Market Opportunity Analysis Of Kickstarter Gravel Bag In The Australian Market

Your task is to choose one (1) of the five options listed in the MRKT11029 T2 2018 Unit Profile and then write a market opportunity analysis for that product with the focus on current Australian market conditions to determine market attractiveness.

The product that is chosen for this assignment is Kickstarter Gravel bag. The Gravel bag is a toiletry bag which is also known by many other names such as ditty bag, sponge bag, body hygiene kit, wash bag, travel kit etc. Gravel is a waterproof bag that helps the consumer to keep their things safe in extreme harsh weather conditions. The Gravel bag is a portable pouch with lots of pockets and is kept secured with zippered closure. The founder of the product Lance Williams and Chris Livingston came with the idea of this bag to carry products like toothpaste, Razor, electric razors, nail clippers, shaving supplies, medicine, shampoo, hair conditioner etc. There are many toiletry bags available in the market however they are different from the Gravel bags. The Gravel bag has more than many compartments and it can hold many things. The bag is made up with premium materials; the outer shell of the bag is made by using the Tarpaulin PVC. The lining that is used in the bag is high quality Poly and thermoplastic elastomer. The bag waits 12.43 ounces and also provides a lifetime warranty. The marketing partner of Kickstarter is MatrixLabs. The product is very much useful in long tours and can be very helpful in keeping the basic items safe and organized (Kickstarter, 2018).

The economy of Australia is among the largest mixed economies of the world. The GDP of Australia is accounted 1.69 trillion Australian dollars in the year 2017. Australia is considered as the second wealthiest nation after Switzerland in terms of wealth per individual. The GDP ran of Australia 13^th (Authority & Emissions, 2013). Australia suffers a very low unemployment rate of 5.5% of the total population, which shows the stable condition of Australia. Australia’s business market is invaded by many foreign investors, which makes it an ideal condition for the new and growing companies to establish their brand. The total worth of the Australia’s total wealth is accounted 8.9 trillion Australia dollars at the end of Jun 2016. The Australian economy has been stable in the last decade and this helped the organization to successfully operate their business. However, the competition in the Australian market is immense and this can affect the growing organizations like Kickstarter. The Australian economy has grown 2.5 per cent in past two years and it is expected that it will continue its growth in a robust pace. It can be seen from the statistics that the retail sales of Australia have gone down from 3.7 in 2016 to 2.4 in 2017. The economic condition of the Australia has been in good hands due to Australia’s diverse and abundant natural resources, this attracts foreign investments. Foreign investors helped Australian economy by giving opportunities to entrepreneurship businesses (Bath, 2012). The people of Australia spend a lot in the tourism industry, which is a positive sign for the Kickstarter. Kickstarter needs to market their product in such a way so that the organization can reach out to the maximum number of people, which will help to grow in the market and this will also create huge brand recognition in the market.  

A marketing plan is a plan by which the organization reaches to its customers and helps them to turn into potential customer of the service or products that the organization provides. Marketing plan helps the organization to deliver the intended message to the people, which influence consumers to buy the product. A marketing plan explains the following things- What to sell, where to sell, how to sell and who to sell. An innovative marketing approach grabs more attention and it creates much more impact in the market. Kickstarter is a new and growing company in the market. The organization need to gain some competitive advantage over their rivals so that the consumer prefers their products. The marketing strategies that Kickstarter can use are:

• Advertising: Kickstarter needs to advertise their products in a large scale. The basic and most important thing that the new companies have to focus is on creating brand awareness. For creating brand awareness the organization need to use different advertising channels so that the product reaches out to maximum number of people (Heerde et al. 2013). The organization needs to spend atleast 10-15% of the total budget in promoting the products. Kickstarter can use the social media platform to promote its product. The social media platform is one of the cheapest platforms and it will also help the product to reach out to customers around the world. Apart from social media the organization can also use other forms of media channels like newspaper, television advertisement, hoardings etc.
• Collaboration: Kickstart can collaborate with other franchises or companies; this will help to make a good share in the industry and will also make the consumer aware of their products (Graci, 2013). Collaboration with reputed companies can give them opportunity to increase their goodwill and it will also help them in reducing the marketing cost to quite an extent. Collaboration in the initial stage of the organization helps in growth.
• Product diversification: Product diversification means expanding the business in other segments of the industry. The product diversification helps in capturing the attention of the customer from different market segments thus it increases the number of potential customer in the market. Diversification also increases the market awareness and helps in increasing their goodwill. Product diversification if done carefully can give many new opportunities to the organization (Kumar, Gaur & Pattnaik, 2012).

