First, state your understanding of her objectives, resources and constraints.

Second, triticize Marias Marketing efforts and plans for the future.

Finally, develop your own international Marketing plan for her firm. Specify the target, entry mode, as well as the 4Ps. Be sure to clarify where and how you will use channel members and your criteria for choosing channel members.

the case:

MARIETA TEXTIL, S.A.

At the beginning of 2006, Maria Cardoner_, founder and manager of Marieta, was wondering how to export her printed fabrics. Marieta had started exporting in 1998 when an Italian distributor placed a $30,000 order. Marieta had managed to close a few orders in the French, Belgian, German and Swedish markets but these did not lead to repeat purchases. Maria Cardoner urgently needed an export plan

Maria had another worry; printers were refusing to accept jobs for less than 500 meters per combination of colors. Given the high fixed cost per order and the small market for her products in Spain, she would have to seek new clients abroad.

Company history

Marieta, was a small textile business. Its turnover in 2005 was about $1,300,000, an increase of 10% over the previous year. Marieta's exports amounted to just $30,000.

In a way, Marieta Textil acted as a publisher. It bought avant-garde designs from famous Barcelonan artists and plain cloth then contracted printers to copy the design onto cloth.

Marieta printed lengths of 500 meters per color (2,000 meters for a typical four color design), and each print could be repeated with different color combinations.

In 2005, Marieta Textil had in stock a total of 85 fabric designs, amounting to a total of about 2,000 catalog numbers. The new collection, composed of 10-15 new patterns in various colors, was published each year in September.

Marieta Textil had 1,500 clients (stores) in Spain, of which 800 had been active in 2005. Of these, 146 were in Barcelona. The retailer usually sold by the meter from the sample book, sending orders to Marieta on the basis of sales already made to the final client. About 80% of Marieta's sales were made by this procedure. Marieta^fs sales were split between fabrics and finished articles. Less than 20% of the sales were in the form of an entire roll to retailers, and most of these sales were for display.

Marieta Textil employed a sales force of 10 people to visit these clients, with Montse Roig as sales manager. There were two full-time representatives on a fixed salary which covered the North Spain-Madrid and Valencia-South Spain areas, respectively. The remaining seven were independent reps who received a commission of 7% on sales. These representatives were given territories in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. The bigger clients were usually visited once every two months.

Marias goal was to only sell fabrics. She would not sell to upholstery stores or manufacturers of objects. Moreover, she refused to grant exclusive distributorships to retailers. She considered that her sales strategy had to be based on client (store) enthusiasm for the product.

Public relations

Maria felt that the key to sales, both at home and abroad, was public relations, Being in the photo. She always tried to appear in the press, shows and even in museum exhibitions. Marieta took part in a series of exhibitions with a strong artistic element such as those held in Local, in Madrid; in Vincon, Barcelona; in the Forum Difussion, in Paris; in Actuelle, also in Paris; and in High Tech_r in Milan. During 2001-4, Marieta continued to attend trade fairs in Europe, although the results in financial terms were negligible.

"It was also during that time that the design publishing business was consolidated. We took the creations of our magnificent team of designers to internationally renowned exhibitions and today our fabrics are exhibited in major European and North American museums and the critical reviews in the trade press all over the world have been very favorable.

"Every time, for example, that La Maison de Marie Claire o L'Huomo Vogue say something about us, my textiles are literally torn from my hands. From that point of view, going abroad, although expensive, has not been a bad investment.

The following comments are from a magazine article:

"The acceptance and success of Marieta's designs is such that they are applied to an increasing range of articles: furniture upholstery, they are used to manufacture shower curtains, umbrellas, handbags, suitcases, plastic goods and innumerable other items of personal use. They give the public what it wants: originality, attractive designs, daring colors and ... a pinch of madness. But there's more to it: to have one of her designs means to exhibit, use and enjoy the work of an acknowledged artist".

Marietas price per meter would usually be 15-20% more expensive than competitor's designs, about $30.00 per square meter. The retailer's margin was 40% of the retail price in the case of finished articles and fabrics sold by the roll and 25% in the case of fabrics sold by the meter. In foreign markets, importers would add at least 20% to cover shipping costs.

Montse Manach had joined Marieta in 1996 and was now national and international sales manager. She said;

There are two key ideas for selling our prints: first, only those who understand the product can sell it. You've got to find pleasure in selling Marieta's prints. Our retailers are friends. The public, the final consumers, do not buy Marieta on their own initiative.

"The second key idea is that in trade fairs and exhibitions the fabrics should not be displayed in their original state but rather after they have been used to upholster a sofa or make some curtains or a tablecloth. You've got to upholster so that potential clients can see the cloth already fitted to tables, chairs...Since then, we have always attended trade fairs with ⁿin use" samples of the fabrics."

Exhibit 1 shows in diagram form the traditional channel of distribution used for selling upholstery, comparing it with that uses by Marie ta Textil to market its products.

Exports

"In May 1998, I took part for the first time in a trade fair outside Spain. My prints were not only a novelty in Spain but also in Europe. As a result of the fair, an agreement was made with an Italian distributor and an initial shipment worth $30,000 was exported. In February 1999, Marieta attended a furniture show in Stockholm. Again, she managed to make a few transactions but relations with the Scandinavian distributor were unsatisfactory.

In 2000, Marieta attended the Paritext show in Paris without achieving any concrete results and a second export was made to Belgium without any repeat purchase. Maria Cardoner went to Belgium, accompanied by Montse Mafiach, and they saw that the fabrics were so poorly displayed that they were hardly visible on the shelves.

Current Foreign Distributors

At the beginning of 2006, Maria had distributors in Italy, France and Sweden and negotiations were under way to expand the network to Germany and Switzerland. However, the results obtained were not encouraging.

Maria Cardoner complained that " They got my idea but were not able to transmit it to their retail clients; they did not know how to sell the fabrics that it had excited them so much to buy". In 2000, a second export was made to Belgium without any repeat purchase.

"The Italian client who in 1998 bought our fabrics in Milan is today our distributor for Italy. It is High-Tech, an interior decorating store and art gallery in Milan, located near Porta Ticcinese. Its owners are two partners, one of whom, Mauro Baccini, is an architect and teaches in the Milan School of Architecture. The store is large, cold and austere, in line with the best design stores in Europe and has a network of distributors throughout Italy. It is divided into two main areas: articles for the home and office - ice-cream makers, percolators, colanders, document wallets - and furniture, fabrics and lamps, which is where Marieta's fabrics are displayed. High-Tech basically markets two products which sell very well in Italy and which enable the store to maintain a good profile: a North American line of gloves for work and sport and a Finnish line of multipurpose grilles for DIY".

Although Maria Cardoner was firmly resolved to consolidate exports, she had no clear idea of the form this would take nor the benefits it would bring. Recently, she had decided to accept and serve orders from abroad by the meter, instead of by complete rolls.

Although she imagined that there must be more alternatives, Maria Cardoner preferred to concentrate on continuing to take part in international shows and exhibitions and to select a few key distributors that convey the enthusiasm that Maria Cardoner inspires.

Maria planned on requiring them to carry out the same promotional work as Marieta Textil in Spain. In other words, they would have to attend at their own expense shows and exhibitions, and upholster pieces of furniture to encourage the purchasing process. Maria felt that these importers-distributors would be exclusive for each country and that they should hold a certain minimum stock to serve orders made by their clients. They would buy the rolls of cloth FOB in Barcelona by means of an irrevocable letter of credit and would pay for transport out of their own pocket.

Finally, thinking about export markets led her to wonder whether it would not be interesting to include foreign designers that would strengthen her image of modernity and cosmopolitanism.