One of the main problems which new people encounter when starting a business is lack of funds. They mostly depend on their savings to fund the business since they may not get support from external sources. These savings are rarely enough to gather for all the expenses which are needed to start a business. This lack of finances also restricts the implementation of the business plan. The owner should come up with a plan which is fully funded by his savings. There has been indication that these savings are no adequate to cover all the requirements. Any business requires good planning and management in order to be successful. Experience is required in this sector in order to operate well the business. New business people are not experienced and are therefore poor in management and planning. Getting the best selling goods or services at a certain area also requires experience. Prioritization of the activities is another difficult area which requires experience. The new business people lack the connection with the experienced or highly skilled personnel in the area. It takes longer time to build a good and meaningful network of likeminded individuals in the business sector (Comite, 2009).
Niche products
Niche products are those products which are produced with the aim of satisfying some specific needs of a consumer. The products which are on sale are distinct in a type of the niche market. Examples of niche products may include luxury products such as the ladies purses. Another example is luxurious boutiques and hotels and finally glassware.
Niche Company
In an environment where only one company specializes on production of a niche product or service, it faces low or no competition. The products from such a company are usually marketed to small number of individuals. It is therefore easy to reach every consumer and is less costly to market. These products, mostly being the luxury products, will mean that the targets are the people who are able to buy them. The marketing structure will therefore be simple and easier to carry out. The advantage of targeting the niche market is that it is less saturated as compared to other market types. There is low competition in the market and it is an advantage to the niche product companies. The niche product companies targeting the market would be able to know the products which sell well in a particular area. There is a better understanding on the changes in the market and adapting to them will lead to more sales.
Reasons why customers would pay more for exclusivity
Consumers believe that exclusivity is classic and thus justified to be expensive. The buyers would spend much money in paying for a product which is unique in the market. The market of an item is likely to change over a given period of time. These changes are usually pronounced when there are similar items that are introduced in the market. These items, for example, are commodities like juice. Juice can be of different brands. These brands’ market situation is likely to change from time to time. The price of a brand is one of the factors that may affect market of a commodity. Brands with a high price may not be bought by most consumers. However, in some instance, when the price is high, the individuals may feel good acquiring the product. Therefore, depending on the location of the company, the price of the commodity may vary.
Another thing is the quality of the product. The higher the quality of the product, the more marketable it is. The brand name can also affect the market. The names which are easier to pronounce and remember have been proved to sell more than those which have difficult names. Every company should choose a name which is easy to remember. Packaging is another important factor which affects the marketing of a brand. The packaging size of a commodity should be attractive to the customers. A commodity should not be packed in small sizes as it will make the consumer have a notion that they are expensive (Urban Outfitters, n.d.).
A big packet discourages the consumers for commodities like juice. Therefore it is advisable to pack the commodities in various packets. The packaging should also be attractive. The material used to pack should have an attractive texture and color. With juice, color should be attractive like orange or any other bright and appetizing color.
The brand name of a commodity should also be easy to translate into other languages. Commodities which are used internationally should have the names which are easy to translate to other languages. For example English names used for brand names should be easy to translate into Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and other languages. This will encourage consumers to buy the commodities thinking that they are locally produced. The name of a brand should also be made in a way which suggests the benefits of that commodity.
This will encourage the consumers to buy the product in preference to others. Like the name ‘Energizer’ will encourage the consumers to buy the product. The names that are not related with the benefits of the product may discourage the consumers from buying them. The brand names of the products reduce the cost of searching for them among other similar ones. The consumer will not search for the product since the name has reputation. This will also cut the cost of advertising. The majority of the consumers will be aware of the product thus lowering the advertising cost (Pies, Hielscher & Beckmann, 2009).
Niche player chips away
Going after dissimilar sales is one of the ways in which the niche player can chip away from the competition. An example of this is amazon.com. It started using the manual way of advertising and selling of the products and later computerized its operations. A consumer can just log on to their website and view the available goods and services and even buy them online.
