Flip-Flop Shoe Company Marketing Project in the UAE Research Paper

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Executive Summary

The Flip-Flop shoe product’s five-year digital marketing plan will target the young digerati and home user customers since they are the majority in the digital marketing platform within the UAE. The three circles diagram, market share, sales, advertisement expenses, and gross margin are summarized below.

3 levels of product
Graph 1: 3 levels of product

Table 1: Gross Margin and Net Contribution

Profit
YearGross MarginNet Contribution
UAD%UAD%
2014221,80063227,10859
2015415,99864433,38264
2016452,70064460,72064
2017495,99864500,76164
2018535,99864547,86964

Table 2: Sales

Sales
YearSales (unit)Selling Price (UAD)
2014221,80030
2015415,99830
2016452,70030
2017495,99840
2018535,99845

Table 3: Advertisement expenditure

Advertisement
YearAdvertising Expenditure (UAD)
201433,400
201538,800
201639,695
201739,800
201840,800

Vision and Mission Statements

Vision

The company’s vision is to be the leading business in the shoe apparel industry within the expansive UAE market.

Mission statement

The marketing environment in the UAE for company has been amenable to the affordable Flatty Shoe product. Besides, the shoe product guarantees unmatched comfort to the UAE clients. The company is interested in growing different brands out of the current shoe product. Besides, the company has plans for rolling out an online store. Product marketing will be rolled out through social media and company website. In the next five year, the company targets to increase product visibility, distributing, and diversification in the UAE market.

Market Research Analysis

The objective of the digital marketing plan is to market the Flip-Flop shoe product in the expansive UAE market.

Macro-environmental analysis

Demographic Environment

Population in the United Arab Emirates is one of the fastest growing in the world. Population increased from 1.0 million in 1980 to 8.4 million in 2010 (Cone, 2011). Projections made by the United Nations show that population will increase further to reach 15.5 million by the year 2050. In terms of sex, female population exceeded male gender in the United Arab Emirates in the year 2010. Therefore, the demand for the Flip-Flop product exists and is sustainable in the UAE market.

Impact statement

This population increase will create demand for Flip-Flop shoe. More female flip-flops will be supplied in the market to match with the demographics.

Economic Environment

The UAE is amongst the leading oil producers in the world. The recent rise in oil price has increased government spending. By combining the increase in government expenditure with a vibrant tourism, transport, and trade, the outcome is a favorable environment to conduct digital marketing (Blythe, 2006). For 12 months to May 2013, inflation rose by an average of 0.7% (Jin, Suh, & Donavan, 2008).

Impact statement

An increase in government expenditure implies that there is more money in circulation and people can afford to buy Flip-Flop shoes. It is expected that exchange rate will remain stable and so the need to introduce the Flip-Flop shoe this early.

Social Environment

Heritage and culture are valued by the targeted market. The United Arab Emirates is a diverse, multi-ethnic, and multicultural society, which makes it a perfect destination for the Flip-Flop shoe (Jin, Suh, & Donavan, 2008). High rates of obesity and diabetes in the UAE mean that demand for flat shoes for exercise purposes is on the rise. Besides, Urdu, Arabic, English, and Hindi languages are spoken in the UAE. This makes it easier to tailor a marketing language.

Impact statement

Considering that Islam is the main religion in the UAE, the Flip-Flop shoe will register a success. The nature of Islamic religion requires Muslims to attend prayers without shoes, which is why the Flip-Flop shoe will fit well in the region.

Technological Environment

Social media such as Twitter and Facebook are currently the most utilized platforms and can be exploited positively to reach more customers in the UAE. This will not only control loses, but also give an accurate record of sales and projections (Dagnino & Rocco, 2009).

Impact statement

Advent of computer scanners at retail checkout counters means that the supply of Flip-Flop product should be accompanied with barcodes. This will ensure strategic product positioning.

Legal environment

As a legal requirement, companies in the UAE are expected by the regulatory authorities to be tax compliant. The taxes are remitted directly to the government of Abu Dhabi. In the UAE laws on commerce, certificate of compliance to taxes are issued to businesses that remit their returns accurately form which taxes are deducted (Cheverton, 2004).

