D-Bamboo - Definition of Success & Critical Issues

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Appendix

Exhibit 1: SWOT Analysis

Internal

External

Strengths

- Late closing time and operation during weekend

- Wide production line

- Strong customer loyalty

- Ability to procure and offer unique and exotic plants

- Experienced owner who has plenty knowledge on plants and the agricultural sector

Weaknesses

- No market research done prior to grand opening and decision makings mostly based on Harry’s understanding of the market

- Lack of promotion and efficient advertisement

- The current location recessed and not clearly visible

- Lack of space to display plants due to the car park expansion

- Inadequate sunlight increasing plant losses by 25%.

Opportunities

- Wealthy young professionals interested in landscaping services

- School teachers looking for plant rentals for school functions

- Economic slowdown forcing people to start home gardening

Exploit

- How to capture the trend of home gardening and planting by appealing to more target customers

Develop/Constraints

-

Threats

- New home and garden shops opening nearby

- Competitors offering similar products with similar prices

- Turbulent economic state of Trinidad

Contend/Defend

-

Address/Avoid

- Critical issue: How to develop an aggressive promotional campaign to increase sales revenue back to the historical level with limited marketing budget

- How to efficiently lower expenses in order to gain more room for doing promotions

Exhibit 2: PESTEL Analysis

Political

Preserves the British tradition of parliamentary democracy upon which the constitution is based

Parliamentary Democracy

Economic

Turbulent economic state

GDP growth rate: 2% (2009)

GDP per capital: US$16,000

Unemployment rate is increasing gradually.

Social

Population: 1.315 million (Indian descent 40%, African descent 37.5%, mixed 20.5%)

Religion: Roman Catholic 26%, Hindu 22.5%, Anglican 7.8%, Pentecostal 6.8%, Baptist 7.2%, other Christian 5.8%, Muslim 5.8%, Seventh-day Adventist 4%.

Literacy rate: 97.9%

Technological

Internet usage: 585,476 people (2009) 44.3% of the total population

Radio usage: 680,000 listeners (2009)

Newspaper reader: 240,000 people

Ecological

Natural resource: large reserves of petroleum and natural gas

Current issues: air, water, and oil pollution because Trinidad is heavily industrialized

Legal

Under English Common Law

Licensing is required for importing plants and seedlings.

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Exhibit 3: Marketing Mix[pic 1]

Products

- High-quality

- Medium- to low-end

- Consisted of plants, gardening supplies, fertilizer, seedlings, turtles and aquarium, “exotic” plants, and ornamental plants

Place

- Located next to a busy intersection with high vehicular traffic

- At ground floor of a three-story building in the second-busiest area in Chaguanas

- Recessed at an angle from the roadside

- 200 metres away from the main highway

- 5 minutes away from a large shopping centre

Pricing

- Less than $20 markup 100%

- More than $20 markup 50%

- Shop items markup 50%

- Expensive item (>$150) markup 35%

Promotion

- Distributing flyers at nearby shopping plazas and surrounding companies only before grand opening

- Offering free giveaway of sweets and balloons to customers

- Distributing flyers in the shopping mall only prior to special occasions

- Displaying a poster on a roadside wall

Conclusion: The biggest disadvantages of D-Bamboo are place and the promotion. Although the shop is located 5 minutes away from a large shopping centre, the recessed location drives away many business opportunities and leads to a huge amount of plant losses. In addition, D-Bamboo lacks aggressive promotion to attract new customers.