Strategic Growth for Quinta Project

Executive Summary

A social enterprise is an association that applies commercial techniques to augment upgrades and improvements in monetary, social and environmental prosperity— including expanding social impacts together with profits. As a shopper, purchasing for a social enterprise is a standout amongst the most affecting techniques for supporting positive social change in society. The digital era has enhanced the popularity of diverse social enterprises impacting society in many ways – the main goal being to create and drive sustainable social change. One such project is the Quinta Project, a diverse social enterprise in Portugal that operates a biotope educational centre, B&B and farm while offering a variety of products and services farm stay and community leisure activities for their customers. The project is popular in Portugal and intends to grow it regional footprint by venturing into the UK market with their olives, cheese and other hospitality services like farm stay activities that the Quinto project runs. In this paper, we will look at a 360-degree overview of the project, its viability in other European market (particularly UK and Portugal), the various strategies to adopt for relevance and profitability and how the strategies ought to be undertaken. The business’ main objective is to grow and expand its portfolio – sale of cheese, olives and other products, as well as, expanding their service sector – hospitality and farm stay services. The business adopts a range of strategies and tactics like SMART objectives and applying the SOSTAC plan (Chaffey, 2016), to increase brand awareness by 10% (in Portugal) and 10% (in the UK) by the end of 2019, amongst other business marketing plans and models that are categorical in the project’s success.

Situational Analysis

Quinta is currently located in Portugal – the main market of their products (cheese and olives) with plans of venturing into the UK market. Quinta intends to sell their products online via their website to customers in Portugal and UK. According to AHDB website, consumption of cheese is on the rise in the UK with similar prospects being projected in Portugal. Like most other European countries, the British and Portuguese are consuming more cheese than ever before. According to Mintel.com, cheese sales grew by 2.7% to£2.6 billion in 2018 in the UK. In Portugal (Ribeiro, 2004), revenues from cheese in 2019 stand at US$1,092m with the markets expected to grow by 2.8% between 2019 and 2023 (Velčovská, 2015). Likewise, the demand for olives in the two countries is one the rise (Vossen, 2007)just like the rest of Europe – the largest consumer of olives and olive oil in the world (Willer, 2019). The above projections indicate that there is a growing market for olives, cheese and other services in the two countries – and the larger Europe.

Quinto’s Products and Services

The main products and services that Quinto intends to market and sell in the two markets include olives, cheese and hospitality services like their farm stay and community-based leisure activities.

Marketing Analysis

The main producers of both cheese and olives in UK and Portugal are local companies whose sales are mainly physical. Although the two products are mainly shopped physically, the online demand projects a growing trend of consumers ordering cheese, olives and other hospitality services via online sellers and distributors (Sideridis, 2011). Online sales are cheaper to administer and run – with many people in Portugal and UK opting for online shopping to receive their products at their doorstep.

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SWOT Analysis for Quinto

Strengths:

As a diverse social enterprise with an array of commercial and social viable portfolios, Quinto has established itself well in its current location (Portugal) – with prospects of growth being highlighted. Through education, ecological promotion, and use of sustainable business practices, Quinto has established itself as an enterprise out to create positive social change. The project is LGBTQ and affiliates associated, making it one of the few of its kind all-around Europe. The LGBTQ community and its affiliates account for 6.5%of the UK population (Doan, 2015)with 87% of British population supporting LGBTQ rights in the country. In Portugal, 60% of the Portuguese population supports same sex marriages (Ferreira, 2014), and 70% supporting LGBTQ rights. The world over, the LGBTQ community is often the ‘trend setter’ in most societal developments in fashion, style, brand awareness, foods and culture etc. The community will be the main population driving the popularity of Quinto products in the two countries and there’s a growing support for LGBTQ rights as well as the community as a whole. Current prospects also indicate that European consumers prefer organic products over synthetic or processed foods. Both UK and Portugal rank high in European consumer preference for organic products, making them ideal markets for Quinto’s cheese and olives. Quinto’s major strengths are their organic products, which have a big, growing clientele in both markets, and a vibrant, growing LGBTQ community – one of the business target customers and marketing population.

