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Nick BarnettMKT 6B1 Internet and Direct Marketing Assessment 2 Direct Marketing Strategy Development for Le Pain Quotidien

Students: Adrien Noel (S00049289) Ana Campos (S00603224) Javier Lozano (S00603226) Maxime Errera (S00401028)

Table of Contents

1. Company Background 32. Market situation 4

2.1 Macro-environment 42.2 Micro-environment 52.3 Market Value and Growth Prospect 52.4 Perceptual Map of Competitors’ of Le Pain Quotidien 6

3. Actual strategy of LPQ 74. New strategy objectives 85. Delivery 9

5.1 Create a database 95.2 Improve the Web page performance and usability. 115.3 Le Pain Quotidien Club Card: Loyalty card 125.4 Improve Le Pain Quotidien social media 145.5 E-mail Marketing 175.6 SEM & SEO 195.7 CRM 20

5.7.1 Le Pain Quotidien Cooking School 205.7.2 Le Pain Quotidien Recipe Competition 22

6. Monitoring & Evaluation 237. Conclusion 268. References 27

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1. Company Background

Originally established as a restaurant group in 1990 by Alain Coumont in Brussels, Le Pain Quotidien has become an international name, boasting of over 100 franchises in several countries across the globe (Jacobs, 2011). These include Belgium, France, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Russia, Qatar, Australia, Spain, Mexico, Bahrain, and Canada (US Fact Sheet, 2010). The chain’s main product is organic breads and cakes whose preparation evokes a homemade, pastoral feel (Judah, 2008).

The concept of Le Pain Quotidien grew out of the young Alain Coumont’s discontent, as a chef, with not finding superior quality bread in Brussels. This led him to dip into his own childhood memories as he decided to work his own flour, water and salt to share his love of bread with the rest of Brussels. Thus was born the Le Pain Quotidien at 16 rue Danseart in Brussels, Belgium, and the store began operations on 26 October 1990. Instead of buying new furniture, he selected cabinets from antique shops and a nearby flea market supplied a huge table which became Le Pain Quotidien signature for communal eating (US Fact Sheet, 2010).

A no-frills bakery catering to refined tastes, Le Pain Quotidien specialises in soups, salads, tartines, breakfast, homemade pastries and handmade organic bread, all of which include organic ingredients wherever they can be used. There are several items for those who prefer vegan and vegetarian fare. The concept of communal eating, rustic food and relaxing ambience are reminiscent of a less complicated way of living as practiced in the Belgian countryside and people who come to Le Pain Quotidien are enveloped by this feel. The chain also believes in fair business practices which promote the welfare of people as well as the environment (US Fact Sheet, 2010). Alain Coumont’s first Le Pain Quotidien in Brussels was established in 1990 with his baked goods, a huge table for communal eating, and a menu serving breakfast, brunch and lunch dishes. More than a decade later, the chain’s essence remains the same.

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2. Market situation

2.1 Macro-environment

Breads and other baked goods are part of the staple diet of most of the people in UK (Key Note, 2012). According to statistics, households in the UK spent a total of £4.74bn on baked products in 2011, indicating a 7.6% boost from 2010. There are four major segments in the market: white bread, brown and wholemeal bread, speciality breads and bakery items. The current fashion of breakfast ‘treats’ has led to a growing demand for foreign bakery items, among which croissants and bagels enjoy a special place (Key Note, 2012a).

The economic recession has an impact on people’s purchases. NEMS Market Research carried out a one-of-its-kind study of consumer behaviour for Key Note, which found that the crisis had led to merely 30.7% of the consumers curbing their visits to coffee or sandwich stores (Key Note, 2012b). Estimations suggest that coffee shops will continue to be sought after regardless, and this is reflected in the growing number of shop-owners who are presently incorporating coffee places within their establishments. In an attempt to imbibe the immense popularity of coffee outlets and the attraction they hold for people at large, many department stores and supermarkets are seeking to sell readymade coffee themselves. In many cases, they incorporated an already existing coffee selling chain, but with time, there is a growing preference towards operating these cafes in-house (Key Note, 2012b).

