Casa De CarneMarketing Plan

Business 513September 3, 2009

Belen Arredondo, Alexandre Le,

Marmi Maramot, Christina Miller-Kathol,

andSarko Nalband

Table of ContentsExecutive Summary…………………………………………………………2

Current Marketing Situation…………………………………………….....2Competitive Environment………………………………………....….2-3SWOT Analysis…………………………………………………....…3-5

Performance Objectives………………………………………………….…5Strategic Objectives…………………………………………………....5Operational Objectives……………………………………………...…6

Strategic Focus……………………………………………………….……...6

Positioning, Target Market, Competitor Targets, Value Proposition……7Positioning…………………………………………………………….7-11Target Market…………………………………………………..…….11-13Competitor Targets……………………………………………….…..14-16Value Proposition…………………………………………………..….16

Marketing Implementation Program………………………………………17Marketing Strategy……………………………………………….…..17-19Marketing Program Time line and Budget………………………..….19-20

Monitoring and Controlling Execution and Performance……………...20-21

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Executive SummaryCasa De Carne’s unique position in the market of meats and seafood make it a high-value

alternative for our target market. With its extreme economic value and extensive product offering at the expense of sacrificing many of the conveniences of its competitors (competitors such as supermarkets), the company can potentially win consumers of certain segments away from competitors. Due to its position, Casa De Carne generally offers the most value to consumers of large households and moderate income. It can win these customers without offering new products, or expanding to new markets. Casa De Carne simply needs to increase awareness within its trade area.

Clearly consumer awareness is the limiting factor in terms of the company’s growth. In this modern economy, company websites are crucial to both increasing awareness and gaining customers. This plan’s primary focus is utilizing the company’s website that is in development to achieving market increased penetration.

Current Marketing SituationCompetitive Environment

The MarketCasa de Carne’s current market is mostly people who live in the local area (Signal Hill-

Long Beach), many of whom are EBT recipients (i.e. food stamps). This explains why sales are the highest during the first two weeks of every month. There are also a few customers that are caterers/restaurants and two grocery stores. Occasionally some people come from as far as Hesperia and even Las Vegas. Most customers had heard about Casa de Carne via word of mouth; the company currently does no advertising.

During our visit on a recent Saturday, we observed that the customers were predominantly African American regulars. There was also a restaurant owner who bought a case of hanger steaks. However, he informed us that he only came because he forgot to order from his regular supplier. Casa de Carne does not have high-end restaurants as customers, which was evidenced by the restaurant owner’s purchase of hanger steak as opposed to the higher-priced cuts like New York and ribeye steak.

CompetitorsDirect competitors are other sellers of raw meat, poultry, and seafood. These include

restaurant suppliers, grocery stores, carnicerias, fish markets, certain discount and warehouse club stores such as Wal-Mart and Costco, and online purveyors such as Omaha Steaks. It should be noted that grocery stores are also indirect competitors in that they sell additional products that are good sources of protein, such as tofu, cheese, beans, eggs, protein shakes, and peanut butter. Other indirect competitors are those places where people can buy and eat prepared meats, so that they don’t have to bring the meat home and cook it themselves. These would include restaurants, taco trucks, and farmer’s markets.

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While it appears that Casa de Carne has a lot of competition, when it comes to places that are also meat wholesalers open to the public, then there are not too many in the Southern California area. A quick Google search only turns up a post in Chowhound about Fish King in Glendale. So, one would be hard pressed to think of another place besides Casa de Carne where the public can buy all the major proteins at wholesale prices.

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths· Casa de Carne’s number one strength is its low prices. For example, on our visit we

purchased New York steak at $4.50 per pound (10% off the regular $5/lb. price on “Steak Saturdays”) and 2 gallons of Phillips’ cream of crab soup for $20. At Ralph’s, New York steak is $7.99 per pound on sale, and the same quantity of crab soup if purchased online would have cost $120, fully six times more than we paid.

· The supplier relationships that Casa de Carne has built enable the company to stock an excellent selection of high-quality products. The daily price list includes more than 200 items, including several high-end products such as Prime Angus beef fillet, whole Dungeness crab, and lobster. Casa de Carne also carries a few non-meat items such as French fries and spring rolls.

