Report about Retail Marketing Mix

Table of Contents

Executive Summary 3

OMAN 3

Omani Economy 3

The relationship between US and Oman 3

Omanisation 4

Oman’s effort for new startups 4

Laws for Foreign Investments 4

Competition in the Omani Market 4

Jewelry Brands in Oman 4

Jawahar Oman 4

Deema Oman 5

Kalyan Jewelry 5

The Competition Law 5

Importance of service quality 5

Effective ways of managing Service Quality 6

Encouragement of Agent Feedback 6

Have agents to respond to calls 6

Post-contact surveys after interactions 6

Establish clear KPIs 7

Evaluate Regularly 7

Marketing Mix 7

References 10

Executive Summary of Retail Marketing Mix

In this report we have looked at all the aspects that the Shephard and Company would have to take into account before establishing its business in Oman. Oman is a country where people have regard for the art and culture a lot and that’s what the S&C would have to respect. Also there would be a lot of other factors like product, pricing strategy, place for the business etc. we have discussed all of them in detail in the following.

OMAN of Retail Marketing Mix

Oman is among the least populous countries of Arab. It mainly prospered from trade in the Indian Ocean. Its oil producing capacity is relatively less as compared to other Arab countries. The monarch Sultan Qaboos, did major changes in the cabinet and implemented reforms by expanding the regulatory and legislative powers of the government after the Arab Spring protests. Oman became a member of WTO in 2002 and is highly dependent on its oil resources for government revenues. 

Omani Economy of Retail Marketing Mix

Oman is in the category of middle-income countries. Its economy is based primarily on hydrocarbon resources. Around 73% of the government revenue is based on the crude oil and natural gas. The Omani economy is the 75th freest according to the 2020 index, and the score of its economic freedom is 63.6. It has a GDP of around $198.5 billion and the growth percentage is 2.1%. For the past 25 years its economy is in the moderately free category. The growth of GDP has been steady in the past years but was unremarkable. It is expected that improvements in the economic freedom would aid the government to develop a non-oil economy. Laws and regulations are in process that would help in making improvements in the business environment of the country and the foreign direct investment inflows would also be improved.

Omani Market of Retail Marketing Mix

Oman is a middle-income country and the major economy is based on the resources of hydrocarbons. Natural gas and the crude oil are 73% of the government revenues in 2017. Since 2017, Oman witnessed an increase in the nominal GDP by the estimated percentage of 0.3. despite the slowdown in the economic conditions over the last few years, the real state sector is continuously increasing as from 2014 to 2016 it increased 3.9% to 5.2%. the latest figures that were released from the ministry of Housing show indicate that the value of property that was treated during 2017 was amounted to $6.7 billion while the down was around 61%. The mortgage contracts that were registered had the steepest decline from 74% o $3.6 billion in 2017. The retail market of Oman is in transition and due to changing the preferences it is changing and declining. 

The relationship between US and Oman

 There is a strong bilateral relationship between the US and the Sultanate of Oman. This relationship is based on the joint commitment to security, stability and prosperity of the region. Among the Saudi Arabia, Kuwait the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain, Oman is also a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Oman has developed from a feudal-like state of subsistence farmers and fishermen which had only a six kilometers of paved road into an entirely different nation with modern infrastructure, and all the credit goes to the Monarch Sultan Qaboos. 

Omanisation of Retail Marketing Mix

The Omanisation programme has been in effect since 1999, its main objective is to develop trained Omani personnel. To provide jobs to the local Omanis is the goal of this programme. To provide jobs to the locals the state has subsidized the companies, this will gradually reduce the reliance on foreign workers. 

Oman’s effort for new startups of Retail Marketing Mix

To develop the trend of entrepreneurship in Oman the government is taking measures. To become a global tech and small to medium sized hub the Oman’s newly laid vision 2040, is helping to accelerate the country’s plans. In its long term plans Oman seeks to emphasize on non-hydrocarbon sector. 

Laws for Foreign Investments of Retail Marketing Mix

There has been promulgated a new law for foreign investments by the Ministry of commerce and Industry by the Oman’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry.  Its basic aim is to make Oman an attractive place for investment. To ensure a stable foreign investment policy this law was made. This law gives several incentives and advantages to the foreign investors as the foreign investors have an impact on the economic development. As per this Act foreign citizen, companies and investors will be able to have the 100%iwnership of their businesses in the Oman. 

Competition in the Omani Market of Retail Marketing Mix

Usually, if there is high competition in a market it is perceived as more attractive. Here are many barriers to entry that are faced by the new entrants, one of them is the competition it has to face by the existing businesses. Those businesses are already in an established state, they have a better knowledge of the buyer’s choices and other elements of operating in that particular business environment. So it is natural that Shephard & Company has to face competition from the existing companies in that market. As the Shephard & Company is a jewelry brand so it will have to face a direct competition from the existing jewelry brands in the Omani market. Shephard and Company is facing number of competitors in the market. The competitors are based on the market demand, revenues and customer satisfaction comparison. The competitors of Shephard & Company are Reaxis Inc., Advance Research Chemicals, Strem Chemicals Inc., DanChem Technologies, ChemDesign Inc., Boulder Scientific company, GFS Chemicals Inc., GFS chemicals Inc, and US salt LLC with the revenues of $27 million, $14 million, $11 million, $22 million, $28 million, $42 million, $169 million, and $10 million. 