As a consequence of budgetary constraints and fiscal insecurity, a greater number of people prefer lunch-boxes and eating at home. Sensing an opportunity here, manufacturers are launching meal kits and side dishes which include breads, based on the concept of replicating a restaurant feel in one’s own house. Moreover, an increasing number of people are trying to curtail their expenditure by packing meals to take to work (Key Note, 2012c).

At present, several prevailing factors are influencing the industry in various ways. The growing health consciousness among customers, combined with government schemes, is pushing establishments towards improving their offerings and marking the nutritional value of products. Advancements in technology and the growing use of smartphones are playing their own role in changing the industry as restaurant owners are developing their own phone applications or ‘apps’ and initiating purchase through mobile phones (Key Note, 2012c).

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On the other hand, the price of wheat has not remained unaffected by the general price rise due to bad harvests, the global reduction in stockpiles, recession and the Eurozone crises. The sustained price rise has inexorably boosted the selling price of goods. Conversely, the decrease in the average weekly consumption of grams by an individual is reflected in the corresponding decrease in the sales of bread and bakery items. As people try to curtail their expenditure, they prefer to limit their purchases to indispensable goods (Key Note, 2012a).

2.2 Micro-environment

The food services industry in the UK is highly fragmented and the share of the coffee shops and other retail outlets constitute only 9% of the food service industry (Datamonitor, 2010). The threat of new entrants is moderate due to the fact that entry to the sector does not require large capital investment. Changes in consumer tastes creates an advantage for new entrants but poses threats to existing business as it indicates low or no customer loyalty to a particular brand. This is because there is no switching cost for consumers and this gives buyers, who are the individual consumers, greater power. Suppliers’ power, on the other hand is remarkably low when compared to buyers. Despite the rise in price of ingredients, restaurants or cafes have the power over suppliers in determination of ingredients’ prices. The rivalry in the sector is high since the sector includes large number of small or medium size independent coffee shops, chain coffee houses and coffee shops of retailers. Intense rivalry occurs not only because of the existence of many stores but also minor differences between the offerings of coffee shops. This creates a highly competitive business environment for the players.

2.3 Market Value and Growth Prospect

! According to Platt (2012), the market value of the industry in 2010 was approximately £5 billion and the rise in coffee sales were up by 10% in comparison to previous year. In fact, the number of gourmet coffee houses increased three-fold in 2011

The growth of the industry is believed to be related to the increase in the number of independent coffee houses which provide high quality coffee in a comfortable and unique dining and relaxing environment. According to the research published by Mintel, almost 60% of the UK consumers visit coffee shops on regular basis and more importantly, almost half of customers prefer to sit-in in coffee shops rather than taking out. In fact, less than 10% of consumers prefer take away coffee (Platt, 2012).

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Key Note anticipates a growth of 25% in the number of branded coffee outlets between 2010 and 2015, by which time the figure will be 3,800, and in the case of coffee outlets, the numbers are expected to grow from 3,748 to 4,511 within the same time period (Key Note, 2012b). According to the British Coffee Association, the market will grow by 25% within the next three years (Platt, 2012). This gives an important opportunity for Le Pain Quotidien for increasing its market share in the UK.

2.4 Perceptual Map of Competitors’ of Le Pain Quotidien

Le Pain Quotidien falls into artisan coffee shop and competes against chain coffee stores, retailers’ coffee houses and restaurants. The perceptual map of Le Pain Quotidien can be drawn based on the quality of offerings and market share in relation to its competitors.

As can be seen in the perceptual map, Le Pain Quotidien is high end of the quality scale but due to low market share, it comes after Paul’s Bakery which is its major competitor.

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3. Actual strategy of LPQ

In the UK, Le Pain Quotidien operates in 22 stores across London (Lepainquotidien.co.uk, 2012). Le Pain Quotidien uses its website, Facebook and Twitter to promote its offerings and does not run any marketing campaign. The website of the company and its Twitter page are specifically dedicated for the UK consumers, however its Facebook page is a general one and created to appeal all its customers in the world.

Le Pain Quotidien’s website is an informational website; it provides general company information such as the philosophy behind the business; its boulangerie, patisserie, ingredients sold in its store and, of course, the coffee stores. In addition to promoting its in-store services such as menu and its locations in the UK, Le Pain Quotidien publicises its catering services for parties and events. Moreover, news about Le Pain Quotidien appeared in press are also presented. However, no e-commerce function is integrated into its website.

