Online Marketing Essay For Lehman's Boutique.

Develop a marketing plan for any online service offered in any industry of your choice.

Lehman’s boutique is planning to open an online store that will see to it penetrating new markets that it had no footprints. The local business is doing relatively well but with the advent shift of consumer’s preference to shopping online, there has been growing need for the business to go online to stay afloat with the changes in the market. Lehman’s boutique has been facing stiff competition from its neighbors who offer similar products thus the move to open an online store is seen to be reprieve and an added advantage especially in a market already congested by competitors offering same product.The online store will be offering merchandise to particular target audience and as such the products offered will be carefully selected and tailored to suite this particular audience.

The main target market that the online shop would focus on is teens and young adults who are avid internet users. They are men and women generally in their 20s- 40s.By developing a  strong web-based platform and driving traffic to the online shop, a community of the target market will be established. I addition the online marketing plan will include search engine optimization and engaging social media network and blog post as a key strategy to drive potential clients to the online store. The success of this campaign will be analyzed by using tools such Google Analytics, site analytics (Lee, Kotler, & Kotler, 2011.)

The main objective of this marketing plan is to launch Lehman’s online store and create public awareness of the company’s product through social media channels and in the long run influence purchase (Bradley, 2008)

•    To establish Lehman’s boutique online store on social media networks such as Twitter, Face book, and Instagram.
•    To draw in traffic  and active users of the online store  with  trackable growth every fortnight
•    To secure not less than 20  sales on the online platform  every month
•    To drive more potential buyers to the site through updating fresh and up to date content on the site.

Lehman Boutique offers designer clothes and brands of clothing that attract socially conscious consumers. The Boutique is located in the northern part of Australia and is opening an online shop to further penetrate its market base. The shop mainly deals with apparels which include both men and women designer clothing, housewares and home furnishing products.

Lehman boutique has two major competitors in the region it operates.

• Geans online boutique

Gean's boutique offers similar commodities as Lehman’s.It deals with apparel, housewares, and Home furnishing products. Also, Gean’s online shop has been in existence for two years offering designer men’s and women’s accessories, housewares and furniture. 

• Opera online shop

Opera boutique is another online shop that offers similar commodities as Lehman’s boutique. Its online shop has attracted followers and clients online. It deals with designer clothing, house wares, and Home furnishing products. It has been in existence for three years. The online shop has been able to keep a database of clients, and through its discounted offers it has been able to get referrals keeping traffic to its site all-time high.

The new plan will offer Lehman’s boutique with an opportunity to tap into a larger market using limited resources. This will augur well with their growth strategy of minimizing loss and maximize profit. Other opportunities that the online shop will offer include;

• The business will have the ability to tap into the online and offline marketing strategies. This way it will be able to sell its merchandise through the online platform and at the same time driving customers to visit their local shops especially for those who need a personal touch.
• The online shop will also come with an e-commerce functionality meaning it will be possible for the business to sell its merchandise online and get paid through online channels. This will be advantageous to the company since it will cut the cost of operation. Also, the setting up of an online shop will open the business to over a million potential customers who use the internet on a daily basis (Dann, 2009)..
• Setting up of an online store featuring latest merchandise will edge out competitors who offer similar services. The e-commerce features that offer an efficient and friendly way of purchasing merchandise online also is expected to help drive traffic to this site.

Lehman online shop will be targeting men and women between the age 18- 35 who have access to the internet and use social media channels to network and share their experience. The online shop is also targeting those customers who love doing their shopping online. This selected demographic therefore covers college students, young and seasoned professionals, single and married alike.

Situation Analysis

The online shop will be targeting potential clients who will be gratified when they purchase quality merchandise at relatively low price. The online shop will also be focusing on customers who value quality and possess a brand conscience. These are customers who once they visit the online shop will always come back for more due to the price sensitive and discounted offers they  will receive from the shop. Also the online shop will be targeting a savvy shopper who will not mind spending time and money to find the ultimate fashion piece online and in the comfort of their home (Chai, 2009).

One of the strategies that will be used by Lehman’s online shop is the use of social media networks. As the company's online store is being developed, social media sites will be used to create a buzz of the launch of the online store and what the company offers. Use of social media such as Face book and Twitter is expected to create connections and links that will be shared and be twitted to friends and families in their networks. This has a potential of bringing in more clients into the stores if not making orders online (Dann, 2009)

Once the online store is up and running, the site’s home page will be refreshed twice every week to keep potential clients aware of the latest products that are available in the market. Furthermore, the site will be optimized for sharing of its contents on social media pages and user contribution (Chen, 2009).

