Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

Management Summary

Furniture business has been identified as one of the booming industries now a day as both the growth and expansion rate of companies operating in this very industry is increasing at a fast rate. In this circumstance, we have decided to make an entry in this industry with unique and eyecatching water hyacinth furniture that are economically viable, environment friendly, financially low risky. As cheap labors and the raw materials which we will be using in the production line are available in Bangladesh, we believe there is a strong chance of our success. We have targeted both household and business organizations as our customer. Though the product line would be same for both the target segments the way of approaching would be different. Unlike traditional distribution channel, we would be following a direct channel to customers. It means we will be collecting our raw materials, building furniture in own factory, selling the furniture directly to the customers from our own showrooms. But for the business organizations we will be employing third party marketers. Their main work would be to induce the organizations to buy our products, they might send them e-mails, go physically to their office to let them know our products attribute and special promotional offers. We believe that by targeting the medium and high-end market, we can successfully occupy a promising niche. Our analysis has proven the growing sales and profit of our business throughout this plan. Build to serve, Serves long is our vision and we strongly believe that Customers are the king of our business. However, besides distribution we would also be also undertaking some promotional activities seriously for example, putting billboard ads, giving away leaflets, brochures, putting ads on newspapers, ads on radio channels and to some extent to television. With the implementation of the new marketing distribution policy and promotional activities outlined in this project, we will try our best to position our product as the high-quality, endurable, elegant; alternative to conventional furniture found in other places. We believe, our ability to integrate emerging technologies in our own design will certainly help us to establish our brand as a very strong, reputed and preferred by the all potential customers.

Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

Economic Outlook

Country Forecast Overview (3 Year)

Key Indicators Real GDP Growth (%) Consumer Price Inflation (av;%) Budget Balance (% of GDP) Current-Account Balance (% of GDP) Exchange Rate US$: Euro (av) Exchange Rate US$: Euro (year-end)

2007 4.60 9.12

2008 3.70 8.90

2009 4.30 5.10

-4.40 -5.00 -4.30 1.10 .20 .20

68.87 68.79 69.73 68.58 68.90 70.50

The political environment can affect the economy badly in this year. The political scene will remain unsettled during the early part. The biggest risk to political stability centers on the timing of the next general election. Given the huge task of compiling a voter list, which will include taking photographs of some 80m people, there are concerns that this part of the preparations may not be completed in time for a general election to be held in late 2008. A sustained campaign of violence by any of the numerous militant groups in Bangladesh would constitute another threat to political stability. Although the leading figures in two of the country's four main banned militant groups have been executed, huge networks of full- and part-time activists

Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

remain intact. In recent years number of FDI in Bangladesh is increasing, the rate of literacy in increasing, the branch of MNCs in Dhaka city is also increasing, which means the number of employment opportunity is also increasing. So there is a possibility that the personal income of our potential clients in the high status areas like Gulshan, Banani, and Dhanmondi will also increase. So we are expecting that the factors discussed above might affect the business of Artistic Furniture.

In last 3 years we have spent 1850000.00 taka for promotional purpose. We are hoping that in this year we will spend the highest amount of money for promotional purpose.

London-based Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has revised down its forecast on Bangladesh's economic growth to 5.7 per cent in 2007-08 in their latest revision of country report on Bangladesh. It fears inflation in the country to entrench further.

The above figure shows the continuous economic growth of Bangladesh. But there is a threat of inflation in this year, which can affect the business negatively. The EIU report said the upward price pressures - particularly those resulting from rising food costs - are expected to persist throughout the forecast period.

Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

The Market - Qualitative

The customer or end user Our target market is a person who wants to have very fine furniture with the latest in technology, different design and efficient: This person can be a home user, small business or big hotel. The common bond is the appreciation of quality, and the lack of price restrictions. The key 4 furniture huddles of Dhaka are our potential target markets: located at Mirpur, Gulshan, Panthapath, and Elephant Road . Demographic: Income range will be our main factor while we are targeting our customers based on demographic characteristics. Our basic target customers are those who earn monthly BDT 20000 or above. Geographic: Our target market consists of whole Bangladesh. However, we may extend our business to foreign countries based on the performance of the business in future. Psychographic: Social class is our main determinant for psychographic segmentation which includes people from upper class or middles class. On the basis of value, we also have defined our customers, that is, people who are very concerned about environment, we will target them. We will let them know that we make our furniture using such ingredients which are environmental friendly.

Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

Developing a marketing plan with 4P's

4P (Product,Price,Place & Promotion): We will try to position our brand Artistic Furniture in the customers minds as a brand that which has a pay off line , Build to serve, Serves long. Our identity and promotional activity both will be helping us to ensure long term growth in both their market share and profits. In order to achieve maximum positioning we will be dividing our target customer segments into

two divisions: Household (where we need to implement B2C strategy) and Business Organizations (where we need to implement B2B strategy). The offers or promotional activities will also be different as they are two completely different entities having huge difference in choice or preference. We will be letting the customers know our identity first, then our product ingredients and styles. Getting the most stylish environmentally friendly furniture in a very economical rate is everyones desire and hence we will be concentrating all our efforts to set this statement in our audiences mind.

However, we have chosen umbrella strategy as the means of positioning our products. We will be formulating and implementing the following strategies in positioning our furniture:

As we are totally new in this industry the first thing we need to do is to create awareness. It is require letting the customers know our offered furniture, with what ingredients the furniture is built with, what are the benefits that the customers would if they buy our furniture. The furniture which will be offered will be extensively promoted in order to tell others clearly what these products actually are, how they are better than other brands offered furniture. This will help to attract a large number of interested audiences and create a sales potential environment. 5

Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

A message has to be passed on to the target segments through a variety of methods such as website, print media (professional magazines, newspapers, leaflets, catalogs, etc.), broadcast media such as TV, and other forms of support media (point of purchase displays, billboards, and others). For instance in the point of purchase displays in the retail outlets there will be specific markers on the products which will indicate their features there will be two forms of the same product. One of them will be for the households or Consumer segment (B2C), while the other will be for the Business Organizations (B2B).

We have decided to devote most of the allocated advertising cost to print media. Besides we are also interested in distributing leaflets, putting ads on billboards and newspapers.

However, we have observed that now a day radio advertisements carry huge significance as the radio stations turn out to be very popular. However, for the benefit of the potential customer, all the necessary detailed information and promotional offers regarding our product will be placed in our website.

We prefer point of purchase demonstrations in the showrooms and retail outlets where the sales people will be responsible for educating the customers about the ingredients, benefits, placements regarding various furniture that are offered. We believe all these information will help the customers to buy their desired furniture. Also this will ensure both quality of their purchases and will definitely help largely to increase the reliability of our brand.

Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

Positioning Build to serve, Serves long

Umbrella Strategy (Bringing new and existing buyer and seller)

Product Strategy Tactics required 1. Product bundling 2. Sell individual products separately

Pricing Strategy Tactics can be taken 1. Price will be charged on a per unit retail price basis 2. Discounts will be given on large scale purchases from customers falling under the Tradesmen segment (5% max) 3. Will use pricequality pricing to better capture the attention of the customers

Promotional Strategy Tactics can be taken 1. Will introduce the new products using various media such as print, broadcast, and other support media. 2. Will introduce online ads to attract the web buyers. 3. Will use point of purchase demonstrations to attract and educate more customers about product uses

Placing Strategy Tactics required 1.Salespersons will give point of purchase demonstration s to push sales 2. Will use own retail outlets and others as well.

Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

The Market-Quantitative

Potential market and clients

Recent study of BFIOA (Bangladesh Furniture Industry Owners Association) depicts that the current market size for furniture in Bangladesh is Tk. 4 billion ($5, 714, 28.57 dollar) and it is growing at 15%-20% per year. Among this 27% are contributed by home users, 22% are contributed by small businesses are and 16% by big hotels.

Potentiality to expand beyond local market: As this water hyacinth furniture business is primarily based on labor intensive technology, any country based on labor intensive economy can employ this business. During our plan work weve found that countries like Kenya, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka etc. can easily adopt this business for availability of cheap labor.

Potentiality to export: Bangladesh has earned Tk. 61 million (US$871,430) from export of modern furniture during the first quarter of the financial year of 2003-2004. So, there is obvious potentiality to export our product. Potentiality to produce mass: Our products scalability should be very high in future as our prime raw materials (water hyacinth and bamboo) are readily available in Bangladesh.

Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

At the first three years we want to achieve quite a few things. To achieve those we need to accomplish some purposes. Those will be, Short term purpose of Artistic Furniture will be within the first twelve months of working; we will be attending needs of the clients. We will provide a good service. By this service we will be gaining more clients. Once the business is ready to open, we will want the following to be achieved in the early stages (within 3 yrs)

Establish the Brand Having a stable and strong work force Increase market share Expand the business by opening more branches if there is reasonable demand. Employ more additional staff which will reduce the unemployment rate of our country as well.

Once the business has established its brand, it will mean repeat business form existing clients and the clients introducing friends. Further more a good reputation may also result in number of clients to increase. Having small promotion campaign in local areas will result in raising awareness amongst the public and possibly attract new clients. Furthermore it will help people remember the business for the future, if they ever need to use it.

