Sales plan from the last year

Sales plan from the last year

'Aussie Rural Products' has an existing sales plan to achieve its sales objectives. The sales objectives are as follow:

• To promote Australian products and support locals
• To achieve the sales target (volume of sales) for each month
• To provide quality products to the retailers and supermarkets at a very reasonable price
• To build long-term relations with retailers and supermarkets.
• To give our customers the best value for money and quickest service

Products and services specifications

'Aussie Rural Products' sells rural products and provides delivery of rural products within 24 hours.

Products include:

• Wheat
• Coarse grains (barley, oats, sorghum, maize, and triticale)
• Rice
• Oilseeds (canola, sunflowers, soybeans, and peanuts)
• Grain legumes (lupins and chickpeas)
• Sugarcane
• Cotton
• Fresh fruits and vegetables
• Fresh farm milk

Services include:

Every order placed by small retailers or Supermarkets is delivered within 24 hours.

Existing target market outlets

'Aussie Rural Products' has a large customer base. The majority of its customers are:

• Small retails shops
• Restaurants
• Fresh fruit and vegetable markets
• Food processing factories.

Quality assurance strategy

'Aussie Rural Products' wants to ensure that retailers and supermarkets are provided with quality products. To ensure the quality of products, 'Aussie Rural Shop' has established the following quality management strategies.

• Each product goes through rigorous quality checks before packaging and delivery. These checks include:
• Freshness
• Quantity
• Quality
• The organisation has a stock rotation policy that must be adhered to by the staff members.
• Fresh products are not stocked. Delivery for fresh products takes place daily.
• The Operations Manager ensures the quality of products before buying them.
• The organisation has refrigerated trucks for the delivery of fresh products to ensure quality standards are maintained.
• Packaging for fresh products is done in cold rooms where the temperature is below 5 degrees Celsius.

Timing and volume of sales

'Aussie Rural Products' predicts good sales throughout the year as most of the target market outlets maintains on-going orders.

The following table discusses the expected timing and volume of sales throughout the year:

Customer types and their contribution to revenue

There are two types of customers that purchase regional products from Aussie Rural Products. These are as follow:

• Rural and remote Australians.
• Australians residing in cities.

Rural and remote customers account for 25% of the sales. Whereas Australians residing in urban areas account for 75% of the sales.

Outcomes of last financial year

Outcomes of last financial year

Due to the pandemic (COVID-19) situation, most of the restaurants, most of the restaurants and food chains were closed. Restaurants and food chains have a share of 15% in total sales. This lead to a decline in the 'Aussie Rural Products' sale.

Sales benchmark information

'Aussie Rural Products' expected to achieve 90% of its total sales/revenue. However, a decline of 15% was noticed in the total sales.

Outcomes of SWOT analysis

Outcomes of SWOT analysis

During this COVID-19 pandemic, the sales of the 'Aussie Rural Products' declined by 15%.

Further, most of the residents are ordering groceries online. This is an excellent time and opportunity to increase its customer base and venture into this new market.

The management conducted a SWOT analysis to identify the correct strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Following were the outcomes of SWOT analysis:

Outcomes of SWOT analysis
Strength	Existing vast and rigorous distribution channel Regular customers An existing e-commerce portal for online orders Delivery within 24 hours
Weakness	Reliance on the target market
Opportunity	Increasing its customer base by taking online orders and delivering products free of cost to dwellers or residents
Threat	Existing big competitors in place

Weaknesses in existing advertisement strategies based on the consumer reactions to prior marketing communications

Advertisement strategies

'Aussie Rural Products' have planned different ways to promote and advertise products. This includes:

• Indexing of our sites and advertisements on different and popular Search Engines and products and offers available on our website.
• Using media planning, i.e., newspaper, television advertisements and magazines
• Advertising in the known and popular sites such as Yahoo, Hotmail, MSN etc

Consumer reactions

• The existing advertising strategies of the 'Aussie Rural Products' are outdated. The organisation should focus on advertising social media platforms.
• The organisation should promote online portal for customer ordering.
• The customers have lacked involvement and interest in the brand due to no slogan or tagline being presented on the adverts.

Resource requirements to further venture into the identified new market and increasing its customer base

'Aussie Rural Products' have several resources available due to its current operations, including:

• E-commerce portal
• Trucks and drivers
• Warehouse capacity

However, there are some additional resources required; these include:

• Some vans for local deliveries
• Drivers
• Marketing and advertisement budget

Business and marketing plan excerpt for the current year

'Aussie Rural Products' has prepared a business and plan to incorporate the newly identified target market based on SWOT analysis and focus on the existing target market.

