Marketing Planning At Just Us Cafes Marketing Essay

Published Date: 23 Mar 2015

Marketing planning method is commonly used among companies that are very successful in terms of market share, customer base and profit. From ExxonMobil, Compaq, Diageo, Apple Inc, Waitrose, Barclays, as well as Non-profit organisations, an up to date marketing planning ensures these companies are aware of trends in their business environments, identify the changing needs of their targets customers, and defend their core businesses against their fiercest competitors. Firms marketing planning enable them to employ and deploy their resources effectively and efficiently while limiting the unexpected threat that the external environment can pose to their businesses as they ensure that all their activities (actions) align with their set objectives.

Marketing oriented firms mostly focused on marketing planning method through which a thorough analysis of market environment is carried out to scan opportunities within market environments, audit the skills and resources of the firm needed to maximize these opportunities, formulating marketing objectives and designing how firm offerings will be positioned among consumer segments while targeting them and subsequently developing plans to implement and control them to sustain competitive advantage ( Dibb and Simkin, 2008).

Kotler and Keller (2012) differentiated theoretical marketing planning from marketing planning in a practical sense where theoretical marketing planning was explained to be a step by step method of studying and identifying market opportunities, choosing target markets, building marketing strategies, programmes as well as monitoring and controlling marketing activities while marketing planning in practice is described to be "more fluid and continually refreshed" marketing planning in an intense competitive business environment.

Taking a look at Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) a United State public-private partnership service company that offers services ranging from marketing, cultural and arts grants, talent sourcing and jobs, digital and film services (Michigan, 2012), MEDC has been able to utilize marketing planning to obtain useful information about the demographics of United states visitors as well as its competitors and design a new marketing advertisement and tourism campaign that helped increased addition 4 million new tourist to Michigan, leading to $820 million increase in revenue generated from these tourist with an increase in state tax revenue by $60 million in the year 2004 (Kotler and Keller, 2012 p. 69).

However, the process of marketing planning is not an easy method due to the fact that organisations are faced with myriads of complex and attitude related organisational issues and cognitive problems that can impede marketing planning progress within an organisation.

Thus the need to identify, understand, and deal with these impediments before and during marketing planning are very essential to designing a perfect marketing plan that will meet and surpass firms objectives. But if these impediments are otherwise overlooked, marketing planning will be a waste of time and resources that are devoted to it without even coming closer to achieving it aims and objectives (Macdonald, 1992).

Brief history of Just Us! Cafes

Just Us! Cafes a coffee Roasters Cooperative was co-founded by Debbie and Jeff Moore in the year 1995 (Just Us!, 2012). The café whose headquarter is located in Grand Pre, Nova Scotia, Canada was incorporated under the Cooperative Association Act as the first company (see Appendix 1) with a fair trade coffee roaster in Canada in 1996 (Just Us!, 2012).

The vision of Just Us! Cafes is to be a market leader in a fair trade business that stands for quality, fairness, professionalism and innovation to satisfy all her stakeholders while the mission of Just Us! Cafes is rooted in authenticity, cooperation, community, instinct and justice (Just Us!, 2012).

Just us! Cafes offers products such as Coffee, Tea, Chocolate, Sugar, Muffins, Cookies, Soup, Lemon squares, Pies, Carrot cake, Brownies to supermarket chains, health food stores, coffee shops and churches. Just Us! Cafes also offers services like fair trade public lectures, cinemas, e.t.c (Just us!, 2012). Just Us! has 4 Cafes in Nova Scotia, Canada located in Grand Pre, Wolfville, Halifax and Barrington Street.

As a result of what the business stands for (Appendix 2), Just Us! has received many awards such as EK chamber of commerce Award as a Best "Large" firm in Kings County (2000), Ethics Award (2005), Acadia University President Award for Entrepreneur (2005) etc (Just Us!, 2012).

