global marketing

Global Marketing Project

FLOCAFE

Demetris Korombilias

Ioannis Treppides

Demetris Demetriou

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Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION

2. MARKETING RESEARCH

3. SITUATION ANALYSIS

3.1 Internal Analysis

3.2 The Product Life Cycle

3.3 External Analysis

3.4 Porters Power Forces

3.5 Target Market

3.6 Market Demographics

3.7 Market Needs

3.8 Market Trends

3.9 S.W.O.T. Analysis

4. OBJECTIVES

5. FLOCAFÉ MARKETING STRATEGIES

5.1 Boston Consulting Group Matrix

5.2 Ansoff’s Product/Market Expansion Grid

5.3 Generic Strategies

5.4 Segmenting

5.5 Targeting

5.6 Positioning

5.7 Branding

5.8 Adaptation Vs Standardization

6. FLOCAFE MARKETING TACTICS

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MARKETING MIX

6.1 Product

6.2 Price

6.3 Place

6.4 Promotion

6.5 People

6.6 Physical evidence

6.7 Process Management

7. ACTION

8. CONTROL

9. CONCLUSION

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1. INTRODUCTION

Flocafe is a Greek coffee shop chain and the largest within Greece established in

1994. It offers high quality coffees through their sophisticated and well organized

shops. It started operations in Cyprus 5 years ago with their first shop in Nicosia at

Stasicratus Street another in Ledras and Limassol at the Sea Front. It is not just a

place to drink coffee but they offer a place where a customer can go away from reality

and express their feelings.

2. MARKETING RESEARCH

Primary data are collected from a questionnaire using closed ended questions. Data

analysis methods used include frequency distributions, factor analysis and regression

analysis. (Drousiotis A and Austin J, 2007)

The qualitative approach to research is not concerned with this sort of statistical

analysis. It involves gathering a great deal of information about a small number of

people or organizations. The information collected is generally not presentable in

numerical form. It is based on the belief that a full and rounded understanding of the

organizational experiences and situations of a few individuals however

unrepresentative they may be, is of more value than a limited understanding of large,

representative group. The methods used to gather qualitative information include

observation, informal and in-depth interviewing and participant observation.

(Ticehurst and Veal, 2000, p. 21)

In our research we decided it would be more appropriate to use qualitative data as the

source of primary data. For this purpose we have conducted interview with Mr.

Andreas Savva the manager of Flo café in Ledras street and Mr George

Papademetriou the operations supervisor again from Flocafé in Ledras street. The

purpose of these interviews was to gain access to the current marketing practices of

the company in order to be able to evaluate it and propose changes or additions to

their current marketing strategy and tactics as well as goals and objectives.

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In addition we used secondary data such as theory on marketing in order to give the

reader a better understanding on our comments as well as material from Flo café

website and other information given by the manager of Flo café.

3. SITUATION ANALYSIS

3.1 Internal Analysis

Flocafe has already built a good brand name. This is due to the fact that together with

the quality coffees offered the also serve a philosophy. Philosophy explained by

explanation of their logo, the spiral. Flocafe (2007) claims that the spiral serves as the

Flocafé symbol and it is depicted in our logo and our brand. It is also a

communication code, which represents values, messages and symbolisms that also

reflect our brand. The spiral is an ancient symbol. It can be found in nature, in life, in

our being, in our worlds’ laws, in our identity. It stands for centre, focus, time passing

from season to season, from day to night and to day again. Extroversion, Sociability,

Ritual. The spiral is a dynamic and genuine symbol. It is the identity of a new Flocafé

era.

People associate with this philosophy because it reflects their needs. This leads Flo to

have many repeating customers. Repeating customers create a steady sales volume

that guarantees profitability.

The market Share when it comes to this kind of businesses is not a clearly definable

variable. Customers tend to visit various cafés depending on their mood.

