Jahangirnagar University WMBA Program BUS 509

Marketing Plan On Kids Toys in the Dhaka City

The Date of Submission: 7 January, 2012

To Mohammad Bakhtiar Rana Associate Professor Institute of Business Administration Jahangirnagar University

Dear Sir,

It is our pleasure to submit the paper on Marketing Plan for Kids Toys considering the Dhaka City as the outcome of the course BUS509. It was very helpful for us to work under your guidelines and we have learned a lot about Business and Marketing.

We can sincerely say that we have given our best considering the fact that we have to cope with different problems, but we were also lucky to have you as our instructor because if it were somebody else this report would not have been possible.

Sincerely yours Md. Asraful Anam Paritran Talukder Md. Mazharul Islam Md. Abu Hasan Khondoker Farooque Hossain Roll# 1314 Roll#1644 Roll# 1980 Roll#1455 Roll#2064

Executive Summary

The report examines the introduction of the product called the Learn Throuhg Fun'. The product is a toy designed for children between the ages of 7-12. It will generate a lot of buzz in the industry because no toy has been able to fulfill all the functions that this product can. The product consists of a DVD containing episodes of children's favorite English spoken cartoons. The beauty about this product is that it is entertaining because of the DVDs containing their best cartoons; it is also educative because their language skills will be polished through the attached script. The Company will use detailed market research to find out what factors influence children within that age the bracket. It will then incorporate these ideas into advertisements done before and after the launch. The launch will be done by a well-known child actor who will give them a first-hand experience of what the Learn Throuhg Funcan do. The production team will consist of a number of professionals like engineers, accountants and drivers. All these members will be recruited after intense study to ensure that there will be no technical problems at the beginning of production. There will be continuous product improvement by introduction of another similar collection containing musical instruments instead of a script. Financial and sales forecasts incorporating all the factors amounted to BDT 20 Lacs.

Table of Contents
Contents 1.0 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 7.0 4 P's Target group/market segments Buyers and influences Detailed analysis of competing products and advantage over them How to launch product Market research Strategy for releasing substitute products Operations Physical locations, equipment required, how product will be produced Quality control Delivery of product Action plan Finance Vision and Mission of the Company Business Competitive advantage Goals and Objectives Performance reviews Legal Structure and Ownership Legal issues Product Development in the future Risk analysis Management Team People, skills, roles and background Organizational structure Use of external consultants and advisors Marketing Plan Introduction Industry Analysis Definition of the industry Size, attractiveness, growth rates and trends in the industry Industry segmentation Competitor analysis Situational analysis Business Issues Page Number 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 8 10 10 10 11 12 12 13 13 13 14 14 14 15 15 15 15 16 17

1.0 Introduction The Business plan will look at the launch of a new product. Its product name will be Learn through Fun. The product has a number of features that will make it stand out from the rest of the toys currently being offered in the market. The product is meant for children that are between the ages of seven and twelve. When introducing a new product in the market there are several issues that need to be addressed: A business should consider all the internal and external factors that will affect production. This can be done through the 4c's, SWOT analysis and Porter's five forces. After these issues have been critically examined then the entrepreneur(s) have to to come up with a mission, vision, name goals and objectives of the Company. Also, all legal matters need to be adequately catered for. After this, the entrepreneur ought to consider all of the management issues that will affect the organization. Then segmentation, research, strategy and other marketing issues should be incorporated. On top of this, location and the most important of all a budget must be made for the given product.

