Strategic e-brand management for small enterprises


Master's Thesis, 2004

87 Pages, Grade: 97%


Excerpt


Content

1. Introduction
1.1 Approach of the dissertation
1.2 Overview of Bambino Mio Ltd

2. Traditional Approach for the Analysis of the Strategic Brand Management of a Small Enterprise
2.1 Introduction of the classical situation of Small Enterprises, in terms of constraints and limitations
2.2 Position of the Enterprise in the Market
2.2.1 Level of Competition (Five Forces of M. Porter)
2.2.2 Product Life-Cycle
2.2.3 SME’s Life-Cycle
2.3 Target Market Analysis
2.3.1 Geographic Analysis
2.3.2 Demographic Analysis
2.3.3 Psychographic Analysis
2.3.4 Behaviouristic Analysis
2.4 Brand Identity, Brand Equity and their Adaptation

3. Reasons for the Integration of the Internet in the Strategic Brand Management of a Small Enterprise
3.1 Branding on the Internet
3.2 6C’s of Bocij et al
3.2.1 Cost reduction
3.2.2 Capability
3.2.3 Competitive advantage
3.2.4 Communication improvement
3.2.5 Control
3.2.6 Customer Service improvement
3.3 Brand building tool and position reinforcement
3.3.1 Market penetration
3.3.2 Market development
3.3.3 Product development
3.3.4 Diversification
3.4 Disintermediation
3.5 Internet Marketing Communications Strategy
3.6 SME Barriers to exporting
3.6.1 Psychological Barrier
3.6.2 Operational Barrier
3.6.3 Organisational Barrier
3.6.4 Product/Market Barrier
3.6.5 Time and Space Barrier
3.7 Moderators of the Integration of the Internet in a Small Enterprises
3.7.1 Risk of « marketing myopia »
3.7.2 Risk linked with the development of the site web
3.7.3 Consumer fears

4. The Implications of the Integration of the Internet in the Strategic Brand Management of a Small Enterprise
4.1 E-Marketing Fundamental
4.1.1 The 7Cs’ Framework
4.1.1.1 Convenience
4.1.1.2 Content
4.1.1.3 Customisation
4.1.1.4 Community
4.1.1.5 Connectivity
4.1.1.6 Customer Care
4.1.1.7 Communication
4.1.2 Remix of 7 P’s
4.1.2.1 Price
4.1.2.2 Place
4.1.2.3 Product
4.1.2.4 Promotion
4.1.2.5 People
4.1.2.6 Physical Evidence
4.1.2.7 Process
4.2 Implementation
4.2.1 E-Planning
4.2.2 Web site Design
4.3 Business-to-Consumer
4.3.1 Traffic Building
4.3.2 E-Customer Relationship Management
4.3.3 E-Consumer

5. Conclusion

6. Appendices

7. References

8. Acknowledgements

1.Introduction

1.1 Approach of the dissertation

First of all, the study analyses the constraints and limitations of SMEs, that concern an important proportion of businesses in the European Union and describes briefly the role of marketing in the sector of small businesses. As the OCDE (Appendix 1) shows this sector represents in the European Union 96.1 % of the total number of firms, which employs 34.8 % of the active population. Despite the importance of SMEs, a major obstacle is the absence of academic literature on the marketing in the sector of small enterprises. As Romano and Ratnatunga (1995 cited in Siu and Kirby 1998) argue that an important barrier to develop the marketing in small businesses is the absence of a structured literature base which designated the relevant linkages and established the nature and weight of marketing on small enterprise.

It is fundamental to understand the role of marketing for SMEs and particularly of strategic branding and how these traditional brands have been built. One of the reasons is that traditional brands, which were the key element in the traditional marketing strategy of an enterprise, have become crucial with the explosion of the Internet. Ott (2000 cited in Tonglet et al. 2002) emphasises that strategic branding is likely to be even more important online than it is offline, and suggests that “consumers are more likely to trust a web site that displays a recognisable brand that has an established reputation in either the online or the offline world.” An analysis of leading academic thinking and theory will be used to explore these issues and will be illustrated, in parallel with the practical case of Bambino Mio Ltd.