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3.2 The Product Life Cycle

A lot might say that Flocafé is at its maturity but in Cyprus there is still a lot of room

for growth. So we should say that it’s at its growth stage. Up to now there are only

three shops in Cyprus only in two cities. Some more shops could be opened in cities

like Larnaka or Paphos.

The product offered by Flo is high quality espresso based coffees like the traditional

espresso Cappuccino Freddo Caldos, filter coffees and classic instant coffees like

warm instant coffee and frappe. When it comes to their products they always give

emphasis on high quality.

The Prices of the coffees at Flocafe could be considered high, higher than the average

coffee price in the market. This is because they offer a lot more services than other

cafés.

The shops of Flocafé are all in very convenient areas were they are easily accessible

to people. As you go insight you can see a very well organized café nicely painted

giving a cosy feeling.

The Flocafé stuff is always trained to give the best service possible. Flocafe gives a

lot of emphasis on this area as it really cares about having happy customers and

customers are always happy when they are served well.

This goes together with the whole process of providing there service. By the time a

customer walks in the shop the supervisor of the shop will lead him/her to his table,

the waiter will come to give the menus brings water and wait for the order. The drinks

are prepared with quality coffee to add to an enjoyable experience.

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The way they choose to give some physical evidence about the quality of their coffees

is by putting pictures of their coffees in the menus. In many cases the customer will

choose a coffee by its picture.

According to the manager of Flo Café in Ledras street, the company does not have

any significant promotional tool available except from some events and occasional

competitions (i.e. with Mini Cooper). In addition the company rarely uses radio

advertisements to communicate new products.

3.3 External Analysis

Flocafe seems to know the market very well. They know the common prices in the

market and how their main competitors charge their coffees. There competitors are

not each and every café but the cafes that offer quality espresso coffees in a nice, well

organized environment. A key point is the communication with the customers. They

don’t just communicate that they have good coffees but they also communicate that

they have a nice place to have your coffee with great service and a beautiful

environment.

3.4 Porters Power Forces

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As © Mind Tools Ltd [1995-2008] claims the Porter’s 5 Forces tool is a simple but

powerful tool for understanding where power lies in a business situation. This is

useful, because it helps you understand both the strength of your current competitive

position, and the strength of a position you’re looking to move into.

Supplier Power: In our case the main supplier of Flo café is the franchisor as it

provides all the products and Lavazza coffee beans and as a result it has great power

over the Flocafe franchisee. However, this dependability is in the context of the

franchise and the franchisee in order to eliminate intermediaries has formed a

company, Lani Restaurants, in order to import all the required material. In the case of

the Cypriot suppliers, as the café is a franchise and has significant market share, as a

result Flocafe has bargaining power over the local suppliers.

Buyer Power: The power of the buyers is minor in a case of a café. A café has for

customers many and unknown people and those customers don’t just visit one café

but a lot. So the cost of the coffee is not really defined by the customers.

Competitive Rivalry: The number of coffee shops is large in the island but the

immediate competitors are not each and every coffee shop that sells cheap or

expensive coffees. The competitors of Flocafe are classified in three categories

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a) The cafeterias that sell high quality coffee and offer quality service and have

the fame of a highly prestigious and upper social class customers (i.e. Pascucci

Haagen Dazs in Limassol, Pralina Le Café in Nicosia .

b) The cafeterias that are located in more popular locations such as Mondo and

La Mode in Makariou which the company considers to be inferior but have

large share because of their location rather than the quality of service and

products

c) The cafeterias that offer self service such as Starbucks and Costa which are

quality cafeterias but have different philosophy and different organizational

culture

Each category has relevant attributes that the management of Flo café considers to

be important and has affect on the performance. However, the main competitors

are considered those of the first category where the company wants to be

established.

Threat of Substitution: Substitutes in this market are a lot. Any coffee shop and

each and every place that sells coffee even a coffee prepared at home could be

considered a substitute. This is a threat when it comes to the product offered but

Flocafé does not just rely on the product but also relies on the service. The service

offered is not easily found in cafes. This gives a good advantage towards many cafes.

