This document provides a marketing plan for launching a new shoe product called Professional Comfort. The shoe is designed to offer the benefits of an athletic shoe with various styles for men and women. It incorporates flex-fit technology and includes a built-in pedometer. The plan discusses target markets of young professional women and men aged 20-69 who earn around $65,000 annually. Marketing strategies include distributing through fitness clubs, doctors' offices, and an online store. Objectives are to increase product awareness by 30% and sales by 10-20% within one year through various advertising campaigns.

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Running head: NEW PRODUCT LAUNCH MARKETING PLAN
New Product Launch Marketing Plan, Part III
Lily Peck, Pamela Boyd, Pat Parker, Rebecca Mott, & Ronald Metz
MKT/571
November 9, 2015
Prof. Ismael Hau-Rosa

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Executive Summary
Today's business professionals, both domestically and internationally, are often
challenged to maintain a professional appearance in a dress shoe, with the comfort, fit and
support that most athletic shoes offer. Universally, many professionals in the workplace are
trending towards healthier habits, by personal choice or motivation to reduce the cost of health
plans. Professional Comfort shoes are specifically targeted to the working professional both here
in the United States and in select international markets- to include China, Brazil, and European
countries in the Mediterranean. The Professional Comfort shoe is designed to offer benefits of a
great athletic shoe, for the fashion forward professional, with the added benefit of pedometer
technology. Professional Comfort incorporates Flex-Fit with pedometer technology. The shoe is
lightweight and offers a diverse selection of styles for both men and women, with tempered
modifications to meet both cultural and stylish needs for the health conscious business
professional globally. The idea of merging style and comfort is not a novel idea. However the
idea of marrying style and comfort, with the use of pedometer technology is a market in the shoe
industry that has yet to be explored.
The implementation plan will be executed in parts: preparation for manufacturing,
marketing, and selling the product both domestically and abroad. Manufacturing will involve the
modification of existing facilities and training of personnel to mass-produce product. Raw
materials will be purchased in bulk to manage cost. In marketing and distributing the marketers
and knowledgably salespersons will be hired to fully understand the needs of consumers in the
markets served. To promote the product select targeted consumers will be given sample product
to demonstrate the benefits of the merchandise in the workplace. The total projected cost for the
manufacturing a pair of shoes is nine to twelve American dollars, prior to markup. Professional

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Comfort shoes are the newest product to be introduced to wellness-oriented consumer, that have
an insatiable need for products that promote and support healthy habits.
Situational Analysis
The Professional Comfort concept was birth by two corporate professionals that were fed
up with “packing out” to carry two sets of shoes, professional dress shoes that were beyond
uncomfortable and a second set of comfortable athletic shoes for the commute and walking
during lunch hours. The two pioneers pitched their idea to create a comfortable shoe for the work
environment to venture capitalist and a group of engineers, which gave birth to the Professional
comfort shoe. The Professional Comfort shoe is one that employs “Flex Fit” technology, with the
use of pedometer technology. The technology will work with Android and Apple smart devices,
and will have the added value of lowering the overall cost of health care.
Despite intense competition in the shoe market, the unique marriage of fashion, comfort,
and technology will allow the manufacturers of Professional Comfort to differentiate and carve a
unique niche in the shoe market. Moreover, the product’s unveiling will be based on favorable
healthy product market trends, new technology, market penetration due to favorable pricing,
selective distribution in domestic and international markets, in depth understanding of consumer
behavior in select markets, knowledge of competitors, and disciplined marketing controls. To
encapsulate the product situational analysis, the marketing team will utilize a SWOT analysis
(see Appendix 1).
Market Growth Potential and Competitive Analysis
Market Growth Potential
The prospective growth for a new ergonomically designed dress shoe for the professional

