Little Pantry

Introduction

This commentary will be justifying the creation of this website and the product it is advertising by focusing upon the style and content of the website, the Four Ps of the Marketing Mix (McCabe, 2009) and the Four Cs framework (Welsing, 2003). The commentary will highlight how the website, through its design and marketing elements, would be an example of effective marketing and will critically analyse its features and the decision making process utilised.

 

Style

To attract the appropriate target market the style of the website was a focal feature (Bailey, 2011). The colour scheme of the website is simplistic and only features three main colours; dark grey, light grey and pale orange. This is in order to adopt a professional feel for the website as well as mimic the high quality and comforting image of the product (Charlesworth, 2009). In contrast to this, it could be argued that the colour scheme would perhaps be less user-friendly for those customers with specific sight conditions and requirements.

 

Content

It was essential to develop the website with the marketing mix and the customer in mind in order to create an effective plan with the customer at the forefront of the decision-making process, therefore the Four Cs framework (consumer, cost, convenience and communication) (Welsing, 2003) was considered, especially in terms of the product content. It is essential for the product images to replicate high quality whilst prioritising comfort. However, with the website being created for hypothetical purposes, it was difficult to fully achieve the highest level of detail.

 

Marketing Mix

The Marketing Mix or the Four Ps model (product, price, place and promotion) can be considered as a core aspect of the marketing planning process (McCabe, 2009). It is suggested that the four features have to be considered holistically in order to create an effective marketing plan (McCabe, 2009). The model below suggests how best this model can be adopted to create a successful business proposition (Fyall and Garrod, 2005).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Product

The Marketing Mix and the viewpoint of the consumer (Welsing, 2003) were considered to a great extent when the website was being created. Firstly, when the idea for the product was decided upon, it was essential to assess it through Perceptual Mapping (Hudson, 2008) to assess a gap in the market, which can be seen below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This outlined similar products within the area and demonstrated which markets these products were targeted to. Thereafter, the product was explored more deeply to create the imagery for its market. It was essential to establish the right imagery, not just in terms of the physical graphics used, but in terms of the linguistic communication, through comfort trigger words, within the website. In terms of the consumer, the product offers a comforting and an ‘at home’ experience as an escape from the city. Visitors of the website would regard it to be professional and high quality; therefore, the intended image has been achieved. However, as the website was created for hypothetical purposes, it is limited in terms of what can be displayed. It can be suggested that the website is merely satisfactory in terms of the potential that it could achieve were it a real business venture.

 

Price

The main pricing strategy adopted and outlined within the website was premium pricing so as to attract the middle class target market and identify the product as high quality (Chaffey et al., 2009). Additionally, the cost to the consumer was also considered in order to increase the appeal of the product from the market’s viewpoint (Welsing, 2003; Fyall and Garrod, 2005). Therefore, major competitors’ pricing strategies were considered which were adapted to suit a reasonable budget (Chaffey et al., 2009). In contrast, the product image and the prices could exclude other potential customers which can impact upon the number of consumers for the product due to a high cost. However, as the target market is middle class, this limitation is of little significance.

 

Place

The location of the product is the city of Manchester, overlooking the Piccadilly Gardens which creates the image of the product being a retreat from the city. Before this particular area was decided, research of areas within Manchester was undertaken, through the use of internet map services, to highlight the best possible ‘retreat’ location for the product. The footfall within Piccadilly Gardens was considered and due to it being a reasonably well visited place within Manchester, consumers may regard the business to be within a convenient location. However, the research did not extend to include the number of competitors within the area which could impinge upon the intended market. The research also did not consider the types of market that would attend this particular area, in order to establish if this location was ideal and whether it was convenient for the market.

 

Promotion

To establish continual promotion of the product and consumer interaction, social media links were essential (Evans, 2010). Therefore, a Facebook page was created which is linked to the website, offering the market greater accessibility to the product. This not only creates promotion of the website, but enables potential consumers to communicate with the business to develop brand awareness. Furthermore, research was conducted into how similar businesses, created brand loyalty. In response, a membership feature was introduced where customers are offered discounts and complimentary gifts for a small premium, communicating to them that their custom is valued, which creates product loyalty and promotes the business. However, as the website is hypothetical, this aspect of the marketing mix was most challenging to consider within the development of the website.

 

Conclusion

In conclusion, the above commentary provides justification for the creation of this website. Both the style and content were chosen to attract a middle class target market, through the professional layout and content of the website. It aims to offer comfort whilst considering the customers throughout, by focusing on the Four Cs Framework. In terms of the Marketing Mix, the website achieves success through the product, the price and the place. The product is highlighted as a unique retreat located in a busy city, the price is clearly accessible on the website, appealing to the appropriate target market, and the place of the product is based in Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester as it is a central location. In terms of the promotion aspect of the Marketing Mix, as the website was created for hypothetical purposes, the main features communicated on the website are links to social media as well as a loyalty scheme. In summary, this website has achieved its aims to effectively highlight how the key features of the Marketing Mix model can be adapted to create a successful business proposition.

 

Reference List

Bailey, M. (2011) Internet Marketing: An Hour a Day, John Wiley & Sons, Indiana

 

Chaffey, D., Ellis-Chadwick, F., Mayer, R., Johnston, K. (2009) Internet Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice, Pearson Education Limited, Essex

 

 

Charlesworth, A. (2009) Internet Marketing: A Practical Approach, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford

Charlesworth, A. (2009) Internet Marketing: A Practical Approach, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford

Charlesworth, A. (2009) Internet Marketing: A Practical Approach, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxfor

 

Evans, D. (2010) Social Media Marketing: The Next Generation of Business Engagement, John Wiley & Sons, Indiana

 

Fyall, A., Garrod, B. (2005) Tourism Marketing: A Collaborative Approach, Channel View Publications, Clevedon

 

Hudson, S. (2008) Tourism and Hospitality Marketing: A Global Perspective, SAGE Publications Ltd., London

 

McCabe, S. (2009) Marketing Communications in Tourism and Hospitality: Concepts, Strategies and Cases, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford

 

TripAdvisor (2014) Manchester Café Restaurants, Available at: http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/RestaurantSearch?geo=187069&q=Manchester%2C+United+Kingdom&cat=8&pid, Accessed on 26/03/14

 

Welsing, C. (2003) HRMarketing: A New Perspective on Human Resources Management, Pearson Education Benelux, Amsterdam

Charlesworth, A. (2009) Internet Marketing: A Practical Approach, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford