Homework: Marketing B2B
I. In B2B, demand is derived: by this, we mean that the demand for IKEAS products is affected (or derived) from what happens further down the chain:
• the simplest example of this would be that the MACRO things that make/facilitate encourage the use of coffee houses create an opportunity for the growth of coffee houses..which in turn create a growth in demand for furniture, etc...for the furniture, etc industry. In which IKEA operate!
II. Use the example template that we used in lecture (for the Taxi Industry) to highlight the MACRO ISSUES. There should be 5-6 key macro drivers: some will be opportunities and some will be threats: and some issues may present both opportunities and threats.
III. Remember that, although implicit in the report brief, you are looking at the UK only.
IV. There was quite a bit of confusion about who or what the competition was:
• Your brief was about IKEA and you are a B2B marketing executive: This hasn't changed at all. The only thing that changed is that I gave you a selection of B2B customer segments, since you were not able to go to the store to figure this out yourselves.
• So the industry is still furniture etc: what ever you could sell to the B2B segment that you elect to study, and the competitors are those who are selling the same as IKEA., and thereby effectively competing with them. The important thing to remember here is that not every furniture retailer is a competitor: this is where you ought to create a positioning map to identify the strategic groups..and effectively identify your closest competitors.
• So, Cafes, Florists, barbers, etc are NOT your competitors: they are your B2B customers: they are the Segment' you have chosen to target and all the rest of your plan should focus on marketing to your chosen B2B segment.
V. In terms of the segment: this section is about your chosen segment. It would be useful to establish the size of it, the growth of it and of course identify and justify the type of segmentation you are going to use (the theory as per Lecture 7B.
• The rest of the plan is aimed at targeting this segment: the Product(s), the Price(s), and the various promotional activities that you will use to target this specific B2B segment
Instead, I want you to select one of the following areas of small business as the focus of your homework 2:
• Independent Cafes/restaurants
• Offices
• Barbers/hairdressers
• Florists
• any other clearly defined small business areas which might be relevant.
I. Prepare a marketing plan to cover the following areas:
• Identify the key macro drivers affecting the B2B sector in your selected sector. Please do not use PEST for this.
• Analyse the core existing and emerging competitors in your selected sector using 4-5 years statistics to identify key trends in the industry coupled with the various strengths and weaknesses of the competitors. Please do not use Porters 5 forces model for this analysis.
• Based on your research, identify and justify your key B2B segment to target for IKEA.
• Identify your product & pricing strategy for your selected segment.
• Develop a promotional/communication strategy aimed at increasing awareness, developing leads and driving B2B sales for your chosen segment for IKEA. Include an array of justified promotional tools to reach your target B2B segment. (Please be sure to include academic justification of your chosen promotional methods).You should also include some costings and these should be based on your research taking due care to reference the sources of your costings. In addition, you should align your selected promotional tool with the AIDA framework and identify which element of the DMU it will target. Finally, you should include a detailed Gant chart which summarises your promotional plan which should be for one full year, starting from July 2020.
Format your homework according to the give formatting requirements:
• The answer must be using Times New Roman font (size 12), double spaced, typed, with one-inch margins on all sides.
• The response also includes a cover page containing the student's name, the title of the homework, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
• Also include a reference page. The references and Citations should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.