The Twitter page of Le Pain Quotidien is frequently used to attract customers in the UK. The company makes efforts to engage with its customers by sending several tweets. As of 21 November 2012, the company sent 312 tweets and has 451 followers (https://twitter.com/le_pain_q_uk). Despite the high frequency in use of twitter, the nature of tweets is informational and aimed to increase traffic in its stores.

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4. New strategy objectives

In the course of its ongoing pursuit to expand its foreign operations, Le Pain Quotidien has also to cope with the prevailing economic crisis and to first safeguard its progress in UK, the brand has to formulate fresh marketing objectives. The recuperation from the recession has not been far from speedy and this potentially threatens Le Pain Quotidien’s UK operations and also affects its preparation for overseas expansion.

Context-specific studies reveal how Le Pain Quotidien took early initiative and made prior arrangements and modified its workings to deal with potential external dangers. For instance, the current fare is in keeping with health-related parameters proposed by relevant authorities, including a reduction in the quantity of fat and salt, and a greater emphasis on vegetables and fruits. The need of the hour is for Le Pain Quotidien to publicise these endeavours and increase its popularity. Given the current scenario, Le Pain Quotidien can be recommended to adopt the two following sales-related strategic goals:

1. Promoting the brand of Le Pain Quotidien in UK and enhancing the familiarity of its goods and services.

2. Gaining an edge over its rivals by publicising its introduction of healthier options for customers in the UK.

These could potentially lead to a 25% boost in total sales by 2015.

Also with this new strategy we want to achieve the following objectives online:

1. Branding to increase the value of Le Pain Quotidien.

2. Listen to our consumers to provide positive feedback.

3. Generate qualified traffic to the Le Pain Quotidien website.

4. Reach more potential customers.

5. Provide more value to Le Pain Quotidien customers.

6. Be ahead of our main competitors.

7. Being active online.

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5. Delivery

5.1 Create a database

According to Housden (2012) there are two key tools that no company should be without today: a customer-oriented Web site and a well-designed and well-maintained database, because a database enables us to manage a huge amount of data, with the following:

1. Customer addresses, fax, email, and telephone details.2. Customer values.3. Customer needs/usage4. Identify of decisions makers and budget-holders.5. Contact history.6. Results of promotions.7. Attitudes towards our company and products.8. Attitudes towards and usage of competitive products.

Housden (2012) states that the marketing database is used to further relationships with customers, because once the customer has filled the form with his personal details we can use that information to build the relationship.

The first thing we are going to develop is a database. The reason why we are going to create it is because with the current strategy we don’t have information about our consumers, about how they spend their money or who is interested on us, so we are not going to be able to create further relationships with our customers as Housden (2012) says.

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How are we going to get the personal information of our consumers?

- The registration will be online in a new section we’ll create in our Web page called “Le Pain Quotidien Club”. In this section where the “Log In” is, we will include a form to fill for those new consumers who want to be part of the club and want to have a loyalty card.

- The information that consumers will have to fill will be the following fields:

1. Title (Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms) (required)2. First Name (required)3. Middle Initial(s) (optional field)4. Surname (required)5. Date of birth (required)6. Gender (required)7. Postcode (required)8. Email address (required)9. Mobile phone number (optional field)

- We will inform our consumers about the Privacy Policy for their details and they will be able to choose if they want to receive offers and information about Le Pain Quotidien products and services or not.

- Shop assistants must ask customers if they want to have the “Le Pain Quotidien Club Card”. They also have to give information about it, and a paper with the instructions of how to do complete the online form in the section “Le Pain Quotidien Club” on our web page. In a few days they will receive the Club Card through the mail ready to use.

- Every time a customer buys something in Le Pain Quotidien, they can show their Club Card to obtain the points, but we will save the information about the products they bought so we know the preferences of our consumers and how much they are spending in Le Pain Quotidien. With this information we will be able to build a better profile about our consumers.

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5.2 Improve the Web page performance and usability.

According to Summers (2007) having a website is a great way to business to connect with new customers. According to Kenkai (n.d.) a website allows your business to be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There are millions of people, from all over the world, online at any time of the day. Many of them are looking to source products or services. Having a good website design it can allow you to attract new customers that otherwise would never find you. Also A well designed web site also gives them a reason to revisit the site in the future.

