Citizen Watches Japan Marketing Plan

The intention of writing a marketing plan is to give a detailed report of our new product in the market. I select the company CITIZEN WATCHES JAPAN, because the sale of this company goes down continuously from last two years. Keeping in view I am going to launch a new product through its local subsidiary company, Citizen Watches (Pakistan) Pvt. Ltd.

With the objectives and mission statement that are already set by the company, and discussed a proposed marketing plan for that product of the company.

Starting from product attributes finding our suitable target markets, the benefits that our target customers will get, selecting appropriate distribution channels to make our product easily accessible, studying the current situation analysis of our target markets, analysis of our competitors, and the ratio of market which they have captured. Designing a marketing mix pricing strategies, Marketing objectives and accordingly making marketing strategies.

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As a result of the conditions summarized above, the Citizen Group’s full-year consolidated results included net sales of 252.502 billion yen (down 14.9% year-on-year), operating income of 7.229 billion yen (up 416.9%), ordinary income of 7.976 billion yen (up 965.3%), and net income of 3.527 billion yen (net loss of 25.806 billion yen for the previous fiscal year).

Company History

For almost eight decades, Citizen has been ahead of its time. Our brand has always stood for innovations and high precision that make life better for everyday people and now we are raising our sights to meet the needs of the new Millennium.

Our beginnings go back to 1924, when Citizen’s forerunner, the Shokosha Watch Research Watch Institute produced its first pocket watch the “CITIZEN”. The then Mayor of Tokyo, Mr. Shimpei Goto, named the watch “CITIZEN” with the hope that the watch, a luxury item of those times, would become widely available to ordinary citizens and be sold throughout the world.

Our first pocket watch, the CITIZEN

1924 – Our first pocket watch, the ‘CITIZEN’

One of the first Citizen wrist watches, the Caliber F

1931 – One of the first Citizen wrist watches, the ‘Caliber F’

The factory building

1940 – The factory building

First Japanese wristwatch with shock-absorptionInside of first shock-absorption watch

1956 – First Japanese wristwatch with shock-absorption

World’s thinnest light powered watch, the Stiletto

2003 – World’s thinnest light powered watch, the ‘Stiletto’

Mission statement

As the names “Citizen Watch” or “Citizen Group” state, our policy is to provide the best products and services to all “citizens” in the world.

Status of the Company

Within this short span of time we have gained a good word of mouth for our quality products which we have been producing according to the market likings.

Keeping eyes on the current position of the Citizen watches sale (shown in graphCitizen Sales so trying to increase the sales the company about to launch a new innovative, ground breaking, new unique product in the market which is currently not available.

Market status of the company

As the basic phenomena of CITIZEN company is to provide the best product and services to all “Citizen” of the world, so company sees the whole world as their citizen. But at this stage the company mainly focusing in Pakistan’s market, our products are being used in Pakistan. The goodwill of our products is high in the market. As a result of market survey we have a large quantity of loyal customer as well as potential customers. There is continuous communication with the customer (promotion) to increase the quality and performance of existing products. On the basis of past experience there are good expectations with the new product “Supremacy Disk Watch”.

Steps of marketing plan

1) Situational Analysis

• Micro Environment

Micro factors are the factors that directly influence our company. The main micro factors are:

1 Intermediaries (Suppliers / Distributors)

2 Customers

3 Competitors (direct / indirect)

• Macro Environment

1)-Demographic Environment

Demography is the study of human population in terms of age, gender, household size, family life cycle, education and population age mix.

Pakistan is one of the 3rd world countries with a population of Apx.17.50 billion out of which 48% are males and 52% are females. And 55% of the population involves in agriculture. The literacy rate in very low i.e. 39% and population rate is 2.3% annually. Most of the population lives in rural areas but migration rate is high. The per capital income is Apx.$520 per person annually. Lahore is one of the largest cities of Pakistan. The target of our watch is young generation aging from 20-35 but still watch is being used by guys as well.

2)-Economic Environment

In third world countries, a large part of the income of people is spent on the basic needs, so it’s the most sensitive environment where the income level is low, middle class is shrinking, wealth distribution is unequal and saving rate is low. The people are either very rich or very poor. And their consumption behavior varies accordingly.

3)-Technological environment

In Pakistan, there are less opportunities of innovation are available due to the lack of research. However it also depends on the companies that how much they prefer the research and customer feedback. Keeping in view the target market, our company has to look for opportunities rather then wait for them.

