The founder of Starfish Products is Pandora Truelove who started by making jewellery as a hobby at home. Eventually Pandora began to sell some of her jewellery at small craft fairs in the district where she lives. Her jewellery proved to be very popular, especially amongst the age group 14-18. It was low priced, but well made and very fashionable. Quite simply, Pandora discovered that not only was she good at making jewellery, but she had a feel for the market and jewellery fashions that would sell to younger customers. From this humble beginning, in just three years Pandora has expanded her business and sales to the point where she now works full-time and employs three people helping her make the jewellery in a small workshop. At the moment she is selling mainly through craft fairs, but now at much larger national events. Pandora wants to expand the business; demand is still strong and she has retained her flair for judging the market. She has the option to move to larger premises where she could take on more production staff. She has a small budget for promoting her products. Her main problem in relation to expanding the business she feels is distribution. To expand quickly she must secure retail outlets on a national basis through which she can market. Alternatively, she has considered if franchising might be an answer, with sales direct to customers in their own homes rather like Tupperware or Ann Summers parties.

Questions

1.Suggest three distribution alternatives that might be available to Pandora to expand her business.

2.Do a SWOT Analysis

Suggested approachLike most of these mini-case scenarios, the first suggestion must be to do research and to ascertain whether what is planned for the future might turn out to be as successful as past performance. In this case, advice from somebody who understands marketing applications in this type of business would seem to be the most appropriate course of action. Franchising might be a possibility, but does this mean franchising manufacturing or simply franchising the sales process? If it is the latter, we must then consider whether or not there are sufficient potential sales to support and exclusive franchise arrangement. This, it is felt, is very doubtful. A better consideration might be torecruit people who will sell through 'party plan' arrangements as suggested in the last line of the case scenario. If straightforward distribution is anticipated, then small retailers who sell similar merchandise to the target audience might seem to be a more appropriate channel of distribution. However, before a decision is made, research should be undertaken to investigate which channel offers the best potential for sales.