Impact statement

The Flip-Flop product complies with the above laws. This will create an easy environment for its introduction and marketing.

Micro-environmental analysis

Company

It is difficult for any aspiring shoe company to enter into the industry in the UAE market and manage to breakeven easily. Given its unique product, reliable customer base, and a stable market niche, the Flip-Flop Company has the capacity to offer the element of affordability to its customers (Farooq & Jan, 2012).

Impact statement

The company is well positioned to survive in the competitive market through gaining from economies of scale and competitive price tags for the Flip-Flop shoe. Besides the company has a strong customer base in the UAE.

Customers

The customers for the proposed shoe product fall in the youthful and middle-aged segments. These two groups are spread throughout the UAE and have an active social media culture (Harris & Dennis, 2007).

Impact statement

In order to remain relevant, the proposed Flip-Flop shoe product has to establish a unique ways of marketing the shoe product to the two customer segments. This will be achieved through tailored optometry and active internet marketing.

Suppliers

Suppliers in the UAE shoes industry have more power owing to the existence of many companies. As a matter of fact, suppliers may instigate market demand and supply variances. This leaves the suppliers with the power to dictate on proceedings in the industry such as the price tags (Farris, Bendle, Pfeifer, & Rebstein, 2010).

Impact statement

The proposed Flip-Flop shoe product has endeavored to use its deep reservoirs. This is as a strategy for balancing the supply forces in the fragile shoe market of the UAE.

Buyers

The amount of output, in terms of turn over sales, depends on the buyers’ purchasing power. The higher the purchasing power, the better the turnover in total sales realized over a definite period of time (Ira, 2002).

Impact statement

Fortunately, as established earlier, the high purchasing power in the UAE will ensure the success of the Flip-Flop shoe product (McKinney, 2005). The target male and female customers are spread across the UAE.

Public (media)

There are several media channels that are used actively to market products and services in the UAE. However, most of these channels are expensive due to the large fees they charge to market products in the UAE market. Due to the entry of technological advancement, internet has been the most common means of social media communication among the targeted customer segments.

In fact, more than 59% of United Arabs Emirates families have access to the internet and are literate in its use (Al-Jenabi, 2008). Therefore, the Flip-Flop shoe will be marketed online since the targeted customers segments are active users of the internet.

Impact statement

The internet media strategy will perfectly suit the UAE market where the Flip-Flop shoe product will be launched and promoted via social media and company’s website.

Digital marketing Plan for the Flip-Flop Shoe Product

Target Market

Young Digerati: Youthful customers

The five year marketing strategy entails active marketing the Flip-Flop shoe product to the young Saudis since this group has low expenses but with discretionary income and are very much interested in differentiated shoe products.

Through the digital marketing strategy that stresses on proactive connection to fashionable lifestyle, the company will be in a position to penetrate this market without having to alienate its current base of customers (Jin, Suh, & Donavan, 2008). This group is ethnically diverse and consists of 25.19% of the UAE households and they frequent social media.

Prism Segment: Middle-aged customers

This group consists of middle-aged customers who consist of 32.39% of the total UAE households. This group has active online lifestyle and own majority of the smart phones and other electronic gadgets, which can access the internet. This group is ethnically diverse and has high disposable income (McKinney, 2005). Therefore, e-marketing strategies will be effective in reaching this segment.

Objectives for Social Media Marketing

Attract

The main objective of this digital marketing plan is to attract the younger customers’ market through the Flip-Flop shoe’s website and a twitter fun page in order to increase the customer traffic in its stores. The objective aims at packaging the Flip-Flop shoe as a favorite of the younger customers who frequent social media and actually share a common communication culture.

Apparently, this segment forms the largest bracket of those who visit shoe stores. The use of social media to attract this market segment is achievable since the target market frequents social media as a site for interaction and purchase of different shoes products (Stokes, 2011).

