Marketing Consumer Behaviour

I recently purchased a 2020 Subaru Ascent, which I can honestly declare to be the best decision I made. The process that I followed while purchasing this car is actually similar to the consumer decision making model discussed by Panwar et al., (2019). The consumer decision making model follows five main steps, including; recognition of need, search for information, evaluating the alternatives and finally the purchase. The reason I bought this car is because I needed a bigger car, which can comfortably fit the whole family without any complains like my old car. This fulfilled the first step of need recognition as indicated in the consumer decision model (Panwar et al., 2019). Having a small car that could not fit everyone comfortably called for the need of a much bigger car.

Human beings are naturally social beings and their decisions are greatly influenced by the trends and activities that are happening around them (Meng & Fraedrich, 2010). The decision to buy 2020 Subaru Ascent was not an easy one; the first motivation to buy it was after I saw the model with several of my colleagues during family fun days. It is easier for one to be swayed to make a purchase by people whom they are in the same social class, because they want to be in the same social levels (Meng & Fraedrich, 2010). I was inspired by how my colleagues highly praised the car model and they could not stop speaking about how effective the car was when travelling with their families. These are people whom we are in the same social classes since we are colleagues and we live in the same neighbourhood.

Their having a nice car model triggered my desire to be like them, and hence my aspiration to know more about the car model so that I could also purchase it and social circle. My immediate reaction was to find out more about the car and hence fulfilled the second step in the consumer decision making model (Panwar et al., 2019). I made sure to make some enquires about the car from these colleagues, in regard to its capacity, interior design and most important comfort, which they all confirmed with positive reviews and I also got the chance to actually inspect their cars to confirm all the reviews.

 The internet has become a very useful marketing tool for all industries, in what is today known as the electronic word of mouth (eWOM). A consumer does not need to physically communicate to people to get reviews on how effective or ineffective a product is (Daugherty & Hoffman, 2014). Consumers make their purchases online, get their goods delivered and they give their reviews on the product online. This hence allows prospective consumers who want to understand more about the product to just log on to a website and make a decision on whether the will make a purchase or not depending on the reviews given be the other consumers (Zhang et al., 2019).

I logged into Subaru’s website to check for the pricing, and the reviews of the 2020 Subaru Ascent from other customers. I found the website to be very helpful, in that every car model has its own special page where you get to read about the details, including the prices, the payment options and the reviews of the specific car that you are interested in. 2020 Subaru Ascent had many positive reviews from the customers that had already purchased the car, what interested me most are the positive reviews on how family friendly the car was. The main interest for me wanting to purchase this car was so that I could have more space for my growing family, which would make travelling with my family much more comfortable and easier. Another element that greatly interested me was the payment plan, which I found to be very friendly, given my current financial status. 

Family decisions on matters of purchasing products can often be subject to conflicts especially when it is a product meant to serve the whole family like a family car. It is expected that all the family members give their inputs, and it is the role of the influencer to come up with the correct strategy to ensure that the decision made is sound (Tsoi & Shchekoldin, 2014). It is this knowledge that prompted my decision not to disclose my plans of buying another car to my family without all the right details about the right car. I needed the perfect car and all the details intact so that I would avoid any conflicts of the car not having everything that they needed and actually say their influence on us getting the 2020 Subaru Ascent.

In my search for a car, I had discussed with my friends about some of the latest family car models in the market since most of them have families, and other car mode they had recommended was  2020 Kia Telluride, which was much similar to 2020 Subaru Ascent and also much cheaper. I decided to compare the two models; 2020 Kia Telluride and 2020 Subaru Ascent to see which the best fit was for me and my family. By doing this, I fulfilled the third step of consumer decision making model, the evaluation of alternatives (Panwar et al., 2019).

 There was no much difference between the two cars. However, what interested me most and made me go for 2020 Subaru Ascent even though its more expensive, is the fact that it has enough cup holders and USB ports for all the passengers on board something that we always fought about in my old car. 2020 Subaru Ascent also has large cargo space and also a standard 3-zone climate control system, all this were lacking in 2020 Kia Telluride. All this elements were very effective logical argumentation when it came to convincing my family the reasons as to why we should purchase the 2020 Subaru Ascend as compared to other car models.

It was after all this that I decided to tell my family about my plans for a new family car. The announcement was received with excitement and I was surprised when my partner suggested that we get the 2020 Subaru Ascent because she had heard positive reviews of the car from some of her friends that had purchased the model. This made it much easier to sway everyone to go for the 2020 Subaru Ascent and the final decision to purchase this car was made after the drive test. The whole family confirmed all the reviews given on the car and everyone was convinced that this was the perfect car for us and we purchased it.

Consumer decision making process is similar for almost every consumer in the modern world where the internet has taken over the sales departments in all industries. Whether one is buying a new or a second hand product, the first thing they do is realize that they need the product and go on to do some research of the product that they need, the pricing, where they can acquire it and its effectiveness. At some point during this process, one will try to talk to their friends and family members to get their views on the products that they want to buy. It is only after they have done all this, that the will make a purchase and be contented with it.

References

Daugherty, T., & Hoffman, E. (2014). eWOM and the importance of capturing consumer

attention ... Retrieved 2019, from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Terry_Daugherty/publication/271928758_eWOM_and_the_importance_of_capturing_consumer_attention_within_social_media/links/54e6a3970cf277664ff6645e/eWOM-and-the-importance-of-capturing-consumer-attention-within-social-media.pdf.

Meng, J. (Gloria), & Fraedrich, J. P. (2010). 21st Century Social Class Theory As It Applies

To Marketing. Marketing Management Journal, 20(1), 194–203. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=55096986&site=ehost-live

Panwar, D., Anand, S., Ali, F., & Singal, K. (2019). Consumer Decision Making Process

Models and their Applications to Market Strategy. International Management Review, 15(1), 36–44. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=135847331&site=ehost-live

Tsoi, M. Y., & Shchekoldin, V. Y. (2014). Assessment of Family Member Influence on the

Purchase Decision-Making Process. International Multidisciplinary Scientific Conference on Social Sciences & Arts SGEM, 65–73. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=117051393&site=ehost-live

Zhang, H., Zhao, L., & Gupta, S. (2018). The role of online product recommendations on

customer decision making and loyalty in social shopping communities. International Journal of Information Management, 38(1), 150–166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2017.07.006

Subcultural Segmentation of Food Products in U.S

Subcultural segmentation of food products is a significant element for the marketers. This segmentation helps the marketers to design foods that go along with the necessities, and expectations of the consumers (Lantos, 2015).  Financial fitness, religious views, race, cultural views and consumption outlines are some of the components that should be deliberated by food product marketers.  Subcultural segmentation helps food products to be deliberated keeping the interests of the potential purchasers in mind (Lantos, 2015).

One food product that needs to be rationalized is Starbucks’ coffee. The primary target for Starbucks is both men and women who are between the ages of 25-40, this means that people below and above that age gap are neglected (Starbucks Corporation SWOT Analysis, 2019). This age bracket includes parents who may want to order something for their children as they order for their coffee. Starbucks has very few choices for kids and it has often been criticised for having too much calories and caffeine in some of its beverages (Starbucks Corporation SWOT Analysis, 2019).  Affluence is a target element for Starbucks and hence the needs of middle class and people from low social status are not really considered. Starbucks needs to understand that U.S is a diverse society and the largest portion of the society is made up of people in middle class social status. People in this category are very conscious about their spending and also their health, therefore the current Starbucks products are not an appropriate choice for them.

  U.S has become a diverse society, subcultures that are based on religion, race, sex, age and geographical regions are providing markets with exciting opportunities to negotiate in their promotional strategies (De Mooij & Beniflah, 2017). In twenty years to come, the Americans that identify themselves as Hispanics, black, American Indians and Hawaiian Islanders among other will outnumber the non-Hispanic whites and companies will increasingly target their advertising at these groups (De Mooij & Beniflah, 2017). Starbucks should consider setting up their stores in every region within the U.S considering that there are people in all social levels who would love to consume Starbucks products. Starbucks should try and offer products that are friendly in terms of pricing and health benefits for people of all ages and social levels, which will help increase their consumer range and also their revenues.

References

De Mooij, M., & Beniflah, J. (2017). Measuring Cross-Cultural Differences of Ethnic Groups

within Nations: Convergence or Divergence of Cultural Values? The Case of the United States. Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 29(1), 2–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/08961530.2016.1227758

Lantos, G. P. (2015). Consumer Behavior in Action: Real-life Applications for Marketing

Managers. Florence: Taylor and Francis. doi: https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=NnNsBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA198&dq=subcultural market segmentation in food products&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjqoJWH3P_kAhWsz4UKHb8UASkQ6AEIMDAB#v=onepage&q=subcultural market segmentation in food products&f=false

Starbucks Corporation SWOT Analysis. (2019). Starbucks Corporation SWOT Analysis, 1–9.

Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=137269399&site=ehost-live

How Social Media Analytics Impacted the Use and The Role of Quantitative Marketing Research

 Introduction

Qualitative marketing research is the process of collecting large amounts of data through surveys, interviews, focus groups and questionnaires. Marketing research is vital before a business undertakes key marketing tasks inclusive of preparing a marketing plan, carrying out SWOT analysis, developing a product, branding of products and pricing. Marketing research gives a business the opportunity to develop products and services that fit the needs of the target market. Qualitative marketing research helps businesses understand what their customers think and feel about their products, how the customers are able to choose between different products and suppliers, how the branding, packaging and design of the products influence them and how pricing affects their decision making. Electronic social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram have gained momentum to become major forms of communication and presented the general public with a platform where they can express their attitudes and opinions. Recently these platforms have become a source of data for market research.  Social Media analytics as an approach for understanding attitude and opinions in the market place has impacted quantitative marketing research by filling in its role and use.

Social media analysis has matured to the point where organizations are no longer using, surveys, focus groups and interviews but are instead relying completely on social insights to carry out marketing research.  The use of traditional methods of conducting market research including the use of ethnographies that are not only time consuming but are subject to biasness has greatly reduced (Nguyen, 2014). To get the best possible understanding of customers’ organizations would rely on the triangulation process to combine results gathered from several techniques into one complete data set but now a huge volume of information on customer sentiment and opinion are available online and organizations do not have to use time consuming and expensive techniques to find out what their customers are thinking.  They just need to find a way to analyze the data from the internet and social analytics has made that possible.  The coming of social media has also brought with it a range of new research techniques such as insight communities, smartphone ethnography, social media bots and netnography (Batrinca, et al., 2015). These techniques might create something more than observed data thus making social media analytics more effective.  

