MARKETING PLAN

Course: Global Marketing Management Tutor:Emmet Hayes Module: 869N1 CandNo: 70392, 79869,

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The purpose of this marketing plan is to analyze and identify the market plan of the Smart Headphones which can translate directly almost every language in the world providing exceptional convenience to people who use foreign language for their jobs or for their traveling abroad. By buying these translating headphones consumers are offered with 3 languages and then can buy additional languages. The first target markets are France and China and after the first 5 years we planned to extend the business to UAE and India.This is due to the explosion of tourism and international businesses in these two markets, as Chinas tourism industry ranking 4th in the world and 3th in international companies and France has high international relationships with Tourism share over 6.2% in current Euro GDP. Although there are currently many competitors, such as electronic translating device and many interpreters, there does not exist any direct competitor. Smart Headphones marketing strategy is to emphasize, through promotion strategies, thecompetitive advantage of translating directly almost every language in the world without mistakes and the availability of our services. Based on the size of our market, our first outgoings projections for the first year are 1,771,600 and our sales projections are 2,521,000 and they will be increased in the following years as we are planning to extent our business. Thus, even Smart Headphones is an innovative and new product in the market, having some risks; it will be in a high demand as the target market indicates a high willingness to pay for it.

We erase boarders between nations and make people speak with the same language only by using headphones. To keep up with globalization, break down boarders and make the earth smaller. We will perpetually use the best quality materials; guarantee the highest possible standard of interpreting with a professional service that our customers can trust us. Our aim is to exceed our customers expectations and to delight them.

O j c iv
 Geographical Spread: When success be achieved in countries, which we have entered, we wish then to go globally. Initially, our goal is to build a substantial and successful service in France and China and 5 years later to introduce our product to UAE and India (appendix II).  Annual sales:Set a strong value proposition in order to achieve sales of 2,521,000 the first year and 20,805,000 by the year of 2018.  Increase sales gradually approximately 30% - 40%.

F B

Features
2 headphones Plastic Wireless Color Battery

Advantages
Not be bothered Not heavy No cables Colorful Long lasting

Benefits
Clear voice Comfortable Convenient Fashion Time & money-saving

Translator

Specific in almost every language in the world

Nearly without mistakes (extremely useful) Easy learning

Voice recorder

Practice your pronunciation

USB Waterproof

Charge in computers Can be used even in rain or snow

Useful No damage by water

SWO

STRENGTHS  Long lasting battery (up to 40hours)  Easy to wear  Nearly all languages  Enhance communications and relationships  Facilitate international traveling and business  Save money/time

WEAKNESSES  Expensive  The company brand is unknown in the marketplace and without an established reputation of successful work  Problematic factors (style, meaning, proverbs, idioms, etc)  Possibility of malfunction in crowded places  Necessity for complementary devices  The accuracy couldnt be as good as the translation by human

OPPORTUNITIES

THREATS

 Global market  No direct competitor  Innovative product  Can attack competitors

 Imitation of technology (software, ideas, etc.)  Expensive global patent  Consumer trust

PES

CHI
Political -Government halved Economical -Foreign investment: Sociocultural -Population: 1,341,000,000 (2010) -Less than 1% -Quite stable -Tourist and tourism industry grow by annual rate of 15% -Growth rate: 0.4% -4th in the world in tourism industry (2009) -The technology offers companies a new way to -The World Tourism Organization predicts that China will become communicate with consumers eg. Banners, CRM, etc. speaks English language Technological -The 1st productive force

the tax on electronics 504,568 companies from 20% to 10% (2008)

-Spent 2% of GDP on R&D in 2010 which means 20% growth in R&D in the following years

the No1 tourist destination

-International companies ranking 3th in the world

F
Political

CE
Economical -Is the 6th largest Sociocultural -The 1st productive Technological -One of the highest country in innovation technology -Spent 2% of GDP on R&D in 2010 -Tourism share is over which means 20% growth in R&D in the following years -The technology offers companies a new way to communicate with consumers eg. Banners, CRM, etc. -Expenditure by foreign visitors in France: 39.6 billion Euros (+7.2%) -Advent of microcomputers

-The government earmarks 75 million euro for the France State Secretariat for Tourism

economy in the world in force USD exchange-rate terms

-Has an official

6.2% in current Euro

policy to promote the GDP French language

-Expenditure by residents abroad: 26.8

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Market resear Prim ry research

In order to get some basi information about whom to target and if it is reasonable to introduce this product to the market we used a survey with questionnaire as it is cost effective and no time consuming. Thus, 22 out of 48 managers of international companies filled out our survey via emails. 200 out of 500 friends answered our survey via Facebook and 22 out of 40 clients of the travel agency, Thomas Cook answer our questionnaire(Appendi I). The following are the most interesting results after this survey:
Please identify the group age you belong: less than 18

18-25

26-35

36-45

I could spend a great a ount of

Strongly disagree

oney for any translation syste

if it was really useful:

Disagree

Agree

Strongly agree

10

20

30

40

50

60

This table shows the high intention of our respondents to spend a great amount of money and this could give us the opportunity to follow the skimming pricingstrategy. Moreover, it shows that our target market would really appreciate our service and they find it useful.

