Innovation And Managing Consumer Markets

Importance of sustainable business practices for both business and society

Discuss about the Innovation and Managing Consumer Markets.

Consumer markets characteristically refer to the place where the customers or buyers are able to acquire the particular good or service they require. In general consumer markets refer to those particular markets which offer goods or service which the buyer has to consume and cannot be offered for resale. This distinguishes the consumer market from the typical market where the both kinds of products i.e. the ones that the buyer has to consume and cannot be resold by the buyer to anyone other buyer e.g. foods, and services, and the other kind of market is the one place from where the buyer is able to purchase products which they themselves can use and if they desire they can sell it to another individual (Ang, n.d.). Management of the both kind of the markets vary based on several factors such as the psychographic, demographic, geographic, and behavioral factors. The focus of this paper being the consumer markets management a discussion on these factors and the impacts these factors have on the business is presented here with the view to provide a brief yet comprehensive understanding of this particular aspect.

The essential objective of sustainable business practices is to preserve the natural resources of the environment along with carrying out entrepreneurial activities. This objective was adopted by businesses after the need to preserve the environment and ecological balance around us felt. It is evident that businesses rely on natural resources in order to sustain therefore, the need was felt that the resources were indispensable, and in order to carry on the modernization of the businesses resources were required. However, the exploitation or wastage of the natural resources in business practices could be avoided if the businesses were extra conscious (Caouette & Caouette, 2008). This step was necessary in order to preserve and maintain the balance in the environment so that the future generations would also be able to enjoy their lives. With this perspective the businesses had to adopt corporate and social responsibilities in their infrastructure which would serve as a yardstick to measure the businesses commitment towards environmental sustainability (Yesawich, 2008).

In addition, laws were also framed which prohibited the businesses from exploiting or damaging the ecosystem in any manner. The legalization of the sustainability served as deterrent measure which deterred the businesses from willingly exploiting or damaging the environment in any manner. This measure led the businesses to adopt initiatives which would further engage them in the Environmental Protection, Economic Development, and Social Development. The environmental protection activities which the businesses are compelled to adopt in their business practices restrain them from damaging the environment (“Contract Pricing in Consumer Credit Markets”, 2012). The economic development clauses make it mandatory for the businesses to provide fair wages to its employees and proper incentives. The social development clauses obliges the businesses to provide a healthy working environment to its employees, along with it providing proper health programs if the business activities require exposing employees to potentially hazardous environments, in addition, social development further disallows businesses from practicing racial, national or religious discrimination in its practices.

Identification of service product opportunities

The products that the particular business offers to its consumers are typical Vietnamese delicacies which are meticulously prepared to attract the modern food lovers who love eating foods which resemblance towards fast foods. The observation is evident from the menu items like the Fried Lemongrass Chicken Wings which of course is a variation of the typical chicken wings prepared by most of chain fast food businesses, and it’s Fresh Noodle with Grilled Lemongrass Fiillet Fish and Fried Spring Rolls which is obviously a variation of the fish noodles prepared in Chinese or Japanese cuisines. The variation can be found in the restaurant’s Vegetarian Bento Sets which offer the consumer a typical Vietnamese cuisine. The possible opportunity that the business has is that the business should to promote more Vietnamese food items in their menu instead of creating something out of the existing (Hassan, 2011). Although it is not recommended that they should remove the other similar food items from their menu but they would have a very potent opportunity in making their business a success if they would promote more Vietnamese cuisines.

At present the restaurant offers parcel or ‘to go’ or pickup services to its customers along with the option where the consumers would be able to sit and eat in the restaurant. They also provide delivery services to their consumers their delivery services cater to the customer’s desired destination. The business at present is providing the conventional services which most of the fast food restaurants incorporate in their infrastructure and there is less need for altering any kind of services at the moment (Keegan, 2009).

The chief focus that the business should have is the quality of the products and services they are offering to their consumers. This is due to the reason that the business is typically a consumer based business and the serving the consumers with efficiency and variation in their products would be the best possible marketing option for them (Yesawich, 2014). For this the business requires to understand the taste and preference of the consumers in general. This will include consumers who are regular to the establishment and the consumers who often choose the establishment for food. Understanding this would go a long way to manage the consumer market for the business.

