Write a report about marketing plan of subject e-commerce organization. In this report the specific e-marketing, social media marketing, marketing mix and other strategies would be discussed. This would help us understand how such organizations and e-commerce businesses are surviving and sustaining is such competitive global market with the help of such marketing strategies. Since the marketing is backbone of any business, and success & failure in the marketing strategies determine the success and failure of entire organization.

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Introduction Crate Barrel an American chain of retail stores based in Northbrook Illinois basically falls under Houseware and Furniture industry and is well known for its range of products Its products includes but not limited to Furniture outdoor Dining and Entertainment Kitchen Dcor Pillows Rugs Lighting Bed Bath and Organizational Accessories Basic Organizational Strategies and marketing plan doesnt work with Ecommerce so run a better eCommerce website businesses need to develop best emarketing plan and strategies to implement efficiently and effetely to generate sales and attain higher market share Target Markets The main target market is customer of Furniture and Housewares The organization is operating and serving in about 100 countries in the world The target market is very huge and the website is highly optimized to cater audience with the best service and comfortable experience The website is customer oriented and provides a customer oriented language for better shopping and web experience This practice encourages target market to shop there Segmentation Segmentation refers to making groups of people and customers according to their demographics sociographics beliefs values and attitude The main target market ie Furniture Houseware customer is further segmented into small specific segments eg Dining Kitchen and Bed Bath etc The segmentation strategy of this organization is really remarkable The company offers each and every customer the best suited and required produced placed segmental in the website Product Positioning The Store Crate Barrel started with no cash register and one employee however now has crossed the boundaries and started serving over 100 countries Its positioning can be analyzed by the fact that this brand is giving a real hard time competition to the Bloomingdales and Pottery in United Arab Emirate and other big brands worldwide With the service experience of more than 50 years the company gained a remarkable positioning in the mind of its current and potential customers Companys Goal Objective Crate Barrels mission is People Product and Presentation The companys goal is to keep customers comfortable in the store so that they can maximize their exposure to the many houseware and furniture products that Crate Barrel has to offer Contact Information Owner The Otto group or Otto GmbH Co KG formerly Otto Versand CEO Sascha Bopp Contact No 001 6303694464 Headquarter Northbrook Illinois USA Website wwwcrateandbarrelcom SWOT Analysis SWOT Analysis helps companies and researchers to figure out the Strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats of a specified company With the help of such analysis the company could enhance its strength and overcome its weakness to avail the opportunities available in the market and to make itself secure from the existing threats Following is the SWOT analysis for Crate Barrel Strengths The Strengths of Crate Barrel are discussed in detail as follows Range of Products A wide range of products that Crate Barrel provides to the customers worldwide is undoubtedly its major strength The range of products as mentioned above includes but not limited to Furniture Outdoor Dining and Entertainment Kitchen Dcor Pillows Rugs Lighting Bed Bath and Organizational Accessories Cost Advantage This is the common strength in Ecommerce business since the companies working online save a lot financial reserves from Utility bills rentals outlets excessive employee and office furniture so the cost becomes very nominal and profit becomes really extraordinary Senior Leadership Support One of the most important strengths that this company has is the strong visible and vocal support from the senior management The senior management not only provides support for assistance but also for personal decisions administration financial and executive maters Loyal Employees In this competitive age of business the loyalty of employee is of vital importance for the success of any business Luckily the Crate Barrels employees are most efficient dedicated and loyal with the company The team is highly talented and effective that gives a competency to the company Successfulness So far the company is going successful and achieving its corporative goals continuously This success gives the confidence and a level of admiration in the industry that causes its strength and competitive advantage over other companies in the same industry Customer Loyalty The customer of the company plays very important role making their strengths If they are loyal with the company the growth and success is sure if they are not then no other strategy can make the company successful in the market Due to the experience quality of service and product range the customers of Crate Barrel are very loyal to their brand Weaknesses Following are the weaknesses of Crate Barrel Higher Prices One of the most important weaknesses is higher prices The company offers best quality products with distinctive features that leads to higher manufacturing cost so resultantly the