The continuous use of social media analytics has raised the question on what is the place of traditional methods and will social media totally replace them. One advantage of social media analytics over the traditional methods is that it automates and scales the process of finding insights.  Businesses are now able to gather customers’ feedback on their products, services and campaigns quicker and the results have proved to be authentic (Branthwaite, et al., 2011). Through gathering and analyzing of data social media analytics is in a position to deliver solid information and insights that a company need to make decisions on packaging, branding, designing and pricing. Companies are still in a place to use the traditional methods of quantitative marketing research only if the company can afford the resources, in terms of money and time to triangulate and confirm social media insights but many businesses lack the funds and are less convinced that there is a need to confirm these insights.

Social media analytics is not only in a position to completely take up the role of quantitative marketing analysis but also is in a position to complement this role. When organizations choose to first analyze online data they are in a position to look at the results and then stakeholders and researchers can make a quick decision on which ideas presented to them on social media are worth pursuing, this will save businesses a lot of time and expenses since they will not be pursuing all leads but specific leads (Branthwaite, et al., 2011). Also, using these social platforms customers can be notified on upcoming campaigns and surveys and the business can easily segment the audience according to demographics and geography.

Both the quantitative marketing research and social media analytics try to figure out what should be done, how it will be done and what were the results, both of these methods can effectively help in figuring out the three but social media analytics outshines quantitative marketing research when it comes to figuring out how it will be done, this is because, methods such as surveys, interviews and focus group take a lot of time to prepare and analyze. Organizations practicing real time marketing and ones that want to make rapid changes cannot wait for the results from these methods. In contrast, social media can provide immediate responses and companies can easily optimize campaigns to fit their users and to get better results (Nguyen, 2014).  Social analytics has also made it possible to effectively and accurately analyze data that is gathered from online conversations while a survey will be forced to obtain this information from respondents while in social media it is already present.

While quantitative marketing research cannot enable organizations to identify key spokespeople and influencers of their brands social media has made it possible and now organizations are in a place to pay attention to these individuals, connect with them and engage in conversation with them more easily (Nguyen, 2014). The use of social media to conduct marketing research is killing some of the important aspects of quantitative marketing research. The first aspect is conversation, which is a direct dialogue with a costumer that is done face to face or through platforms such as skype. Conversations are dependable and credible and are seen as an insight to peoples thoughts, ideas and feelings. Social media analytics is making headway to replace face to face conversations that are carried out during surveys. The second aspect is the power of listening, this is acquired by building a trustful atmosphere with the interviewee where the marketer can converse and listen to each other. The third aspect of Quantitative market research that is being slowly killed by Social Media Monitoring is empathy, this aspect is achieved through the skills of the interviewer (Branthwaite, et al., 2011).   

Social media has given people a platform where they can express their thoughts rapidly. With social media customer’s trends and attitudes can be mapped using minimal time (Patino, et al., 2012). The traditional marketing methods often place customers in the listening role, where the customers are answering the asked questions, social media is opening the channels of communication and marketers are now engaging in actual conversations with their target audience, the conversation is now about hearing what the customers want instead of marketers telling the customers what they think they want (Singh, et al., 2019).  Despite the many advantages of social media analytics it has its own limitations such as; most product users might fail to comment on social media platforms and the available comments focus on the good and bad of a products or services and leaves a lot of information out. It is also very hard to recognize if the comments are of a non-user or from a user and it is also not possible in some case to recognize comment that are associated to specific regions and sub groups. The dynamic nature of social media also makes it almost impossible to compare two campaigns or activities. In some countries only a small percentage of individuals have access to the internet and in most cases international brands have to resolve to traditional techniques to takes these customers into account. Lastly, social media analytics can be regarded as young and with techniques that are evolving fast and ones that are not well established, therefore they cannot be relied on completely (Stieglitz, et al., 2018).

Conclusion

            Social media analytics is the insight collected from customers on online platforms. These analytics have greatly impacted the role and the use companies have for quantitative market research techniques such as focus groups and surveys. These analytics makes collection of data on customer’s feedback easy, cheap and fast. Despite social media analytics having the upper hand it has its own limitations.  For the time being social media analytics and the traditional quantitative market research can co-exist as one serves to enhance or validate the other. As the participation of people on online platforms continues to rapidly increase so does social media analytics continue to be more sophisticated and the day social media analytics completely replaces quantitative market research may not be far off into the future.

References

Batrinca, B., &Treleaven, P. C., (2015).  Social media analytics: A survey of Techniques, tools and platforms.”Ai&Society 30,no. 1(2015): 89-116

Branthwaite, A., & Patterson, S. (2011). The power of qualitative research in the era of social media.             Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 14(4), 430-440.

Nguyen, H., (2014). Should Social Media Analysis Replace Traditional Marketing Research? Retrieved from; https://www.netbase.com/blog/social-media-analysis-replace-traditional-marketing-research/

Patino, A., Pitta, D. A., & Quinones, R. (2012). Social media's emerging importance in market research. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 29(3), 233-237.

Singh, S., Arya, P., Patel, A., & Tiwari, A. K., (2019). “Social Media Analysis through Big Data Analytics.”:             A Survey. Available at SSRN 3349561

Stieglitz, S., Mirbabaie, M., Ross, B., & Neuberger, C. (2018). Social media analytics–Challenges in topic             discovery, data collection, and data preparation. International journal of information management, 39, 156-168.

 Introduction

            Coulson Marketing Agency will conduct an analysis to advise the global mobile phone manufacturer based in Denmark about the best strategies to use in launching its newly manufactured mobile phone. The purpose of this analysis is to determine whether it is important for the company to change its advertising strategy once it ventures in China or not.

Cultural considerations

As much as the cultural part is concerned, the truth is that Coulson Marketing Agency will have the potential of outdoing its competitors in the same industry.  The reason for that is just because of diverse marketing niche as well as the existence of multiple customers who desires to utilize their product. As much as the company advertising strategy is concerned, what makes the enterprise to be perceived as having a low market orientation might be as a result of diverse cultural differences. This also will have to take into account the manner in which each individual utilizes spoken or written language to facilitate what he or she desires to speak. 

            According to hosfeds dimensions, the cultural differences of each person or society at large are what determine the response of a person. Therefore, what this implies is the fact that the senders of the message can have the potential of encoding the message while anticipating that the receiver will have the opportunity of accurately decoding the words used. Consequently, so as to be in the position of understanding the cultural differences that exists, it is paramount to take into account the essence of interpreting some of the elements that surrounds the message being sent or delivered.

             It is this scenario that will enable a person to understand the social dynamics that exists as well as the potential of adding extra information to the received message.   It is this strategy that enables a person to understand the meaning of the information being received. Likewise, the cultural differences that exist in each state are the one that that highlights the communication or the language usage that people are fond of. Food, and dressing code is concerned, self-determinations and valuing the perspectives of youth is something that is paramount.

Comparing the characteristics of both cultures

                                                Hofstede's 6 dimensions

Legal considerations

            Although China is perceived to rise steadily economically, the state has had the potential of attracting various business organizations of various scales into its market.  Despite that, it should be realized that perceived opportunities in Chinese market has the likelihood of changing with time. As a result of that, it is important for those potential investors wishing to invest in China to be informed about the laws and regulations that control business in such a state.  The reason for that is because it has been realized that the majority of companies end up underestimating the role of the Chinese government. For such companies, it becomes impossible to do well in China without the government’s back-up (Hollesen, 2011) There are also several countermeasures and risks of venturing a business in China that is divided into various categories, for instance, market risks, which is the risk of losing as a result of changes in market conditions or demands.

            On the other hand, one of the main market risks that are faced by global trade business organizations is ultimately the exchange rates as well as product risk risks. Consequentially, other than market and policy risks, there might be other issues relating to things like default risks and commercial risks. Moreover, some of the commercial risks that a business might end up include credit or insolvency credit, intellectual asset infringement risks, transit risks, sellers’ performance risk, and buyers’ acceptance risk.

Product uses

            The same product might be used in different ways by different consumers in different countries or markets due to the cultural differences and other geographical factors. For example, in China, the general popularity of the modern samrtphones is what has ended up changing consumer demands. One of the contributing factors is the need of changing acquiring fundamental functions to obtaining stylish mobile phones with attractive appearances and premium qualities. Nonetheless, in Denmark, the penetration as well as the continued usage of smartphones for the majority of the senior Danes is something that is relatively low as compared to young population. The reason for that is because research indicates that the majority of the consumers who are at the age of 65 and above have been found to be insecure or not well informed about the significance of the modern technology.

            By the end of the year 2018, it was found out that the average unit cost of each smartphones had somehow rose hence making them to be regarded as being high-end or just mid-range commodities. The selling points of new smartphones were no longer low prices and as a result, the prices of new models increased which resulted in a more competitive environment (Portal.euromonitor.com, 2019). On the other hand, what this indicates is the fact that some of the youthful product marketing strategies that were utilized in China is dedicated at targeting young potential customers. For examples, advertising and creative marketing strategies that are applicable are aimed at raising the general performances of smartphones (Portal.euromonitor.com, 2019).

            In Denmark, however, research indicates that age Dunes have started becoming more and more adapted to using smartphiones hence making penetration to grow at an alarming rate. Therefore, there is a growth opportunity for smartphone manufacturers seeking to cater to older Danes. Indeed, the brand Doro launched the new smartphone Doro 8035 in 2018 (Portal.euromonitor.com, 2019). It is designed for consumers with poor hearing and sight and offers a simpler navigation system to better fit this demographic group. In Denmark, senior phones tend to have larger texts and other feature that aid in adjusting sound. The reason for that is because many older Danes suffer from hearing impairment and declining eyesight (Portal.euromonitor.com, 2019).

Standardization

            The goal of standardization is to minimize costs either by passing the costs through the customer or maximizing profit through acquiring a competitive advantage depending on the competitive environment. Factors influencing the decision of standardizing are economical/political integration and internet economy. In order for the company to standardize their marketing, pricing, and product strategy, first, they must meet the requirements of the various standardization forces that enhanced effective product marketing strategy. The most commonly used market strategies taken into account include regional marketing agreements, customer requirements, establishment of international clients, specifying time for accessing markets, and means of realizing the economies of scale.

            Taking into account the analysis displayed in the products uses and cultural consideration section, it is evident that the five forces to standardize the product strategy will not be advised as an advertising strategy to enter China market. This is because there is a high cost of failure caused by varied customer behaviors and needs that are significantly different from those of the consumers in Denmark. It would also be very costly and time consuming to venture in the same.

Adaptation

Factors influencing adoption is (Cross cultural diversity and Tariffs/non- tariff barriers)

            Based on the evidence and analysis conducted, it is recommended that if the company was to enter China, it management authority should have the potential of changing its advertising strategy to suit the cultural diversity and appeal more to the target consumers of China.

