Assess the value to small businesses of carrying out marketing audits. Illustrate your arguments with reference to an existing small business of your choice
In this essay I will be assessing the value of Market auditing for small businesses using the firm Abel and Cole as a model. Market auditing is the means by which a company can understand how it correlates to the environment in which it operates. It is a way by which a company can identity its own pros and cons as they relate to external opportunities and threats. It should be undertaken as part of the planning cycle, on an annual basis rather than a desperate response to an immediate crisis. Abel and Cole is a small private limited company, operating in the niche organic food
…show more content…
They forbid the use of “routine antibiotics” as well as insure that the animals bought from their farmers are allowed to mature naturally “so they do not suffer the health problems associated with accelerated growth”
Although Abel and Cole have much strength’s they do have a few weaknesses. One of Abel and Cole’s weaknesses is that they do not hold any significant market share in the organic market as “40 percent of sales come from farmers who deliver food grown in their fields or raised in their barns”. The organic food market itself only accounts to “1-2% of food sales worldwide".
Abel and Cole do have opportunities that they can take advantage of. The organic market as whole has grown by “22 per cent to £1.93bn, with annual growth of 27 per cent in the past decade.” Recently Abel and Cole were linked with a 40m pound injection from Phoenix Equity Partners. This will allow Abel and Cole to deliver to even more locations thus helping them gain more market share. Able and Cole should also benefit form an increasing number of fair-trade goods being purchased as ‘consumers spent 1.1 billion on Fair-trade Certified Products in 2006’ An increase of 42% on the previous year.
Like any small business, Abel and Cole have threats which they have to face. The recent credit crunch which has had a huge influence on food prices of late will be something Abel and Cole have to deal
Coles thrive to make itself a better shopping and working place, therefore they lay stress on achieving the goal i.e.
Establish guidelines for researching and gathering information and work with the staff to gather and evaluate the data.
Shapin begins his essay with targeting the industry and the foundation regarding organic products. Many organic consumers believe that organic food originate from “…..small, family-owned, local operation[s]….” (429). Shapin states that “Like Whole Foods, Earthbound
Cole is an Australian supermarket with large influence and market share in the country. In addition, the company contributes significantly to the nation’s economy. In essence, the company has acquired more than 30% of the market share of the supermarket industry in this nation. Specifically, the company’sproduct line consists of daily products, grocery, meat, deli, fresh produce, bake house, cigarettes, liquor, apparel, general merchandize and over head products. Notably Cole has a culture of low price as its marketing strategy of attracting and retaining customers.
The latest trend or “craze” per say of the twenty first century has been that of organic foods. The U.S market for organic food at one time was growing at a pace of 20% per year, which is significantly greater as compared to the 3-4% of the food sector as a whole. This undeniable growing demand in organic foods caught the attention of Douglas Degn, an executive vice president of the wildly popular organization, Wal-Mart. With the demand of organic products often outstripping supply, Degn was faced with the decision of whether or not to jump on this shortage and give people what they want out of organics from Wal-Mart, or if he should continue to build on the products they already offer to consumers, in order
The company’s revenue in 2016 showed that profit growth rate decreased to the weakest point within last nine years. The company’s committee came up with the conclusion to reduce 15% of products sold in stores in order to increase profit and reduce costs. The strategy that Coles will
Internal Analysis Strengths - Wesfarmers are engaged in diverse business across the retail sector like supermarkets, departmental stores, home improvement and office supplies with the strategy to invest in diverse fields and sectors to maintain persistent growth and to lessen the risks associated with one particular sector. The pie chart below shows the breakup of contribution of total earnings of Wesfarmers in the financial year ended on 30th June 2014, thus giving a clear picture how the diversifying business helps in sustainability. Sr No. Sector Revenue in Financial year'14 in millions % increase or decrease from last year’s revenue % contribution in total revenue 1 Coles 37,391 4.5% increase 60.0 2 Bunnings 8,546 11.6% increase 13.7 3 Office