2.0 Industry analysis

2.1 Definition of the industry The Toy industry is one of the most lucrative areas to engage in business in the Dhaka City. This is because of the fact that there is a lot of room for creativity in this industry; therefore entrepreneurs can be able to come up with their own products and offer something unique to the market. However, this trait is not something that is possessed by all businesses that enter the industry. This has brought about a lot of replication and imitations. The industry employs a lot of human labor and technology during production and therefore necessitates proper planning before embarking on a project. 2.2 Size, attractiveness, growth rates and trends in the industry The industry is a not large one; it has been in place for not a very long time. The Toy industry covers the whole country and even goes beyond the countrys borders. It should also be noted that the most lucrative toy Companies are not found within the Country and mostly come from Asian countries like China and Japan. The growth rate now is also quite high. About ten years ago, the industry was quite basic, it was not considered as an industry on its own but fell under the luxuries section. But much has changed since then; the economy has grown and parents consider toys as a priority for their children. The toy industry has been characterized by growth in market share for relatively new companies in the trade. This means that the intended Company has a high likelihood of surviving in the industry. 2.3 Industry segmentation There are various ways in which the toy market has been segmented. Some of these are; Gender segmentation; here, toys are made according to what fits a particular gender. For example, there are toys that are suitable for boys like tri-cycle, guns and cars, while others are suitable for girls like teddy bears and dolls.

Size segmentation; there are some toys in the market that are quite large and macro in nature. One such example is a house which a child can play in. then there are some that are small in size. Segmentation based on special features; some toys have something unique in them like those ones that can record voice, play music or make specific moves while others are simply ordinary and have no special features added on to them. Segmentation based on type; there are some toys that are made after influential people in children's lives like cartoon characters (Pokemon, Doremon and Ninja Turtle), action figures like Spiderman and Superman. They are some that are based on animals or things. For example mobile phones, bears, dogs, balls, musical instruments etc. 2.4 Competitor analysis The toy industry is one of the most competitive industries in the Dhaka City market today. Competitors have realized that children are a very responsive market target. Besides this, the market is liberal and Companies doesnt need a patent and can start their business. Competition is also rigid because there are a lot of toy imports form China that flooding the Dhaka market currently. On top of that competitors are very creative when coming up with marketing ideas.

2.5 Situational analysis

2.51 Porter's five forces Porter's five forces are essential in determining the degree of market penetration of the given Company or the strength of a particular market strategy as stated by Porter (1985). This is done by examining five key areas i.e. 2.511 Degree of rivalry; the new toy Company that will be introduced has to face a high degree of rivalry among other toy producers and importers. To cope with this, the Company will have a unique, creative and solid product that it will be offering. Secondly, the Company will use low prices to boost sales and lastly, it will employ creative marketing ideas to stand out from the rest. 2.512 Threat of substitutes; Porter (1985) explains that threats of substitutes occur when products from another industry have the potential to replace those ones being offered by a specific Company. Fortunately, there are not very many industries that can substitute toys

because the main function of toys is as play items for children. However, the entertainment industry through CDs and DVDs has a slight capability of achieving this. 2.513 Bargaining power of buyers; because toy companies in the Dhaka are not many, yet the target group is the same, buyers have high bargaining power. The Company will use aggressive marketing skills to deal with this. 2.514 Bargaining power of suppliers; suppliers also have relatively high bargaining power. This is because raw materials for production of toys like plastic, paper cuts, glitters and fibers are used by other industries apart from toy companies thus giving suppliers an advantage. 2.515 Risk of new entry; the Company will also face this threat because there are no strict laws that prohibit entry one simply needs to fulfill their legal obligations like getting a patent.

2.52 SWOT analysis-explains that this is done to asses internal and external; factors that affect a Company.

2.521 Strengths; the Company has an exceptional product on offer. Besides this, it will also offer other toys in the future. It will sell its toys at affordable prices, employ creativity in marketing and will maintain high product standards. 2.522 Weaknesses; because the Company will be relatively new, it may not have a strong brand image to fall back on. There are also some financial constraints that it has to deal with initially as there are no profits at the beginning of business. The Company will also face competition from well established names in the toy industry. But all these will offset once production is underway. 2.523 Opportunities; the Company can take advantage of being new in the toy industry to establish itself. It can sell itself as being unique and may thus secure a strong market base. It should also make use of technology in production. Also increasing market share is another opportunity. 2.524 Threats; there have been cases of negative publicity where some toys have been labeled hazardous for child health. Also, the government could impose restrictions on labor and technological use in toy production. Other competitors could copy their product and gain mileage

over the Company. But it can deal with this through fulfilling all labor laws and ensuring that all supplies meet their legal obligations.