I travel often to foreign countries:

6 0 5 0 4 0 3 0 2 0 1 0 0 A re S n lyd a re g e tro g is g e S n lya re tro g g e D a re is g e

This table indicates that our respondents traveling abroad is high enough which shows that Smart Headphones will be on high demand.

I use a dictionary for co

unication very often

Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree

This chart illustrates that half of our correspondents use on a regular basis a dictionary that means that our smart headphones will facilitate their daily life

My job requires foreign language

Yes No

Here we can notice that almost need to speak foreign language for their jobs, which can prove that dictionaries, translators etc. are necessary to them. Our translators can be a solution to this

Secondary research

Revenues generated by European language services in 2009 were estimated at 4.17 billion Euro or 43% of the global market, which is almost double comparing of that in 2005 (Rinsche&Portera-Zanoti 2009).

Entry barriers are very low for translation companies, which indicates that for individuals and new companies can enter this market easily (Rinsche&Portera-Zanoti 2009). Thus, we have Patents: EPO (in Europe), CPO (in China), USPTO (in USA).

The rank for conference interpreting: 1. English 2. Spanish 3. French 4. German 5. Italian 6. Portuguese (Rinsche&Portera-Zanoti 2009)

Porters Five Forces Analysis

Potential new entrants: Casio BESTA

New Entrants
Drive up price Low bargaining power Alternative markets

suppliers
NO DIRECT COMPETITORS!!

buyers

Substitutes
Google translate Electronic dictionaries Casio Interpreters EK Translations Talk and listen kit

Small number of buyers Switching to another product The product is not important to buyers

Although there are countless substitutes, Smart Headphones are under monopolistic competition as they dont have direct competitors, which means that our scope of doing well in the market is widened and this can also affect the price of the product. Strengths and weaknesses of so e substitutes: The competitors in this market are in the majority the companies who provide the wireless language interpretation equipmentto help the clients to communicate with Language Groups. Talk and listen kit
y

Co patible with most 72MHz wideband systems. This will be found useful for customers who have already equipment and would like to determine compatibility of this new digital transmitter and receiver. This would make us decrease our profit as there would be some potential customers who have equipment and surely they will prefer Talk and listen kit.

The price of the Talk and listen kit ismuch higher than our product but this can be explained as talk and listen kit has a human translator, whereas our product has an automatic machine translator. Also, the talk and listen kit can only provide 8 languages for translation (Talk and listen kit 2011), but we provide more than that.

EK Translations
y

This company is able to translate only few specific languages, whereas our product can translate almost every language in the world.

The price of the EK Translations depends on the time (Ek Translations 2010), whereas with our product the customers pay only once at the beginning to buy it and they can use it countless times.

The rivalry is intense as there are many equally sized competitors and the switching costs are not high which means that the rivalry will increase and many competitors may develop theirs products in order to catch our features.

Closely related co petitors:

Nowadays, there is a huge possibility of potential entrants but besides that we are on the plan of developing barriers to entry and our first aim is to sue for patent in order to avoid our main potential competitors which are the Casio and the Besta. Casio and Besta are a pocket-sized computers that can translate only some basic languages but besides that, it is an emerging product and it can be developed to a similar to ours product and in some cases Smart headphones can be replaced, as the Casio and Besta are much cheaper.

Suppliers The bargaining power of the suppliers is quite low as there are not many buyers yet and there are many alternative markets. Buyers The number of potential buyers is satisfying enough as the primary research indicated that a big percentage would like to use a product such ours. Although there are many sellers with similar products making the consumers having a high bargaining power, our product has the benefits of innovation and translating almost every language in the world.