Secondly (c.f. 2.Traditional Approach for the Analysis of the Strategic Brand Management of a Small Enterprise), it is important to understand the notion of brand. On the basis of this consideration, this study uses Rita Clifton’s (cited in Cleland 2000) who underlines that it is “a mixture of tangible and intangible attributes, symbolised in a trademark which, if properly managed, creates influence and generates value.” to define the brand. Therefore, brands are enduring assets as long as they are kept in good shape and continue to offer consumers the value they require. As Hart and Murphy (1998) state “a brand owner must consistently ensure that the qualities and values of their brands are maintained.” In other words, brands must continue to appeal to the customer and should be developed in order to maintain their attractiveness in a changing society. For this reason Lindstom and Andersen (2000) argue that successful brands stand for much more than smart values that attract the customers only once. The values that create a brand are dynamic assets, which asked to be adapted, updated, adjusted and modified regularly in order to retain the consumer’s interest.

With the recent explosion of the World Wide Web, firms and in particular SMEs have to re-evaluate their branding strategy to be able to respond to fluctuations of the marketplace. This consideration provides the necessity for the study to analyse how the Internet is changing the traditional brand building environment, because as argues Michael Gerret (cited in Lindström and Andersen 2000) “on the Internet, everything we know about marketing is out the window.” Furthermore this new medium is identified as a new source of values, which justify its integration in SMEs. This study provides an overview of the new tools and strategies, which will offer small enterprises fundamental new challenges and opportunities that need to be considered to build a successful brand on the Internet. For this section, academic literature will be used to analyse the reasons and impacts of the Internet, but also the moderators of the integration of the Internet.

In the third section (c.f. 3.Reasons for the Integration of the Internet in the Strategic Brand Management of a Small Enterprise), the study identifies the implications of the Internet on the marketing mix and identifies the key factors and characteristics of an effective web site design that contribute to the development of a successful and competitive Internet brand. In addition, the last section (c.f . 4.The Implications of the Integration of the Internet in the Strategic Brand Management of a Small Enterprise) will analyse the major components of the web site design and of the Internet that add value to the customer’s online experience and relationship in order to build a strong customer loyalty with the brand and to build traffic to the brand’s web site. This section is based on references to the theoretical themes that emerge from the literature review and in terms of the practical implications for Bambino Mio Ltd.

The conclusion will point out how the successful integration of this new communicational medium in the strategic brand management of a SME such as Bambino Mio can lead to a powerful competitive advantage in the global marketplace and can support the marketing strategy. However, it is fundamental to consider in the particular case of SMEs the underlying constraints, which rend the integration of this new tool of communication an even more complex process in this sector. Finally, the conclusion will analyse how the world of SMEs is able to apply the theory about the integration of the Internet in its traditional branding strategy.

In short, this study is build on academic literature and on leading academic thinking such as brand management, relationship management and marketing strategy in SMEs. In addition, the study adopts a practical approach based on an in-depth analysis of the brand building efforts of a SME such as Bambino Mio Ltd, a traditional company that rose to the challenge of taking its brand to the Internet. Therefore, the combination of the theoretical and the practical approach provides a useful overview and step-by-step insight for the particular sector of the SME into the brand-building issues, problems and factors that contribute to a brand’s online success.

1.2 Overview of Bambino Mio Ltd

Hence, before considering the core part of the analysis, it is necessary to have an overview of Bambino Mio Ltd. This small company, situated in Brixworth-Northamptonshire (UK), is producing non-disposable / cotton nappies since 1997 under the trademark “Bambino Mio”. It appears that this niche market is sharply growing due to the negative impact of disposable nappies on the environment and to cheaper long-term price of the product. In addition, the company uses on the one hand, classical channels of distribution and on the other hand a channel based on mail order and the Internet (Appendix 2).