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workplace, targeting the “wellness-oriented” consumer for both United States and international
consumers abroad, has a large potential growth. This will be tempered in various markets, based
on cultural influences. Although the United States’ market is fairly inundated with different types
of sneakers, few employ the inclusion of fashion and technology associated with today’s
business professional. Trends for the healthy minded consumer, both domestically and
internationally, reflect empirical data of a growing number of consumers who can no longer
escape the awareness for the need of products and services that will benefit and support
individual health and fitness. In the year 2011, The United States’ apparel market was the largest
in the world, comprising about -28% of the global total and had a market value of about 331
billion dollars” [sic] (U.S. apparel market: Statistics & facts, 2011). Within this economy, there
is potential growth for viable sales that will be sustained by an insatiable thirst for products and
services that seek to meet the needs of health conscious consumers in the professional workplace
environment, both domestic and abroad.
“Germany may be the home of bratwurst and strudel, but it's no secret that America is
waging its own war on obesity and the costs of providing medical care for obesity-related
illness.” (Freeman, 2010). America is not alone or unique in its efforts to create a more health
conscious consumer. Countries such as China are also getting in on rewards for the “wellness
oriented” consumer. Initiatives such as these are creating a surge in demand for products that are
intended to meet the needs of the “wellness-oriented” consumer. Market Growth is essential for
the viability of Professional Comfort. In increase in domestic and international product demand
has to be measurable and evaluated over time. If the art and science of marketing is a mastered
discipline, it is anticipated that market growth will be high due to the consumers finding good
value in the Professional Comfort product. It is expected that for the first three years in the

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market, gross sales will increase. Therefore, an organizational goal would be for sales to grow by
a factor of 1.2 each fiscal year.
Competitive Analysis
The shoe market is fiercely competitive therefore this presents a maximum potential.
Leading shoe competitors such as Nike, Rebook, Adidas and Cole Hann are vast and worldwide,
and have financial stability and opportunities that a new start-up company would not. The
consumer has choices in their product selections and with the use of the Internet can use those
choices to purchase products from anywhere in the world.
Some of the top players in the global footwear market are Nike, Adidas, Ascis, Puma, VF
Corp, Sketchers and New Balance among others. At present, among the top players in the
global footwear market, Nike is the leading footwear company followed by Adidas and
Ascis (Footwear market: Global industry analysis and forecast 2014 – 2020, 2014).
The consumer has choices in their product selections and with the use of the Internet can
use those choices to purchase products from anywhere in the world. However, there are no
products on the market that combine the comfort and performance of an athletic shoe with the
style that is appropriate for the business professional- to include pedometer technology.
Therefore, Professional Comfort has the opportunity to carve a unique niche in the shoe industry.
Segmentation
Research identified a distinct group of potential consumers who would fit our profile of
wanting and needing our product, Professional Comfort shoes. These shoes will have the fit and
comfort of a running shoe, be in a wide variety of sizes and styles. With the added value of a
pedometer built in to satisfy their wellness-oriented lifestyles (Boyd, Metz, Mott, Parker, Peck,

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2015). Profiling of potential customers was based on geographic, demographic, psychographic,
behavioral, age, and income statistics.
Target Market
From this information we concluded that the target market for sales of Professional
Comfort shoes is young women and women professionals in the workforce, who “dress for
success”. The target market will encompass 100% of United States, and international areas.
These young professionals will range in age from 20 to 69 years of age, earn an average of
$65,000 a year, completed college, or have some marketable skill, and have an annual budget of
$1,700 to spend on health and fitness related products.
Professional Comfort realizes that their product will not be for every buyer, and careful
consideration on shoe design will be specific to each given market. Cultural factors generic to
the specific markets will play an important role in satisfying, and keeping the consumer’s wants
and needs in mind. These statistics are all contained in Professional Comfort Launch Marketing
Plan I. This gives a lot of insight into the type of consumers, who will need and want our
product. The consumer database will contain potential customers, who constantly strive to have
healthy life styles, are very concerned with their nutrition, environment, fitness, and stress levels.
Their personal health interests make them a very good customer base in which to offer health-
oriented products and services (Barton, 1993). Daily walking and running is good for the heart,
as well as the fact that it decreases calories, LDL (bad) cholesterol, and increases HDL (good)
cholesterol (Rantini, 2014). Exercise is key in safeguarding the heart (Bouchez, 2003).
Globally, business professionals make sure they are making intelligent choices to have a
more than health-oriented culture. Health and wellness products, or those offering specific

