Marketing Plan
Introduction
A marketing plan is defined as a document that has details of the necessary actions that should be taken in order to achieve one or more marketing objectives. The marketing plan can be for a brand, product line or service. This paper will give a detailed marketing plan for Sony Ericsson mobile phone. The target country is Nepal. Cell phones are becoming a want among the Nepal population due to the rapid increasing technology. It is evident that the next ten year research study will show an increase in the number of people purchasing cell phones in Nepal. This paper will present a strategic business plan for Sony Ericsson keeping in mind the present global and Nepalese market scenario.
Product Description
Sony Ericsson is a joint venture that was established in 2001 by the Japanese consumer electronic company called Sony Corporation and Swedish Telecommunications Company called Ericsson. The main products manufactured by this company are mobile phones. By the year 2009, the company was the fourth-largest mobile phone manufacturer globally after Nokia, Samsung and LG. The types of phones manufactured include music, business, camera, all-round, eco-friendly, design and budget focused form.The phones have features such as an integrated camera with screen viewfinder. There are also media player features that enable users to enjoy their recorded and streamed video using the integrated media player. Moreover, the payers have enhanced bass frequencies that enable superior listening experience to users. The other feature is GPRS that provides effective and fast mobile data transfer. The use of GPRS is also cheap since users are only charged for data sent and received but not for airtime used. Finally, there is the Bluetooth wireless technology which enables exchange of data across ranges of up to ten meters (Books, 2010).
Target Country- Nepal
Nepal is a landlocked country found in South Asia. It has a population of approximately 30 million people making it the 41st most populous country in the world. Nepal remained grippes in a feudalistic socioeconomic structure in the mid twentieth century despite the influence of Western popular culture. The country had no popularly elected government until 1959. In the 1960s and 70s, a tide of Western popular culture and commercialization swept over Nepal.Nepal became a federal democratic republic after the parliament voted to abolish the monarchy in the year 2007. The country’s change to a republic state was completed in 2008 after the constituent assembly voted in order to dissolve the monarchy. The country’s population consists of executive professionals and the college youth. These will be presented as the target Market for Sony Ericsson phones.
Target Market
Under market size and demand, Nepal has a young consumer market. The young consumer market can be a potential target market for Sony Ericsson mobile phones due to the fact that young adults in Nepalese community have the desire to be up to date with technology. It is also evident that young people in Japan are likely to spend more money on technological items and devices. There has been a marked increase in income per capita. This will allow most people to spend more money on luxury items such as mobile phones. Estimates mobile users in Nepal are approximately 3-4 million. Out of the total number of mobile users, 7% use Sony Ericsson mobile phones.Customer analysis reveals that the target market comprises of both male and female individuals. These individuals are mainly the young adults aged between fifteen to fifty years. The target customers are working executives and college youths. These individuals reside in both the urban and rural areas where there is mobile connectivity.
Competitive Analysis
The direct competitors of Sony Ericsson Company are Samsung, Motorola, Nokia, LG and other Chinese brands. Nokia is leading mobile phone manufacturing company that is Finnish multinational communications corporation. It connects people to each other and the information that greatly matters with ease. The company provides products such as mobile phones, solutions and devices for imaging media, games and businesses. LG is the second largest mobile phone manufacturing company that has its headquarters in Korea. The company produces telecommunication produces, electronics and chemicals. Moreover, it operates subsidiaries such as LG display, LG telecom, LG chem and LG electronics.he other Korean mobile phone manufacturing company is Samsung. Samsung group has many international affiliated businesses united under the Samsung brand. An example of such brand is the Samsung electronics which is the world’s largest technology company in terms of sales. Motorola and China brands are also other potential competitors for Sony Ericsson. A good example of an indirect competitor is the Walkie-talkies and the PDAs (Luther, 2001).
Marketing Objectives
All the Sony Ericsson stock should be purchased. The outstanding market potential makes the objectives on how much volume and share needed limitless. A good brand image is necessary since there is huge market that is need of phone supply. The other objective is to have approximately 10-12% of market share for the given fiscal year and show gradual improvement in the next years. This will enable establishment of a decent market share. It is however important to note that the market share of individual phones keep changing with time.Under SWOT analysis of Sony Ericsson, there are two strengths. One of the strengths is that Sony Ericsson has diversity among its products. The other strength lies in Sony as a brand name. One of the weaknesses is the lack in understanding customer preferences. The other weakness is less technology and advancement, in that most of the Sony Ericsson mobile phones have less technological features that are least advanced.
The lack of user centered designs has also proved to be a major weakness of Sony Ericsson mobile phones. Moreover, there is lack of brand awareness globally. Majority of the people are less aware of Sony Ericsson brand. One of the greatest opportunities is the high percentage of the young population in need of mobile phones. There is also a strong customer demand for Sony Ericsson mobile phones. The mobile phones market is rapidly developing in Nepal and this is also a great opportunity. The other opportunities are network capabilities and low tariff of service providers (Books, 2010).The key threats to penetration of Sony Ericsson in Nepal are the landline penetration and introduction of Sky phones in rural areas. These two products act as a threat to the introduction of Sony Ericsson mobile phones in rural areas. The other threat is that there is intense competition from other mobile phones such as Nokia, Motorola, LG, Samsung and China mobile phones. Finally, there is the high bargaining power of mobile phone customers which poses to be a threat to marketing Sony Ericsson mobile phones.
