Marketing Plan Proposal for E-Book Daily, Essay Example

Product Going to Market.

Ebook Daiily is and Ebook publishing, distribution and content supply company. The company is located in Brooklyn New York, but serves a global market as the products and services are web based. The company serves both the business to consumer (B2C) market as well as the business to business (B2B) market as in addition to providing individual consumers with Ebook products, the company also provides Academic institutions and corporations with textbooks and business reports or journals.  Through offering the most cutting edge tablet and mobile device compatible content, a vast selection of titles, as well as competitive pricing through low cost monthly and annual subscriptions, it’s believed that Ebook Daily will quickly gain market share in the Ebook and catalog industry.

Products: The core product delivered to the consumer is access to an ever expanding body of published content for a monthly or annual subscription. Currently, there are media providers of this nature, but E-book market is dominated by bookstores, predominantly online sites that only allow consumers to purchase items individually. E-book Daily fills a need in the e-book market providing consumers access to content that can be consumed in bulk quantities without the need to purchase vet material before purchase.

Services: In addition to providing published content for individual consumers and businesses to purchase, E-Book Daily also provides publishers with an alternative form of distribution outside of traditional publishing houses and online book distributors like Amazon.

Target Market

The market Ebook Daily envisions it will reach is a cross-section of common Amazon users and subscribers to  media content sites like Amazon and Netflix. The three key demographics the company intends to reach are individual consumers of e-book products, publishers of content, and large institutions such as colleges, universities or corporations. This market is segmented based on the fact that the three different groups have their own respective purchasing patterns.

Industry Analysis

The e-book sale and publishing market is a multi-billion dollar industry.

SWOTAnalysis

Strength

• Cost leadership strategy. The objective of the cost leadership strategy for E-Book Daily is to produce content based products and content based services at a reduced cost from that of our competitors. The goal to attain this strategy are the economies of scale. For E-Book Daily to effective with this cost leadership strategy, the company offers one of the largest selections of products capable of meeting economies of scale and benefiting from the affordable pricing and the advantages offered by displaying those prices in the E-Book Daily marketplace.
• Superior quality services and products. E-Bay Daily offers supreme products  of top quality and competitive services within the e-book market and publishing  services period.  and p Ebay Daily also benefits from a current gap in the market where there is high demand for e-books and  content, but more and more content providers and book stores are charging a premium for access to their content. E-Book Daily provides a superior service in that they adopt a publisher model similar to Netflix, Hulu, and other monthly subscription. E-bay Daily is a reliable source of low cost content  the lowest price, many free additional features with its services and has the widest selection of goods. Amazon has a brand reputation for great customer service.
• Strategic acquisitions. Ebay- Daily has been successful at acquiring smaller firms that supplement its brand and assist it at bringing new products to market. Companies like Lulu.com, Gerey Book Venture, and Maxico Publishing are a few acquisitions that have allowed E-Book Daily to remold its brand in preparation for a new launch. These companies bring to the table a select set of  new services, capabilities, assets and skills to the business.
• Efficient logistics and distribution. E-book Daily is a web based content distributor. In addition to allowing for low start up cost, this also allows the company to have significantly minimal physical distribution obligations.
• Economies of scope. Economies of scope is recognized as the act of developing two or more goods, providing services, at less cost than it would to produce the items individually or provide the service to a single consumer. The key concept regarding economies of scope is that it usually entails using the same exact technology while still producing a superior product. On the surface E-Book Daily is no differnet from Amazon or other online retail sites like E-bay, the distinct difference E-Books Daily has at its advantage is the ability to leverage its archived data and content in a more practical way when delivering it to the consumer. E-Book Daily implements and enjoys economies of scope through its superior IT department which allows it to offer a wider range than most digital content retail sites at a monthly subscription fee as opposed to individually pricing products. The company also has enhanced server capacity to endure the large amount of demand created by its business model, and it incorporates cloud computing services as an essential tactic to keep staff organized and reduce technical issues that might occur with the website or interfere with delivering goods to the consumer.

