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HMVs Marketing Plan

Executive Summary
The following is a marketing plan that forms the foundation for the introduction of
new and innovative ways that will enable HMV to enter into new market segments. This will
extend to include the introduction of new ways that will be employed by the company in order
to ensure that revenue earnings are constant and the company sustains and improves its
growth rate (Kwan, 42). These new strategies facilitate the companys machinery to reach an
estimated target of 12,500,000 people and a growth prediction of 9.2% in the next six years.
Achieving this growth rate translates to annual profit earnings of more than $20 billion. It is
possible to achieve this by providing the best music albums to customers, the establishment of
efficient distributional channels, and other marketing strategies that will ensure we are the
market leader in the sale of music. The potential market identified by our company is China
(http://hmv.com/hmvweb/home.do).

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Table of Contents
HMVs Marketing Plan...............................................................................................................1
Executive Summary....................................................................................................................1
Company Description.................................................................................................................3
Vision......................................................................................................................................3
Objectives...............................................................................................................................3
Target Markets............................................................................................................................3
Market definition and segmentation.......................................................................................4
Target Market, Segment Strategy and Positioning..................................................................4
Environmental Analysis..............................................................................................................6
Economic Environment..........................................................................................................6
Legal-Political Environment...................................................................................................6
Socio-Cultural Environment...................................................................................................6
Technological Environment....................................................................................................7
Competitor analysis....................................................................................................................7
SWOT Analysis...........................................................................................................................7
Strengths.................................................................................................................................8
Weaknesses.............................................................................................................................8
Opportunities...........................................................................................................................9
Threats.....................................................................................................................................9
Marketing Mix Proposals............................................................................................................9
Product....................................................................................................................................9
Price......................................................................................................................................10
Place......................................................................................................................................10
Promotion..............................................................................................................................10
People....................................................................................................................................10
Process..................................................................................................................................10
Physical evidence..................................................................................................................10
Control and Evaluation.............................................................................................................11
References:................................................................................................................................12

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Company Description
The HMVs aim is to benefit and grow by providing the music to all fans all over the
world. Founded in 1921, HMV is one of the best music store, distributor and marketer in
Europe. Millions of song albums are available to all our customers in our music stores and
retail outlets. London is our corporate headquarters and operations are equally in countries
like Canada and Japan. The sole aim for the existence of our company is to provide customer
satisfaction in the field of the entertainment industry. We have the best music store in Europe
and slowly expanding to other parts of the world.

Vision
The vision of HMV is to avail to the customers a variety of music so that they can
have some exquisite fun and enjoyment from their busy daily schedules. This will be possible
by developing robust distribution networks and outlets so that customers can easily access all
kinds of music that they like. Our ability to be the market leader in Britain, Canada, and Japan
gives us the motivation to expand our distribution network to China. Besides the dependence
on the creation of a solid distribution network, the company will also employ various forms of
advertising to promote this industry and the products (http://hmv.com/hmvweb/home.do).

Objectives
While implementing this business plan, HMV Company will strive to achieve the
following; 1). Generate over $20 billion profit annually, 2). Increase the growth of the
company by over 9.2%, and 3). Reach a market of over 12 million people per annum. In
addition, HMV Company will strive to be a strong market leader in the service of providing
music to the generation that likes it most.

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Target Markets
The ideal customers that the organization targets are customers falling in the ages of 16 to 29
who always have high affinity to music of all categories. Very often, these customers have
iPods with them, music players, and most of their phones have music playing facility. Those
using mobiles phones always find a hard time looking for sites that they can download music
and listen whenever they want. Most of the customers are also students, and they have enough
extra cash to dispose or purchase music related items like the DVDs, CDs among other music
storage items (http://hmv.com/hmvweb/home.do).

Market definition and segmentation

HMV will target three markets segments in the approach of implementing this
marketing plan; mobile phone users, iPod users, club owners, and those with music playing
systems. Mobile phone users extend to cover all the customers falling in the target age. Most
of the customers have the urge to listen to contemporary music thereby forming a reliable
market base for the business. On the other hand, IPod users are mostly the university students
and the working class. They usually have the urge to listen to music all the time even when
they are going to work and even after a hard days work. Club owners have customers of the
target age frequenting them. Using them will act as an advertising strategy that will act to
boost or sales in the long-run. Those with music playing systems may include the university
students and all the individuals mentioned before. This is also a lucrative class of customers to
venture in this business.