The stock market has always intrigued me and I have since been eager to learn more about it. Starting back in January of this year, I ordered three textbooks on stock trading to become more informed on the subject. After reading these books, I gained further insight on stock trading which led me to open my own brokerage account where I could buy and sell stocks. I started by playing a stock simulation which was very similar in concept to StockTrak, a program we used in this class. I found that this helped provide me with a hands on experience which helped familiarize me with stock trading and learning how to manage and use my money efficiently. I continued to play this simulation for about two months and during this time my portfolio grew about 4%, which provided me a confidence boost and motivated me to invest in my real money into the stock market. In March of 2015, I officially began trading in the stock market and I continued to learn along the way. As of now, I have roughly nine months of stock trading experience. As stated previously, I have always had in interest in the stock market, but I never acted upon it until as recently as earlier this year. My interest in the stock market was peaked because I enjoy taking risks and the stock market
Merry-Go-Round (MGR) is a clothing retailer that was founded in 1968. The company’s locations were in malls that targeted the youth and teen market. In the late 1980s, the company was listed by Forbes magazine as one of the top 25 companies. By the early 1990s, sales fell due to stiff competition from other retailers. Facing bankruptcy, the company hired turnaround specialists from Ernst and Young (E&Y) to help overcome the financial crisis. However, the company filed for Chapter 11 reorganization and due to that a group of 9,000 creditors filed a lawsuit against E&Y saying they were the main reason for MGR’s decline.
Warren Company makes candy. During the most recent accounting period, Warren paid $3,000 for raw materials, $4,000 for labor, and $2,000 for overhead costs that were incurred to make candy. Warren started and completed 10,000 units of candy, of which 7,000 were sold. Based on this information, Warren would recognize which of the following amounts of expense on the income
Electronically maintain BMV computer servers are handled by an outside agency called Indiana Office of Technology (IOT). We currently do not have a contract with the right to audit and there is significant pressure not to audit other agencies as it has been indicated outside our jurisdiction. A meeting was held to determine if any of the process was handled by the BMV which would create internal risk or if all risks belong to IOT thus are not auditable by the BMV internal audit. It was determined that all the risks belong to IOT. The primary function of IOT is the set up servers and provide maintenance to those servers (updates to windows and etc.). Currently, over 300 servers are provided to the BMV by IOT (many of these are virtual servers).
In 2015 the company’s share price fell by 40% due to the strong competition it faced by Kroger,17% rise, Costco more then 10% rise (Bells, 2015). Walmart still holds the biggest market share in the retail field but also entered the organic food market pretty easily by offering natural and organic products at its lowest price guarantee and “price match” techniques. The four-firm concentration ratio for the market is at high 87.7% making its bold statement about the big players in the market and the oligopoly industry (Statista, n.d.). It is a difficult task for stores like Albertsons to enter the organic food market due to the influence and unbeatable prices majority of the competitors offer. Since the organic products sales are in no way a new innovation or something we have not seen before a fair opportunity is given to anyone guaranteeing good quality and prices. However, a big brand like Whole Foods controls a big portion of the organic food market and therefor its is unlikely for a new developing store to survive on it
Micro and macro have massive impact on the success in every business . 3. Explain why market research and the information gathered are important to an organisation like Clare’s Chocolates. (150 words) Marketing research is very important aspect for Clare Chocolate if they want to keep up with the latest market trends and gain a competitive edge in the business market.
Over the past semester in Economics I have invested in and monitored the stock market. I learned how investing in certain companies can be risky and proper research about the companies are detrimental before buying stocks. Three stocks that have influenced most of my financial earnings and losses include Twitter, Amazon, and Pepsi.
The Marketing Audit will examine both Macro-Factors, sometimes referred to as STEP, and Micro-Factors within the company. The main method of carrying out a Marketing Audit is to examine MU 's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, or the SWOT Analysis, developing strategies based on this.