· All products are fresh frozen (flash frozen in the case of seafood) and are stored in two large freezer rooms. Therefore, there is very little danger of spoilage and they can be kept for a long time if necessary (up to three months).

· Because of Casa de Carne’s good values, customer loyalty and satisfaction are high. The majority of company sales are from repeat customers. Furthermore, while Casa de Carne has a money-back policy if customers aren’t satisfied, there has only been one return.

· As mentioned previously, Casa de Carne accepts food stamps. Therefore, other competitors which don’t accept food stamps are shut out of the whole EBT market segment entirely.

· BBQs are held on the first two Saturdays of the month to try out new products and attract customers. If a product turns out to be a dud (for example, the discontinued onion rings from TGI Friday), then Casa de Carne knows not to order more of it, thus avoiding unnecessary expense. In addition, while there are some people who show up to the BBQ just for the free food, most comers do take advantage of the opportunity to also make some purchases while they are there.

Weaknesses· By far, Casa de Carne’s number one weakness is its physical location. While its

proximity to the port of Long Beach and the 710/405 freeways makes it convenient as far as intake of product, the location is not so good in terms of accessibility for customers. The facility is located in an industrial area of Signal Hill where there are no surrounding businesses and thus zero foot traffic. Therefore, only those customers who have already been

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to Casa de Carne would know where to find it. The sign for 28th street is not prominently visible from the cross street Orange Avenue. Casa de Carne has tried putting a sign on the corner directing customers to turn there, but the sign was stolen. In addition, the actual building is an industrial condo, so Casa de Carne is not allowed to affix permanent signs to the exterior due to condo owner association regulations. Therefore, one of Casa de Carne’s trucks displaying the company’s name is parked in front of the building during operating hours, when it would be better if the truck was out and about publicizing the business.

· High shipping and transportation costs make it prohibitively expensive for Casa de Carne to expand beyond the immediate area. There is delivery to local restaurants with a minimum order of $300, but otherwise customers must get their product in person.

· Another major weakness is the fact that customers must buy in bulk, since Casa de Carne is unable to open cases and repackage products to sell in more manageable sizes due to health code regulations for wholesalers. Therefore, customers have to either find friends and family with whom they can split boxes that can weigh as much as 60 pounds, or purchase their own deep freezer in order to store such huge quantities of food.

· Casa de Carne lacks both a customer database and a viable website. Therefore, they are unable to track where their customers are coming from or send notifications via mail and email of specials and time-sensitive closeout deals, among other useful activities.

· In the store, there is a lack of appealing photos of the actual product. There are mostly generic pictures of cuts of meat and seafood. Since all the products are boxed up in the freezer, then customers can’t see what they are getting before they buy. In addition, there are no displays regarding how to prepare the various kinds of meat. Because of all this, customers would be less willing to purchase any products that they haven’t bought before and have no idea how to cook.

Opportunities· Casa de Carne can still have e-commerce even if high shipping costs prevent them from

letting customers order products online and have them delivered. Customers could place their order and pay for it on Casa de Carne’s website, and then have their order ready by the time they come to pick it up at the store.

· With the current recession, everyone will want to save money, not just people with low incomes. Therefore, Casa de Carne could start to reach out to residents of the middle-class Long Beach area to the north of Signal Hill.

· According to the CFPA (California Food Policy Advocates), in 2007 there were 620,402 EBT recipients in Los Angeles County, which represents only 39.3% of those eligible to receive food stamps. In this economy, the participation rate and thus the size of the potential EBT market segment should increase.

· Currently, Casa de Carne’s top product is chicken, followed by seafood. Beef sales could be increased by targeting the Hispanic market. According to the California Beef Council, Hispanics spend 33% more on beef than non-Hispanics and eat beef 4 to 5 times per week (the figure is 2-3 times per week for non-Hispanics).

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· Other ethnic groups that Casa de Carne should pursue more aggressively due to their sizeable population in the local area are Cambodians, Samoans, and Vietnamese. While SimplyMap doesn’t provide census data by national origin, the percentage of the populations of Signal Hill and Long Beach (zip code 90807) who are Asian is 20.63% and 20.87% respectively.

· Finally, Casa de Carne should target large families who would have a much easier time finishing bulk quantities of meat than households of one or two. Below is a table from SimplyMap giving the numbers for the previously mentioned demographic groups in Signal Hill and surrounding zip codes.