We have few competitors in our business which are the existing furniture company.So approximately 10% is our market share.

Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

Market Share

Market Share
Artistic Furniture Competitors

10%

90%

Market Research

We have conducted market research among 500 sample of different demography. Based on the research result we have designed our product, setup retail store and setup the price. Sample od the questionnaire is attached at the action plan.

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Trend Analysis

The past of Furniture Business:

Furniture business can not be considered as a new venture as there are plenty of existing competitors such as Otobi, Partex, Navana, Furnitec, Pacific Furniture, Brothers Furniture, Akhter, Hatil complex ltd., Imperial furniture mart, Unique furniture etc. They brought up furniture made up with particle boards, wood, plytex, medium density fiber (MDF) etc. Considering the sight, most of the furniture companies have chosen Mirpur, Panthapath, Gulshan and Banani. Some of oure competitors do import furniture from Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, China etc. Future Outlooks and Trends:

According to BFIOA (Bangladesh Furniture Industry Owners Association), the current market size of furniture in Bangladesh is Tk. 4 billion ($5, 714, 28.57 dollar) and it is growing at 15%20% per year, which is a pretty good rate. Among this 27% are contributed by households, 22% are contributed by businesses (both small and large) and 16% by big hotels. There is huge potentiality to expand beyond local market as this water hyacinth furniture business is primarily based on labor intensive technology, any country based on labor intensive economy can employ this business. During our plan work weve found that countries like Kenya, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka etc. have easily adopt this business due to the availability of labor at cheaper rate. There is also huge potentiality to export as Bangladesh earned Tk. 61 million (US$871,430) from export of modern furniture during the first quarter of the financial year of 2003-2004 which clearly portrays the huge potentiality of the furniture. We can produce at a mass rate as as our prime raw materials (water hyacinth and bamboo) are readily available in Bangladesh.

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Assumptions regarding future conditions:

Level of economic activity:

As we will have employees less than 50 we can say that ours will be a small company. Nevertheless we believe, our business has the potential to grow at a very fast rate after three or four years of operation. However, we have decided to establish two showrooms in Mirpur and Panthapath region as most of our giant competitors are doing business there. We need to show them our prime strength and prove that we have a definite competitive edge over them. Besides in the economic activity certainly the promotional cost gets counted. The promotional cost has a huge significance since it paves us the way towards success. Primarily after establishment of our showrooms we will be basically focusing on the advertising and promotional activity. However, we will be also incurring some cost of training up our employees. This is a type of cost that needs to be incurred just once as all the employees will get a flavor of how our business runs. Changes in customer needs:

Choice and preference are such things which never stay put, they always change. Like that, customers have become very fussy when it comes to buying furniture. Unlike previous where customers always preferred to buy heavy weight wooden furniture, customers now want small and light weight stylish furniture. Not only they are pleased with this characteristic, now a day customers also have become very conscious about pricing, they want environmental friendly furniture at an economical rate. We believe we understand the diversifying choice of all the potential customers and are committed to cope up to their expectation.

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Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

Changes in distribution channel:

Like customers preference, distribution channels also got altered. Distribution of products from the factory to the customer engages transport and storage. Efficient management of the distribution system is essential to preserve the safety and quality of our furniture, to ensure a high level of customer service, and to meet its commitment to environmentally sound business practices and to make the product available every where. Artistic Furniture selects appropriate transportation modes, with particular attention given to optimum unit loads, vehicle capacity utilization, route planning and consolidation with scheduling and fuel conservation. We also identify and implement measures to reduce energy consumption and waste. We encourage distribution service providers to use environmentally sound practices. Changes beyond our control:

Changes beyond our control might happen in the macro environment where we do not have any influence over any factors. The Macro Environment is made of Economic, Technological, Sociocultural, Demographic, Political and Legal, and global forces form the macro economic environment that Artistic Furniture operates in. Economic forces are very important for businesses as it involves producing goods and services that people want and pay for, as because the economy is an Indicator of the general health and well being of a nation. Artistic Furniture

takes into account various economic factors, preferably the rates of inflation, the exchange rate and level of income. The prime reason for such is to have a control over its allocated budget for domestic and imported raw materials. In order to ensure precision in style, design, exposure of the furniture we are coming up this technology in order to satisfy all our probable customers. Also our machineries with which we would be cutting and shaping the furniture are most updated automated equipment. The socio-cultural environment is made of institutions and other forces that affect social values, norms, attitudes, perceptions, preferences and behavior. In the context of a predominantly Green country like Bangladesh, we will be customizing our products 13

Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

and services according to the country's culture. The demographic forces are of interest to marketing managers because it involves people and people make up the markets. Demography shows the populations inclinations towards certain social structure and the increase or decrease in certain age groups. For Artistic Furniture demographic factors are of huge advantage as it shows the geographic shifts in population within the country. In Bangladesh, for example, most of the people are moving toward urban and sub urban cities and hence villages are losing population. The less population in the villages is pretty much visible. However, such population shifts certainly stimulates the interest of marketers as people in different urban and sub urban cities will buy differently than those of living in the villages. The formation, maintenance and survival of any organization are dependent on the stability of a countrys political and legal system. We have done a comprehensive analysis of the political and legal factors and found that the status ensures stability in terms of its operations. The legal consideration lies in the awareness of various laws regarding import of raw materials and the like. Bangladesh Government does not have any kind of rigid rules or regulations regarding the manufacturing of furniture. Besides if the companies are inclined to export then the Government rather encourages it.

Competition
Our existing competitors, 1st barrier, are locally made trendy furniture: consist of OTOBI, PARTEX, NAVANA, AKHTER, HATIL complex ltd., IMPERIAL furniture mart, UNIQUE furniture etc. They have introduced particle boards, woodex, plytex, medium density fiber (MDF) etc.

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Potential competitors can be imported furniture and cheap wooden-furniture makers: they mostly exist in Mirpur and Panthapath. Imported furniture is coming from Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, China etc. It is not that people choose our competitors instead of our product; it is that they choose lesser quality, instead of higher quality furniture we offer. Competitors have some distinct advantages: Small firms in Mirpur have skilled carpenters who can copy almost any design shown to them. Moreover, they have availability of all sorts of input suppliers (e.g. hardware firms, glass suppliers, fabric and foam suppliers etc.) in the cluster. As saw mills are established within the cluster, they can purchase timber whenever necessary. Competitors have more disadvantages: Their weaknesses are lack of seasoning facility hampers the delivery of good quality wooden furniture. Moreover, they are not united. So they cannot avail collective advocacy opportunities. They also do not have access to modern technologies to explore market opportunities through diversification.

Overall strategy:

Porters Model of Industry Competition:

Porter's competitive forces model is probably one of the most often used business strategy tools and has proven its usefulness on numerous occasions. Care should therefore be taken not to underestimate or underemphasize the importance of the (existing) strengths of the organization (inside-out) when applying this five competitive forces framework of Porter.

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The Five Forces model of Porter is an outside-in business unit strategy tool that is used to make an analysis of the attractiveness of an industry structure. The Competitive Forces analysis is made by the identification of 5 fundamental competitive forces: Potential Entrants:

In this industry number of potential entrants are huge as the cost of capital is moderately low (but it depends on the ingredients of the furniture). Very few companies can actually achieve economies of scale as the companies need to produce at a very high rate to really attain economies of scale. Government policy regarding the entrance in such industry is favorable meaning that if the company is large enough to export furniture then those companies might get tax rebates. Achieving brand loyalty is really very tough since a company needs to perform consistently better while it comes to manufacturing furniture that customers really desire. However, considering all these things we will say that it is not that tough to make an entry but it is very tough to survive. We believe we have the technology and concept that can help us to survive in this industry as well as to achieve our goals.

Degree of Rivalry:

The industry is densely populated with a large number of competitors. Among them Otobi, Partex, Furnitec, Brothers, Hatil. Akhter, Studio 45 and Legacy are quite popular in our target customer segment. If we think about the assets or resources of the competitors then the size of the competitors differs widely. Akhter, Hatil, Brothers,are the giants in this industry as they have almost 5 or 6 showrooms around Dhaka.Though the number of competitors is immense, the growth of the industry is not yet saturated and hence we believe we can be able to position our brand if we carefully undertake our primary activities like promotion, placement of showrooms.

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Bargaining power of Suppliers:

We have already mentioned that the number of suppliers of manufacturers in this industry is really large. It is very evident that the switching cost would be very high in this industry as it is not very easy or the manufacturers to switch over other industry upon failure to capture the desired market. Again, there are huge numbers of buyers who are there in the market willing to purchase their desired product. So, its pretty much clear that the market is customer driven. Threat of Substitutes:

The substitute product ranges from plastic, iron, bamboo, cane and wood. The price also ranges highly since the wood is the most expensive and plastic is the least expensive. Considering the durability of the furniture, wood is the most endurable. Bargaining power of Buyers:

It has been already mentioned that in this industry the number of buyers are very large. Normally, the buyers are industrialist or business organizations and household. The switching costs of buyers are really very low since the product ranges from plastic to wood. Normally the

wooden furniture are the most expensive, then bamboo, cane, iron and lastly plastic furniture comes in terms of pricing. As both the numbers of suppliers and customers are huge we can deduce that the buyers have the power to order furniture in a large volume and hence the industry is controlled by the buyers.