Threat of New Entry: New entry in the café market is very easy. The problem that

they face though is the ability to remain in the market. The whole point is not just to

open a coffee shop but offer something that not many offer and if possible something

unique. What Flocafé managed to do until now is show to people that is different. It is

not something simple that’s why it has survived.

3.5 Target Market

The main target market is people from 18 to 35 that require a place to have their

coffee, relax and enjoy a beautiful service.

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Total Population

18-3580%

The rest20%

18-35

The rest

Table 1

3.6 Market Demographics

Geographics

The immediate geographical targeted population is estimated at 400,000. This covers

total population of Nicosia and Limassol. The targeted population is estimated at

around 100,000.

Demographics

Our target group is males and females, aged from 18 to 35, single or committed,

educated, who go out for a drink around 1 to 3 times a week

Behavioural Factors

Cypriot cafeteria customers tend to have the habit of enjoying their coffee on the

place of its creation. They view it as the ideal way to socialize and to be in places that

appeals to their social class or communicate with the class they want to be part of.

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3.7 Market Needs

Flocafe (2007) claims that one of the things that make Flocafé so special is that it

gives guests the chance to create their very own Flocafé experience. They can enjoy

this experience during their spare time, not only through the relaxed, carefree and

stylish Flocafé ambience, but also through the lively and upbeat entertainment, made

up by the music, the colours, the action and the Flocafé staff with their service. An

amazing mixture of coffee and chocolate aromas, a sumptuous feast of tastes, fills us

with energy, bringing to life all sorts of different moods at the same time. It’s in every

Flocafé that our guests create new and enjoy old friendships, turning their everyday

getaway from routine and the quick city rhythm into an environment that suits ideally

their taste!

What the customers need it to be in a nice environment with great service. This

environment is developed with the organized way the cafés look their colours and the

chill-out music they play. The service provides by Flocafé stuff is much better that

any good café and also the fact that it is not self service gives people what they want.

The prices at Flocafe might be a bit higher than average but they have not much of a

difference than prices at cafés like Pralina, Le Café and other competitors. So people

will not discard it because of the price.

3.8 Market Trends

The market trend is heading towards some more sophisticated and posh customers

looking for higher quality places to go that will benefit their image.

Coffee quality is something Cypriots look for. According to the manage of Flo café

in Ledras street, Instant coffee became very famous in Cyprus but nowadays they tend

to turn around to espresso based coffees. Cafes like Starbucks, Gloria Jeans and Costa

that recently started operating in our island have shown to the people that there is a

very nice alternative to instant coffee (frappe) and people started to ask for these kinds

of coffees. But all of these cafes are self service, a trend in their home countries.

Cypriots tend to prefer to have someone to serve them and this is what Flo does.

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3.9 S.W.O.T. Analysis

Out of the interview with the Manager of Flo café in Ledras street, we extracted the

following Strengths Weaknesses of the company itself and Opportunities and Threats

in the Cypriot Market that Concern Flocafé.

Strengths

One of the main strengths of Flocafé is the whole idea behind their philosophy. They

don’t just offer to the people a place to have their coffee but they offer “the” place to

relax feel well and spend a great time. This environment has built a “relationship”

with the customers that have become loyal.

The shops are located in key point areas so they can attract customers.

The stuff goes through a good training that makes them able to offer the high quality

service promised by Flocafe.

The products offered are of a large variety giving the chance to the customers to select

anything they like. This catalogue is updated constantly with new tastes different for

each season.

The franchisee has high economic strength and thus Flo café has economic feasibility

and funds to grow and expand and in addition invest in advertising.

An effective distribution network is built by the franchisee with the creation of a

company that imports all materials needed and distributes them to the shops as fast as

possible.

Weaknesses

The fact that 2 of the shops are located in busy roads makes it difficult for people to

find place to park. This leads them sometimes to go at some other cafes with more

parking spaces available near by.

The prices even if they are reasonable for the service offered still they are high

leading people to visit similar cafes with lower prices.