                                                            Conclusion

            The evidence and research don indicate that culture and product uses has a great influence on the choice the customers has prior to using the new mobile phone to be launched. It is, therefore, recommended that if the company desire to venture in China, its management authority should consider the significance of changing their product advertising strategy. The reason for that is because it is the one that will give them the propensity of suiting the cultural diversity existing as well as be more appealing to the target consumers. Additionally, some of the China’s legal considerations, product uses, standardization, adaption, and the final decision or advice to be taken into account is the one that can aid consumers to adopt the recommended advertising strategy.

                                                            Appendices

1. General comparative characteristics of cultures

1. Use of Mobile Phones in China by population% to access the Internet (Euromonitor International).
2. hofstede cultural dimensions (China, Denmark).
3. Pros and Cons of both Standardization and adaptation

1. Hofstede’s Culture Dimensions Definitions

Bibliography

Jain, S.C. (1989). Standardisation of international marketing strategy: some research                   hypotheses.  Journal of Marketing, Vol. 53, pp. 70-9.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1509/jimk.11.1.97.20141

https://successfulglobalmarketing.weebly.com/untitled/global-marketing-strategy-standardization-vs-adaptation

http://www.readyto.be/legal-aspects-of-doing-business-with-china/

 Introduction

            A washing machine is one of the home appliances that are used for the purpose of washing different types of clothes without the need of applying individual physical efforts. The reason for that is because using such a machine limits the time a person wastes in rubbing the clothes using the hands or squeezing them so as to remove waste from them. As much as electronics are concerned, this device enables a person to wash his or her clothes automatically without the need of supervising its operation. All that is required is putting the clothes in the machine before instructing it what to do (Yilmaz et al 428).

            On the other hand, clothes washing technology is something that was specifically developed for the purpose of reducing manual labor, or provide an open basin that can automatically agitate the clothing. Regardless of the fact that the earliest washing machines were constructed from wood and were hand-operated, the modern technological advancement has improved its functioning. This is to imply that the technological advancement in machinery for institutional and commercial washers is what has fastened the design of these appliances. What was noted to have the ability of limiting the evolution of these appliances is the lack of electricity for the majority of individuals (Julia 94).

            Nevertheless, the manufacturing of automatic washing machines is also aimed at reducing labor and electrical costs that could have been incurred. This then implies that although washing machines are designed for the purpose of washing clothes, it is important for a person to ensure that he or she has the right details concerning the type of washing machines present in the modern market. The reason for that is because the current washing machine market has ended up burgeoning various features and innovations (Seshadri 100). The reason for analyzing this gadget is because it is mainly intended for middle-class people who have limited time. Most of these people have to do their laundries since it would be expensive for them to take them out for dry-clean to be done. The reason that compels me to reviews this product is because Samsung washing machine has made work more accessible for me because I can only put the clothes in, switch on, and it automatically cleans without much involvement in the washing.

Questions for consideration: What are some of the methodologies that a consumer can use to identify the most efficient washing machine that can suit his or her laundry requirements? What are some of the advantages of using Samsung washing machine as compared to those that exits in the modern electronic market?                                    

Analysis

            Taking into consideration the various washing machines that are manufactured by Samsung, the majority of them have been realized to include water jets as well as steam nozzles that aid to sanitize clothes. The same mechanism also assists in reducing the time taken to wash clothes. In the process of removing water from the bottom the drum, it becomes possible to circulate it throughout the washer (Peter 431). The reason as to why the use of these devices is important is the fact that they consist of light that are built just within the drum. Depending on the requirements of each person, it is important to note the fact that some of them are supplied with soap dispensers that automatically does the softener and the detergent activity as well as picking the most appropriate wash cycle (Rao & Krishna 206).

Retrieved from: https://news.samsung.com/global/samsungs-industry-leading-washing-machines-continue-to-garner-acclaim-for-their-disruptive-innovation

            Nonetheless, the reason as to why the above appliance is important for the majority of the middle-class individuals is the fact that they can be easily installed or replaced with other new spare parts if need be. The majority of the washing machines that are manufactured by Samsung are always supported by various capsules that contain sufficient laundry additives which are initially installed in the detergent compartment.  Before allowing the detergents to come into contact with the clothes, such a washing machine has the ability of first mixing them with water to make foam that enhances the cleaning process (Anis et al 145).

            On the other hand, this washing machine has the ability of generating waves which in return assist in shaking the soil or dirt out of the clothes. This is also coupled with various mechanisms that are used for the purpose of preventing or removing un-dissolved detergent residues. In connection with that, Samsung electronics have also managed to introduce other desirable functions on their washer that in return assist in troubleshooting common problems that they might encounter (Ramesh 159). One of the approaches that are used by the company entails taking a photograph of the washer’s time display that can enable the organization to detect the origin of the problem. This has the potential of displaying the problem or problems as well as the steps that can be used to resolve it (Julia 94).

            Another point of consideration is the fact that the manner in which the modern washing machine that are designed by Samsung are aimed at reducing expenses. For example, once installed, costly gearboxes are not required because such a device can be controlled electronically. The front loading of the majority of this washing machine are made up of plastic which ensures its functionality have been maintained (Arno 46). In order to eliminate some of its vibrations, the company has managed to reduce or control the speed of the motor through the use of hydraulic suspensions. Such a mechanism is also incorporated with other freely rotating balls that are installed on the back and the front of the drum. This also has the ability of countering the weight of the clothes loaded in it as well as reducing vibrations (NPCS Board of Consultants & Engineers 70).

            The incorporation of microcontrollers in this washing machine is also something that has been realized to have the potential of reducing the timing processes. The inclusion of these gadgets rather than electromechanical times is what also enables the consumer to perceive it as being one of the cost-effective home appliances. The reason for that is because some of the smart home washing machines that have been produced by the company contain different features, for instance, compatibility with other eco bubble or voice control technology. It is, therefore, possible to have the ability of detecting any problem that might arise hence saving time and money (Ramesh 159).

            As much as efficient cleaning is concerned, it is evident that the use of this machine aid in ensuring that less water and energy is used as compared to other washers. The high efficiency also takes into account the little time they use to clean a load. Regardless of the manner in which they are computerized, it is easier for a person to adopt with its functionality. The reason for that is because the technology that is utilized ultimately aid in improving or minimizing human interference through the use of the control manual that has various cleaning options (Arno 46). Taking into account the need of minimizing the washing time, it is possible for a person to do fewer washes as well as save extra money in the long term. Since the majority of the washing machines that are manufactured by Samsung Electronics are economical, it is important to take into consideration the cycle length of each machine to avoid overworking it. The reason for that is because the majority of the top-loaders of some other washing machines have been noted to have shorter cycle times. What enables that is the fact that their design is ultimately emphasized their operating speed which in return enhances resource conservation (Anis et al 145).

            Taking into account the need of minimizing wear, the manner in which the drum repeatedly functions is what assists in causing less wear. In order to be in the position of gauging the amount of wear, it is easier to determine the amount of clothes that are contained in the drier lint filter. Equally, the installation of the above washing machine is easier because they occupy less space. The modern models are convenient because they are all convenient in homes that have little floor area. This also takes into account the fact that clothes dryer can be effectively be installed or stacked above the washer before being dried up (Gisela 38).

            In addition to that, the reason as to why this washing machine have ended up decreasing  the laundry work of middle-class individuals is because of its reliability and cheap maintenance expenses. Ideally, this electronic device is more and more tolerant to maintenance taking into account the minimal freshening cycle that is required. It means that the spin cycle that the machine takes is what ultimately any other problem that can be encounter (Seshadri 100). The incorporation of other internal water heating and other automatic sensors is what boosts the function of this device. Moreover, the use of this device is efficient because it enables a person to select the right laundry detergent as well as the fabric softer of choice (NPCS Board of Consultants & Engineers 70).

Conclusion

            Regardless of the functionality of this washing machine, it is important for a person to take into account its loading capacity and cost incurred to purchase them. The reason for that is because some of the machines that are of high quality have been realized to e more expense hence the need of ensuring that a person has the right one that suites his or her needs. Since it is important to clean a large amount of clothes at ago, it is crucial to take into account the need of lowering running expenses as well as the water efficiency. From this perspective, the need of using a washing machine with minimal loading capacity is economical.

            Likewise, the above analysis indicates that the durability as well as the general functioning of the majority of the Samsung washing machines is what determines the manner in which it minimizes corrosion. Ideally, the reason as to why the majority of these appliances are loved by many is the fact that they can be easily maintained or repaired in case any problem arises. Due to the fact that there has been an increasing cost that is incurred in repairing these devices, there has been a continued increase in defective gadgets that are extensively discarded in the modern electronic market. To counter the effect of this, it is important for a person to ensure that he or has purchased them form trusted dealers. What this implies is the fact that each washing machine varies differently taking into account the amount of energy, detergent, and water they consume.

            After installation, it is easy to control the device instantly hence decreasing the costs that could have been incurred. The loading mechanism of this device is self explanatory taking into account the need of limiting the time a person could have taken to learn it. The incorporation of various operating mechanisms also has the ability of countering the weight of the clothes loaded in it. This also takes into account how safe such a machine is safe to use at anytime.

            Last, but not least is the fact that the evolution of the modern washing machines, especially those manufacture by Samsung has the ability of minimizing the expenses a person incurs. Taking into account its durability and the easiness of operating it, it is important for a person to ensure that he or she has understood the features contained in it. The reason for that some of them are supplied with soap dispensers that automatically does the softener and the detergent activity as well as picking the most appropriate wash cycle. Another point of consideration is the fact that the some of the washing machines that are designed by Samsung are aimed at reducing their operating or maintain ace expenses.

