Eastern Heroes is a successful catering company based in Leicester which serve pan Asian foods for different individual events. Pan alludes to a menu that incorporates various dishes from one specific cuisine; in this way, pan- Asian cooking are restaurants that offer all the exemplary dishes from a chose eastern culture Asian cuisine which can be part into four all-encompassing classifications relying upon its area in the mainland: west, central, east or south. Western Asian dishes are all the food that starts from the Middle East like Arab countries. Central Asian dishes beginning from centrally-located nations, for example, Kazakhstan; yet, the food inside central Asia is inspired by its neighbours in the west and east. Southern Asian food, otherwise called Desi cuisine, has solid roots in Hindu convictions and traditions. Southern Asian cooking incorporates dishes from India. While Eastern Asian cuisine is regularly alluded to as 'oriental'. This includes dishes from China, Japan, Korea, Mongolia and Taiwan. The staples of Eastern Asian food incorporate rice, noodles and beans. The company is introduced, lead and owned by chef “Kwokly Wan”. He is a British born Chinese celebrity chef who grew up within the heart of the eating place and catering field (Eastern Heroes, 2019). His family were the first to open a Chinese restaurant within the city in the 1970s (Eastern Heroes, 2019). Furthermore, Kwokly Wan is presently best known as an enthusiastic media culinary specialist and top-of-the-line cookbook writer. So, these are considered helpful for the company to maintain its good reputation in the market and gain a competitive advantage. Their success derives from its core mission, which is about presenting a superb high-quality catering service, having expertise in traditional pan Asian cuisine (Eastern Heroes, 2019). Their food menu is designed to fit any event. Plus, they offer a personalised menu so that the client is free to choose his own menu with experienced assistance. In this way, the client will feel special which leads to build a sustainable relationship with the company and becoming a loyal customer. Eastern heroes insist on assisting and helping the clients with venue, guest list, party or any event to offer the best service effectively. Regarding their services, different ones are included such as, weddings, banqueting, BBQ, buffets, garden parties, gala dinners, birthdays, corporate lunches, private dining etc. We notice that there is variety in services offered. Certainly, this wide variety in services is essential to satisfy a great segment of customers from different backgrounds and ages as well as their different needs.
Business Objectives:
In this research, Eastern Heroes Catering’s main objective is to analyse in the presence of main competitors in East/West Midlands in order to assess and design an effective business structure. The proposed objectives of this research plan are the following:
· To identify the geographical location of competitors and its impact on customers and marketing strategies.
Location is a critical factor to focus on because how easy a company can be found and accessed is a success scale. I believe that a business’s address is a primordial factor in the way that business is perceived. A good location is an advantage for both suppliers and targeted customers. Moreover, this objective is helpful for Eastern Heroes because the area can likewise impact a business’ capacity to market itself, the competition it faces and the regulations they should pursue. Also, the importance of a company location includes that company’s site rank in Google search. Again, attaining this objective displays, precisely, the main competitors of Eastern Heroes, their targeted customers as well as to what extent they are able to extend the placement of advertisements.
· To compare the pricing strategy followed by the competitors, within the city, who offer similar services.
It is crucial to know the services offered and analyse the price structure followed by the competitors. I think setting prices effectively can lead to gain competitive advantage and maximise profitability on each service sold or on the overall market share. Plus, in designing marketing strategies, pricing is one of the essential components to take into consideration, since it is a main thing that customer cares about when buying a product or service because of its direct influence on their purchasing decision.
· To analyse and compare the online and digital presence of competitors as well as the marketing strategies used through social platforms.
Nowadays, it is obviously remarkable that we are living in a digital world where both social technologies and digital media have occupied our daily lives. A study shows that this kind of technology was firstly implemented in marketing where “the uses of social technologies and digital media (i.e. blogs, social networking sites, virtual game worlds, etc.) were initially introduced and creatively used within marketing and brand communications” (Fourner and Avery, 2011; Hanna et al., 2011). Direct and digital marketing requires interaction with customers and long-term relationship development. Peppers and Rogers claim: 'the objective of this new marketing paradigm-called one-to-one marketing or relationship marketing is to give an enterprise the capacity to treat its customers as individuals and thereby develop a continuing business relationship with them'. This approach is to act with customers as individuals by delivering the service in a personalized way. Marketing through digital media and networks give marketers the chance to interact with each one of the audiences directly, and efficiently, which help the company collect the needed data about their costumers and track their transactions. It is important for Eastern Heroes to explore the way the competitors are using different social platforms for many reasons. First, to have an insight on how audiences take their purchase decisions and to what extent that decision is impacted by online posts and ads. Second, to know what the needs of customers and their feedback. Third, to keep updated on the latest offers and products of competitors and the way they are showcased to the audiences. Forth, to identify their potential customer and get detailed insights about them.