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Potential Entrants:
Moderate Capital Cost Few Scale Economies Favorable Govt. policy High Switching Cost Tough to get Brand Loyalty Very tough to achieve absolute cost advantage

Suppliers: Large number of

manufacturers High switching cost Concentrated Industry Large number of buyers

Degree of Rivalry:
Otobi Partex Furnitec Brothers Hatil Akhter Studio 45 Legacy Unique Navana Pacific

Buyers:
ProfessionalIndustrial segment Consumer segment Large number of suppliers Large number of substitute products Low switching cost

Substitutes:
Wooden Furniture Metal Furniture (Rot Iron) Cane Furniture Bamboo Furniture Plastic Furniture

Figure: Industry Structure and Competitive Strategy: Keys of determining our profitability

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Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

Problems and Opportunities

Strength: Durability and quality of our product. Warranty Features. Usage of modern technology (AutoCAD for designing, modern machineries). Environmentally friendly business. Usage of Door-to-door salesperson.

Weakness: Online transaction will face technological challenges. Unskilled labor force to process water hyacinth

Opportunities:

SWOT
Threats: Lower price can cause a reverse view to the customers about the products. Technological development can cause this technology to subside Local competitors can start producing same type of furniture

Product line can be extended. More establishment of showroom. Expansion of business internationally.

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Strengths: Durability of our product:

Our products are more durable than other furniture made by iron, cane, plastic. Our product gets a competitive edge over the wooden furniture while it comes of polishing the furniture. As our furniture is made of hyacinth the furniture is totally environmentally friendly and equally durable as wooden furniture. Quality of our product:

The quality of our product is superior to all the other furniture made of iron, plastic and cane. Our furniture does not need to be polished always as it can hold the glitziness for a long time. In terms of longevity also, our furniture is as good as the wooden furniture. So, we can say that when it comes to the quality our product is way ahead from the benchmark. Provide Warranty:

Unlike many of our furniture we provide solid warranty upon selling our world class furniture. The warranty would be like; if any of our products gets broken within 3 years then we will be reimbursing our product upon bringing in our showrooms. Unlike lots of our competitors who do not comply with their own set warranty policy, we are committed to strictly follow our policy.

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Usage of Modern Technology:

Unlike all other companies who use only manual designs (hand made), we are coming up with AutoCAD technology for designing our furniture. In order to ensure precision in style, design, exposure of the furniture we are coming up this technology in order to please all our potential customers. Environmentally Friendly Business:

We are coming up with furniture that is built with hyacinth. Hyacinth furniture is completely environmentally friendly product that does not require any kind of polishing for a long time. The discard of the furniture is also very easy as the main ingredient of this furniture is hyacinth, a totally environment friendly product. Use of Door-to-Door Services:

We will be implementing door to door salespersons strategy which means if customers buy our products then we will be responsible to dispatch the goods to their house. As it is totally new approach we strongly believe this strategy will contribute towards our success.

Weaknesses: Online Transactions is a real challenge:

We have not implemented any kind of online transaction system as e-commerce is not that popular in Bangladesh. Besides one of the problems towards not implementing this system is also the cost. In this circumstance, if e-commerce gets implemented by other furniture companies in Bangladesh then we might face problem.

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Unskilled labor force:

As we are coming up with totally new technology the number of labors that we will get would be unskilled. The usage of the technology would be totally new to them and hence we might face problems in training up all our labors who will be indulged in the production of the furniture.

Opportunities: Product line can be extended:

There is always a good option for us which is extension of product line. Our product line can anytime be expanded if we see that our preset goals have been achieved. Besides, we do not have to bring other technologies for that as everything (Auto Cad technology, modern machineries) is already been established. Establishment of more show rooms:

Currently we have chosen Mirpur and Panthapath region where we will be building our Showrooms. The main reason behind selecting these areas is that most of our competitors are doing business here. We need to show them our competency and if we see we are successful in the preliminary stage then we will be establishing showrooms in Gulshan also. Expansion of Business Internationally:

Again if we see that we are successful in doing business locally then definitely we will be interested in expanding our business beyond our geographical boundary. We have observed that a few of our competitors were quite successful in doing business locally and ultimately they expanded their business. 22

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Threats: Lower price can cause reverse perception:

As we are coming up with furniture that are economically priced we might face problems. Most of the customers always think that those products are of inferior quality that is economically priced. We always care about the customers and hence we are coming up with such technology that is most economically priced, which might become a threat. Technological development can collapse:

The technological development can cause collapse of our company if not operated properly. As every designs are made through the help of software, if the software collapses in work-inprogress status then we will be facing a deep problem. So, whatever we do, we need to ensure that our software works properly. Imitation of our product:

There is always a chance that our competitor might imitate our product and use the same technology which we use. In that case if they follow the same strategy then we will be in problem. So, we need to make sure that we follow a unique pattern both in our furniture and machines sop that no competitors can imitate us.