We think the current web page follows the brand image, with backgrounds of organic products and a simple style. On the other hand, analyzing its structure, there is lack of information. Thus, in order to solve this we are going to improve the organization and usability and we will also add more information inside the sections, making it more complete.

New sections and usability:

According to a Nielsen (2006) research, users who can’t find their way around easily (usually between 5 and 30 seconds) will often leave your website. If the information contained on the website is difficult to read or poorly structured chances are users won’t be able to find what they were looking for. This is why we are going to create the following sections:

1. Recipe book: This is where users will be able to post their own organic recipes made with our ingredients each month, as we will explain in more detail in the point 5.7.2 Le Pain Quotidien Recipe Competition (page 22).

2. Le Pain Quotidien Club: All the information about the advantages to be part of the club will be here. Consumers will be able to check their accounts and see the new promotions of Le Pain Quotidien and discover more things about the brand and about its activities. Also in this section, close to where the “Log In” is, we will include a form to fill for those new consumers who want to be part of the club and want to have a loyalty card. According to Kenkai (n.d.) a professional well designed website with the right content, easy navigation and quickly accessible contact details greatly increases customer confidence in your company.

3. We will add more information inside the old sections and the new ones, making them more complete.

Performance: We will develop the website so it will load quicker by reducing the size of the images saving them in the right format: PNG. According to Gube (2008) PNG typically produces a lower file size so it improves the performance of the Web page.

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5.3 Le Pain Quotidien Club Card: Loyalty card

According to Gartner, more than a 75 percent of consumers have more than one loyalty card that rewards them with redeemable points. Lamb et.al. (2011) state that the objective of loyalty marketing program memberships is to build long-term, mutually beneficial relationships between a company and its key consumers. Also according to Dahlen (2010) loyalty cards provide a source of customer data and the ability to profile for the organization, facilitating classically and so on. Taking into account what this authors say, we think they are good reasons why Le Pain Quotidien needs a loyalty card programme to build long-term relationship with new customers.

Main Steps to develop the “Le Pain Quotidien Club Card”

What do we need?

1. An identifiable card for the consumers. 2. A database to register the consumers personal details and their expenses. How are we going to do it?

- Shop assistants must ask customers if they want to have the “Le Pain Quotidien Club Card”, they also have to give information about it, and a paper with the instructions of how to do complete the online form in our Web page.

- Those customers who haven’t gotten the loyalty card and have completed the online form will receive the card within a few days to their residence so they can use it to get points whenever they want.

- “Le Pain Quotidien Club Card” is totally free, so all of our customers have the chance to enjoy the benefits of having this loyalty card.

What are we going to do?

- Each time that a consumer uses the card, he/she is going to get points according to the money they have spent.

- We will create a new section on Le Pain Quotidien website where club members will be informed about what is new, promotions, their balance and so on.

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Point system:

The card has two functions and ways to save points:

1. The first one is based on a money system: With each 25 pounds, the consumer gets a free pound to spend in the shop. In this way, customers will collect a balance in their cards, which they have the opportunity to change it as real money.

2. The second one is a registry of all of their points collected until the date. This will work as a ranking of points. For example: With 25 points (around 625 pounds spent in the shop)  it means a free meal. The main reason to do this is to encourage the consumers to spend in the brand, while they are rewarding for be a loyal client.

When someone reach the 100 points (around 2.500 pounds) they will turn into Gold members, who have more advantages like:

   - 10% discount in all products.    - Special treat    - Free entrance in Le Pain Quotidien Cooking School.

The reasons why we stabilised this values is because of the following reasons:

- We have established that a potential customer is one who spends at least 50 pounds a month in our stores. This amount is easily achievable with a meal and several visits to enjoy our pastry and organic products.

- Identified 50 pounds as the minimum expense for a potential consumer, we have established a point system which, is not hard to reach for those who do not reach the 50 pounds figure, but neither is a impossible mission. The main aim for this is to motivate our consumers to purchase continuously to reach the goals, but not too easy.

Thus, a potential consumer, on average will get 2 points per month. He/she could be able to use those points, for example in buying one of our cookies, or they can decide to keep them for a better award. Continuing with the example, if we focus now on the ranking points, apart from the use our consumer gives to the points (using the money or not) they will get a free meal each year. After four years they would be Gold member.

