7-Eleven Company Essay

The Opportunities: Like many others companies, 7-Eleven also has lot of opportunities. The opportunity in this company is fresh food provided. Every morning, fresh meal will be available at 7-Eleven store for people to take away and get a quick breakfast. (Paradise, 2014) Next, the appearance of freebies and discounts is also opportunity in this company. Discounts are gives depends on what its business partners offer. Sometimes when it comes to certain seasons, 7-Eleven will has it own attraction as it is giving out freebies to customer when they purchase certain amount. It is because the new trend is increasing among the customers that they like freebies and discounts. Even it is not what they need it or whether they want to use these freebies after, they still want to have it. (Paradise, 2014) Besides, the opportunity in this company is not many convenient stores open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Therefore, 7-Eleven is one of the store that people can stop by in the middle of the night only to g et whatever they need. (Paradise, 2014) COMPETITOR ANALYSIS: 99 Speedmart 7-Eleven KK Mart Number of outlets nationwide450 Outlets nationwide1,497 Outlets nationwide62 Outlets nationwide Operating hours10 a.m. – 10 p.m.24 Hours 24 Hours   Products availableGroceries & freshmartGroceries, fresh foods, ATM and photocopying services.Groceries, fresh foods, ATM and photocopying services. Benefits to customerTrolley providedPoints by business partnersNone Freebies and DiscountNoneFreebies based on seasons & Discount depends on business partnersNone 99 Speedmart is a rapid growing convenient store chain which was founded in 1987 by Mr. Lee Thiam Wah who is the director of the company itself. More than 450 outlets nationwide, 99 Speedmart keep expanding the business and  also struggling to be top in the market. 99 Speedmart also provides same product like 7-Eleven only without services like ATM machine and also bills payment. 99 Speedmart provides trolley services for its customers. (99 Speedmart, 2014) While another competitor is KK Mart which is under KK Group founded in year 2001, comes with the desire of becoming a household name throughout Malaysia and beyond the shores. Founded by Dato’ Dr Chai Kee Kan also known as KK Chai, KK Mart has over 62 outlets nationwide and keeps expanding. KK Mart also operates 24 hours everyday which make it a good competitor to 7-Eleven. (KK Group, 2014) From the table above, we can compare how good is each of the convenient store. 7-Eleven is considered as the best and stronger convenient store company in the market. 7-Eleven has the most outlets nationwide which makes it is the easiest to find by customers anywhere they are. Besides 7-Eleven operates 24 hours which in case of emergency it can be very useful to customers. Futhermore, 7-Eleven sells products and even services which make it has lot of variety to customers. Even when customers purchase products at 7-Eleven, they can get points when they are the member of 7-Eleven’s business partners. Lastly, 7-Eleven do provides discounts and freebies based on offerings and seasons. MARKETING MIX: †¢Marketing mix means focus on the product, pricing, placement, promotion, people, process and physical evidence. †¢Marketing strategies consist customer orientation, input, and accessibility in the struggle to the be the leader of the market. †¢After the business manage to find the key factor, analyzed the market, target segment and understanding the demands, every business or every company needs to come up with formula to accelerate the growth and progress of the company. †¢For which 7-Eleven uses 7P’s of marketing mix such as: – Product – Price – Place – Promotion – People – Process – Physical Evidence Product Strategies: Every day, products available only at 7-Eleven ® bring millions of loyal customers through franchisees’ doors. A leader in bringing fresh items into the convenience space, 7-Eleven delivers fresh sandwiches, salads, fruits and pastries daily. 7-Eleven also has a full line of 7-Select ® private label products, which offer customers food items they love at low everyday prices. And of course, no one can forget about 7-Eleven’s legendary, iconic products, like the Slurpee ® drink, Big Gulp ® drink and famous coffee. When buying products, 7-Eleven aims to be the first to have great new items, get the best products in the category, be the only retailer to carry certain products 7-Eleven has new item introductions weekly, and continuously reinvests in product development. Vast Buying Power, Great Margins 7-Eleven buys for more than 6,700 stores in the U.S. alone. This buying power helps 7-Eleven negotiate favorable pricing and terms that let franchisees offer products to customers at great prices while retaining maximum profit margins. ( franchise.7-eleven.com,2014) Pricing Strategies: Convenient stores compete with each other in coffee price, fountain drinks price, and other private-owned products price. Prices for items that the stores buy from vendors are not significantly different. Due to it is the top company, 7-eleven prices its private label products relatively high compare to other convenient stores. In addition, the company has the potential to set high price for the items that other convenient stores do not carry. (klse.i3investor.2014) Placement Strategies: 7-Eleven pioneered the convenience store in 1927 at Southland Ice Company in Dallas, Texas. In 1954, the company opened a store outside of the state of Texas. 