                                                            Work cited     

Yilmaz, Recep, M N. Erdem, and Filiz Resuloglu. Handbook of Research on Transmedia Storytelling and Narrative Strategies. , 2019. Internet resource. Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=quRfDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Handbook+of+Research+on+Transmedia+Storytelling+and+Narrative+Strategies&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjfqqC0ssjjAhUShRoKHdOHDuAQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=Handbook%20of%20Research%20on%20Transmedia%20Storytelling%20and%20Narrative%20Strategies&f=false

Rao, V S. P, and V H. Krishna. Strategic Management: Text and Cases. New Delhi, India: Excel Books, 2002. Print. Retrieved from:  https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=IKN-4sybKiAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Rao,+V+S.+P,+and+V+H.+Krishna.+Strategic+Management:+Text+and+Cases.&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwixwqq2tMjjAhUFCxoKHfxuBMYQ6AEILTAB#v=onepage&q=Rao%2C%20V%20S.%20P%2C%20and%20V%20H.%20Krishna.%20Strategic%20Management%3A%20Text%20and%20Cases.&f=false

Anis, Mohab, Ghada AlTaher, Wesam Sarhan, and Mona Elsemary. Nanovate: Commercializing Disruptive Nanotechnologies. , 2017. Internet resource. Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=1aGwDQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Nanovate:+Commercializing+Disruptive+Nanotechnologies&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiv65iitsjjAhUPdxoKHcwjClkQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=Nanovate%3A%20Commercializing%20Disruptive%20Nanotechnologies&f=false

Ramesh, Kumar S. Conceptual Issues in Consumer Behaviour: The Indian Context. Delhi: Pearson Education, 2008. Print. Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=yo4JsUrZPfcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Conceptual+Issues+in+Consumer+Behaviour:+The+Indian+Context&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi1jKS3uMjjAhVS3hoKHZcsBFgQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=Conceptual%20Issues%20in%20Consumer%20Behaviour%3A%20The%20Indian%20Context&f=false

Arno, C. 5th World Conference on Detergents: Reinventing the Industry : Opportunities and Challenges. The American Oil Chemists Society, 2003. Print. Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=VMqSJROG_WYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=5th+World+Conference+on+Detergents:+Reinventing+the+Industry&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjvyrS-tsjjAhVEyhoKHbDsDEUQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=5th%20World%20Conference%20on%20Detergents%3A%20Reinventing%20the%20Industry&f=false

Gisela, K. Contemporary Western European Feminism: Routledge Library Editions. Volume 4 of Routledge Library Editions: Feminist Theory. Routledge, 2012. Print. Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=ocq05ABvJYYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Contemporary+Western+European+Feminism:+Routledge+Library+Editions&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjbrLjbtsjjAhUHTBoKHVWNCFsQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=Contemporary%20Western%20European%20Feminism%3A%20Routledge%20Library%20Editions&f=false

NPCS Board of Consultants & Engineers. Manufacture of Thinners & Solvents (Properties, Uses, Production, Formulation with Machinery Details): Solvents for Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, Book of Solvents, Solvents for Production and Purification, How to start Solvents manufacturing business, How to start Solvents business, Manufacture . Niir Project Consultancy Services, 2017. Print. Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=boB3DQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Manufacture+of+Thinners+%26+Solvents+(Properties,+Uses,+Production,+Formulation+with+Machinery+Details)&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiK9ZGIt8jjAhVSOhoKHYn8CIIQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=Manufacture%20of%20Thinners%20%26%20Solvents%20(Properties%2C%20Uses%2C%20Production%2C%20Formulation%20with%20Machinery%20Details)&f=false

Julia, S.W. The Evolution of Household Technology and Consumer Behavior, 1800-2000. Modern Heterodox Economics. Taylor & Francis, 2017. Print. Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=njAlDwAAQBAJ&pg=PR1&dq=The+Evolution+of+Household+Technology+and+Consumer+Behavior&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi4ubWnt8jjAhWqxIUKHTFrDukQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=The%20Evolution%20of%20Household%20Technology%20and%20Consumer%20Behavior&f=false

Peter, R. G. The Science of Defoaming: Theory, Experiment and Applications Volume 155 of Surfactant science series. CRC Press, 2013. Print. Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=aY0AAAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Science+of+Defoaming:+Theory,+Experiment+and+Applications+Volume+155+of+Surfactant+science+series.&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjc2-LEt8jjAhUN1RoKHXQkDx8Q6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=The%20Science%20of%20Defoaming%3A%20Theory%2C%20Experiment%20and%20Applications%20Volume%20155%20of%20Surfactant%20science%20series.&f=false

Seshadri, V. Consumerism: With Reference to Selected Home Appliances in Chennai. New Delhi, India: Mittal Publications, 2006. Print. Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=ivNEft_Lo3UC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Consumerism:+With+Reference+to+Selected+Home+Appliances+in+Chennai&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjYqpSCuMjjAhVPWxoKHTX6Dz0Q6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=Consumerism%3A%20With%20Reference%20to%20Selected%20Home%20Appliances%20in%20Chennai&f=false

Facebook for Marketing

Facebook is a social media site where friends connect, and a place where business conduct marketing. Facebook has connected millions of people and more importantly, it has become a powerful marketing tool for business (Goldfarb, 2010). Today, marketers have learned that potential customers are using the Internet to find information about products. Therefore, marketers focus on building brand awareness so that online shoppers who use the Internet regularly can view services and products and make an online purchase. Recent research and studies have found that Facebook can be the best marketing tool in that marketers can use the site to build a customer base, advertise and promote products, and share information with potential customers (Goldfarb, 2010). Businesses are expanding their revenues by using Facebook in that through interacting and sharing information, the companies are creating long-term customers who share their experiences with other people, therefore, creating a tribe of customers. An important thing to note is that people who use Facebook on a daily basis are more than 500 million (Goldfarb, 2010). These users visit Facebook every day and this is the best site where marketers can build their presence and connect with the users and make them potential customers by providing them with videos, photos, and content.  In most cases, users use Facebook to connect with friends and families and marketers can connect with users and interact with them the same way (Goldfarb, 2010). Note that users will spread the message to friends and non-friends about the company and product.

Some businesses such as Nike, TOMS, and Fitbit are using Facebook for marketing. These businesses have found that Facebook has over 1 billion users and therefore, it has become a major player in the social media field (Speier, 2019).  Facebook is doing a great job in providing customers with real-time information in these businesses. There are other social media platforms like Twitter but Facebook is a unique platform in that it is the only site that provides greater details to a deeper level. Another important point to understand concerning these businesses that use Facebook for marketing is that their Facebook strategies are almost the same in that they connect with customers using branded hashtags and share fan-provided content. Even though they tend to differentiate themselves from other competitors, they focus on increasing collaboration and engagement (Speier, 2019). For example, Nike has created a Facebook presence where it communicates with diverse audiences and shares greater information.  The company has created Facebook pages with specific products such as women's products. In these pages, Nike receives several likes and comments and this means that the site provides the customer with a strong brand image (Speier, 2019).  Even though Nike has many competitors such as Adidas and Under Armour, the company differentiates itself from the competitors by engaging in research and development that leads to a new design. Nike produces high-quality products for every target market.  TOMS also use Facebook for marketing and it has created a Facebook page where they connect with teens and young adults. The online presence has helped the company build a strong connection with customers and drive awareness (Speier, 2019). Fitbit Company is not left behind but it also used Facebook for marketing. The company has created a Facebook page where it promotes its products and users find the message helpful since it is empowering and encouraging. Facebook users like the page and the majority join the fitness support group where they gain health and wellness information (Speier, 2019).  Users also share the information with their friends where they purchase products and benefits from incentive programs.

How Facebook can be used to market a business

Create a Facebook business page

Businesses should create separate Facebook pages for brands and business. Users will like a page and access the information concerning products, business codes, and much more (Marrs, 2019).  The business page will also enable the business to identify itself not only in terms of core product offerings but also in terms of personality and character.  As a result, the Facebook page will help the business build brand identity. Therefore, Facebook pages should contain images, videos, educational resources, among other content (Marrs, 2019). This information will connect the business with customers and the audiences will view the relevant information they want.

 Facebook ads

Businesses should create Facebook ads on the Facebook site. Users will click the Facebook ads and the business will understand which products have more likes (Marrs, 2019). Facebook ads will allow the cowpony to view the behaviors of various demographics and this will help focus on a specific demographic and ignore the group that is not interested with the products.

Facebook Contests

            The purpose of this strategy is to interact with audiences and develop organic engagement.  This is a kind of interactive content that captures audiences' attention and boots the business (Marrs, 2019).  It allows the business to gain new customers, interact with the existing customers in meaningful ways, and use the user-generated content to develop product designs.

 Facebook promoted posts

            This is an advertising tool where Facebook page owners allow specific users to access certain posts (Marrs, 2019).  Facebook page owners only pay for the best and helpful posts and this strategy will help the business market specific content.

Sponsored stories

 Companies can market their business by using sponsored stories or ads about brand awareness, videos, and images (Marrs, 2019). When Facebook users see the stories, they take actions and makes an online purchase. The user's friends are also influenced by the friend's action and they also like the page.

Facebook Open Graph

 Another way to market a business using Facebook is through the use of Facebook Open Graph which allows interaction between Facebook user and third-party app (Marrs, 2019). Users use their Facebook account to sign in into another website where they find specific images, activities, locations, and more.

Facebook Exchange (FBX)

Businesses market their products using Facebook Exchange- a platform where online advertisers understand the users' previous web-browsing and display products to the target audience.  For example, a Facebook user may view a product and fail to buy the product (Marrs, 2019). The business or the retailer may target the user by displaying the same product and this strategy keeps the customer in the track.

 Pros of using Facebook for marketing

            One advantage of using Facebook for marketing is that the business can reach a wide audience- the platform will allow the business to look for potential customers. Since the daily user hit up to 1.5 billion, it means that the business will interact with the users, develop a target market, and drive online sales (Marrs, 2019). Second, Facebook as a marketing tool is highly affordable and has targeting options. Unlike other tools, it is easier to reach interested customers by targeting specific points such as age group, marital status and more. Third, Facebook allows the business to create customer loyalty (Marrs, 2019). This means that customer gain positive experience and satisfaction through accessing business information. Customer builds a strong relationship with business which leads to customer loyalty.

 Cons of using Facebook for marketing

 Lack of organic content

 Some disadvantages may occur while using this social media platform. For example, Facebook uses a Facebook algorithm which limits the displays of content. Users only access specific content from friends and family rather than content from business pages. The purpose of restricting the views is to ensure that Facebook for marketing is not for fun but it is for promoting customers' attention (Marrs, 2019). This creates worry and apprehension since users have limited time to view photos and read articles.

Cost

Facebook as a marketing tool requires a higher budget for promotion and for the update of new information (Marrs, 2019). Note that business requires marketing strategy such as online contests, video products demonstrations among other services and this means that they should come up with advertising budget.

Lots of commitment

 Facebook for marketing requires a lot of commitment in terms of daily monitoring, customer engagement, among other full-time tasks (Marrs, 2019). In order to find success, one must pay attention and dedicate time in updating important contents and managing an online presence.

References

 Speier Kim (2019). 9 Brands With Brilliant Facebook Marketing. HubSpot. Retrieved from: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/facebook-marketing-examples

 Goldfarb Sam. (2010). Facebook for Business: How To Market Your Business on Facebook and Get More

Sales, New Customers and Brand Awareness. BookBaby

 Marrs Megan (2019). 7 Ways to Use Facebook for Marketing. WordStream. Retrieved from:  https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2013/04/15/facebook-marketing

 Bondarenko A. (2015). Pros and Cons of using Facebook for your ad campaigns.  CheeseCat Ltd. Retrieved from:  https://www.catvertiser.com/blog/pros-and-cons-of-using-facebook-for-your-ad-campaigns/

Different ways to use social media for marketing

• Focus on the bigger picture

• Use a consistent voice- Provide the customers with a coherent brand messaging to allow them recognize the grand, and build audience engagement. If you decide to use different channels such as Facebook, and Twitter, use a consistent voice in all channels in order to build brand recognition.
• Create the overall goal and a central aim- Make a clear goal such as to attract users to visit the social media page. To allow customers to access the website and browse the products, post links of the website to other sites and product pages so that customers can navigate.
• Use offline messaging- integrate offline marketing strategies such as indicating the website addresses to business cards, print advertisement, and sign in the store. These traditional forms of marketing will attract customers and drive them to social media networks.

