Marketing Analysis Of Ecostore For Marketing Mix Essay.

Marketing background of Ecostore

Describe about the Marketing Analysis of Ecostore for Marketing Mix.

This report discusses about one of the eco environment based company i.e. Ecostore. Ecostore is New Zealand based organization which and operates in health care and skin industry. In this report, analyses of marketing mix or marketing plan has been undertaken. Marketing mix is the plan that undertakes different aspects of marketing strategies of the business organisation. In this report, Ecostore is the company’s marketing mix strategy has been analysed and results have been concluded. Main components of marketing mix strategy are product, pricing, promotion and distribution or place of the business organisation. Marketing mix of Ecostore has been compared with Johansson and Johansson. Recommendation has been provided to Ecostore regarding improvement of marketing mix for product to become more competitive in the market place.

About company

Ecostore is the leading company and has implemented eco friendly practices in its production and other aspects of business operations. Ecostore started their business with some limited product line and now they had reached to sky with their USP i.e. eco friendly material being used in products. Ecostore is engaged in different types of product and services that they provide to their customer. Product and service line of Ecostore includes; laundry products, skin care, dish products, hair products and services, home care and ultra sensitive products and services. In 1997, Ecostore has moved to Auckland them their first retail store and back.

Marketing background of Ecostore is its customer loyalty that they had achieved through green marketing and eco friendly business operations. Since Ecostore is involve in health care and skin care business operations, this makes it more responsible towards not using dangerous chemicals and toxic substances. In their product promotion activities they use their USP i.e. being eco friendly, support green revolution and take care of health of their customers (Dobbs, 2014). In health and skin care industry Ecostore has positioned themselves as different business organization from others in terms of its USP.

Sustainable practices had been adopted by Ecostore in their business operations. Sustainable practices can be defined as the practices that are undertaken in a manner and with special care that protects global and domestic resource. Ecostore has been involved in such practices that support eco friendly and healthier practices while undertaking production process. They use optimum resources for their business operations and addresses issues that society faces from using skin care products (Nakhchian et al., 2012).

Marketing strategies

Marketing strategy is the strategy that is made by the business organization for its effective development of marketing plan. In marketing strategy or marketing plan there are four main elements i.e. product, price, promotion and place (Brei et al,, 2011). Marketing manager of organization is required to address issues related to these four elements and able to develop effective marketing plan. In case of Ecostore following is its marketing strategy:

Products are made or manufactured by eco friendly material and without using dangerous chemical and toxics which causes many skin problems (Standardized marketing mix 2016,). Following are some products and services of Ecostore:

Laundry- Wool and delicates, soaker and stain remover, laundry liquid, etc. all these products are made up of organic material and do not include any dangerous substances.

Skin care- this product line includes body lotion, body butter and hand cream. This product line requires special packing and distribution materials so that it reaches safely to the customers.

Hair products- Shampoo and conditioner are two main product lines under this product category. On the basis of positioning strategy, Ecostore has developed this product since hair products are widely used product therefore this requires better analysis of how to create differentiation. Ecostore has achieved differentiation advantage under its positioning strategy by making its product safer and healthier by adopting sustainable practices.   

Home Products- One more product line of Ecostore is home care products which involves many product that is required for cleansing home. This product line of Ecostore has sprayers, liquid scourer, multi-purpose concentrate, etc.

As a producer of sustainable product maker, Ecostore has to consider sustainability in term of material procurement, what ingredients have been used in product and process of manufacturing the product (Londhe, 2014).  In production process, Ecostore uses organic material; procure material from local market, reducing carbon footprint has been achieved from distribution method of Ecostore.  

Price of the product is the monetary consideration that business organization receives from its customers. Pricing of product is based on product attributes, its usefulness and on the basis of worth of product. Pricing strategy under marketing mix plays important role as price is the first element of product that customer seeks (Kaye, 2013). For business organization like Ecostore and other, pricing has always been issue for the management and management accountant of Ecostore. Ecostore has been involved in the manufacturing of organic products, sustainable products and green products. Therefore it is very much difficult for Ecostore to keep product price at lower side (Nazari-Shirkouhi et al., 2013). Most of ingredients and material that is used in the production process are grown by themselves. These materials are organic, chemical free and no use of toxic substances therefore price of these materials is at higher side. It creates gap between normal skin care product and green or sustainable product and this price gap is known as green pricing gap (Niraj and Siddarth, 2014).

Products / services

Material cost, labor cost, overhead cost, factory overheads and other fixed cost are some price attributes of Ecostore products.  Price skimming is the pricing strategy of products that Ecostore uses to determine price of product. Under price skimming strategy, product will be set at higher price range so as to cover all cost involved including desired profit margin. It has been observed that customer is willing to pay more price of product because of its high quality (Cruz et al., 2010).