When are we going to do it?

- Since the beginning of the new strategy.

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5.4 Improve Le Pain Quotidien social media

In the last few years, several enterprises and brands have relied on social networks to promote their public image and to get in touch with potential clients and social media marketing (SMM), which is growing to become a vital marketing tool.

According to Buttle (2012) a relationship between the brand and consumers has to be dynamic because it changes over the time. According to Dwyer et.al. (1987) there are five general phases through which relationships can evolve:

1. Awareness: each party comes to the attention of the other.2. Exploration: giving more information about the brand, and about the consumer

as well.3. Expansion: a continuum communication process. 4. Commitment: when both part are agreed. 5. Dissolution: success.

Those phases are going to be successful if there is a continuum communication process. That is why we decided to improve Le Pain Quotidien social media, because having a constant social media communication will end up having a better dynamic relationship between both parts: the brand and the customers.

FACEBOOK

Le Pain Quotidien has an official page in Facebook with 24,048 followers but they don’t publish daily or weekly. Also, they do not answer all of the comments whether if they are content or unsatisfied customers that publish on their page.

The reason why we are going to improve Le Pain Quotidien Facebook Page is because with it they will be able to listen to their consumers and they will learn how to talk to them.

As we know Facebook is in the top of social network sites with more than 750,000,000 monthly visitors (eBizMBA, 2012). Improving this page, customers will be able to learn more about Le Pain Quotidien products, events, quizzes and new activities of the brand. According to Mestrovic (2011) Facebook pages for business have several advantages to support social media marketing strategies:

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1. With Facebook, brands can increase their visibility. The more people you are connected with will result with a higher visibility for your business and the chances to attract new customers (Mestrovic, 2011).

2. With the ability that Facebook has to share content more people become aware of your business, also they can visit your website to see what you have to offer (Mestrovic, 2011).

3. The more people get to know you, the more your brand will spread on Facebook and on the web as well. The name of this is: Branding (Mestrovic, 2011).

4. On Facebook you can gain trust and authority. You can’t buy trust and authority as you have to earn it in a long trust building process. Your audience will only listen to you when they think you are trustworthy. When your audience decides you are trustworthy, then your communication gets weight and your audience will listen to it and share it with their connections (Mestrovic, 2011).

How are we going to improve their Facebook page?

1. We will customize the page using a relevant cover photo and profile image for the new Facebook Timeline. We are doing this because according to Socialmedia Today (2012) choosing the right cover photo and profile image is the most important aspect of creating custom branded Facebook page for a business, because this is where most of the branding is done.

2. We will use custom tabs to create a better structure in the Facebook Page, for example having a custom tab pointing to Le Pain Quotidien products and new activities, another one where customers will be able to subscribe to Le Pain Quotidien and also one that points directly to Le Pain Quotidien Twitter. With this we will take advantage of the integration features that Facebook provides for connecting to other social networks like Twitter (Socialmedia Today, 2012). The custom tabs and icons will help grab attention and improve the visual appeal and usability of the page (Socialmedia Today, 2012).

3. An important thing is to post quality content. We believe that the only way to be successful on the social media is by sharing quality information with our audience regularly (Socialmedia Today, 2012). This is why Le Pain Quotidien will share information about daily and new activities related to the “Le Pain Quotidien Cooking School” and about the “Le Pain Quotidien Recipe Quiz”. It will also share information about their new products and will be able to give feedback to their consumers. We plan on prevention from negative comments that can damage the reputation of the brand with Community Managers.

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TWITTER

Le Pain Quotidien has an official UK profile in Twitter with only 451 followers. They share information with their followers more regularly than with their Facebook followers. They talk about their food of the day and special activities they do in their shops, in which is why we will maintain it.

As in Facebook the reason why we are going to improve Le Pain Quotidien UK Twitter profile is because with it they will be able to listen to their consumers and they will learn how to communicate with them.

Right now Twitter is the second most popular social network site in the eBizMBA (2012) ranking with more than 250.000.000 monthly visitors (eBizMBA, 2012).

According to Marketing Jive (2009) the benefits for businesses is the real-time gathering of information. With Twitter businesses can participate with their target audience about their frustrations or their positive experiences, businesses can use Twitter to keep their brand in the top of mind of their consumers. As in Facebook the brand can gain trust and authority because Twitter is a social environment so transparency and honesty can give a good reputation to the brand, also Twitter is a great way to promote (Marketing Jive, 2009).

