There is no longer any doubt that todays tourism has been rapidly ascendancy to the worlds largest industry, even in Malaysia, a under developing country. Since last decade, Malaysia endeavors promotes its a multicultural country as an attraction to worldwide tourists because of the high currency exchange and high cash flow of tourism industry leave positive impacts to the economy. Meanwhile, government of Malaysia offers subsidies to arouse the business of tourism in host country aim to improve the local tourism development. Such a small company, Genting Strawberry Leisure Farm(delegated by GS) has establish their new tourism attraction where located in Genting Highlands of Malaysia.
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2.0 MARKETING MIX DEVELOPMENT AND CURRENT PRACTICES OF GENTING STRAWBERRY LEISURE FARM
Take aim of Genting Highlands as a world well-known tourism attraction, Genting Strawberry Leisure Farm Sdn Bhd established in this mid of year with the agreement of twelve years lease with Genting Group. As the name suggest, the main attraction of Genting Strawberry Leisure Farm is strawberry plantation, which is extremely rare in this tropic country and initially merely available in Cameron Highlands of Malaysia. Thus, the main competitor of GS is only Cameron Highlands and they can regard as monopoly players in Malaysia. Genting Highlands with the temperature around 14˚c to 25˚c is definitely adequate for strawberry planting. Others, the location of GS take advantage of close proximity with town and citizen, relatively; Cameron Highlands is rather remote place and required both long distance and time to reach. By the reputation and loyalty of Genting Highlands visitors, GS reduces the start up cost of advertisement and promotion in long term and wisely spends cost in developing marketing strategy to gain competitive advantage.
The main concept of GS is providing a farm experience for townsfolk and family groups to have the opportunity to pluck strawberry and learning about the plantation of various fruits and vegetables. Different customer has different need depend on the diversity life style and their ability to pay. It therefore makes a sense for marketers to segment the market with special characteristics and target the customer group to develop marketing strategy. () GS’s target customer segmentation is townsfolk and family groups who earn a middle and high income and desire to having leisure time to reduce the pressure of work on the other hand improve the family relationship by experienced a memorable trip. As what already present in Cameron Highlands, GS provides a large strawberry farm for visitors to self plucking strawberry and offers the product range of strawberry such as juice, jam, apparels, and many other strawberry pattern souvenirs. However GS different from them is it a combination of several attraction in their leisure farm. Despite provide strawberry plantation visit and self plucking service, they are mushroom farm, orchids and cactus plantation who create an educational and healthy environment visitation, similarly with the concept of ecotourism. Considered the large amount of costs spend to the construction and advertisement and distribution of the leisure farm, GS recovers the costs by rent shops to diver businesses yet increase the products assortment in the farm. These rent shops created as an attraction known as “Cameron Road” where sold various souvenirs, fresh vegetables and food with the decoration of aboriginal style building design. This implies that visitors can feel and obtain what they expected in Cameron Highlands, including the attraction of spring-like climate. In the current marketing practice, products in tourism industry are designed for and continuously adapted to match the needs and expectations of target consumer and their ability to pay. Apart from selling fresh strawberry, GS develop product differentiation by suit the need of them, such as healthy strawberry jam. Genting Strawberry jam is different from the supermarket because they promote ‘homemade’ recipe, which is less sugar, no MSG, and no colouring to adapt today’s healthy lifestyle people. There are also a workshop where exhibits the live procedure of strawberry jam making by recruited specialized man in order to giving an educational experience trip to visitors on the other hand promote the sale of strawberry jam. Look forward the boost of instant coffee in the consumer market, Genting Strawberry develops strawberry flavor instant coffee with its own brand. Normally, the product of tourism is depends on personal selling, thus the service and attitude of employees is key role to deliver the product to consumers. Due to Genting Highlands tend to local and international tourists, all of the employees of GS required the basic knowledge of English as international language and communication tool with their customers. Besides, through training, they are familiar to the products and enable to promote the benefits of the products in accordance with customers’ need.