Another way of chipping away from the competition is by providing a premium product. An example of the company which has done this is the Starbucks. It provides a European style coffee experience versus the ordinary coffee. At this moment the coffee industry is saturated and there is so much competition. Another one is specializing in one product line. An example of the retailer who has embraced this is the ehobbies.com. This retailer focuses on the things for hobbies. It gives a large selection of a general brick and mortar.
Assignment two
Discussion one
A draft email to the biggest customer
Dear customer,
It is really nice to cooperate with you during this long period of time. We highly appreciate your fidelity and confidence in our production. Therefore, we want to inform you about recent changes that have been introduced to a company’s budget.
Our fast-growing business should be constantly development to remain afloat and to sustain a vigorous competition. Being a prosperous and successful high-end blue jean manufacturer, we believe that quality control should be considerably increased in order to sustain a competitive advantage at the market. For these ends, our company finds it necessary to reorganize out budget. In particular, we believe that it would be reasonable to shorten expenditures on traveling and to pay more attention to design and production process. We suppose that web conferencing can serve as a viable substitution for less significant meetings and events that are possible to discuss online. We assure you that online meetings will not create any difficulties and all the information about our sales and product introduction will be posted on our official site. Besides, reducing online communication can save your time and money as well because everything can be ordered via the Internet. We also guarantee that the ordered products will be of the highest quality because the introduced changes are aimed at improving the manufacturing process and design quality.
The reason for changes is predetermined by our big concerns with the situation at the market. As our business is a priority for us, all our strategies are directed at improving and carrying on a steady growth of sales as well as customers’ demands. We hope that the presented shifts will not prevent our further fruitful cooperation, but keep you in close touch with us in future.
Faithfully yours,
Seller.
Discussion two
The board in an organization should choose well those who possesses excellent leadership skills to take up the available leadership positions. This is because they are the source of motivation to other employees. Employees should be treated well so that they can be more productive in the work place. The employees should be rewarded when they do something good. Rewarding employees can either be financially or non-financially. Employees on the other hand, when they fail, can be punished so that they may not repeat the same mistake. However, this should be done in a manner which does not demoralize the employees. The leader should however reward the employees or the juniors fairly or justly. There should be no favoritism in rewarding them.
The manager being the leader is expected to play a big role in the supervision and management of employees and on how they are carrying out their duties. Supervision should be firm as it will enable the leader to know the productivity of others. Supervision should also be well planned so that the people being supervised would not feel like they are being mistreated. The leader is also given an authority to train other individuals on the new tasks or when they feel they are not performing well. The employees should also expect to be trained in a good way that will encourage them to learn more (Cowton, 2009).
A manager should have good communication skills. Good communication between the manager and the other employees will bring understanding among them. The leader should at all times have a positive mood. He should be able to transmit this positive mood to the team members. He should also have the affective tone. The way the leader operates will have an impact on the productivity of the juniors. The leaders are the people who shape the work place. The management or the transitional theory is similar to the trait theory since they both explain the characteristics of a leader to be fundamental in any kind of leadership (Thomas, Zolin & Hartman, 2009).
References
- Comite, U. (2009). The evolution of a modern business from its assets and liabilities statement to its ethical environmental account. Journal of Management Research, 9(2), 100-120.
- Cowton, C. J. (2009). Accounting and the ethics challenge: Re-membering the professional body. Accounting & Business Research, 39(3), 177-189.
- Pies, I., Hielscher, S., & Beckmann, M. (2009). Moral commitments and the societal role of business: An ordonomic approach to corporate citizenship. Business Ethics Quarterly, 19(3), 375-401.
- Thomas, G. F., Zolin, R., & Hartman, J. L. (2009). The central role of communication in developing trust and its effect on employee involvement. Journal of Business Communication, 46(3), 287-310.
- Urban Outfitters, Inc. (n.d).
- Webb, J. W., Tihanyi, L., Ireland, R. D., & Sirmon, D. G. (2009). You say illegal, I say legitimate: Entrepreneurship in the informal economy. Academy of Management Review, 34(3), 492-510.