Weakness

• Only online presence. Because E-Book Daily lacks a physical presence like more common retailers for example Target or Wal-Mart, consumers do not have a physical location they can visit to purchase products and the company is entirely reliant on web presence.
• Selling at zero margins. The monthly subscription rate relies on the word of mouth of the consumer to expand the reach of the company. In order to keep subscribers satisfied with the service and to gain new subscribers, the company must provide access to content at nearly zero margin of profitability. The idea is that eventually enough subscribers will register on the site and pay the monthly fee that profits will be acquired in the long run. Likewise content publishers must also be reimbursed for the use of their material.
• Negative publicity. The idea of providing access to copyrighted material is a very controversial concept. When Steve Jobs first announced that he would be allowing iPhone and iPod users to purchase songs for 1 dollar a piece from the iTunes store, he met with much criticism by the music industry. E-book daily will likely face some resistance partially from publishers, but most likely from companies like Amazon who might see portions of their market share at risk. This could result in negative publicity due to slander ad campaigns or the company earning a negative reputation similar to pirating sites or content mill sites known for cheating publishers out of their revenues.

Opportunities

• Online payment system. E-Book Daily currently has an online paying system that allows consumers to subscribe to our services  The company  could expand this system to  incorporate the use of digital currencies such as bitcoin, litecoin, or other crypto- currencies. There is also a market for m-commerce, specifically in regards to  making it possible for consumers to make purchases through mobile devices like tablets and then receive the items they purchase on those devices.  This form of mobile payment system would be of great use for mobile buyers who make mobile purchases on the go and find it hard to provide bank details or other personal information. The subscription purchasing method  that is required when registering on the set makes it more convenient for customers to access content on the go without constantly imputing their personal information
• Release more own brand products and services. With an access to such large market, and having return customers in the form of loyal subscribers, Ebooks- Daily could benefit by releasing its original content and branded products.
• Open more online stores in other countries. To sustain levels of growth it will be necessary to eventually open its online marketplace in other large emerging markets in Asia and Europe.
• Physical presence. The business might need to establish some form of physical presence in the markets it operates. This would entail smaller store-warehouse, similar to Argos’ stores outlets, as they could provide warehouses and distribution centers. This would also provide a store where consumers can buy their purchases and garner physical engagement value for the company. E-Book Daily’s brand presence would also significantly benefit from this change.

Threats

• Online security. Establishing effective web security stores its online shoppers’ personal information, such as bank account details, which is a target for online piracy and identity theft. The more subscribers E-Book Daily has, the bigger target is becomes for these typed of security threats.
• Competitors s. com represents a massive online shopping mall  which makes it difficult to surpass seeing as E-books Daily is a small competitor. The best way to go about facing this threat is by establishing strategic alliances with other corporations that offer similar or complementary products to our own.
• Copy Cats. As Ebook Daily is an innovative new entry into the market, it is essential for the company to establish itself as the source for it brand of service. The concept can easily be adopted by another company and the current market share in the ebook and textbook industry that is available for the company to enter could be taken by another brand.
• Regional low cost online retailers. Ebay Daily also must compete with regional low cost online retailers. Many of these small companies can acquire brand recognition and take away consumers from E-Book Daily in their own regional markets. This is due to the fact that they provide faster and cheaper shipping since they are localized. These regional locations also have a better understanding of their home markets.

Target Market

The market Ebook Daily envisions it will reach is a cross-section of common Amazon users and subscribers to  media content sites like Amazon and Netflix. The three key demographics the company intends to reach are individual consumers of e-book products, publishers of content, and large institutions such as colleges, universities or corporations. This market is segmented based on the fact that the three different groups have their own respective purchasing patterns. The future of business is multicultural and international due to the fact the industries are becoming  globalized. This has always been the case it’s just becoming ever-more prevalent as all markets become more universal and interconnected.  As markets become more globalized, and interconnected through e-commerce, and in the form of social media marketing, m-commerce will be the future of international business. M-Commerce is the name  for mobile commerce. It’s most commonly recognized as the financial transaction that occur on mobile devices.

