Shropshire Teas is a business that has been operating with normal profits for some time now. In other words, the management had chosen to be satisfied with the way the market forces of demand, supply, and competition swayed the business left and right. Lately, however, came the need for the business to redefine itself. Redefinition revolves around the business reviewing its goals and objectives in a way that will help them beat the competition. To beat the competition and to realize its goals and objectives, what the business needs to do is make new and viable decisions with respect to pricing, production mix, brand marketing, operations, and finance; the 4Ps of marketing have to be considered as well. For the product, the company has to make sure that it develops its product to taste that awes existing and prospective customers.
Once Shropshire gets its product right then, customers are most likely to be accepting and would not hesitate in the face of quality. The place is another consideration that Shropshire needs to take care of. The company needs to determine whether it will market and sell its products largely through the brick and mortar stores, or through the online retailing platform. Lastly, the .promotion of the tea will be a key milestone as it will lure customers towards the brand. The use of celebrities to endorse the product is an example of how customers can be attracted into sticking to Shropshire Teas. The entirety of this business plan will comprise key strategies that will catapult Shropshire Teas from the depths of unprofitability to the echelons of supernormal profits. The strategies will be paired together with key performance indicators; these will help the management to self-evaluate on the progress that they will be making every three months (i.e., on a quarterly basis).
Background Industry/Market Analysis
England is an old country with a rich culture, and for that matter, it has a lot of players in its tea industry; players much greater and more established than Shropshire Teas. With such a disposition Shropshire Teas has to constantly brace itself to a lot of serious competition from companies such as Scottish Blend from Unilever, Taylors of Harrogate made by Bettys and Taylors Group, Tetly by Tata Tea Limited, Twinings by Associated British Foods, Typhoon, Whittard of Chelsea, and Yorkshire Tea. The tea market in Britain is both traditional and significant; with most existing customers being loyal to their brands and preferring blended, black tea. For a majority of Britton, the term tea is used in reference to a hot beverage that is made through the infusion of or the brewing of dried leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. With a market as informed as for the English people, Shropshire Teas will have to do its best to capture the attention of the market; to show the people that they can deliver tea that has the x-factor. Whats more, they have to be ready to go the whole nine yards and execute marketing strategies such as nice packaging, the right prices, and quality above all. Another consideration that Shropshire Teas has to make in its strategic approach is that of making the four most popular teas in England to dominate a considerable fraction of the market. These four include black tea, green tea, oolong tea, and white tea. Oxidation is the differentiating factor that determines whether tea leaves will become oolong, black, white, or green. Oxidation is the distinguishing factor that determines whether tea leaves will become black, oolong, green or white tea (Cheong, Park, Kang, Ko and Seo, 2005).
Approximately 90 percent of the tea that people have in the United Kingdom is black tea, of which more than a half is processed in East African countries, mostly the Republic of Kenya. In addition to that, about everyone from the United Kingdom drinks their black tea with milk, that is, almost 98%. Sugar is in some instances added as well. It is also worth mentioning that 96 percent of the tea is taken straight from a teabag. According to the United Kingdoms Tea and Infusions Association, there are other types of tea which people from the United Kingdom are fond of other than black tea include green tea (in some instances an amalgam of herbs or fruits, and earl grey which are flavors regularly available in the United Kingdom.
How the English Like Their Tea
In England even in events that are slightly formal cups and saucers are utilized as opposed to the conventional mugs. An everyday semi-formal English tea party may go about as follows: (the host carrying out all the actions unless otherwise noted).
The teakettle is brought forth to a rolling boil (with very clean water to make sure there is enough oxygenation that is necessary for the correct flow of the tea leaves).
Sufficient steaming water is whirled from one place to another within the teapot to make it warm and then it is poured out.
Addition of loose tea leaves (normally black or green tea) or tea bags, continuously added before the complete boiling of the water.
Fresh steaming water is dispensed over the tea within the pot and permitted to brew for approximately 5 to 7 minutes whereas a tea cosy may be put in the pot to keep all the tea warm.
A tea strainer is put over the top of the teacup and the drink dispensed in, except the moment tea bags are utilized. Tea bags may be detached, if sought after, the moment desired concentration is realized.
White sugar and fresh milk are added, typically by the visitor. A majority of persons take no milk with their tea, a lot of lots of sugar.
The teapot or kettle will usually contain sufficient tea so as not to be unfilled right after filling the teacups of all the visitors. If this is the case, the tea cosy is interchanged the moment every individual has been attended to. Boiled water may be provided for in another teapot, and is utilized only for topping up the teapot, not in one moment the cup.