Since January 2003, the sales have doubled to £1.4 (on an annual basis), which places Bambino Mio Ltd. as the market leader for this product with 3 % of the total market share. This position has be attained by the company based on its core competencies which are high quality products and successful direct marketing strategy

Furthermore, the company entered in February 2003 the Spanish market, and the results are very encouraging. Finally the company is planning for summer 2003 the expansion to France, Switzerland and the Benelux.

2. Traditional Approach for the Analysis of the Strategic Brand Management of a Small Enterprise.

Why starting with a traditional approach? In fact, before defining and integrating in the company policies (not only in the department of marketing), it is vital that the managers know and understand their present situation and the context of their brand. Furthermore, this section appears as basic because the notion of e-branding, developed in the sections 3 and 4, is based on branding. This part will firstly define the particular situation of small businesses conditioned by typical constraints. Then, to understand the company’s position on the market, the level of competition, the evolutionary stage of the product and the small firm will be analysed. Finally, to provide the reader a global overview of branding, some basic models will be developed in order to create a link between the classical situation of branding in SMEs[1] and their integration of the Internet in the branding strategy.

2.1 Introduction of the classical situation of Small Enterprises, in terms of constraints and limitations.

This section defines the notion ‘small enterprise’ in order to understand that a small firm is not just a smaller version of a big business, with different constraints and limitation. First of all, what distinguishes a micro, small or medium company? It is mainly a company with few employees, 20 persons in total. Therefore, Bambino Mio Ltd. can be defined as a small enterprise, because Ramasawmy (1999) argues that a company between 10 and 50 people can be defined as a small one and between 50 and 200 people as a medium one.

In addition, Bridge et al. (1998) state that the characteristics of SMEs are the limited investments and resources, little functional management, a lot of on-the-job learning and the owner’s identification through the values embodied in the enterprise and in the brand. However small businesses have many benefits such as meeting many of their owners’ needs and the ability to survive market changes by rapidly responding to new customer requirements.

Furthermore assuming that small companies will behave and respond like larger ones, is as wrong as assuming that all SMEs will behave in a similar fashion. According to Bridge et al. (1998) it is obvious that there are several “categories of small businesses mainly defined by their industry sector and ownership [(family business,…)]. Due to the fact that SMEs have different organisations and different constraints, these will have an impact of the marketing policy. If we consider the example of Bambino Mio Ltd., the firm is composed by the manager-owner, his wife, six agents for the English market and several other employees, in total Bambino Mio Ltd counts twenty employees. Hence it appears that the marketing policy is defined by the manager-owner, in a very low structured organisation without a specialised department of marketing.

In this kind of firm, it is not always obvious who or what will influence a small business. Often, at an early stage, close relations (families and friends) can have more influence than a professional adviser can. A positive influence may therefore have no effect if there is a stronger contrary influence coming from an informal relation (relatives, friends, etc.).

The marketing strategy is therefore not following a systematic process in these small organisations. O’Keefe et al. (1998) argue that the “marketing problem for the small company is unique in that it is plagued by severe financial constraints. Slack is minimal and does not allow for inefficiencies in the allocation of the marketing budget.” In addition, Carson (1985 cited in Siu and Kirby 1998) argues that the evolution of marketing in small businesses follows a four-stage evolutionary process: “ initial marketing activity”, “reactive selling”, “the DIY marketing approach” and “integrated proactive marketing”. Thus the importance of marketing increase in parallel with the company’s growth and its marketing activities change in response to environmental changes.

In addition some researchers argue (Carson and Cromie 1998 cited in O’Keefe et al. 1998) that the “marketing behaviour of small firms is related to the personnel characteristics of the owner-manager.”

All these elements condition the business of small companies, show how difficult it is to integrate a new concept such as the Internet. However it must also be considered that the smaller the company is, the more flexible it will be, because of the smaller inertia in comparison with an international company.