Ebook Daily staff takes an in depth look at the ever expanding textbook rental and digital textbook for M-commerce market. M-commerce is the common business term given to transactions that involve products sold on or delivered to mobile devices.  The author demonstrates how and why discount textbook websites are becoming an emerging market. He ties the topic into tablet application and content consumption which is already a considerably large industry.

The average student is estimated to spend nearly $1,000 per year on textbooks. A 2007 government study that affirms students only get 5% to 35% when selling these books make. This clearly makes the case that the textbook market is one-sided and really only beneficial to the retailer. This also reveals that there is need for a more affordable option for textbook consumers, which the author  has been gradually building towards pitching. The author’s argument is compelling in that many of his claims are supported by data. This creates an element to the article where it updates the reader on current trend in the textbook consumer market while also making a strong argument for the future.

There is a major trend developing in how textbooks are purchased by students and there is a market developing around it. There are also many different industries that are forming in response to supply exchange of discount textbooks, companies such as Chegg, BookRenter, eCampus, Knetbooks, Campus Book Rentals, and CollegeBookRenter to provide examples of the types of sites that provide access to textbooks and even allow students to rent textbooks for a price at a fraction of the cost of even used textbooks. There are also supplemental industries developing within this market that earn revenue by referring consumers to the best textbook site for their particular potential purchase. Some of these sites include  Alibris Textbooks, Textbook Rentals or RentScouter, and their website infrastructure is compatible with mobile tablets like the iPad, Touchpad and Xoom. This reinforces the idea that the electronic commerce and mobile commerce markets are emerging and can serve as a sufficient target market for Ebooks daily to enter.

In “Electronic Commerce: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications, Volume 1” author S. Ann Becker notes that in France mobile communication, or as she calls it the m-commerce market, is emerging in France. It is her belief that a solid m-commerce strategy can be implemented in synergy with an e-commerce strategy to produce amplified and more forward anticipatory results. There is much room for innovation within the M-Commerce market as it is a growing and expanding space, specifically in international markets. Another key international consideration that also neatly fits in with the concept of M-Commerce and the functionality of mobile devices is the act of incorporating international friendly apps as a part of E-Book Daily’s advertisment campaign. For example, there are many mobile phone apps, such as Whazup that allow user to make free international texts and calls on their Blackberry or Android phones, that are not as popular in the U.S. as they are overseas but serve as perfect avenues for advertising. Launching ad campaigns on international friendly platforms like these, specifically with the national culture of each respective demographic in mind (ie, sports teams, traditions, language), gives the Ebooks Daily Brand brand the opportunity to be viewed less as an American company that is internationally friendly and more as a global brand that any respective country can claim as their own.

A programmer will have to be hired for around the clock web management, as well as resolving any e-commerce integration issues. In terms of web development and maintenance, a forum administrator, as well as an SEO administrator for advertising and engaging with customers and fans of the brand, will have to be trained and hired. Content writers also have to be incorporated into the target market strategy to assist the company with producing original content. The final international consideration worth mentioning has to do with currency exchange rates. As previously mentioned, PayPal offers currency conversion services for their transactions, which allows for convenient international sales in e-commerce transactions across over 111 different global regions. This is the most important international consideration for any online business, and at the same time it is the most overlooked, because it’s taken for granted.

Employing internationally to expand into international markets is also a key focus of the company. Alessandro Ramazza, Obiettivo Lavoro and Doug Bugie  Antal give there take on the state of international employment in the modern era.  The authors note that international workers have very few rights when they immigrate to other countries, making it very difficult for them to assimilate into the culture as well as vulnerable to exploitation by the companies under which they are employed. Ramazza refers tot his process of employing undocumented workers as the ‘criminal black market of labor.”  He advises people to use employment agencies that specialize in protecting and finding employment for internationals, like his, in order to best utilize their skills while assuring them a reasonable quality of life.

