Principles of Marketing

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

          The aim of this marketing plan is to introduce a new product, the ‘iLighter’ to the local market. What makes the iLighter so revolutionary is its unique ability to fade after 6months. This unique feature has never been seen before on the market and it changes the scope of student economics. Students can feel free to highlight as many books as they may borrow from libraries, from peers, or simply costly books that they wish to resell in the future. The traditional highlighter will now become a thing of the past due to the fact that it smudges and smears through paper, given the permanence and thickness of the ink. The iLighter however, changes the entire perspective of what a simple highlighter can be capable of. No longer would one feel hesitant to highlight books or documents, because of the fear of damaging them.

          The goal of iStationery Ltd is to cater for the needs of students since a highlighter is just as essential as any other stationery item.

  In this marketing plan, the market situation is analyzed based on the needs, demographics, psychographic and current trends. On identifying the target market, surveys were carried out and the data analyzed in order to determine the best marketing techniques required. The selected target market, secondary and tertiary level students, has been chosen using specific segmentation strategies, further explained in this piece.

           A SWOT analysis has been developed to give a clear understanding as to where the product lies in reference to the market and how the internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as the external opportunities and threats are viewed by iStationery Ltd. The main threat faced by the company is that large competitors may find loopholes in the patent and be able to closely duplicate its current, as well as future products.

          The company is well aware of its big competitors and intends to win over customers’ loyalty by educating consumers on the economic benefits they will enjoy by purchasing the iLighter. This will be done through well planned marketing campaigns and promotional techniques geared towards the target market. Competing on a national level will be the first route taken by iStationery Ltd. However, the company would like to expand its geographic range in the future.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

iStationery Ltd, established in the year 2016, is a new company that aims to provide to consumers, an innovative new product which will change their perception of the highlighter. Formed by a group of entrepreneurs and visionaries, this private limited company has invested significantly in formulating a special evaporating ink. This patented technology has given birth to the iLighter, the only highlighter which is guaranteed to fade away six months after it has been used. iStationery Ltd is solely owned and controlled by its managers, each of whom has invested capital into the company. This new company, although lacking history, intends to pave a way for new innovative stationary products by increasing its brand awareness, starting with the iLighter. iStationery Ltd believes that by the end of its fifth year of operation, the company will be in a position to expand into foreign markets.

The company intends to implement numerous marketing strategies to appeal to its target market for the iLighter, which will be further explained in the Company Analysis.

SWOT ANALYSIS

Figure 1, Appendix 3 gives a representation of the internal and external factors relating to iStationery Ltd. In this SWOT analysis, the internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as the external opportunities and threats are examined briefly.

          As can be seen in Figure 1, the managers also share ownership of the company. With iStationery being a private limited company, each owner has injected their respective share of capital, which created the majority of the financing used to form this company. Also, most of the managers/owners have backgrounds in the stationary industry, making them an ideal fit for the company. However, compared to large competitors, iStationery’s management team will not have nearly as many employees to delegate work to.

          Since the iLighter is a unique, new product that has never before been seen on the market, consumers may take time to accept it. In addition, a fraction of the target market may lean towards purchasing e-books, which can slightly erode the customer base for the iLighter.

          Due to the extensive research and development required to ensure a high quality, perfectly engineered product, iStationery Ltd will incur significant costs. However, a reputable supplier is already in place to begin production.

         Although iStationery Ltd is currently the sole owner of the intellectual property used to produce the evaporative substance in the iLighter, the outstanding threat is that competitors with well-established brand awareness and more resources, would find a loophole in the patent, allowing them to closely duplicate the iLighter or any of the company’s future products.

(Refer to Figure 1)

INDUSTRY & COMPETITOR ANAYLSIS

          In research done by the Global Industry Analysts Inc. (2017), it was stated that the global market for stationary products are to increase by US $234 billion at the end of 2024. This in crease in the net worth of the market is due to the fact that there are higher literacy levels within countries and other stated demographics. The relatable fact that can be taken from this research is that Trinidad has recently seen an increase in literacy levels as well (96.54% in 1980 to 99.2% in 2013). This resulted in overall increases in tertiary and secondary level enrolment. This ripple effect added to the benefits of introducing this new product to the stationary market, as there has been a notable increase in the target population identified.

          Most of the stationery in Trinidad is imported from different countries around the world. For example, ballpoint pens such as Cello are imported from India. According Marketing Dive (2017), Sharpie has gained 89% of market share through a Back to School 2012 social media campaign, geared towards teenagers. The target market of Sharpie for its markers, highlighters and more, falls in almost the same demographic as iStationery’s target market.

          "Not every company can hire a nationally known band, shoot a music video and air the ad on MTV. But many of Sharpie’s tactics can be scaled to a teen-targeted business of any size.” (Parish, 2013). With sharpie being a major player in the stationary industry, mainly emphasizing on markers and highlighters, it makes them one of the main competitors of iStationery Ltd. However, their marketing strategies are well implemented, which gives them the high level of brand awareness. Although iStationery Ltd may not have as many resources as the competitor, the company can still implement similar strategies.