Variables90712, Lakewood, CA

90806, Long Beach, CA

90807, Long Beach, CA

90755, Signal Hill, CA

# Asian Pop, 2008 3983 9095 5210 2020% Asian Pop, 2008 13.69% 20.87% 17.06% 20.63%# HHs w/ Inc. $50,000 to $74,999, 2008 2138 1779 2283 893% HHs w/ Inc. $50,000 to $74,999, 2008 20.30% 14.28% 18.57% 22.97%# HHs w/ Inc. $75,000 to $99,999, 2008 1880 1170 1739 538% HHs w/ Inc. $75,000 to $99,999, 2008 17.85% 9.39% 14.15% 13.84%# Hisp. Pop, 2008 7464 24071 6613 3419% Hisp. Pop, 2008 25.66% 55.23% 21.66% 34.91%Large Families (Mkt Segment), 2008 170 197 147 173

Threats· Widespread disease and contamination in fish and farm animals (e.g. mad cow disease)

not only decimates supply, but creates a scare among the public that could steer them away from eating meat and towards meat substitutes instead.

· Meat consumption could decrease due to growing health and environmental concerns. For example, according to the USDA, Americans reduced their consumption of beef from 73.8 pounds per person in 1994 to 62.9 pounds in 1995.

· New competitors could enter the market and copy Casa de Carne’s wholesale pricing scheme but improve upon their major weaknesses (e.g. they could sell meat from a well-located storefront in more convenient quantities).

Performance Objectives

Strategic Objectives1. Market Penetration. Increase awareness and win customers away from targeted

competitors in the trade area. 2. Increase awareness and build a growing audience of web users.

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3. Organize an online Adwords campaign (PPC) to promote the site.4. Improve inventory control in order to increase efficiency and better satisfy customer

demand.

Quantitative Objectives1. Increase customer walk through by 15% over the first 3 months; maintain 8% customer

walk through over the remaining months of the campaign.2. Website traffic:

o Have the website ready within the timeline with the tracking features operational.o Over 300 clicks per month for the first 3 monthso Over 500 clicks per month thereafter

3. Adword campaino At least 100 hits per month from the campaign

4. Increase inventory turnover by 20% in 18 months.

Strategic Focus

Casa de Carne will grow using its existing products in existing markets. In terms of the growth-path matrix, this puts the company in the “Market Penetration” cell for its growth opportunity. For the “Product” dimension, the company should focus on its strength in its core competencies (primarily economic value, and vast selection of meat/seafood products), introduction of new products is not the growth solution. In terms of the “Market” dimension, the company is stuck in the existing market for meat and seafood products, and will not expand geographically as of yet. Thus Casa de Carne will focus on existing markets, seeking penetration primarily through increasing in awareness. Casa de Carne offers exceeding value to our target market, simply increasing awareness in this consumer market will win customers away from direct competitors, primarily supermarkets.

Casa de Carne should focus its strategy on market penetration with internet marketing supported by a professional website and online campaigns. By visiting the website, the customers, new and returning, can find out information about the company such as location, contact information, the products offered, and the promotions offered by Casa de Carne. This, in addition to an email broadcast advertising the new promotions and latest news, will invite customers to travel to Casa de Carne. The new customers would be able to see what products are offered and would be more inclined to buy from Casa de Carne, since they will know more about the company prior to their trip. In order for Casa de Carne to promote the new website, the company should organize an online Adwords campaign. Casa de Carne should also increase the newsletter email list in order to generate a growing buzz via viral marketing. Having an interactive website with reviews and comments will help generate some interest in the the company’s most popular products. The online campaign should target local zip codes for Casa de Carne to focus on market penetration.

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Casa de Carne should also focus on its current revenue base through means of increased customer retention and customer use. Casa de Carne does not carry any other products besides meats, therefore it is important for Casa de Carne to retain customers who may leave to buy meats and cheeses from grocery stores where they can purchase other products as well. Having a website will allow Casa de Carne to give customers ideas and recipes on how to cook the variety of meats carried. Customers may not always know how to cook the meats offered and therefore, will not purchase the other meats. By offering customers the information they need about the other meats, whether by means of recipes or telling the customer a little bit more information on the meat, Casa de Carne can increase the customer use. More customers will be willing to buy other meat products because they will know how exactly to cook them.