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Environment Analysis

No one business is large or powerful enough to create major change in the external environment. These factors are generally uncontrollable, thus market managers are basically adapters rather than agents of change. So it is vital for us to take these factors into consideration in every step of their decision -making process and day-to-day activities.

MACRO ENVIRONMENT
Demographic Forces Technological

Economic Forces

MICRO ENVIRONMENT
Customers

Forces

Suppliers

Distributors

Socio Cultural Forces

Competitors

Global Forces

Political and Legal Forces

FIGURE: P.E.S.T. ANALYSIS

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Objectives & Goals

Primary Objective:

Our Primary marketing objective is to let the customers know our identity and the product line with which we do business. As we are pioneering this kind of furniture business in Bangladesh

We think we should definitely get a competitive edge over other competitors who do business with conventional wooden furniture. As we are totally coming up with unique stylish furniture Giving the best possible assessment to our customers we create amusing, creative and healthy environments with well-designed environmentally friendly furniture. We will always try to provide premium quality with low price, and we want every single penny spent with us to be well spent.

The Micro Environment: Artistic Furnitures task environment consists of those micro groups in the environment such as suppliers, distributors, customers and competitors. These are interrelated groups that influence managers on a daily basis.

Suppliers Artistic Furniture is directly involved in the production of raw materials. Wherever possible, locally available raw materials are used. If there is a shortage then the raw material which is primarily hyacinth can be collected through trade channels. But, as per research and survey we have found that there wont be any shortage of hyacinth as it is such a thing that can be found

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almost anywhere in a river or pond. We apply the following principles when sourcing raw materials: all raw materials must meet both legal and internal quality criteria, including limits on possible environmental contaminants; Always, preference is given to raw materials that are produced by environmentally sound farming methods (e.g. integrated crop management). Customers:

Being the major source of survival and profit, customers form the most important component for an organization. Artistic Furniture considers customers as being their life-blood of survival and is taking the maximum innovative efforts that can be utilized for utmost customers satisfaction. Customers here can be segmented to family (living in urban and suburban) and business organizations market. Changes in the number and type of customers results in a dimension of opportunities and threats. Artistic Furniture operating in such ever-changing world of tastes and preference pays heed to customers choices and their attitudes. We would be very keenly take on customers advice, try and amend as well as add new dimension to their business in order to ensure survival in this highly competitive industry.

Competitors: One of the most important forces that always keep an organization on guard is its competitors. Competitors are organizations that produce similar goods. In the context of Artistic Furniture, Legacy Furniture, Brothers Furniture, Furnitec, Unique Furniture, Studio 45, Akhter Furniture, Hatil Furniture,Partex and Otobi can be held as competitors. Considering the assets or resources of the competitors the size of the competitors differs widely. Akhter, Hatil, Brothers,are the giants in this industry as they have almost 5 or 6 showrooms around Dhaka. Though the number of participants is enormous, the growth of the industry is not yet saturated and therefore we

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think we can be able to position our brand if we cautiously take on our primary activities like promotion, establishment of showrooms. Distribution: Distribution of products from the factory to the customer involves transport and storage. Efficient management of the distribution system is essential to preserve the safety and quality of our furniture, to ensure a high level of customer service, and to meet its commitment to environmentally sound business practices and to make the product available every where. To this end, Artistic Furniture: Selects appropriate transportation modes, with particular attention given to optimum unit loads, vehicle capacity utilization, route planning and consolidation with scheduling and fuel conservation;

Identifies and implements measures to reduce energy consumption and waste. We encourage distribution service providers to use environmentally sound practices.

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The Macro Environment:

The general Environment consists of Economic, technological, socio-cultural, demographic, political and legal, and global forces form the macro economic environment that Artistic Furniture operates in.

Economic Forces: Economic forces are of concern to businesses involves producing goods and services that people want and pay for, as because the economy is an Indicator of the general health and well being of a nation. Artistic Furniture takes into account various economic factors, preferably the rates of inflation, the exchange rate and level of income. The prime reason for such is to have a control over its allocated budget for domestic and imported raw materials. However, most importantly alertness of economic variables are necessary to determine our furnitures pricing strategy so that all segments of the population can afford to buy their products.

