Business Studies Mohammad Ali

Case Study: Sunny Side of the Street

1. I) The distribution channel that is currently been used by Matrix Mobiles is the channel that
includes the manufacture selling their products to a retailer such as matrix mobiles and then
matrix Mobiles sells them direct to the customers. Matrix mobile is buying direct from the
manufactures instead of going and buy from a wholesaler, and then they sell direct to the
customers. Matrix mobiles have not chosen to go to the wholesaler because if they buy from
them they will have to buy in bulk from the wholesaler and then it will be hard for them to sell
of the products to customers. They buy from manufactures because they might buy them at a
lower price because there is no added value on the product but if they brought it from
wholesaler then they will have to pay an extra money to the wholesaler because the wholesaler
want a commissions or a part of the price to keep as profit.

ii) The distribution channel that Matrix Mobiles will use under consideration is they might buy
from an agent. This is because then the agent can get an agreement with the manufacture for
Matrix mobiles. Matrix mobiles might want to buy the mobile phones but at a lower price and
they can ask the agent to agree with the manufacture for a lower price instead of the price they
already pay for the products. For example they buy a nokia phone for 300 pounds from the
nokia manufacture but if they buy from the agent the agent can get the same product at a
cheaper price such as 245 pounds. They won’t use the channel that includes the wholesaler still
because they will have to buy in bulk and this could lead to a loss to Matrix mobiles.

2. Finding the most suitable method of distribution is so important for Matrix Mobiles is that they
want the customers to know about them and the products that they sell. They want to make
them aware of the mobiles phones that are been sold. If the customers don’t know about the
product then no customers will come and they won’t have any sales and they will not be making
a profit or breaking even. Also they need the most suitable method because they are having
problems such as competition has entered the market or competition that was already in the
market has changed the method of distribution and they might have a huge impact on the
profits of the business. Mostly the people that are buying from matrix mobiles are well know by
Matrix mobiles so they have to find a suitable method that can be used and the customers will
be happy. Another reason is that the cost of that distribution channel that Matrix mobiles is
going to use or plan to. If the method they chose is really expensive such as if they chose the
producer to the agent then to the wholesaler then to the retailers and they finally it reaches the
final customers. This method will cost a lot of money because of the cost of transportation and
then selling to many people and also the costs of reloading and loading on to the truck or train
or whatever they use to transport the product. Then they will have to pay for the workforce
such as the production workers and also the workers who transport and load and reload the
products.

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3. The factors influencing Matrix Mobiles decision to open a shop is that there is competition in the
market. Competition is a very big factor because the competitor may have advantage of the
market. They might have been in the market for a really long time, they must also have started
as an e-retailer and they have opened their shop a long time ago and the customers are loyal to
them. When Matrix mobiles opens its shows the competitor is going to influence them the most
because they will have more and well known customers while Matrix mobiles doesn’t and they
will have to work their way into the market. Another factor is the type of product they are
selling, if it is a fragile or perishable good then it will require to be sold direct so that the time
spend handling the product is reduced. If they have it for a long time and it becomes old then no
one will want to buy the product because it is old and they can go and buy a new product. If the
good is heavy or is packed in non standard shapes are likely to influence the business. They will
need a lot of space to store the boxes of the product. Another factor that will influence is the
market. If the market is large then it will be difficult for Matrix mobiles to fit in, there is a lot of
competitors inside the market and they might loss out and they will be forced to close down.
Legal resistrictions can influence Matrix mobiles decision to open a shop; the government might
say you can only buy this size of shop to sell the products. Also they might have a law stating the
amount of goods they can store in the store also they might impose laws saying that they can’t
have certain type of phones such as palm or blackberry or t-mobile. And the final factor that
might affect Matrix mobiles decision to open a shop is that the type of business it is. If Matrix
mobiles are a small scale business then it will have difficulties raising funds to open and run the
store. They will suffer from diseconomies of scale and will be forced to shut down within the
starting year. However if it is large business that used to sell products online then it will have no
difficulty on opening the shop, they will have a lot of economies of scale and they will have a
completive advantage over its competitors.

4. Matrix Mobiles should open its own shop because they will have advantage by selling to wider
target customers. Not everyone uses the internet so they will not be aware of the website that
is been used by Matrix Mobiles. If they open there own shop then they are likely to be selling to
a wider audiences instead of the ones who just use the internet. Also not everyone is happy on
using the internet and buying things online because they think it is not secure and they might
think they will get fooled by the business. They might also think that it is a virus and decide not
to buy the product. If they sell in a shop the costs will be lower because they don’t have to
transport the product from their store to the final customer. Also Matrix mobile knows the type
of customers that they are likely to get because they are or might be the same type of
customers that buy from them using their website. They have done their market research and
they have found out what they need to know such as what the gap in the market is. Also Matrix
mobile has consulted with another business which helps businesses making decisions. The
business they have contacted is Cartogen which gives its clients a clear indication of the mix of
customer’s types within a catchment area, their behavior and purchasing habits. They also
provide demographic data such as age, ethnicity, family structure, employment status and
housing type in any location Is held on the database. The database also provides information on
potential competitors that they might have to face. However they shouldn’t open their own

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shop because there is a competition in the market which is selling the same type of product in
the same market so that will have a affect on the business.

Case Study: Irish Tourism gets forty million pounds

Promotional boost

1. The phrase ‘promotional activities’ means the activities that are taken by a business for
promoting its products. Promotional activities include advertising on television, radio,
website, cinema, newspaper and magazines. Also it includes the advertising on
billboards, posters and anything where they can advertise the product.

