Project Brief

 

The project brief was to help the company find the best possible routes to market, looking at their competitors, making the product to European safety standard.  Then we had to improve the brand and its position, the packaging, how they will communicate their brand to their customers and finally suggesting new designs of the totem poles.

 

Totem Poles – Bike Rack

 

• The bike rack was invented in America by the inventor of the product

• It can be able to carry up to 6 bikes from any sizes

• It had been recently granted a patent In Europe and in America

• It can also be used as a storage in garages

 

Routes to Market

 

We looked at the routes to market and how Totem Poles could potentially find better opportunities of increasing sales for their bike racks. I was placed in a group with Nefy and Daniel. We looked at various ways of increasing and finding a better route for Totem poles.

 

Business-to-Consumer Market Route

 

The first thing that we did is looking at the distribution channels opportunities for large families market if we wanted to try and sell the product to large families and this is was one of the target market that totem pole European seller wanted. We looked at the possibilities of distributing the product through large companies such as Halfords, Evans, Tesco and etc for the family market. The advantages of it would guarantee them to have a large of stock of the product within the stores. Also it will help them reducing the marketing cost because it’s already in an established retailer brand and this means it will have a much better exposure for the families.

 

However there is also are some disadvantages of using this distribution channel for example the large companies may decide to do a commercial charge for marketing which will lead to more cost. The main problem is the buyer power which means sometimes it will force to negotiate prices to suit their need and this means that wholesale price will go down. The large companies will also be dependent on lead time which means they will look closely of the amount of time that elapses between the process starts and when it is completed. If they’re not selling much they may need to hold stock or buffer stock if they’re running low. This is important for them because they will like to reduce time it takes deliver products to the market.

 

We also looked at major online retailers such as amazon, Roofbox and ect for the distribution channels in the family market again. The main advantage is that it’s one of the easiest ways to access for the consumers. Many big chains will a buy a certain amount of guaranteed stock and once again already reduce marketing cost because it’s already in an established retailer brand. Once again its already has a direct exposure to the target market and also be placed at the top of the range due to its uniqueness of being able to carry 6 bikes at once. The disadvantages are the same for the large chain distribution channels. Also we looked at creating their own website, firstly it will be easier for them to manage and they would have control of the entire prices they have on their bike racks however we identified that it would cost them more to market it and promotional costs. Also they would have low traffic and sales due to the fact of that they are not well established yet.

 

As a group we also looked at directly providing to leisure providers such as directly selling to them. This would allow large amount of sales to go through and this means that they don’t have to directly target specific market to sell.

 

Finally we looked at business to business approach of marketing the bike racks to this distribution channel. Firstly we looked at licensing the bike rack patent to big developed marketer brands such as Yakisima or Thule.  Then this would lead to sell it to major retailers such as Halfords or amazon and then finally to the consumers. The advantages that we believe for Totem Poles should us this distribution channel is that they there won’t be any need for marketing, maintaining stock, or redesigning the bike rack. However the profit margin would be much smaller due to the strength of buyer power. Also certain brands may request exclusivity which would restrict them to sell to other brands. 

 

Once again working with Nefy and Daniel, has made me more aware of the fact of understanding distribution channels and how much it plays a key role of making sure of how we distribute the bike racks to our target audience. Daniel runs his own company and Nefy as a business marketing and sociology student were able to help me to understand the of what distribution channels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unique Selling Point

 

We looked at the 3 sections of the distribution channels which were Leisure, Licensing and finally the clubs and societies. We looked at the unique selling of points, barriers and the problems of using these three distribution channels. This was helpful for me because it allowed me  to have a greater understanding of what were the benefits and barriers that we were going to face if we decided to use these distribution channels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Communication

 

We looked at how we can communicate with our values and ideas to our consumers. Sophie and I looked at the values that Totem poles can bring out to their customers such as “Taking you all together”, “Adventure”, “Safe, Reliable, Durable”, “Easy to use”, “Uniting family & friends” and “Experience & journey”. Creating these brand values made it easier for us to discuss of what methods or communication tools that we need to create in order for their customers to understand what value they’re getting from using their bike racks and their services.

 

This was great way of using of what we’ve learn from planning and professionalism, is how we tried to create new services that would enhance the image of the company and also making sure that their customers are getting the best values services as possible. For example once the user has created an account on the Totem Pole website, we decided that it would be a great idea if they can be able to upload their journeys such as the journey tracker would manually track their adventures and then allowing other users leave their reviews on that journey.

 

Also creating a competitive but friendly environment for their customers such as each tribe account could be able to have the chance of winning rewards. Gold/Silver/Bronze tribes will based on the millage and locations they’ve visited. This incentive would get people to be more competitive and urging them to go out more to different locations. Finally uniting people together, we decided that the whole purpose of the bike rack is to get everyone to go out cycling as a family or friends. Also allowing them to share their users with fellow tribe bike racks users by posting up pictures online and sharing their experiences. This builds a solid community base which allows to them to have customer loyalty and providing them a platform where a community can share their experiences and reinstating their brand value which is “Taking you all together”.

 

As individual working with Sophie in this part of the project was an eye opener because it was great to see how she looked at the possible behaviours that our target market would react to the possible new services that we were coming up. This made me realise that even though having a creative mind-set, you should also be able to understand of what are possible effects that it would have for the people that are receiving it. This part of the project made me understand of how important it is for the communication between the customers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary

 

This was the first project of not having a project leader however I believed this didn’t stop us from working to our highest potential because we were still able to function as a cohort and looked at what needed to be accomplished. For example when working with Nefy and Daniel we were still able to create the distribution channel for Totem Poles. Also working with Sophie, we were able to create a list of commination tools that Totem Poles could use to communicate with their customers.  I mostly worked at the business side of the project because it was such a short project that it was best for the designers to actually work on the redesigning of the Bike Racks and that the other non-designers should work on the business side of the project. This was still great for me because it made understand that even though we are here to learn new skills and work with other people from different disciplines. It was important that everyone was working in their natural environment and that we completed the objectives that our clients set us in that short one week project.