Plings.com: Online Business Expansion Evaluation

Marketing, Customer Relationship, Management, E-Commerce, and International Business Issues


Research Paper (undergraduate), 2012

35 Pages


Excerpt


Contents

Product Viability
SWOT Analysis
Strengths (internal)
Weaknesses (internal)
Opportunities (external)
Threats (external)

Benefits of online expansion.

Danger of online expansion

Current Online Competitor Analysis

Online Marketing Strategy and Suggestions

Search Engine Optimization

Web Analytics

Social Media Integration.

Online Customer Relationship Management.

E-Commerce Solutions

International Considerations

Web Development and Maintenance Costs

References

Appendix: Web Index.

Appendix: Website Mock-Up.

Product Viability

Plings are decorative static clings for temporary, seasonal decoration of tableware. Plings is a word made up from combining ‘plastic’ and ‘clings’. Plings is also the name of the company, which is a subsidiary of I.Et.Al, Marketing and Design Company in Memphis, Tennessee. Plings were conceived, created and trademarked in 2009, and are offered for sale at Plings.com. Plings have also been offered for sale at several retail boutique stationery stores in the greater Memphis area. Plings can be ordered from the online web site, and orders are fulfilled by I.Et.Al employees from stock on hand.

Plings are packages of small, stylish seasonal and holiday decorations for everyday tableware. Plings can be placed on plates in place settings, used as wine charms, and to decorate cups and glasses. Plings can be removed and stored for future reuse, or discarded. Plings are in the introduction stage of product development and it is necessary to create and then increase customer awareness. Plings are uniquely situated to initially create and supply the market. The brand name is distinctive, catchy, fun sounding, and means what it is. These are all great features of a great brand name (Igor, 2012).

Each Plings pack contains sufficient product to minimally decorate eight two-piece place settings for about a dollar each, or four five-piece place settings for about two dollars each. The decision to set the price of a Plings pack at $8.95 places the product as a much less expensive alternative to specialized holiday tableware settings or as compared to purchasing disposable plates and cups. Consumer demand will grow as customers realize they can leverage the investment in their existing tableware. The product is appealing to home makers, caterers and party planners wanting to make a festive impact extending their existing stock of tableware. The viability of the product is currently limited by the lack of customer awareness. Promotion of Plings must be amplified to create and build customer awareness and guide them to the Plings web site to buy the product. Expansion of the existing web site should focus on means of leveraging social media to drive customer awareness.

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

SWOT Analysis

Strengths (internal)

Brand – Great brand name that is easy to remember. Name is also the web site domain name.

Original – Plings are creating a new market area and entering as the brand leader.

Niche – Un-served area means limited initial competitors.

Repeat Business – New designs introduced for each upcoming season or holiday creates opportunity to develop customer loyalty and repeat business.

Weaknesses (internal)

Limited selection – Two seasonal packages of six total products in initial offering at web site launch.

Financing – Business is a startup, funded with company resources. Business plan should be developed to seek financing to support online expansion costs, development of new products and marketing exposure.

Seasonality – Product is geared towards holidays and seasons and is therefore relatively perishable. Demand should rise as holidays approach and fall immediately after the holiday.

Opportunities (external)

Economy – Demand should increase in tougher economic times. Families will still gather for holidays and home makers will seek ways to reduce costs for entertaining.

Environmental – Plings are changeable and re-usable. They can be applied to modify basic dinnerware, negating the need to purchase and store additional specialized holiday tableware. Environmentally conscientious homemakers and entertainers can use Plings instead of disposable paper and plastic holiday products.

Threats (external)

Customer awareness – Market does not exist and customers must be made aware of the product and benefits. This burden falls upon Plings exclusively as there are no other direct competitors in this new niche market.

New entry competitors – Small decorative static clings are relatively easy to produce creating a very low threshold for entry into the market. Once the market is defined, it is anticipated that many competitors will enter.

Benefits of online expansion

The opportunity to create customer awareness through social media is one of the greatest benefits of online expansion of the web site. Social media applications provide a relatively low cost means to communicate with potential customers and to enlist them to further spread information about the product. Plings can be sent to influential home, cooking and lifestyle bloggers. If the bloggers like the product and see its value, they may write about the product on their blog. The online expansion effort can include customer relationship management tools to allow customers to create accounts, to sign up for email offers and newsletters and to share their ideas and experiences. Integrating the web site with social media Chiclet’s presents the opportunity for customers to share their positive experiences with their friends and other social media groups. This sharing can also drive traffic to the web site to increase sales. The online expansion of the web site should also include and update search engine optimization tactics to position the brand higher on the search results page to further drive traffic to the web site. The cost for the online expansion is relatively minor (see Table 14), and the benefits are immediately available.