4)-Geographical Environment

The population level is high & crossing 170 million. The growth rate of the customer is expected to have an increasing trend.

5)-Social cultural Environment

Traditionally youngsters have more interest in music and making snaps and videos. This means more consumption of watches then from older ones.

6)-Legal and Political Environment

There are no restrictions for the new entrants. Govt. is supporting us by providing exemption of sales tax for 2 years to show their commitment towards welcoming new investment.

Factors influencing consumer buying behavior

There are many factors that influence the consumer buying behavior directly. These factors are:

1. Cultural factors

2. Social factors

3. Personal factors

4. Economic factors

Cultural factors

As far as we are concerned we will target Lahore market at first. The people living in Lahore are good looking and they spent major part of their income in shopping. When we talk about watch many customers are not really satisfied with their existing watches. That’s where we are focusing at:

Social Factors

Some people get inspiration from reference groups and they use the same products as their reference groups are using.

Personal Factors

Age factor affects the consumer buying behavior. Mostly young generation use watches to improve their outlook.

Economic Factor

Economic conditions have also a bit effect on consumer buying behavior. People with high income never hesitate to spend the money on taking care of their out look.

Competitive Factor

There are three types of competition

1. Brand competition

2. Form competition

3. Generic competition

Brand competitors

By brand competition we mean competition between different manufacturers who satisfy or tend to satisfy similar need by providing Similar product. In our case our direct brand competitors are

1. Rolex

2. Casio

3. Swatch

4. Raymond’s well

Form competitors

By form competitors we mean the competition between manufacturers which will satisfy the same need but the products that they offer are different.

Our form competitors are

1. Rado

2. Titan

Generic competition

Competition among products that are different, but solve the same problem or provide the same benefit or utility. 

2) Marketing Objectives

There are two types of marketing objectives which are given below

1. Short term objectives

2. Long term objectives

Short term objectives:

The fundamental objective of Citizen Watches Pakistan to increase the sales volume of Supremacy disk watches. Create a good image of our product in the mind of customers. Our main concern is profitability.

Long term Objectives:

CITIZEN WATCHES (PAKISTAN) long term objectives are:

• Retention of our loyal customer
• Capturing high market share
• Delivering quality products to our customers
• Capturing the potential target market of Pakistan
• Launching innovative changes for our product
• Creating brand awareness and brand loyalty

3) Market Segmentation

Geographical region:

Our target market geographical region profile is as follows.

World region:

Asia

Country:

Pakistan

City:

Lahore

Areas:

Defense, Cantonment, Cavalry Ground, Gulberg, Model town

Demographic factors:

Age:

20+

Gender:

Male

4) Target Market

This watch is designed for students, executives, professionals with different occupation, degrees and education levels. We have designed and customized according to different user needs.

Students:

For students we have designed a model called G-SHOCK as mentioned earlier our watches are for expressive people who want to express them selves, so G-SHOCK has been designed according to latest styles , fashion make it an unique and an expressive watch apart from its features.

Product Features:

Memory space: (128MB~512Mb)

This feature is really beneficial one because students can carry their assignments, presentation, work, software, related stuff on it and can access it form any where no need to open your mail account and download your required stuff . Instead of wasting so much time just copy it in your watch and carry it any where you want.

Portability:

This is a portable device which is always on your hand in the form of watch; it’s easy to carry because it weighs almost equal to watch. So at one space one carry four additional accessories.

Entertainment:

Mp3 Player:

Students mostly have walk mans, CD man with them which they often use while traveling mostly. Now you don’t need to have any walk man because you can store almost about 500 songs in your watch and can listen them when ever you want. You are traveling, sitting alone and feeling bore, or want to listen song at night time but can not put your deck on, our watch has solution for every problem

Voice recorder:

It is very help full during the lecture because you can record your lecture any time and can listen to it after wards and even can store it in your Pc.

Privacy:

Our product will be providing privacy by keeping the personal private things with you in your watch and can carry them with you all the time.

Executives/Professionals:

The watch which we have designed for professionals isEst eem.it varies in design according to varying age groups .we have given some new designs to this product which is a bit different from others.

The benefits we will be giving to our customers are as follows.