Weaknesses:

Portugal and UK have huge market demands for cheese, olives and hospitality services. Major industry players have well-established physical selling strategies that make it difficult for new companies to venture into the industry. Quinto does not have a physical supplier or distributor of her products, which makes it difficult to sell and deliver them to their customers. Moreover, the BREXIT looms and upon actualization, a lot is bound to change particularly concerning trade between UK and Europe. This may result in tariff increases between the region and UK, which usually has a negative impact on agriculture and agricultural products sectors of the European economy (Sampson, 2017). Quinto also faces major administrative challenges in the UK market since products will be sold online and delivered to owners from Portugal. The lack of an office and go down in the UK may pose major logistical and administrative challenges.

Opportunities:

The consumption of olives and cheese is on a rise in both Portugal and UK (de Boer, 2006). Online shopping is also on the rise in both countries (Gori, 2018). Through their website, Quinto can sell their cheese and olives in both countries easily without having to invest in infrastructure like offices, administration etc. in the target market areas. Moreover, a growing LGBTQ community in both countries offers Quinto a viable market for her products. The LGBTQ community in both target markets will help boost the popularity of Quinto’s olives and cheese to venture into the larger market easily. Quinto’s expansion of their farm stay services also offers the business an opportunity to grow its service sector portfolio by marketing it in the UK market. The expansion of rooms and diversification of farm stay activities will ensure that the project handles customer increase effectively.

Threats:

Olives and cheese are highly perishable products that require stringent preservation techniques to maintain freshness. Quinto intends to sell the products and services through their website to customers in Portugal and UK. There is a need to ensure that the products are delivered timely and as fresh as possible to maintain quality and grow the consumer base. The project needs to invest in storage and preservation infrastructure including during delivery to the customer, which may require huge amounts of financial capital. Moreover, the lack of a UK office and go down poses major logistical and administrative challenges for the company.

Communication Analysis

Communication Performance

The UK and Portugal are well connected in terms of communication. Both countries have fast reliable internet and phone services (Beilock, 2003). This makes it easy for Quinto to reach her customers and potential clients in both markets effectively and fast. Quinto will use all forms of communication including telephone, social networks, e-mail, word of mouth etc. to sell their products, receive feedback and complaints and solve issues with customers. This will boost the company’s productivity and reliability, which in turn will boost product and service popularity and sales.

Objectives

Marketing Objectives

Penetrating the market in Portugal and UK will be challenging, but by using strategic business policies, Quinto can gain popularity and customer loyalty within months. Some of the models that will boost the products popularity include SMART model of objectives (Yeager, 2011) and AIDA model for product marketing (Hassan, 2015).

Quinto’s SMART Objectives

Quinto’s SMART Objectives are,

To successfully increase product and services sales in Portugal by 10%,

To raise garner at least 10% of UK’s target market

To grow its service sector by 10% by the end of 2019.

Specific:

In order to establish itself as a major player in the cheese and olives industries in the UK and Portugal, as well as, grow its service sector, Quinto’ s objectives ought to be specific. The ultimate clientele are the populations that consume cheese and/or olives and olive products, as well as farm enthusiasts and travellersin both countries. To establish a footprint in the two markets, Quinto will initially target the LGBTQ communities there – the driving force for popularising Quinto’s products and services.To sell and distribute fresh organic olives and fresh cheese to the Portuguese and British populations, at a fair market price and to offer farm stay services and activities for enthusiasts and travellers.Quinto’s time frame for the actualisation of the plan will start in Portugal and then the UK a couple of months later. Quinto’s main and only location of transaction is online through the project’s website. The only existing physical address is in Portugal, headquartered at the farm.Quinto intends to accomplish two major objectives; to boost the popularity of organic products and farm stay services and activities in Portugal and the UK.

Measurable:

According to Bjerke (2017), an effective objective need to be measurable to determine progress and measure impact. Both Portugal and the UK have significant cheese and olives consumers, a throbbing LGBTQ community and growing enthusiasts of farm stay and activities. A study will be done to determine the best ways to approach the target market (LGBTQ community) and boost product popularity to achieve a 10% increase in sales the Portuguese market, establish a 10% clientele base in the UK and grow the service sector by an equal percentage.