CHAPTER 2

2.1 Critical Evaluation of the Importance of Environmental Scanning.

Environmental scanning is simply the method through which marketing environment of an organisation is been closely monitored and carefully analysed (Jobber, 2007). The importance of environmental scanning are;

a. Provides an understanding of Consumers Choice Criteria

Body shop (a cosmetic industry) in its environmental scanning, through market research in Canada, identified that 34% of consumers use ethical behaviour of companies (in addition to quality of product) as their choice criterion upon which their buying decision is based (Strandberg consulting, 2009). In addition, the impact of firms' activities on the ecological habitat of consumers has been another criterion employed by consumers in their buying decision as consumers in Canada tend to embrace moves that decrease Co2 footprint in their environment (Bonini and Oppenheim, 2012). Environmental scanning reveals a paradigm shift in consumers' value, attitude and beliefs about products as ethical issues have become a yardstick in their buying decision. The need to be highly sensitive to rapidly changing specific and general business environmental factors is a pre-requisite to the survival of an organisation where a quick change in product/ service line must be matched with changing consumer requirements (Goyal, 2007; Albright,2007; Jobber;2007).

b. Helps in Identify Business Trends and Opportunities

In 2008 alone, products (such as Flowers, Cocoa, Coffee, Rice, Shea butter) that were fairly traded was said to be imported from 59 countries (Eric, 2012). It takes a thorough environmental scanning of Canadian market to obtain this useful information about the fast growing fair trade business in both the food and non food segment (for example, fashion industry). With environmental scanning, Just us! Cafes and its competitors (Kicking horse, Kraft foods, StarBucks etc) were able to capitalize on the fair-trade opportunities and thus get sensitized on the drastic changing needs and expectations of their consumers. Environmental scanning offered these market players qualitative and quantitative information about the needs of their consumers, enabling them to strategise on how these needs could be met and as a result the image of these organisations were improved through a clear definition of what they stood for in Canadian fair trade wholesale and retail market (Costa, 1995). This is an evidence that environmental scanning is linked to improvement in organisational performance (Slaughter, 1999).

c. Provides Basis for Segmenting Consumer Markets

Part of the achievements of Cafes in Canadian markets attributed to environmental scanning is ability of these brands to segment their products and services effectively and efficiently well. For example, all brands of Cafes in Canada (Kraft foods, Just Us!, Kicking horse, StarBucks etc) have been able to adopt a behavioural segmentation in the consumer markets where fair trade is used in one way or the other to gain market share as consumers beliefs, values and perception are rooted in fair trade. Psychographic segmentation that entails the strategy by which consumers are grouped base on lifestyle and personality characteristics (Jobber,2007) has been exploited by brands where Just us! Cafes had been targeting young, well educated consumers that are willing to offer premium price for fair trade products (Ethical Consumer, 2011) while Kraft Foodservice are caught romancing college students (perceived to be part of socially and environmentally conscious customers) with its All Life 100% Colombian coffee brand (Rain Forest Alliance, 2004). Brands utilise Profile Segmentation where geographic variables like areas local names and culture (Jobber, 2007) are been used to differentiate their coffee from competitors and thus adapting their services and products to customers taste and culture, and locating their outlets in close proximity to their target consumers.

d. Helps an organisation to identify it shortcomings and address them

Through environmental scanning, Just Us! Cafes has been able to identify emerging issues and conditions leading the company to a "dead end". This led management of Just Us! to develop an organisational structure where roles are allocated to employees based on their competencies and skills (e.g. the need for Juliet to handle the marketing functions of Just us! Cafes) to be able to deal with emerging issues confronting Just Us! Cafes.

2.1.1 Limitation of Environmental Scanning.

However, environmental scanning does not totally lead to an accurate prediction of business future and it does not guarantee effectiveness as witnessed in situation where many competitors of Just us! Cafes located in the heart of Nova Scotia had to close down their businesses when they couldn't survive in the midst of heated competitions.

But businesses should ensure frequent environment scanning so as to increase their sensitivity to environmental signals rather than relying on analysis of historical data or predicting how such data will change (Johnson et al. 2008).

2.2 Internal and External Challenges Confronting Just Us! Cafes.

Internal challenges are issues that focus on resources and competence (capabilities) of a company, revealing the strengths and weaknesses of such company while external challenges are concerned with the external environment in which the company operates, predisposing its activities to threat or presenting it with opportunities ( Hill and Joney, 2008). Therefore, the existence of a company in a business environment is best explained with respect to strengths and weaknesses in its internal environment as well as opportunities and threats in its external environment (Kazmi, 2008).

