Marketing Essay Sample on Market Objectives

Every business that hopes to succeed must have clear and measurable market objectives. Market objectives are defined as a group of goals set by a business when it is promoting its services or products to potential customers which should be achieved within a given time frame (Lee, Kozlenkova, & Palmatier, 2015). For the case of G-RO, some of the most important marketing objectives would be sales target, customer awareness and Customer retention and satisfaction.

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Customer Awareness

Though G-RO was a success in crowd funding managing to beat its intended target within the first six hours and eventually raising $2.5 million which is far much more than the intended $125, 000, the reality is that very few people outside the crowd funding community know about this product (Hochman, 2016). Therefore before the brand sells, customers will need to be aware of it. Therefore within the next six months, 80% of frequent travelers should be aware of the bag. In addition to that, 30% of potential buyers should know about the brand within the same period. The reason for this is that the product should not focus to compete with other bags in the open market but should be promoted as an insider product; something that only those who travel in class know.

Sales target

Revenues generated from travel bags through online sales in Australia stood at $ 104 million as of 2015 with the industry experiencing a healthy annual growth of % 14.3 within the past five years to attain the current figure (Online Handbag and Luggage Sales in Australia: Market Research Report, n.d.). This growth was pushed by increased popularity of online shopping as well as a strong Australian economy within the same period. Judging by the popularity of its Crowd funding effort, G-RO should be able to gain a 10% market share if it is able to create 30% awareness by potential buyers and 80% awareness by frequent fliers.

Customer retention and satisfaction

Customer retention and satisfaction is a very important element in ensuring that the product penetrates the Australian market bearing in mind the traditional word of mouth mode of advertising will be one of the key ways of getting word about the product round. This therefore means that each customer who gets his/ her hand on the product should have an experience that exceeds their expectations for them to have something good to say about the product and actively market it. This means that the product should be perfect with no defects, clients should have their product delivered on time and any complaints should be handled professionally and promptly. If this is done, G-RO should be able to attain a 100% customer satisfaction rate and an 80% retention rate.

Justification for intended positioning, market segment and targeted customers

Intended Positioning

As mentioned above the G-RO bags are high end bags created for those who want to travel with class and comfort with a pocket friendly price tag. In addition to that, the product should be branded in a manner that it should be sold as a secret to those who know how to travel in style and comfort. The main reason for doing this is to enable the product to implement the blue ocean strategy where it is able to keep itself above the highly vicious competition in the travel bag market. For example failure to do this would mean that the product will have to fight with brands that are well known for their quality for example the Travel pro range of travel bags and the cheap designs mostly from China at the other end of the spectrum.

Market Segment

The product should also target the middle class market segment due the fact that this group does not mind paying a little extra for a superior product, they frequently fly and therefore have at some point experienced the challenges of travelling with the ordinary bags and have highly sophisticated tastes and thus would appreciate what G-RO offers. On the other hand, while low class individuals may appreciate what the product offers, they may not afford the cost of purchasing and since they do not fly frequently, the bag may not be very practical for them. The top class group would also not be very suitable since it is a small group and they tend to have people who carry their luggage for them so they may not even be aware of the challenges that travelers face with their luggage ( Kerwin, 2012).

Targeted customers

It is clear that the main targeted customers would be those who travel frequently especially by air. Within this category, pilots and cabin crews present a very huge potential for promoting the product due to the fact that if they find the G-RO suitable for their needs, then those who want to travel comfortably would assume that the G-RO bag is the best in the market. Secondly due to the fact that pilots and cabin crews tend to stand out from the crowd in airports, the unique features of the G-RO would be accentuated if pilots and crews have the bag. This category would thus provide an excellent marketing opportunity for the product.