Technological Forces: One of the most pervasive factors in the environment, the impact of technology is seen as the combination of skills and equipments that marketers use in their day-to-day operations. Unlike all other companies who use only manual designs (hand made), we are coming up with AutoCAD technology for designing our furniture. In order to ensure precision in style, design, exposure of the furniture we are coming up this technology in order to please all our potential customers. Also our machineries with which we would be cutting and shaping the furniture are most updated automated equipment.

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Socio Cultural Forces: The socio-cultural environment is made of institutions and other forces that affect social values, norms, attitudes, perceptions, preferences and behavior. In the context of a predominantly Green country like Bangladesh, we will be customizing our products and services according to the country's culture. If we are successful in achieving socio cultural values then definitely we would be able to make a good sale. To us it is the most important factor because we believe cultural consciousness and understanding, leads to more effectual business relationships and therefore boosts company growth and profitability. We have studied those factors or forces that will help us to get the best out of cultural diversity and to avoid cultural pitfalls.

Demographic Forces The demographic forces are of interest to marketing managers because it involves people and people make up the markets. Demography shows the populations inclinations towards certain social structure and the increase or decrease in certain age groups. For Artistic Furniture demographic factors are of huge advantage as it shows the geographic shifts in population within the country. In Bangladesh, for example, most of the people are moving toward urban and sub urban cities and hence villages are losing population. The less population in the villages

is pretty much visible. However, such population shifts certainly stimulates the interest of marketers as people in different urban and sub urban cities will buy differently than those of living in the villages.

Political and Legal Forces: The formation, maintenance and survival of any organization are dependent on the stability of a countrys political and legal system. We have done a comprehensive analysis of the political and legal factors and found that the status ensures stability in terms of its operations. The legal

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consideration lies in the awareness of various laws regarding import of raw materials and the like. Bangladesh Government does not have any kind of rigid rules or regulations regarding the manufacturing of furniture. Besides if the companies are inclined to export then the Government rather encourages it.

Action Programs
.

Advertising budget and Media Plan

Our advertising budget of 4th year can be divided in the parts shown below:

Electronic Media

Radio Transit Advertising Leaflets

Advertising Budget

Out of Home Media

Newspapers Weekend Magazines Calendars

Print Media

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Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

Our advertising campaign is for 6 months in the fourth year. We want to divide our advertising in three segments: 1st and 6th month intensive advertising with 360 degree approach 2nd and 4th month advertising with little less effort 3rd and 5th month advertising with minimum effort

After completing the campaign the result will be measured through research and if the campaign is successful then the advertising horizon can be expanded further.

Radio

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Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

Per Day Channel Time advertising duration
Weekdays (on Sunday between 10-30 to 11-00 news, Tuesday between 10-30 to 11-00 and Radio Today 89.6 FM Thursday between 7-30 to 8-00 news) Weekends (on Friday, and Saturday from 7-30 to 8-00 news) Mid breaks in 9 o clock programs Weekends Do for the news and 30 seconds In mid break of program Weekdays 30 seconds just before news and in the 1 mid in News
st

Advertising cost (for 1 week)

Cost

For news, Weekdays (5000X3)+(4800X3) = 29,400 Weekends (3850X2)+(3550X2) = 14,800 For program, 10000 X 2 = 20,000 Tk. 64,200

Weekdays (on Sunday between 10-30 to 11-00 news, Tuesday between 10-30 to 11-00 and Thursday between Radio Amar 101.60 FM 7-30 to 8-00 news)

Weekdays 30 seconds just before news and in the 1 mid in News

st

For news, Weekdays (4800X3)+(4600X3) = 28,200 Weekends (3650X2)+(3550X2) = 14,400 For program, 10000 X 2 = 20,000 Tk. 62,600

Weekends (on Friday, and Saturday from 7-30 to 8-00 news) Mid breaks in 9 o clock programs

Weekends Do for the news and 30 seconds In mid break of program

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Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

Per Day Channel Time advertising duration

Weekdays (on Sunday between 10-30 to 11-00 news, Tuesday between 10-30 to 11-00 and Radio Foorty 88.0 FM Thursday between 7-30 to 8-00 news) Weekends (on Friday, and Saturday from 7-30 to 8-00 news) Mid breaks in 9 o clock programs Weekends Do for the news and 30 seconds In mid break of program Weekdays 30 seconds just before news and in the 1 mid in News
st

Advertising cost (for 1 week)

Cost

For news, Weekdays (5100X3)+(4900X3) = 30,000 Weekends (3950X2)+(3650X2) = 15,200 For program, 11000 X 2 = 22,000 Tk. 67,200