SWOT, PESTEL and Porters competitive forces analysis will be used to throw light on both the internal and external challenges that Just Us Cafes is facing in its business environment.

2.2.1 SWOT analysis of Just Us! Cafes

Strengths

Just Us! Cafes brand over the years has successfully won strong customer loyalty with strong preference for its products and services as well as what the business stands for in Nova Scotia (fairness, justice and quality).

The founders of Just Us! Cafes (Jeff and Debbie Moore) have a sound background experience in social and community development well aligned with their humanitarian philosophy (people before profit) and even enough to equip them in fulfilling their business mission (quality, fairness, and justice).

The products and services (that are fairly traded and F.L.O certified) which Just us! Cafes offer her customers are immensely differentiated from competitors and thus giving Just Us! Cafes a crystal clear market advantage over all her competitors.

Just Us! Cafes management has a deep understanding of it supply chain channel and an intimate relationship with wholesale and retail stores (Atlantic Superstore and Sobeys) providing higher revenue for Just Us! and making its products available to consumers.

Just Us! Cafes is equipped with employees that have shared values of Just Us! and well trained and committed to delivering products and services in a manner that meets and surpasses consumer's expectation.

Just Us! Cafes operates in favourable locations that are in close proximity with her consumers such as Grand Pre, Halifax, Wolfville and Barrington Street as well as a very strong presence in 3 key universities of Canada in Nova Scotia.

Weaknesses

Inability or lack of capability of Just Us! Cafes to expand it business to new markets within Canada either through organic growth strategy or strategic alliance. For example in their bid to expand to Ontario, Canada, Just Us! could not select the right partner that shared the goals and vision and as a result, the Ontario business failed.

Just Us! Cafes doesn't have financial resources compared to some of its competitors tapping into the fair trade market and as a result, reaching the rapidly growing number and sophisticated lovers of coffee (consumers) is been impeded.

Just Us! Cafes only have 4 Cafes (Wolfville, Halifax, Grand-pre and Barrington Street) just in Nova Scotia province. This is limiting its ability to reach enough consumers with its fair trade products as compared to Tim Hortons and Second cup who have 170 and 360 stores respectively.

In the area of advertisement, Just Us! lacks experience and expertise. Therefore, much has not being done to create awareness about their products and services through advertisement (except for print media and some other local advertisement done by Just Us! Cafes).

The reduction of revenue and the inability to defend and extend their core business shows lack of a good business strategy.

Just Us! is too dependent on stores like Loblaws (also Just Us! competitor) and Sobeys as its distribution channel in the retail market.

Threats

Just Us! faces scarcity of fair trade raw materials in the commodity markets resulting in high price. At times, Just Us! also faces high cost of transportation when transporting fair trade products from developing countries to Canada.

Transporting fair trade products from developing country to Canada may be stopped due to the need to lessen carbon emission to the environment. If importation of fair trade raw materials are stopped, the fair trade mission and strategy of Just Us! will be in jeopardy.

The fair trade and organic business of Just us! Cafes have become fiercely competitive as competitors struggle intensely to attract and retain consumers in order to benefit from the attractiveness fair trade market.

Fair trade certification is not recognised by the government of Canada and as such, no government policy as being designed for it and thus resulting in unfair practices among Just Us! competitors who portray their products as fair trade when they are not in the real sense.

Consumers preference for Just Us! products is changing rapidly resulting in fast decline in new product life cycle.

Opportunities

Majority of end consumers in Canadian market are interested in fair trade products, presenting huge opportunities for Just Us! to increase their revenue through fair trade.

Consumers are willing to offer premium price for fair trade products of Just Us! if better informed.

There is an increasing trend in the number of fair trade producer thus increasing availability of fair trade raw materials all year round as options for sourcing internationally are broadened.

There are still wide gaps or opportunities to explore by Just Us! in the fair trade market if there is a right strategy put in place.