For the first six months, the company will offer discounts and rebates to customers who will purchase through the online store and also share the site’s content on their networks. The company will also give non-monetary incentives to customers who will give referrals and share the company’s products on their social media pages (Kotler, 2011).

The online store will also run a series of promotional materials on their online store to attract new and potential online buyers who have a craze for offers and new design. The promotional materials will be informed of discounted rates that will be offered on particular products. These discounted rates might be men’s clothing or house wares. Using the power of the social media, this information can be shared from the company’s online store to various online communities that will share the same information with friends and families thus creating awareness of the product and the services being offered by Lehman’s online store (Armstrong, Adam, Denize,  &  Kotler, 2014)  

The online store will also institute free delivery services for customers purchasing goods from the store and door to door delivery. This will be an edge forward against it’s who do not offer this service to its customers. This means that if customers purchase housewares or trendy apparels from the online store, they would have delivery service to their doorsteps without incurring any charges (Asish , 2007.).

Online customer engagement will also be a new way of enhancing service. Real-time engagement with customers through online chat with company’s agent is expected to improve the quality of service. Customer queries will now be handled real-time, and customers can get feedback concerning their requisition in a matter of seconds. Use of Twitter, Instagram and face book will also see to it that communication from the online store reaches intended audience promptly since news travel fast on social media platforms than any other communication platform. The company will, therefore, capitalize on this quick and efficient means of communication (Schoubben, & Van Hulle,. 2008 )

Lehman’s online boutique store will operate to serve the following purposes

• It will be used  as a platform  for communicating  the brand's identity
• The platform will also be used to engage clients and communication of new offers and rebates to potential clients.
• The platform will also be used to build customer database and potential strategy to do customer follow up and cross selling in the future
• The site will also play the role of being a center of information for the online community on issues to do with lifestyle and current trends in the fashion industry.

• Product-The online shop will purpose to sell the latest apparel designs and, household wares which will attract customers to the online shop. Links to images of these products will be shared on different online platforms to bring more traffic to the site
• Promotion-As mentioned earlier the online shop will use promotional strategies such as offering discounted rates to clients buying products online and slashing of prices on particular days during the first few months to lure customers to the online shop (Bell, 2011)
• Price-The pricing of products that will be sold in the online store is expected to be pocket-friendly during the first six months to attract traffic to the site. This does not mean the business will compromise on the quality of its products (Chai,2009).
• Place -Since the business will be conducted online the sales support channel will be through the use of email marketing and social media networks that will offer a great opportunity to reach a wide variety of clients within a short duration. Use of blog post will also play a vital role in marketing the company’s products online (Berthon, Plangger,  &  Shapiro,  2012)
• People –The online store will focus more on customer satisfaction, and this will mean a high level of service. User-friendly tools on the home page of the online store will go a long way in giving customers an awesome experience during their purchase online. The company will also purpose to maintain its image online of being the online store that provides quality and efficient service to customers (Malhotra, & Peterson, 2007)
• Process – The online store will use sophisticated design concept so as to bring out an outstanding user experience from customers using the site to purchase merchandise. Some of the features that will be incorporated in the site include, a real-time customer service chat for customers having queries on particular products they have expressed interest in. The online store will also adopt e-commerce features such as Cart, credit card payment features to allow customers to purchase products from the store easily and in an efficient manner (Chandra, 2007).
• Physical evidence -The online store will also focus on offering top-notch customer experience through its sales and support staff that will interact with customers on a daily basis through the various online channels. Branding will also be one of the key strategies to make the public aware of the existence of an online store, and this will be done and shared through social networks  and other online media marketing channels (Achrol &  Kotler, 2012).

Looking at the strategies highlighted above it is evident that Lehman’s online shop is going to outwit its competitors by far in terms of sales and revenues. The target of this strategy will be to drive sales through discounted offers and after sale services such as free delivery to customers who buy the company’s product online. The use of social media a channel of marketing and pushing the customers’ presence online is also seen as an effective move to tap to over the one billion potential customers who use the internet on a daily basis. The sites home page will also be user friendly, easy to navigate and one that offers interactive interface for users. This is considered a key selling strategy bearing in mind the competitors website have issues to do with user friendliness as they are difficult to navigate.

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