Market egments
eographic segmentation: Initially Smart Headphones will be operatedin China

and France, as per research, rank 1 and 4 respectively in international tourist arrivals in 2009. Also, the average hourly compensation costs of manufacturing workers in China are the least as compared to the UK and the USA. Additionally, we plan to extent our business to UAE and India after 5 years of our launch as we found many interesting factors in our PEST analysis but we do not want to do hurry actions.
Demographic segmentation : The demographic segmentation consists of

international middle- to high-income adults who would need the Smart Headphones for: Military Translation

Business Translation Medical Translation Conference Interpretation Court Translation Technical Translation Tourism Translation Daily Translation Target Market Smart Headphones will target two different segments:
y

needthe business interpreting services during negotiations, meetings, symposia and international conferences;

needthe si ple daily translating services during their overseas travel.

For the following reasons:

y

These segments are more approachable and receptive as the first step to launch the Smart Headphones. After our business achieves stabilization it can move on to the others segments.

This market segment is more likely to spend a fair amount of money to improve the quality of traveling.

This target segment seems to be willing to accept the new interpreting services.

There is a growing demand in the interpretation market with increased travelling, in the form of business trips, tourism. Recent market research shows that the language services market is growing at an annual rate of 10% and is expected to reach EUR 20,000,000 in the next three years (EU language industry set to ride out the crisis 2009).

PositioningHigh
Interpreters

SMART HEADPDHONESS

L w

High

Qu ity

Machine Translators

L w

P ice

Smart headphones will position themselves as a fair price translator. This positioning will be achieved by leveraging our competitive edge: good quality and innovation. Smart headphones will provide customers good quality translation experience everywhere and forever. Also, Smart headphones provide private machine translation; enable our customers to enjoy their trip abroad without disturbing. Whereas, our competitors that are electronic translators and interpreters have one basic disadvantage each. That is to say, electronic translators have the drawback of the low quality even the price is low and interpreters have the disadvantage of very high price which depends on how long someone do use them.

THE MARKETING MIX

1) PRODUCT:

(Product differentiation)
Basic product: The smart headphones translates almost every language in the world and consists of 2 wireless plastic headphones, a chargeable battery, a translator chip, and a voice recorder. It is a portable, lightweight product, water-resistant and with long lasting batteries. The original plastic bands for our product are black, but bands are available in various colors for fashion purposes. Initially, 3 languages will be provided, but if a company orders our

products online, requesting many more languages, they can be provided themat their doorstep. If customers need extra languages, they can also be provided, with the assumption that they will make the order personally and in advance.

24h helpline, 5-year guarantee

cushioning, extra battery,extr a language software, co loured bands, char ger

Translating Headphones

The core product: This is the translating headphones, consisting of 3 inbuilt languages for translation. The actual product: This includes the extra tangible items, which people can purchase. For instance, cushioning for headphones, extra battery, charger, voice recorder, extra language software, coloured bands, etc. The augmented product: This includes the non-tangible services that are provided in addition to the physical parts. We provide a 24hour helpline to our customers, who have complaints regarding our product, or doubts regarding the translation of words. We also provide a 5-year guarantee.

2) PRICING :

For the pricing of our product we decided to use the strategy of marketskimming pricingfor the following reasons: 1) There are not direct competitors who could offer lower prices in order to take our potential customers. 2) The target market will be middle to high-income adults, who are non price-sensitive for this product. 3) The high image of this product must support its price ( Kotler et al. 2008) Furthermore, we will follow the psychological pricing and we chose the price of 499 and not 500, as some consumers will see the 499 as a price in the 400 range rather than the 500 range. The company plans to maintain the same price for the first two years, and then, decrease it to 399 after the third year. Also, optional product pricing can increase the companys profits, as some more products will be sold (cushioning, extra battery, extra language software, colored bands, voice recorder, charger) along with the Smart Headphones. Finally, captive product pricing is one more strategy in order to sell extra language software. Thus, after an extent research we concluded to these prices: Headphones (including 3 languages): 499 Cushioning for headphones:7 Extra language software:
y y y

European language: 80 Asian language: 110 Other languages: 140

Coloured bands: 25 Extra battery: 60

3)

PROMOTION:

Marketing objectives: Awareness

InterestPurchase (Wood 2010) Pro otions ix:As Smart Headphones is a new product in the market ,it is

indispensable to give high attention to promotion:  Advertising: Ads through:  Traveling and business magazines  Pictorial ads in electronic stores and on billboards near to travel agents and business centers.  A commercial on YouTube can be a very useful way of advertising. We prefer YouTube to television commercial, as YouTube would be definitely much cheaper.  Distribution of brochures containing detailed information about Smart headphones and a contact number for people who like to get more details about them. Moreover, when someone calls the company we will make him/her aware of the offers and discounts we provide.  Social networking site is one other way of advertisement by which potential customers can read more about the functions and the price of the product and the discounts. Also, everyone, who joins companys website, can see customers opinions about the Smart Headphones and finally it can be purchased online.