Jewelry Brands in Oman of Retail Marketing Mix

In the following we are discussing the famous jewelry brands in Oman. Shephard & company have to face competition from them most probably;

Jawahar Oman of Retail Marketing Mix

So it is one of the most prestigious jewelry brand in Oman. It was established in 1977. Over the years this brand has progressed by making its own products. It is running successfully in the local market. Now, it is getting fame also in other key markets in Gulf region. This brand do not only has its own range of jewelry, but it also showcases the world’s finest wrist watches from some of the most prestigious brands of the world. This brand is particularly enjoying a kind of monopoly from the past few years.

Deema Oman of Retail Marketing Mix

This is another luxury brand of jewelry in Oman. This brand was founded with a very clear approach and focus. This brand offers unique and exquisite designs of jewelry. The uniqueness of this brand is that it has taken inspiration from the art, history, architecture and breathtaking landscapes of Oman. This brand also has won many accolades for its innovative designs as well.

Kalyan Jewelry of Retail Marketing Mix

Kalyan jewelry in Muscat is also a brand in Muscat that offers a fine collection of diamond, gold and pearl jewelry. It also showcases a fine collection of chains, gold bangles, diamond rings, platinum bracelets, pendant sets, toe rings, gemstones etc.

The Competition Law of Retail Marketing Mix

The government of Oman has given a competition law, to provide a level playing field to every company. This law will reduce the effects that the large businesses have on the prices and products. It has a very clear aim and that is to reduce the exploitative forces on the customers. This law has taken into account, the arrangements that aim to gain a control over the quantity and prices of products and services. It has also made an effort to keep the firms from attaining any dominant position in the market. It has made sure that monopolies do not restrict the entry of other market players. It has also restricted any kind of merger, acquisition or arrangements that would give any company a dominating position. 

So by this act the government of Oman has taken a step to allow start-ups to grow and take the advantage of level playing field. This is definitely of great advantage for Shephard and Company. It would have to face competition but at least it would not have to deal with a monopoly and that is a great advantage, and also equal opportunities are provided to every business, so that is a plus point as well. 

Importance of service quality

By the quality of your customer service a customer gets to know how much your business cares about him. A business can offer really good quality products, but if they do not make their customer feel valued they are not going to make any significant profits. So a business really needs to keep its best and well-behaved and good natured employees at the frontline. If the customer service and quality of a business are top notch, there are fair chances of your business winning the customers over. All of the interactions of your company with the customer are included in the customer service. 

About fifty years ago, customer service was merely the transactions of customer and business on phone, letters or in-person conversations. Now there have been significant additions in the form of email, text, social media and the websites as well. No matter how a business interacts with the customers it should always be good and should make the customer feel valuable. Considering the past years, the importance of service quality has been increasing with the concern in many fields. The excellent service quality has been considered as a major competitive and supremacy in terms of services. The service quality in Omani market has been increasing rapidly. As a result of improvement, every consumer in the market is being facilitated from their own perception. The objective is to measure the quality services and how it is important component for the customers. Different researches on Omani market have shown that the public and market has a greater expectation from the quality institutions and better concern is with the customer satisfaction. 

Effective ways of managing Service Quality

In making a customer engagement strategy effective, one of the most critical aspect is making the customer service better. This can be achieved by making not only the individual agent performance better but also the practices of quality management should be kept in place. Following we are discussing seven techniques by which the Shephard and Company can make its customer service effective;

Encouragement of Agent Feedback of Retail Marketing Mix

The agents of any business are in direct contact with the customers, they have the first-hand knowledge of customer’s expectations. So the encouragement of customer’s feedback relating to the improvement in customer services is therefore important, whereas the feedback from peers can also encourage team building and by that agents can learn from the experience of peers.

Have agents to respond to calls of Retail Marketing Mix

Agents should be given an opportunity to listen to their calls, when the discussion is going on for which points should be improved. By the close analyization of points such as tone, an ability to achieve the first call resolution, and thoroughness, the agents can get an idea of what exactly their service looks like and then improvements can be made.

Post-contact surveys after interactions of Retail Marketing Mix

It does not matter as to what is prioritized in a contact center customer-service operations, the first priority should be given to customers. This could mean that the importance of feedback of customers is just as much as the importance of peer or agent feedback. In quality management, consistent requests for feedback should be made after each interactive session. The surveys that are done after an interactive session, must include questions that directly addresses the needs of customers and also their preferences and also there should be a free-response section for additional comments.

Establish clear KPIs of Retail Marketing Mix

The employees of all the contact center must know what KPIs they should take care of, so the establishment of clear goals is essential. These KPIs should also be viewed by the manager and agents, along with their personal achievements. The tools such as gamification can be used to motivate the employees to meet their goals and deliver their best.

