MARKETING BUSINESS PLAN: THE POCKET ESPRESSO BAR

MARKETING BUSINESS PLAN: THE POCKET ESPRESSO BAR

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Introduction

My client's business is in the food industry, and they have a cafe located in Moffat Beach, Australia. The café offers great ocean views and has various foods and drinks that can be tailored according to the customer's dietary requirements. The business also specializes in organizing outside catering events and stylish special dinner services for families and couples. The cafe located in Australia is called the Pocket Espresso Bar. 

The rationale for Going International

The main reason for taking a business internationally is to increase the revenue potential (Ritzer, 2007). The Pocket Espresso Bar could do well in international markets as it will be open to more markets in the industry, potentially increasing the business's revenue potential. The café is doing well in Australia, and expanding it to other regions might make it more popular hence the business could generate more revenue.  

Another reason is to enter into new markets. After establishing a product and service in your home market and ensuring that it has gained popularity and increased sales, the next step would be expanding to new markets, which is exactly what this business requires. New markets could offer a better market base, and people could embrace the business idea more, making it profitable and popular in the long run. This brings us to the last rationale for expansion: to get a new customer base and know-how, they would perceive the business idea and if it could be positively embraced in the new market base. 

Analysis of the Chosen Country

My clients are planning to expand their business to Italy as it a well-known tourist destination which means the café could potentially attract clients from all over the globe. The country also has great beaches, and since the café in Australia is near a beach, this could mean it could get to maintain serving great views for its customers while they have a great time eating their meals and having drinks. Italy is also a good destination for solo travels, and a café is a perfect place for individuals in the country for solo travels or vacations. Exploration involves finding new horizons and embracing innovation which involves venturing into new places (Sinha, 2015). The business will be utilizing the exploration strategy to expand to new markets and new customer bases in Italy. Small and attractive restaurants and cafes are attractive to tourists, and since Italy is a good tourist attraction, it gives the business an advantage in the country.

Cultural Factors

Italy is well known for maintaining its strong culture. This means that for any foreign startup business to become well established in the country, it has to be familiar with the country's culture. This includes understanding their language as they mainly communicate in their language. Understanding their culture could help the business as the goods and services offered will relate more to the Italian culture and could easily attract the home market in Italy. This prevents the customers in the country from feeling like they are purchasing products and services from a foreign company. Understanding the culture will also be important because of how the business will handle its workers. Different countries have different cultures when it comes to handling their employees, so it is important first to understand the Italian culture. However, the strong culture in Italy could make it hard to easily establish a new business in the country as one has to learn several about the Italian culture. 

Economic Factors

The country is a big tourist destination that can generate more revenue for the business. Foreigners who come into the country are not familiar with the Italian culture; thereby, they can be the business's target if the home market is not positively responding to the business idea. Italy being a large tourist destination means that there is enough market for businesses however similar their products and services may be, which is advantageous to the business. 

Political Factors

New business owners in Italy may require special permits and licenses to operate in the country. Such permits are usually hard to obtain, which could pose a challenge to the business. However, merging or through cooperative investment with a partner from the country could increase the chances of easily acquiring a permit. 

Competitor Analysis

 

Entry Strategy

The most appropriate business strategy for the company could be a cooperative investment with a partner (Matei & Dinu, 2010). The business will require partnering with a partner from Italy to make the startup process easier. A citizen in Italy better understands their home market and the legal requirements that startup companies require. The partner could easily obtain the legal permits for the business as they are citizens in Italy. They can also help the business in understanding the culture in the country. Partnering also shares liability as the business could either boom or fail, which is why partnering would be important so that liability does not lie on an individual but rather on both parties. 

The business will be taking advantage of business partnerships that are important to a new business as they help increase knowledge, expertise, and resources available to create better products and reach a bigger audience. As mentioned earlier, partnerships may help share in the liabilities that come with new businesses in new markets. 

SME International Marketing Strategy

The business will be utilizing the differentiation strategy (Boehe & Cruz, 2010). Differentiation strategy aims at distinguishing products or services from other similar products being offered by competitors in the market. In as much as the business includes setting up a café in Italy, the café will include features that are only unique to it. Such features include offering foods that are dependent on the client's dietary needs. Italy attracts many tourists to the place, which means the visitors are from all over the globe. Different people have different dietary preferences, so this café will be offering specific dietary requirements as per the customers' requests. Many cafes and restaurants do not have this choice as their choices are fixed on the menu, which is a major differential strategy. 