Achievable:

Quinto’s objective of 10% sales growth for the products and services in both markets is achievable. Through the introduction of high-quality organic products, effective marketing and top-notch customer service, Quinto will be able to significantly grow sales in both markets by the targeted percentage. Quinto’s aim is to advocate for the support and retention of diversity in doing business by establishing a diverse company that amongst other services, sells and distributes cheese and olive in the UK, Portugal and regionally in future. This is supported by the fact that the availability of a vibrant market for organic products, services and a growing social trend of support for LGBTQ in business in both countries is on a growing trend.

Relevant:

There is a growing trend of preference for organic products amongst the European population with UK and Portugal ranking high amongst European countries (Jensen, 2011). In the wake of rising global health conditions, consumers seem to prefer organic products to live a healthier life (Nuttavuthisit, 2017). This is evidence of the relevance of selling organic olives and cheese in Europe’s top markets for organic products.Quinto does not only intend to sell organic products, it also intends to establish a fast, reliable and cost-effective platform where consumers can order and have their products delivered fresh and as fast as possible.

Time:

Quinto’s smart objective ought to be achievable within a certain period of time. Within 10 months - the end of 2019, the project should have grown its portfolio by 10%. Growing Quinto’s product sales by 10% in Portugal is the initial plan meant to commence immediately. Venturing into the UK market and establishing 10% customer base of the target market is the most challenging idea, but with clear and achievable objectives, and strategic business techniques, Quinto may be a success in the two markets.

Quinto’s Application of AIDA

Hierarchy of effects model are essential for any business to boost marketing and brand awareness amongst the targeted population (Knowles, 2003). Quinto will utilize the AIDA model to market her products in both countries.

Attention:

To create attention to customers, Quinto will have an attractive website as well as social site pages that keep visitors glued. Other methods of creating awareness will include informative and exciting Website, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram forums with actual and potential customers.

Interest:

To boost consumer interest in her products, Quinto will have well-labelled products indicating that they are 100% organic and produced by a diverse enterprise comprising LGBTQ community members.

Desire:

To create desire in the customer, Quinto will run advertisements online and on the TV that highlight the company’s diversity, mission and goal for positive social change. Customers are more likely to desire products done by a minority for the better of the society as a whole.

Action:

Quinto will operate a high-ranking website to sell their products in both markets, which will have a buy and ‘add to cart’ option to increase customer’s efficiency when purchasing products from the project. The website will be running from the farm in Portugal by a team of web content developers and other support staff to ensure it runs smoothly and effectively.

Strategic planning of the company

Through strategicplanning, it is possible for the company to develop effective decision to achieve the above-mentioned aims and objectives of the organisation which are to enhance their performance and expand their business through increasing their sales volume as well as strengthening their customer’s base. Through STP analysis, it is possible for the organisation to develop appropriate strategic planning for segmentation, targeting and positioning the brand in the market and analyse the market trend for successful expansion of the business across the UK market.

STP Analysis

Under the STP analysis, there are three factors, segmentation of the customer base in the market, targeting the right customer base as well as developing appropriate strategic planning or strengthening the customers base in the company (Knowles, 2003).

Segmentation:

For segmenting the market, it is necessary to conducteffectivemarket research for acknowledging the actual neds and preferences of the customers in the market so that the company Quinto can serve qualityproducts to the customers according to their needs and preferences. Portugal and the UK have a growing demand (2.5%) for cheese and olives (Fox, 2016). Hereby, it can be considered as there is high growth of the company in the market through delivering the quality products cheese and olive where high demand for the products olive and cheese retain moreclients towards the company successfully. Through segmenting this, it can be possible for the company Quinto to fulfil the above-mentioned marketing objectives to raise their sales and profitability volume for successfulexpansion of the organisation. The products will be made with an appealing design that indicates diversity and healthy products.

Target Markets:

The main target market for Quinto’s products is the LGBTQ community in UK and Portugal and eventually the rest of the populations in both countries. With a growing LGBTQ community and support for the same in both countries, the community is the best target market for Quinto’s products because of two main reasons – the community is the most suitable initial buyer of Quinto’s products because of their affiliation and trend setting capability that will popularize the products in both markets. The growing LQBTQ community will be the initial target market to help establish and popularize Quinto products and services in the target communities.The community will help propel the products popularity amongst the rest of the populations, thereby boosting sales. This is because the LGBTQ community is best-placed to relate to the mission and vision of the Quinto Project – an LGBTQ supported project.

