Case evaluation report

Answer

1. • Mizzie the Kangaroo Case Evaluation Report

     Table of Contents

     1.0      Introduction. 3

     2.0      Customer/ Buyer Persona. 3

     2.1      Persona 1. 3

     2.2      Persona 2. 5

     2.3      Persona 3. 7

     3.0      Marketing Mix. 8

     3.1      Product 8

     3.2      Pricing Strategy. 10

     3.3      Placement 11

     3.4      Promotion. 12

     4.0      Marketing Mix. 13

     5.0      Recommendations. 13

     6.0      Conclusion. 14

      

      

      

      

     Mizzie the Kangaroo Case Evaluation Report

     Introduction

     Intensive rivalry is forcing businesses to constantly evaluate their value chain to identify and improve areas that contribute towards sustainable competitive advantages. One of these areas is marketing since it creates awareness and ensures visibility of the product (Thabit & Raewf, 2018). As a result, it is important to conduct an audit of marketing efforts made by a brand. Guided by this knowledge, this report evaluates the four elements of Mizzie the Kangaroo’s marketing mix to ascertain its effectiveness.

     The report is divided into four main sections; consumer persona, marketing mix, mix evaluation, and recommendations.

     Customer/ Buyer Persona

     Rael Cowan

     Demographic Information

     • Resides in Melbourne, Australia
     • 28 years old female
     • Receptionist
     • $38,000/ year

     Psychographic Information

     • Has a preference for nature
     • She is an advocate for sustainable and socially responsible business practices
     • She hopes to be the best mother possible for her two children

     Behavioural Information

     • She prefers being loyal to the best children toy brands.
     • She is an impulsive buyer
     • She prefers buying Australian made products
     • Fancies shopping online

     Preferred Channels of Distribution (in order of preference)

     • Online and social media
     • Referrals
     • Traditional ads.

     Personality

     • Extroverted, critical thinker, sensing, and judgemental.

      

     An exposition of the persona’s profile summarizes the primary customers for Mizzie the Kangaroo’s products. The product is targeted at youthful millennial mothers with full time jobs and stable income. These parents have to balance parenting and taking care of their children below the age of four years. Normally, working mothers have more disposable income and admire the best life for their children, thus they are more likely to spend. A research by Mizzie the Kangaroo (2020) reported that its customers prefer accessing detailed information and data on how the brand will satisfy their children’s needs, the price points, and reviews made by other customers. Mizzie the Kangaroo summarizes these attributes as the visible achievement value. According to Hooley et al. (2017) customers interested in visible achievement value not only shop for quality, but also for valuable products. Young parents are synonymous with this value seeking behaviour as they prefer premium, healthy, and safe products for their babies.

     Marketing Mix

     Product

     1. Product Analysis

     Product denotes either the physical goods or intangible services offered by a firm. Thabit and Raewf (2018) add that product is more than the physical good, but rather the customer experience created. This attribute encourages customers to make repeat purchases. Mizzie the Kangaroo (2020) is an award winning brand that produces a range of toys for babies. They range from teething toys to educational toys. This report focuses on Mizzie the Kangaroo baby teething toy. This product is designed to satisfy four different value segments; to create educational value, safe value, functional value, and reinforce the national identity of the buyer. To begin with, Mizze the Kangaroo is made to fulfil the psychological function of relieving teething pain. The product has to be non-toxic, hygienic, and safe to achieve this goal. As a result, the company manufactures is from natural rubber.

     Because of the high quality of the product, the brand has received recognition for its valuable products. This includes being the recipient of the 2020 Australian Non-Toxic Awards (Jena, 2020). The reward further justifies that Mizzie’s range of products namely music boxes, puzzles, and books are of high quality and meet the diverse value points set by the customers. The products are artistically designed to have a preferred degree of texture, colour, and smell to make them attractive to children. These features enhance the entertainment and educational functions of the product. Furthermore, using the Kangaroo which is the national symbol for Australia gives the brand a sense of national pride (Ryan, 2017). Mizzie the Kangaroo complements these value points by providing quality customer care services through extensive support to the customers.

     1. Product Evaluation

     Considering the results from the analysis of the four types of value derived from Mizzie the Kangaroo, the product scores 7/10 points. This score is justified by the fact that the product is award winning thus valuable across the four value dimensions for instance, it meets the core values of easing teething pain. The actual product is stylish, colorful, fashionable, and quality. However, Mizzie the Kangaroo is an upcoming brand still in the growth phase of the product life development cycle. It is slowly gaining reputation in the Australian market. To differentiate its value proposition, Mizzie the Kangaroo should consider diversifying its product lines and also, offer delivery services, and warranties. Improving on these points could help the product score highly in terms of customer reviews. Currently, the product has a customer review rating of 3/5.

     Pricing Strategy

     1. Price analysis

     Price refers to the actual value of a product. It is important to price a service or a product properly in order to reach the target customers. Under-pricing is often associated with low quality, while overpricing discourages price sensitive customers. In the case of Mizzie the Kangaroo, the company uses competitive marketing. This approach to pricing entails setting product prices based on the prices of rivals. A quick look at the best baby teething toys on Amazon shows that rivals such as Sophie the Giraffe costs $31 compared to Mizzie the Kangaroo priced at $27.95 (Jena, 2020). By pricing it slightly lower than the fiercest rival, Mizzie the Kangaroo intends to position itself as a cheaper alternative to the much loved Sophie the Giraffe. It is also certain that the pricing is considerate of cost-plus pricing. This pricing strategy entails computing the actual production costs and adding a mark-up profit. It is certain that the company uses cost-plus pricing because there are cheaper teething alternatives such as Baby Banana Infant Training Teether and toothbrush which costs $8 yet, the company set its prices close to the best rival in the market (Jena, 2020). This means the two companies incur almost similar product costs. Combining these two strategies enables Mizzie the Kangaroo to price its product effectively so as to attract price sensitive customers.