How are we going to improve Le Pain Quotidien UK Twitter profile?

1. We will offer an alternative customer support option of those customers that have an issue or questions about topics related with the brand.

2. We will use Twitter as a tool to get closer to our customers and to react to our customers feedback, asking our followers what they like to read and watch, recommending them new food recipes with Le Pain Quotidien ingredients and invite them to upcoming activities of the brand such as the “Le Pain Quotidien School”, and the “Le Pain Quotidien Recipe Quiz”. Also we will inform about upcoming deals and discounts for their nearest stores.

3. We will offer an alternative subscription option in the UK Twitter profile to maintain information to our followers about the updates of the news published at the site.

4. With the custom tab we will create in Facebook with a direct link to Le Pain Quotidien UK Twitter Profile in which we will be able to increase the followers in our Twitter profile giving us the opportunities to reach more potential customers.

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5.5 E-mail Marketing

According to Magill (2011) the DMA puts e-mail marketings ROI for 2011 at $40.56 for every $1 invested. The figure for 2012 is predicted to drop down to $39.40, when e-mail will account for $67.8 billion in sales. Also a 2012 survey of consumer channel habits and preferences made by MarketingProfs (2012) found that the 77% of the consumers preferred to receive permission-based promotions via e-mail: 6% preferred such messages via social media. A similar survey of UK consumers found 69% with a preference for e-mail as the channel for brand communications Experian (2012). To sum up, E-mail was the channel most likely to get more investment in 2012, according to a survey of business leaders StrongMail (2011): 60% planned to increase their e-mail marketing budget. Social media was the next most popular at 55%.

With the results of this survey we decided to develop it in the new campaign taking advantage from the database we are going to create. We will send the e-mail to all those consumers who are in the database and said yes to the option “I want to receive offers and information about Le Pain Quotidien products and services”.

According to Brownlow (2012) the advantages of e-mail marketing are:

• It allows targeting.• It is data driven.• It drives direct sales.• It builds relationships, loyalty and trust.• It supports sales through other channels.

The reason why we want to do e-mail marketing is because we want to keep in contact with our consumers. With a continuum communication we will inform our consumers about what is new in Le Pain Quotidien. However, we have to be carefully about over-saturating them.

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How are we going to do e-mail marketing?

In order to achieve this, we will divide our e-mail marketing campaign in two approaches:

1. The first will consist in a monthly newsletter, telling all the news about the company. It will be monthly, so our consumers won’t be saturated with excessive information, reducing the amount of accumulated spam. This project manages the idea to collect useful information about Le Pain Quotidien each month, turning this newsletter in a short brand magazine. The information that consumers would be able to find inside will be the following:

- Monthly promotions. - The monthly winner of the recipe competition. - New cooking trends and recipes. - Interesting culinary interviews of Culinary Professionals. - New activities in Le Pain Quotidien and in the Cooking School.

2. The second approach of the e-mailing campaign will consist in a consumer’s recuperation. Analyzing their expenses in the Database, is possible to know who are our potential clients and who of those are spending less money in Le Pain Quotidien. In order to encourage them they will receive one e-mail:

- Asking what is wrong? - Asking what can we do to make them feel better and come back? - Giving new promotions to make them reconsider the offers.

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5.6 SEM & SEO

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) acts by emphasising their presence on search engine result pages (SERPs). SEM tools comprise search engine optimization (SEO), paid placement, contextual advertising, digital asset optimization, and paid inclusion. SEO is a method of revising the content and code of a website and thereby enhancing its presence on a single or multiple search engines.

The current trend in SEM is the development of organic SEO. This will help Le Pain Quotidien improving its ranking in search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. According to PRWeb (2012), local search directories receive 100 million hits monthly as consumers mainly prefer these engines to place a local business, particularly local coffee shops. Through optimising the website Le Pain Quotidien can improve its place in the local directories and therefore it can stand out from the other local coffee shops within London area.