3.0 Business Issues

3.1 Vision and Mission of the Company

Its mission statement will be as follows; to establish the Company's product as the most innovative in the market, create worth in dealerships, and promote production efficiency and to introduce corporate social responsibility.' The vision will be to become the leader in toy manufacture in the Dhaka City' The Company' slogan will be children's wacky world of make belief!' 3.2 Business Competitive advantage The Company will be new in the market and has an opportunity to market itself without any prior misconceptions that come with serving for too long in the industry. Besides, the Company has an extra ordinary product that has never been seen before in the toy market. The product to be offered is also multifunctional as it is educative and informative. Besides this, the Company will offer low prices for its products and will adopt high standards in manufacture.

3.3 Goals and Objectives The goals of the Company will be based on the core values of maintaining product standards and enhancing productivity.

To offer high quality of toys that meet set standards for the Dhaka City market Engage in continuous innovation during production and marketing Cultivate a culture of cohesiveness among employees Continuously increase market share and profits through research and development, technology and

3.4 Performance reviews Performance appraisals will be conducted depending on the nature of review being done. Overall Company performance will be reviewed on a quarterly basis i.e. after every three months. During this assessment, the Company's profits will be examined that is both net and gross profit. Performance of the Company' shares will also be assessed and total revenue will be compared to expenditure and suggestions for improvement to be done. Performance reviews for departments and specific individuals in the Company will be done on a weekly basis. Special emphasis will go to the production team and the sales team. Members of staff will have specific targets that they are supposed to attain e.g. salespersons will have an amount like BDT1,00,000 which they are supposed to bring to the Company after every week. Revenues collected and sets targets will be compared and differences discussed. The Company will hire external contractors to conduct performance appraisals for specific individuals and departments. 3.5 Legal Structure and Ownership The Company will be limited and will be owned by shareholders. This means that their liability will be limited by amounts of shares that have not been paid out. Profits are dispensed to shareholders. Also, voting rights will also be granted to those who have shares in the Company regarding matters related to Company ownership. The Company will be managed overly by a Board of Directors who will have well laid out duties and failure to fulfill these responsibilities could lead to court action. There are a range of benefits that come out of such a scheme of ownership. These include; It is a flexible model that is well established, the Company will be a separate legal entity Shareholders will have limited liability; staff can decide to become shareholders too, it increases equity and financial debt and it facilitates innovation and efficiencies for profit making Regardless of the above benefits of this system of ownership, there are some limitations that will come with this system of ownership. The first is that this model presents some challenges in administration of pension schemes and a framework for accountability needs to be instituted.

3.8 Legal issues The Company will obtain a Trade license and other legal documents like VAT registration (Mushok 11) and TIN certificate. The Company will obtain protection from Copyright violation. Another legal issue that will need to be addressed is shareholder privilege. There will be a Memorandum and Articles of Association that will guide shareholders on profit distribution. Initially, the Company will contract for debt finance then it will later offer its shares up for sale after which profits will be given put as dividends.

3.9 Product Development in the future The Company will start by the main product Learn through Fun. Then it will venture into similar types of toys through its research and development. After a period of about three years, the Company will expand its brand and will establish a brand family. This will occur after the Company has established itself in the industry; the Company can even obtain a patent for production of other items for children that do not necessarily fall in the toys category. 3.10 Risk analysis There are a number of issues that have to be addressed prior to starting up the Company. First of all there is the danger that finances will is not enough to carry forward production. The manufacturing industry is ancomplicated connection of all stakeholders and finances are essential in the coordination of these areas. These may include recruitment of employees, production of the toys, and employment of technology among others. This can be eased through proper budgeting before starting up the project- all the legal, human resource, production, technological and management issues should be well accounted for to minimize chances of ending the project shortly. Another risk is poor market response from the target market. This can be dealt with by doing a detailed market research on what appeals to the target market. Then these research findings can be employed in marketing strategies for the Company. The Company will make use of marketing tools that apply to children at that age.