Positioning strategy:

In order to positioning the company, it is necessary for the company Quinto to develop core brand positioning and online value proposition as well as online marketing mix for attracting the target market and enhancing their performance in the market. For leveraging both the markets, Quinto will undertake numerous strategies. The two main strategies revolve around utilising the growing preference of online shopping for organic products like cheese and olives and popularising the project’s farm activities in the region. Moreover, major social sites like Facebook and YouTube offer efficiency in marketing, effectively engaging clients and segmenting and targeting the initial target market which is the LGBTQ community in both markets, UK and Portugal. Online marketing, which has a combined clientele of over 500 million in Europe will help Quinto to segment and target consumers via the sites to reach at least 10% of the entire market. There are millions of online customers in the UK and Portugal and targeting, marketing and eventually selling Quinto products and services to 10% i.e. 100,000 new consumers by the end of 2019 can be achieved. In order to achieve this, the company should target online marketing through social sites with the aim of driving at least 100 000 and 200000 potential clients to their website. In this eragrd, Facebook, for example is the leading social site in Europe (Custers, 2018) and reported 284 million daily users (Stankov, 2018) – a potential online market for Quinto’s products and services. Other social sites like Instagram, YouTube and Twitter also offer a large online market for Quinto’s cheese, olives, hospitality, educational and recreational products & services. through Facebook post and videos in YouTube, it is possible for the company Quinto to improve their positioning strategy and establish the brand successfully in both the markets by targeting the people for the best quality organic products of Quinto which are cheese and olive.

Tactics to promote the organisation

Since the company’s transactional platform is online based, online social platforms will be the main advertising platforms for Quinto’s products and services. The company will have an attractive website where purchases and bookings can be made, as well as eye-catching pages on the four main social platforms in Portugal and the UK. Like most ecommerce websites, Quinto’s website will be highly attractive and easy to use for customers where the content developer and software developer must need to develop easy website with one click option for placing the customer’s orders as well as develop simple and concise content so that every consumers in the market can understand the product availability, pricing strategy and other offers of the company Quinto. The company’s products will be showcased on the main page, their details and all other essential information the customer require e.g. ingredients, price, delivery date, discounts, terms & conditions etc. High definition pictures of the products on sale will be posted and the above details will be highlighted besides the product. The website will also showcase the project’s far stay activities and its entire service industry. There will be HD pictures of the farm, the activities being undertaken and the various processes that take place there. Activities that visitors can take part in will also be showcased, the various hospitality services offered and their prices. Visitors will be able to book stays in the farm from the website using their credit cards as well as get any help or support concerning their stay immediately. Customer service is essential for any business to be successful(Leckie, 2016). Quinto will establish an efficient framework and ethical code of conduct that upholds customer service. This includes fair prices and timely delivery of the project’s products and services. Customer service will boost the brand’s popularity in the target markets and enhance customer loyalty. Quinto’s cheese and olives will be delivered within 24 hours in the target markets to maintain freshness and enhance customer service. For the farm stay activities, the project will offer the best farm experience to visitors at affordable prices including farm tours, taking part in organic farming activities, educational tours etc. The payment options are also required to be simple so that the customers can pay easily through their credit or debit card and the company also ensures data protection in the website to secure customer’s personal data during transaction.

Apart from that, the company also needs to focus on celebrity endorsement for advertisement so that it can attract the LGBTQ community in both the markets, UK and Portugal. in this regard, the celebrity endorsement with Emma Watson would be one of the best strategic planning for the promotion of the organic products on the company Quinto, where the celebrity is famous int eh UK and also among the LGBTQ community and it will attract and retain the buyers inthe organisation. The celebrity endorsement is also beneficial for the company Quinto to improve trust and loyaltyamong the customers where the consumers can make effective purchasedecision for the organic products of the Quinto including cheese and olive. In addition to these, online Telegraph is another platform which would provide an opportunity to retain more bloggers and audiences int he market who can access all the necessary information about the products and services of the Quinto through which the organisation can attract the customers an meet the marketing objective by enhancing their sales volume. In this regard, blogs in the Telegraph with clear and concise information as well as attractive HD pictures about the products and raw materials will be beneficial for the organisation to retain more customers and strengthen their customers base for long run.