Customer retention and loyalty building

Properly modified website and the twitter fun page will reassure the customers on the quality of the Flip-Flop shoe being retailed online and at the Flip-Flop shoe stores. Through massive recruitment of the Flip-Flop shoe funs in the twitter page, the company will not only benefit from an increased traffic of online compliments, but also record high rates of customer loyalty as most customers are influenced by reactions from other clients.

Customer retention strategy is meant to position the company as a market leader in terms of customer satisfaction tracking and response. This will be achieved through optimization of the Flip-Flop shoe website’s search engine and improving on the visibility of its twitter fun page (Roberts, 2005).

Summary of the Marketing Objectives

Year/ObjectivesNumber of salesMarket shareBrand awareness
First200,0005%10%
Second300,00010%30%
Third400,00015%50%
Fourth500,00020%70%
Fifth600,00025%99%

Appropriate Digital Marketing Strategies

In order to increase credibility and maintain product visibility, the Flip-Flop shoe’s website and the proposed social media channels will encompass processes and features that flawlessly facilitate a healthy lifetime relationship between the Flip-Flop shoe product and its clients in the UAE.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization for the Flip-Flop shoe website can be achieved through installing plugins that possess extra features such as page navigation, thumbnail, and customized page numbers (Stokes, 2011). Specifically, this proposed system in Google will consist of a multi tab page that will serve different areas and services to online customers.

The main categories may be shoe ordering menu, e-newspaper/magazines and brochures related to common brands of the shoe, shopping (duty free) for customized shoe options, and a guide on cost for each type of the Flip-Flop shoe product.

When implementing SEO in the Google search, it is necessary to revise the algorithms constantly for the search result of the Flip-Flop shoe website to remain at the top (Stokes 2011). This can be achieved through revising the content to ensure that all the information in the website pertains directly to the needs of potential clients. Thus, constant blogging of the website and recruiting other independent bloggers to blog about the website will give the Flip-Flop shoe website a competitive advantage in marketing its product in the expansive UAE market.

The SEO may also be tailored to include a unique cookie which is transferable to the users of the Flip-Flop shoe website. The unique cookie for the website will be transferred to all primary and secondary visitors of this site hence broadening the spread information on this website in the UAE (Stokes 2011).

Optimizing the SEO has the potential of making the website go viral within six months since the unique cookie will spread to the primary and secondary users. The risk of using this option may be the high cost of constantly optimizing the SEO and hiring unprofessional bloggers who may compromise the elements of trust in dealing with the potential clients (Liu, Liao, & Peng, 2005). However, the benefits in relation to the Flip-Flop shoe surpass the demerits.

Social media advertising

Social media, especially through Facebook and Twitter have gained popularity among companies and individuals who uses these sites as interaction modules to share experiences and exchange ideas in the UAE. In the e-marketing industry, social media has penetrated the communication environment and currently commands a large following among the users (Stokes 2011). Reflectively, Facebook and Twitter are ideal tools for branding and community following building for the Flip-Flop shoe product in the UAE.

Through ‘likes’ and ‘tweets’, the customer base for the Flip-Flop shoe will expand substantially over a short period of time. The tweeter and Facebook are ideal tools for branding and community following building for the Flip-Flop shoe product in the UAE (McKinney, 2005).

This will allow people to interact and let users to add content to align to different orientations of Flip-Flop shoe product. The Twitter and Facebook fun pages will help the company to reach their customers by skipping or bypassing the traditional gatekeepers, such as written magazine publishers, and placing them online so that customers can get them directly (Stokes, 2011).

Benefits of the digital marketing strategies

The benefits of the digital marketing strategies are similar for SEO and social media marketing. The benefits range from increased product visibility, low costs, and increased customer traffic among other (Winchester, 2006). The benefits are summarized in the table below.

