Situation Gedenk aan my

Since she can remember, Ilse van der Merwe had a passion for flowers. She even went to New York to complete a year-long course in the management of a flower business. During this time, she picked up many ideas for managing her own business. Today she has made her passion a career, with her flower business Gedenk aan my in Kakamas in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. The name of her company could be loosely translated as Think of me.

Ilse focuses her marketing and sales efforts on events and supplying flowers and flower arrangements to event co-ordinators and to people who have events. Flowers are supplied to event organisers who do their own flower arrangements, while flower arrangements are the finished product supplied to customers who use it as received from Ilse. As such, most of her clients are from a business-to-business marketing environment. Her profitability is much higher on flower arrangements, as this is a value-added product.

During the Covid-19 lockdown, as so many other businesses, she experienced a dramatic drop in income from events such as weddings. But since there were more funerals from Covid-19 related deaths, her business did not quite take the knock as others because she supplied flowers to funeral service suppliers. Now that society slowly returns to normal, Ilse is confident that Gedenk aan my will return to previous levels of business and even grow. She needs to think about a marketing strategy that will guide her in taking good decisions about the future. Identifying and selecting appropriate market segments will go a long way in helping the business to grow.

Ilse is mostly self-sufficient when it comes to getting flowers for the market. On her farm near Kakamas, she cultivates most of the flowers that her market needs. Sometimes there is a need for specific flowers, which she will then source from Zimbabwean and Kenyan flower farmers. I rare occasions, she will reach out to flower farmers from Holland to supply her.

Ilse intuitively knows that the time is right to introduce something out of the ordinary to her market. Coming out of a devastating Covid-19 lockdown period, she could feel that people are ready to enjoy life to the full again. As Gedenk aan my is a medium sized organisation, with only two other management members, she realized that any innovation should be carefully considered. There isnt many resources and time to

waste on trying out different ideas. She knew that any innovation should achieve her vision of growing the Gedenk aan my brand to be well-recognized. And of course, positions her business for the next growth phase.

1.1 [25 Marks]

Given the context of the situation, assist Ilse in identifying and selecting market segments that she can target.

Remember to use busines-to-business marketing segment bases not business-to-consumer market segmentation bases. First suggest all possible market segments and then indicate which market segments should be targeted. Motivate why you suggest targeting specific segments.

Use a layered approach for the suggested segmentation approach. A layered approach suggests that you use more than one segmentation base to describe possible segments. (Tip: It is always a good idea to start with geographic segmentation and then add layers of market segmentation bases as it makes practical sense for the context of this situation).

1.2. [15 Marks]

Suggest innovations that will, when implemented, aid in growing the income and market share of Gedenk aan my and confirm the business as an innovator in the flower supply industry.

Note that innovations should be appropriate for the target market segments suggested in your answer to question 1.