There are also weaknesses based separately for each Flo café outlet. For example, in

Stasicratus street according to the manager, the design and the absence of a large

frontal porch that is preferred by customers of the given class (or class wannabe) in

order to view and be viewed. Moreover the café was initially based on the Greek

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model and it is not suitable to the culture nor the preferences of the social class that is

located in this area and the equipment and atmosphere in general gives the feeling of a

more middle and lower class cafeteria which is not the appropriate for the area

Opportunities

Flocafe is found only in two cities of Cyprus. There is a very good possibility of

success in opening shops in other cities like Larnaka and Paphos where the target

group of Flocafé is large.

In the case of Flo café in Ledras street, a change in the political environment now

provides a new opportunity for growth and increased sales. With the change in the

Cypriot Government, the road block that separated the Turkish occupied area with the

area controlled by the Cyprus Government has opened thus creating increase in the

visitors of the historic street and thus more potential customers both Greek-Cypriots

and Turkish-Cypriots as well as more tourists.

Competitors such as Starbucks and Costa have contributed to the change in the habits

of Cypriots constantly shifting from instant coffee to espresso. This is in favour of

Flo as well since it provides both instant and espresso coffees and in addition more

differentiated products based on espresso.

Threats

The main competition is already established and has a very positive image which

would be very difficult to overcome.

Secondly, the case of Flo cafeterias in Greece has a negative appeal to the image the

franchisee wants to create since in Greece are considered more middle class

cafeterias.

Finally another threat is the constant threat of new entrants and since customers

always give a trial period to new cafeterias in the case of the entrance of a new of

internationally known brand would hurt the company’s efforts to achieve leadership

and excellence.

4. OBJECTIVES

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According to the Manager of Flo Ledras, the management of Flo café has set the main

goal to be the establishment of the Flo chain of cafés among the leader in market

share and the determinant force of the coffee fashion and being able to adapt rapidly

to the changing environment

In order to achieve this goal, several objectives were placed:

Firstly to create aesthetically upgraded cafeterias with a very pleasant modern and

warm environment through the next 3 years

Secondly, to continue to introduce new coffee creations that will constantly be ahead

of the competition

Thirdly, to monitor and constantly improve the service level and the quality control of

the products and services by employing the best and maintain highly trained and

committed employees. The training of supervisors must be completed until the end of

2008.

Last but not least to be able to differentiate from competition by identifying the needs

of the segment of 19-40 years old and adapting the service offered by the company

Our goal is to introduce how the goals and objectives of the Company itself and

examine critically the strategies and tactics that are currently implemented and

propose changes based on the general marketing concept.

We would suggest that another objective to be added which would be the creation of a

new communication mix which would have appeal to the targeted segments and will

contribute to the improvement of the Flo brand by the end of 2008.

5. FLO CAFÉ MARKETING STRATEGIES

5.1 Boston Consulting Group Matrix

According to Kotler et al (2002) the Boston Consulting Group matrix approach is a

classification of a company’s strategic business units/products according to the

growth/share matrix. In the case of Flo café we are examining the business portfolio

and specifically the coffee beverages. Since it is a bundle of similar but different

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products we will examine some in particular in order to be able to form our strategy.

For example, the Flocafé frappe is a standard product identical to that of other

competitors. As we describe in the situation analysis the instant coffee market is

nowadays in decline, however frappe must be clarified as a “cash cow” since it is a

product with standard sales and very low cost relatively to other products, thus

contributing with a high margin to the profitability of the company. We would

suggest that the company maintain this product at all cost since it is in its mature stage

and has several loyal customers. On the other hand, the majority of the new products

are clarified as question marks since most of them are unique products and are

depended on the good introduction and explanation of its ingredients by the waiters

and supervisors in order to be sold. Other products such as cappuccino and espresso

related products must be considered as “Stars” since they have a high margin of

growing sales and the espresso and real coffee market in general is constantly

growing in Cyprus and especially after the introduction of new competitors that sell

only espresso coffee such as Starbucks, Costa and Gloria Jeans. However, it is

important to point out that the above information are not absolute since all products

are subject to seasonality with hot drinks sales decrease dramatically during summer

period and cold drinks sales decreasing dramatically during winter period. Therefore

we decide not to change the current strategy of the product portfolio nor propose

changes concerning

5.2 Ansoff’s Product/Market Expansion Grid

According to Ansoff’s Product Market expansion grid, Flo café is currently using a