Speech notes:  Social media is an effective way of engaging customers and promoting brand. However, in order to get more benefit, the company need to focus on the bigger picture which entails setting the objectives, think about the buyer personas, and the product and services.  Focus on content marketing strategy, prepare the audience, and ensure similar goals on a different medium.

• Choose the best social media tool
• Analyze the strength and weaknesses of the business- when it comes to advertising and marketing your brand, choose the right marketing channel. Note that using multiple platforms will not bring effective results and thus, it is important to find the social platform that complements the customers' needs.  First, understand the target audience, define your objectives, and have adequate skills and resources.

Speech notes:   it is important to make a strategic decision when using social media for marketing. Note that there are various great options but the big task is to figure out the best tool that fit the company.  Therefore, it is important to have a time commitment to reflect on the business strengths and weakness on using social media tools, the business priorities and goals, and more importantly the target market.

• Use the social media champion approach whose role is to;
• Engaging regularly and coordinating social media activities- the social media champion will monitor the activities of the social media channel and ensure that all company's content posted on the websites. The champion also interacts with employees independently to build brand recognition.

• Selling internally- the champion also coordinates with senior executives and marketing agencies to increase brand awareness by advocating a new tool.

Speech notes: Social media champion play a significant role in bringing progressive change in the business. They are responsible for monitoring the day-to-day activities of the social media and they bring effective ideas and provide constructive feedback to the rest of the organization members.

• Track the effect
• Use site analytics to track social media activities and give a report on site traffic trends.
• Use tools such as Hootsuite to analyze and give a report on Twitter account statistics
• Use PostRank to track bookmarks
• Use Facebook Insights to track the performance of the advertisements.
• Use Radian6 and Addictomatic to monitor the brand in social networking sites

 Speech notes- when using social media for marketing, it is important to monitor the activities and assess whether the social media campaign is meeting the goals. The company may want to know if the social media is working, and to achieve the reports, the company should track content using the highlighted several tools.

• Take action
• Evaluate the value of the social media strategy in terms of return on investment
• Use website analytics to gather data and make sound analysis on which social media tool is perfoming better
• Compare the social media tools and invest time on the tool that made the business thrive

Speech notes:  It is important to compare the multiple tools and use the channel that fits the business and the target market. When evaluating the best tool, also consider the billing options, the number of users, use a tool that has social network rich, and a tool that has social interaction capabilities. Finally, it is important to invest in a tool that the company will be able to manage effectively and one that brings a return.

Reference

Parker, C. (2010). 301 ways to use social media to boost your marketing. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Digital marketing for Coca Cola Company

Coca Cola is the leading soft drink company all over the world with its presence in over 200 countries selling over 400 brands of soft drinks. Coca Cola’s origin is a soda fountain in the inner city of Atlanta Georgia in 1986 where it was retailed in a drugstore (Choueke, 2009). The Coca-Cola Company was established in the year 1892 with its first beverages being vended in bottles in the year 1894. The Corporation has over the years grown from one item to more than 500 products and this includes 3,500 soft drinks products where the company sells seventeen billion dollars per day in all the countries that it is situated. The Coca Cola Company continues to increase its presence in the global market; solidifying its trademark and advancing its international drive every instant. To attain this, the corporation is operating with its international bottling associates in sustenance of its vision of 2020 that the company disclosed in the year 2009.

The brand possesses and warrants its brands that comprise nourishment drinks, water, juices, coffees, teas and energy drinks. The corporation dispenses its products through the retail stores as well as grocery stores, drug stores and convenience stores among others. The food service and hospitality business most specifically the fast foods outlets has come to be a major delivery station for these products.  Most of Coca Cola’s products are sold in cans made of aluminium and plastic bottles (Szabist, 2016). The operation of the business is prearranged in such a system that the immediate clients for the corporation are the suppliers. These are the individuals that act as its bottling associates, the corporation essentially creates the syrup and then vends it to the bottlers who are generally certified to reproduce it and then package the goods as is itemized by the brand (Choueke, 2009).

These distributors function as the connection between the company and the buyers of the soft drinks. This is inclusive of persons in all age groups, revenue brackets and geographic counties whose different needs are met by offering different brands (Hitesh, 2018). Coca cola markets its products based on demographic segmentation and also geographic segmentation. This segmentation replicates the requirements in the brand subjects and it effects the advertising approaches that are used like digital advertising that is usually appropriate for the target segments.

As one of the most inclusive brands all over the globe, Coca Cola Company celebrates the concept of diversity, equality and inclusion something that has grown to be the culture of the company (Egol et al., 2014). This commitment by Coca Cola to unite people of all cultures has been manifested in its advertisements most especially its digital marketing and also in its daily operations. The company has protected the rights of every employee from discrimination against gender identity and expression. The Coca Cola Company has created its brand starting with the strong contrast red and white colours that convey an impressive brand identity to its customers (Szabist, 2016). The taste of its famous coca cola drink is unique and it has a distinctive taste from their competitors such as Pepsi making it a unique drink for their customers. It is very easy to recognize a coca cola product in a shop because of its colourfulness as well as its unique branding.

Customers’ decision to buy a brand is always dependent on whether that brand is worth a repeated purchase. A significant factor that affects a customer’s choice making is the societal ethnic variances amid that product and the preference of the customers (Choueke, 2009). Coca Cola endorses its products in every life setting which has made it widely known by almost every one all around the world. People in all walks of life are familiar with the Coca Cola bottle because of its repeated exposures in music, movies, sports and many other elements of life thus making the brand to be connected with the lives of people (Hitesh, 2018). Coca Cola maintains its attractiveness in the social cultural differences that exists in the society by creating innovative products to fit every group for instance water, coffee, juice, teas and various snacks which ensures that every potential consumer feels covered. This helps the brand to stay relevant in different cultures as well as age groups.

Persona profile for Coca Cola

Coca Cola targets the world at large; it has created segmentation in its products which allows it to cater for the needs of people of all ages from the children to the aged (Taylor, 2015). Segmentation aids the brand to outline the suitable produces for the diverse consumers (Szabist, 2016). Coca Cola adapts its promotion strategy by developing new produces often which help cater for the special needs of every person in the society.

Age

When it comes to age, the brand does not necessarily have an exact age aim and their products and marketing strategies are addressed to everyone, though its main customers are people amid the ages of 12 to 30 years (Szabist, 2016). The brand has products for every age segment whereby there are fruit juices for the children aged between 3 and 10 years like Minute Maid which have different flavours to entice the kids. Though there are no main products for people above the age 50, the brand has succeeded in reaching them because of its value among the consumers (Hitesh, 2018). The core target for the brand can hence be defined to be the young people who love to be associated with vibrant drinks like the ones that Coca Cola provides (Taylor, 2015). Coca Cola’s consumer targeting is not really based on gender, since their products are consumed by both male and females at an equal rate.

For Coca Cola, every person is a target and hence a prospective consumer. People of all age groups are targeted but the peak latent groups are the young people that are between the ages of 18 and 25 years and this is why most of the brands advertising features this age group (Szabist, 2016). This a very ideal age group because they are people that love and enjoy having fun, not forgetting their interest  in exploring new experiences.

Life style

There is no specific lifestyle that the Coca Cola brand targets, though the people that are ever busy and mobile who are mostly the youths are considered as the most important part of the brand’s consumers (Taylor, 2015).

Occupation

The people that the brand targets are mostly students and family oriented people, that frequently come together to enjoy some soft drinks as they have fun and enjoy their time together (Taylor, 2015).

Customer media habits

Given that their consumers are mainly the young people that are aged between 18 and 30 years, their presence in the social media is very high (Hitesh, 2018). This is the millennial generation that is very actively involved in the social media and everything around them revolves around using the internet (Szabist, 2016). They enjoy sharing trending items because that way, they are involved. They like innovations and they love surprises which gives the Coca Cola brand a very good opportunity to earn their attention with vibrant media connections.

Coca Cola’s online presence and its limitations

Coca Cola has been effective in its advertising especially with its good use of the internet where it conducts most of its direct interactions with the consumers. The management of Coca Cola understands the importance of maintaining regular contact with the consumers because it is what helps to build and sustain consumer customer relations (Ryan & Jones, 2009). This has steered the company to apply digital marketing which is an efficient strategy that links the customers to the consumers and the company. Interactivity in the digital media offers a better method for consumers to understand a business much better. This is also a good plat form for the consumers to make any form of enquiries to the company which will equally help the business to understand their consumer needs and work towards meeting these needs. The use of digital promotion approach is constructed on the foundation that modern advertising is shifting the exchange of goods and services to service eminence, collaboration, customer associations and augmenting connectivity. Coca Cola has about 90 million supporters on its social media channels which give it a wide platform of interaction with the consumers.

Most of the posts that they make on their social media is effectively designed to help them connect with their consumers and this basically helps to show that they care for them and they do all they can to meet their needs (Taylor, 2015). Coca Cola has been able to use the power of social sharing by allowing the consumers a chance to send links of coke campaigns to their friends anywhere and this gives them a chance to make their orders of the soft drinks in any cinema location, a platform that is currently operational within the US (Szabist, 2016). Coca Cola has established its knowledge on the fact that a good digital marketing strategy normally begin with some simple elements like knowing the audience. When a business has understood who its target consumers are, it becomes easy to target them directly and hence address their specific needs. Coca Cola has always targeted a wide range of population with its varied products meeting the needs of the different types of consumers.

 In its latest successful digital campaign, its target consumers were the young people ‘millennial’ and this was conducted through the use of customized packaging on the soft drinks (Taylor, 2015). In this case, the company instead of using the usual ‘coke’ branding on the bottles, used the most popular names in every culture which greatly impressed the target groups and spiked the sales (Coca Cola, 2018). In this case, Coca Cola understood the needs of their target consumers the millennial who are always impressed by content that they can share on their social media and also their interest in experiences and products that they can co-create. The ‘Share a Coke’ campaign was perfect for this campaign and customers could not wait to find bottles with their names or their friends names on after which their shared photos on their social pages once they found them (Taylor, 2015). This sharing motivated more and more customers to purchase the products and hence the increased sales. It is estimated that over 500,000 photos were posted in various social sites with the hashtag #shareacoke which greatly increased its popularity in the digital world (Coca Cola, 2018).

Even with this presence on the social media, there are some weaknesses that have been noticed. One of the weaknesses with Coca Cola online presence is the fact that it is not consistent in its interactions with the clients. It takes so long for them to make a post in their social media pages or even to respond to queries that are made by the consumers about their products (Coca Cola, 2018). The social network teams of the company rarely make straight forward marketing messages which become a bit hard for the consumers to understand.  This affects the relationship between the company and the consumers because they do not have the trust on the company meeting their needs and they easily opt to follow other brands.

