182940_186665187_Assesment_Task_2_Evaluate_Marketing

Evaluate marketing opportunities

Performance objective

The candidate will demonstrate skills and knowledge required to investigate marketing opportunities and evaluate required changes to current operations.

Assessment description

In response to the simulated business scenario, you will evaluate three marketing opportunities that have been identified for you, rank them in terms of viability and likely contribution to the business, and assess the impact of the top-ranked opportunity on operations.

You will then prepare a report for a board of directors documenting identified marketing opportunities.

Page numbers in BLUE denote the appropriate section of the Student Workbook which you should refer to when necessary. Page numbers in RED denote the appropriate section of the case study which you should refer to when necessary.

Scenario

In Assessment Task 1, each member of the marketing team (including you) presented potential marketing opportunities to the Marketing Manager, Sam Lee. He has chosen three separate marketing opportunities to further evaluate and rank before choosing one to proceed with. These three are

manufacture and sell own-brand of BBQfun barbeques (built in India and imported)

sell products through e-commerce (online) Australia-wide

sell products at bargain prices.

The first opportunity is to manufacture and retail own-branded barbecues and products. Manufacture would take place at a leased plant in India as BBQfun has no manufacturing capability. Also, manufacture in Australia would be too expensive.

The second opportunity is to make all products available in an online store. Existing warehouses would be reconfigured to store the extra stock. Customers would be required to cover extra delivery costs.

The third opportunity is to aim to increase market share by cutting the cost of products and aiming at mass appeal. BBQfun would focus on selling lower priced products while eliminating the higher cost (differentiated and higher quality) products from the product line.

Sam Lee has asked you to evaluate the three opportunities based on a variety of different factors, determine the financial viability of each opportunity, and then rank them.The first step is to consider if these are appropriate marketing opportunities that BBQfun should be looking to implement. Analyse each opportunity in terms of fit with organisational goals and capabilities (pages 44 – 52).

Is the opportunity consistent with the BBQfun business plan (page 2)?

Consider BBQ’s current capabilities and resources. Is the business capable of exploiting this opportunity?

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bilities and resources. Is the business capable of exploiting this opportunity?

BBQfun’s marketing research found the following market needs and trends:

Market needs

Selection – a wide choice of options.

Accessibility – the customer needs easy access to the store with minimal inconvenience. Online shopping is becoming increasingly popular.

Customer service – the customer needs expert customer service to help sort through choices.

Competitive pricing – the customer needs all products/services to be competitively priced relative to comparable high-end outdoor lifestyle options offered by competitors.

Flexible payment – the customer needs easily managed payment plan.

Quality guarantees – the customer requires three year product guarantees

Market trends

The market trend for outdoor lifestyle stores is headed toward a more sophisticated and informed customer. Outdoor lifestyles customers are becoming more sophisticated in a number of different ways:

Item quality – the preference for high quality items is increasing as customers are learning to appreciate the quality differences.

Unique – our patrons appreciate the opportunity to include outdoor lifestyles in their home that stand out from the mass-produced and low-quality items.

Selection – people are demanding a larger selection of choices; they are no longer accepting a limited offer in outdoor lifestyles.

Based on this research, analyse each opportunity to determine likely impact on current business and customer base.

How will customers react to the implementation of the marketing opportunity?

Is the market share likely to increase or decrease?

Will this opportunity allow BBQfun to enter new markets?

What will be the likely impact on sales volume?

Consider consumer preferences (page 17).

Outline any risks associated with the marketing opportunity (page 76). You may wish to consider

risks in terms of implementing the opportunity

risks associated with costs or sales

external factors such as regulations and relevant legislation

you may wish to refer to the SWOT analysis on pages 14 – 15 or the risk register on

pages 11 – 12.

Analyse the role of competitors in relation to each opportunity (page 15).

Which businesses would likely be BBQfun’s direct competitors?

Compare BBQfun to competitors in terms of target market, product offering, price etc.

What might be the reaction of these competitors to implementation…

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