Product Development strategy where it constantly introduces new products for the

existing markets. We agree to this strategy which is best related to the goals and

objectives of the company and it best appeals to the way the cafeteria is formed.

5.3 Generic Strategies

According to this model introduced by Michael Porter, the company tries to obtain a

competitive advantage over its competitors through a differentiation strategy. We

agree to this strategy since it is best serving the objective of the company to compete

with leading local cafeterias by introducing different products, such as new coffee

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creations (flocachino, espresso caramel caldo etc) which is not available by

competitors, to broader target. Thus the company is able to offer new services create

another competitive advantage over its competitors.

5.4 Segmenting

According to Kotler et al (2002), Segmentation is the process of dividing the market

into distinct group buyer segments with different needs wants etc who might require

separate products.

The four major market segmentation categories are: Geographical segments (nation,

states, region or cities, Demographic segments (age, gender, family size, and income,

Psychographic segments (social class, lifestyle or personality) and Behavioral

segments (occasional, benefits user status etc).

Flo Café is currently using mainly the geographical segmentation since it is always

located at popular public places and usually close to competitors. According to the

manager of Flo café in Ledras, the company is trying to focus on psychographic

segments such as medium and higher social class. According to our opinion we

would suggest that the café consider other demographic segments as well such as

families with children segment.

5.5 Targeting

According to Vrontis (2009), targeting is defined as evaluating each market segment’s

attractiveness and selecting one or more segments to enter. According to the current

practices of Flo café, the company uses a Concentrated Targeting strategy where

the company focuses on a number of segments but with one company marketing mix

Based on what we mention above, Flo Café is correctly focusing on Geographical

segments since it is always trying to establish new service “factories” in popular

public places which is a common practice in the café industry. Moreover, to our

opinion, the company is correctly trying to focus its marketing efforts in the medium

and higher social class segments, since it is more appropriate to the style of the

cafeteria itself. We believe that by competing on other psychological segments

irrelevant to the corporate culture would not be beneficial since Cyprus has a large

medium social class which makes this psychographic segment more relevant even to

the number of the Flo café chain. However, we suggest altering its targeting strategy

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to a Differentiated Targeting strategy. Even on the current targeted segments we

see that each different Flo café factory could alter slightly its service offering in order

to appeal best to the targeted segments that surround it. It is a fact that in Flo in

Ledras Street, a higher number of tourists as well as families with children is present

than in Stasicratus street. So we would suggest that the company modifies slightly

tactics (basically its additional services) to serve the segments that are closely related

to the geographical area.

5.6 Positioning

Positioning is a marketing strategy where a company decides the way it will address

to the markets it has targeted. A company may differentiate its products in a way that

the strengths of the company are better developed so that the needs and wants of the

target market are satisfied (Kotler et al, 2002).

As we mentioned previously, Flo Café in Cyprus is targeting the middle-higher social

class customer segment. Therefore the positioning of the company should be relevant

to this. The company aims to position the Flo café line among its competitors, (Le

café and Pralina in Nicosia) that is, among the best and more prestigious cafeterias in

Cyprus. We created a perceptual map (Appendix) in order to illustrate the positioning

of the company in the Nicosia Geographical segment among main competitors and

other competitors. In the case of Cyprus we identified that the Flo café chain has

been the subject of repositioning, where the café changed its positioning in relation

with the positioning of most Flo cafés in Greece. We totally agree to this strategy

since as we mentioned previously the Cypriot population’s average income is higher

from Greece and there are some differences in culture. Therefore the adaptation on

this field can be considered successful

5.7 Branding

Branding is a very important part of the current Marketing strategies of Flo café.