 Sales pro otion:  Plans for participating in industry trade shows regarding Smart headphones. By this way it will be showed how life can be much easier by using the Smart headphones.  Also, the use of push strategy by forcing promotion for placing our product in upscale electronic shops.  Everyone, who will buy 2 pairs of headphones,will have extra European language software.

 Public relations:  Promotional emails to International businessmen in China and France.  Special events in seminars, meetings or forums, congress and exhibitions to build awareness of the product and positive word of mouth among consumers and businesses.

4) PLACE: The company will follow the following distribution strategy:

INDIRE T CHANNEL

Producers in China

Wholesalers in China and France

Retailers in China and France

Customers

Tie up with airline companies and electronic shops in order to sell Smart headphones on board and also in in-flight duty free shops. Also, it will be sold through companys website. The following table shows the place where people can buy the Smart headphones:

China
Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) Beijing International Airport GOME Air China Suning

France
Air France Virgin Atlantic Virgin megastore FNAC Roissy Airport

5) PEOPLE:

Custo er service: A team will be available 24/7 to help customers when they face a problem with the meaning of the words or when they have complaints about the product. Also,if there is any hardware problem with the headphones within the 3-year warranty period, specialized people will be available for the customers, to get their headphones fixed.

Manufacturing: A person will be able to supervise the quality of the products outsourcing in China. Newcomers will be appointed to design the smart headphones, as they can be more innovative. Sales tea : A manager will train the staff of the retailers in order to demonstrate the product and its features.

6) PROCESS

 Organizational Chart We generate our organizational chart by thinking production and sales processes. As for production, we put production and technology & design departments; and for sales, marketing&sales and accounting departments. Advertising and promotion parts will be under the marketing department. Whole chart can be investigated to understand structure of our company.

SHAREH LDERS

CEO
PR CTIO
MAR ETI G& SALES

ACCOU TI G

MAI PRODUCT PRODUCTIO

MAR ETI G MA AGEME T

FI A CIAL AFFAIRS

AR-GE LICE SI GPATE TS

E GI EERI G

SALES

E GI EERI G
QUALITY CO TROL

AREHOUSI G

Finan ials

SUBSIDIAR PRODUCT PRODUCTIO

PROVISIO & COMMERCE

DESIG &ART

TECH OLOGY & AR-GE

   

Project Plan
 Milestones Table As it is shown in the following table, we are planning to research and to follow market facts before enter the market, this year will be our preparing year. Then, we will launch smart headphones. When other companies enter the market, our product will be developed with new functions like speaking skill. After almost five years, we will spread to new companies with a gained reputation.

Task Researching and

Rep Shareholders

Ti e First one year

Definition Before entering

following market Launching product Product development All departments When some companies start to copy us or come to end of product life cycle Spreading new countries All departments Approximately after 5 years All departments After researching

market Production, advertising etc. To refreshing our product

To UAE and India

ecommendations and concl sion

Taking all these points into consideration, it is undeniable that Smart Headphones can be an innovative product to the market of translation and as it is proved through this marketing plan, it has high competitive advantages as it can translate almost every language in the world, in a real time, only by using a button. Indeed, it has high technology which is hard to be copied, as we have already an IT license, and because of its large target market it can be proved that this product is an intelligent idea. However, we still need to look for some future actions in order to maintain the high position of Smart Headphones. Firstly, companys main aim is to be leader in market by determining the next step, which is to add microphone in order to exemplify and provide speaking. Thus, consumers may speak in their own language and the microphone can translate loudly in another language.Secondly,R&D investments will need to be increased in the near future, as the company is planning to expand its target market to India and UAE. Thirdly, a strategic alliance with a company, such as Apple, would facilitate the Smart Headphones global extension. Last but not least, one other integral plan for Smart Headphones, which needs to be done in time, is to apply the following patents:EPO (in Europe), CPO (in China),

USPTO (in US) in order to protect the Smart Headphones functioning from the competitors, in a limited period (Hooley, Piercy and Nicoulaud 2008, p.163).