Promotion is most important element of marketing mix because under promotion strategy business organisation will be able to introduce its products and its advantages to prospective customers. Promotion element of market mix can be defined as the communication link or tool between business organisation and its customer base. In case of Ecostore, promotion has become most important aspect for its business products. As Ecostore has been selling products with some unique features and some peculiar attributes, therefore it became most important factor for them to communicate advantages with its customers. Branding and brand development is the major outcome of promotion that Ecostore or other company undertakes (Haughton et al., 2015). In case of Ecostore, management tries to develop brand positioning strategy as healthy food keeps people healthy and use of organic materials and chemical free substance. Personal selling and sales promotion are two major factors for the promotion strategy. Face to face and over the counter selling stagey were adopted by Ecostore (Luca and Suggs, 2010). They offer seasonal discounts, free sample of first products, online promotion campaign for discounts, etc.

Place of promotion or setting distribution channels is most important aspect for Ecostore as this will establishes contact point with customers (Talpau, 2014). Ecostore has established some retail stores so that customers can find it easy to purchase their products. Apart from physical retail store, Ecostore has established online interaction system or online ordering system for their customers. As an eco friendly or sustainable practices, Ecostore has build energy efficient retail stores, using solar panels in their stores and many other practices has been adopted by Ecostore. Ecostore has been involved many intermediaries in their distribution channel (Pralea, 2011). Apart from selling products, Ecostore has also some marketing agents and first level and second level distributors within its distribution list. Distribution element of marketing mix also requires consideration of packing and moving of products. Ecostore is engaged in manufacturing and selling organic (free from chemical and toxic substances), therefore packing and distribution become important aspect of same. Environmental packing has been introduced and used by Ecostore, under which they are using Carbon Captured Pak. Carbon Captured Pak are made up of renewal material that can be used for multiple times. Management has put more focus on packing material that can be 100 % reusable and are used for more convenience of customers (Moser and Wohlfarth, 2009).

Pricing

There are different aspects of marketing mix or marketing plan that each and every business organisation undertaken according to its business operations. In case of Ecostore involved in health and skin care industry, there are many competitors at market place. There are some giant businesses organisations like Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer and AstraZeneca are some competitors that Ecostore has. Different business organisation or competitor has different marketing mix or marketing plan that supports their business products and other business operations.

In order to improve marketing plan Ecostore is required to make certain changes to it. Ecostore has some limitations in terms of its products and its prising strategies. Although products of Ecostore is very popular but are limited in terms of its attributes. Main element of Ecostore’s product is its use of organic material and organic nature. This has created some limitation in terms of useability and moveability of its products (Brooks and Simkin, 2012). On the other hand, pricing of its products is at higher side, which makes it unattractive to certain section of market. In terms of promotional strategy, Ecostore is required to undertaken some aggressive and vast coverage promotional tools.  At present, promotional tools of Ecostore is not good enough to accommodate or attract vast section of society.

In order to improve marketing mix or marketing plan of Ecostore in term of its product, following are some strategies shall be adopted:

Product Modification- Ecostore can modify some attributes of its products so as make it more easy to use and increase usability. Changing characteristics or features of product can be treated as modification of product. Product characteristics or features can be modified only on three basis and they are; quality, appearance and functions (Luan and Sudhir, 2010). Ecostore has to rearrange some features of products so that they are able to attract more and more customers toward their products. Systematic or careful changes shall be undertaken by the management of Ecostore so that it does not hamper requirement of customers from the product. Change in functionality of the product may improve its functionality; product will became more convenient for its user and safer in terms of its usability.

Product Mix Decision Modifying Mix Changing Mix Width- Changing mix width is process of changing wide verity of product line that business organisation has. Since Ecostore offers different types of products or involves different product line therefore they can change their product line as per the requirement of changing market and of its customers. They are producing many products of same product line, in this way they can shorter or increase their products in particular product line (Voina, 2004).

Promotion

Modifying Mix Consistency- Another measure that can be undertaken by Ecostore is to modify their mix consistency. Mix consistency in the product line can be defined as the situation of having different products with close usability or close functionality with each other. In case of Ecostore, they are involve in different product line having many different products in it and has close functionality level. Therefore Ecostore can change their or modify their products of particular product line (Sriram et al., 2006).

Product Mix Decision- Another way to manage product mix or product in marketing mix or plan is to take decisions related to increase or decrease products in product line. Product mix is the decision that is taken on the systematic analysis of market or product performance of Ecostore. Product mix decision can also be taken on the basis of performance of product in the market and if that particular product is nor performing well using more resources of business organisation (Shen, 2014). Then in this case, product production shall be close to an end. In this manner, Ecostore has to shut down some its products so that perform better in the market.

Conclusion

From the above report it can be concluded that marketing mix is the most important element for business effectiveness. It can be concluded that Ecostore has been enjoying product differentiation strategy in terms of sits products. Ecostore has been involved in production and distribution of organic products, chemical and toxication free health and skin products. This unique feature of Ecostore’s products has made them different among other. After analysis of their marketing mix it can be analysed that pricing policy and promotion activities needs to be modified bit so as to attract vast population. It can be concluded that product mix decision, modifying mix consistency and changing mix width are some methods that shall be adopted by Ecostore to make changes in its product category. 

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