Positioning, Target Market, Competitor Targets, Value Proposition

Positioning:

Casa De Carne lies in a specific part of the food industry: Meat. What it offers is low priced meat/fish in large quantities. It has the following main competitors in the food industry:

· Supermarkets (Direct competitor)

· Local Markets/Butchers (Direct competitor)

· Costco (Direct Competitor)

· Super Wal-Marts (Indirect competitor)

· Catalog distributors such as Omaha Steaks (Indirect Competitor)

· Restaurants and street vendors (Indirect Competitor)

Here Casa De Carne is plotted on the perceptual maps along with its competitors.

The first plot compares the company to its competitors across the dimensions of Price Savings (for meat) and Convenience.

Convenience is a combination of several factors:

· Ease of getting to/from location and ease of getting what you need and leaving.

· Can multiple items be bought from the location or is it a special trip?

· How convenient is the packaging of the product for the consumer?

· What amount of effort is required from the consumer after they purchase the product?

· How convenient are the hours of operation.

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High Price Savings (on Meat)

Casa de Carne

CostcoLocal Markets

Super Markets Walmart

Low High Convenience

Omaha

Restaurants

Low

Casa De Carne lies in one of the four extremes of this perceptual map. Compared to its competitors, it offers the greatest price savings but is the least convenient.

Price:

· Casa De Carne’s products are the least expensive. · Costco also sells wholesale and is very competitive with price. · Local Markets are tough to generalize. Some have very competitive prices, perhaps even

more so than Casa De Carne, yet some are priced higher than even supermarkets.

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· Wal-mart and supermarkets tend to be pricier than the wholesalers or the local neighborhood markets. However supermarkets often have promotional pricing on certain products that make them far less expensive than any of its competitors.

· Omaha steaks are somewhat of a specialty product and sell at higher prices. Much higher than what the consumer would find at a supermarket.

· Restaurants are selling a different product. It is still “meat” but it is already prepared and served to the consumer. Undoubtedly the priciest among the others.

Convenience:

· Casa De Carne is the least convenient to the consumer for several reasons:o It only sells meat. The consumer has to make a special trip just to get meat, which

consumers normally do along with their other grocery shopping in places like supermarkets.

o Location. It is not near any residential neighborhoods or in a high traffic area. Consumers have to go out of their way to get there.

o Packaging: Frozen, sold in bulk. Not convenient for preparing soon after purchase. Not convenient to store. The consumer can only get large quantities of one specific meat/fish product.

o Transaction process: The consumer cannot see/feel the product readily as they can in local or supermarkets. They have to select their product from a list and place an order for it to be retrieved.

· Costco is a bit more convenient but less so than supermarkets:o Costco is convenient in the sense that consumers can make many other purchases

they need at the location.o Parking can be an issue as well as long lines. o Packaging: product is sold in bulk. Consumer cannot get the exact quantity as

they can in local markets or supermarkets. However Costco provides convenience in packaging as they sell both frozen and fresh meat/fish products.

· Super Wal-Martso Similar convenience to Costco

· Omaha Steaks:o Low convenience due to the transaction process. Consumers cannot simply grab

the product and checkouto Consumer cannot touch or see the product in front of them. Comes frozen.

· Supermarkets: very conveniento Customers can get all of their grocery shopping done in one location, even

banking at some locations.o Packaging is very convenient. Convenient portions, fresh and frozen selections,

conveniently displayed. o Location usually convenient and close to residential neighborhoods. Convenient

hours of operation from early morning to late at night (some are 24/7).

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· Local Markets/butchers:o Extremely convenient locations, walking distance to residences and in high foot

traffic areas.o Quick transaction process. Short lines quick checkouts. o Packaging: Fresh products in any quantity the consumer desires.

· Restaurants:o Convenient in the sense that the food product is already prepared. o Very fast and easy transaction process.o Consumer can be served at the location, order takeout, or receive delivery.

Here we have another perceptual map that plots the company among its competitors across the dimensions of product selection (for meat and seafood products) and customer service.

High Selection (Meats)

Casa de Carne

Super Markets

Customer Low High Service

Costco

Omaha Local Markets

Walmart Restaurants

Low

In this perceptual map, Casa De Carne lies in the extreme of the first quadrant as it offers a huge product selection and a high level of customer service.