Competitive Analysis

Core Competency and Sustainable Competitive Advantage: E-Book Daily has instant brand recognition across the world wide web. The brand is synonymous with quality view the brand as a symbol of quality and it’s identified as a source of valued content within the industry and a credible resource tool for the business community. E-Book Daily is renowned for quality, technical superiority, efficiency and brand awareness. E-Book Daily is a vertically integrated enterprise, covering such diverse activities as marketing creativity, sales and distribution, digital content processing, and becoming an ever favored source of valued content shared across social media sites. The company’s productivity is exceptional compared to the majority of it rivals and its use of digital media tools to enhance the share-ability of products is bar none the one of the most effective marketing methods on the web.  E-Book Daily’s competitive advantage largely stems from their ability to deliver affordable digital content to the consumer at a significantly lower cost that would be expected traditionally within its market. The company’s other competitive advantage can be seen in the the distinct way the product is delivered in the from of subscription as opposed to separate individual purchases.  This was not initially a major aspect of their operations, but it became a part of their operations as the company developed. On 1998, this all changed. This was the turning point for the company. The E-Book Daily 2entered the Growth and Utilizing Competitive Advantages phase with a strengthened market leadership position being that is produced digital content as a significantly low cost. The Company was now in a strong position to face an increasingly competitive market situation.  E-Book Daily’s advanced manufacturing technology and facilities create a situation for the company where they are able to produce high quality digitally exchanged goods for extremely low prices. Consumer demand proved extremely responsive and E-Book Daily made very significant market share gains without adverse effect on overall profitability (E-Book Daily Company, 2009).” Here the grand scheme of Alamrai’s business model is made clear. The company is structured in such a way that when the dairy market declines it actually provides room for ample growth. E-Book Daily has historically expanded its market share of the dairy market in its region during periods when its competitors are struggling to acquire milk from suppliers. Detailed financial analysis of the company will reveal that note that through this unique competitive advantage E-book Daily has by offering subscriptions to the consumer, the company has established, certain freedoms that are normally only held by leaders of its industry. These freedoms include not being limited by:

• Country or Regional Market
• Product or Product Category
• Retail Group, Customer Category or Distribution Channel
• Third Party Supplier

This data shows that E-Book Daily’s competitive advantage resides in its ability to remain independent of third party suppliers, and even produce their own content in-house, but also from the brand recognition they have been able to establish among loyal customers of their products. Another key strength of E-Book Daily is their ability to expand their operations into new markets.

Pricing Structure

The monthly subscription of $9.99 per month allows visitors to the website unlimited access to content. They are also given the discount options for purchasing books with crypto-currencies like bitcoin, litecoin or dogecoin, or for contributing content to the site, depending on the content integrity they may have free access to the site for a certain period of time. E-Book Daily also provides affordable options for businesses and academic institutions to supply their student body with textbooks.  This is due to the fact that the company keeps supplier power low due to the successful vertical integration it has managed. Likewise the pricing structure of subscription based content delivery combined with the ebook and textbook market climate keeps buyer power high thanks to the numerous competitors and brands selling products in a traditionally fashion. The pricing structure also serves as a decent safeguard to mitigating market fluctuations because competitive rivalry is so high due to the fact that many brands and players are making up the competitive rivalry.

