Abstract
The aim of the research was to determine the right marketing mix for price, promotion, product, and place for Yorkshire Tea to put it at a competitive edge with its key competitors by identifying and determining the right market and their needs to tailor its product to meet customer needs.
Introduction
Yorkshire Tea is one of the tea beverages that are widely consumed by a number of people in the beverage market occupying about 27% of drinks besides alcohol, water, soft drinks, and coffee.
Research has shown that Yorkshire Tea occupies a 20% share of the market while its closest competitors PG Tips is estimated to occupy 18%, Twinning’s estimated to occupy 18%, Tetley estimated to occupy 16%, and Other brands that occupy 28% of the market. The demographic consumption of Yorkshire tea is characteristic of an even distribution. Product information is readily available online, magazines, newspapers, and other retail outlets.
Methodology
A five member team was formed to conduct the research discussed as follows. These members consisted of Leo, Emma, Jason, Imad, and the group leader. The team planned way before hand on the tools to use for conducting the interview and analysing the results.
According to their plan, questionnaires were administered on a number of male and female participants. The percentage composition of the participants in age was designed as follows: below 16-2%, 17-25-42%, 26-35-34%, 36-45-18%, 46-59-4%, and above 60-0%. The team had identified the outside of the shopping mall located near Univercity.
Each participant was required to provide information by filling in the questionnaire on one’s most preferred drink, and the frequency with which the drink of choice was taken. In addition to that, participants were required to fill in the questionnaire on the most preferred tea among the range of tea beverages that were perceived to be York Shire’s Tea competitors. Competing tea beverages against Yorkshire that were researched on included, Yorkshire Tea itself, PG Tips, Twinning’s, Tetley, and other tea beverages from other destinations.
Each participant was required to indicate how they came to know Yorkshire Tea with the options of Televisions, magazines, Newspapers, and people to select from. Other information sources could be online and an individual’s own encounter with the product.
According to article Novak (2010, p.1), further research was conducted on the volume of sales of York Shire Tea and the packaging done on the product. The effect of different packaging methods and the perceived value and customer loyalty to the brand thus created were identified to range from light red, dark red, blue, brown, and green and their respective percentage packaging were analyzed.
Customers supplied information on their preferred product price, which was evaluated on the scale of very expensive, expensive, fair, and cheap to very cheap. The information was presented graphically for analysis purposes.
According to McNamara (n.d, p.1), each respondent was required to provide information on the most preferred customer they thought the product was tailored to target. In addition to that, each participant provided recommendations on any improvements to be made on the product they thought was desirable to meet their needs.
Results and Analysis
According to the research it was established that Yorkshire Tea (n.d, p.1) enjoyed a 20% consumption rate as compared to its competitors. Data was analyzed and presented graphically. It was established that other tea beverages competitively occupied 28% of the market, while the closest competitors had 18% and 16% shares in the market.
That indicated how competitive the market was in terms of customer base for the product to maintain a strong customer base and sustain its position and increase its market share. Thus the concept of place, where to market the product, its brand name could seriously impact on its position in the market. The quality of product packaging, consumption warranties and other aspects should be incorporated in product design and differentiated to meet target market needs.
According to the Novak (2010, p.1), the research indicated that the pricing of the product should be consistent with market demographics, which could depend on, among other factors production costs of Yorkshire Tea, supply chain components such as transportation.
McCarthy (2010, p.1) argues that other pricing components for consideration included warehousing, advertising costs, public relations, and administration activities. According to the article Yorkshire Tea, they were realized to be pertinent factors to integrate in product promotion to succeed in sustaining and increasing the market share for the product affirmed in the article Yorkshire Tea.
Internet, magazines, newspapers, and other marketing were identified to take shares in advertising the product. The Yorkshire Tea (n.d, p.1) promotional schemed were realized not meet all the marketing needs as each occupied a relatively small share.
According to the article The Marketing Mix, product pricing was perceived to be relatively expensive for the majority of participants as illustrated on the figure below. Promotional actives were noted to be rare as the respondents affirmed.
However, it was realized during the research that different packaging were done on the product tailored at different market needs and taste. These included packaging products in light red with a 10% liking from the customers, Dark red that had a 30% share, blue with a 20% share, Brown with 10% share, and Green with a 30% share. Based on these distributions of product innovations, the colors with a high percentage share could be enhanced and their prices tailored to attract more customers.
Conclusion
The research successfully established Yorkshire Tea’s competitors based on the 4 P’s of product, price, promotion, and place. Tea drinking was realized to take only 27% of the drinks consumed in the market and the need to expand on this market was clear from the research results.
The product was established to take a 20% share of the market behind its key competitors who were 28% ahead of the beverage. Other close competitors were closely behind Yorkshire tea with a paltry 18% and 16% respectively calling upon producers to adopt aggressive marketing methods to attract more customers to create a strong customer base and brand loyalty, like the coca coal company.
It was realized that despite the beverage being tailored to meet key target customers, a lot of innovation was needed in the side of product promotion, pricing, product innovations, and place to attract more customers. That could give the company an upper hand in the competitive market.
Following the research it was recommended that future research incorporate Porter’s five industry forces along with the 4 P’s approach, and value chain analysis and their effects on the strength of the product in the market and sustainability and strategies to gain a bigger market share. It was recommended further that Yorkshire Tea producers incorporate key competing elements characterizing their competitors, identify, and evaluate their weaknesses and build on their strengths to thrive on success in the market.
Reference List
McNamara, C. General Guidelines For Conducting Interviews. Basic Business Research Methods. n.d. Web.
McCarthy, J.E. Marketing Mix 4p’s Model. Value Based Management.net, 2010. Web.
Novak .J. Marketing Mix. Marketing Mix. Marketing Teacher.com, Chichester, United Kingdom 2010. Web.
The Marketing Mix. The 4p’s of Marketing. Marketing. NetMBA.com. Business Knowledge center, 2002-2010. Web.
Yorkshire Tea. British Delights Yorkshire Tea. British Delights, 63 Power Road Unit 2, West Ford, n.d. Web.