"Create a marketing plan for an online shop selling souvenirs and crafts" TALBLE OF CONTENTS I GENERAL INTRODUCTION Handicraft products are found to have a long tradition in Vietnam and were exported quite early compared to other commodities; they have contributed positively to total exports of the country and have an important role in solving some social and economic problems in rural areas The group of handicraft products is classified as group which has great export potential and high margins It has also been listed in the list of top 10 items with highest growth After studying the market of souvenir items and traditinal handicrafts of Vietnam, we have decided to establish a company specializing in manufacturing, trading and exporting handicrafts with the main following characteristics: - Company name: Import and export commercial joint stock company Gia Hân (abbreviation: GH.JSC) - Products provided: High quality souvenirs and handicraft product made from rattan, bamboo, sedge, pottery; - Business model: Import and export the products made directly from the domestic materials Online sales through website or “Online shop” is the main sales channel, with the headquater combined with showroom to introduce the selected items - Slogan: “Oriental essence” - Targets: Within the strategy of production and business development until 2015, the company will focus on improving product quality of handmade products in order for them to enter the U.S and European markets through online marketing Besides, building the company with a new and innovative marketing model; offer selected, high quality and thoroughly designed products , creating a stable position in the domestic market; try to access, familiarized itself and beome a trustworthy brand in the international market in the nearest future II MARKETING PLAN Market Analysis: 1.1 Sector Crafts, art and household items made from Vietnam's traditional materials such as ceramic, porcelain, lacquer, rattan, bamboo, papyrus, wood, stone, silk, horn, ivory, silver, copper, through the skilled hands of the artist in traditional handicraft villages, became the consumer and export products that bear deep cultural and ethnic value of Vietnam In recent years, the handicrafts export market of Vietnam has been increasingly expanded, aside from major markets such as Germany, France, Korea, Japan , the handicrafts of Vietnam are now present in 163 countries and territories around the world According to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the European markets has great demand for these products; in recent years EU has imported about billion USD and Vietnam has also gained about 5.4% of that amount EU will be a promising market for handicraft product of Vietnam 1.2 Target customers: The group of customer which has demand for sourvenir and handicrafts products in Vietnam is very diverse and comes sources However, based on the from many countries, from many company's targets, on the characteristics of products offered, the potential customers (target) of the company are classified into the following groups: - Vietnamese individuals / organizations who have demand for traditional arts; like giving gifts to friends, relatives and business partners and require high-quality product which are sophisticated and not high mass-produced The price should also be reasonable with the requirements, design and requested style With the impressive rate of economic growth of 7-8% / year(GDP) during the previous decade, the number of this type of customer is increasing, concentrating mainly in big cities and key economic regions of the North (Hanoi), the Central (Hue, Da Nang) and the South (Ho Chi Minh) - Vietnamese people who are living abroad: estimated to be million people (half of which lives in the U.S.) who are looking forward to returning home; they always try to handicraft products which strongly represents the Asian culture such as products made from natural material: furniture made from bamboo and rattan, ceramic trays and plates with delicate design which can be used as gifts with high cultural value From the role of direct consumer, they can also serve as the recommender, an effective distribution channels of handicrafts to markets abroad - Foreign tourists: in 2010, the nubmer of tourists coming to Vietnam has reached million, increasing 34.8% compared to 2009 in which the number of visitors coming from the rich country such as France was 200,000, Australia was 280,000, Japan was 442.00, the U.S was 430,000 (source: VNAT) However, international visitors coming to Vietnam did not have many choices to spend on shopping, especially on handicraft products; instead they mainly just watched and photographed Some main indicators of the first months of 2011 (increase/decrease) compared to the same period in 2010 Increase/Decrease No Indicators Percentage (%) Value of industrial manufacture +14,2 The total amount of retails and consumer service revenue +22,5 Total export value +32,8 Total import value +29,7 Foreigner tourists coming to Vietnam +18,0 Implemented investment of government budget compared to yearly plan Average Consumer Price Index for the first five months of 2011 compared to the same period in 2010 39,0 +15,09 (Source: The statistics office) Looking at the figures we can see that the total export value and the number of international visitors coming to Vietnam continue to increase (+); it shows that the market to develop the sale and export of handicraft products is promising a lot of potential for GH to penetrate and develop its marketing plan, especially online marketing plan Competitors 1.2.1 Domestic: The rattan – bamboo products manufacturing company Handcraf Thị trường Châu Âu, Mỹ Doanh thu hàng năm 30 tỷ đồng Strengths Weaknesses  Able to take advantage of the local  The workers still mainly work based labor resource with more than 20000 on self experience, therefore the workers skills are underdeveloped  Was established in a traditional handicraft village Able to take advantage of the support of capital and land from the local government  Having difficulty about investment capital to expand production and train employees  Production technology hasn’t been invested appropriately  Local material can only meet 20% of the demand, unstable and costly supply source  The design and diversification of the products haven’t been given enough attention 1.2.2 International: China is the country which has the biggest market share of exporting bamboorattan products in the competing markets with Vietnamese companies such as USA, EU, Japan… Generally, Chinese companies have the following notable characteristics: Strengths Weaknesses  Abundant and low cost human resource  