Selection (Meats):

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Casa De Carne has a huge inventory of meat and seafood products available to the consumer far beyond any of its competitors. Local markets have less inventory and variety, as they are limited in size and space. Restaurants are limited to what is on their menu and have the least selection.

Customer Service:

Casa De Carne has an informed staff that readily assists the customer in their purchasing and selection process. Costco and Wal-mart provide little or no support to the customer in the process. Supermarkets have available staff and butchers to assist the customer. Local markets often provide friendly and very informed assistance. Restaurants of course have high customer service.

Overall Positioning:

Overall, Casa De Carne uniquely positions itself in the market with its extreme economic value, extensive product offering (in terms of meat/seafood), high level of customer service, while at the same time unfavorably inconvenient to the typical grocery shopper.

Target Market:

· Heads of households

Usually the Mother or Father of the household. The one doing the grocery shopping.

· Both males and females equally

Women may tend to do more grocery shopping but Casa De Carne would not be a general grocery trip. It is more of a special trip with a purpose of purchasing meat.

· Marriedo With childreno Large families: Household of 5+

Below is a map showing the number of five-person families in the surrounding area, followed by a table detailing households with five or more members regardless of family relation.

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Variables

[Within 15mi of Casa de Carne]

[Within 10mi of Casa de Carne]

[Within 5mi of

Casa de Carne]

[Within 3mi of

Casa de Carne]

[Within 1mi of

Casa de Carne]

# 5 Person Families, 2008 110613 52209 16570 10811 4700# 5 Person Non-Families, 2008 1169 580 240 179 87# 6 Person Families, 2008 57455 26611 8316 5694 2639# 6 Person Non-Families, 2008 594 261 88 70 33# 7 or More Person Families, 2008 57263 25601 6995 4916 2364# 7 or More Person Non-Families, 2008 515 223 65 44 17Total potential large households 227609 105485 32274 21714 9840

These are the types of households that will be purchasing food items in bulk. Large families are emphasized as the target because Casa De Carne offers more value to customers of larger families as such households gain the most from the dollar savings and are better setup to handle the bulk quantities that the company sells.

· Generation X and Y

These are the generations that have members that are the heads of households with children.12

· Blue collar · Income:

o $30,000-$80,000 per household

Large households with lower to moderate income potentially receive the most value from the company. Extremely low-income households may not be able to afford or store the quantities that the company sells. Higher income households may not sacrifice the convenience offered by supermarkets or local markets merely to save money.

· Households using Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT)

These consumers are on a tight budget and seek to get the most out of their government aid for food. As Casa De Carne accepts EBT as a form of payment, this consumer market is ideal.

· Education level:o All

Education only significant as it correlates to income.

· Geographic Area:o Southern Californiao Long Beach, CA areao Radius: Within 15 miles

Below is a table roughly showing households headed by members of Generations X and Y with income level in the moderate range ($35k-$75k) or that would be on the upper end of qualifying for the EBT program (130% of the federal income poverty level which is around $32k for a family of five).

Variables

[Within 15mi of Casa de

Carne]

[Within 10mi of Casa de

Carne]

[Within 5mi of Casa de

Carne]

[Within 3mi of Casa de

Carne]

[Within 1mi of Casa de

Carne]# HHs w/ Head 25-34 and Inc. $25K-35K, 2008 26943 13278 5500 4378 1716# HHs w/ Head 25-34 and Inc. $35K-50K, 2008 33078 16259 6762 5104 1727# HHs w/ Head 25-34 and Inc. $50K-75K, 2008 39471 19007 7564 5663 1906# HHs w/ Head 35-44 and Inc. $25K-35K, 2008 30413 14548 5735 4395 1572# HHs w/ Head 35-44 and Inc. $35K-50K, 2008 43015 20904 7673 5600 2254# HHs w/ Head 35-44 and Inc. $50K-75K, 2008 56798 27536 9812 6358 2119Total potential target market 229718 111532 43046 31498 11294

Competitor Targets:

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· Will target:o Supermarketso Costco

Casa De Carne potentially offers its target markets greater value than Supermarkets or Costco. Supermarkets offer economic value in the sense that preparing meals from groceries is far more economical than purchasing food from restaurants. Supermarkets also provide value in convenience as it is “one-stop shopping” in many respects and their products are in convenient quantities to the consumer. Costco offers further economic value to consumers at the expense of some convenience and customer service. Casa De Carne, however, offers even greater economic value than the previously mentioned at the greater expense of convenience.