Seeking for some words related with the brand, we have found that there aren’t any positive results. Words such as “organic”, “bakery”, and "bread” should be linked with Le Pain Quotidien webpage, but they aren’t. Thus, this is reason why we believe that the SEO system must be improved. We have developed a keyword table that will help Le Pain Quotidien to rank better:

Le Pain Quotidien Le Pen QutidieneLe Pain Quotiden Organic

Organic food Organic breadOrganic Bakery Bakery

Handmade Bread Handmade desertCooking school Recipe Competition

High Quality bread High Quality organic bread

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5.7 CRM

The objective of CRM is the consumer satisfaction, in order to achieve a successful long relationship. According to Buttle (2012) the consumer satisfaction could be defined as the customers fulfilment response to a consumption experience, or some part of it. The best way of developing customer satisfaction is to go beyond of the customers expectation, giving them a new experience. As Buttle (2012) says, to give a real experience isn’t the only reason to implement CRM operations. Carrying out those kind of actions increase revenue through an improvised customer satisfaction and loyalty.

That is the goal with our delivery strategy, but especially with our Cooking School and the Recipe Competitions. Le Pain Quotidien Cooking School is not just a service, it's a Le Pain Quotidien Experience, it is the best way to feel our values. Also, with the Recipe Competitions our consumers will participate directly with our brand, being part of it.

5.7.1 Le Pain Quotidien Cooking School

To show the values of the brand we will create “Le Pain Quotidien Cooking School”. In this school customers will be able to live the experience of Le Pain Quotidien in the middle of the English countryside with their organic and healthy foods.

Our “Le Pain Quotidien students” will learn how to elaborate bread, food and beverages with organic ingredients. They will also learn how to identify plants and special ingredients from the greenhouse and how to buy the best quality ingredients in the market with the top Culinary Professionals.

Le Pain Quotidien philosophy will influence everything, from the food we will create to the design of the school house to the materials we will use to build it. We will use reclaimed wood and recycled Gypsum in construction, energy-efficient lamps, and environmentally friendly cleaning supplies.

The cooking recipes will vary with the season so students will learn how to adapt their healthy meals with the seasonal ingredients. We will also break down the classes into sessions and level of difficulty.

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Main Steps to develop the “Le Pain Quotidien Cooking School”

What do we need?

1. A big house situated in the countryside. This place will have the following areas: - Bakery - Wine cellar - Greenhouse - Kitchen

2. Our professionals- Catering- Chefs (the teachers)- Nutritionists- Professionals for each different area (bakery, greenhouse and so on)

Where is the registration? How much is it?

Le Pain Quotidien customers will be able to join our cooking school through our Webpage. They will have to do the registration form and book the day they want to go: Saturday or Sunday.

The price will be: £ 20 the daily experience. £ 10 for those who have loyalty cards.

Free pass for the best consumers (100 points in their loyalty card).

What are we going to do?

All the courses will be available during the weekend, and our Culinary Professionals will teach about the following subjects:

- Bread making. - Wine elaboration and tasting. - Growing edible plants. - Cooking organic meals.

Important: The ingredients used in the recipes will vary with the season.

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When are we going to do it?

“Le Pain Quotidien Cooking School” will be open during the weekends (except public holidays).

Class Size: The size of all the classes will be no more than 10 students per class.

5.7.2 Le Pain Quotidien Recipe Competition

On our improved web page there will be a new section where users will be able to post their own organic recipes made with our ingredients, each month. The best recipes will be part of a competition and each month the best one will take part of our menu. Also the winners will be posted on our official Facebook page, so other customers can share their opinions about it. We believe the recipe competition would be a great way for customers to show us how much knowledge they know about our organic food, cooking and the most important of all is the knowledge of knowing about our brand.

In addition, this new section will be a place to share a lot of information about organic food and all their secrets. This will be a place where consumers will be able to make suggestions for any changes towards our meals to help improve it. With this we will be able to learn about our costumers and their preferences.

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6. Monitoring & Evaluation

One other important issue regarding establishing strategic partnership is its effect on performance. In other words, it is necessary to examine whether recommended partnership will bring desired outcome. To answer this question, several performance metric tools are developed.