2.2 Position of the Enterprise in the Market

The definition of the position of the small enterprise is a fundamental element, because it will help the manager-owner to follow consistent branding strategy. This means that if the enterprise does not realise how difficult the new market will be, the risk of an inappropriate strategy choice will occur. This shows the importance of the manager-owner to identify the level of competition on the market, the potential of its brand and the stability of its enterprise. Bambino Mio Ltd. is the leading company in cotton nappies in the United Kingdom. The company has chosen to differentiate its products on three factors: cotton is best for the baby’s skin, lower costs and environment friendly products. Indeed, R. (1999) analyses that Bambino Mio Ltd. has shown that although the company’s customers stated that they are buying the products mainly for environmental issues, they are more attracted by the cheaper price factor. Bambino Mio Ltd. should emphasise stress on the following factors: environment friendly, as easy to use as disposable nappies, good quality product, good for the baby’s skin and less costs at long term long-term cheaper costs. As a result, this example shows that the position of the enterprise is conditioned by several elements such as the features of the products.

2.2.1 Level of Competition (Five Forces of M. Porter)

A particular market segment may have an interesting potential of profit for the enterprises working on it. If this possibility of profit is important, the market will be defined as attractive. Hence, competitor analysis is a systematic attempt to identify and understand the key element of the brand positioning strategy of the company among its competitors. One of the main tasks of a company in analysing the attractiveness of its potential market segment is to identify its competitors. Kotler (1997 cited in Ramasawmy 1999) describes four levels of competition can be distinguished based on the degree of product substitutability:

- Brand competition: Such competition occurs when the company realises that the competitors offer a similar product, similar services at similar prices. Bambino Mio Ltd. competes with similar producers of branded premium quality of cotton nappy manufacturers.
- Industry competition: Such competition occurs when the company considers its competitors, as all companies, making the same products or class of products. Bambino Mio Ltd. competes with all cotton nappies manufacturers, its English competitor Mothersbliss (www.motherbliss.co.uk)
- Form competition: Such competition occurs when the company considers its competitors to be the ones providing products which supply the same service, such as for Bambino Mio Ltd., the form competitors are Procter and Gamble (Pampers) and Kimberley Clark (Huggies), producing disposable nappies.
- Generic competition: Such competition occurs when the company considers its competitors to be the ones which compete against the same consumer dollars. Bambino Mio Ltd. might consider its competitors as being those selling baby products and as in a wider range as all the other companies.

Michael Porter (cited in Kotler and Dubois 2000) has identified five forces, which, define the attractiveness of a market or a segment in the long term. Each force corresponds to a particular threat for the enterprise:

8. The bargaining power of suppliers: According to Chaffey et al. (2000) a market is much less attractive if the suppliers have a strong power on prices, equipment, banks, partnerships, etc. This position is strengthened if the product is considered as important, rare, not produced by other suppliers (situation of monopoly) and whose suppliers switching costs are expensive. For minimising the possibility to enter into such a position of strong supplier power, the enterprise should diversify the furnishing sources and care for good relations with its suppliers. In the case of Bambino Mio Ltd., the product is not especially rare nor difficult to produce and the switching supplier cost appear to be higher than the average due to the small size of the company and its vulnerability and dependency on these suppliers.

9. The bargaining power of customers: Chaffey et al. (2000) define that a segment is much less attractive if the customer has the power to reduce the price, to require a better quality product / service, to increase the competition among its suppliers. In fact this bargaining power increases when the number of customers decreases are decreasing, the proportion of one customer in sales becomes too important, the switching costs are low, the product is less differentiated and the sensibility to the cost is important. In the case the best strategy to improve the enterprise’s situation, is to develop a competitive advantage on branding strategy. The example of disposable nappies market is interesting, as the costs and the advantages of the cotton nappies can slightly influence the customer’s bargaining power on large companies such as Procter and Gamble (Pampers) and Kimberley-Clark (Huggies). In this market the customer has almost no switching cost, in fact, he will save money by choosing cotton nappies (£800 per child). However the large number of customers reduces considerably their bargaining power.