Price of the products is the key role of revenue of GS because they have no charge entrance fee. One important of pricing strategy of GS implemented is no entrance fee although the collection of entrance fees would reduce the paid back period. According to the director of GS, entrance fee is a barrier to the visitors especially family who may raised the perspective of reduce the expenditure on purchasing good and service. In contrary, free entry given visitors a happy feeling and would likely to spend money products and service more than expected. Price adjustment of products and services is relevant to the image of the company. ()As outline that Genting Highlands is a well known international attraction, it is no wonder the price of products and service adjusted to be higher because of its market value. Similarly, the strawberry products’ price definitely higher than the products sold in Cameron Highlands and supermarket because of its branding and value. Again, as a new products and service, GS used the market-skimming strategy which is setting a high price for a new product to skim maximum revenues layer by layer from the segments willing to pay the high price.() However, they are also some of the range products used the strategy of discount and allowance in special event such as seasonal discount. ()For instance, chocolate and sweet always the hot pot product during the Christmas season, therefore Genting Strawberry attracts customers to buy their branding strawberry flavor chocolate with offering free gift.
Promotion comprising the efforts of sales promotion, advertising, sales forces activities, public relation and direct marketing by company to deliver products and service to the customer.() Owing to a new brand in the tourism market, Genting Strawberry pay lots of cost to the advertisement and distribution channel aim to build strong identify brand and awareness to the local citizens and foreign tourists. In the part of advertising, they purchase on various magazine and newspaper to spread their attractions over the country. In today’s world, there is no doubt the power of internet and technology deeply influences the perspective of consumers.() Since Facebook is the popular website for today’s people regardless the age, race or culture, GS created a fan club in Facebook to spread their news and promotion to all over the world. Considered cost spent on the advertisement is a huge expenditure, post the news on internet is an effective way to reduces cost consumption. One of the target customers of GS is office workers who stress in workplace and require an ideal relax place. GS with the fresh air and approach to the environment again close proximity from town is the ideal place to spend weekend and holiday. GS realizes radio is the most influencing media to almost citizens because the serious problem of traffic jam in Malaysia leads FM becoming popular in the car journey. Through collaboration with My FM, the hottest FM in Malaysia, the famous DJ study out redemption game show as an approach to increase citizens’ awareness and their motivation to visit new attraction. To build strong identify brand, they also invite well known local actor, Jack Lim to be the spoke person of GS. Travel agent is a key distribution channel in tourism industry and develop integrated communication relationship with them is necessary. In order to increase visitors and sale, GS offers fifteen per cent of commission to the tour guides on the sale of item purchased by the visitors they bring to motive they organize trips to the farm. Regarding taxi and van drivers also a tourism agent to visitors, GS also develop long term relationship with them by offering promotional allowance for them, such as commission and parking fee. Since the promotional allowance strategy implemented, the attendance of travel buses, vans, and taxis increase immensely following the sale of strawberry and products. Voucher and brochure is common promotional strategy among marketers, including GS. They offer brochure within the voucher of five per cent discount and allocate to stakeholders such as travel agents, restaurants, hotels and also publisher like magazine and newspaper. In order to increase visitors’ motivation, they adjust the discount to ten per cent as tactic to increase stream and boost products sale.
For marketing purposes, place not merely mean the location of a tourist attraction or facility but the location of all the points of sale that provide prospective customers with access to the tourist products. () Genting Highlands known as the world of entertainment majority access to visitors like family groups who expected a memorable holiday experience. This concept fitting to the vision of GS which is provide educational and experience trip to family group, especially children. As a result of marketing decisions, prospective visitors go to Genting to obtain both exciting and dreamy family trip they expected. To deliver a message of whole family day to visitors, GS engaged in obtain a status where listed in the background of Genting Highlands and establish exhibition stalls at Genting Highlands. Others, brochures and vouchers offered to the customers of the Genting’s hotels as a strategy to increase visitors’ awareness. Meanwhile, GS develops public relation with the executive of Genting Highlands as well as the distribution channel in order to increase reputation and the possible of business collaboration in the future.