Portable:

Our product makes it easier for you to carry your data in a portable device requiring no new space

Stylish designs:

Our watches along with technical aspects have stylish features according to current fashion. The Supremacy disk watch for executives has, attracting, exclusive, designs our targeted customers which give them an expressive look.

Voice recorder:

Supremacy disk has introduced this feature for the first time in current market; this feature is of great use we have made a small product which carries multiple functions in it this feature enables you to: Record all conversation while in meeting.

While interviewing some one can record the interview instead of writing it down and saving time.

Privacy:

It keeps your privacy with you .one can carry some of its important files, documents

Save in his/her watch.

5) Marketing mix

Product

Price

Place

Promotion

People

Process

Physical Evidence

PRODUCTS:-

As we have already discussed about the product, its features and its attributes above.

So now we will be looking at the other three P’s.

PRICE:-

PRICING STRATEGY:-

The pricing strategy portion of the marketing plan involves determining how we will price our product or service; the price we charge has to be competitive but still allow us to make a reasonable profit.

The keyword here is “reasonable”; we can charge any price we want to, but for every product or service there’s a limit to how much the consumer is willing to pay. Our pricing strategy needs to take this consumer threshold into account.

We set our prices by examining how much it costs us to produce the product or service and adding a fair price for the benefits that the customer will enjoy. We may find it useful to conduct a Breakeven Analysis. In break even analysis the price is set to break even on the costs of making and marketing a product or in other words setting a price to make a target profit.

These are some pricing strategies:

1. Cost based pricing

2. Value based pricing

3. Competition based pricing

Cost based pricing:

Cost based pricing involves adding a markup to the cost of the product. But Supremacy disk is not dealing in price sensitive market. So we move on to the next pricing method.

VALUE BASED PRICING:

In value based pricing price is based on the buyer’s perception of value rather than on the sellers cost.

An increasing number of companies are basing their prices on the products perceived value. And we can use it here as well as the consumers already don’t have an image of this new product in mind so there is a need to base its new price on its value. All the company needs to do is to change the view point of the customers by Powerful and attractive advertising.

COMPETITION BASED PRICING

Setting prices based on the prices the competitors charge for similar products is called competition based pricing. Consumers will base their judgments of a products value on the prices that competitors charge for similar products. One form of competition based pricing is going rate pricing in which a firm bases its prices largely on competitors prices, with less attention paid to its own costs or to demand. The firm might charge the same as, more than or less than its major competitors.

But as we know that Supremacy disk is not facing any competition so this strategy is not be used by the company.

We are launching a new unique product for a special class of people our target market is not price sensitive so we will be using Value Based Pricing because we processes a good word of mouth and this type we are launching an innovative product which already does not exist in market

PLACE:-

It includes marketing channels and channel levels as described below:-

MARKETING CHANNELS

Few producers sell their goods directly to final users. Instead most use intermediaries to bring their products to market. They try to forget a marketing channel or distribution channel, a set of interdependent organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption by the consumer or business user.

There are basically two marketing channels:-

Direct marketing channel:-

A marketing channel that has no intermediary levels

Indirect marketing channel: –

Channel containing one or more intermediary levels.

We Implement

Direct channels:

Company Owned Shop:

The products will be available on our company outlet at MM ALAM ROAD and Defence Y-Block.

In- Direct channels:

It would be difficult to cover our target market by just using direct channel so in order to make it easily available we will use the maximum no of efficient indirect channels, which are as follows:

1. H karim bukhsh outlets

2. pot puri outlets

3. Al Fetah outlets

4. sketchers outlets

5. Nike outlets

6. Pace shopping mall

7. Fortress market

PROMOTION

Promotion means customer communication that how we can reach to our customer to read and capture his mind.

PROMOTION MIX STRETAGES:-

Marketers can choose from two basic promotion mix strategies:-

1). Push strategy

2). Pull strategy

PUSH STRATEGY:-

A promotion strategy that calls for using the sales force and trade promotion to push the product through channels is called push strategy. The producer promotes the product to wholesalers the wholesalers promotes to retailers, and the retailer promotes to consumers.

A push strategy involves “pushing” the product through distribution channels to final consumers. The producer directs its marketing activities (primarily personal selling and trade promotion) toward channel members to induce them to carry the product and to promote it to final consumer.

PULL STRATEGY:-

A promotion strategy that calls for spending a lot on advertising and consumer promotion to build up consumer demand is called pull strategy. If the strategy is successful, consumers will ask their retailers for the product, the retailers will ask the wholesalers, and the wholesalers will ask the producers.