Marketing Strategies
One of the marketing strategy is that the product has to be stylish and in with the current technology trend. An example of a noted trend is the only touch screen mobile handsets. Hence, by focusing on the emerging trend and markets, style would play a key role as one of the marketing strategies. Moreover, most of the Nepalese consumers consist of the young generation that is interested in fashion and style. It is therefore essential to introduce the latest and the most fashionable designs that will attract more young generation customers in Nepal.The other marketing strategy is to differentiate Sony Ericsson mobiles according to pricing. Due t heavy competition and cutting down on profits, Sony Ericsson should establish new markets by use of the penetration pricing technique. The technique will create a new marketing segment.
The technique was employed by Nokia in India, following the introduction of a phone that was dustproof and with a torch. The other strategy is differentiating products using the respective bundling for instance placing brands with music players and cameras differently (Luther, 2001).Direct marketing and customer relationship management should also be used. The most integral part of brand development is making a brand instantly accessible in memory. Hence, it will be necessary to utilize placements in the digital media in order to make a mark on the customers psyche. In order to target teenagers, there should be placement of advertisement at strategic positions. The product should be placed in such a way that customers view it as a fashion statement and status symbol. This may be possible through direct marketing in boutique shops and mega malls in order to improve the Sony Ericsson brand image.
The other strategy is training the employees dealing with customers. Training will help the employees to be pleasing, presentable and well-mannered. Moreover, they will be taught on how to handle customers efficiently. Training of employees will also aim at setting a high standard across all Sony Ericsson outlets and increasing consumer satisfaction. The other strategy that will give Sony Ericsson a good brand impression is making the physical settings of the showroom modern and trendy. The settings should delight consumers. Placement of mobile phones should also be strategic in that the best phones are placed at the front and the cheapest phones at the back.Under pricing policies, the future technological retail prices will be given to the distributors so that they can be implemented strictly.Under the distribution strategy, it is essential to improve on the existing strategy that has a single national distributor. The single distributor acts as the exclusive distributor agent to Nepal republic. The supplier distributes Sony Ericsson phones to three concept stores and to over 150 authorized mobile phone dealers.
The proposed distribution system will aim at increasing market share and sales volume. Hence, it will be effective to use traditional distribution channels comprising of the distributor to the retailer and finally to the consumer. The conventional distribution process will also be used whereby a selected number of distributors will distribute the product. The distributors will have a choice of either reselling units to a network of retailers or vending to consumers. Distributors who own shops in given shopping centers are the ones to vend to consumers.Different promotion strategies will be employed. One of the strategies that will be used is advertising. The key objectives of advertising will be to increase brand recall and awareness. It is evident that Sony Ericsson mobile phones image has not been fully implanted in customers. So many people are less aware of the brand. Hence, most of the customers do not consider Sony Ericsson as their choice mobiles. The first priority of advertising should be to inform customers about Sony Ericsson’s stance on giving them the ultimate mobile phones with functionality that is suitable for professionals in addition to state of the art technology (Kotler, 2010).
It is essential to place advertisement in newspapers and magazines prior to marketing the product to the rural areas. This is due to the fact that these areas lack various methods of communication such as television and the Internet. The other method is by participating in flea markets and trade fairs that are mostly common in rural areas.Strategic advertising partnership should also be considered for instance advertising with card distributors such as Toyota, Maruti and Hyundai. This will help in building co-brand awareness and the existence for both car manufacturers and Sony Ericsson. Since Sony Ericsson secondary target segment is the urban population aged between 15-25 years, the mobile phones should have entertainment features such as games and music. These features will give the target group a sense of belonging under the influence of peers and friends.
An advertisement strategy that focuses on featuring Sony Ericsson as a way to connect people should be implemented. Moreover, the advertisement should feature Sony Ericsson as a status symbol of recognition as a member of a circle of peers and friends. The television is the best media to use for advertisement. However, the Internet, billboard and cinema may also be considered. Internet and radio advertising should be considered due to the fact that the target group spends most of its tine for these channels and media.The other promotion strategy will be providing continuous training programs on sales and marketing. The programs will be conducted on regular basis in order to make sure that the sales team is motivates and informed about different innovation ideas (Kotler, 2010). The other strategy is participating in trade shows and fairs. This will help in spreading information about the various products to be marketed. The trade and fairs should be conducted in different parts of the country. The trade shows will be organized for the middle income groups and household groups that fit in the target market. Successful trade fairs will provide a perfect opportunity to get in touch with the consumers and get to understand their needs regarding the products.
References
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Kotler, P. (2010) Principles of Marketing: A south Asian Perspective, 13/E. Pearson
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Luther, W. M. (2001) The marketing plan: how to prepare and implement it. AMACOM
Div American Mgmt Assn.
Michael. B. A (2006) Strategic organizational change: a practitioner’s guide for managers
And consultants (2nd Ed). Greensboro, NC.
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