Career Choice

1. Introduction

This marketing plan provides brief explanation of marketing plan purpose and suggest what may be done with the information contained in the plan and helps to establish, direct and coordinate a company’s marketing efforts.

Specifically, it will be analyzed the situational environs for this product including demand trends, social and cultural factors, demographics, economic and business conditions, state of technology and law regulations applicable. It will be also analyzed the shop’s external, competitor’s and internal environs. The analysis provided will also include the target market and problems and opportunities of the shop including the SWOT analysis, BCG Matrix and Porter’s five factors.

1.1 Company’s Background

The Reject Shop at Bondi Junction employs about 4 full-time workers including two managers, 4 part-time workers and 5 casuals. During the busy Christmas and Easter trading season, few more casual staff are employed. The Reject Shop at Bondi was opened in 1992. The store is located in Eastgate shopping centre on the first level in Spring street 40-43 at Bondi Junction. The Reject Shop operates in the discount variety retail sector serving a broad range of value-conscious consumers who are attracted to low price points, convenient shopping locations and the opportunity to purchase a bargain. The shop offers a wide variety of general consumer merchandise, with particular focus on: everyday needs - such as toiletries, cosmetics, homewares, personal care products, hardware, basic furniture, household cleaning products, kitchenware, confectionery and snack food; and lifestyle and seasonal merchandise - such as seasonal gifts, cards and wrapping, toys, leisure items and home decorations. As the vision statement indicates, “everybody is a winner in a Reject Shop”, both the workers and the customers (Everyone’s a winner in the Reject Shop 2007).

1.2 Vision Statement

Our Vision is to be Australia’s most successful retailer measured by growth, profitability and customer satisfaction.

We will achieve this through our commitment to continuous improvement in every aspect of satisfying customers’ everyday merchandise needs. Our customers will be a broad cross-section of society who want or need to save money.

Our products will be competitively priced, good quality and availablein appropriate assortment and quantity in stores.

Our stores will be attractively and efficiently merchandised for self selection, clean and safe.

Our store people will provide welcoming, attentive and efficient service. We will provide a productive work environment, rewards for achievement and opportunities to develop.

Our support services will represent industry best practice.

We will be good citizens through high ethical standards and practices and community service.

2. Situational Analysis

2.1 Situational Environs

2.1.1 Demand and Demand Trends for this Type of Shop & Goods

Because in 1990’s the Australian economy slid into recession and unemployment reached the record of 11% many high-profile business entrepreneurs who had emerged in the early 1980s bankrupted. This recession caused an increasing demand for cheaper shops where everybody could afford to buy necessities. In this era cheap two dollar shops became popular. The high-profile firms lost customers who selected cheaper shops, such as Reject Shop.

2.1.2 Social and Cultural Factors

The biggest social factors influencing customer buying behavior are the social roles and reference (membership) groups. There is evidence that the traditional husband-wife buying roles are changing. Almost everywhere in the world, the wife is traditionally the main buyer for the family, especially in the areas of food, household products and clothing. However, with increasing numbers of women in full-time work and many men becoming “home workers” the traditional roles are reversing. The top management of the Reject Shop has to understand how this might affect demand for products and services and how the promotional mix needs to be changed to attract male rather than female buyers. Reference groups are those people who influence others directly or indirectly, membership groups people influence only directly such as co-workers or friends.

Culture influences consumer wants more than basic needs. Values, perceptions and wants have always had a big influence on each of the buyers in the society. A Japanese person will rather buy clothes that are popular in Japan so this person will prefer to visit a Japanese clothing shop with popular Japanese brands than a reject Shop (Kotler et al. 2006).

2.1.3 Demographics

The Reject Shop operates in the discount variety retail sector serving a broad range of value-conscious consumers who are attracted to low price points, convenient shopping locations and the opportunity to purchase a bargain. Their customers are mostly those with lower income including kids and pensioners who can not afford to go shopping to more expensive stores. Reject Shop is famous for low prices so the biggest groups of customers are those who do not have much money (Kotler et al. 2006).

2.1.4 Economic and Business Conditions for this Product at the Chosen Time and Geography

The low prices for products sold at the Reject Shop makes every consumer willing to buy it. Because this shop started to make large profit during the Australia’s recession in the early 90’s the increased unemployment had a positive impact on the Reject Shop.

3.1.5 State of Technology

Most of the products which were produced and imported from China are less good quality than popular brands products which are available in shops such as David Jones

.

2.1.6 Political/Legal Environment

Applicable laws in this case will be contract and consumer laws, such as Trade Practices Act 1974 which protects the consumers and prevents some restrictive trade practices