Inconsistent product quality, there are still many fake products  Large territory with many material areas  Highly developed technology environment, have already applied modern technology in many production steps  Competitive prices  Broad distribution channels in many countries  There are a lot of big corporation with strong economic resources such as: Hengyang Da Wei Bamboo Product Co.Ltd, Xiamen PEKE Co.Ltd… Besides, there are showrooms at the handicraft villages which belong to the manufacturing factory; they always cooperate with other travel companies to sell products to the tourists visiting villages 1.3 Factors of policies, regulations, environment and technology: With the economy slowly integrated to WTO, the policies and regulations are all supportive towards the development of handicraft villages and the company specializing in manufacturing and exporting handicraft products since it helps to create jobs for people as well as contribute to the development of the economy and promote the image of the traditional culture of Vietnam to the world On the other hand, the exploitation of raw materials to produce and process the handicrafts should follow the regulations about exploitation of precious resources (precious wood, metals ), as well as habitat and ecology protection 1.4 SWOT Analysis STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES  Well-trained employees with knowledge,  The devotion and commitment for the company material for processing and outsourcing, diversified product types and designs meet the requirements of customers in strict country such as Germany is in danger of depletion This situation occurs for most types of products Bad and  The company directly selects the input which material and Japan unstable supply of rattan, bamboo , the source of precious wood become more and more scarce due to forests being cut down by people This fact has greatly impacted the cost, price and competitiveness of Vietnamese products to products of other countries  The demand of foreign tourists for handicraft is very diverse and seasonally changing The life cycle of a product is very short; therefore it requires the company to be very flexible to be able to meet those requirements OPPORTUNITIES CHALLENGES  The demand of foreign tourists for  Diversify the business scope, broaden handicraft is very diverse and seasonally the online businees in order to meet changing The life cycle of a product is the demand of foreign customers who very short; therefore it requires the don’t have time to really learn about company to be very flexible to be able to Vietnam or wish to know more about meet those requirements the traditional products which carry  The number of visitors visiting and the cultural traits of Vietnam  The challenge of accessibility to new coming to Vietnam is increasing  The number of living abroad Vietnamese modern technology return to develop and contribute for the  The challenges for the employees country is also increasing (need knowledge and experience  The ability to access, to learn the modern technology in the world will help the company to promote its position and develop the products design competence  In order to save time, cost, and to satisfy about law and regulations, good language ability, good negotiation skills… ability to get used to information technology (IT) and use the supporting tools such as facebook, blog 360o, website… as well as the are ability to design the products quickly increasing the demand for trading, selling along with the new trends of the and buying through Online Store (Shopa world the on selection Internet), demand or the People websites of introducing and selling products 1.5 Positioning, Market penetration plan: The company identifies its goals as followed:  Improve the competitive advantage to other domestic companies - The company will focus to improve the quality of products in order to make it able for handicraft products to enter the U.S and European market through online marketing besides building the company with a new and innovative marketing model, offer selected, high quality and well-designed products, maintain a stable position in the domestic market, access, familiarize and become a trustworthy brand in the international market in the nearest future - Target customers are the target customer groups analyzed in section 1.2., focus on customers who have not / can not directly contact with the handicraft villages of Vietnam Product research & development: In reality, travelers are all interested in buying some souvenir to memorize the trip Foreign tourists are also quite interested in the handicraft products of Vietnam However, many tourists coming to the craft store in Hanoi mainly just for seeing The souvenirs for visitors of the Hanoi market can be divided into two types: to be used and to be displayed In the first group – products to be used, the quality and the style are the most important The embroidered bags or silk shirts are good examples Mrs Jenifer, an American tourist said: 'I love the silk products, but the design is too poor Compared to a few years ago, there’s nothing new ' Moreover, these handicraft products can’t last long and look clearly deteriorated just after a short period due to being worn out and broken The T-shirts with the flag of Vietnam, or the words 'I love Pho' have very low quality As for handicrafts to be displayed, visitors can pass the money factor to buy beautiful products However many items still make people disappointed Japanese customers normally prefer lacquer products However, lacquer items now are mainly made with Japanese lacquers, so many Japanese tourists refuse such items Additionally, the preference of tourists from each country is different However, due to the lack of understanding about taste and preference of each customer group, there is no appropriate product which can make them willing to buy immediately once seeing it ' One item which is very symbolic of the culture of Vietnam is the wooden figure of girls wearing conical hats and long dress; this item has been presented in many souvenir shops but did not sell very well The reason for it is not because tourists don’t like them, but because they are quite cumbersome Similarly are the water puppets, very eyecatching, very distinctive for Vietnamese culture, but tourists mostly stop just to photograph The producers did not think through about the fact that when traveling many days, tourists have to bring their own belongings and it would be very inconvenient if they have to carry the bulky and fragile sourvenirs Thus, it’s hard enough for them to choose what to buy for themselves, not even mention buying some gifts for friends During