CALYX FLOWERS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The major problem that the company faces involves the right marketing approach that will ensure it maximizes on sales and thus revenue.  Currently the primary focus of the firm in terms of marketing efforts has been on  mailing catalogs to existing customers , previous recipients of its offerings and other individuals who fits its customers' demographic. To maximize in sales and revenue the form has focus on increasing the number of customers and also retain them. The failure to achieve maximum sale's revenue can be attributed to limited resources which also constrains the marketing budget. The increased competition especially from retailers such as supermarkets and traditional florists requires the firm to have a marketing strategy that will optimize on its competitive advantage. The firm has to effectively utilize the limited resources have a long-run focused marketing strategy, improve its customization capabilities and compete with local florists, deliver the products even on holidays and Sundays and even reach out to new customers. The use of catalogue alone means that only repeat customers can be reached and this does not utilize the opportunities available to attract new ones. Moreover, the fact that the can gain more information from these catalogs should provides an opportunity that can be utilized through the marketing strategy to increase sales and revenues for the firm. The marketing strategy should also take into account the fact that demand for flowers is seasonal, with high peaks being in holidays. The limited resources also mean Calyx Flowers cannot adopt multiple marketing strategies, and hence the need for one effective strategy that will improve the performance of the firm in terms of increased sales and profitability. To address problem that firm will a marketing strategy that focuses on upscale professional women as the target in the market. The focus on this segment is in line with the need to utilize the limited resources on a marketing strategy that yield maximum results through increased sales. For the strategy to succeed, the firm will have to improve the quality of services so as to meet the needs of this quality-sensitive segment. This would also require the firm to reach out to new customers by increasing the number of overall catalogs that are targeted to the upscale professional women. Even though the new market also comprises of men as a customer segment, the strategy focuses solely professional women. The limited resources in the firm have to be utilized to increase the market share which promises high possibility of positive returns to the firm. In the past marketing efforts, information has shown that women form the largest part of the market targeted by the firm. This means that focus the few resources on men segment is not likely to yield the desired returns in terms of sales.  Moreover, Calyx Flowers' products are expensive and women tend to pay higher prices for same products than men. Also, the buying behavior for men is quite different from that of women segment in the market.  Women tends to place more importance on new products than men, which means that the marketing strategy can chose to align its catalog content with women needs. Since the firm cannot adopt multiple marketing strategies due to limited resources, focusing on women segment alone would allow for a more specific approach that can ensure the maximization of sales and revenue. The catalogs can then be tailor-made so that they target upscale professional women who are capable of buying the expensive products more frequently than men.  This approach means that the targeted financial performance for Calyx Flowers is strategically achieved.