10. The threats of new entrants: If a market has high barrier for entrants, it will induce a smaller amount of companies and the possibility of higher profitability. In an opposite situation, if the number of entrants is increasing, the risk of over-capacity and price-war for gaining market share increase also. In addition, if the cost level of exit is high, the consequence is higher operational costs and less profitability. In the case of Bambino Mio Ltd., the barriers at the entry of the cotton nappies market are reasonable. However, in this case, the substitution product market must be considered, in order to provide an accurate view of the situation. In the nappies market the main companies (Procter & Gamble and Kimberley-Clark) have well-known and well-established brands (around 93% of disposable nappies market share in UK), therefore new entrants will be limited due to the very high barriers at entry on the market of cotton nappies.

11. The threat of substitute product and services: A segment is far less attractive if the possibility of substitute product (potential or existing) is high. Indeed the situation can limit the price and then the profitability. The strong position and awareness of branded disposable nappies induce a higher level of competition in cotton nappies’ industry.

12. The rivalry among current competitors: This last Porter’s Force explains that a segment is much more unattractive, if there is a large number of powerful competitors doing aggressive price-war promotion. The situation is even worse on a stable or declining market or on a market with high entrant and exit costs. Here again the example of the cotton nappies’ market is interesting, since the direct competitors are numerous, but insignificant. However, as outlined before, the fact that the substitute market of disposable nappies is dominated by well-known and well-established brands, tend to increase the pressure on the market of cotton nappies tends to increase.

2.2.2 Product Life-Cycle

A second element defining the situation of small companies on markets is the stage of their product in the product life-cycle. This concept, according to Brassington and Pettitt (1997), reflects the theory that products, like people, live a life. During its life (pre-launch, introduction, growth, maturity and decline), a product goes through many different experiences, achieving varying levels of success in the market. This concept offers no hard and no fast rules for products management, but it can act as a useful guide for thinking about what a product has achieved and where it is heading in the future. In fact, if the product is at the decline stage (with fewer sales, less profit), it can be advantageous that the enterprise finds another product, to ensure its existence. This concept helps the manager-owner to identify the ‘market-stage’ of its product and therefore to identify the measure of its potential.

The case of Bambino Mio Ltd. the potential of a product is defined by the demand of the market (niche-markets). This demand is conditioned by many factors, such as the social trends of the market’s demand for more environmental-friendly products, the necessity to have healthy product for the baby and the opportunity to find a much cheaper alternative to disposable nappies. For this reason it appears that the product life-cycle, actually representing the demand, is conditioned by a lot of different factors.

2.2.3 SME’s Life-Cycle

An interesting point is that the market situation of the company is defined by the product life-cycle, but also by its own life-cycle. Churchill and Lewis (1983 cited in Siu and Kirby 1998) describe the life-Cycle by five stages namely “existence, survival, success, take-off and resource mature”. This model is quite alike to the previous product life-cycle concept, with the difference that the decline is not considered. A result implied by this model is that the small company is highly vulnerable on the market at the two first stages of its life, where no real formal system is in place.

The case of Bambino Mio Ltd. is showing that cotton nappies are presently in a success stage, due to the sharp sales’ increase across the United Kingdom and Continental Europe. However, the stage can be distinguished more precisely by the market share of the company, which is very low on the nappies market, (around 3% in UK according to Guy Schanschieff), but the firm is positioned in the UK as the market leader for the cotton nappies. This situation means that in addition to the strong position in the cotton nappies market, the company may follow a great development, because more and more consumers of disposable nappies become potential consumers of cotton nappies which are healthier for the baby and for the environment.

2.3 Target Market Analysis

2.3.1 Geographic Analysis

Theoretical Approach

Brassington and Pettitt (1997) claim that the “geographic segmentation defines customers according to their location.” This is often a useful starting point for determine the target market. A small business, particularly in the retail or service sector, operating on limited resources, may initially look for customers within its immediate surroundings, which facilitates the contact with local / regional customers and minimise the distribution costs. In addition, the choice for such segmentation aims to create a manageable structure, particularly in the case of multinational companies.

