Background
Ortem has been known in the realm of retail for quite a while, becoming rather popular among a certain type of customer. The organization has been enjoying its modest yet consistent popularity among potential buyers when innovative organizations emerging in the retail market started to play a much more important role in the specified industry than the once-powerful Ortem organization had. Therefore, the necessity to introduce changes to how Ortem is viewed by its target audiences must be regarded as an important step toward enhancing the firm’s efficacy in the target market. By focusing on communication, promotion techniques, and the message that the organization’s brand image sends, Ortem will be able to attract the attention of Millennials and other customers that will help the firm thrive in the ever-changing realm of the global economy.
Analysis
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
The fact that Ortem already has a well-established presence in the target market must be regarded as one of the organization’s primary strengths.
Weaknesses
The current marketing approach can be regarded as one of the weakest aspects of the company’s functioning. Because of Ortem’s inability to appeal to all demographics, especially younger audiences such as Millennials, the firm will have to reconsider its brand image and products.
Opportunities
The chances of increased sales by using innovative technologies and reinforcing the process of communication with customers with the help of social networking should be recognized as the key opportunity that Ortem is presently facing.
Threats
However, Ortem is also likely to face numerous threats, the emergence of new entries being the primary concern. Being significantly out of touch with the contemporary digital tools for promoting products, maintaining communication with customers, and advertising products, Ortem may be ousted from the target market by the organizations that have already found their niche and, therefore, possess a lot of power in the global market.
Table 1. PEST Analysis.
Table 2. Porter’s Five Forces.
The retail industry includes the commodities and services that can be easily replaced with substitutes. Therefore, the bargaining power of buyers is high. Consequently, the levels of competition within the industry are high as well.
Maslow’s Theory
Based on Maslow’s theory, the organization might want to reconsider its approach toward the advertisement and the use of customer care. For instance, since most goods are regularly required by customers, the organization might want to make them more easily recognizable among similar products. As a result, a gradual increase in customer retention can be expected. Particularly, it is necessary to transfer some of the products from the Physiological section to the domain of Esteem and Belonging.
Issues Identification
Among the key problems faced by Ortem at present, the fact that the firm has been failing to design innovative strategies that could have helped it attract new customers deserves to be addressed. Even though Ortem has been functioning in the realm of the target market for quite a while, it needs to retain its clients and attract new ones to thrive in the ever-changing environment of the global economy.
Ethics
Several ethical issues should also be addressed accordingly. For instance, Ortem needs to acknowledge the needs of Millennials as one of the target audiences that require its attention. Otherwise, the company will underrepresent a significant number of its customers. Furthermore, the company will have to change its approach toward managing its human resources. Opportunities for professional development must be incorporated into the firm’s current design. Finally, the fact that the company could introduce more opportunities for its staff members, including opportunities for professional growth, could be viewed as a possible area of improvement. At present, the increasingly high demand for professionalism and prowess of the staff without chances for professional development can be deemed as ethically dubious.
Prioritisation
Table 3. Prioritisation.
As the table provided above shows, it is essential to focus on the active promotion of the brand product to different types of customers. Customer segmentation, therefore, needs to be revisited and altered. However, to complete the specified step, one will have to adopt a communication system based on the use of social networks as the platform for building a dialogue between the key stakeholders.
Recommendations
At present, it is strongly suggested that the company should consider introducing online services for younger audiences. While Ortem targets older adults successfully, a massive segment of its possible clientele, i.e., young adults and teenagers, do not see the company as attractive. Therefore, the organization needs to consider introducing digital tools, particularly, social networks, into the set of its marketing strategies (RĂĽhl, 2017).
Also, it is strongly recommended to introduce stronger connectivity between the departments. The specified step will require significant changes in the corporate infrastructure and especially the process of supply chain management (SCM). Furthermore, the required change will imply significant alterations in the context of the company’s leadership strategy. The use of the transformational leadership approach as the key to motivating staff must be considered (Subramaniam, 2016).
The promotion issues will also have to be addressed. Since the firm will need to focus on attracting a different type of customers, a more elaborate approach toward customer segmentation will have to be provided. By targeting different age groups, the organization will be able to channel its messages in a much more efficient manner. As a result, customer loyalty rates will increase consistently (Simon & Schmidt, 2015).
The issue of digitalization of the firm’s services is linked directly to another concern, which is customers’ privacy. Therefore, apart from reinforcing online security by purchasing appropriate software and digital tools, an organization must make sure to provide its staff members with detailed instructions about the means of safeguarding customers’ private data. As a result, the threat of the specified information being stolen will be reduced to a minimum (Schlesinger, 2014).
Keeping up the pace to meet the latest and the most demanding requirements is a rather tiresome task for an organization that has already cemented its position in the target market and has a long history, yet it is crucial to attracting new customers and evolve. Unless Ortem adopts new and innovative approaches toward attracting younger audiences and incorporates digital tools into its current framework, further success and progress will not be a possibility. The use of social networks and other types of modern media must be viewed as essential to attract the representatives of the generation known as the Millennials (Hernandez-Maskivker & Rauch, 2014). Therefore, the leaders of the organization must make a conscious effort at altering corporate values to meet the needs of all stakeholders, at the same time rebranding the product. The specified change must be carried out by Kotter’s eight-step model to cement the change in the context of the company, which is bound to take approximately six months.
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing regarding the direction that Ortem needs to take to retain its position in the market. I believe that the company’s branding approach must be re-evaluated and shaped to appeal to a wider demographic. Particularly, Ortem will have to target Millennials in its promotion campaign. The specified factor must be taken into consideration when considering a bid for Worth.
Furthermore, the issue of losses will have to be addressed. To prevent Ortem from taking significant expenses, one will have to design a cost-efficient approach based on waste management. Furthermore, customer retention rates must be increased by focusing on the quality of the end product.
Thank you for taking the time to consider these recommendations. I believe that, once a renewed strategy is implemented, Ortem will handle current challenges more efficiently. I will be looking forward to a response from you.
Sincerely yours,
Insert Your Name Here
References
Hernandez-Maskivker, G., & Rauch, A. (2014). The influence of hotels’ online reputation on the Millennials’ Booking behaviour. ICFE: Vietnam.
RĂĽhl, A. (2017). Talent management and HR marketing. From job advertising to employer branding. New York, NY: GRIN Verlag.
Schlesinger, R. (2014). The suitability of social media for headhunters to recruit managers from and for the fashion business. New York, NY: GRIN Verlag.
Simon, D., & Schmidt, C. (2015). Business architecture management: Architecting the business for consistency and alignment. New York, NY: Springer.
Subramaniam, R. S. R. (2016). Leadership concepts in relation to member motivation and satisfaction. New York, NY: GRIN Verlag.