Business objectives

The following are the objectives of the business:

• To promote Australian products and support locals
• To increase the revenue by 20% through the inclusion of a new target market, i.e., retail customers (dwellers/residents)
• To provide quality products to the target market at a very reasonable price
• To build long-term relations with the target audience.
• To give our customers the best value for money and quickest service.

Market overview

Target Market

• Small retails shops
• Restaurants
• Fresh fruit and vegetable markets
• Food processing factories.
• Dwellers/residents

Customer profile

Most of the retail shops, restaurants, food and vegetable markets and factories provide on-going orders. The new target group will be dwellers/residents. Most of the dwellers/residents prefer online shopping for a number of reasons, including:

• Current COVID-19 situation
• Free delivery

Buying patterns are based on the customer's desires.

Competitor profile

There are two different types of competitors that 'Aussie Rural Products' will face:

• Supermarkets. These stores, such as Coles or Woolworths, provide delivery to customers but is limited to come areas. They also charge some amount on delivering orders to the customers. The cost is also higher than what 'Aussie Rural Products' will offer.
• Similar product sellers.These are very similar operations to 'Aussie Rural Products', sometimes larger and sometimes smaller.

Competitive advantage

The organisation is already into business and delivering to local supermarkets and retail shops. 'Aussie Rural Products' will use the same delivery vehicles to deliver orders to customers. By doing so, transportation expenses will be very minimal, and the organisation will provide the customer free delivery of products and services.

Advertisement strategy

'Aussie Rural Products' have planned different ways to promote and advertise products. This includes:

• Indexing of our sites and advertisements on different and popular Search Engines and products and offers available on our website.
• Using media planning, i.e., newspaper, television advertisements and magazines
• Advertising in the known and popular sites such as Yahoo, Hotmail, MSN etc

Expected timing and volume of sales

It is expected that the average sales for each month will increase by 20%.

Operation strategy

'Aussie Rural Products' are carried out according to two approaches.

Business to Business (B2B)

In this category, we are developing one to one customer relationships. Here customers will be retail shops, restaurants, fruit and vegetable markets and food processing factories.

Business to customers (B2C)

The business will venture into this market segment. 'Aussie Rural Products' have an excellent supply chain that will help the organisation reach the new target market to deliver products and services.

As the business is already delivering the products to retail shops, restaurants, fruit and vegetable markets and food processing factories, the business will use the same supply chain to deliver the residents' orders.

This will help the business to cut down on cost and provide value-added benefits to the organisation.

Price risk management strategy

The biggest challenge in the food industry is price volatility. Prices of food products can increase due to several reasons, including the decline in productions leading to a decrease in supply, droughts or inflation etc.

'Aussie Rural Products' has an existing risk management strategy in place to keep a check on the prices and support farmers at the same time. 'Aussie Rural Shop' has a contingency plan in place and a fixed budget to support farmers to support at the same time.

'Aussie Rural Products' have warehouses to store products with a long shelf life to counter the product price increase. Further, the organisation focuses on cutting down on operational cost and following a sustainable business operation model. This helps the business cut down on unnecessary cost, decreasing the cost and leading to better net profit margins.

Contingency plan excerpt

The following is an excerpt of the contingency plan of 'Aussie Rural Products':

• The organisation keeps a share of 5% of its total budget for price volatility.
• The organisation will not charge any transportation fee to its customers or target audience during the time of crisis or recession to support local businesses.
• The organisation will pay incentives to farmers where the organisation buys products to support them and build stronger relationships.

Start-up budget for venturing into new segment market

Start-up funding
Start-up Expenses	$62,500
Marketing and advertisement	$32,500
Equipment purchase	$30,000
Total expenses	$62,500
Start-up Assets to Fund	$1,115,500
Total funding required	$1,177,500
Assets
Non-cash assets from start-up	$115,000
Cash requirements from start-up	$1,000,000
Additional cash raised	$0
Cash balance on starting date	$1,000,000
Total assets	$1,115,000
Liabilities and Capital
Liabilities
Current borrowing	$0
Long-term liabilities	$0
Accounts Payable (Outstanding bills)	$0
Other current liabilities (Interest-free)	$0
Total liabilities	$0
Capital
Planned investment
Owner	$0
Investor	$0
Additional investment requirements	$1,177,500
Total planned investment	$1,177,500
Loss at Start-up	($62,500)
Total capital	$1,115,000
Total Capital and Liabilities	$1,115,000
Total funding	$1,177,500

Sales Forecast

Sales forecast
	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3
Unit sales
B2C Sales	10,706	50,000	100,000
B2B Sales	1,077	5,000	10,000
Total unit sales	11,783	55,000	110,000
Unit prices	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3
B2C Sales	$100	$100	$100
B2B Sales	$1,000	$1,000	$1,000
Sales
B2C Sales	$1,070,600	$5,000,000	$10,000,000
B2B Sales	$1,077,000	$5,000,000	$10,000,000
Total Sales	$2,147,600	$10,000,000	$20,000,000
Direct unit costs	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3
B2C Sales	$80	$80	$80
B2B Sales	$850	$850	$850
Direct Cost of Sales
B2C Sales	$856,480	$4,000,000	$8,000,000
B2B Sales	$915,450	$4,250,000	$8,500,000
Subtotal Direct Cost of Sales	$1,771,930	$8,250,000	$16,500,000