Firstly, the name of the café meets the requirements of an appropriate brand name. It

is distinctive; it is easy to pronounce recognize and remember. Moreover it does not

mean something bad in the Greek language nor English. The branding of products

and especially coffee products which we are interested in are baptized with a new

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name (for example Flocachino, Biscolato etc) in order to connect the product to the

firm in the perception of consumer. Thus the Flo brand name and the related new

product brands is a very good weapon against competitors since the attributes and

benefits of the products are immediately directed to the brand image thus creating

more value and quality to the service, more loyalty and credibility by the customers

and most importantly, it is the identification of the café.

We find this strategy innovative in relation to the common coffee shop practices and

very successful. The franchise has put much effort and money to build the Flo brand

name. This brand name was rather known to Cypriot public because of the intense

presence of Flo chain of cafés in Greece since there are thousands of students

studying in Greece and because Greece has the majority of Cypriot tourists every

year. However, according to the Manager of Flo Ledras, Flo cafes in Greece have a

number of differences and the most important is that it targets different segments of

the population rather than of those that targets in Cyprus. So the effort of building an

image was a difficult goal which they consider achieved.

5.8 Adaptation Vs Standardization

In general, as a franchise, Flo Café has highly standardized operations and behavioral

patterns. We consider this quite important for the uniformity of the quality and

performance. However, we suggest applying flexibility for adaptation in some areas

such as the design of the service factory, the dress code of the employees and the

additional services of each outlet. This is to ensure that each outlet is appealing to its

target segment and the publics of the location.

6. FLOCAFE MARKETING TACTICS

MARKETING MIX

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According to Kotler et al (2002), marketing mix is defined as the set of controllable

tactical marketing tools that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the

target market. The marketing mix consists of everything the firm can do to influence

the demand for its product. The marketing mix is also known as the “seven P’s”:

product, price, place, promotion, people, physical evidence, process management.

6.1 Product

According to the differentiation strategy that the company tries to obtain in order to

compete with leading local cafeterias, Flocafé had introduced some new coffee

creations (flocachino, espresso caramel caldo etc) which are not available by

competitors, in this way the company is able to offer new services creating another

competitive advantage over its competitors. . The main input that the company uses

in the production process is coffee. All the franchise outlets use the same Italian

coffee, Lavazza. The coffee has to be stored according to strict specifications and

grained at the correct moment in the production process in order to maintain its aroma

and taste as genuine and fresh as possible. As far as the packaging of flocafé’s

products we strongly believe that offer convenience especially in consuming and that

they have their unique personality build loyalty with the customers and are easily

recognizable than any other product of any competitor. The Flo brand name and the

related new product brands is a very good weapon against competitors since the

attributes and benefits of the products are immediately directed to the brand image

thus creating more value and quality to the service, more loyalty and credibility by the

customers and most importantly, it is the identification of the café. The franchise has

put much effort and money to build the Flo brand name. We Find this very successful

and innovative and are leading towards the creating of a very strong brand name.

6.2 Price

As it is well known Good pricing decisions are critical to a firm’s success in the

workplace and also that the only source of product for Flocafé is through the price

charged for products. The price charged for the products in Flocafé Cyprus are a little

bit higher than the price charged in Flocafé in Greece since the standard of living is a

little different between the two countries and also consumers, especially in Cyprus,

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see price as a quality indicator and since Flocafé considers le café and Pralina in

Nicosia as the two most important competitors must place their price respectively to

those two cafeterias. Although they set their prices a little lower than the two

competitors in order to acquire a larger market share.