Coca Cola has a website which defines the company’s mission and overall objective; it also showcases some of the company’s products and gives frequent updates on the any products that the company is launching. Though the website is detailed and beneficial for the consumers in helping them understand the company much better, it is still inadequate because it does not always rank in the first page in a search engine result which basically means that most people are not able to see it easily.

Digital marketing strategy that could be incorporated by Coca Cola

The idea

The fact that Coca Cola is widely established throughout the world gives it a chance to come up with a single strategy that will work on people of all age groups and cultures. A good digital campaign strategy that will work is ‘spread the love’ which will be established by personalizing coke bottles with different quotes that are themed on encouragement, love, kindness and hard work to replace their Coca Cola brand name. Some examples of the quotes are I love you, congratulations dear, get well soon; you are beautiful among many others. These quotes will be used in the different packaging of the coke bottles in every country. The quotes will be customized depending on the culture of that society and also the language which will be easy given that the bottling partners are diverse and they each country has its own bottling company.

The Logic

The ‘spread the love’ campaign will be interesting for people of all age groups as they come across familiar quotes from their cultures and this will excite them to share this with their family and friends. This is something new that has never been used by any other company in the soft drinks industry and it will hence bring along a lot of excitement for the consumers. The excitement will lead them to take photos and videos which they will share on their social media and hence increased engagement, brand appeals and sales. This strategy will be effective in that it will unite people from all over the world through Coca Cola as they share their different quotes through social media explaining what their quotes mean to the rest of the world.

This level of personalization will serve people in various regions in their respective countries whether in the urban centre or in the rural areas. Most often the people in the rural areas do not get the privilege of sharing the trends that are happening with their favourite brands in the urban areas because these trends are not given a platform to reach the consumers in the rural areas. This ‘spread the love’ campaign strategy will be affected in such a manner that the newly quoted bottles of coke will be distributed all over the country without any form of bias. The social media management of the brand will request people to share their quotes in Coca Cola social media pages which will help the company to know the areas that have not yet been reached by this new packaging.

This ‘spread the love’ campaign strategy just like the ‘share a coke’ campaign will encourage the consumers to buy the company’s products which will increase the sales and its online presence. This strategy is however much better because it will not only target the young people like the other campaigns. The quotes that will be used in the packaging will be all inclusive and they can be used by any individual in any social class and age group. The encouragement quotes can be used by a parent to their child, child to a parent, friends, lovers, or from a colleague to another, this basically showing the diversity of this quotes. This will be a fun activity that will help people in different age groups and diversity to pass on a message of love and encouragement in a fun and exciting manner.

How to effect the strategy

For this campaign to work, the first thing will be to rebrand the company’s website. To help keep the people interested and engaged on Coca Cola’s site, a custom design that reflects the brand and makes it easy for people to find information that they need is required. The website should be more advanced such that it is mobile responsive which allows consumers to access the website easily at any place using their mobile phones (Ryan & Jones, 2009). Human beings are visual oriented beings and they are thus influenced by images and videos as opposed to posts or articles (Choueke, 2009). Coca Cola’s website hence needs to be re-launched and modified through the incorporation of high visuals.

The content of the website should be themed around pop culture, social media, marketing campaigns, career advice and brand history. This will help to give the website and the brand at large a human impression which will make it distinct from the traditional corporate website. Also to help change Coca Cola’s image online, a search engine optimization needs to be considered and the first thing will be to create some quality content that are able to answer the questions of the searchers. Doing this will allow the searchers to view the coca cola page among the first pages and it will prompt them to visit its sites and learn more about its products which could steer them to prospect consumers. The other strategy will be to clean up the codes of the site and increase the speed of the pages, this will help prospect consumers to be able to view content more easily and faster hence motivating their interest in the company’s products. By doing all this, the company will increase the chances of the consumers having easy access to the company’s information and hence increased motivation for purchase of the brands’ products. Though search engine optimization is a long term process, ensuring frequent maintenance helps to ensure top rankings which are an overall good investment for the business (Choueke, 2009).

The site will be redesigned in such a way that it creates a platform for the consumers to take part in this new quotes campaign by giving some of the quotes that they would love to see in their respective countries. This will be an exciting concept that will make the consumers feel like they are part of the campaign, which is what many people wish to have as consumers of various products. This will greatly encourage more people to visit the company’s website and check out their new products thus increasing the brand’s sales as well as their presence in the society.

Music is an important element in communication, a commercial anthem produced by renowned international artists will be created to help unite people from all over the world. The anthem will be engaging and interesting to people all over the world because it will incorporate people from different diversities. It will present a series of moments that are linked by Coca Cola quotes for instance graduations, weddings, baby showers, first job and even sickness moments.

The process that will be followed in effecting the ‘spread the love’ campaign strategy

Figure 1; showing Gantt chart illustrating the process of the digital marketing strategy

Phase 1

The first thing in this ‘spread the love’ campaign strategy will come up with a budget for the campaign taking into considerations, the adverts that will be used for the campaign, the anthem for the campaign and the overall branding price for the new bottles. The whole budget for the campaign will be $ 4 billion a year which will cover all the adverts, the bottling companies in the various countries will take charge of the packaging which is not expected to be too much given that it is a change of the logo.

Phase 2

The second phase will be to come up with some of the quotes that will be used in the campaign for each of the countries. In this phase, the company’s website will be rebranded to make it easy for consumers to take part in this exercise by providing the quotes they most prefer. The quotes will have to be things that are common to people in that community, a quote that is easy to understand and one that captures the attention of the consumer. This will require intensive research to understand the quotes that people understand and also relate to in different situations.

Phase 3

The third phase will be to come up with the best commercial advert that will be effective for this campaign. The advert must be diverse in nature thus ensuring that it incorporates different cultures and also people from different racial backgrounds without creating any form of biasness. The advert will show people engaging in different activities common to people from all cultures as they share a coke with their favourite theme quotes to match the occasion.

Phase 4

The fourth phase will be to come up with the right anthem for the campaign. This will require a concrete selection of the best artists from different cultures to act as brand ambassadors of this campaign. The anthem that the artist will create should be interesting and at the same time themed on the element of unity, peace and love which is something that people in all cultures identify with.

Phase 5

The last phase will be the launching where, the advert will be official aired in different platforms and the new personalized coke bottles will be official introduced in the market. A link will be created in the company’s website and all other social media channels will allow the consumers to share their ideas as well as experiences in regard to this new ‘spread the love’ campaign.

References

Egol, M., Peterson, M., & Stroh, S. (2014). How to choose the right digital marketing model.

            Four clear paths for winning

Hitesh Bhasin. (2018). The marketing strategy of Coca-Cola. Retrieved from Marketing91:,

            https://www. Marketing91. com/marketing-strategy-of-coca-cola/

Coca Cola (2018). Marketing Analysis Project Report. Retrieved from Boha Ala: https://

bohatala.com/coca-cola-marketing-analysis-project-report/

Szabist, S. Z. (2016, April). Strategic Marketing Plan for Coca-Cola - 2016. Retrieved

            from Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309126383_S

trategic_Marketing_Plan_for_Coca-Cola_-_2016

Choueke, M. (2009) ‘Coca-Cola to focus efforts on digital marketing’, Marketing Week,

32(39), p. 5. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=44812284&site=ehost-live (Accessed: 22 May 2019).

Taylor, D. (2015). Focus on happiness: An insider’s view of Coke’s brand in a digital world.

Central Penn Business Journal, 31(7), 11. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=103152929&site=ehost-live

Ryan, D. and Jones, C. (2009) Understanding Digital Marketing : Marketing Strategies for

Engaging the Digital Generation. London: Kogan Page. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=280320&site=ehost-live (Accessed: 22 May 2019)

                                                             Introduction

            From this perspective, it should be realized that cause marketing is one of the factors that are used for the purpose of establishing corporate social responsibility in which the organization’s promotional campaign us perceived to have the ability of bettering the community while increasing profitability. This also has to take into account the separation of cause marketing which ultimately entails the usage of some of the corporate means that increases the economies of scale of the business (Ballings 238). This is to imply that high profile form regarding the cause-associated marketing mainly evolves at checkpoints whenever clients are required to come up with some charitable donation means. With respect to that, the latter is perceived to take into consideration certain donations that are tax deductable. This is one of the factors that end up making cause marketing not to be regarded as being one of the effective promotional campaigns (Andrews 127).

            Nonetheless, taking into consideration the above perspective, the truth is that cause marketing is one of the parameters that have been used as one of the collaborative system that has that the ability of improving the performance as well as the achievement of the goals of the firm. This will have to take into consideration situ networking systems, collaborative inventory observations, as well as other governmental individual scientists that aid the effective utilization the existing resource (Sunitha & Manoj 41).

            “When we seek to understand the process of behavior change in people, we must first understand change in the context of needs and motivation which drive an individual to some action (Bebko 20). Some of the components that are currently used need to take into consideration some of the assessment criteria that can be used for the purpose of enhancing the general observations of the deployed team and the tasks they are required to accomplish. The reason for that is because it has been realized that cause marketing is one of the economic programs that mainly depends on the success that mainly emanates or depends on the governmental success that originates from the coordinated contributions of the management authority and the organization as a whole (Bebko 23).

                                                            Discussion

            This is to imply that, the governance of the cause marketing methodology is ultimately divided into three parts. The first one will entail the need of utilizing multinational steering stakeholder that can aid in the provision of economic insight.  The second one is the general utilization of the scientific expert panels that is anticipated to have the ability of assisting in guiding the acquisition of some the resources that improves the functionality of the whole system (Guld 4). The last one is the need of taking into consideration the need of utilizing some of the observation coordination groups that is project to have the potential of facilitating diversified collaboration between the existing governmental bodies (Gourville eta al 43).

            On the other hand, the reason as to why cause marketing is perceived to be goos to the community is just as a result of the continued desire of the majority of global nations to collect adequate information concerning the same.  Such information is projected to take into consideration some of the factors such as profit forecasting, the continued management of business resources, the means of countering the effects of existing managerial issues, as well as the utilization and achievement of the goals of the firm (Kuntz et al 61).  The implies that some of the sampling requirements of the majority of the cause marketing applications is something that have been considered to be ultimately driven by some of the societal needs that were established in the late 1990s. Some of these requirements of course take into consideration satellite and situ observing platforms.  The reason for that is because cause marketing is something that have been perceived to be more effective when it comes to the need of moderating the cash discounts that client is to receive at the end of the day (Sunitha & Manoj 47).