7-Eleven then expanded internationally when it opened stores in Mexico in 1971. In the same year, the company targeted England and Scotland as its first entry in European market. Three years later, 7-Eleven opened the first store in Japan. Then after years of growing its stores internationally, 7-Eleven international open its 25,000th store in 2006. In 2009, 7-Eleven has more than 35,000 stores in at least 18 countries worldwide, with its largest market in Japan, the United States, Canada, Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Thailand (businesstoday, 2014) Promotion Strategy: Recently, 7-Eleven started to add a bonus for everyone entering the 7-Eleven Day instant win game on the Slurpee website. After entering the instant win game, they will receive a code and website link to urchase $7.11 lawn tickets for concerts at select Live Nation venues across the country. In addition, 7-Eleven made collectible slurpee cups and slurpee straws featuring Domo & quot the fuzzy brown creature with a trademark enigmatic open-mouth expression that is taking 7-Eleven store by storm this fall & quot. 7-elevent also Domo-nized its food and beverages, such as the Big Bite and hot dog. Energy drink. CEO Rich Collins of Big Tent Entertainment, the marketing and licensing company for Domo, cmmented & quot because Domo has such a hugely devoted, cult-like following among kids, teens and young adults, we believe he’s a perfect match for 7-Eleven and its iconic Slurpee brand & quot (afrbiz.2014). People Strategy: People are an essential ingredient in service provision; recruiting and training the right staff is required to create a competitive advantage. Customers make judgments about service provision and delivery based on the people representing your organisation. This is because people are one of the few elements of the service that customers can see and interact with. The praise received by the volunteers (games makers) for the London 2012  Olympics and Paralympics demonstrates the powerful effect people can create during service delivery. Staff require appropriate interpersonal skills, aptititude, and service knowledge in order to deliver a quality service. In the UK many organisations apply for the â€Å"Investors in People† Accreditation to demonstrate that they train their staff to prescribed standards and best practices. http://www.learnmarketing.net/servicemarketingmix.htm Process Strategy: Because of the 7-Eleven franchise cost, many small business owners need to look for help with funding. Many companies don’t offer financing. Instead, they may recommend a company already familiar with its business practices to help you gain the financing you need to initiate your franchise application. This company does offer new franchise owners financing up to 65 percent. This financing covers only the initial franchise fee. As you complete your independent research, you’ll be able to determine if the 7-Eleven franchise cost is worth the risk. Meet with your personal financial adviser to see if you’re financially able to make this large of an investment. Once you start the application process, it doesn’t take long before your store will be up and running. In fact, the company says it can take less than 120 days to move through the nine-step application process. (business.answer.2014) Physical Evidence Strategy: Physical evidence is about where the service is being delivered from. It is particularly relevant to retailers operating out of shops. This element of the marketing mix will distinguish a company from its competitors. Physical evidence can be used to charge a premium price for a service and establish a positive experience. For example all hotels provide a bed to sleep on but one of the things affecting the price charged, is the condition of the room (physical evidence) holding the bed. Customers will make judgments about the organisation based on the physical evidence. For example if you walk into a restaurant you expect a clean and friendly environment, if the restaurant is smelly or dirty, customers are likely to walk out. This is before they have even received the service. http://www.learnmarketing.net/servicemarketingmix.htm CONCLUSION: Marketing strategies applied by 7-Eleven clearly gives the all the information that is necessary for the growth and development of a business The strategies that are implemented by 7-Eleven consist many basic essentials features like innovative ideas, market research, customers views, forecasting consumers demand, organizing and planning. In this modern world, the demand for goods such as groceries are increasing at an alarming rate because it is a daily needs products that customers will always buy and buy everyday. Most of the companies carry different types of marketing strategies in order to serve their customers in a more efficient and better ways than their competitors as they want their business to be stable in the market and can survive for such a long term. 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