2. Two promotional activities which could be used by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board
are advertising their product or service on their website or any other site such as
www.facebook.com . This is because everyone now uses face book so if they advertise
their they are likely to attract the attention of a lot of people, cause when the person is
using face book they will look at the advertisement on the side or the columns where
the advert is. Also if they advertise on their own website then thee people who are
going to visit their website they will be able to view the advert and click on it to read
more about it. When they advertise on the internet then the advert is interactive and
people and click and view it and it is color full and very one will get attracted to it.
Another promotional activity that can be used by Northern Ireland Tourist Board is
advertising them on the local or national newspaper. This is because everyone in the
world reads the newspaper and it will be widely available to everyone. Also the
advertisement will be in color and it could be very big or big and small, when the advert
is in colour then people are attracted to them and they will decide to read them and
take a close look at it.

3. The advantages of linking a promotional campaign to the release of a major film is that
the movie is going to a big hit and you would expect a lot of people coming to watch the
movie at the cinema or the premiere. When they advertise in the cinema when the
movie is been played it is colour full, it has sound and movement can be used which is
good and everyone in the cinema will be attracted to it will have to watch it if they don’t
want. The advertisement will be played every day at every time when the movie is been
played at the cinema. The audience that is viewing the advert is in captive and they can’t
go and ignore the advert. It can have a great impact on the consumer because it is
colour full and they will be like I have to buy this right now. The business and target
different target audiences and different age groups. Also when they link a promotional

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campaign with the release of the major film is that the consumer will think of the
business been a large company and which is a loyal business which loves to trade. Also
the movie was expected to be view around the whole world and in particular 600 British
cinemas. Also the tourism industry is in a very completive environment and every
business will want to gain completive advantage so they will link the campaign with the
release of a major film. The disadvantages of linking a promotional campaign to the
release of a major film is that not everyone will be attracted to the advert they will just
want to watch the movie instead of watching the adverts also. In the cinema many
people might decide to come to cinema after the adverts have finished and so they can
watch the movie. Some people will come late to watch the movie because they were
not able to buy the tickets on time or that they were stuck in traffic. The advert in the
cinema will be short lived because they people in the cinema don’t want to keep the
advert running for so long and then the customers watching the movie will be tried and
get fed up. The advert will only be seen once because the cinema staff will play the
advert at the start of the movie only and that will be only that. It will be only around 30
seconds to 1 minute 30 seconds and it is mostly likely to be played at the start of the
movie when everyone is coming into the cinema. This may mean that not everyone can
view the advert because they might have missed it or have come in the cinema half way
through the advert and they want to see it but don’t understand. And finally the
audience that is likely to view the advert in the cinema is likely to limited because not
everyone will want to watch the movie in the cinema while they can be at home and
download the movie online and watch it, this way they will be saving a lot of movie and
they will be happy.

4. The campaign is likely to attract consumers from new target markets such as China
because when the movie will be played around the world as expected it be played with
the advertisement and the people will be attracted to it. Then they will want the
business to provide them with the same promotional advert to them as well as the
other countries. For example in China when the movie is released with the advert about
the tourism campaign then they might decide to go to Ireland and decide to book their
tour and hotels etc from them instead of other business. This is because they have seen
the advert and will be thinking that the business is the best and will want to use them as
a source of tour. However it might not attract consumers from new target markets such
as China this is because they might not want to go to an Ireland or use the business tour.
They might not buy it because they don’t have an office or a sub business in that country
where they can buy the product and services. They won’t buy it online because they
think it is not secure and they will get robbed or they don’t trust the website. Also they
rather just go to another travel agent or familiar type of business and just buy their
products.

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5. A promotional campaign intended to increase tourism to the area that I live in. The
place that I would increase tourism is Qatar. The promotional campaign would be that I
would have advertising of the services that the business sells and give all type of
information in it. The type of advertising media I would use are the T.V. , newspaper
local and national ones, the radio and posters and billboards and maybe the cinema and
also the internet. The posters and billboards would be used to promote the business
and the tourism part of the business. Also posters would be put up in around the Middle
East such as Dubai and Abu Dubai so that the people over there can get attracted to the
advert and decide to come to Qatar. The local newspaper would be used to advertise
the business and the tours locally so that the people in Qatar can also use the business
services and product. The national newspaper would be used to advertise around the
world so that everyone knows about it. The national newspaper such as Gulf News could
be used to advertise and that the people that read that newspaper can find the
information about the business. Internet would be used because the internet access
around the world has increased during the years. For example in 2002 45 percent
people used it while in 2003 55 percent people used which is a 10 percent increase. So
therefore that means everyone in the world uses the internet and they will click and
view the advert and check it out. The radio would be also used local and national and
internationally because everyone in the world listens to the radio every day in the
morning and the evenings so it would be good to advertise the tourism promotional
campaign. The television would be used as a source of advertisement to promote the
increase the tourism area in Qatar. Everyone watches the television everyday at all
times of the day so it would be viewed everyday at any time. The strengths of this
campaign are that all of them are advertisement of the business and its services and
goods. Everything listed above is viewed everyday 24/7 by everyone so it will be a very
good way of promoting the campaign. Some of them are interactive while some are
colour and some include sounds and movement. The weaknesses of this campaign are
that not everyone will want to see the advert. For example on TV not everyone wants to
listen and watch the advert and just want to watch the show or movie. Billboards and
posters sometimes not seen clearly because if it was a billboard and on the main road
the people don’t have time to stop and view the billboard because they have to carry on
driving which is a problem. And for the posters when they are given to people they just
look at it and throw it away if it doesn’t interest time while some just throw it away as
they get it. On the internet people don’t view the advert probably because they just skip
the advert while searching the internet.

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