Danger of online expansion

The greatest danger of online expansion is the increased risk for financial loss if the product is a failure. The decision to implement the online expansion should only be made once the decision to fund and fully support the product to the next developmental level is determined. The growth of the product requires commitment to design and manufacturing new Plings for each holiday and season. Online expansion and growth of awareness may trigger competitors to enter the market. The company needs to be prepared for these new competitors to be better funded than the company in the early stages of development and growth. Social media tools empower individuals to comment and discuss the product in ways that may not be able to be controlled by the company. Much of the social media content will be stored on the social media company’s web sites with limited or no recourse to removing or constraining negative comments and opinions.

Current Online Competitor Analysis

The competitive landscape appears mostly undeveloped. Based on online searching via Google.com between April 11, 2012 and April 13, 2012 utilizing search term “clings” and excluding the search term “window” provided about one hundred and ninety- nine thousand matches (Google, 2012). Out of these, three potential online retail competitors were identified with holiday themed clings; S&S Worldwide, Party Cheap and Amazon. Further searching within these sites revealed that the brand names for the cling products are Glass-Magnets and Peel-N-Place (Party Cheap, 2012). Both products are available at all three online retailers.

The fifteen holiday themed cling sets available from S&S Worldwide appear to be designed for classroom and juvenile use. Several of the cling sets have components that could be used for tableware decoration, but are generally too large. These clings also do not have the designer look of Plings. S&S Worldwide offers these clings for $8.99 to $9.99 per set and free shipping on orders over $50.00 (S&S, 2012).

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

The S&S Worldwide web site is well organized and consistent in appearance. The web site design is professional looking which contributes credibility and legitimacy to potential customers. Links to customer support via live chat and toll free telephone are at the top left, and links to log in and to create a customer account are on the top right. The company logo, shopping cart and product search are consistently below the customer support banner. The shopping cart usefully displays the total in the cart on each page, next to the cart. The horizontal navigation panel below the logo panel links to subpages organized around seven departments, and a sales page. There are a large sized promotion banner to steer customers towards sale items, a call to action to sign up to be mailed a catalog, and announcing free shipping with a minimum order. The web site commits significant screen real estate to these promotions. The bulk of the home page consists of featured sale products from the various departments. There is a clever catalog quick order form that permits customers to enter product numbers from the mailed catalog and quantities, and inserts them into their shopping cart. The web page also displays recently viewed items and similar items to cross promote and upsell additional merchandise. The web site has many additional links at the bottom of the page to information about order status, international shipping, and wholesale orders. There are five social media Chiclets, and a form to enter an email address to receive email marketing deals and coupons. The web site design supports the many different products and customers. It appears that the company has customer relationship management software and custom shopping cart to support the operation. The site is designed to interact with the customer on several levels, from providing email addresses to receive information, cookies to track previously viewed products and encourage customers to create accounts. This site is well integrated for shopping, social media, promotion and communication.

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Party Cheap offers a larger selection of the same brand of glass clings as S&S Worldwide. In addition to the duplicate selections, Party Cheap offers more contemporary designs. These designs appear to have some elements adaptable to housewares application, but are generally too large. Party Cheap offers these for sale at $1.40 each and $11.00 flat rate standard shipping (Party Cheap, 2012).

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The Party Cheap web site is not very well organized, but is consistent in appearance. The web site design is unprofessional looking which does not contribute much credibility and legitimacy to potential customers. The web site is composed of three panel layout with the company logo, links to the shopping cart, customer account, contact information and help across the top, with a search input box just below. Customers must click on the text cart link to access the shopping cart page. The left navigation panel has additional links to sort products by categories and quick links to several promotions for clearance items, bulk purchases, shipping and frequently asked questions. This panel also has logos for “PayPal Verified” and a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) logo. These logos may be beneficial to help legitimize the web site in the eyes of potential customers. The top and left panels are stationary and consistent throughout the web site. The third panel changes based upon customer input. It displays social media integration Chiclets and several product promotions on the main page. The shopping cart is provided by PayPal, and is displayed in this panel. This site has the better cling designs and the worst web site design.

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Excerpt out of 35 pages

Details

Title
Plings.com: Online Business Expansion Evaluation
Subtitle
Marketing, Customer Relationship, Management, E-Commerce, and International Business Issues
Author
Year
2012
Pages
35
Catalog Number
V265615
ISBN (eBook)
9783656555841
ISBN (Book)
9783656556053
File size
4357 KB
Language
English
Notes
Evaluation and expansion proposal for Plings.com online Electrtonic Business (E Business).
Keywords
E-Bus, E-Business
Quote paper
Gary White (Author), 2012, Plings.com: Online Business Expansion Evaluation, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/265615

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