Marketing strategy

Product

G-RO is a sleek all terrain, carry on roller bag that is meant to revolutionalize how we travel by fixing most things we hate about travelling. The bag has large durable wheels suitable for all terrains, its design makes the bag appear compact from the outside yet it can pack considerable luggage, it is considerably lighter than traditional bags, and it has additional compartments for storing electronics and even your water bottle. For the tech lovers, the bag comes with an electronic module that contains a 23 000 mAh battery that can be used to charge tablets, phones and laptops. In addition to that it has a location tracker and a wireless proximity tracker making it harder to lose your luggage (G-RO: Revolutionary Carry-On Bag | Story & Kickstarter,2015). All these features not only makes the bag cool but it makes it very practical especially for those who fly frequently.

Price

The basic bag comes with a price tag of $279 with the electronic features costing an additional $99. By separating the two features, customers buy what they need and can afford. In addition to that, the price compares very favorably to the cost of other popular bags in the market. For example, the Samsonite Light Shock 81 cm large spinner suitcase goes for $539.40 online and the canvas made Compass- Pluto four wheel suitcases goes for $199 online(Online Handbag and Luggage Sales in Australia: Market Research Report, n.d.). From the cost, it is clear that the company is utilizing the cost pricing tactic which is adding a small profit on t

Place

Travel Light LTD which is the company that makes the G-RO bag is a small start up that raised funds for the project through crowd sourcing. As such, it is not advisable for the company to get involved with the logistics of stocking the bag in stores all over the country at this initial stage. Instead, the company should focus on selling its products through online platforms like Amazon which are cheaper to use, have a highly developed advertising strategy as well as an excellent distribution network that would enable clients to have their products on time with minimal shipping costs.

Promotion

Due to cost, traditional forms of advertising may be out of reach for the G-RO bag but the company can still make use of digital platforms which are relatively cheap. In addition as earlier mentioned, the company can make use of the status of pilots to advertise their product. As such, the company should give out free bags to some pilots and cabin crew members especially those who work for high end carriers. By doing so, this group would be able to pass the word around to their colleagues and thus make the product popular amongst flight crews. This would then translate to a high visibility level of the product and in turn higher sales.

Action Programs for the first six months of product launch

Product action plan

This is about designing and manufacturing of the product and as far as G-RO is concerned, the product is already there. The design is complete and the company has started making the bags. However within the next six months, the company should have the capacity to produce enough bags to meet the 10% market share it hopes to achieve.

Price action plan

The price action plan has also been decided considering that the product would sell at $279 with an additional $ 99 for the electronic features.

Place action plan

Enough bags should be delivered to its online vendors so that they can be able to ship them as soon as orders are made. Because traditional retail methods would not be in play, there will be no need for the company to stock the product in stores across the country.

Promotion action plan

Online adverts of the product should be running by day one of the product launch to ensure that as many possible clients are reached. Secondly the free promotion bags should be delivered to target pilots and cabin crews by the end of week one of the product launch.

References

Berkhout, C. (2016). Retail marketing strategy: Delivering shopper delight (1st ed.). Philadelphia, PA;London;: Kogan Page.

Hochman, D. (December, 8th, 2016). Why G-ROs Market Campaign is Making Kickstater History. Forbes: Retrieved June 07, 2016, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhochman/2015/12/08/why-g-ros-luggage-campaign-is-making-kickstarter-history/#7cbc89817aef

G-RO: Revolutionary Carry-On Bag | Story & Kickstarter. (2015). Retrieved June 07, 2016, from http://www.g-ro.com/index.php/about-g-ro Kerwin, A. M. (2012). Generate consumer action with these shopper-marketing plans. Advertising Age, 83(12), 20.

Lee, J., Kozlenkova, I. V., & Palmatier, R. W. (2015). Structural marketing: Using organizational structure to achieve marketing objectives. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43(1), 73-99. doi:10.1007/s11747-014-0402-9

Online Handbag and Luggage Sales in Australia: Market Research Report. (n.d.). Retrieved June 07, 2016, from http://www.ibisworld.com.au/industry/online-handbag-and-luggage-sales.html