3.0 ONE YEAR INTEGRATED MARKETING PLAN SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
A good marketing plan is need for a company to sustainable competitive advantage in the industry and conversely making a wrong choice may lead to costly financial burden and facing deficit. () In addition to the five forces model of industry competition, Michael Porter study out a framework of so-called generic business strategies based on the focus on either cost or differentiation advantage strategies. (Keegan W.J., Green M.C., 2005) In other words, while a cost focus offering a target market low price, a company pursing focused differentiation will offer a target market the perception of product uniqueness at a premium price. Strawberry is very common in Cameron Highlands since there are many strawberry suppliers with self-plantation lower the cost of distribution and hence low price. Even the unique strawberry farm in Genting Highlands, GS facing the competitors who obtained strawberries from retailers of Cameron Highlands and promote their products using pull strategy. That is they sell their strawberry by employees direct selling from house to house. To gain competitive advantage, GS requires focused on good and service differentiation to their target customers. In order to customers’ convenience, GS can offers transport service like mini buses or vans station nearby airport and crowd areas specifically to carry foreigners and citizens to visit their farm. This suggestion required expensive costs to the company but is valuable in long term when more and more people awareness and having happiness experience in the tourism place because people to people transmission is one of the most effective media without publicity expenses. Others, they may develop integrated marketing communication with the hotels to future business development. For example, through communication with particular hotel department, GS offers ten per cent discount to the hotels’ customers and similarly the customers with the purchase receipt of GS can get a free breakfast in the hotels concerned. The business which achieves win-win situation would improve driving force of the stakeholders of the company, compare to just exchange brochures in preciously.
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Branding has become so strong that today hardly anything goes unbranded. () Although GS has its own brand and trademark, the packaging design of the products is lack of innovation and fails to leave a deep perspective to customers. To be different from the strawberry product range in the market, GS requires develop innovative packaging which can give the company an advantage over competitors and boost sales. Consider plastic bag is such material damaged the environment, GS can instead by their branded reusable bag or so called green shopping bag which is implemented by many companies with good respond of customers. In addition to implement social responsible, the attracted design of reusable bag would beautify the packaging of the products and attracts more buyers. T-shirt is one of the hot sell products in tourism industry and to be different from others GS can develops family series apparel particularly for their target customer, family groups. Fashionable apparel design with GS logo would become the ideal souvenir for household visitors or even couple groups to keep a happy memory, and this new product can set higher price because it is branded and unique in Malaysia.
As outline that the main idea of GS is to provide a leisure farm for visitors to experience the life style in farm village with product assortment. In the one year plan, considering it is new and still having vacant lot, GS can look for the potential business partnership such as chocolate gallery shop, vineyard or garden shed to increase product assortment in the leisure farm. In term of the consideration of place, the climate of Genting Highlands is definitely suitable for these products design and plantation and again the uniqueness in Malaysia. The introduction of flowers and grapes self plucking services must attract today’s urbanization people by advertising in media such as television, radio, or website. Besides, though participation of these potential businesses partners would increase the motivation of travel agents, including taxi, bus, and van drivers because of the increasing of commission they gained.
4.0 CONCLUSION
The development of differentiation products and services will incur additional costs to a company in creating their competitive advantage. Companies seek to recover the cost expenditure by increase in revenue generated by sale. By selling in a higher price, GS requires ensure the quality of the products and services. Apart from ensure the quality of products especially food products such as expired date of jam, the quality of customer service is crucial. GS gains competitive advantage since its uniqueness and geographical benefits and potential development is widely. The recommended one year marketing plan considered would enhance the competitive advantage and boost the revenue of GS through high awareness and achieve customers’ loyalty.
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