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healthy benefits are trending, in the fact that they are gearing their sales towards historic worth.
Emerging markets like Brazil and China alone boasted sales of $15,000,000 (fifteen billion
dollars) in product sales. Expectations of 7.2% real term growth continuing through 2017, with
health-oriented sales, that are globally impacted and leaning toward a record high of
$1,000,000,000 (one trillion dollars) by 2017, make the potential of Professional Comfort shoes
going global a profitable reality (Health and Wellness The Trillion-Dollar Industry in 2017,
2012).
Positioning
Positioning outlines what a business should do to market its products or services.
Professional Comfort’s marketing department will create a product image based on its targeted
customers. They will create this image by using promotion, place, price, and product. The more
intensive they are with this strategy, the more effective it will be. Good positioning increases the
marketing efforts, and helps move the buyer from knowing about a product to purchasing it
(Lynn, n.d.).
Professional Comfort’s objective is to drive or position their product into the minds of
the customer. This approach is needed because customers are bombarded continuously with
numerous advertising from many competitors, twenty four hours a day, seven (7) days a week.
Heavy exposure to this type of advertising literally drives a specific product into the consumer’s
mind. Based on this saturation effort, customers may be inclined to purchase the product,
contingent on the number of times they actually see it. The use of positioning techniques will
give Professional Comfort a vehicle in which to show off what product they are selling thus,
pushing the consumer towards buying their product.

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Professional Comfort Shoes will position itself as a company that sells shoes, that are
endowed with that “professional” look, are comfortable (with the feel of running shoes), and
have the added value of contributing to a healthy lifestyle (pedometer built in to measure the
distance walked) (Ries&Trout, n.d.).
Slogan:
Professional Comfort Shoes.
“Look Good! Be Comfortable! Be Healthy!
Pricing and distribution strategies
Professional Comfort understands the importance of pricing a new product that is
entering the market. Introducing a new product into the market needs to be comparable to
other products as well as fairness in price (Kuester, Feurer, Schuhmacher, & Reinartz, 2015).
Professional Comfort also understands that the price of new shoes needs to help the company
survive, so that it is not plagued with over capacity, intense competition, or changing in
consumers wants (Kotler & Keller, 2012). Professional Comfort wants to maximize profits
for the company. It can accomplish this by establishing the demand and cost along with
alternative pricing to determine the maximum profit. This can only be a projection because
it’s hard to determine the foreseen demand (Kotler & Keller, 2012).
Professional Comfort has a quality product that proposes special features that can allow
the company to negotiate a higher price than competitors. A higher price can be perceived as
a higher quality product than other brands. Professional Comfort also offers the quality
features of a pedometer and the comfort of a running shoe, that competitors do not offer as of
yet. Competitors can enter the market offering a similar product like Professional Comfort,

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but with Professional Comfort’s fairness in price, the competitors will only continue the
process of consumers returning to Profession Comfort for all their dress attire shoes.
Professional Comfort can distribute shoes through several different vendors, including
fitness clubs, doctor offices, and an online retail store. Fitness clubs will allow Professional
Comfort to reach consumers that are already health conscious. Allowing consumers that are
already taking steps to better their health, see the benefits of continuing to track their health
outside of the gym. Displaying Professional Comfort shoes at doctors’ offices can allow
consumers that are worried about their health to take the first steps to tracking their
movements and steps in the work place. With an online retail store front, Professional
Comfort will be able to reach consumers around the world. Brick and mortar store fronts will
allow Professional Comfort to reach the local community.
Marketing communication Plan
The objective that Professional Comfort needs to communicate to the public is that it is a
superior form of dress shoe that serves the domestic and international shoe market. The
marketing communication strategy of Professional Comfort is to inform the consumer base of
competitors that Professional Comfort offers a quality dress shoe with the comfort of a running
shoe with the options of a pedometer. The message can be delivered using the official
Professional Comfort website, which can deliver a stronger message of what the shoes have to
offer the consumer, and inform consumers how to use the pedometer to the maximum efficiency,
along with allowing the consumer to purchase a style of dress shoe to their likings.
Another marketing communication plan is to advertise within health stores, fitness stores,
magazines, and fitness centers. This approach will reach the consumer base that is health

