Essay Instructions: Product Description
There are two ways to look at the product for Mochalicious. The first is the product, which is coffee-based beverages and snacks; the second is the service. Melbourne has a very strong coffee culture, so the coffee needs to be brewed to a very high standard in order to meet the needs of the local market. There are a number of different elements to quality coffee ??" good beans, good machines and well-trained staff. The beans will come from a local roaster to ensure maximum freshness. The machines will not be the highest-end machines because we are emphasizing flavoured drinks, but we still need to be able to make a serviceable flat white. The staff will receive extensive training both in pulling espresso but also in making the flavoured drinks as well.
The flavoured drinks will include the signature mocha, and perhaps different variations on the mocha theme. There will be cappuccinos, Irish coffees, iced coffees, frozen coffee drinks, Italian flavours, classic Australian drinks like the piccolo, long black and flat white, and more. The strong Australian coffee culture can be fussy, so it is important that we carry the basic drinks that everybody expects (Rose, 2010). There will also be offerings in pastries and snacks, as well. These will range from gourmet pies to sweets, cookies and things like that. These are to cure hunger in our customers and to give them a tasty treat to complement their coffee. In addition, food adds revenue without adding much to the fixed costs, since the food can be purchased from a third-party vendor.
The service element of Mochalicious is that the shop needs to be a comfortable place in which people can sit and relax. It will not be a pretentious hipster type of coffee shop, but one more relaxed for a mixed clientele, including Asians, students, moms and older people, too. The service has to be excellent, delivering great coffee-based beverages on time to every customer, with a smile, and make everybody feel welcome so that they want to come back.
The service component adds a lot to the product. The coffee experience is an integral part of Australian culture, and it has become this way because of the entire experience, not just the high quality of coffee. Australians are prolific consumers of coffee because they love everything about it. They love the drink, yes of course, but the experience of the local coffee shop is very important and there are cafes to suit every taste in atmosphere (Wheeler, 2010). Thus, the vibe of the shop is also important, and because Australia is a multicultural society in the big cities the shops need to cater to a wide range of clientele in order to draw in sufficient crowds.
Expansion of Product Line
One of the good things about coffee is that it lends itself to considerable expansion once the brand has been established. There are a number of different ways that this can occur. The first is within the shop, where new product offerings are not only interesting to the consumer but when they are unique can entice more people to come into the shop. There are other ways as well. The shop can offer things like tea or juices as a means of expanding, building on the captive audience that already exists and on the space that is already being paid for to maximize the revenue of the shop.
Another opportunity lies with distribution. The shop, if using other companies' beans, can be an agent to sell whole beans to customers. Alternately, if the shop decides to buy a roaster and roast its own, will be in a position to sell to supermarkets and other retail outlets. Such sales provide the opportunity for additional income. Mochalicious could even set up a website to sell beans. As Tuttle (2013) notes, not all brand extensions are good, but when they are they can be a great way to leverage the established brand to sell to new consumers, or to sell more to existing customers.
Or, Mochalicious could simply take its formula and open up more stores. One of the good things about being in a place like Melbourne with its massive coffee culture is that there is always room for another good coffee shop. Once Mochalicious is established as successful, the company is in a position to grow, and that means taking the name to other parts of town, other suburbs or even to other states. Such is the brand extension that is possible by expanding out the Mochalicious concept to other stores.
The key to being able to launch different extensions or expansions is that the brand must be known and have value. If nobody knows what Mochalicious is, or if people do not like Mochalicious, then there will be no possibility for brand extensions or expansions. Therefore, it is crucial that the company makes every effort to build positive vibes about the brand, and it can do this with great service, for example. If people respond well to the Mochalicious brand, then the company will be well positioned to make use of that brand in the future. A brand extension also needs to have good fit with the existing business, and that is why the brand is suggested to do other things that are related to coffee (Tauber, 2010). Nobody is interested in a Mochalicious car.
Changes in the Business Environment
There are a number of changes to the business environment that can cause problems for an established business. A good example of this would be if the demographics of the neighbourhood change. Now, we know that the coffee shop business is based on building a regular clientele and this is done by having an in-store atmosphere that fits with the character of the neighbourhood. So when the neighbourhood changes, the shop either needs to change with the neighbourhood or it needs to make a change in location, to a place more suited to the shop's style. This is a decision that would need to be made on the basis of what types of changes were being made and whether the new demographics are well-suited to the shop's offering.
Another sort of change in the business environment would be an increase in the rent or other cost factors. The results of this would be declining profits. It is important that the coffee shop essentially build into its plans the ability to withstand financial shocks. There should also be an exit plan, especially if we get within a few months of a lease renewal. There are a lot of businesses forced to go out of business because of cost increases like higher rents.
There are not expected to be any changes to things like the love of coffee. This is ingrained in Australian culture, so much that even newcomers to Australia make a point to learn about the culture. Thus, such a change is not expected. It would be devastating to the business if it happened, but it won't. Demand is expected to remain strong. This is the same with other changes in the external environment as well, like in the political environment. It is not expected that there will be any changes.
Overall, Mochalicious expects to be well-positioned to adapt to changes in the market, because the company will have lots of money and a great brand, which are two things needed to weather any storm.
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Continuing to build your marketing plan, this assignment focuses on branding, pricing, and distribution of the same product and service.
Write a four to five (4-5) page paper in which you:
Create the domestic and global product branding strategy.
Determine and detail the optimum pricing strategy.
Examine how your pricing strategy supports your branding strategy.
Prepare a distribution channel analysis identifying the wholesaler, distributor, and retailer relationships (include any e-Commerce as well).
Discuss whether a push or pull strategy will be used, justify your rationale.
Discuss how the distribution strategy fits the product / service, target market, and overall marketing strategy for the company
Support your marketing plan with at least two (2) reference sources that discuss the nature of the assignment
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
Develop branding strategies for existing and new products.
Develop pricing strategies and distribution channels for products.
Use technology and information resources to research issues in marketing management.
Write clearly and concisely about marketing management using proper writing mechanics.