            Regardless of the above considerations, the truth is that, despite the essence of interlinking product purchases with some charity donations, some of the field evidence concerning the effectiveness of cause marketing have been lacking. “What we know from the existing research is that linking a focal brand to a cause can generate greater awareness for a new brand and escalate the offering into a buyer’s consideration set” (Ballings 234). The reason for that is because it has been perceived to be one of the areas of concern that has been impacting the reasoning of managers when it comes to the need of understanding how lab experiments end up extending actual consumer purchase (Bebko 30). Therefore, what this implies is the fact that the large scale randomization of the collected research is the one that can aid in documenting the fact that cause marketing ultimately has the potential of increasing consumer purchases.

            In addition to that, taking into consideration the impacts of CM, it is important for the management authority to understand the fact that price discounts also have the ability of impacting the cause marketing as much as sale are concerned. The reason for that is because sales purchasing have been realized to have the ability of following an inverted U-shaped relationship. “To understand the knowledge structure (or scheme) that consumer’s posess anout a brand, we turn to the associative network memory model, or ANMM” (Billing 237). Ideally, with cause marketing, it is evident that piece discounts is something that have been perceived to be moderated. It is these finding that have been realized to have the ability of providing novel insights concerning the mechanisms an organization can use in order to improve the impacts of cause marketing (Kuntz et al 63).  

            As one of the marketing company, it is important for the management authority to ensure that they have championed the importance of cause marketing. The reason for that is because it is this strategy that have been perceived to have the ability of enabling the company to establish purpose-driven and long-term programs that will enable its brands to do well in the existing market or markets (Gourville eta al 48). From the economic perspective, it has been realized that clients, especially, millennials, are seeking better established business enterprises as a means creating a positive social impact. At the end of the day, whenever brands end up engaging in social issues, they believe that they have the potential of earning their loyalty and trust.  Regardless of that, it should be understood from the economic perspective that such a shift in recognition and perception of what the company’s brands plays is something that is quite extraordinary in the modern market (Andrews 130).

            Conversely, according to the modern research, cause marketing is something that has been perceived to be the common norm for the majority of the customers who desires to understand what the business has. In the process of trying to make the modern world a better place to thrive in, it is important for the management authority to ensure that they have come up with the strategies that they can use to support business cause marketing “Among these alliances, cause marketing has gained considerable attention. In its most-familiar form, cause marketing involves the ‘cause-linked’ promotion of a commercial product, with some part of that product’s revenues being contributed to the cause” (Gourville et al 38).

            The reason that makes this strategy to be important is the fact that, in case the enterprise will not have the ability of standing for the cause, it is possible for the potential consumers to opt seeking for the company’s potential consumers. According to research, the management authority should understand the fact that cause marketing is one of the marketing strategies that the company can utilize for the purpose of increasing profits. Other than enabling the company to enjoy the economies of scale, it is possible for the company to support other societal causes (Ballings 243).

                                                            Conclusion

            With regard to the above consideration, the importance of the cause campaign that will have to be take into consideration by the management authority will enable them achieve the goals of its establishment. Regardless of the goal to be achieved at the first instance, the importance of using cause marketing is that it has the ability of enabling the management authority to incorporate other measurement system.  The reason for that is because it becomes possible foe such an organization to understand whether the cause marketing campaign used was effective or not. Ideally, some of the cause marketing campaigns the management authority will have to be compelled to engage in include creating brand awareness, product promotion, consumer participation, social media marketing conversations, sales generation, and so on.

            Last, but not least, the effectiveness of cause marketing will ultimately take into account the importance of motivating the audience the community to take an action for instance, donations as well as engaging in certain event or events. Moreover, in the process utilizing projected cause marketing campaign, it is evident that the organization the organization will have the potential of reaching as well as persuading the targeted groups. It is this groups that will enable the organization to make the community to understand the manner in which some its goals are aimed at improving their social responsibility.

                                                            Work cited           

Andrews, Michelle, et al. “Cause Marketing Effectiveness and the Moderating Role of Price Discounts.” Journal of Marketing, vol. 78, no. 6, Nov. 2014, pp. 120–142. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1509/jm.14.0003.

Ballings, Michel, et al. “Cause Marketing and Customer Profitability.” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 46, no. 2, Mar. 2018, pp. 234–251. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s11747-017-0571-4

Bebko, Charlene Pleger. “Implications of the Unique Characteristics of Social Causes.” Journal of Business & Behavioral Sciences, vol. 29, no. 1, Spring 2017, pp. 18–33. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=122993869&site=eds-live.

Gourville, John T., and V.Kasturi Rangan. “Valuing the Cause Marketing Relationship.” California Management Review, vol. 47, no. 1, Fall 2004, pp. 38–57. EBSCOhost, doi:10.2307/41166286.

Guld, Michael. “The Triple Win of Cause Marketing.” American Salesman, vol. 63, no. 8, Aug. 2018, pp. 3–7. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=130930778&site=eds-live.

Kuntz, Taryn L., and Rodney B. Dieser. “Building Better Cause-Marketing Relationships.” Parks & Recreation, vol. 52, no. 5, May 2017, pp. 60–63. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hjh&AN=122852031&site=eds-live.

Sunitha, T. R., and Manoj Edward. “Cause Marketing - The Corporate, Consumer and Cause Partnership for Mutual Benefit: An India Perspective.” IUP Journal of Marketing Management, vol. 14, no. 1, Feb. 2015, pp. 39–50. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=101857932&site=eds-live.

Cold supply chain challenges in the food industry

 Introduction

            The food industry is large and diversified, and has various segments one of those segments is the fresh food industry which just like all the other segments needs different supply chain strategies. Following the rise in demand for fresh food worldwide all year round many challenges facing cold chain supply have emerged. These challenges include; accommodation of strict regulations as suppliers try to deal with the high demand, obstacles as supplier choose containers to use in transporting their goods, responding to the expectations of consumers, delivering goods safety and fresh. Chilled goods offer the biggest challenge when it comes to transportation since they require special temperature conditions. How to record and save data happens to be another critical challenge in the cold chain supply food industry.  Technology has been of great help in solving these challenges.  The demand of fresh products is rising every day, therefore challenges that affect the cold chain supply should be identified and dealt with. 

 Managing and storing data is another problem in the cold chain supply since data is very essential in any food supply chain. 75% of food wastage happens between the process of production and distribution. This loss in food is a sign that their failure of communication between those who are involved in handling these foods from production to distribution. FDA are now demanding data records (Oceasoft, 2018). Agencies in charge are also urging suppliers to take initiative and inspect where their goods are coming from. They should patrol the warehouses in order to ensure that the necessary information for the cold chain supply is being recorded for further references (Oceasoft, 2018). While doing so they should inspect the sanitation, operating standards, pest control and the temperatures being used (Oceasoft, 2018).

How to monitor Products in the food chain is another challenge that has plagued the food industry over the years as a result of lack of technology in the previous years. It was very costly to monitor or follow a shipment on its journey, the downside of not being able to do so was not knowing when the goods get spoilt. However, technology has turned things around. The food industry is now able to track where and when their goods get spoiled. Companies are now able to track the shipments as they are being made. Technology has entered the cold food supply and helped in building more advanced warehouses that cater for the needs of these goods (Oceasoft, 2018). Meeting the regulations that are in place has presented another challenge for the food chain industry, policies are being implemented every now and them, domestically and internationally and business in the cold chain supply are struggling to meet these regulations (Oceasoft, 2018).

How these foods are delivered is a challenge in the food industry. The entry of Amazon into the food industry can be taken as a signal how consumers receive their goods has changed. Different consumers have different preferences and business are preparing to overcome the challenge presented by the different needs of consumers, some consumers prefer to have their good through home delivery while others want to pick their goods from retail shelves. It is proving to be a challenge to expand the industry in order to meet these preferences. Ensuring that consumers receive their goods within an appropriate window while the goods are still fresh is also a challenging factor. (Oceasoft, 2018).

Food spoilage in the cold supply chain has presented another obstacle. The aim of regulating climatic conditions such as temperatures and humidity is to maintain they life cycle of the good and has proved to be a challenging task at hand. Different products in the cold chain suppy require different conditions in order for them to continue with their life cycle. The traditional methods of storing these foods has for a long time depended on the experience of the operators who have to be in the storage rooms to regulate and monitor the conditions. Cold storage facilities are now dealing with this problem by making their storage facilities multi-commodity storage facilities, example is storing together goods that requires same conditions. With Multi-commodity storage businesses are now able to use one storage unit for various goods, while the temperature and humidity of each chamber is different and according to the product being stored in it (AB&R, n.d). The cold chain supply can now be elevated from the traditional way of monitoring goods.

Due to the increase demand and consumption of temperature sensitive products a supply management has been innovated and put in place. Controlling temperatures and humidity are important for this new innovation to be fully effective since these two are needed in ensuring the safety of foods. The cold food supply chain is growing due to many advances that have taken place in the food industry and the increased demand that is all year round.  Demands of consumers are always changing and with time, therefore, the food supply chain should be able to prevent loss at any cost at the production level and ensure an efficiency in sales.  Apart from delivering food safely and fresh an effective system should ensure that they deliver their products on time (Kuo and Chen, 2010).

As the demand for refrigerated food continues to hick, the more the need to have transport with carriers that are temperature-controlled increases (Bogataj, Bogotaj andVidopivec,2004). Transportation of fresh goods is very costly since the temperature of these goods has to be controlled during transportation and storage. At the stage of transportation perishable foods are more perishable, they require certain climatic conditions in order for them to be moved around, Controlling and monitoring the temperature is the key to keeping these foods fresh and maintaining their quality which at many times has been ruined during transportation (Aung and Chang, 2013).

 Responding to the expectations of customers consuming these goods is a challenge. It requires a proper CCM (Kuo and Chen, 2010). Most people are known to consume chilled and frozen foods that can still be taken without heating.  Transporting perishable goods under certain temperatures brings about new challenges to be addressed and managed (Bowman, Harrison and llilic, 2009).  

Chilled goods remain the very difficult to transport since they require temperatures that are well controlled the temperature should not be too low to freeze the food nor too high to make them decay. These foods cannot be stopped from naturally decaying but the presence of high temperatures accelerates their rate of decay. Extra costs are incurred in the process shipping these goods to other destinations, cost such as certification cost are incurred while maintaining the temperature of these goods and also the cost of wireless technology that monitors the goods as they are being shipped (Rawat, 2015).

The increasing environmental impact on the cold raises a need for concern. Mother nature can be kind and hostile, it has provided hostile working environment for cold chain logistics, macroeconomic factors and fluctuations whether international or locally they can cause even bigger problems on the operating environment of the business (Sainathan, 2018). Weak links can be noted in the cold supply chain, moving these goods from storage to the carriers tends to present another challenge, they are exposed to different temperature conditions and even the slightest changes in temperature could damage the goods (Sainathan, 2018).

