Individual Report – Part 2
‘Plan for Marketing Mix’
The basics
Accounts for 50% of final mark
Part 2 Overview:
What could Part 2 include?
MARKETING SUSTAINABILITY
Words: 2500
Executive summary
This report highlights the ways to develop the market sustainability of Burger King. The management of Burger King has focused to develop their business sustainability with the full utilization of customers' satisfaction level. Although Burger King has promoted variety sorts of meals menu, Whopper is usually the best-promoting product. The entire report is based on different criteria to develop a stable market by a renowned company such as Burger King. Recommendations have been made based on STP. It has been mentioned that the management of Burger King will be benefited to target health-conscious youths as their potential customer groups for marketing development of Whopper. In this segment, LOHAS, Naturalites and drifters will be targeted by Burger King. The fact is highlighted that improvement of quality of burger will be helpful to grab a potential position in the market. Recommendations have been formed by considering 7ps of the marketing mix. Long term and short term strategies are made for each for the seven aspects such as product, price, people, place, process, promotion and physical evidence. The conclusion has been drawn based on the importance of effective management of Burger King that can be helpful to maintain their marketing sustainability by application of appropriate market expansion strategy and serving customers’ needs in an efficient manner.
Development of market sustainability is dependent on the development of product quality as well as developing customers' satisfaction rates within targeted areas. Targeting the most effective customer groups is helpful for an organization to increase the amount of revenue within a short period of time. In this respect, the management of Burger King has focused to develop their business sustainability with the full utilization of customers' satisfaction level. Primarily the management has become able to gain market reputation by providing varieties of fast food to the customers within an affordable range. Along with this, targeting the most promising customers' groups has become advantageous for them to flourish business by a number of targeted locations.
This report has involved discussion based on analysis of recommendations for enhancing the business sustainability of Burger King by the marketing of Whopper, a non-beef sandwich. The analysis has been done by considering STP and 7Ps of the marketing mix.
Visualization of enhanced product
The management of Burger King is going to develop its marketing sustainability based on the marketing of Whoppers. It is a non-beef sandwich that contains a low amount of fat. Along with meat content, it consists of sesame seed bun, mayonnaise and lettuce (BURGER KING®, 2020). Most attractive fact is that Whoppers are devoid of artificial preservatives, colour and flavour. Hence, development of marketing sustainability of Burger King can be maintained depending on whoppers
Figure 1: Whopper
(Source: Burger King, 2020)
Revised recommendations for STP
The authority of Burger King has mainly targeted the youths within 15-21 years old as their potential customer group for developing marketing sustainability of Whopper. As described by Dominici (2009), the success of the marketing process is directly linked with the connection of products or services to targeted customer groups.
The following part of the discussion will focus on in-depth analysis of recommendations for STP-
The management of Burger King will be benefited to target health-conscious youths as their potential customer groups for marketing development of Whopper. Whopper is a non-beef product which will be helpful for youths to prevent excess fat gain. In the words of Capper and Hayes (2012), in the USA, using beef meat in any type of sandwich without any restriction is prohibited. As a result of this, most of the people prefer to apply mix and match strategy in fast foods based on different types of vegetables such as tomatoes, beans, cucumbers and so on. Thus, it can be stated that the development of the marketing of Whoppers will get a supportive environment by targeting college or office goers. In addition to this, lip-smacking the taste of whopper will be helpful to draw attention from a potential range of customers in an efficient manner. Conducting extensive market research, the management has reached to a conclusion that the taste of their food products is the reason for developing business sustainability. Thus, the authority will be benefited if they will reach a bugger customer segment including urban residents as well as office staff in most of the big cities in the USA.
Figure 1: Current market growth rate of Burger King
(Source: Malviya, 2019)
In order to maintain stability in a competitive market, the management of Burger King needs to consider personal preference regarding the taste and quality of sandwiches of their potential customers. It can be highlighted that most of the office goers are unable to cook food for them and want ready to eat food. In this regard, it is equally true that these individuals need healthy foods that may not cause any physiological problems for them. This prominent scope must be utilized by Burger King to develop their market sustainability depending on a whopper.
