Blendworth Strategic Management Plan

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Objectives
Situational Analysis
Target Market Analysis
Strategies
Tactics To Achieve The Strategies
Monitoring And Evaluation
References

Introduction

BLENDWORTH is an international company that deals with the production and sale of fabrics. The company sells high quality fabrics and wall coverings that match the current fashion trends.

The company has been in operation for the last 90 years meeting the demand of the ever changing fashion trends. Over the last years, the company has diversified their products to include silks, velvet and wall papers (BLENDWORTH, 2012). The company is in the process of developing a marketing strategy to increase their sales.

Objectives

The main objectives to be achieved by the company through this marketing plan are:

To increase the company’s sales and profits by at least 10% every year;
To venture into other new emerging markets;
To ensure that customers regularly visit the company website and social media sites and give feedback to the company;
Improve the company’s brand image

Situational Analysis

In order to draft an adequate marketing plan, it is imperative to analyse the company’s internal and external forces. SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunities and threats) analysis and competitor analysis have been carried out (Aaker 2005).

SWOT analysis

The results of the SWOT analysis are tabulated below

POSITIVE FORCES

NEGATIVE FORCES

internal

Strength

The company has a strong reputable brand
The company has a wide experience in dealing with fabrics
Good capital base
Good corporate culture
The company workers are highly experienced
The company’s location is adequate to conduct both its local and international trade
Good communication through internet and other channels
The company is the sole distributor of wall covering from Eijffinger

Weaknesses

Lack of appropriate marketing strategies
Few products in the market
The communication between the customer and the company is poor
There is no mechanism to analyze feedback information from the customers
Lack of innovation in products design and also sales
Lack of new products to suit the ever changing fashion industry
Limited budget

external

Opportunities

A large domestic and international market
There is a high demand in the fashion industry, which will translate to high sales
Possibilities of expanding to new markets
Ability to negotiate major contracts

Threats

Increased competition from the main competitors
Competition from China and other global fabric and textile companies
Entry of new firms with better fabric both at the local and international market
Different nations and regions have differing tastes and fashion
New emerging products that may rival what the company sells
Substitute products from China are cheap and affordable

From the SWOT analysis, the company should enhance on their strengths and look for methods of countering their weaknesses and threats (Barney, 1996). The main strategies include:

Development and implementation of a good marketing plan;
Customer satisfaction;
Developing new products that blend the different cultures and trends in the world;
Looking for more funding to enable the diversification of the company;
Development of high quality fabrics and textile;
Offering fair and affordable prices;
Branding;
Conducting aggressive marketing campaigns;

Competitor analysis

The BLENDWORTH Company faces high competition from both local and international companies. Locally, the United Kingdom has many fabric companies, such as Altfield, Beaudesert, Beaumont & Fletcher, Bennison, Chelsea textiles, Abbot and Boyd, Borderline, Alton brooke, Brian Yates, and Colefax among others.

The international market has numerous companies that deal with making and supply of fabrics and other textiles. These companies may be multinational or operating within one country. All these companies are expected to be a big threat to this company.

Trends in the market

After evaluating the internal and external environment of the business, the following trends are expected in the future:

There will be increased competition from both the local and international firms as they struggle to gain more customers and market share;
New and better fabrics will be developed;
The competitors will lower the price of products;
The competitors will expand to other emerging markets;

Target Market Analysis

The Blendworth Company has both local and international customers. The company supplies products to over 40 countries and has about 3000 customers. In the domestic market, the company has about 2500 customers. The main customers can be segmented into three parts:

Individual customers
Designers
Retailers

Market size

The company’s customer size is enormous and comprises both local and international companies.

Age

The products sold by the company are suitable for people aged 25 years and above.

Income

The company targets middle and high income earners both at the local and international markets

Customer wants and need

In the fabric industry, the main customer’s wants and needs are:

High quality fabrics, textiles and wall papers;
Affordable prices especially for individual customers;
Supply of the fabrics on time ;
The company must keep up with changes in fashion industry;
Availability of products on time;

Strategies

For the company to increase and maintain their customers the following strategies are going to be instituted (Proctor 2000):

Prices

The company will strive to become a market leader in terms of pricing; the company will offer quality products at affordable prices.

Place

The company will enhance their distribution channels so that fabrics reach the potential customers on time and in good condition.

Promotions

Blendworth’s main endeavour is to increase the number of local and international customers. This will be done through a series of sales promotion activities.

Products

The company will supply quality products and respond to the demands on the customers. The company will keep in touch with changing trends in the fashion industry so as to make quality and fashionable products.

Tactics To Achieve The Strategies

To ensure that the proposed strategies are implemented, the following tactics will be used:

Low and affordable prices

In order for the company to achieve low and affordable prices, it will do the fillowing:

Carefully study the competitors’ pricing and reduce our prices accordingly so as to be the market leader in terms of prices.
Price differentiation: prices will be differentiated in such a way that high class customers and designers will be charged a slightly higher price than individual customers.
Offer discounts based on quantity, returned customers and different seasons.
Make the production and distribution chain more efficient so as reduce the operation cost, and hence the product cost (Hooley 2012).

Sales and promotions

The following sales and promotions activities will be conducted:

Advertisement: the company will advertise at the local newspapers, the internet and broadcasting stations in addition to the current advertisement techniques used. This is expected to cost £ 100000. The internet marketing will entail the use of social media sites.
After sales services: the company will offer free delivery for customers who purchase large quantity of products
Branding: the company will carry out aggressive marketing so as to promote the “BLENDWORTH” name
Direct marketing: this will entail sending brochures to designers, retailers and other people who deal with fabrics. Special prices and conditions will be offered to them.
Point of sale display: posters and screens will be fixed up at point of sale areas, such as malls so that potential customers can see our products
Gifts: free gifts will be given to everyone who purchases products exceeding £ 1000.
Sponsoring events: the company will sponsor events, such as exhibitions where our products will be displayed (Kotler2003)

Enhancing the distribution channels

Opening regional centres: regional centres will be opened to ensure that products are distributed on time.

Product and service quality

To improve the product and service quality, all responses and feedback information from local and international customers will be analyzed and used to improve the products and services.

Monitoring And Evaluation

After implementation of the strategies developed, the progress of the company will be evaluated after every six months to check the success rate of the actions taken. This will be done through

Checking the books of accounts, such as the sales records, balance sheet, the profit and loss account to track the sales and profits made by the company;
Checking the number of active members and responses from social media.

References

Aaker, D. A 2005. Strategic Marketing Management, 7^th edition, John Wiley & Sons, New York.

Barney, J 1996. Gaining and Sustaining Competitive Advantage, Addison-Wesley: New York.

BLENDWORTH. 2012. Blendworth company website. Web.

Hooley, P. N 2012, Marketing Strategy & Competitive Positioning, 5^th Edition, Prentice Hall, New Jersey.

Kotler, P 2003, Marketing Management,11^th ed, Prentice Hall, New Jersey.

Proctor, T 2000, Strategic marketing: an introduction, Routledge, New York.

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