Proposed Methods for Data Collection:
For this project, I will be accessing a secondary research to achieve the objectives listed above. Several resources will be accessed to collect the needed data. The secondary data will also capture competitors in the market. In finding the needed data, care must be taken to choose sufficient, relevant and reliable information. That is why DMU library website will be considered, since it gives us an easy and free access to credible journal, peer reviewed articles, market studies and industry reports through various resources like ProQuest, Emerald and Mintel. This will get me an accurate and updated qualitative and quantitative data about the Pan-Asian cuisine market in the area. Also, Google and web scraping will be used. To put it plainly, web scraping is a mechanized procedure of information extraction from sites (Vingilito and Polidoro, 2017). Its utilization in management and studies has just come to surface (Yerger,2014). Google search will let me explore the restaurants that are specialized in Pan-Asian cuisine within East and West Midlands as well as customer reviews, precise locations. Then, it will give me an easy access to the website of each competitor. In this way, I will have an idea about their products, services and prices so I can compare the price structure of some competitors to Eastern Heroes. In addition, the geographical location of each competitor which can be easily identified as well as the awards won, customer reviews and popularity. Furthermore, social media analysis and listening through different social platforms (Instagram, Facebook, twitter, YouTube) will be considered to build on findings. This will lead us to get insight about the marketing and advertisements followed by other companies. Then, it will get us access to their potential customers, and feedback to figure out their needs. Last but not least to compare how competitors interact with their followers and how its related to attract existing and new customers. Social media analysis is beneficial for this research because it supports my findings and give me additional demographic data about competitors ‘customers. The collected data will be analysed and used to evaluate the current position and image of Eastern Heroes compared to the identified competitors.
Theoretical Concepts and Techniques Proposed for Data Analysis:
Social Media Analysis: There will be analysis on different and relevant social media channels (mainly Instagram and Facebook) to establish what are the goals of competitors, their activities, their location, their services and their prices. Plus, to figure out and analyse the way they communicate with followers and how they react. Moreover, this will give us an idea what are the needs and feedback of customers. Also, this analysis is important to discover what marketing strategies the competitors are following and how the strategies are implemented.
Competitive Profile Matrix (CPM): is a tool used to compare a firm to its competitors, by covering their strengths and weaknesses. I will let me and Eastern Heroes Catering better understand the external environment and competitors specialised in pan-Asian cuisine and catering. The matrix will determine Eastern Heroes’ key competitors and compare them utilizing company’s basic achievement factors. The analysis also covers strengths and weaknesses of competitors, so Eastern Heroes would know, which area should be improved and protected.
SWOT Analysis: As stated by Nadine and Anne (2009) swot investigation is a fruitful key device that analyses the outside and inside components of a business and exceptionally identifies the company's strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. In addition, Hollensen (2015) uncovers that through dissecting the opportunities and threats of a business Swot analysis helps in keeping up viable future strategies for the association to succeed.
Porters Five Forces: is a framework used to assess and evaluate the competitive strength and position of a business institution (CGMA, 2019). It depends on the idea that there are five forces (Fig.1) that identify the competitive force and attractiveness of the industry. Porter’s five forces helps to distinguish where power lies in a business situation (CGMA, 2019). By using this theory, we will better understand the strength and quality of Eastern Heroes’ current competitive position. Furthermore, this framework supports the comprehension of the factors influencing the profitability and based on it, Eastern Heroes can decide whether to improve capacity in the market and create competitive strategies.
Fig 1: Porter’s Five Forces Model Source (CGMA, 2019)
Marketing Mix: According to Thalib (2015), the marketing mix is a blend of marketing tools that are powerful in achieving the marketing objectives of a focused market. It comprises of 7P’s (Fig.2). By effectively analysing and managing these aspects, the company can gain competitive advantage. Armstrong et al. (2015) stated that this framework is a correct mix of putting the precise item at the correct spots with the proper price. As per Armstrong et al. (2015), place determines the proper location that aids in distributing the merchandises with success through attracting the purchasers whereas correct adoption of evaluation strategy allows in enhancing the product image, and it extremely depends upon the power of market, targeted segments, production prices, provide and demand and varied alternative direct and indirect factors. Promotions ask the assorted selling activities adopted by the companies for enhancing product sales and achieving high market growth. Therefore, promotional activities extremely play an important role in attracting an outsized client base towards the merchandise and services. Thus, through the applying of selling combine in a good manner will extremely modify organizations to achieve a competitive edge.
Figure 2: 7 P’s Marketing Mix Source: Google Search
References
Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M. and Brennan, R. (2015) Marketing: an introduction. Pearson Education.
CGMA. (2019). Porter’s Five Forces of Competitive Position Analysis. [online] Available at: https://www.cgma.org/resources/tools/essential-tools/porters-five-forces.html [Accessed 1 Jul. 2019].
Eastern Heroes Catering. (2019). About Us • Eastern Heroes Catering • Midlands Catering Service. [online] Available at: https://easternheroes.co.uk/about-us/ [Accessed 24 Jun. 2019].
FELLIPE, S.M., JÚLIO ARAUJO CARNEIRO, D.C. and RIBEIRO SERRA, F.A., 2018. Secondary Data in Research – Uses and Opportunities. Revista Ibero - Americana de Estratégia, 17(4), pp. 1-4.
Hollensen, S. (2015) Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.
Khanna, U. (2019). The Impact of Social Media Marketing Today - Social Media Impact. [online] Social Media Impact. Available at: http://www.socialmediaimpact.com/impact-social-media-marketing-today/.
Nadine, P. and Anne, R. (2009) SWOT Analysis – idea, methodology and a practical approach. New York: GRIN Verlag.
Thalib, S. (2015) The effect of services marketing mix and customer value on satisfaction, trust and loyalty. International Journal of Advanced Research, 3(9), pp. 935-949.