The demand for perishable foods has become a challenge to shippers as they try to find suitable transport and storage for these goods that demand a lot of attention during their transportation.  Businesses are busying themselves with activities of building temperature and humidity-controlled warehouses and modifying their carriage units to fit the needs of these goods that are refrigerated in order to meet this growing demand and the safe time ensure the quality and safety of the goods is not at stake (Romeo, 2018). According to research conducted in China it was noted that the cold supply of the country was growing at a phenomenal rate and is placing an increasingly pressure on temperature-controlled supply pipeline that will require standards that will be enforced industrywide, better training to approach if it is to cope (Knowler, 2017).

In order for companies to cope with the challenges that arise in the cold chain supply measure will have to be taken. These measures include; the cold chain logistic will be forced to better their infrastructure by using more improved technology that would be following strict regulations, the supervision of the cold chain industry need to be stepped up and standards have to be met by encouraging forms to innovate and use technology to develop temperature monitoring systems. The companies in the cold chain should pay more attention to the expiry date. The government should also optimize customs clearance giving fast pass to vehicles transporting cold chain foods (Knowler, 2017).

Conclusion

The cold chain supply is being faced by a lot of problems such as adherence to strict regulation as companies try to cope with strict regulations, the obstacles of finding a suitable carrier, how to monitor how perishable goods are being transported and microbial growth. Data is another part of cold chain management, food loss between production and distribution shows that there is a gap in communication and FDA is demanding substantial data collection on electronic records. Moving these goods from their units of storage to vehicles present another challenge since the slightest change in temperature can lead to spoilage of the goods. The impacts of the environment of this food chain is another factor that raises concern. How to meet cold chain regulations continues to be a challenge. Managing to deliver these foods on time while they are still fresh pose another challenge. The increase in demand of temperature sensitive goods has led to the establishment of a management that will deal with the perishable goods. Chilled good remain the most type of goods to be transported.  Some of the ways to solve these challenges are; the government to streamline its process and give passes to vehicles that are transporting fresh or highly perishable goods. The cold chain logistic will be forced innovate high technology that will help in monitoring the climatic conditions and adjust them to the preferences of the goods. In order to meet the demand for fresh and perishable goods the challenge facing cold chain supply have to be solved.

References list

AB&R, n.d, Most Common Challenges for cold storage. Retrieved from; https://www.abr.com/most-common-challenges-for-cold-storage/

Aung M and Chang Y 2013. Temperature management for the quality assurance of a perishable food supply chain. [online] Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956713513005902 [Accessed 18 Mar. 2019].

Bogataj M, Bogotaj L and Vodopivec R 2004, Stability of perishable goods in cold logistics chains. [online] Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925527304002543 [Accessed 18 Mar. 2019]. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/4729623

Bowman P, Harrison M and llilic A 2009, Sensor based condition monitoring. [online] Bridge-project.eu. Available at: http://www.bridge-project.eu/data/File/BRIDGE_WP03_sensor_based_condition_monitoring.pdf [Accessed 18 Mar. 2019].

Knowler G, 2017 China’s growing cold chain needs better industry standards. Retrieved from; https://www.joc.com/international-logistics/logistics-providers/china’s-growing-cold-chain-needs-better-industry-standards_20170713.html

Kuo J and Chen M 2010, Developing an advanced Multi-Temperature Joint Distribution System for the food cold chain. Food Control, 21(4), pp.559-566.

Oceasoft, 2018, The five biggest challenges of food cold chain management. Retrieved from: https://www.oceasoft.com/blog/5-biggest-challenges-of-food-cold-chain-management

Rawat, S., 2015. Food Spoilage: Microorganisms and their prevention. Asian Journal of Plant Science and Research, 5(4), pp.47-56.

Romeo J, 2018, Cold Chain Challenge: Meeting Increased Demand for Fresh and Frozen Food. Retrieved from; https://www.foodqualityandsafety.com/article/cold-chain-challenge-demand-fresh-frozen-food/

Samainathan P,(2018). 10 Potential Risk in Cold Chain Management. Retrieved from; https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2879871/Blog%20PDFs/10-Potential-Risks-in-Cold-Chain-Management.pdf

Target market for the burger cart business

Burgers are food items that are loved by most people, most specifically the young people that enjoy having fast foods. Burgers for the young people are also considered as a full meal, especially by those that are in campus because they do not have time to cook and they also do not have enough money to go to a nice hotel and have a full course meal.

Primary target

The primary target for this burger cart business will be campus students. The business will be located just opposite one of the main campuses because of the large flow of students; the location will make it easy for the students to get purchase the burgers as they are going to their classes or as they are leaving the campus. The burgers will be seasoned using different flavours that the young people enjoy and the prices will also be facilitated to meet the budgets of these young people.

Secondary target

The secondary target will be people working in the offices within the campus and also in the offices near the campus. Most of the people working in the office especially those between 24 to 34 years, still prefer to have snacks as opposed to a full course meals during the day, not to mention that they have very limited time go get a meal. They therefore prefer to have some snacks to help the get through the day. The burgers will serve this need for snacks for these people given that it is located near their working area thus saving them time and the fact that it is much more affordable also helping them reduce the extra lunch costs.

 Customer Services

Introduction

            Customer service refers to the services offered to the customers before, during and after making the purchase. It does not only involve goods but also the services provided. Good services to the customers provide a nice experience that enables the customers to meet their expectations. It provides satisfaction to the customers through ways like good communication and transport services. In cases where the customer service is poor, many complaints from the customers are usually raised.

Thesis: Good customer services improve the performance of the business as well as attracting and retaining customers.

Customer Satisfaction

            This is a strategy that plays an important role in improving the services offered by the company. The satisfaction of the customers enables to replace the negativity of the company that might have occurred (Biggs, D. C., National Research Council (U.S.), Airport Cooperative Research Program & United States, 2010). It implies that the strategic measures instilled by entrepreneurs in order to meet the needs of the customers are very crucial. The main reason for satisfaction of the customers is that it is a great determinant of the productivity of the organization.

Provision of Quality Services

            This shows that quality services facilitate satisfaction of the customers. It is usually very important for the organization to maintain the customers; however, it should focus on the main objectives of the establishment. Quality services are usually achieved through provision of good activities to the customers (Coyle, 2011).When quality services are offered to the customers, satisfaction is achieved as maintenance of the loyal clients.  This is usually important as it helps to attract as well maintain the customers.

Customer Service Training

            This is where everyone who has the ability to improve one-on one contact with the customers. This is because there is the need of bringing out emphasis on the significance of the organizations in response to the services offered. It facilitates the satisfaction of the customers as the organization is usually at a position of meeting their needs. The training is usually essential in enabling recognition of the priority needs of the customers (Warkentin & Decision Science Institute, 2015). It is through the training that the customers’ requirement would be met hence it is very important.

                                                         Business Transportation     

            The services provided to the customers usually determine the satisfaction or disappointment of customers. Transportation services is a factors that impacts to high levels of satisfaction among the customers. Satisfaction is greatly determined by the services the customers are likely to receive from the organization (Evans & Lindsay, 2017).

 Transportation is one of the factors that facilitate good service providence by the company. It mainly facilitates satisfaction of the customers in both private and public sectors improvement of transportation means is important as it is a way of enhancing the services provided.

Transportation Creates Close Contact of Business and Customers

            The company that mostly is in the bracket of transportation industry has the ability to expose to the public concerning their services. This is because the companies that offer transport services are usually in close contact with their customers (Turnbul, et al. 2008). Improvement of transportation services is therefore key factor in extending the services. This is a supporting evidence for importance of transportation. It is usually n important aspect in improving the services offered to the customers. Business transportation therefore is very important as it improves satisfaction of the customers in the services being provided by the company.

Communication of Customer Expectations

            It is important for communication between the business and its stakeholders as it helps to know the customers’ expectations. This can be done through meetings that enhance the organization to meet the goals of its establishment. There is also implementation of several competitions which would generate suggestions of the companies’ ability to satisfy the customer needs (Mentzer, 2004). This facilitates improvement of the services that the company offers to the customers. It is also important as it enhances improvement of transportation services through continuity of improving the services offered to the customers.

Poor Satisfaction of Customers Due to Insufficiency of Business Responses to Complaints

            Poor response of the business has been one of the leading factors for lack of sufficient customer satisfaction is an evidence effect of communication. Proper response to the needs of the clients enables the company to fit well in the environment of competition. The changes that have been happening increases the importance of services offered to the customers and their demand for the services (Pride & Ferrell, 2008). Positive notable response to the complaints of the customers is important as it improves the economy of the organization regardless of the level of competition.

Transportation Facilitates Ability of the Business to Response to Customers’ Complaints

            Provision of good customer services in transportation industry has the ability to enable the business to respond to complaints that might be raised by the customers. This is a supporting evidence of importance of communication. This would satisfy the needs of the customers (Transit Cooperative Research Program & National Research Council (U.S.), 1999).This would facilitate the expansion of the business as customers are main factor for it.  This makes it an important strategy that would facilitate high profits in the company.

Conclusion

            The demand of the customers is usually determined by the type of services being offered by the organization. Services like business transportation and good effective communication are some of the services that enable to attract and maintain customers as seen in the discussion above. Training of the business stakeholders is yet another strategy that facilitates satisfaction of the needs of the customers. Good customer services improve the performance of the business as well as attracting and retaining customers. It is therefore necessary for the organization to practice quality service provision so as to improve the productivity of the same.

Reference

Biggs, D. C., National Research Council (U.S.)., Airport Cooperative Research Program.,            & United States. (2010). Guidebook for conducting airport user surveys.        Washington, D.C.: Transportation Research Board of the National Academies.

Coyle, J. J. (2011). Transportation: A supply chain perspective. Australia: South-Western             Cengage Learning

Evans, J. R., & Lindsay, W. M. (2017). Managing for quality and performance.                 Boston, MA : Cengage Learning

Faed, A. (2013). An Intelligent Customer Complaint Management System with Application         to the Transport and Logistics Industry. Heidelberg: Springer.

Turnbull, K. F., National Research Council (U.S.)., United States., & United States. (2008).         U.S. and international approaches to performance measurement for transportation    systems: Summary of a conference [held] September 9-12, 2007, Beckman         Conference Center, Irvine, California.

 Warkentin, M., & Decision Science Institute,. (2015). Trends and research in the decision           sciences: Best papers from the 2014 annual conference. Upper Saddle River, NJ:      Decision Sciences Institute.

Mentzer, J. T. (2004). Fundamentals of supply chain management: Twelve drivers of        competitive advantage. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications.

Pride, W. M., & Ferrell, O. C. (2008). Foundations of marketing. Boston, Mass: Houghton           Mifflin.

Transit Cooperative Research Program., & National Research Council (U.S.). (1999). A   handbook for measuring customer satisfaction and service quality. Washington,   D.C: National Academy Press.