6.3 Place

Place means making the goods and services available where and when customers need

and want them. Place is all the company activities that make the product available to

target customers. Flo café’s marketing channels are directly from manufacturer to

consumer, in other words all products are prepared in each |Flocafé’s shop and served

directly to the customer. Flo café is always trying to establish new service “factories”

in popular public places which is a common practice in the café industry. For example

the establishment of two cafeterias in two of the most popular streets in Nicosia,

Ledras and Stasicratus. Flo café, very correctly in our opinion, alter slightly its service

offering in order to appeal best to the targeted segments that surround it. Like for

example in Flocafé in Ledras street there are higher numbers of tourists and families

present than Stasicratus street, that are mostly young people present, so we would

suggest to the company to modify slightly mostly its additional services according to

the characteristics of people that are present to each geographical area.

6.4 Promotion

When we say promotion we mean bringing products to the attention of consumers and

persuading them to bye those products. We strongly recommend Above the line

technique to be used by the company since this technique is using mass media to

promote brands for example TV and radio advertising especially radio that is used in

Greece by the company and happens to experience great success. If some advertising

will take place in Cyprus as well especially in some popular radio stations that are

heart by mostly young people together with some print advertising in magazines we

believe that this will help the company to increase its market share. Also the

development of good public relations, the development and maintenance of good

relations with different publics, will help Flocafé to build up good brand name. Some

of these publics include the customers, the government, the community even the

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competitors. Also something else that could possibly help the building of a good

brand name for Flocafé is sponsorship, a form of enlightened self interest where a

worthy activity is supported with cash or consideration in return for satisfying specific

marketing or corporate objectives, that will enable Flocafé to be heart more often by

the public by offering to society as well and this will have a very positive impact on

the company.

Moreover since the café is targeting higher social class we would suggest creating

collaboration with magazines that appeal to this segment and create certain events in

each outlet with the presence of important persons, celebrities and other people that

act as models of behavior especially among young adults which is the main target

segment.

6.5 People

The people dimension has to do with the types and skills of the staff, their ability to

get things done correctly and also, very important, how they interact with customers.

It is very important for an organization like Flocafé to have a well trained staff that

will make the difference, if it’s possible, when customers compare Flocafé with its

competitors. So it is our opinion that very often the staff should be trained, not only

when there is a new product introduced, in order to keep the high level that everybody

in the company aims for. The staff can be trained through seminars that the company

will organize for their best interest. We strongly believe that a trained staff is a

comparative advantage for a company to have that will “force” the customers to come

back if they are satisfied from the treatment that they had, so management of Flocafé,

confirmed to us by the manager of Flocafe Ledras, invest a lot for the proper training

of their staff because they believe that people in their organization can make the

difference.

6.6 Physical evidence

Physical evidence relates to the surrounding in which the other elements are delivered

and the sorts of messages they send to the customers. For example in one of |

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Flocafé’s competitors, Pralina, they serve chocolate pieces to match with the drinks

they serve and this idea seems to work very well. We suggest for Flocafé, having in

mind that Flocafé Ledras attract young families with children, to introduce a small

playing ground for children to keep themselves busy so their parents enjoy their

drinks without worrying for their children. Of course Flocafé tries to keep the

company in good position and they give a lot of effort in ‘small’ details’, for example

they serve bottled water together with every drink, mostly coffee, and this we believe

gives a great impression to the customers. Also in Flocafé one can enjoy soft music

together with his drink since Flocafé offers music as well and also one can enjoy an

important sport event from the big screens that are presents in the area of Flocafé

Ledras and Stasicratus.

Finally, we would suggest since the company has identified that the decoration and

equipment of the café in Stasicratus does not correspond to the demands of the

psychographic segment of higher social class (or class wannabe) which is present at

the location we would strongly recommend the alteration of the design is necessary in

order to reconstruct the physical evidence of the café in order to communicate the

message that the café seeks to be placed among the leading cafeterias of the island.

