How to launch the service
Choosing an effective market entry strategy depends on a number of factors such as product and positioning portfolio practiced by other competitors in the industry (Blythe & Zimmerman 2005, p.118). Home from Home Cooking can launch its new service by introducing the services at a reduced rate.
This makes it easier for the business to penetrate the market by attracting new customers who prefer purchasing low priced products and services. Considering that there are many competitors in the industry, Home from Home Cooking should have prices lower than that of its direct competitors. To achieve this, Home from Home Cooking should develop efficient production techniques capable of reducing the overall cost of production.
This is from the fact that, competitors might also opt to reduce their prices in order to maintain their customers. However, the competitors cannot manage to do so if the cost of production is higher compared to that of home from home cooking. This explains why the business should struggle at having lower production costs.
The company should also focus of making improvements on the current products or service offering by the competitors. Apart from relying only on young families and professional people as its main customers, Home from Home Cooking should also enhance or position its product such that the smaller consumer segments can get attracted to the services offered by the company.
External sources that will help launch the service
The company can rely on a number of external sources to launch the new service. For example, the business can use sites like www.moneysupermarket.com (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada 2011, p.6). This site enables potential customers to make price comparisons.
Thus, Home from Home Cooking should always ensure that the prices of the services offered are slightly lower in relation to the competitors’ prices found at the site. The company should also make extensive use of other sites like www.toptable.com that provide customers with information on the state of the service offering by the business (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada 2011, p.7).
Identification of helpful wholesalers
Home from Home Cooking can collaborate with locally available producers like Osterley’s farmers market. Additionally, the business should develop good relations with large supermarkets like Tesco. This will provide mutual benefit to both companies. Home from Home Cooking will benefit by experiencing increased demand. However, Tesco will get an opportunity of stocking a wider variety of British classics and eventually generate more sales.
Partners to help gain market entry
Local business providers like GlaxoSmithKline and the British Sky Broadcasting can offer significant benefits to Home from Home Cooking, even as the new company struggles to gain entry to the market. The new business should also partner with television stations like BBC so that it becomes easier to advertise company’s products and services through popular television programs like “The Great British Food Revival”.
Promoting the business
Home from Home Cooking can use different tactics to promote its services. For example, the business can place advertisements in food magazine and also distribute the company’s business cards to potential customers. This will not only inform customers about the products and services offered by the business, but will also provide them with business contacts.
Launch evening with food tasting and wine
When launching the new business, Home from Home Cooking should ensure that food and drinks are of good taste. This will enable the company to witness high rate of customer return even after launching the service. As a result, the business will also manage to maintain its market share and survive the increasing competition.
References
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada 2011, The United Kingdom: A diverse Foodservice Sector. Web.
Blythe, J., & Zimmerman, AS 2005, Business-to-business marketing management: a global perspective, Thomson Learning, London.