After specifying segments of potential customer groups, the management will focus on targeting the most promising customers. In this respect, the Burger King management will target LOHAS, Naturalites as well as drifters as their key targeted customers. The following table has shed light on this aspect-
(Refer to appendix 1)
Potential customer group | Impacts on marketing sustainability of Whoppers |
LOHAS | This is the customer group that seeks sources to lead a healthier lifestyle. In the USA, about 30% of total consumers belong to this customer group. Hence, targeting fitness freak middle-aged individuals from the age group of 25-40 years will be beneficial for Burger King to establish a healthy market environment for Whoppers. |
Naturalites | This is the customer group that is focused on the maintenance of developed health conditions by consuming green products. Thereby, the marketing process of Whoppers by Burger King will get a fixed consumer base by targeting the Naturalites from the age group of 20-50. One advantageous fact is that this customer group prefers to eat out at restaurants. Thus, the management of Burger King can target them by developing their restaurant infrastructure and maintaining an affordable price range. |
Drifters | This customer group mainly includes the younger generation along with the millennial. The Burger King can be benefitted by targeting them as they are more influenced by society and external culture. Besides, they are more driven by the brand name of a company rather than the product quality. Thus, it becomes prominent that targeting this customer group will be helpful for the management of this company to develop marketing sustainability of whoppers in a prominent way. |
Table 1: Potential customer group
(Source: Alvarez-Milán et al., 2018, p. 62)
Currently, the market position of Burger King is good but not strong enough to support their marketing sustainability constantly in the long run. As per the views of Stallworth Williams (2008), the marketing positioning of a business company is dependent on the rate of customers' satisfaction in the target market. In order to maintain the marketing sustainability of Whoppers the marketing management of Burger King can focus on providing healthy quality non-beef sandwiches within a lower price. It will be helpful to attract customers from targeted ranges in the USA. In order to be stable in a competitive market with Yum Yum, McDonald's, Five Guys, the management of Burger King must focus on the development of the quality of Whoppers because providing vegetable sandwiches provided by other companies may affect their reputation in a negative manner. In the views of Lucas (1998), implementation of organizational vision has a direct impact on the development of market stability. In this regard, the management of Burger King can be able to explore the green market by developing its market presence with sustainable marketing of whoppers. It will be helpful for the company to gain plenty of competitive advantages in an effective way.
Figure 3: Proposed market position of Burger King
(Source: Developed by author)
Recommendations using 7Ps of marketing mix
7ps of the marketing mix is helpful to design and plan for developing business sustainability. As stated by Loo and Leung (2018), approaching the maximum number of customers from all range of communities in target market needs to form an effective business plan that can be done by using 7ps of the marketing mix.
The management of Burger King can focus on the implementation of effective pricing strategies for marketing of Whoppers. In order to catch customers primarily, the management will consider market pricing method and after getting certain numbers of trusted customers they can emphasize on package pricing method.
Short term strategy- Market pricing method will be helpful for the company to set the price of Whoppers within a Low range in comparison with its competitors.
Long term strategy- Package pricing method will be helpful to draw maximum numbers of potential customers towards the business process as this pricing strategy will include discounts and offers on combo meals. As mentioned by Kienzler and Kowalkowski (2017), setting long term pricing strategy is helpful for business authority to make changes in pricing strategy as per requirements in a competitive market.
At present, Burger King has occupied about 83% in US consumers' markets. In order to expand this range and develop the marketing sustainability of Whoppers, the authority must consider the short term as well as long term placement strategy for attaining maximum markets in the US.
Short term strategy- In this aspect, the Burger King authority can focus on launching and marketing their products through mobile apps and their official website. It will be effective to draw customers' attention by encouraging them to order combo meals through online apps which will be provided with a handful of discounts by the authority.
Long term strategy- Development of infrastructure of their physical stores will be a sustainable way for Burger King to maintain business sustainability as their targeted customers believe in service process development and prefer to eat out at restaurants (Drifters).
The management of Burger King has focused to develop their market sustainability based on a non-beef sandwich that is Whoppers. The stages of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) can be taken into consideration for highlighting the product development process in Burger King.
