74.95/month
• 0.50% Successful Transaction Fee charged on the final selling price of successfully
sold items
• Set-up fees are currently waived for all new Pro Stores subscribers
Costs involved with an Advanced Pro Store:
Cheaper than its competition, an E-Commerce solution is being provided for $450 by Stream
Team. With this kind of money our client receives the entire package including options to
customize the suite to meet any future need that may arise.3
3
(Stream team)
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Justifications:
Figure 11: Mahany website statistics.
Since the launch of the website in mid 2005, it can be interpreted that a significant portion of the
quarterly visits (potential customers) were all the business that Mahany did not get over the last
two years.
Figure 12: Mahany website statistics.
It can be said that since the most active day of the week is a Monday, the potential visitors to the
site are businesses. This can also be backed up by the following bar chart, where one notices
that a majority of the customers are Commercial enterprises. One can also notice that the most
active hours are between one o’clock and two o’clock in the afternoon. It is also likely that these
visitors are businesses who may be seeking to purchase the products Mahany has to offer.
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Fig 13: Mahany website trends.
The research team recommends using Stream Team’s solution for the online store. The total
cost of this solution will be $450, as quoted by Steam Team. The following table compares the
three solutions and the features they provide.
Benchmarking of the three stores against services they provide.
Online Marketing Tactic EBay Pro Stores Stream Team
(E-Commerce
Template)
CRM X X
Branding X X
Shipping X X X
Online Payments X X X
Full Customization X
Monthly costs X X
One time costs X
High set up time X
Medium set up time X
Low set up time X
Fully integrated X X
Partially integrated X
Targets and Metrics:
The goal of the online store is to generate at least $1,250 in sales each month, or $7,500 in the
first six months of implementation. Mahany can use Google Analytics to track this conversion.
The following table lists the metrics and targets for this tactic.
Tactic Metric Target Control Mechanism
Online Store Online Sales (monthly) $1,250 a month Google Analytics
Online Sales (6-months) $7,500 in 6 Google Analytics
months
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Tactic 2: E-Procurement
Description:
This is the management of the various goods that Mahany purchases from its manufacturers.
Since the client is working on an E-business the system should mainly deal with the control of
materials, product information, and price information in a network consisting of suppliers,
manufacturers, distributors and customers.
Execution
Since the client is in the beginning stages of moving part of its business online the consultants
recommend that we make room for this complex system be added on at a later time. Currently it
is possible to use the legacy system which is in place to track inventory and sales for the
company’s online store. However, there are manufacturers of welding supplies who make E-
procurement available to their customers.
Miller is one of manufacturers who Mahany purchases from. They have an online sales and
customer service where Mahany can take advantage of the following services.
• Pricing
• Product Availability
• Order Status
• Order History
• Shipment Tracking
• Product Information
• Owners Manuals
• Service Memos
• Technical Manuals
• Training Resources
• Photos
Since this tactic will not be implemented as part of this marketing plane there are no costs,
metrics or targets set by the research team.
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Online Branding1
The Online Branding strategy builds the Mahany brand online in order to increase the perceived
value for its current customers and potential customers. It also builds trust and reputation and
supports the other three strategies. By creating value for its current customers this strategy is
working towards the first objective. It also works towards increasing awareness of Mahany’s
products within the current customer base and thus encourages repeat purchase (objective 2)
and it contributes to the conversion (from lead to sale), which is the last objective.
Tactic 1: Website Design
Description:
The research team advises Mahany to redesign its website with pictures, working online
registration, adding content to its pages, and providing logos to its website. Mahany's web
designers Stream Team will be redesigning the website and making the site more user friendly to
the eye.
Execution, Costs and Justification:
The research team recommends making the following changes and additions to Mahany’s
website:
1. Homepage - The research team recommends that Mahany changes its homepage and to write
its motto underneath the Welcome to Mahany Welding Supply slogan. The motto to include with
the Stream Team’s back-end software is “We don’t have customers; we have friends who buy
from us”. A mission statement will be added as a substitute for the welcome to Mahany slogan.