Channels of Distribution

The core channels of distribution utilized by E-Book Daily include the website’s archived of data and content, books stores, and the bulk of online channels accessible for this form of web-based company. U.S. communication channels have increased substantially since the Social Network media platforms have grown. This is due to expansion in e-mail use as well as the use of mobile devices, Skype, and other tools for video conferencing. All of this channels integrate seemlessly with the E-Book Daily Business model. The U.S. Internet capabilities and online communities combine to provides channels of distribution that utilize every form of media communication devices to share content as well as for the consumer to make purchases.  U.S. social networking also creates another form of channel distribution in the amount of customer feedback it makes readily available through real-time platforms that have added features like voting, consumer contact campaigns and surveys. These distribution channels provide the company with the added benefit of consumer feedback that can ultimately help the company evolve through consumer engagement. The valuable distribution channel that must be tapped by E-Book Daily are social networks as they provide a plethora of ways for consumers to communicate with one another about our products and services but also for the company to engage with the consumer directly and build trust in the brand. Virtual communities functioning as groups of people sharing ideas and information are easily re-framing old channels of communication and in many ways replacing those that lack the ability to communicate uniformly, as uniform communication is the most capable of satisfying consumer’s wants and needs in an efficient way. The Nielsen results indicated that while traditional methods like television advertising, press releases, and radio still work and should not be abandoned, the paradigm shift to social networking clearly outperforms the traditional word of mouth advertising and marketing methods commonly used by companies. The biggest growth in social network marketing is Facebook. This is the real-time location where most of E-Book Daily’s consumer base will congregate.  Social Networking is providing the best products sales for businesses. The shows the amount of growth by age which shows that more and more adults and teenagers are flocking to the Internet. According to Nielsen, the main users are in the age group 35 to 49. The future research should include finding a population that can be opted consumers that want to complete the information versus sending a survey to an unsuspecting citizen of U.S. The next research should be based on college university online users because the data would

Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) Promotion Plan

E-Book Daily has the perfect mix of  advertising, public relations,   and sales promotions to draw in subscribers. Internet and social media advertising will play a prime role in developing the E-Book Daily brand as site like Youtub, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instegram will be utilized to build buzz around website developments.             Bennett claims that, “social media campaigns can be time consuming and the impact can disseminate very quickly, whereas traditional marketing campaigns, certainly in television, can produce short term results that have greater tangibility” (Bennett 1). The author notes that through social media advertising, a fraction if traditional advertising budgets can be utilized to achieve the intended result. He states that,“you can reach 1,000 people for a fraction of the cost using social media than you can through television, billboards or even email” (Bennett 1).

The primary objective of the integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) Promotion Plan will to combine word of mouth initiatives with viral, social, and traditional advertising. The main objective will be to build trust with potential consumers. The trust factor is very important for increasing subscription rates. Data shows showing that over 68 percent of consumers trust the recommendation of others. However, the report makes the point that consumer trust from others feedback is not the driving factors for the sale its Social Networking. U.S. has increased their Facebook usage of the Social Networking platforms in the last few years.

According to Power Net Global (2012), who reported a study by Ipsos Global that measured the impact of the social networking male and females using the “likes” button. The study shows that social media does influence the brands we buy.

Measurable Tasks

Corner markets share: E-Book Daily is clearly aware that Amazon.com is its main competitor and as Amazon holds substantial integrity and space within the E-book, publishing, and distribution industry, there are market share positions on which it has a loose grasp.  One in particular being the textbook market. The ultimate goal will be to corner the textbook market as it is an emerging market within e-books sales and publishing. This will be done through the five main milestones of 1) Completion of the business plan, 2) Securing retail space, 3) Having the doors open within the first month of market plan launch, 4) Profitability, 5)Sales revenues>$200,000.

• Completion of the Business Plan

Completion of the business plan entails having all plans objectives and financial information organized in regards to how the business will function and operate. All web infrastructure issues and blueprints involving risk management, tech support or security issues will also be addressed at this time.

• Securing Retail Space

This task entails securing retails space specifically in regards to setting up web infrastructure to deliver goods or services to the consumer online. This entails archives and also physical infrastructure such as a physical location for the company to handle operations. Ebooks Daily does not require the conventional retail space, but it does require locations to house both physical merchandise that will be on sale from from time to time, such as mobile devices, or physical hard copies of content that will be delivered directly to the consumer by mail.

• Having the doors open within the first month of market plan launch

This task entails having offices and operations functioning and running within 4 weeks of launching the marketing campaign.

• Profitability,

This task entails achieving profitability, which is an essential milestone for the company to achieve long term expansion and development goals.

• Sales revenues>$200,000.

One final key goal will be to earn $200,000 in revenue as a result of the marketing plan.

References

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