Actions taken place in the company

Table one show the projected costs of running Quinto in the UK market. Webhosting and Maintenance, customer service legal costs and taxation and preservation facilities are presumed to be similar in both markets since they are currently EU members. The same may however change after and if Brexit succeeds. Human resource is assumed to be costlier in the UK than in Portugal by £ 1000. The UK market has been awarded £ 5000 miscellaneous amount for any unprecedented costs that arise during operations. Because of the expenses in farm stay and community related activities, the Portuguese market received £ 4000 as miscellaneous.

Control, Budget & Evaluation of Effectivenessof Quinto’s Plan

With a £100000 budget, this section evaluates the projected costs of Quinto’s strategic plan and a 4-month in 2019 breakdown of projected incomes.

The first month of operation is presumed to be the most challenging and records the lowest revenues in both markets. This is because the initial strategy is to familiarize the consumer with Quinto’s products and services. Since the UK is a new market, the assumption is that it will be more challenging to operate in compared to Portugal. For that reason, the UK also records lower revenues than Portugal overtime. The demand and overall market of Quinto’s products and services is more popular in its current location because it has operated there for some time. Overall, the total revenue from both markets is projected to total to £ 156900, which is a 56.5% increase on invested capital in just four months. From the deductions, the venture is viable and practicable in both target markets with high ROI.

Evaluation of Effectiveness

Achieving the projected sales will be challenging in Portugal in the initial months of doing business. Effectiveness of the project in Portugal will be achieved through intense marketing – both abstract and physical, swift delivery of fresh organic products and offering nostalgic farm activities in the project’s farm. In the UK, effectiveness will be achieved through segmentation and direct selling of Quinto products to the target market (LGBTQ community) and eventually to the entire population by the end of the year. The entire project will achieve effectiveness once the operation costs in both markets is lowered significantly (20-30%) by the end of 2019 and sales boosted by (10%) in every sector.

Recommendations and summary

Selling on the Portuguese web-based business advertise is an incredible choice for development disapproved of online venders. When you dispatch your store in different nations, there are a couple of helpful actualities and information that you ought to consider. There are 6,930,762 Internet clients in Portugal and Internet infiltration adds up to 67.3% (Teixeira, 2019). Regarding gadget utilization, there are 6,672,000 advanced cell clients and PDA infiltration adds up to 65.00%. On a worldwide scale, advanced cells are as a rule increasingly more generally utilized for computerized buys. The all-outpopulation of Portugal is 10,291,196. The middle age is 42.2 (Comer, 2018). The language expressed in Portugal is Portuguese and the cash is Euro. The nation code top-level space is.pt. and calling code +351. In the UK Visas are the most well-known instalment technique for bought made on the web. Right around 40% of every single online exchange in the UK are paid with Mastercard (Martikainen, 2015). More than 3 out of 10 online exchanges happen because of check cards. Another well-known online instalment technique in the UK is PayPal, which together with credit and platinum cards speak to 96% of every online instalment. More tips for ecommerce in the United Kingdom can be found at ECommercewiki (Europe, 2018). As indicated by an article in the Daily Mail 82% of British web clients routinely shop on the web, which is the most noteworthy of the 28 EU part states. It's evaluated 70% of UK shoppers presently possesses a cell phone. In the last quarter of 2013, one out of three online deals in the UK occurred by means of cell phones (Laukkanen, 2017). As indicated by the International Monetary Fund, GDP dependent on purchasing power equality (PPP) is 310,651 (a huge number of Current Int$) and ostensible GDP is 218,064 (US$MM). Gross domestic product (PPP) per capita is 30,258 Int$ and GDP (ostensible) per capita is 21,161 US$. Genuine GDP development rate is 2.50%. As indicated by information from the Centre for Retail Search, online deals in the United Kingdom represented 10.7% of absolute retail deals in 2014. It was worth 110.5 billion euros in 2013 as per IMRG/Capgemini. More up to date information, from the E trade Foundation, demonstrates that ecommerce in the UK was worth 157 billion Euros in 2015. The Quinto project is definitely a viable project that is deemed to record impressive growth results in both Portugal and the UK. The projected revenues indicated gross revenues amounting to 40+% increase on invested capital. Portugal retains the bigger share of consumers and revenues with UK being projected to grow with time.

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