The first and early signs of the impact of strategic partnership can be determined by financial indicators. Financial indicators help to measure the financial performance of a firm, and determine the economic achievements that are related to the organisational goals of the firm (Venkatramun and Ramanujam, 1986). Because the main goal of marketing is to increase the economic performance of the firm, these indicators are very useful in determining the success of the implemented marketing strategies. In this context, Le Pain Quotidien can examine changes in revenue, sold unit volume and the percentage of sold units in contributing profit. Changes in these metrics will give some idea to Le Pain Quotidien about whether proposed marketing plan will serve the desired outcome or not.

In addition to the financial metrics, Le Pain Quotidien can use survey based methods to measure the success of extended market mix. These methods include exploring consumers’ purchase intentions, their awareness towards brands, brand equity of offered products and their satisfaction with the products (Wu and Lo, 2009). Moreover, Le Pain Quotidien can use derived metrics such as market share.

With the use these metrics, Le Pain Quotidien can identify which products are the best seller and which of them do not sell. In the light of results, Le Pain Quotidien can change their product aspect of their marketing mix either ending producing undesired products or make adjustments to improve the products and re-launch them. Moreover, Le Pain Quotidien can identify if there is a potential market for their products through customer survey. In the light of survey results, Le Pain Quotidien can enter a new market. With the examination of unit sold, Le Pain Quotidien can identify if the business need to increase its marketing activities or not and therefore this will affect their physical evidence aspect of its marketing mix.

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The success of Le Pain Quotidien can be identified by key marketing metrics given below:

• Leads: refers to all visitors to Le Pain Quotidien store to consider a purchase• Leads Converted: estimated at 50% as many leads are not qualified as they are

pedestrian traffic • Average Transactions Per Customer: anticipated to increase significantly as customers

return for an increasing number of breakfasts each month• Average £ Per Customer: is similarly expected to increase along with average

transactions• Referrals: incorporates both customer and business referrals• PR Exposure: Number of times the business is mentioned online or in print that is not

paid advertising. Anticipated to spike and drop during opening followed by a plateau once a steady level is achieved

• Testimonials: Requested from the most loyal customers. Target is to obtain 5 great testimonials each month for a total of 60 per year which will be included as website content. Testimonials are likely to be recorded as videos wherever possible.

• Loyalty Club Members Added: Total expected to increase significantly as more customers understand the value of loyalty and repeated visits to Le Pain Quotidien Club.

The recommended marketing strategy can confer many benefits. Direct marketing, for example, comes with the advantage that it can be restricted to a smaller duration, stopped even after it has been launched, and can be restarted later when required. Its effectiveness can be quantified and therefore gauged in terms of the total loyalty cards issued, divided by sales. Marketing via email is inexpensive but has been proved extremely successful, and the response can be weighed by dividing the number of used vouchers by the original number of vouchers distributed.

Through cookery lessons, clients of Le Pain Quotidien get a chance to meet the chefs, which is a good way of enhancing customer loyalty. This is an effective marketing strategy also because it will augment the company’s revenues. The number of venues and lessons can be boosted if there is a sufficiently positive response, which could make this a considerable source of revenue. It success can be assessed by the percentage of sales made possible due to cooking lessons to the usual sales and the number of persons who enrol for the lessons.

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Two major positive consequences for the company can be identified in the case of donating to charities. Such donations are tax-deductable (RSM Tenon, 2011). Secondly, this would give Le Pain Quotidien publicity without having to spend on it, and the networking opportunities would help project the company in a favourable light in the public domain. This method’s achievement can be evaluated through the percentage of gains, which in turn can be determined by dividing the percentage of tax deduction by the amount paid as tax prior to deduction.

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7. Conclusion

The objective of this report was to develop a marketing plan for Le Pain Quotidien in order to increase its sales and create awareness towards its offerings. The examination of the market indicated that the coffee shop market in the UK is expected to growth and to benefit from this trend, it is necessary for Le Pain Quotidien to aggressively promote its offerings. The company’s present marketing communication plan is at the minimum level especially when the intense competition in the market is taken into consideration. Therefore, Le Pain Quotidien should follow the proposed strategy for promoting the brand in the UK.

It is believed that with the proposed marketing strategy, Le Pain Quotidien will achieve tangible benefits such as revenue growth but also intangible benefits including increased brand recognition and awareness towards the company products, better customer care which will build life-time relationship and higher brand loyalty. The intangible benefits will help Le Pain Quotidien to sustain its earnings and spread its revenue sources not only in London but also in the UK.

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