Therefore, Casa De Carne offers greater value to consumers more concerned with economic value and less concerned about convenience. Our target market fits this profile.

Local markets/butchers, restaurants, and Omaha Steaks will not be targeted as our target market is unlikely to be purchasing from these companies.

On the following page are maps showing the nearby competitors.

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Casa de Carne

Costco

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Value Proposition

Casa De Carne offers its customers economic value beyond all of its competitors, a more extensive offering of meat and seafood products than its competitors, as well as a helpful and knowledgeable staff.

Casa de Carne Casa de Carne Casa de Carne

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Marketing Implementation ProgramAs far as the 4 P’s, our marketing program will focus on Place (in this case a “virtual”

place i.e. the Casa de Carne website) and Promotion. Casa de Carne will continue to sell only raw and ready-to-cook meats (as opposed to expanding into related products e.g. barbecue sauces) at wholesale prices to the public. Therefore, we will not be discussing the 2 P’s of Product or Price.

Marketing Program

Website:

Casa de Carne will operate a Web site to serve many functions. Its most basic function will be to provide potential customers general information about the business, such as location (with directions and links to online maps), contact information, store hours, and product offerings and prices. It will further offer visitors customers up-to-date information on deals and packages that the company will offer, information about upcoming events at the location, and the latest meat products information. Casa de Carne’s Web site will operate at the domain www.casadecarne.com. It will also assist in creating a brand within the food industry.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO):

Casa de Carne will invest in optimizing their Web site to gain a 10% increase in sales. This will allow Casa de Carne to attract potential customers from their local Long Beach area, as well as other cities and states. Casa de Carne will: 1) write a description and keyword meta tags for every page on the Web site; 2) place keywords in order of importance; 3) use plurals in the meta tags; 4) try not to use the same word too may times in their meta tags for spamming purposes; and 5) use keywords in their text headings and subheads.

Adwords campaign (Pay Per Click):

Casa de Carne will place ads on the major search engines so that whenever potential customers do a search using such keywords as “meat,” “wholesaler,” “Long Beach,” etc. then these ads will come up as a top result.

Online Directories and Social Networking Websites:

In addition to increasing brand awareness through the Adwords campaign, Casa de Carne will establish a presence on such websites as Yahoo Local, Yelp, and Facebook. Family and friends could be used initially to post good reviews of Casa de Carne on the business directory sites and to become “fans” of the store on Facebook. Eventually real customers will add their own good reviews and join the Facebook group.

Ordering Cart:

Casa de Carne’s Web site will allow customers to select and pay for their items online and pick them up at a later time through their ordering cart. The ordering cart provides customers

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with the flexibility to order products anytime, from anywhere, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – all from the comfort of their own home. It also allows customers the opportunity to shop today, and save their information online for future purchases. It should be noted that there will be a minimum time frame by which customers will be able to place an order before picking it up at the store, for example, no less than 8 hours notice.

Dynamic Price List/Inventory Management:

Initially there will be a link to the price sheet in Excel format that is currently being produced on a weekly basis, but eventually an inventory management system will be set up so that real-time changes in quantities, prices, and items offered can be immediately accessible directly on a web page. Not only will this be useful to customers, but also to Casa de Carne to see which items are the best or worst sellers, knowing when to reorder, etc. Therefore, a new electronic cash register is needed that is capable of storing and exporting detailed, itemized sales information. This will replace the current system of handwritten receipts with traditional cash register.

Actual product photos should be incorporated into the layout of the price list, as well as competitor prices on some items to make it easier for customers to compare. (A disclaimer should be included that the competitor’s prices are just examples and are subject to change.) Also, a “featured item” should be specially displayed on the front page of the website periodically.

Automatic Payments:

Customers who choose to sign up for automatic payments by entering a credit card number to be stored and used for all present and future purchases will receive an automatic 10% discount on all orders.