prices go up that makes little difficulty for organization Recorded Calls Each and every call that company receives from its customers is recorded automatically which is now causing hard time for Crate Barrel The company is facing numerous law suits against privacy in regard of recording calls Opportunities Following are the potential opportunities for Crate Barrel Growth Profitability The ecommerce industry is growing so the Crate Barrel has the opportunity to get grown with business expansion and profit maximization So far the business is going very well and the chances of growth are very high New Acquisition There are so many growing ecommerce websites that are doing good business of their scale The opportunity to acquire such companies is available for Crate Barrel to expend the business market and product line Threats Following are some major threats for Crate Barrel Growing Competition Undoubtedly the competition is the utmost threat for Crate Barrel Other local business and online retail stores are also performing their best to lead the market and giving a hard time to Crate Barrel If not focused company may face failure in near future Increase in Labor Cost The threat of increase in labor cost is also very dangerous since the cost effectiveness is the core of its strengths and if labor cost increases the company might require compromising the profit of increase the price But increasing the price would be a threat itself because prices of Crate Barrel are already comparatively higher than its competitor due to distinctive feature and quality Price Change Due to the increasing global and local competition the company may have to change the prices to gain the market share since the competitors are offering the same products with competitive prices and remarket able services So the threat of price change is also very dangerous for company in near future Marketing Mix Strategies Traditional Marketing Mix Traditionally the marketing mix strategies are consists of 4Ps which are discussed in detail in respect of Crate Barrel 4Ps of Marketing Mix 4Ps of marketing mix are consists of Product Place Price and Promotion Regardless of what business or service the company is dealing with the 4Ps of marketing mix are always of utmost importance and should be topofmind all the time Lets discuss each P of marketing mix in regard of Crate Barrel Product The first P out of 4 from the marketing mix determine exactly what the product is what need of customer it fulfills how different is it from competitors how beneficial is for customer what features it contains how it would cost and what margin company could make at each sale The product range of Crate Barrel is well branded and really cost effect according to give price range on the website The beautification and durability of the product distinguishes it from the ones of competitors Place The second P of marketing mix is Place that determines exactly where buyers look for the product or service of the company how customers would access the product would it be easy for the customer to reach us would we need sales force store and online submission etc Crate Barrel store is operating in all the big countries including United States United Kingdom Canada Singapore and United Arab Emirates However the company is connected to more than 100 countries through ecommerce and serving the foreign customers very well by taking online orderpayments and shipping the products to their desired destinations So the second P of marketing mix is also implemented very efficiently and effectively so that the distance of customer and product would be of a Single Click Price Third P of the marketing mix is Price that elaborates how the product adds value for the customers how well the price is established according to the products feature will the customers ready to pay the price for this product what are the prices for same product by competitors would a little discount would generate more sales or would a little increase in price would result in more profit without effecting sales volume The prices of the Crate Barrel are really competitive and little higher However the quality value and durability of the products compel its customer to buy and recommend it to others The prices are set according to the industry rates and product value Promotion Last but not the least P of marketing mix is Promotion that asks when would you promote the business what would be the best way to convey your message to audience what is the right time to promote how your competitors are promoting their businesses and what kind of promotional strategies are to adopt In respect of promotion the Crate Barrel has been very well they really have successful to creating a Buzz online advertising through mass media television and gone viral on the internet with the help of social media like facebook twitter instagram and Google etc Their promotional strategies helped them boosting their sales and increasing brand positioning Social Media Marketing The social media marketing refers to promoting and advertising the product or service by the mean of social media websites like Facebook Twitter and Instagram etc Crate Barrel is not that well with the social media marketing as they should be according to real time stats the likes and followers of Crate Barrel on Social Networks are as follows Facebook 526374 Like Twitter 51400 Followers Instagram 94000 Followers Google 4283 Followers These figures tell that the company is not well with its social media marketing to promote and advertise its product ... 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