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conscious and are already tracking their calories and body movements. Printed ads can be
delivered to the customer via the daily paper, or through a mailing list of established customers
as another marketing communication tool. These approaches allow Professional Comfort to
reach large audiences who have fitness in mind.
Financial Information
To create a marketing budget the company has to decide how much money to allocate to
marketing and promotion of Professional Comfort. The company then works with the budget to
determine marketing strategies that align with the marketing budget. Lenders may review the
company financial information to evaluate funding, thus it is essential to keep this information
current. The financial information should include the following to maintain financial viability:
 Forecasting Demand—100 percent of expected sales spreading the estimates out
over 12 months showing the projection for each month.
 Break-Even Analysis—Estimate how much sales are needed to pay back the
initial investment along with how long it will take.
o Break-even point = Fixed Cost / (Unit Selling Price – Variable Cost).
 Sales—Include the cost of sales.
 Promotional Budget—Establish how much it will cost to promote the product.
 Marketing Budget—Establish how much it will cost to market the product.
An analysis of product viability shows how Professional Comfort will make a profit, fit in with
the company’s other product lines and how the product can open up new markets (Johnston,
2015).

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Marketing Objectives
Professional Comfort’s vision as industry leaders is to strategically entrench the business
in this trillion-dollar industry and to meet the needs of wellness-oriented business professionals
across the globe. Professional Comfort’s specific aim is to carve a unique niche in the domestic
and international shoe market through offering the stylish look of today’s professional business
environment; constructed to meet the needs of the wellness-oriented professional (Boyd, Metz,
Mott, Parker, & Peck, 2015). Combining the convenience of this product with a reasonable price
will contribute to a successful product launch in China and the United States. To achieve this
Professional Comfort’s objectives include:
1. Product awareness increase by 30% among target audience in one year;
2. Target audience is informed about the benefits, features and the products
competitive advantage increasing sales by 10% in one year;
3. Consumer resistance to buying Professional Comfort decreased or removed
increasing sales that are closed in six months or less by 20%;
4. Enhance store image in all markets within a one year period, leading to a 5%
increase in sales.
Improving the quality of human life through enabling individuals to feel better and do
more as they live longer is a mission that is challenging and inspiring for Professional Comfort
(X-Rates, 2015).
In just a year’s time, a single marketing campaign can be completed. For offline
advertising, this new product and development can be seen in magazines, newspapers,
geographical and occasional campaigns, and billboards. On the other hand, AdSense, email
marketing, and social media advertising are what make online promotion.

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In a matter of years, Professional Comfort dress shoe is fully developed. It is also in this
period where various consumer feedback are gathered and completely analyzed. Direct selling is
utilized by the company to be able to get the reaction of the target market about the product that
is about to be launched in the global market.
During the third year of product development, Professional Comfort is now ready for
launching since its features are updated and improved based on what consumers need and want.
These surpass all the limitations that other existing products failed to overcome. For the current
year, expansion and mass promotional campaigns are expected to happen
Professional Comfort Shoes’ Milestone Implementation
Marketing for Professional Comfort Shoes Product Launch III will begin on November 9,
2015, with research into the demographic, geographic, psychographic, buying behaviors, age,
sex, and global aspects of attracting potential customers. Research reports should be submitted
no later than November 30, 2015. Phase III should take approximately six months to complete,
with advertising to start on February 22nd. The company website is scheduled to begin
construction on March 9th, though it won’t be finished until March 26th, advertising to the public
will already have started (we will put a construction sign onsite to let consumers know the
website will be ready soon. Professional Comfort Shoes wants to start advertising as soon as
possible (See Attachment I).
Evaluation, Control Metrics, and Methodology to Measure Performance
We are providing a snapshot of our progress toward all of our goals, targets, and
commitments. One of the best ways to evaluate our goals, targets and commitments is through

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the comparison of products. Continuous evaluation and revision of metrics will be essential as
some of our goals may be difficult to meet.
Sales Metrics
Sales growth is an essential part of growth projections and is instrumental in strategic
decision-making. Sales growth is a key metric to monitor over multiple time periods to obtain an
indication of growth trends and normalized values. This will help to account for quarterly spikes
either high or low in revenue. Sales will be monitored quarterly for indications of growth or
recession. This metric will aid in the determination of the target market growth and the market
share.
Customer Readiness to Buy Metrics
The Professional Comfort brand should be recognizable. The standard measure is
awareness. A weakness in awareness implies the need to get the name out, which can be
accomplished through advertising. The Professional Comfort brand will be memorable and
favorable to consumers. Through the use of the classic survey measurement for gauging of this
metric for excellence rating but the inclusion of “best in class” status and brand recognition
metrics provides additional context for tracking purposes. The classic survey will be given to
each customer upon purchase and will be accessible through an online survey. An additional
question on the survey will be “how likely to repurchase Professional Comfort’s would you be”.
Data from all questions on the survey will be collated monthly and provided to employees and
board membership at monthly meetings. Through quality and exemplary customer service, the
Professional Comfort brand will be preferred among current and prospective buyers.