the launching ceremony of tourism stimulus program in 2010, The Director of Travelling Bureau (Vietnam Administration of Tourism) Mr Vu The Binh has reported the sad figure of poor spending of international tourists: In the total cost of the trip to Vietnam, tourists spend only about 10 to 15% for shopping This figure in Thailand ranged from 50-55% In addition, the average spending of tourists in Vietnam is lower than other countries in the region Among many reasons, there is the cause of the lack of appeal of souvenir products (Source: Nhan dan) Therefore to thoroughly research about product, market and customers’ preferences is very important and can affect the chance of being successful of the enterprise Handicraft items can be classified into two groups: (I) Strongly traditional group (II) Group of products that are mixture of traditional and modern features to create beautiful yet practical items 2.1 Marketing plan: 2.1.1 Design and create the website (Online store): - “About the company” part should demonstrate the dedication and commitment at the high levels of the company, with high quality and dinstinctive products; - “About the product” part: clearly show on the website the details of products according to customer demands (products listed under the list with detailed images of sizes, materials, safety requirements, climate conditions in order to preserve ); models designed to suit the aesthetic value and practical value Moreover, also introduce the payment method, the ordering cost and delivery of products according to geographic regions - Introduce about the culture, characteristics and Asian art, traditions of Vietnamto customer all around the World - Cooperate with other companies: in supplying raw materials and selling products through online stores Apply the 3rd CRM models which is online in order to improve the efficiency in purchasing raw materials, purchasing input equipment and coordinate with partners to improve internal operating efficiency - - Interacting with customers: website design should include all the features and supporting information such as: English translated product information, posting products on the U.S ebay.com website and answering any questions of the customers (can also have the feature of Q&A, survey about customers’ demand and preference, the data can be arranged in period or overall period); the website should also have instructions for the customers on how to buy in the most effective and least risky way, help to solve problems arising during the transaction and especially the support in terms of payment - - We can see that, selling products in international market through E-marketing and website has a lot of advantages such as: No cost for renting space, finding the customers, reducing the cost and human resource at the maximum level Besides E-marketing helps GH to constantly add more new features which the most recent is auction service: auctioning the products to attract more customers’ attention, increasing the level of attractiveness, faster selling and gaining more profit This feature helps GH to have more choices and increase the profit 2.1.2 - Other activities of marketing, image promoting: Make the most out of the communication tools, online advertising tools such as Facebook, Netlog, Twitter, friendster : set up the forum to exchange ideas about the industry, handicraft products in order for the employees to have deep understanding about the products and the company, share and exchange the company's image and handicraft products to all customers to save time and costs - Participate in the associations of handicraft villages in Vietnam: through these activities, update the information of the association on the company's website, ensure that all the newest information and activities related to the associations to reach individual clients / groups - Cooperate with travel companies and travel magazines to introduce the products in magazines and publications related to tourism, arts and culture of Vietnam; ensure that information can reach all customers such as Heritage magazine of Vietnam Airlines, Vietnam travel magazine Besides, cooperate with some online advertising to create the direct link to the online advertisement of the company - Actively seek and participate in trade fairs organized in the country and abroad to exchange and learn about design, quality and business methods; as well as to promote the image, handicraft products of Vietnam to the World - - Organize the combined tour with tourist companies to introduce the traditional culture of Vietnam handicraft village 2.2 Establish an effective and appropriate marketing budget: Priortize the marketing budget in the phrase of market penetrating, create connection with partners 2.3 Marketing efficiency evaluation : Regularly keeping track of statistical growth of sales revenue along with the costs for marketing; keep track of customers’ visit of the website and the rate of successful transaction, also promptly solve the customer’s inquiries 2.4 Delivery and after-sales customer service: On time delivery with correct delivery location, ensure that the products reach the customer in the best state Especially focus on the after sale customer service after buying and using the product Create a database system which contains customers’ personal information in order to not miss out customers’ special occasions Increase the stability and loyalty of the customers towards the company III CONCLUSIONS: We can clearly see that, selling products in the domestic as well as in international markets through online marketing and website has a lot of advantages such as: no cost for renting space, easily find the customer, reduce the cost at the maximum level and reduce the number of staff Besides, E-marketing can help companies to constantly update new features in order to attract more customers, increase the appealing level, faster sales and greated profits, reduce the cost of inventory and employees at the maximum level The method of E-marketing promises a lot of potentials in introducing and promoting the image of Vietnam to the world  ... Domestic: The rattan – bamboo products manufacturing company Handcraf Thị trường Châu Âu, Mỹ Doanh thu hàng năm 30 tỷ đồng Strengths Weaknesses  Able to take advantage of the local  The workers... The challenge of accessibility to new coming to Vietnam is increasing  The number of living abroad Vietnamese modern technology return to develop and contribute for the  The challenges for... as USA, EU, Japan… Generally, Chinese companies have the following notable characteristics: Strengths Weaknesses  Abundant and low cost human resource  Inconsistent product quality, there are