Also the homepage needs to make the customers more aware of its offerings. Mahany should
add in a quote on the homepage in the top right hand corner stating “we do training,” and also
“we do rentals”. The mission statement will include the values of image, profitability, productivity,
customer lifetime value and reliability. The mission statement could possibly be added
underneath the downtown and headquarters locations.
Mahany’s homepage will have a sepia color background added to display its historic appeal and
aged look. Sepia is a dark grayish yellow brown color that would be most effective to portray
visually Mahany’s 61 years of existence. Mahany also needs to add a history toolbar to its
homepage. The main banner should include “since 1946” to Mahany's logo in small text. On the
upper right hand corner of Mahany’s homepage banner advertisement there should be Mahany’s
image award as a substitute for the current picture of a welding radiator. Mahany has a lot of
pride in its image award and will show it by replacing the radiator with the 2005 welding image
award.
It will cost $300 and take four hours of work to accomplish this tactic, according the Stream
Team’s quote. The changes to the homepage would be in the power of the owner of the domain
name Mahanyweld.com, Mike Krupnicki himself. Mahany needs to make customers aware of its
long term existence and this is a great way of achieving this.
2. Mahany in the news - The news section should only be one link instead of two in order to
eliminate the confusion for the user. The addition of PDF’s to articles and thumbnails for links with
1
ROWLEY, J., 2004. Online Branding. Online Information Review, 28 (2), 131.
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pictures is also recommended as is making training only one toolbar instead of two. A list of
classes in the training toolbar should also be added to the site. News headlines should be
changed to the current 2007 year since all dates are currently based upon 2006. On the
homepage Mahany’s 5 great years section should be changed into a history toolbar instead that
will show Mahany’s sixty one year old history. Mike Krupnicki feels that Mahany should be proud
of its heritage and would like to see the content in this particular area change. Mr. Krupnicki
would like to add some of Mahany’s key accomplishments and this is certainly recommended by
the research team.
This section will cost $525 dollars and will also not be user generated and easy for Mike to make
the changes necessary, according the Stream Team’s quote. The Stream Team will add the
sepia colored back drop and include a history timeline for Mahany’s greatest years emphasizing
the last five years the most. Mahany has not been able to explain what its courses are truly about
and/or been able to tell its company’s story to the public. There is no information or content on
Mahany’s site stating what the classes truly offer. Mahany’s site will feel up to date for the
customer and also show that Mahany is proud of its 61 year old history.
3. Services and Training - Under the services toolbar there is a training section which needs to be
eliminated because there already is a training toolbar. Registration for course outline PDF links of
welding training programs should be made. The sign up for welding classes online should actually
work. Mahany’s online registration form has not worked as of lately and should be functional
again. Profiles of the professionals who work with the training program should be added. There
should be more space for name, street address, city, zip code, day time phone, email, profession,
and/or employer. Both profession and adding employer should be optional although a privacy
statement should go along with any information that a customer wishes to give to Mahany for the
purpose of a training class.
The training section should also include all of Mahany’s major accomplishments such as:
1. 1500 students in five years added to their training program
2. Partnering with three local colleges
3. First welding company in Rochester to offer training programs.
Mahany is also in dire need of a privacy statement for its course offerings and website. An
example of a privacy statement done by Trust-e which is used by the social networking company
Facebook is depicted in figure 15 below:
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Figure 15: A Sample Privacy Statement.
This change to the site will cost $75, according the Stream Team’s quote, and only take one hour
to do. Mahany needs to make its customers aware that training is one of Mahany’s key
differentiators in comparison to its competitors.
4. Courses - The courses section includes all of Mahany’s course offerings. The courses that are
currently available are its MIG course, TIG course, MIG clinic, TIG clinic, and its sculpture course.
Mahany currently does not clearly state when these particular courses are offered. In the spring
Mahany should show that it in fact offers five courses. In the winter it offers four courses and in
the fall it offers five courses. The setup should be a 5-4-5 outlining which exact courses occur
during the appropriate given season. Yet Mahany’s sculpture class only is offered in the months
of December and April.