Total advertising budget in radio section=Tk.64,200+Tk.62,600+Tk.67,200= Tk. 1,94,000

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Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

Print MEDIA
For Newspapers

Newspaper

Position

Number of times ad inserts

2 days in a month On Sunday

Rate

Cost

The Daily Star

3rd Page, 8 Column, 8 Inch , 4 color

Tk.4000 per inch per column Tk. 4,94,000

FirstPage, The Daily Prothom Alo 8 inch 8 column 4 Color

On Thursdays 2 days in a month

Tk.6500 per inch per column Tk. 6,50,000

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Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

For Magazines

Newspaper

Position

Number of times ad inserts

On Friday 2 days in a month

Rate

Cost

The Daily Star weekend magazine

Back Cover

30,000 per issue

Tk. 1,00,000

The Mirror

Front Cover

On Friday 2 days in a month

40,000 per issue

Tk. 1,20,000

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Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

For Calendars

Type

Picture Include
Yes

Layout of Calendar A calendar which has a different month on each page.

Rate

Cost

Fiscal Calendars

Tk. 150 per

Tk. 1,00,000

Total budget in print section=Tk.11,44,000+Tk.2,20,000+Tk.1,00,000=Tk. 14,64,000

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Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

Out of Home Advertising

Transit Advertisements

Type
Terminal Posters

Size of Poster
Large

Number of terminals Rate

15 12,000 per issue

Cost
Tk. 1,80,000

Leaflet Advertisement

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Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

Type

Color

Contents

Rate

Cost

Folded in thirds

Yes

Write ups as well as pictures of furniture

30 per page

Tk. 1,62,000

Total budget in out of home ad section =Tk.1,80,000+Tk.1,62,000 =Tk. 3,42,000

So, our total advertising budget = Tk. 1,94,000+Tk. 14,64,000+Tk. 3,42,000= Tk. 20,00,000

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Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

Promotion
Sample: Tri Folding Brochure

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Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

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Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

Questionnaire:
This questionnaire intends to know opinions of the people of Dhaka city to find out whether the brand image of words and pages has any positive impact to boost our sales up to the expectation. Please feel free to provide your honest opinions. Please answer all the questions. 1) Generally for which purpose you buy furniture? 1) Household usage Official usage Restaurant usage If others, please specify _______________ 2) How frequently do you buy furniture? 2) Once in a year Once in less than two years Once in more than two years If several times, please mention _____________ 3) What do you think about the current pricing of furniture products in Bangladesh? 3) Too High High Cheap Dont Know 4) If you think option the furniture are highly priced then what actually reflects 4) from their high pricing? Quality Status Brand image Nothing 5) If the same style furniture that you buy from an established company is available 5) at other stores at lower price what would you do? I will stick with the established company Switch to other company It depends

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Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

6) How long do you think furniture should endure? 6) 1-2 years 3-4 years 5-6 years If others, please specify _________________

7) Why do you prefer while buying furniture? (Rank 1-5 where 5 is the highest 7) and 1 is the lowest) First Preference: Quality 1 2 3 4 5

Second Preference: Brand Image 1 2 3 4 5

Third Preference: Style 1 2 3 4 5

Fourth Preference: Location of Showrooms 1 2 3 4 5

Fifth Preference: Availability of the Brand 1 2 3 4 5

8) Dont you think people should be aware of environmental pollution and hence 8) and should prefer buying green products? Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree

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Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

9) Are you satisfied with your current furniture performance (durability, style, 9) fabric)? Yes No 10) If No then why? 10) High Price Poor Service Quality Less Product Line Up

11) Would you prefer buying furniture that is as stylish as the established brands 11) product and at the same time environment friendly ? Yes No

12) Have you observed any kind of Promotional Activity by any kind of Furniture 12) Company recently? Yes No 13) If Yes then what was it? 13) Newspaper Billboard Posters/ Leaflet If others, please specify _________________ 14) In which areas do you think the furniture companies should establish 14) showrooms? Mirpur Panthapath Gulshan If others, please specify _________________ 15) Gender: 15) Male Female their

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Marketing Plan- Artistic Furniture

16) In which age group do you belong? 16) 20-25 26-30 31-35 More than 35 17) Monthly Family Income Level in Tk.: 17) 15000-24000 25000-34000 35000-44000 Above 44000

Thiis survey iis carriied out for academiic purpose.. Th s survey s carr ed out for academ c purpose Allll sort of iinformatiion wiillll be striictlly kept iin secret.. A sort of nformat on w be str ct y kept n secret
WE APPRECIATE YOUR PERSEVERANCE AND SUPPORT WE APPRECIATE YOUR PERSEVERANCE AND SUPPORT

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