Indeed, geographic boundaries imply other elements common to the target market such as the language, culture, legislation, lifestyle and demand. These differences are easy to find and to measure, and information is often freely available from public sources like census.

However, for SMEs, to begin on the High Street is not enough. It has to offer more than a significant group of customers ' need or want. In fact, as Douglas and Craig (1983 cited in Brassington and Pettitt 1997) state, the danger is emphasised by “being too geographically focused and making assumption about what customers in a region might have in common. Even within a small geographic area, there is a wide variety of needs and wants, and this method on its own tells you nothing about them.” In other words, in the same region, the needs will be different depending on gender, age, etc.

Practical Approach

In the case of the geographic market segmentation of Bambino Mio Ltd., the distribution channel had first been developed in the United Kingdom, its country of origin and since February 2003, in Spain. This last expansion is due to the acquisition by the company of special skills (language, contacts, etc.) linked to the Spanish market.

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Source: JDNet, 19.03.2003. Monde : Nombre d'internautes par pays [online]. Paris. Available from: http://www.journaldunet.com/cc/01_internautes/inter_nbr_clas.shtml

Due to the fact that this small enterprise is distributing its cotton nappies to national retailers, the geographic element determines, amongst other marketing aspects (e.g. culture influence) organisational, operational, psychological barriers (as it will be treated later), such as the level of transport costs and the quality of relations with retailers.

Another factor to decide on the geographic choice could the number of Internet users in a particular country. Indeed, in the case of our company selling cotton nappies online, the amount of Internet users is a major factor influencing the geographic expansion of the brand online (c.f. Figure 1). It appears that the strategy of expansion will by primarily focused on a country with a large number of users to build the brand per country with a minimum of costs. The reason is that for brand building, some infrastructures and investments are necessary for the promotion, logistic, adaptation and management. These cost can be lowered through by the economy of scale. As a sufficient number of users can be reached and therefore generate sufficient revenues balancing fixed costs.

2.3.2 Demographic Analysis

Theoretical Approach

Brassington and Pettitt (1997) claim that the demographic profile informs about the customer and customer’s household with “measurable criteria that are mostly descriptive, such as age, gender, race income, occupation, socio-economic status and family structure.”

These criteria can even expend to body size and shape for the industry of clothing and furniture. Indeed, knowing that the proportion of overweight men in UK has risen to almost 50 %, while 40 % of the female population are overweighed, represent a significant marketing opportunity for these different industries.

As for the geographical variable, demographics are easy to determine with free information available from public (census). The main advantage, in comparison with the geographic profile, is that demographics provide a clear profile of the customer and which can be considered for market strategies based on the criteria that can be worked into marketing strategies. For example, the marketers can create more attractive advertising for a young target market, by using elements fitting the needs of this particular target market.

However, when a company wants to compare different national markets, the data must have been collected on the same scale system. In other words, a socio-economic criteria varies, due to the different exchange rates, the definition of the social classes, the level of life, prices, wages, taxes, etc. Furthermore, demographic profile of the target market is purely descriptive and, used alone, assumes that the entire population from a particular class has uniform needs and features.

Practical Approach

Bambino Mio Ltd. is targeting a population of ‘expectant mothers’ and ’new mums’, between 25 and 35 years old, from upper social classes as A, B and C1s and with higher education (apparently, managerial staff and independent workers seem to be more concerned by the environment). This first segmentation draws a primary profile of the target market, but must be completed with other information, to help the company to define more precisely the different key brand elements and the values sticking to the brand. However the first result is that this segment has an upper power of purchase, which induces premium price positioning and also a different promotional approach. Indeed the advertising campaign can assume that the target from ABC1s market is educated and informed, about the environmental issues and about domestic waste.

