Free marketing plan sample by marketing plan now: www.marketingplannow.com. A plan of a gardening retailer, Botanic

2. Botanic
Marketing Plan
Sample 2010
Mouna MAACHE, Anne JACQUINOT, Sophie FILIP

3. Presentation of the company
— Since 1995, France
— In the Savoie region, by Claude Blanchet.
— The company is run by a group of horticulturalist families.
— The head office is in Haute-Savoie, near Geneva.
— Plants and the natural world are the roots of the company and the reason for its
existence.
— The Botanic’s goals is to promote a new lifestyle more fulfilling and innovative.
3

4. Macro environmental analysis
c Political: The growing power of the ecological political party in France.
c Economic factors: The economical crisis with less budget for leisure.
c Socio-cultural: Public’s awareness of the environmental issues and the raising
number of retired people in the society.
c Technological: New discoveries to do with the effects of the pesticides on the
environment and its impact on human health.
c Legal: Laws and regulations about the protection of the environment.
4

5. The market analysis
♣ Botanic comes from the French word «botanique»; «botany» in
English, which is strongly associated with the company’s know-how
and offer.
♣ Products: Garden products and pet shop. The company has also a
biological food section.
Every product respects the environment.
♣ The market: Based on the ecological development, leisure such as
gardening.
5

6. Direct competitors
Competition
- Other garden centers:
Jardiland, Vive le jardin, Jardinerie Truffault,
Gamm vert & Hermes Jardinerie (focused on
ecological gardening)
- Tree nurseries
Indirect competitors
Ecological and garden section in supermarkets.
6

7. Market segmentation
Target:
- people who like nature
- people who like gardening
- people who care about the environment
- people who want natural, ecological and organic products
Principally, people who are 30 to 70 years old, they like gardening and
live mainly in houses, and finally they have enough leisure time.
7

8. Product: Products related to the
garden, the pets and the biological
food.
Marketing-mix
Promotion: Development of the
customer’s loyalty with a club,
flyers and catalogs in recycled
paper, internet website.
Place: 59 shops in France and 6
companies in Italy
Price: Depends of the product but
the products : middle-of-the-range
8

9. Strengths & Weaknesses
Opportunities & Threats analysis
9

10. Positioning
We found out that our business was perceived by our existing clients as
having a quite good ecological positioning and a quite good services to
customers in comparison to most of our direct competition. But we have to
develop a better services to the customers in order to be better than the tree
nurseries. (graphic in annex).
SOURCES OF INFORMATIONS:
The web site of the company : http://www.botanic.com
Interview with the director of the shop Botanic in Troyes, Miss
GUYONNEAU.
10

11. Marketing strategy
See annex 1
Next year Botanic will develop a landscape gardener’s service, mainly for
our existing customers, as well as to attract new customers.
In parallel, Botanic will promote the existing services and products.
Furthermore, we will open our own garden training center in the last quarter
of next year.
11

12. Desired market segmentation
We will target our own customers at first because they already know
our values and the quality of our products. They might be interested
in an advice service.
We will also try to gain new customers interested in a landscape
gardening service and customers who want a beautiful garden and
don’t like or have no time.
12

13. Desired marketing-mix
Product: Create a new service: department of landscape gardening in each
Botanic shop.
Place: In each of the 59 shop of Botanic.
Promotion:
- Recycled paper flyers to be handed-in to the customer within the shops.
- Banners on company website and advertising in gardening magazines like Rustica
Price:
- Less expensive that traditional landscape gardener.
- Different options are available.
13

14. Marketing objectives as a result
of the SWOT
Strength into an Opportunity: As we are the leader in our market and enjoy a
good reputation, we have to expand our service faster and better.
Strength that may become a Threat: We will try to keep our prices down and
our quality high to make it difficult for our competitors. With the landscape
gardening service we will be closer to the customer.
Weakness into an Opportunity: We will take advantage of our opportunity with
the expenditure of ecological gardening to develop a new service.
Weakness that may become a Threat: We will minimize the weakness by
launching our landscape gardening service. We will also try to avoid the threat
of losing our employees by maintaining improved employee relations by
teaching them landscape gardening.
14

15. Position gaps
See annex 2
We will keep our ecological position and try to improve it. We will also
improve our customer’s loyalty and the contact with our customers in order to
minimize the perceptual gap with our new service because it’s customized.
For example, we will emphasize the politeness and contact of our employees
towards our customers:
⇒ Employees will ask to be called by their first name in order to create a better
relationship with the customer (They will “know” and trust our employees).
15

16. Sales forecast
Our landscape gardening service will be approximately 20 or
25% cheaper than the traditional gardening service.
The average price of this service is: 3,000 Euros for the all
inclusive options for an average garden.
We are expected to operate 5 gardens per months.
Next year, our revenue with our new service is expected
to be: 115,000 Euros.
16

17. Main cooperative bodies and
retaining marketing activities
A few companies should be considered for collaboration:
o GoodPlanet à Association that promotes the respect of the environment.
To increase our reputation.
o Partnerships with new local biological farmers or producers in order to sell their
products in our shops (Honey as an example).
o Parternship with HANDICAP INTERNATIONAL every Christmas.
17

18. Developing new products and its pricing
Service: we create a landscape service in each stores of Botanic. The
objective is to accompany the customers in the development of their garden.
Many garden owners buy qualitative products for their garden, but they
don’t have the experience, nor the knowledge, when installing their garden.
Quality of service: when the customer asks for an estimate for a garden to be
installed, first we analyze the request within one week and than inform the
customer. Finally, within 3 days of customers’ confirmation, a date is set to
launch the project.
Pricing: If people don’t buy the plants at Botanic, the price of the project
would be more expensive.
Price will be between 150€ and 6 500€. Its depends on the level of installation
of the garden.
18

19. Marketing activities, including
service marketing
Direct marketing: dedicated flyers.
Sales promotion: advertising within Botanic’s stores.
Public relations: articles in garden magazines.
We are going to revise the following quality of service standards:
o the quality of our employees (politeness as an example).
o how to increase clients’ satisfaction rates.
19

20. Gantt scheme
See annex 3
WHAT WHO WHEN COST COMMENTS
Flyers in postal boxes of Marketing
households towards year-end Manager 14 December 3 000 €Database in France
Sales beginning of Distribute near the
In-store sales promotion Manager March 5 000 € department of plants
Marketing beginning of In the local newspaper
Articles in garden magazines Manager December 15 000 € or in garden magazine
TOTAL
COSTS 23 000 €
20

21. Control bodies and control tools
— The members of the marketing control committee will meet regularly on the first
Thursday of every month. We want to compare the new service to the satisfaction
of the customers.
— The control tools mainly include company reports, satisfaction surveys (clients
and employees), marketing busget and Gantt scheme.
21

22. Control by monthly milestones
Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Marketing
activity
Animation for End of
Christmas the
month
Print
Advertising, 1
page, full color
during 8 weeks
when it’s time to
start gardening
Mother’s day
(May 30th)
Halloween
The Ecological
week in our
shops 22

23. Control by weekly milestones
Activity Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat/ Sun
All the
employees in the
shop to take care
of the customers
Gardening
workshop
Weekly meeting
23

24. Criteria of success
Based on this year’s results and performance, we would achieve a new
ecological engagement label.
24

25. 25