This part of changing the website will cost $75 and only take an hour to do, according the Stream
Team’s quote. Mahany has not been thorough with its description of courses and is particularly
vague and this tactic makes up for this shortcoming.
5. Rentals - Mahany currently does rentals for stick welding, plasma welding, engine driven
welder generators, voltage sensing feeders, and magnetic base drills. Mahany will add in all of
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these rentals to its site. This section will cost $75 and is user generated so Mahany can easily
make the changes themselves. Mahany needs to be clearer on exactly what specifications the
rentals have and the time period that you can rent machines and welding materials for, as well
being able to see the rentals that Mahany provides to its customers.
6. About Us Section - Pictures of employees should be added that are in association with
something fun that the employees like to do or enjoy. The pictures should not be mug shots or
dull in any way, shape, or form. The pictures should be added in terms of employee tenure. New
slide shows should be added and new portfolio pictures for the slide shows should be added to
the site. Between twelve to twenty pictures of people holding certificates, projects, and spark
pictures should be added to the site. This section will cost $75 and be user generated and easy to
make changes with.
Also the “coming soon” under the product link will be eliminated from the site, along with the
product line card. Since the products are already listed there is no need to add a line card or have
products being the same thing as coming soon.
7. Equipment Repairs - The section on services on Mahany Welding Supply's website appears
very bare and does not make an effort at showing its pride in this particular area. Mahany should
show its customers what it can do for them in regards to equipment repairs. Mahany needs to
explain what it offers to its customers such as: torch repairs, electric machine repairs, regulators
repairs, calibrations repairs, preventive maintenance, and warranty repairs. Especially in order to
gain a higher ranking in web searches having a high level of text and content definitely helps a
website receive a higher ranking in searches. Mahany should add a picture of each repair that it
offers its customers. Also pictures of people doing equipment repairs will be implemented as well.
As seen on the website, depicted in figure 16 below, this area is flat and in need of restructuring.
The cost will be $75 and only take an hour to implement.
Figure 16: Mahany’s current “Equipment Repair” webpage.
8. Other Changes - The ‘coming soon’ page under the product link should be eliminated from the
site, along with the product line card. Since the products are already listed there is no need to add
a line card or have products being the same thing as coming soon. Mahany should also change
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the area code from 716 to 585 in the product information section of the site. It should also change
the map provider from Map Quest to Google maps. The research team has changed the online
map from Map Quest to Google maps. The cost for this and other changes will be $1237, per
Stream Team’s quote.
Total Cost:
The following table recaps all the estimated costs of this tactic. The total cost will be roughly
$2,500.
Website Section Estimated Cost
Homepage $300
Mahany in the News 525
Services and Training 75
Courses 75
Rentals 75
About Us Section 75
Equipment Rental 75
Other $1,237
TOTAL $2,512
Targets and Metrics:
The research team recommends using a website review tool, such as epinions.com, to measure
the effectiveness and appeal of the new website design. The metrics and targets for this tactic are
outlined in the table below.
Tactic Metric Target Control Mechanism
Monthly review using
Website Rating 5 out of 5
epinions.com
Website Design Monthly review using
Ratio of positive reviews 19 out of 20
epinions.com
Tactic 2: Establishing Online Partnerships
Description:
Mahany may need to hire more employees to update their testimonials page. The testimonials will
be under a new toolbar. Mahany could also become more interactive in welding forums on the
American Welding Society website. Mahany could also encounter testimonial problems by
registering themselves in an international welding show in which Mahany could network with the
best welding companies in North America and the World.
Execution:
Our goal would be to stick to Mahany’s principal which is “We don’t have customers; we have
friends who buy from us”. By immersing themselves in welding shows and the next international
welding show will be in Chicago, taking place from November 11th-14th, 2007. The average cost
of a welding booth between the sizes of:
• 10X10’ is $220
• 20’X10’ is $328
• 30’X10’ is $436
Mahany’s main objective in a trade show would be for interactivity with other welding supply
businesses that are located across the United States and the World. Mahany could make
business propositions and have an opportunity to market its I-CAR collision certificate program at
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