2.3.3 Psychographic Analysis

Theoretical Approach

According to Brassington and Pettitt (1997), “psychographics, or lifestyle segmentation, is an altogether more difficult area to define, as it involves intangible variables such as the beliefs, attitudes and opinions of the potential customer. […] The idea is that defining the lifestyle of the consumer allows the marketers to sell the product not on a superficial, functional feature, but on benefits that can be seen to enhance that lifestyle on a much more emotional level.” Indeed, according to Kotler and Dubois (2000) this third type of segmentation can differ from the geo-socio-demographic classes, because two different aspects distinguish it:

1. Lifestyle and values: These characteristics are based on four main categories:

a) Activities: This includes all the activities people go through during their lives, such as working , shopping, holidays and social life. For example Golden Boys or Sportive people are terms defining this category.
b) Interests: This refers to the order of consumer’s priorities about elements such as family, work, home, leisure or his interest and involvement in the wider community. In the case of Bambino Mio Ltd., one of the consumer’s priorities when using cotton nappies is to offer the best for his baby.
c) Opinions: Plummer (1974 cited in Brassington and Pettitt 1997) states that “the category of opinions comes very close to the individual’s innermost thoughts, by probing attitudes and feelings about such things as themselves, social and cultural issues and politics. […] Closer to home for the marketer, this category will also investigate opinions about products and the individual’s view of the future, indicating how their needs and wants are likely to change.”
d) Demographics: This section is similar to the previous one "Demographic Analysis".

2. Personality: This element refers directly to the personality of the consumer, defining him in term of introvert, energetic, egocentric, etc. Often marketers associate to their product a brand personality (brand image) fitting the consumer’s personality. For example Bambino Mio Ltd.’s brand image and personality is urban, concerned with environmental preoccupation, open to new ideas, which characteristics fit with the ‘target market’ and ready to accept innovative concepts for his baby keeping in mind the waste reduction in order to reduce the amount of waste.

In sum, psychographic segmentation is complementary to the demographic variable to refine further the offering to the customer, increasing its relevance and dependability against competition. This kind of aspect gives the means to marketers to convince the consumer that the product can either enhance their current lifestyle or help them to achieve their aspiration.

Practical Approach

The psychographic profile of Bambino Mio’s customer is more difficult to identify, because of the lack of statistical data. In fact small enterprise have a difficult access to extensive customers’ database due to the high buy-costs (whose lack of customer data can be fulfilled by a CRM strategy). However, the positive aspect of a small company is that the marketing manager is often the same person, who sells and contacts customers. Bambino Mio’s manager-owner is aware of the psychographic profile of its customers, because there exists a direct trade relation between the employees and the customers.

As a result the target market can be described as being for young couples, whereof whom both partners are working and having an active way of life. These couple give a lot of importance to the family and to the work and is most probably also involved in associative activities focused on the well-being of people ( social, environment,…). People feel concerned by the environmental issues, by the ethical aspect of selling quality products and might be are maybe difficult to convince with a promotion emphasising emotional values, rather than more functional element of the product. The main traits of their personality may be that they are curious, social, urban, independent and less conventional in their choice than the mainstream of the population. Furthermore they understand that such a product is less expensive on the long term while a small ‘investment’ has to be made at the beginning with the disposable nappies.

[...]


[1] SME: Small and Middle Enterprises

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Details

Title
Strategic e-brand management for small enterprises
College
University of Geneva  (HEC (Haute Etudes Commerciales))
Grade
97%
Authors
Year
2004
Pages
87
Catalog Number
V21796
ISBN (eBook)
9783638253246
File size
852 KB
Language
English
Notes
This analysis is designed to help Small and Medium Enterprises to understand the issues of the Internet and the branding. The analysis is build in 3 main parts: I) Preparation of the integration of the Internet II) Benefits of the Internet (7C's of Mc Kinsey, Chaffey,...) III) Implementation and practical issues The analysis is based on a Small enterprise producing cotton nappies for babies (Bambino Mio Ltd)
Keywords
Strategic
Quote paper
Alexandre Georjon (Author)Antoinette Schroots (Author), 2004, Strategic e-brand management for small enterprises, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/21796

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