Target Market, Segment Strategy and Positioning

HMV will employ a strategy that will involve setting of online music libraries that will
enable customers to download at their own wish. This will assist the business to penetrate into
the market with little hurdles. The company will ensure that we are on contact with customers
on a 24/7 basis after launching the online store. This will be possible by opening fan pages in
social media, advertising and marketing with the use of the email. The company will also

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employ other promotional tool so that market dominance and creating customer knowledge on
our existence is stabilized.
A geographic segmentation of China indicates that our business will cover all part s of
the country with great emphasis on the urban and suburban areas. Our company will adapt all
strategies to reach all parts of the market. Natural climate is also favorable and will have little
or no negative impact on our business. Our demographic segmentation will targets all
individuals between the ages of 16 to 29 and are mostly the youths. There will b e no gender
discrimination because our business will serve both male and female. The most probable
occupation for our target market will be students, newly-graduated individuals, and young
workers and professionals. All races in china will be targeted irrespective of home ownership.
In most cases, individuals in this category live in their rented apartments or with their parents
making to have high discretion of spending (Kirsch & Goldfarb, 20).
The psychographic segmentation of the market shows that most of the target groups
depend on their parents and have little or no responsibilities to worry about. This shows that
most of their spending is taken by leisure related activities. Additionally, the group is affected
much by peer influence and current music trends and in the recent past, china has been
growing towards the sophistication and embracing multiculturalism and internationalism.
Behavioral segmentation of the market shows that the loyalty status of the market varies from
medium to strong while user rate is on daily basis. The users perceive that music is a good
solution to their busy days work and this creates a market niche for us. The other segment that
is important for our company is the retailers and distributors who will pay an important role in
the resale of our products and distributing to the inner parts of the market (Pickton &Wright,
82). Our company has prioritized the fact that our products should be readily available to our
customers at the right place at the right time in order to win their confidence in us.

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The pricing strategy will be the most important aspect that our company will use to
position ourselves in the market. Setting of prices will be based on the competition that will
exist in the market. The company will offer customer friendly prices that will also ensure that
reasonable returns come to the company. Discounts will be used to attract our customers to
buy our products and this will ensure that we have a constant revenue stream.

Environmental Analysis
Economic Environment
China is a viable country in business and has been rising economically in the past few
years. The country rarely experiences recession and has enjoyed outright stability that
convinces HMV that it will be a successful business venture to invest there.

Legal-Political Environment
China has proven to be an economically viable country because it shifted for the
communist nature of business operations to the liberal one. The law gives room for the
development of business ventures thus providing an enabling environment for HMV to thrive
in its music industry. There are no legal hurdles for the acquisition of license to operate and
this makes it easier for the company to establish itself and settle quickly (Jiang & Stening,
16). China is a politically stable country and this creates a peaceful environment for business
operations.

Socio-Cultural Environment
Chinese culture provides an ample environment for HMV to thrive in its business in
selling music. The culture also embraces diversity and this allows its citizen to listen to all
kinds of music. This will enable our company to supply all the categories of music that befits
our customer needs. Diversity will also create a large market base for HMV and this will
boost our sales thereby ensuring to us that we can have a constant revenue source. It is the
history of China that the entertainment industries flourish. This is just a confirmation to our

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company that supply music is the best business venture that will keep our revenue earnings at
a stable level (Jiang & Stening, 12).

Technological Environment
China has been known to be a source of technological advancements in the recent past.
IPods, music-player enabled phones and music players all have their origin in China and this
are the utilities that our customers will depend on if the y have to listen to music comfortably.
Internet use is also widespread in China and is usually affordable to our customers thereby
enhancing their ability to download music from our online stores (Jiang & Stening, 8). The
internet will facilitate the connection of customers to our online store and enable them to
download the music.

Competitor analysis
Any economy that is economically viable business is full competition. As a good risk taking
company like HMV we will embrace this fact in order to face our competitors. The HMV
Company has rivals within the industry in the supply and distribution of music. Despite the
challenge however, the company has put in place strategies that will help us whether the
competition. One of the tactics is creation of a new brand that will suit the market status for
China. As of now HMV is the best music supplier in a good part of Europe, Japan, and
Canada and we believe that will surely a replica in China (Pickton &Wright, 49).

SWOT Analysis
Our organization will at all cost utilize the laid down strategies and other available
market approaches to ensure that customer satisfaction has been achieved. The penetration of
the Chinese market will open the path to success for our company and will continue to
increase in their market leadership. The local available workforces will be utilized by the
company to assist in the process of securing the Chinese market and this will assure us of a

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constant revenue earning. In order to achieve this will however depend on factors like
strengths and weaknesses for our company, opportunities available to our company, and
threats facing our company (Jiang & Stening, 12).