Bibliography
Avery, N. & McCallum, K. (2011) China's Foreign Direct Investment Rises 23.4%, Adding to Overheating Risks [online] Available from: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-17/china-s-foreign-direct-investmentrises-23-4-adding-to-overheating-risks.html [accessed 20 March 2011]

China Halved Import Tax on Electronics (2011) ETCN, 28 January [online] Available from: http://www.e-tochina.com/tariff_changes/data_tariff_changes/2011/0128/90695.html [accessed 20 March 2011]

China's tourism industry saw a 15% growth year on year in revenue in past five years (2010) Global Times, 10 April [online]. Available from:http://business.globaltimes.cn/industries/2011-04/642738.html [accessed 10 April]

Ek Translations (2010) Interpreting [online] Available from: http://www.ektranslations.co.uk/interpreting.html [accessed 10 March 2011]

EU language industry set to ride out the crisis (2009) Europa, [online] Brussels,Available from: http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/1828&format=HTM L&aged=0&language=EN [accessed 20 March 2011]

European Commission (2009), Study on the size of the language industry in the EU : EU language industry set to ride out the crisis , Brussels

Haignere, C. (2009) Research and technological development in France,France: Ministeredelegue[online] Available from: ftp://trf.education.gouv.fr/pub/rechtec/brochure/rdtfen.pdf [accessed 10 March 2011]

Hays, J. (2010), Foreign companies and investment in China [online] Available from: http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=349&catid=9&subcatid=62# [accessed 20 February 2011]

Hooley, G. , Piercy, N.G. and Nicoulaud, B. (2008) Marketing strategies and competitive positioning 4th edition, England: FT Prentice Hall

Khan, T. S. (2006) Productivity Growth, Technological Convergence, R&D, Trade, and Labor Markets: Evidence from the French Manufacturing Sector, European department: IMF Working Paper

Kotler, P., Amstrong, G., Wong, V. & Saunders, J. (2008) Principles of Marketing,England: Prentice Hall Europe, 5th European Edition

Lagarde, C. (2009) Economic growth to stabilise in third quarter [online] France. Available from: http://www.france24.com/en/20090906-economic-growth-stabilise-third-quarter-minister-says-?quicktabs_1=0#[accessed 18 March 2011]

Ministry of foreign affairs (2005) France [online] Available from: http://www.esteri.it/MAE/EN/Politica_Europea/paesimembri/Francia.htm [accessed 14 April 2011]

Rinsche, A. &Portera-Zanoti, N. (2009) Study on the size of the language industry in the EU United Kingdom: The language Technology Centre Ltd

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US. Department of State (2010),Background Note: China, US: Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs

Wood, M. B. (2010) Essential guide to marketing planning 2nd edition, England: FT Prentice Hall

PPE DIX

(I) SU VEY
1. Please indicate your gender. Male 2. Please identify the group age you belong: Less than 18 18 to 29 30 to 39 40 to 49 50 and older Female

3. What is your Less than 1,500 1,501 to 3,000 3,001 and above

onthly inco e:

4. What type of Press Television

edia do you use to get infor ed?

Internet All of the above Other

. I can speak: One language Two languages Three languages More than four 6. I travel often to foreign countries: Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree 7. I have difficulty in learning languages: Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree 8. My job requires foreign languages: Yes No 9. I use a dictionary for co unication very often:

Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree 10. I would spent a great a ount of really useful: Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree
APPENDIX (II)

oney for any translation syste

if it was

 UAE

Political -Government consists of a Federation of the 7 Emirates, ruled by President

Economical -Out of the 3 million people, 60% are in the workforce

Sociocultural -Population: 6,100,000

Technological -Large population has young professionals who are very technologicallyknowledgeable

-Government encourages globalization

-Only 13% of them are the UAE Nationals, 87% are foreign expatriates

-Citizens have a high standard of living, and their financial positions have continuously increased over time

-Has a large foreign population

-Languages spoken are Arabic, Urdu, Farsi, Hindi, etc.

-IT industry relates to tourism, hotel, computer and IT service sectors

-The society is open and free with all types of hotels, restaurants, tourism,

-UAE has the most satellite, Internet and mobile phone users

-Multicultural society

etc.

in the Middle East

-Multicultural nature of the country attracts many foreigners

 INDIA

Political -The Indian Constitution has listed 14 languages into its 8th Schedule in 1950

Economical -IT industry s contribution to India s GDP has increased to a share of 5.2% in 2007, as against 1.2% in 1998

Sociocultural -Population: 1,150,000,000

Technological -The Technological Development for Indian Languages(TDIL) is the initiative of IT industry to bridge the digital divide by developing IT tools in local Indian languages

-Diversity in languages spoken

-The 100th Constitutional Amendment, which added 4 new languages into the 8th Schedule was supported by all the 338 Parliament members

-Indian IT market is set to cross US $25.43 billion

-Over 22 languages are spoken, Hindi being the most common

-Machine translation is relatively young

-33 languages more are to be included

-As per NASSCOM, India is sharing 5.2% of the IT market and currently, Indian language market size may be considered to be approx $500 million

-UNESCO appreciates India for maintaining linguistic diversity