6.7 Process Management

Process management is mostly concerned with the ways in which customers are dealt

with from the moment of initial contact right through to the sales follow-up and the

after sales service. As we mentioned before the company invests a lot in the training

their staff because they know how important is to treat the customers in the proper

way from the time they get in to the time they leave the place. In Flocafé they try to

be as polite as possible with everybody that enters the cafeteria and after serving the

waiters try to be close to the customers by visiting their table often and also changing

their ashtray when needed, by asking them if they need anything else and generally by

being close to all their customers. When a customer decides to leave the cafeteria the

manager that is in charge is obliged to thank the customer for the preference of the

specific cafeteria and very politely leads him to the exit by saying goodbye to them.

In general the whole process of production and serving the customer is highly

standardized and based on the strict regulations imposed by the franchisor which

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includes models of behavior, dress code and most importantly, measurements of the

proper quantities of raw materials in the production process which reassures the

uniformity of the product and a constant quality control. We find this very important

but we have some comments that derived through the interviews where problems arise

with products that expire in the stock room thus creating risk of bad service and

increased cost of destroyed stock. We recommend applying Just-in-Time inventory

management strategy for stock control, the quality of the raw materials will remain

high and will avoid costs related with obsolete or destroyed stock and correspond to

the objective to offer good quality service.

7. ACTION

Planning good strategies is only a start, towards successful marketing. A well

designed strategy without a proper implementation is not valuable to an organization.

Marketing implementation is the process that realizes marketing strategies and plans

into actions to accomplish the strategic objectives (Vrontis 2004). Based on what we

have seen we would propose to change first of all the decoration of Flo in Stasicratus

which is the central and directly related to competition. Our suggestion would be a

renovation of the service factory in order to improve the physical evidence of the

outlet. We believe that a minimum number of 80,000 Euros must be invested for this

goal.

8. CONTROL

Control is the process of measuring results, diagnosing the results and taking

corrective actions if necessary. This allows to the organization to monitor and review

the strategic marketing plan and direct possible methods of improvement and

updating (Vrontis 2004).

Naturally, in order to achieve the goals set, correct monitoring is necessary. We

believe that the top management must be in constant contact with middle management

and lower management as well as employees in order to get constant feedback

concerning the implementation of the strategies and tactics as well as to identify

potential mistakes of the strategy. Moreover, the marketing department must

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constantly monitor the perceptions, needs, wants and demands of the targeted

segments as well as to measure the effect of the strategies and tactics in order to be

able to evaluate their effectiveness and efficiency an be able to form new strategies to

improve mistakes and take advantage of new opportunities in the market.

9. CONCLUSION

Flocafe has managed to create around its name a strong brand that made it a key

player in the market. The fact that there are strong competitors exists and this is what

is giving Flocafe a lot of room for improvement. The Cypriot market still allows

improvement to café’s like Flocafé and people will not give second thought to change

the café they prefer.

References

Drousiotis A and Austin J, “Job Satisfaction of managers in Cyprus”, EuroMed

Journal of Business Vol. 2 No. 2, 2007 pp. 208-222 [electronic]. Available from:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1450-2194, Article DOI

10.1108/14502190710826068 [2007].

Kotler Philip, Armstrong Gary, Saunders John, Wong Veronica. (2002), Principles of

Marketing, 3rd European Edition, Prentice Hall, UK

Mind Tools Ltd, 1995-2008, [online] Available from

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_08.htm

Ticehurst G W and Veal A J, 2000, Business Research Methods a managerial

approach, Longman, London.

Vivartia S. A., 2007, “Flocafe” [online]. Available from: http://www.flocafe.gr/en [ 1

May 2008].

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http://www.flocafe.gr/en/

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_08.htm

Appendix

Perceptual Map

High quality Service

.Flocafe. Pralina .Flocafe

.Le café

.Venue

.La Mode

.Da Capo

.Likno

.Monaco Least Prestigious

highly Prestigious

.Mondo

.Pizza Hut café

.Cafe City

Low quality Service

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global marketing

Documents

data analysis methods

factor analysis

regression analysis

internal analysis flocafe

sort of statistical

qualitative data

current marketing strategy

current marketing practices