     1. Price evaluation

     An evaluation of the price for Mizzie the Kangaroo justifies a score of 8/10. According to some of the reviews, customers are questioning why the product is slightly pricier considering that it is manufactured in China (extracted from Facebook page). China is known as a global manufacturer of low cost product and thus, customers might want better price bargains. However, the management insists that using Australian labour in the home market constitutes most of the mark-up costs which raises the prices. This reasoning is viable given the higher cost of labour and product in Australia. It is certain the product would have been more expensive if it was manufactured locally. In addition, the pricing of $27.95 is effective in reaching the customers who belief that pricier products are higher quality. This pricing is bound to entice customers to consider it over Sophie the Giraffe rival.

     Placement

     1. Place Analysis

     Placement denotes the distribution channels used by a company to reach intended customer segments. Mizzie the Kangaroo (2020) combines both direct and indirect distribution thus creating a multichannel distribution strategy. It generates most of the sales by selling via physical stores around Australia and New Zealand. The company provides options for stockists and intermediaries. This way, it contracts baby shops, pharmacists, departmental stores, and other retail outlets that have a direct touch and access to customers. The customers can therefore conveniently reach the stores and order the Mizzie product. Customers who want to purchase online could do so using the company’s website where they quote the quantity of product to purchase. They have the option of adding to their cart or buying directly. The products are then delivered via mail orders.

     1. Place evaluation

     In terms of placement, Mizze the Kangaroo scores 6/10. This is because the company overlooks the need to have a dedicated e-commerce site where it can sell its products. Išoraitė (2016) documents that there is a lot more convenience in using e-commerce that the website to sale products. There are customers who prefer a dedicated e-commerce application. In addition, Sophie the Giraffe has a dedicated e-commerce channel thus providing customers with an easier alternative for purchasing online.

     Promotion

     1. Promotion Analysis

     Promotion entails communicating about the value of a product to current and potential customers. Firms can use a range of strategies to promote their products. This includes using personal selling, advertising, public relations, and promotions. Mizzie the Kangaroo (2020) is marketed as a perfect baby shower gift. The brands website showcases video clips of happy and fulfilled babies. This video is illustrative of the value the customer is expected to receive from purchasing and using the product. Apart from advertisements on the company’s website, the company maintains a dedicated and active social media pages where it engages with customers. The digital marketing strategy uses social media sites such as Pin It, Tweeter, Instagram, Youtube, and Facebook (Mizzie the Kangaroo, 2020). These social media platforms are cost effective and have the potential of reaching youthful parents. Its continued use will contribute towards increased product visibility.

     1. Promotion evaluation

     The score for promotion is 5/10. Clearly, Mizzie the Kangaroo needs to do a lot more in terms of promotion to increase product visibility. According to customer reviews, most of the customers are not familiar with the brand. In spite of winning many awards, the customers have not accessed most of the promotional strategies. In addition, the posts on Facebook have attracted few reactions. This means that either the social media manager is not interactive or the brand is yet to attract more customers.

     Marketing Mix

     1. Marketing mix evaluation

     An overall evaluation of the marketing mix accounts for an average score of 6.5/10. This score needs to be improved to 8/10 in the coming year. Mizzie the Kangaroo should focus more resources on promotions and placement to increase the score. The promotions element scored the least because the brand lacks an integrated marketing communication strategy (HR & Aithal, 2020). In addition, it has an ineffective e-commerce platform to reach the millennial and youthful customers.

      

     Recommendations

     Guided by the analysis, the following recommendations can be made to the management of Mizzie the Kangaroo.

     • The brand should create augmented product value by offering last mile delivery services at a small fee. In addition, it could offer customer warranties for its products (Išoraitė, 2016). These attributes will enhance brand value and attract more customers.
     • The pricing is perfectly done. It should be retained as it is.
     • Mizzie the Kangaroo should either create its dedicated e-commerce site or partner with Amazon or other reputable e-commerce sites to facilitate the online sale of their teethers.
     • Regarding promotions, the brand needs to invest more in positioning the teethers as high quality, award winning Australian products through aggressive advertisement on radio and television across target markets. In addition, the brand should invest more in promotions by creating viral content, encouraging user generated content, electronic word of mouth, promotions through discounted offers and rewarding referrals (Išoraitė, 2016). Furthermore, it needs frequent advertisements, and celebrity endorsements to strengthen the brand equity. This combination constitutes a well-designed integrated marketing communication mix that will optimize visibility and brand equity.

     Conclusion

     This case evaluation for Mizzie the Kangaroo highlights the strengths and weaknesses of its marketing mix. The analysis direct the recommendations where the firm scored an average of 6.5/10. This is a decent score yet, the brand needs to work more on improving its promotions and placement. The product has the best blend of value. It could only be bettered by offering delivery services and warranties. The competitive pricing strategy is perfect. It however needs an e-commerce site and more investment in an integrated marketing communication mix.