(Refer to appendix 2)
Stages of the product life cycle | Descriptions |
Designing process | The management of Burger King needs to focus on the quality of whoppers. In this respect, they can introduce double or triple layers into Whoppers in comparison with other burger introduced by their competitors. |
Extraction as well as refining of raw materials | Using different types of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers the grains will be produced. The chances of producing greenhouses gases and causing pollution need to be minimized in a genuine way. |
Packaging | The management of Burger King needs to emphasize on packing prices with the proper utilization of biodegradable materials such as paper. |
Transportation and distribution | Different animals such as cow, sheep will be taken and transported to markets for feeding. Next, they will be slaughtered and the meat will be chopped into pieces and sent to warehouses for making sandwiches that are whoppers. |
Consumption and disposal | The management needs to be focused to reduce the rate of environmental degradation such as CO2 emission and consumption of a huge amount of natural energy to produce Whoppers. Moreover, elimination of rotten food ingredients rather than re-processing them will also be helpful for them to maintain marketing sustainability based on Whoppers. |
Table 2: Life cycle assessment of Whoppers
(Source: McWeeney, 2019)
In this respect, the following factors will be also essential for Burger King to consider suitable marketing-
The management of Burger King needs to consider the process for taking Government certificates for supporting their product's image in the targeted market range. In this regard, following the guidelines of the Food Standard Agency will be helpful for them to support the process of market expansion in a stable manner (Scilly, 2020).
Development of packaging process of Whoppers will be effective for Burger King to enhance their market presence. In this respect, the management can consider retooled caps, wrappers, paper bags as well as paper containers for making their environmental consciousness prominent to the targeted customers such as LOHAS. This will be helpful for them to maintain sustainability in marketing process in a genuine manner.
In order to flourish the market sustainability of Burger King, the management can consider some critical market promotion strategies. In this respect, the promotion strategies can be as mentioned in the following table-
Promotion strategy | Purpose | Medium | Frequency | Descriptions |
Advertisements through television | Attracting customers from all of the community levels | Making partnership with different advertisers for making attractive TV advertisements based on Whoppers | Twice in a week | It will be helpful to connect market expansion process with people from all community ranges |
Distribution of printed brochures | Developing product specifications to certain people in local communities | Face to face communication with target customers | Once in a week | It will be helpful to connect market expansion process with local groups of targeted customers |
Providing discount coupons through mobile apps | Reaching to potential customer groups faster than competitors | Accessing online website of Burger King and mobile apps | Everyday | It will be advantageous for increasing sales volume based on Whoppers and combo meals |
Providing economic help for community development | Gaining customers’ trusts and maintenance of brand value in target market | Development of face to face communication with community people | Once in a month | It will be advantageous for increasing brand image of Burger King in target market |
Table 3: Promoting strategy
(Source: Abratt and Bendixen, 2018, p. 12)
The management of Burger King needs to consider people who have previous experience in as an employee in a fast food production house. Recruiting g employees from irrelevant background may hamper their business efficiency by reducing market presence in front of a broad range of customers. As per the thoughts of Baldassarre et al., (2017), development of a business process is critically dependent on employees’ efficiency along with customers’ satisfaction rate. In this regard, the management of Burger King can focus on targeting the customer group in which he demands of ready to eat fast foods is higher.
In order to maintain rate of business development at a constant manner the authority of Burger King will consider both short term and long term business process development strategies.
Short term strategy
The short term strategy may include the aspect of conducting frequent marketing campaign in targeted areas. This will be beneficial for the management to reach to a maximum range of targeted customers by spending minimum amount of resources. In addition to this, providing discount coupons to older customers will be also beneficial for them to expand business reputation based on marketing of Whoppers.
Long term strategy
This strategy will be based on development of distribution channel in targeted areas. The management can collaborate with food suppliers to make their market value prominent and stable for a longer period of time.
In order to maintain authenticity in service process the management needs to consider both digital as well as manual billing process. Along with this, purchasing process needs to be supported by any types of digital payment procedure such as net banking, Google pay and so on. Hence, it will be helpful for them to gain customers’ satisfaction readily (Better than Cash Alliance, 2020).
Figure 4: 7Ps of marketing
(Source: Developed by author)
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that the management of Burger King can be able to maintain their marketing sustainability by application of appropriate market expansion strategy and serving customers’ needs in an efficient manner. Whoppers, a non beef sandwich can be a prominent choice for the market development of this company. Moreover, the authority will be benefitted by targeting most potential customer groups such as LOHAS, Naturalites and Drifters. It can be mentioned that market development process needs to consider each and every aspect of marketing mix such as product quality, process, pricing and promotion strategy, development of people’s ability, bringing innovation in business process and lastly the way to develop physical evidence of purchasing process. Currently, the company is facing a strong competitive environment in US, hence it appears as essential to select a specific product that is Whoppers which will be helpful to manage business development and maintain stable market growth in the long run.