Differentiation strategy for the business will provide insulation from competitors due to brand loyalty by consumers, which results in lower price sensitivity. It also prevents new entries into the markets as there is brand loyalty from the loyal customers, especially foreign visitors who often visit Italy. 

Describing the Product Offered in Three Product Layers

Core Benefit

Core benefits are the customers' experience when they purchase products or services from a business (Brown, 2006). In this case, clients get to experience various foods and drinks in the café's menu that are uniquely designed for their dietary requirements. Customers also get to receive great views from the ocean and the beach, which tend to be relaxing and therapeutic. 

Actual Product

The actual product involves the features and designs of the business. The café, the Pocket Espresso Bar, will retain its name in Italy. Packed foods and drinks for deliveries will contain the brand's name and logo for market differentiation. A few changes will be made to the existing products as the business has to embrace Italy’s culture and make sure it is included in the café’s menu. 

Augmented Product

The augmented product involves the non-physical parts of the product (Teichert et al., 2020). In Pocket Espresso Bar, the augmented product is the café's great customer service that the clients will experience. There is also a customer feedback section where clients can drop their complaints in case of any to improve the business's operations and ensure effective service delivery to the clients. 

The business aims to create a consumer-friendly brand by tailoring the menu according to the needs of the clients to ensure efficiency and customer satisfaction. 

Transport Method

It is important for a business dealing with perishable goods to use the appropriate transport method to ensure the goods delivered are fresh and maintain their quality (Aung & Chang, 2014). In this case, the business will require transporting perishable raw materials to the café. The business will use food tracks that have the necessary tools to preserve perishable goods to ensure clients receive fresh foodstuffs from the suppliers. As for deliveries, the café will use motorbikes as they are efficient and are rarely stuck in traffic, thereby reducing delays in deliveries. 

Promotion Strategy

Email Marketing

Email marketing is a digital marketing strategy that involves sending emails to potential customers for a business (Zhang et al., 2017). The business will use email marketing to tailor emails to different potential clients and make them aware of the products and services, and discounts that the café will be offering. 

Referral Marketing 

This marketing tactic involves using recommendations and word of mouth to grow a business and its customer base (Berman, 2016). Pocket Espresso Bar will use referral marketing whereby clients who refer other clients will receive discounts on their purchases. Customers can easily use services recommended by people they know, so this will be a good strategy to attract more clients easily. 

Pricing Strategy

Psychological Pricing

Psychological pricing is a pricing strategy that involves using techniques that subconsciously impact consumers (Larson, 2014). This will involve slightly lowering prices to attract more customers. Humans are driven by emotion rather than logic, so slightly lowering prices will create an illusion of a less expensive product for the business. This strategy applies to all human beings, which means it would still be a good pricing strategy in Italy. 

 

References

Aung, M. M. & Chang, S. Y., 2014. Temperature management for the quality assurance of a perishable food supply chain. Food Control , 40, pp. 198-207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2013.11.016)

Berman, B., 2016. Referral marketing: Harnessing the power of your customers. Business Horizons , 59(1), pp. 19-28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2015.08.001

Boehe, D. M. & Cruz, L. B., 2010. Corporate Social Responsibility, Product Differentiation Strategy and Export Performance. Journal of Business Ethics , 91(1), pp. 325-346. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-010-0613-

Brown, M. K., 2006. Defining the Product in a Social Marketing Effort. Health Promotion Practice , 7(4), pp. 384-387. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1524839906291323

Larson, R., 2014. Psychological Pricing Principles for Organizations with Market Power. Journal of Applied Business And Economics , 16(1), pp. 11-25. http://www.na-businesspress.com/JABE/larson_abstract.html

Matei, L. & Dinu, T., 2010. Regulation and Best Practices in Public and Nonprofit Marketing. 1st ed. Calea Grivitei: Editura Economica.

Ritzer, G., 2007. The Blackwell Companion to Globalization. s.l.:Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Sinha, S., 2015. The Exploration–Exploitation Dilemma: A Review in the Context of Managing Growth of New Ventures. The Journal for Decision Makers, 40(3), pp. 313-323.

Teichert, T., Rezaei, S. & Correa, J., 2020. Customers’ experiences of fast food delivery services: uncovering the semantic core benefits, actual and augmented product by text mining. British Food Journal , 122(11), pp. 3513-3528. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-12-2019-0909

Zhang, X., Kumar, V. & Cosguner, K., 2017. Dynamically Managing a Profitable Email Marketing Program. Journal of Marketing Research , 54(6), pp. 851-866. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmr.16.0210