Strengths
There are a number of significant strengths that our company will depend on in our
quest to conquer the Chinese market. First, our company has employed experienced and
qualified personnel who will provide their best services to the company. The company also
has enough funds to set up the business and distribute the music products to the market at
ease. Our company has in the recent past engaged in product diversification in the retail
business and this will therefore serve to increase the revenue earnings when one line of
business is not in good shape (Kwan, 42). The company has also some source of strength
from our online advertising strategy which will be aimed at reaching our target market
segment. This will also enhance the publicity of our company to greater heights. The company
has also put in place strategies that will ensure that our music and music related products are
readily available to our esteemed customers (De Leon, 24). Our company also offers warranty
services to customer who may purchase faulty products from us. This will help in retaining
and boosting the customers confidence in use. The company uses its distinguishable brand
name, HMV Company and this will assist the prospective customers to identify it easily and
when quality products are availed, the company will have enough strength to command the
market (Pickton &Wright, 74).

Weaknesses
There are also some weaknesses that make our company hard to achieve its objectives of
becoming the market leader in China. Some of the weakness includes the fact there will be
companies in China offering the same products and may become a hurdle for us to woo the
customers (Kirsch & Goldfarb, 69). Additionally, the trusted customers of our company may

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fail to deliver up to our own expectations or use poor techniques to approach the market. This
will place our company in a precarious position of not being able to achieve its goals and
objectives. Despite the Chinese cultural diversity, there is a weakness in the sense that pirated
music may be available in the market thereby becoming a weakness to the company (Kwan,
42).

Opportunities
One of the greatest opportunities that our company will rely on is the fact that it is a brand that
is very attractive to our global partners. Additionally the intention of introducing other line of
products is an opportunity that will shield our company from unforeseen market changes. This
will ensure that our company is ensured of continued revenue earnings despite the challenges
that they might face (De Leon, 24). Chinese clients are already conversant with the internet
and therefore this is an opportunity for our company because they will spend less cash and
time educating the customers on how to buy the music via online means (Kirsch & Goldfarb,
56).

Threats
Competition in the market is one of the threats that our company will face as it establishes
itself in China and this might destabilize the projected revenue earnings. The possibility of a
social conflict in the music supplied might also pose a threat to the company because not all
kinds of music are accepted by the society. Companies may also utilize technology to advance
their product and service delivery thereby causing a threat to the company (Westwood, 23).

Marketing Mix Proposals

Customer needs and technology are not always constant while new entrants in the market will
obviously destabilize the market and ultimately the revenue earnings. The company will have
to adapt the market in the following ways:

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Product
In order to outshine the competitor, the company proposes that it will regularly be offering
free downloadable music to our customers in our online website so in order to supplement
what the customers are buying. This will also happen to the music sold in the CDs and the
DVDs (Westwood, 54).

Price
Competition in the market will always be a price determinant and our company proposes that
it will set prices relatively lower than our competitors in order to ensure that sales are
sustained at a level high. When the company has fully commanded the market, prices will be
relatively raised.

Place
HMV Company will develop an efficient network to ensure that music will be available to the
customers. This extends to include installing strong servers for its online stores so that they
can be able to serve the customers well.

Promotion
Promotion is an important tool that our company will utilize in order to create awareness of
our products. This will extend to include all types of media and advertising in the social
networking sites thereby creating publicity for our products.

People
The company as initially mentioned will target the age between 16 and 29 by utilizing its
efficient, experienced, and qualified team of personnel to market the product.

Process
The product will follow the channel of distribution from its main stores to its stationed retail
outlets where customers can readily purchase it. It will also be available in its online stores
where it they will download it wherever they are. Mode of payment will be online in this case.

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Physical evidence
Our company will utilize the social media like facebook and twitter, and the word of mouth to
show our gratitude to our customers. This will also act as a platform for our customers to
share their views in relation to satisfaction of our products.

Control and Evaluation

The implementation of our plan will take a span of one year after which evaluation of the
objectives laid by the company will be revisited. The company will seek to establish the
number of customers that have been served after the one year and success will be realized of
customer base of 12 million or more will have been served. Financial analysis will also be
carried out in order to ascertain the annual profits of our company. As initially projected, if
profits exceeding $20 billion are realized, then the Chinese venture will be considered a
success (Westwood, 2000).

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References:
De Leon, Establishing a vision of shared governance through SWOT analysis,
Department Chair, vol. 9, Issue 1, 2007, Pages: 18-32
HMC Company. Retrieved on 16th December 2010 from http://hmv.com/hmvweb/home.do
Jiang, Fumming. & Stening, Bruce. The Chinese business environment: an annotated
bibliography. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2006, pp 4-17.
Journal of strategic change management, vol. 7, Issue 2, April 1998, Pages: 27-34
Kirsch, D. and Goldfarb, B. (2002). The responsibility of business plans in the decision
making process, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 18, Issue 6, Date: May 2009,
Pages: 47-91
Kwan, Man. HMV: housing of music venues. Oxford, 1997, pp 34-76
Pickton, D. & Wright, S. Strategic Change: What's SWOT in strategic planning? 1998, pp
106-112
Westwood, J. How to write a marketing plan, Sunday Times of London (Firm) Edition2,
Kogan Press, 2000, pp 21-96

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