CompanyCustomer
The company will benefit from the low cost of marketing through the SEO and social media.The customer will be able to access the Flip-Flop shoe product from a click of the button.
The SEO and social media have the benefit of increasing the traffic of customers interested in the Flip-Flop shoe product.The customer will have better information on the Flip-Flop shoe product since the SEO and social medial are comprehensive.
The SEO and social media have the potential of increasing the Flip-Flop shoe’s brand credibility since most customer trust the Google browser.The customer will be able to determine which Flip-Flop shoe product is the most favorite from the online reviews.
The company will increase its competitive advantage through increased return on investment as a result of the increased online traffic.The customer will have to benefit from discounts and other offers that are communicated at the site, without having to visit the Flip-Flop shoe stores in UAE.
The company selling the Flip-Flop shoe product will have accurate data on customer purchasing preference in order to improve on the shoe product.The customer will have the ability to make better and rational judgment on the basis of personal preferences from different categories of the Flip-Flop shoe brands.

Cost of Implementing the Digital Marketing Strategy

Sales forecast and cost forecast

Sales Forecast (UAD)
20142015201620172018
Sales
Females201,300385,458412,540450,458485,458
Males20,50030,54040,16045,54050,540
Total Sales221,800415,998452,700495,998535,998
Cost forecast
Direct Cost of Sales20142015201620172018
Females31,03144,50045,34546,50047,500
Males2,4004,3004,3504,3004,300
Subtotal Direct Cost of Sales33,43148,80049,69549,80050,800

Cost of digital marketing strategies

Cost forecast
Direct Cost of Sales20142015201620172018
SEO21,00024,50025,34526,50027,500
Social Media12,40014,30014,35014,30014,300
Subtotal Direct Cost of Sales33,40038,80039,69539,80040,800

Net Promoter Score

The promoters are assumed to be in the 9-10 (25%) score while the passives are assumed to be in the 7-8 (55%) score. The detractors are assumed to be in the 0-6 (20%) score. Thus, the Net Promoter Score will be +5 for the digital marketing plan within the UAE market. Therefore, the satisfaction score is estimated at 80% while the recommendation score is estimated at 70%. In addition, the social conversation score is estimated at 80%.

Market share table

Year20142015201620172018Total
Sales221,800415,998452,700495,998535,9982,122,494
Market share growth10.4%19.59%21.3%23.4%25.3%

(Source: Self generated)

References

Al-Jenabi, B. (2008). Use of social media in the United Arabs Emirates: An initial study. Global Media Journal, 1(2), 3-27.

Blythe, J. (2006). Essentials of marketing communications. New York, NY: FT/Prentice Hall.

Cheverton, P. (2004). Key marketing skills: strategies, tools, and techniques for marketing success, Sterling. London, UK: Kogan Page.

Cone, S. (2011). Steal these ideas: Marketing secrets that will make you a star. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Dagnino, G., & Rocco, E. (2009). Competition strategy: theory, experiments and cases. New York, NY: Rutledge.

Farooq, F., & Jan, Z. (2012). The Impact of Social Networking to Influence Marketing through Product Reviews. International Journal of Information and Communication Technology Research, 2(8): 627-637.

Farris, P., Bendle, N., Pfeifer, P., & Rebstein, D. (2010). Marketing metrics: The definitive guide to measuring marketing performance. Alabama, AL: FT Press.

Harris, L., & Dennis, C. (2007). Marketing the eBusiness, New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Ira, K. (2002). E-Marketing: What Went Wrong and How to Do It Right. Los Angeles, LA: K&A Press.

Jin, H., Suh, J., & Donavan, T. (2008). Salient Effects of Publicity in Advertised Brand Recall and Recognition: The List-Strength Paradigm. Journal of Advertising, 37(1): 45-57.

Liu, S., Liao, S., & Peng, C. (2005). Applying the technology acceptance model and flow theory to online consumer behavior. Information System Research, 13(2): 205- 223.

McKinney, L.N. (2005). Creating a satisfying internet shopping experience via atmospheric variables. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 28(3), 268-83.

Roberts, J. (2005). Defensive marketing: How a strong incumbent can protect its position. Harvard Business Review, 83(11): 150-210.

Stokes, R. (2011). eMarketing: The essential guide to digital marketing. London, UK: Quirk eMarketing (Pty) Ltd.

Winchester, M. (2006). Positive and negative brand beliefs and brand defection/uptake. European Journal of Marketing, 42(6), 553-570.

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