The Question of Milk
Whether to use milk into the cup prior to or right after the tea has been a subject of debacle since at the slightest the middle of the 20th century; in his 1946 article "A Nice Cup of Tea," writer George Orwell noted down: "tea is an example of the backbones of sophistication within this country and causes violent disputes over how it should be made."
If to place tea in the teacup initially and add the milk afterward, or the other way around, has rent asunder public opinion, with Orwell uttering, "Certainly within each nuclear family located in Britain there are perhaps two schools of understanding on the subject." Another side of the debacle is suggestions that addition of milk at the dissimilar periods changes the taste of the drink. A number of studies put forward that the central heating of milk to temperatures above 75 degrees Celsius (putting milk right after the tea is put in a cup, not prior) does bring about denaturation of the lactalbumin and lactoglobulin. Other readings posit that preparing period has a better significance. Notwithstanding, the moment milk is put together with tea, it may disturb the flavor. In addition to contemplations of flavor, the mandate of these steps is assumed to have been, for history, a suggestion of class. Only folks rich enough to have enough money for good-quality china would be self-assured of its being able to cope with being exposed to boiling water untouched with milk.
Alternatives That Shropshire Tea Can Explore
With respect to exploring alternatives, Shropshire Tea can for a start choose between diversifying its product line. The diversification of the companys product line could, for example, involve teas such as ginger flavored tea and strawberry tea. Such an approach would be very much befitting since all the existing customers loyal to the brand would want to try out what their preferred tea company is looking to offer and thus make sales go up. In addition to that, prospective customers that have never tried out any of Shropshire Tea products may make an effort to try new flavors made by the company. In the making of the flavored teas and even a line of a product such as the different flavors of fruit infusions, the company would be targeting the millennials and not general Xers. The reason for that is because millennials are more open to trying out new things in comparison with older generations (Frazier et. Al., 2010).
Even though the entirety of the United Kingdom is accustomed to using tea that is packaged in tea bags, Shropshire Teas Company can make a point of introducing something new into the market. For example, the introduction of unpackaged tea that would require end users to stir will hopefully bring a revolution in the market. It would be very similar to the way fine coffee or cocoa blends in without requiring a drinker to grow through the hassle of making use of a sieve. For the sake of marketing, the company could make customers aware that they chose to diversify because they saw a need for bringing back raw and undefined fine tea into the market; with an intention of making customers to experience the real and good old taste of black tea; cliche as it sounds. Overall, the point of venturing into several different brands is to keep up with the times and matching up to the competition that Shropshire Teas is facing from the external environment. Another way to see it is putting into consideration the fact that all top tea brands are looking to make a name for themselves and remain relevant in the market and thus there is no reason why Shropshire should be left behind.
Right after making sure that the company products are of high quality and have a potential to be well accepted, the company can embark on aggressive viral marketing strategies that will capture the attention of customers and give them a need to try the new versions of Shropshire Teas (Tang, Kerry, Sheehan, Buckley and Morrissey, 2011).
Overall Objectives of Shropshire Teas
The overall objectives of Shropshire Teas revolve around making a difference in consumption, making a difference in production, the realization of supernormal profits, working with farmers who plant the tea, and finally profitability. When it comes to making a difference in the production and the consequent processing of coffee, the company has to ensure that quality starts rights from the farm. In addition to that, the tea would have to be handpicked so that the best leaves are used for the drying, and roasting stages of processing are realized devoid any challenges. The management is well aware of the fact that if production is done in the right manner, then customers are most likely to show their appreciation of quality; this they will do through sales (Shropshire, 1984).
Working with farmers who deal with the production of tea will help the company take good care of the supplier aspect of its supply chain management. The company could even pay the farmers a premium for all the raw materials that they have to offer as long as they see to it that quality is compromised. Above all, profitability will always remain to be the number one goal of Shropshire Teas. If profitability is to be maintained the company will have to make products that are appealing to the taste buds of all the customers.
Selection of Key Performance Indicators
The key performance indicators of the company revolve around repeat customers, profitability, customer referrals, market share, and the shelf life of processed goods. The usefulness of key performance indicators is that they make a business have the ability to self-evaluate. Such an evaluation would help the business to correct its mistakes and to work towards the realization of better proceeds every single day (Jutel, 2016).
The more the number of repeat customers the more the likelihood that t...
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