SWOT is the acronym for strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats. SWOT analysis helps to find the strength, weaknesses that the organization has internally and the potential opportunities and threats that the organization has externally.

Strengths:

• The product that Kickstarts is providing has more than two chambers, whereas its competitors have two chambers. Having more than 2 chambers helps the consumer in keeping more staffs and also help them to keep the stuffs separately and in a organised manner.
• The product is made with Poly and thermoplastic elastomer, which is durable, whereas there are many rival companies with cheap quality materials that tend to torn out easily (Fernandez et al., 2012). The linen, which is used in waterproof, thus keeps the stuffs which is stored inside dry and safe. The bag also keeps the stuffs free from dust and mud.
• The Gravel bag is portable and the size of the bag is adjustable. This helps in storing more staffs and products that keeps it handy at long tours.
• The organization is based on Australia. This is one of the strength because the economic condition of Australia is at a stable condition and this will help the organization to grow in the market (Plumb, Kent & Bishop, 2013).

Weakness:

• The products that the organization is offering comes at a higher price of $69 Australian Dollar, which is little too expensive in many countries. Consumers will hesitate to spend such price for a toiletry bags and that too of a new and growing company.
• However, the bag is made up with good quality Poly and thermoplastic elastomer materials, but there is some issue with the inside of the bag. The inside chamber of the bag is made up of mesh which tends to torn out easily and can harm the outer layer of the bag.
• The stable economic condition is a positive sign for the organization; on the other hand, the stable economic condition attracts more organizations in the economy. This increases the number of competitors in the market and which is a serious headache for the growing company like Kickstarter (Numan & Willekens, 2012).

Opportunities:

• Being in a stable economy, Kickstarter gets a number of opportunities that they can use. The interests of the foreign investors in the Australian business market can prove to be a huge opportunity for the organization. Investors can help them in expanding their business globally and can also help them to diversify their products (Mason & Brown, 2013).
• The organization can collaborate with other established and reputed organizations, which can help them in increasing their brand awareness and can also help them to promote their products at a lower cost. This will also help them to increase their brand awareness in the market creating a large number of potential customers.  

Threats:

• The only threat the organization can face is the threat of substitute products and the competition. The organization faces a huge competition in the market from its rival companies.
• The product that the organization is offering is in the higher side where there are products available that are much cheaper. This can affect the organization.

References: 

Authority, C. C., & Emissions, R. A. S. G. G. (2013). Targets and Progress Review Draft Report. Commonwealth of Australia.

Bath, V. (2012). Foreign investment, the national interest and national security-foreign direct investment in Australia and China. Sydney L. Rev., 34, 5.

Fernández, J., Etxeberria, A., Ugartemendia, J. M., Petisco, S., & Sarasua, J. R. (2012). Effects of chain microstructures on mechanical behavior and aging of a poly (L-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) biomedical thermoplastic-elastomer. Journal of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials, 12, 29-38.

Graci, S. (2013). Collaboration and partnership development for sustainable tourism. Tourism Geographies, 15(1), 25-42.

Heerde, H. J. V., Gijsenberg, M. J., Dekimpe, M. G., & Steenkamp, J. B. E. (2013). Price and advertising effectiveness over the business cycle. Journal of Marketing Research, 50(2), 177-193.

Kickstarter. (2018). Plexus Wheel+ | The World's Simplest Back Pain Relief. Retrieved from https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/517584999/plexus-wheel-the-worlds-simplest-back-painrelief?ref=abooam&gclid=CjwKCAjwtvnbBRA5EiwAcRvnpnh0CK95cL2kpVPKNWjkihD7aUE4MkJPJMAt-Bn5P4gKf9AElnlCBBoCsScQAvD_BwE

Kumar, V., Gaur, A. S., & Pattnaik, C. (2012). Product diversification and international expansion of business groups. Management International Review, 52(2), 175-192.

Mason, C., & Brown, R. (2013). Creating good public policy to support high-growth firms. Small Business Economics, 40(2), 211-225.

Nieuwenhuysen, J., Lloyd, P., & Mead, M. (Eds.). (2001).Reshaping Australia's Economy: Growth with Equity and Sustainability. Cambridge University Press.

Numan, W., & Willekens, M. (2012). An empirical test of spatial competition in the audit market. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 53(1-2), 450-465.

Plumb, M., Kent, C., & Bishop, J. (2013). Implications for the Australian economy of strong growth in Asia. Sydney: Reserve Bank of Austral