Marketing Planing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words - 1

Marketing Planing - Essay Example The first IKEA Store was opened in Almhult, Sweden to showcase the entire furniture range to the common people. The main objective of the company was to offer exclusive furniture range at an affordable price for the common people. In the year 1940 the company published its first advertisement in reputed newspaper and also sent 800000 catalogues across Swedish homes (IKEA, 2013h). The furniture range was tested at the Swedish design laboratory for proving its genuine quality. The unique selling proposition of IKEA showroom is its wide availability of products ranging from candlestick to coffee tables and exclusive sofa sets (IKEA, 2013c). In addition to the variety of products the inclusion of the restaurant to each store outlets of IKEA was very popular among the customers. The company is famous for manufacturing the four legged easy to assemble table. In spite of the global economic crisis IKEA has witnessed an increase in the sales of furniture by 1.4 percent in the year 2009 from 2008 (IKEA, 2013e). The company yielded profits from the UK sector in spite of the slow economic growth in furniture industry. Figure 1: Annual Sales of IKEA Market Planning Changing &Assessing Capability The market planning method helps in developing plans which help in identification and satisfaction of customer needs. One of the major elements of market planning is to identify the customer needs and requirements through market research and development. Understanding customer requirements is necessary to develop a product as per customer specifications and requirements. Initially, the IKEA furniture range had shades of European design which reflected the European culture and heritage. IKEA was aware of the refined taste of the Europeans and it reflected in the furniture designs. IKEA came up with a unique idea of providing customers with elegant designs at minimalistic prices. This marketing strategy worked wonders for IKEA and the company started yielding huge amount of profits. When the company opened its first American store in Philadelphia in the year 1985 the market seemed to be a very good prospect for IKEA however, the cold behaviour of the American towards IKEA furniture range took the management by surprise. IKEA revamped its marketing strategy completely and renovated the entire furniture range. The marketing tactics worked wonders for IKEA and the sales of the company skyrocketed immediately. By the end of the year 2008, USA became the second largest furniture market after Germany for IKEA. This incident taught IKEA a lesson that the customers of different countries have different requirements and tastes and products should be developed accordingly. Before entering the Asian markets the management of IKEA did their homework well and studied the Asian culture carefully. For example the designs of the IKEA stores in China were similar to that of Chinese homes with attractive colours. IKEA also started paying heed to specific customer needs and requi rement for example when a woman would shop with her husband, her husband would get bored so a tool section was introduced for the comfort of the customers. The customer knows that the publication of the