Marketing Planning

Marketing Planning at Just US! Cafes

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Almighty Allah never spoils the effort. I consider it as foremost duty to acknowledge the omnipresent, kindness and love of Almighty Allah who made it possible for me to complete this research report. I wish to acknowledge my deep sense of profound gratitude to Amir Hashmi under who marvelous supervision and valuable guidance I complete my report.

Table of Contents

Introduction1

Importance of Environment Scanning2

Intense Competition3

Entering in New Market3

Gaining Market Share3

Internal Challenges4

Lack of Funds4

No Expansion in New Regions4

Lack of Expertise5

External Challenges5

Tough Competition6

Global Recession6

No Legal Regulations6

Future Threats for the Company7

Competitive Marketing Strategy8

Differentiation Strategy8

Focus Strategy9

Porter's Five Forces Analysis10

Threat of Entry10

Threats of Substitutes10

Competitive Rivalry10

Suppliers Power11

Buyer Power11

Available Strategic Options11

SWOT Analysis12

Strengths12

Weaknesses12

Opportunities12

Threats12

Expanding in New Regions13

Discount Pricing13

Strategic Alliances13

Recommendations14

References15

Marketing Planning at Just US! Cafes

Introduction

Just Us! (JU) was formed by Jeff and Debra Moore in the year 1996 making it the first fair trade café roaster in Canada. The café was named on the ideology of Justice in which workers and people were given more importance as compared to the profits. The mission of the company is to serve as a model for the social and environmental responsibility, and serving the customers by giving them best value and service. Since the beginning, the company has experienced a healthy growth by creating jobs in the community and in actions that are environmental friendly. In 2009, the café become one of the established companies in Nova-Scotia in Canada with 69 people working in the café and nine people working in the management team of the café. The main differentiation of JU is selling in the fair trade because fair trade market is growing therefore; the company is looking to expand its present businesses by developing new product lines for maintaining its market share in the Canadian coffee business. In the meantime, the company is facing challenges from different huge brands such as Starbucks, Kraft, and McDonalds because these brands have also introduced fair trade certified coffees. Moreover, the small coffee shops are also becoming challenging for JU because people are becoming more attracted towards appealing and unique product.

In the recent years, the environmental scanning has become extremely important for the organizations, because the competition in the market has become intense and it is not possible to survive in the competitive market without analyzing internal and external challenges faced by the company (Flouris & Oswald, 2006, p. 70). The implementation of appropriate competitive marketing strategy has become essential for the organizations and it is also important to evaluate the strategic options available in the market. Therefore, the purpose of this report is to analyze the above factors for Just Us! (JU) and make recommendations that can help the company to increase its market share in the coffee business.

Importance of Environment Scanning

It is important for the organizations to understand the environment in which they are operating because survival in the market is not possible if the organization is not able to understand its internal and external environment. According to Kotler (2009), the organizational environment comprise of ...