Evaluate Regularly of Retail Marketing Mix

To consistently help the managers in making improvements in their performance, the agents should be coached and evaluated on a regular basis. For instance, once a week monitoring of calls, and providing prompt feedback allows the agents to work on their feedback on regular basis.

Other Factors that would help in improving Quality Service

Following are the factors that would help in improvement of quality of service, 

• Tangibles; appearance of physical equipment, it is natural that when a customer sees something he gets a better idea of what he is buying so the customers should be given enough opportunity to examine the product they are buying.

• Reliability; it is the quality that if not present in the seller, no one will buy from him. It is very significant for the seller to develop a trust among him and customers. So, if Shephard and Company want to establish itself in the market it must be able to gain the trust of customers. Mostly this trust is developed by delivering the product of quality.

• Responsiveness; S&C should respond promptly to customer’s queries and problems and should be honest and kind in doing so. In this way the customers will have the notion that they can ask whatever they want and then they will get satisfied about the product and its quality.

• Courtesy; courtesy is always the key to win over someone, same rule applies in business too.

• Understanding the needs of customer; a business gets success when it delivers to customers whatever they need. So Shephard and Company should deliver to customers the product of their desires, and for that they have to get to know the needs and wants of their customers.

Marketing Mix of Retail Marketing Mix

Marketing mix is made by a combination of seven elements of marketing, and their aim is to work together for the achievement of objectives of marketing. These seven elements include, product, price, place, promotion, people, process and physical.

• so the first element is the product, it constitutes to what exactly the company would offer to the customers, in the case of S&C the main product is jewelry and accessories. The product range of S&C also includes, timepieces, sterling silverware, china crystal, stationery, fragrances and accessories. 

• Price, constitutes the next component of marketing mix and it is the value that the company would demand from the customers in exchange of its products. The price is basically based on the cost of production, the targeted segment, the ability of the market to pay, the supply-demand relationship and some other factors. There are different pricing strategies like cost plus pricing, competitive pricing, value-based pricing, price-skimming and price penetration. But the most suitable strategy for establishing itself in the Omani market would be Price Skimming, as the Omani market already has a lot of established jewelers as discussed above, setting a lower price at first would generate the impact that the quality of the product is not so good. So, a market skimming strategy would be the best for S&C.

• Place; the best place would be the one that would catch the eye of the customer the most. So the best place would be the capital city Muscat. Later on the company could also establish stores in other cities but to get a kick start it is better to choose a location that would make the best business and best sales. 

• Promotion; as S&C are just entering the Omani market. It is very essential for them to launch a very enthusiastic marketing campaign. If people would not get to know about the product or the brand then there are no chances of getting any good business, doesn’t matter how good their designs are or the quality of their products. So to launch a powerful promotional strategy it is very essential to know what makes S&C unique to others. That uniqueness would be the focal point of the promotional strategies. Now the uniqueness of S&C could be that it is a foreign brand and is already running a successful business in New York. 

• People; so the people that the business would use for sales in their stores in Oman should be the ones who are experienced and who have a knowledge of the Omani markets and customer needs. It is very important to keep in mind that the sales personnel should be aware of the wants and needs of customers and how to interact with them as in every country the way of talking and ethics are different according to the culture. So it is better if S&C would use the sales staff from the local markets as they already would have the knowledge of the Omani market customs and they would make a better and comfortable interaction with the customers as well.

• Processes; the process of delivering the product would be initially through stores. As the business needs to get an understanding of the market first and its norms and sales through stores is the most conventional way of selling so it would be better to use it and not to experiment. Once S&C gets a thorough understanding of the market it can also move its business online and make sales through that channel as well.

• Physical Evidence; this is the last P in the 7Ps of marketing mix, this constitutes to the physical or tangible aspect of what the company is delivering to the customer. 

The marketing mix and the 4 Ps of the marketing are considered for the facts associated with the market. the marketing mix of Shephard & Co as discussed earlier refers to the variables that are required by the marketing manager to be controlled. The variables can be summarized as the four Ps of the marketing, product, price, promotion, and place. All the defined aspects of the market are considered in the analysis as product refers to aspects such as firm portfolio of products, differentiation from competitors, newness of product, superiority to rival’s product and other terms of quality.   

References of Retail Marketing Mix

Ahmed, A., 2018. Types of Promotional Strategies. [Online] 

Available at: https://bizfluent.com/info-7736814-types-promotional-strategies.html

Buller, A., 2019. Oman's startup opportunity. [Online] 

Available at: https://www.wamda.com/2019/10/oman-startup-opportunity

economictimes, 2020. Definition of 'Marketing Mix'. [Online] 

Available at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/marketing-mix

Sherman, F., 2019. Why Is Quality in Customer Service Important?. [Online] 

Available at: https://bizfluent.com/about-5437915-quality-customer-service-important.html

worldbank.org, 2019. Oman's Economic Update — October 2019. [Online] 

Available at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/gcc/publication/oman-economic-update-october-2019