Break-evenanalysis

Break-even analysis
Monthly Units Break-even	1,345
Monthly Revenue Break-even	$245,200
Assumptions:
Average Per-Unit Revenue	$182.26
Average Per-Unit Variable Cost	$150.38
Estimated Monthly Fixed Cost	$42,892

1. Two (2) improvements to the advertising strategies.

The improvements to the advertising strategies include; being simple in the advertising process and aiming at targeting a specific audience in its advertisement.

1. How each improvement strategy will be addressed?

Being simple in the advertising could be by using simple ads on the social media platforms to help reach a wider audience and the ads should aim at bringing happiness to the customer by making them smile or laugh, and having a specific audience that targets could ensure that the needs of the customers are met. Having specific customers will help Aussie Rural Products build a proper brand image, and it should also aim at meeting its customers both online and offline to build proper relationships and connections.

Template 6: Analysis of consumer behaviour

Analysis of consumer behaviour

1. Customer attitudes and expectations for the organisation's products and service.

The customer attitudes towards the organization's products were positive because they were deeply interested in the product and they argued that the products and services met their needs. The customers developed a positive attitude because they believed that their rural items could be delivered hence saving them the costs to be incurred in transportation. The customers argued that they expected the goods and services that Aussie Rural Products offered to deliver their rural items whenever there was a need.

1. Determine individual, social and lifestyle influences on customer behaviour considering the target market segment.

Personal factors such as income earned could also affect the behavior of the customers because most customers will go for the items they can afford and leave the ones they cannot. Social factors include things such as family and close friends could influence what the customers want because they could develop different attitudes and behaviors towards certain items. Lifestyle could have an influence on the behavior of the customers in this case as a result of eating habits they practice, and their beliefs and culture based on particular rural items. Most customers will purchase what best fits their lifestyle and leave that which does not fit their lifestyle.

1. Digital footprint of customer types in the market segment.

The digital footprint of customer types that could be based on the customer segment is the active digital footprint. This information could be submitted and the views of the customers accepted through comments and reactions such as liking or disliking. By doing, proper information will be collected and improvements made accordingly.

1. Typical engagement journeys of the target customers and customers expectations of digital engagement with online ordering for products and services.

The engagement journeys with target customers include having programs to help in inspiring the customers, having open conversations with the customers to help get their genuine feedback, and providing the customers with entertainment value to help them increase their engagement with the given product. The expectation of online customers includes the online platforms having top privacy, the customers also expect the gap in the real world to be bridged and self-service is also another thing they expect to be enhanced.

Template 7: Analysis to evaluate the organisation's capability

Analysis to evaluate the organisation's capability

1. Strengths and weaknesses of the organisation in relation to meeting customer demand and expectations for products and services.

The strengths of 'Aussie Rural Products' in meeting the customer needs include delivering to the customers which could attract more people, having a good distribution channel for its rural items, and having an online portal to facilitate online deliveries. The weaknesses of 'Aussie Rural Products' in meeting the customer needs are reliance on the rural target market whose attitudes towards the products is unknown and the success of 'Aussie Rural Products' is dependent on the response of the customers.

1. Whether existing organisation's marketing plan address the opportunities and threats.

The existing market plan addresses the opportunities and threats that 'Aussie Rural Products' could be subjected to. The threat of unstable prices is addressed by having a risk management strategy to check on the prices and activities of the farmers, and the opportunities are also addressed in that the organization aims at delivering the items most efficiently to cut costs.

1. Strategies to respond to demand for goods and services

Some of the strategies to respond to the demand for goods and services include producing and delivering the right amounts of goods and services that the consumers need and ensuring that it is done on time and another strategy is putting a close eye on the experiences of the customers with the goods and services to help understand where change is needed. This will help supply the best goods and services to meet the demand of the customers.

Question

1. Marketing strategies for target customer types
2. How influences on consumer behaviour will be used to target effective marketing strategies?
3. Rational for marketing focus of appeal.
4. Digital marketing environment
5. Model engagement conversations and interventions
6. Marketing focus of appeal
7. Legal and ethical obligations for the marketing focus of appeal.
8. Revised marketing appeal
9. Marketing strategies
10. Costs associated with the implementation of marketing strategieBudgetary requirements of the marketing plan strengths and weaknesses of the organisation in relation to meeting customer demand and expectations for products and services.