Principles of Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Principles of Marketing - Essay Example The report indicates that Thornton's PLC should focus on cutting down costs, improving convenience to consumers and enhancing communication. In doing this, there should be four main categories of services that the company need to focus on: Chocolate Sweets, Personalized Gifts, Hampers and Gift Ideas as well as Corporate Gifts. Based on the Boston Consulting Group model, it is recommended that Thorntons in Hull City should focus on the Star products that have high growth and high market share so that they expand on that and build profitability in the December markets. The paper concludes with guidelines on how to place, price, promote the Thornton chocolates in the December markets. ... ..........................14 Implementation and Control.......................................................................14 Increasing Fanbase......................................................................................15 Sales Increase Objectives & Budgeting Plans.............................................15 Introduction â€Å"The marketing plan sets out the marketing objectives of the company and suggest strategies for achieving these objectives† (Westwood, 2002 p5). This means that the marketing plan is a tool that supports a business to market its products to the public. The marketing plan is somewhat different from the firm's strategic plan and/or business plan. The marketing plan is specific and provides a strong blueprint for the promotion and marketing of a given product(s). The marketing plan lays out specific production objectives, financial objectives and personnel objectives for given products that are going to be sold (Westwood, 2002 p5). During Ch ristmas, sales increase tremendously. Stefanowicz identifies that sales in Christmas represents 14.3% of sales in the entire year (2010). This means that in a 12 month period, the month of December marks a disproportionately high level of demand for products. This trend could be attributed to the festive nature of the season and the fact that most people get a lot of bonuses in that people whilst others are prepared to spend more of their savings at this point in time. As such, it is appropriate for any business to have a marketing plan for such a period. This is because demand and sales could increase disproportionately in respect to the increase in the volume of buyers. This paper is a marketing plan for Thorntons PLC, a UK confectionery company. It examines how Thorntons can draw up a