Using a pull strategy, the producer directs its marketing activities (primarily advertising and consumer promotion) toward final consumers to induce them to buy the product. If the pull strategy is effective, consumers will then demand the product from channel members, who will in turn demand from producers. Thus, under a pull strategy, consumer demand “pulls” the product through the channels.

APPROACH’s

As I am launching our product (watches) so we will use the mix strategies to improve the customer demand to have more sales and better supply in all kinds of markets and stores. And for this we have to analyze trends or behaviors of the consumers so that the company’s ability to do business can be improved. So in this section we’ll also give the tools we will be using for this launch. We will also discuss the promotion strategy that we will be using in this launch.

Promotion tools

Advertisement

Advertisement is the tool to make the product known to the customer, the advertisement should be in such a manner so that it can attract the customer at first glance then their should be image retention in the mind of customer. Continuous advertisement stimulates the customer for the purchasing of the product. Advertisement tools used are

Magazines

1. Libas Magazine

2. MAG

3. Times Magazine

4. Visag Magzine

5. Fashion Magzine

Sign boards

Advertisement through signboards in posh areas of Lahore. For the evaluation of the product performance following methods will be used so that if the customer is facing any problems in respect of quality, availability and other matters can be removed. Feed back form

Forms having different question about the product performance, its weaknesses (if any), Need for quality improvement and other questions regarding service approachability, affordability etc will be available. Forms will be given to the customers at time of purchase.

Sales Promotion and retention of loyal customers

For sales promotion at different occasions like EID, Independence day, greeting cards will be sent in order to stay in contact with our loyally and potential customers.

Packing

The fifth element of the 7 p’s is the packaging. Develop the habit of standing back and looking at every visual element in the packaging of the product or service through the eyes of a important prospect. Remember, people form their first impression about you within the first 30 seconds of seeing you or some element of the company. Small improvements in the packaging or external appearance of the product or service can often lead to completely different reactions from the customers. so the packing of this new product makes very attractive and like a gift box, but keeping in view that packing doesn’t effect the price of watches. Supremacy Disk Watch’s packing design to attract the people.

Positioning

The next P is positioning. Our new product develops the habit of thinking frequently about how we are positioned in the hearts and minds of our customers. How does our customer think and talk about you when you’re not present? How do people think and talk about the company? What positioning do company have in the market, in terms of the specific words people use when we describe my company and its offerings to others? A very sensitive and close eyes are on the positioning of the product and also on the position of the company, by doing the regular surveys’ and arrange a small gatherings like in RAMZAN in terms of Aftari Function. By this the image of our company is grow up religiously in customer’s mind and we have chance to get feedback by small 2 or 3 question of satisfaction from the visitors.

The physiology of the people of Pakistan once the image of a company or a brand is set in their mind they become loyal to that company or the product, you can say that the 75% percent of population follows the other peoples to decide the things which they going to choose for themselves.

People

The final P of the marketing mix is people. We hardly tried to develop the habit of thinking in terms of the people inside and outside of your business who are responsible for every element of your sales and marketing strategy http://konac.kontera.com/javascript/lib/imgs/grey_loader.gif

and activities. In Citizen Watches Pakistan entrepreneurs and businesspeople will work very hard to think through every element of the marketing strategy and the marketing mix, and then pay little attention to the fact that every single decision and policy has to be carried out by our specific person, in a specific way. Company’s ability to select, recruit, hire and retain the proper people, with the skills and abilities to do the job you need to have done, is more important than everything else put together. And it defiantly works for the benefit of the company

6) Action & Implementation

It is the most important step of the marketing plan. In this step we actually implement what we have considered In above steps. Because there is a saying that it is useless to write a story if you are not going to make a movie.

Here I suggest for the company that company should choose Product method of marketing mix for the growth of their new product just because of the target market of the new product is students and in these day the mobile phones reduced the intentions of the customers because of the vast range of functions offered in mobile sets, so that the trend of customer thinking can be changed by offer them a vide range of services according to their demand. The purpose to design this product is get attention of this segment of the market by offering such an interesting functions in a watch.

So keeping all these facts in view I recommend that the company must take a good look at the product features’ that they offer to get more customer and which help full in the down going sales of the watches not in Pakistan but in the world.