Subscription Opportunities:

Casa de Carne will have online subscriptions available. The subscriptions will allow customers to receive the latest news on meat products prior to it posting on the website via e-mail. Customers will be privy to upcoming events, recipes, and discounts/coupons. Also, first time subscribers will receive a $20 Casa de Carne coupon.

Newsletters:

Customers will receive a quarterly Casa de Carne Newsletter with a message from the President. The newsletter will provide customers with recipes on seasonal meats, important nutritional facts about their products, industry news, and community involvement. Customers will be attracted to the Casa de Carne Newsletter for its attractive design and coupon clippings for seasonal products such as crab legs, crab soup, etc.

Email gathering:

In order to send out the newsletters, coupons, etc., a database of customer emails needs to be built. Initially it will just be email addresses and not the full information that normally would be required when registering as a user on other company websites, since many customers don’t

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want to fill out registration forms with personal identifying information such as their name and home address.

To save on printing and mailing costs, Casa de Carne will not mail paper newsletters and coupons. Customers will enter their email address on the website either from home or on an in-store computer. This will eliminate the need for a Casa de Carne employee to do the data entry. Incentives will be provided for customers to give their email address, such as being entered in a raffle to win a prize. In addition, customers will also be given the opportunity to send an email inviting their friends and family to check out the Casa de Carne website.

Promote Company Website Address:

Update business cards, company truck, outdoor sign, create an in-store sign, and create a sign for company barbeques all with the company’s website address prominently displayed. Also create stickers to affix on the boxes of product and have the website address printed out on receipts.

Marketing Program Time Line and Budget

Action Setup Time

Setup Cost Ongoing cost/month

Website Creation Week 0 CompletedWebsite content (excluded product listing) Week 1 $500 $100 (2h)Dynamic Product/Price List Week 5 $1000 $250 (5h)Search Engine Optimization Week 3 $1000 $250 (5h)Ordering Cart Week 4 $500 $26 (per 10 orders

at $100)Automatic Payment feature Week 4 $500Newsletters management Week 4 $500 $250 (5h)Adwords Campaign Week 7 $250 $250-$400(4h)Website Promotion (Onsite computer, Signs, Truck, Business Cards etc)

Week 8 $2250

Totals 9 Weeks $6500 $1126-$1526

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Projected Income Statement

  1/1/09-7/15/09 Projected

10/1/09-4/15/10 % Change       Uncategorized Income 8,296.58 8,296.58 0.00%Sales 1,072,103.79 1,232,919.36 15.00%COGS 673,841.35 7,749,17.55 15.00%Gross Profit 398,262.44 458,001.81 15.00%Expense (Marketing) 936.6 16,055.6 1614.20%Expense (Other) 194,759.77 194,759.77 0.00%Total Expenses 195,696.37 210,815.37 7.70%Net Income 210,862.65 255,483.02 21.20%

Here we have Income statement projections based off of the income statement for the period from January 1, 2009 to July 15, 2009. The following assumptions were made:

· Total sales will increase by 15% due to the marketing program· Cost of goods sold (COGS) increases at the same pace as sales (15% in this case)· All non-marketing expenses will not change. · Uncategorized income will not change. · Marketing expense based on total fixed costs of the program plus the variable costs of the

program over 6.5 months, all in addition to the previous amount of marketing expense. The average of the ongoing costs ‘ range was used.

Monitoring and Controlling Execution and Performance

Objective Control TimeIncrease Customer Walk Through

Monitor customer walk through on a monthly basis by online and store counter. Monitor customer walk through via credit card transactions.

Monthly and 1 year out

Generate Website traffic

Monitor website traffic:· Visits· Pages/Visit· Bounce Rate· Pageviews· Avg, Time on Site· % New Visits· Traffic sources· IP locations

Check to see if on pace with objectives of 300 clicks for first 3 months, 500 clicks per month thereafter.

Monthly

4h

20

Adwords campaign Monitor campaign:· Clicks· Impressions· CTR· Avg. CPC· Avg. Pos· Conversion Rate· Cost Conversion

Check monthly to see if achieving objective of at least 100 hits per month from the campaign. If not achieved, campaign can be cancelled.

Monthly

4h

Inventory management

Check inventory turnover monthly to see if on pace to achieve objective of 20% increase within a year and a half.

Monthly and 18 months out

21