DES BANANA CHIPS MARKETING PLAN

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Des Banana Chips will be the leading chips in Philippines, or with a rapidly developing consumer brand and growing customer base.  The signature line of innovative, premium, banana chips include the real taste of fresh Saba banana.

This banana chips will reinvent the chips experience for individuals, families, and take out customers with discretionary income by selling high quality, innovative products at a reasonable price, designing tasteful, convenient locations, and providing industry-benchmark customer service. 

In order to grow at a rate consistent with our objectives, Des is offering an additional $500,000 in equity.  Existing members will be given the first option to subscribe to the additional equity to allow each of them to maintain their percentage of ownership.  The portion not subscribed by existing members will be available for prospective new investors.

SITUATION ANALYSIS

Des banana chips is close to entering their second year of operation.  The store has been well received, and marketing is now critical to its continued success and future profitability.  The store offers an extensive offering of banana chips.  The basic market need is to offer individuals, families, and take out customers fresh, creative, attractive, crunchy and desserts.  Des uses homemade banana, fresh banana, and premium milk and sugar.

MARKET SUMMARY

Des Banana Chips possess good information about the market and knows a great deal about the common attributes of our most prized and loyal customers.  Des Banana Chips will leverage this information to better understand who is served, their specific needs, and how Des can better communicate with them.

Market Analysis
		2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Potential Customers	Growth						CAGR
Individuals	8%	12,457	13,454	14,530	15,692	16,947	8.00%
Families	9%	8,974	9,782	10,662	11,622	12,668	9.00%
Take out	10%	24,574	27,031	29,734	32,707	35,978	10.00%
Total	9.27%	46,005	50,267	54,926	60,021	65,593	9.27%

 

MARKET DEMOGRAPHICS

The profile for Des Banana Chip's customer consists of the following geographic, demographic, and behavior factors:

GEOGRAPHICS

·         Our immediate geographic target is the city of Trece Martirez with a population of 130, 00.

·         A 15 mile geographic area is in need of our services.

·         The total targeted population is estimated at 46,000.

DEMOGRAPHICS

·         Male and female.

·         Ages 25-50, this is the segment that makes up 53% of the Trece Martirez market according to the Trece Martirez Chamber of Commerce.

·         Young professionals who work close to the location.

·         Yuppies.

·         Have attended college and/or graduate school.

·         An income over $40,000.

·         Eat out several times a week.

·         Tend to patronize higher quality stores.

·         Are cognizant about their health.

BEHAVIOR FACTORS

·         Enjoy a high quality meal without the mess of making it themselves.

·         When ordering, health concerns in regard to foods are taken into account.

·         There is value attributed to the appearance or presentation of food.

 

MARKET NEEDS

Des Banana Chips is providing its customers with a wide selection of high-quality chips dishes and salads that are unique and pleasing in presentation, offer a wide selection of health conscious choices, and utilizes top-shelf ingredients.  Des Banana Chips seeks to fulfill the following benefits that are important to their customers.

·         Selection. A wide choice of snacks and dessert options.

·         Accessibility. The patron can gain access to the store with minimal waits and can choose the option of dine in or take out.

·         Customer service. The patron will be impressed with the level of attention that they receive.

 

MARKET TREND

The market trend for stores is headed toward a more sophisticated customer.  The store patron today relative to yesterday is more sophisticated in a number of different ways.

·         Food quality. The preference for high-quality ingredients is increasing as customers are learning to appreciate the qualitative differences.

·         Presentation/appearance. As presentation of an element of the culinary experience becomes more pervasive, patrons are learning to appreciate this aspect of the industry.

·         Health consciousness. As Americans in general are more cognizant of their health, evidenced by the increase in individuals exercising and health club memberships, patrons are requesting more healthy alternatives when they eat out.  They recognize that an entree can be quite tasty, and reasonably good for you.

·         Selection. People are demanding a larger selection of foods, they are no longer accepting a limited menu.

MARKET GROWTH

In 2010, the global chips market reached 1million.  Banana chips sales are estimated to grow by at least 10% for the next few years.  This growth can be attributed to several different factors.  The first factor is an appreciation for health conscious food.  While not all banana chips is "good for you," particularly the sugar, banana chips can be very tasty yet health conscious at the same time.  Banana chips is seen as a healthy food because of its high percentage of carbohydrates relative to fat.

Another variable that is contributing to market growth is an increase in the number of hours our demographic is working. Over the last five years the number of hours spent at work of our archetype customer has significantly increased.  As the number of work hours increases, there is a high correlation of people that eat out at stores.  This is intuitively explained by the fact that with a limited number of hours available each day, people have less time to prepare their meals and eating out is one way to maximize their time.

SWOT ANALYSIS

The following SWOT analysis captures the key strengths and weaknesses within the company, and describes the opportunities and threats facing Des Banana Chips.

Strengths

·         Strong relationships with vendors that offer high-quality ingredients and fast/frequent delivery schedules.

·         Excellent staff who are highly trained and very customer attentive.

·         Great retail space that is bright, hip, clean, and located in an upscale mall, suburban neighborhood, or urban retail district.

·         High customer loyalty among repeat customers.

·         High-quality food offerings that exceed competitor’s offerings in quality, presentation, and price.

Weaknesses

·         Des name lacks brand equity.

·         A limited marketing budget to develop brand awareness.

·         The struggle to continually appear to be cutting edge.

Opportunities

·         Growing market with a significant percentage of the target market still not aware that Des Banana Chips exists.

·         Increasing sales opportunities in takeout business.

·         The ability to spread overhead over multiple revenue centers. Des will be able to spread the management overhead costs among the multiple stores, decreasing the fixed costs per store.

Threats

·         Competition from local store that respond to Des Banana Chips’ superior offerings.

·         A slump in the economy reducing customer's disposable income spent on eating out.

MARKETING STRATEGY

 

Des advertising budget is very limited, so the advertising program is simple.  Des will do direct mail, banner ads, and inserts, with inserts in the Register Guard likely to be the most successful of the campaigns.

Lastly, DES will leverage personal relationships to get an articles of Des in the Register Guard.  Previous friends who have had their store featured in the Register Guard has seen a dramatic increase of sales immediately after the article was published in the RG.

MISSION

Des Banana Chips’ mission is to provide the customer crunchy and relaxing experience.  We exist to attract and maintain customers.  When we adhere to this maxim, everything else will fall into place.  Our services will exceed the expectations of our customers.  

MARKETING MIX

Des marketing mix is comprised of these following approaches to pricing, distribution, advertising and promotion, and customer service.

·         Pricing. Des pricing scheme is that the product cost is 45% of the total retail price.

·         Distribution. Des product will be distributed through a takeout model where customers can call in their order and come to the store to pick it up, come into the store, place the take out order and wait for it to be completed, or come in and dine at the store.

·         Advertising and Promotion. The most successful advertising will be banner ads and inserts in the Register Guard as well as a PR campaign of informational articles and reviews also within the Register Guard.

·         Customer Service. Obsessive customer attention is the mantra.  Des philosophy is that whatever needs to be done to make the customer happy must occur, even at the expense of short-term profits.  In the long term, this investment will pay off with a fiercely loyal customer base who is extremely vocal to their friends with referrals.