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Customer Metrics
Carpenter (2014) says, "Investing to improve your business’s customer experience (CX)
can be the difference between its success and its failure." Get to know our customers at
Professional Comfort, ask the question where they get their information (i.e. social media, the
web, printed material or television). Development of touchpoints for Professional Comfort’s
customers. The first touchpoint for a Professional Comfort customer is coming into one of our
stores would be with the sales person. Staff should be courteous, and quick to identify a need
and assist in solving the need. Professional Comfort will be developing a dashboard with key
performance indicators such as we have increased or decreased the number of customers, do we
have an increasing or decreasing number of new customers or return customers, the number of
satisfied customers and the number of customer complaints.
Distribution Metrics
The distribution metrics to be included on the Professional Comfort’s dashboard are:
 Cost per unit for shipping and processing.
 Transport cost per unit.
 The number of times product on back order.
 Inventory turnover rate.
 The cost of carrying inventory.
 The number of day’s inventory is on hand.
 Distribution cost as a percentage of sales
 How frequently is inventory damaged?
 The cost of damaged goods.

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 Number of customer returns.
 The cost of goods being returned.
 The rate of accurate v. inaccurate invoicing.
 The rate of damage-free v. damaged product received by customer.
 The rate of on-time delivery.
 Number of times order filled to perfection
 Number of orders filled.
 Out of stock inventory rate.
 Number of times product on back order.
Contingency Planning
A contingency plan for all possible disasters that Professional Comfort might encounter is
on ongoing process. One factor is determining if Professional Comfort cannot support itself on
an ongoing basis. If sales fail to grow Professional Comfort, expand the product line, reduce
long-term obligations or Professional Comfort can entertain a joint venture with a larger
organization, or finally liquidate equipment/inventory to cover liabilities.

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Attachment I
Milestone Implementation Chart

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Product
*Professional Comfort shoes Product Launch III strategies will start on November 9, 2015 and
last through April 22, 2015. It is scheduled to take 6 months. All milestones, and tasks are
pictured in the above chart.

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References
Boyd, Metz, Mott, Parker, Peck (2015). Professional Comfort (PCs) Launch Marketing Plan
Part I
Barton, W. (1993). Identifying the Health Conscious Consumer. Retrieved from:
http://www.ncbi.nle.nih.gov/pubmed/10129812
Bouchez, C. (2006). WebMD: Fitness and Exercise Guide Healthy Heart
Retrieved from:
http://webmd.com/fitness-exercise-baby-boomer-heart-healing –fitness
Boyd, P., Metz, R., Mott, R., Parker, P., Peck, L. (2015), Professional Comfort (PC’s) New
Product Launch Marketing Part II
Carpenter, R. (2014) How to Calculate Customer Experience. Retrieved from
http://www.evergage.com/blog/how-calculate-customer-experience/
Comparing the incomparable? How consumers judge the price fairness of new products. (2015,
September ). International Journal of Research in Marketing, 32(3), 272-283.
Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com.contentproxy.phoenix.edu/science/article/p
ii/S0167811615000026
Hudson, E. (2012). Health and Wellness the Trillion-Dollar Industry in 2017
Retrieved from: http://blog.euromonitor.com/2012/11/health-and-wellness-the-trillion

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-dollar-industry-in-2017-key-research-highlights.html
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2012). Marketing management (14th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson Prentice Hall.
Johnston, K. (2015) What content is included in the finance section of a marketing plan.
Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/content-included-finance-section-
marketing-plan-26319.html
Rantini, M. (2014) WebMD: Fitness and Exercixe Baby Boomer Heart Health
Retrieved from: http://webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/heartyhealthy
X-Rates.com (2015). Retrieved from http://www.x-rates.com/calculator/