Customers Analysis

I.       Introduction

Strategic planning is an activity that is conducted within an organization in order to set priorities, strengthen day-to-day operations and ensure that both employees and stakeholders are working toward the same goals. It is also an effort to produce a guideline that shows what the company does, why the company does it, and who the company serves. Effective strategic planning focuses not only where the company is going in the future, but also how the company will know if it is successful in achieving the goals (Maleka, 2014).

There are different steps and methodologies for strategic planning, however there are no absolute rules concerning the right framework. In this assignment, the writer will start with the first phase, which is analyzing the current customer segmentation. Two companies located in Malang will be chosen to produce a comparison regarding their environment. Afterwards, the next phase will be continued, which is analyzing the differentiation strategy and distinguishing one company from its competition.

This assignment will mainly focus on the internal environment of the companies. Therefore, the writer purposely picked companies that are located inside the same shopping mall in order to eliminate further external environment factors. The first company is Baskin Robbins and the second one is Velluto Gelato, which both are located inside Malang City Point. In this assignment, Baskin Robbins will be assessed as multinational company, meanwhile Velluto Gelato as Small to Medium Enterprise.

SME, which stands for Small to Medium Enterprise, has diverse meanings depending on the country. However, the size of the company can be categorized based on the number of employees, assets, annual sales, etc. According to Badan Pusat Statistik, a company run by less than 4 people is home industry, a company run by 5-19 people is small enterprise, and a company run by 20-99 people is middle enterprise. Meanwhile, Stanley and Morse stated that small enterprises employ 10-49 people, middle enterprises employ 50-99 people and big enterprises employ more than 100 people (Suryana, 2001).

II.    Company Background

Baskin Robbins is a well-known American chain of ice cream that has over 7,500 stores in nearly 50 countries outside the U.S. It is also the ninth-largest fast food restaurant chain by number of locations in the world. By now there are more than 280 outlets in major Indonesian city and 5 outlets in Malang alone. The price range varies from Rp 70.000 to Rp 900.000.

Meanwhile, Velluto Gelato is an Indonesian SME that produces and sells ice cream. Currently, Velluto has 5 branches around Java, in which there are 3 stores located in Malang. 1 cup of gelato goes on sale for around Rp 25.000 and 1 jar of gelato is Rp 28.000 – Rp 30.000. The different price range between Baskin Robbins and Velluto Gelato clearly displays different market segmentation and target market.

III.    Customer Segmentation

After observing for several hours on Saturday, 7^th of September, the writer categorized varied customers that came into both stores. In the following part, the writer will analyze customer segmentation based on demographic, psychographic, and behavioral aspect.

Demographic Factor	Baskin Robbins	Velluto Gelato
Age	40 and above	20-30 years old
Gender	Male and female	Male and female
Marital Status	Married Married and have kids	No, mostly a group of friends
Occupation	Yes	No, mostly students

Psychographic Factor	Baskin Robbins	Velluto Gelato
Social Class	Upper middle class	Middle class
Value	Quality	A place to hang out

Behavioral Factor	Baskin Robbins	Velluto Gelato
Purchase Occasion	Regular occasion	Special occasion
Readiness	Intending to buy	Unaware, uninformed
Spending habit	1 bucket	1 cup

Even though ice cream seems more suitable for children, Baskin Robbins is already known for their differentiated ad campaigns for both children and adults. While children know Baskin Robbins as a fun place serving delicious ice cream, adults see it as a place where they can quickly grab a to-go drink or at-home dessert. According to the outlet staff, most customers grab a big bucket of ice cream and go home. Meanwhile, Velluto Gelato focuses on attracting younger customer, for instance college students and high school students. These customers expect a place to hang out and spend time with their friends inside the store. They rarely purchase a cup of ice cream and directly leave the store because they value the hang out place more than the ice cream itself.

Effective customer segmentation can help company stay relevant and valuable and ahead of the competition as well. Middle-sized company as Velluto Gelato can expand their target market by manufacturing more products with varied sizes and flavors. On the other side, Baskin Robbins can also utilize their well-known brand name and loyal customer so they can gain new customers and keep engaging old customers. In summary, both companies need to plan strategies in order to face competitors like other ice cream companies and substitutes like frozen yogurt, ice coffee, etc. 

Bibliography

Maleka, Stevens. 2014. Strategic Management and Strategic Planning Process. South Africa Government.

Suryana. 2003. Kewirausahaan. Pedoman praktis, Kiat dan Proses Menuju Sukses. Jakarta: Salemba Empat.