Technical risks; these are another issues that may become a challenge at the beginning of production. The product that is to be introduced is a complex product that will need techniques and skills from various professions. Because it will contain DVDs then it will need engineers, it will also need mechanical engineers to assemble the product and sound engineers for installation. Combining all these feature may prove to be a difficult task. But the risk can be minimized by employment of well qualified and experienced technicians. The technical crew can borrow ideas from other devices in the market that have similar elements. Production should start on a small scale first, and then if the product reaches acceptable standards its number can be increased.

4.0 Management Team

4.1 People, skills, roles and background The Company will recruit members from a wide range of professions to work towards the Company's goals. It will need accountants to take care of budgetary allocations. It will need numerous technicians in the production section. These will be; mechanical engineers, telecom engineers, electricians, plumbers and other people who will contribute towards the direct production of the product. It will also need innovators who will include researchers. In addition, other profession will be needed for non production sections of the Company. These are sales persons and sales directors, human resource managers and marketers. Besides this, there will be an IT department to record the entire goings on in departments found within the Company. Lastly, there will be casual laborers to deal with areas that do not require specific skills. Most of them will be found in the assembly/production section while others will be found in procurement, storage and supplies. These include drivers, store keepers, cleaners and guards. However, since production will start at a small scale, there will be a minimum amount of people. The production team will have the largest number of staff members -fifty. The Company will also have ten people in each section initially then this will grow with time.

4.2 Organizational structure The Company will have a hierarchical type of organization structure; in this case there will be number of managers who manage different divisions of administration. Each manager has a group reporting to him it will be done this way because the Company will have a variety of employees. The Company will be undertaking a lot of activities thus there is a lot of diversity in the activities going on. The advantage of this kind of structure is that it easily defines the responsibilities and roles of each worker. It also gives a great opportunity for developing ones professionalism, which is in

line which the mission of the Company. This kind of management structure also gives the employees more opportunities for getting promotions and it has a clear leadership structure. 4.3 Use of external consultants and advisors The Company will employ their services in the following areas; during performance appraisals to enhance credibility, during recruitment to ensure that credible members of staff are recruitment. When the Company is considering partnerships or other expansion ventures it will be essential that it engages services of consultants. Lastly, the advisors will be necessary when the Company changes type of ownership. For example if it decides to change from being a Company that is limited by shares to one that is limited by guarantee then it should first consult.

5.0 Marketing Plan

5.1 4 P's

5.11 Price The main concept behind any price decision is to balance between satisfying the customer's needs while making profit for the organization also the Company will integrate its objectives. Since the product is new to the market, it must have a lower price to pull consumers. This is what is called tactful introductory pricing and this will be adopted but after establishment, then prices will be raised 5.12 Promotion The Company will make serious use of advertising to promote the product. This is because it will allow the company to penetrate different market groups and it will give the product a lot of mileage. It will also use Public Relations by promoting goodwill among the target market through events, programs for children with needs and charities for needy children for the community. 5.13 Place The Company will use personal retailing through its own stores. The reason the Company will do the retailing themselves is because there will be personalized service provision, it can get feedback directly from the consumer and eliminate all extra expenses that come with introduction of a chain. 5.14 Product This will be the most crucial part of the marketing aspect mostly because innovation adds value to a given product. The toy will be called Learn-Through-Fun' and it include a book and a DVD. The product is basically similar to an English Spoken lesson where the child is listeningthrough the script in the book. The DVD will have different episodes as written in the script. Besides this, the DVD will have prerecorded episodes of the English Spoken Pokemon, Doremon, Barbie, Batman and Spiderman. Because of these additional features that product will be multifunctional.

