Essay Example on XYZ Co's Journey to Success: Marketing, Strategy & Ops Mgmt

Introduction

The marketing department of a company entails researching and developing marketing plans which outline competition, consumers, and the external environment. The marketing strategy sets objectives such as marketing actions, resource needs, and new products, among others. The successful adoption of the marketing strategy necessitates the operation management practices. It ensures development, production, and provision of goods and services. XYZ Company seeks to introduce new products in the market as it tries to expand its product portfolio, and therefore improve the chances of its growth and success. Ansoff’s matrix postulates that the offering of new products in the market introduces risks, and therefore necessitates appropriate marketing and operational strategies to ensure management of costs and risks.

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Market Segmentation

Market segmentation entails a business practice used by companies to categorize their target market into manageable sections of people according to shared attributes, and therefore optimize marketing, sales, and advertising efforts. The Ansoff matrix is utilized to provide recommendations for market penetration strategies (Hussain et al., 2013). XYZ Company’s goal is to find new customers in the existing market. The proposed marketing segmentation is psychographic segmentation, which will focus on value, attitude, and lifestyles. The company should examine the customers’ unmet needs and then formulate new products. XYZ Company can improve the market share by emphasizing product features, which include availability, quality, and location. According to the Ansoff matrix, XYZ Company can reformulate its marketing and production strategies. The expansion into the new markets entails venturing into new customer segments and geographical regions, among others. The marketing development strategy can entail getting into a different customer segment. XYZ Company should focus on product differentiation and cost leadership.

XYZ Company should implement a differentiation strategy that changes the perception of customers compared to the competition. The differentiation will be accomplished through packaging, sales promotion, advertising, and distribution channels (Ghahroudi & Sagheb, 2018). The company should focus on three main areas as the source of differentiation, and these include quality, price, and products’ functional features. The company can also invest in the emerging markets of the clothing and apparel industry. The new emerging market in China is due to the increasing disposable income of the population. Also, there is a growing sense of fashion and a vast middle-income segment.

Channels of Distribution and Logistics

The channels of distribution should be in such a way that products are promptly provided and inexpensively. The logistics necessitate that the XYZ Company designs and constructs its products by considering the dimensions. It should also consider the size and shape of the packaging and the storage space. In addition to the physical stores, XYZ will also open online stores. There will be online shopping websites that are underscored by the increasing population with internet literacy. The company should utilize different sales outlets for its products. These include traditional e-commerce such as laptop or PC e-commerce, stores, mobile e-commerce, and salespeople (“Multi-Channel Distribution,” 2013). Despite the increased investment in online business, the company should continue with physical stores that allow access due to customer preference. The company should ensure Omni channel marketing, which offers consumers an improved shopping experience (Payne et al., 2017). It, therefore, means that customers can shop on various platforms such as desktop, phone, mobile devices, and physical stores.

Supply Chain Management

XYZ Company has operations in the United States and is looking to invest in China as emerging market potential. Companies potentially experience bullwhip effect in their supply chain due to forecasting errors throughout the supply chain resulting in amplified demand and supply (Vokhmyanina et al., 2018). There is a reduction in inventory planning in the supply chain, and XYZ Company can employ advanced forecasting models. It is also necessary to develop an effective partnership with vendors to ensure improve services in the supply chain. XYZ Company should implement e-supply, which integrates supply chain management and the internet (Dabade et al., 2019). It is essential as it provides real-time information for decision makings and enables collaborations between stakeholders. It, therefore, means that apart from gathering information for decision making, the information can be shared with suppliers for synchronization of operations.

Marketing Research Tools

XYZ Company is seeking to improve its market share in the emerging markets. The target consumers include the population with internet knowledge. It, therefore, means that the company’s marketing campaign planning should emphasize on online marketing. It is because the target consumers frequently experience the online space, and thus expose the products to them. The offering of new products in the market requires the company to implement pricing skimming. It involves setting initial prices at a relatively higher price and then lowering them over time (Deshpande, 2018). It allows buyers capable of paying a higher price after the launch of the product, and therefore the company can recover some of the research and development expenses.

Conclusion

There is a significant relationship between marketing and operation strategies. These concepts help in the achievement of the overall marketing objectives of a company. A company must define its market segment in which they plan to offer their products. The channels of distribution and logistics ensure that products are manufactured and availed to the consumers effectively and efficiently. It is also critical that the supply chain is well managed to prevent extra costs in operations. XYZ Company should ensure an appropriate definition of the market segment and implementation of proper distribution and logistics in addition to effective supply chain management.

References

Hussain, S., Khan, J., Rizwan, A., & Latif, A. M. (2013). ANSOFF matrix, environment, and growth-an interactive triangle. Management and Administrative Sciences Review, 2(2), 196-206. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311773462_ANSOFF_matrix_environment_and_growth-an_interactive_triangle

Deshpande, S. S. (2018). Various Pricing Strategies: A Review. IOSR Journal of Business and Management, 20(2), 75-79. doi:10.9790/487X-2002087579

Dabade, U., Kulkarni, M. A., & Kalagi, K. (2019). A Study of e-Supply Chain Management: Review, implications and directions for future research. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.19629.13285

Vokhmyanina, A., Zhuravskaya, M., & Osmólski, W. (2018). The issue of bullwhip-effect evaluating in supply chain management. LogForum, 14(2), 163-170. doi:10.17270/J.LOG.2018.280

Payne, E. M., Peltier, J. W., & Barger, V. A. (2017). Omni-channel marketing, integrated marketing communications and consumer engagement. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 11(2), 185-197. doi:10.1108/jrim-08-2016-0091

Ghahroudi, M. R., & Sagheb, S. (2018). The Impact of Differentiation Strategies on the Women Fashion-Clothing’ Performance. Journal of Economics and Business, 1(4), 381-400. doi:10.31014/aior.1992.01.04.35

Multi-Channel Distribution in the Apparel Industry. (2013, April). https://www.mmh.com/wp_content/sdi_wp_content_073013.pdf