Children can improve their English language skills while getting entertainment at the same time. They can also enhance their talents. 5.2 Target group/market segments The product focuses on children from both genders. These children will be aged between the seven and twelve years. The market will be segmented into two categories i.e. male and female. There will be toys for boys; these ones will have masculine colors and the cartoons will also be related to what boys like. The same will apply to girls. 5.3 Buyers and influences Children are mostly influenced by their peers who are in turn influenced by media. This is what the Company will focus on. It will choose moments when all the family members are seated to air its adverts. This will mostly be at dinner time. Children can then nag their parents to buy them Learn-Through-Fun. Children also like going to the malls and many posters and promotions will placed in malls. 5.4 Detailed analysis of competing products and advantage over them There are a number of action figures in the market like Spiderman and Superman. Some companies have prerecorded voices in these toys and these are serious force to reckon with. Besides this, there are also some toys in the market that have musical instruments like a small piano. This allows children to enhance their singing talent. Such products are similar to the Learn through Fun because they provide one of the functions that the product caters for. This product is advantageous over all the others because it is educational, entertaining and allows growth of talents. 5.5 How to launch product The Product will be launched in all major malls in the Dhaka City. This will happen within a period of two months. It will have been advertised on children's magazines or childerns sections of newspapers, television and the internet. Then the Company will choose a real life child actor like Dighi to launch the product. This real life superstar will visit the various malls each weekend for the entire two months.

5.6 Market research The Company will conduct market research to gain skills on what drives their target market. They will do this through questionnaires and interviews of randomly selected children in stores all over the country. The information collected will then be evaluated and analyzed. This will form the basis of their marketing campaigns 5.7 Strategy for releasing substitute products At first, the Company will start by the two types of products. This will then be followed by toys that have some recorded musical notes. And a small piano, others will have a flute or small drums. All the above will come with DVDs and guidelines on how to play the instruments. This will help those children who may be talented in other areas. Al these will be introduced sequentially.

6.0 Operations

6.1 Physical locations, equipment required, how product will be produced The Company will be located in the Savar area. This is because it will be close to targeted market and will eliminate extra expenses that come from transportation. Operating costs like transportation need to be reduced to enhanced to increase returns. Besides this, the company can have stores in theses and replenish supplies as soon as they are out. The Company will require many technological devices. It will require software that can enable recording in the DVDs. It will also require printing presses for compilation of the script. There will be a need for an assembly line. Here the various elements of the toy will be brought together. So there will be need for conveyer belts, punching machines, binders, DVD writers and There will be incorporation of two aspects of production. The first is through the use of technology. Here most aspects of production will be automated. This will apply to the assembly line. However in the production of the specific features like, design of DVDs and voice arrangement will be done by individuals. 6.3 Quality control The Company will have a quality Control section. In this area, there will be guide books that ensure that all aspects of the product comply with international qualities. The product will be checked to ensure that it is safe for use and that there is no danger of harm to the consumer. Sound will be tested to ensure that recording capabilities will have been enabled properly. Overall packaging and compilation will also be checked in this section. 6.4 Delivery of product To add to the quality of the product, the Company will offer after sale services through delivery. The Company will hire a reputable courier to do this for them i.e. the courier will be fast yet affordable. Besides this, the product will sold at most stores in the Dhaka City. These include Mothers care, Gulshan-1 and Gulshan-2 DCC market, Banani, Dhanmondi, Mouchak market, Gulisthan, Mirpur and other prime location market in Dhaka City. The Company will run its own

stores where customers can purchase directly. The company will open up five of these stores citywide. 6.5 Action plan The following activities will occur in this order;

Purchase of land at the location 2 weeks Erecting production buildings and installation of equipments 6 months Securing suppliers for DVDs, recorders, software etc 1 month Recruitment of staff using assistance from consultants-2 weeks Starting up production-continuous Posting advertisements regarding launch-2 weeks Product launch-2 months Normal production of the product- continuous Performance reviews-quarterly Staff meetings-done on weekly basis Launch of new brand-after two years

7.0 Finance The following is a breakdown of all the sales forecast for the next twelve months. Product A will be a toy for girls, B will be for boys while C will be for either genders.

REFERENCES Some of the Book References used are: Contemporary Business by Louise E. Boone and David L. Kurtz Lecture of our respected teacher

Some of the Electronic References are: www.wikipedia.com www.scribd.com www.bangladeshrealestates.com www.bdtradeinfo.com www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com