When it comes to managing the consumer market the essential focus should be on the manner the business is presenting itself in front of its customers. Therefore, the functional area that relates to the presentation of the business practice should be taken into consideration in this regard. This will include the behavior of the employees towards their customers (Lindbeck & Wikstrom, 2010). Behavior does not only include the manner the serving person behaves while taking order or attending customers it also refers to the overall performance of the entire team while a customer is present in the establishment which further includes, employee behavior, order processing, duration taken for processing the order, entertainment services for those eating in the establishment, maintaining the hygiene in the preparation of the food to serving the food, and maintaining the overall hygiene of the establishment.

Functional areas that must collaborate to consumer markets for sustaining a viable business

The business should also conduct market researches in order to learn the advantages their competitors are having over them in order to gain competitive advantage. This would provide them with the extensive knowledge and understanding regarding the taste and choices of the people in general and later on they can design their menu accordingly based on the analyses they had performed on the taste and preference of their prospective customers.

The modern businesses have a potential business opportunity in the tropics at the present moment. This is essentially due to the reason that the tropics are becoming the center of tourism business in the recent times. This is due to the reason that most of the other regions have been more or less visited or explored by numerous tourists and there are numerous other sources from where the people are able to acquire a taste of the other regions. However, the tropical countries have not been the center of tourism in the past, and this is the primary reason that tourists love to travel to this places with the view to gain firsthand experience of the tropics. Therefore, in this regards businesses in the tropics are certainly expected to observe heightened traffic as a consequence to the added numbers of the tourists. These businesses also have the opportunity to promote their businesses in the international levels if they are confident enough to do so. The tourism would provide the required marketing advantage they would require in order to promote their businesses in the overseas market.

Another important aspect is that the businesses in the tropics are experiencing a developing economy which aids greatly in gaining foreign investments. This is due to the reason that the foreign investors from the developed economies would easily be able to invest their capital as a result of the devalued currency (Paxton, 2011). This essentially means that the investors would be able to invest more as the value of their currency would be higher than that of the currency value of the concerned nation they are investing in.

The prime target of the consumer management is to satisfy the consumer with the product or service of the customer’s choice. Therefore, in this regard the business is required to focus on maintaining and developing on the quality of the food and service they are offering to their customers. The business can simply make certain that the recipes that they involve in creating their cuisines are kept secret so that the customers find their choice of food from them and their stores only (Rajagopal, n.d.). In addition, they should look upon the aspects of services and provide more appeasing services such faster delivery system compared to their present one and the delivery system of their rivals. This would compel the consumers to avail their services instead of going to other businesses. This is due to the reason that the consumers would be able to obtain better and faster services which would in turn aid the consumers in saving good amount of time.

The business for better sustainability and preserving their regular customers can incorporate subscription facilities to them. This kind of facility would facilitate the consumers to obtain various food items for their lunch or dinner as they would prefer. This would save the customer from the daily hassle of placing a delivery order each and every day (Schrank & Running, 2016). They would simply be required to subscribe to a certain plan which the business would design to suit their customers taste, the business then would deliver the food to the customer on the appointed time on regular basis. The business can also provide a certain amount discount or other benefits to the customer as with this approach they would be able to heighten their customer retention.

Conclusion

Consumer management can be a critical task but greatly aids the businesses in sustaining their business, products and services. The more sustainability the products and services have the more success the business is capable of gaining out of it (Wang & Haruvy, n.d.). This approach further requires understanding the essential business approaches like understanding the importance and aspects of sustainability, and understanding the psychographic, demographic, geographic, and behavioral factors that critical affect the business. This has been the primary focus of this paper and an effort has been made to provide an understanding on the critical subject matter.

References

Ang, E. Innovation and Consumer Markets. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2022725

Caouette, J. & Caouette, J. (2008). Managing credit risk. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.

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Keegan, S. (2009). Qualitative research. London: Kogan Page.

Lindbeck, A. & Wikstrom, S. (2010). The ICT revolution in consumer product markets. Consumption Markets & Culture, 4(1), 77-99.

Paxton, M. (2011). Company study: managing mature markets. Journal Of Consumer Marketing, 8(3), 63-67.

Rajagopal, D. Managing Global Brands in Bottom Line Markets. SSRN Electronic Journal. Schrank, Z. & Running, K. (2016). Individualist and collectivist consumer motivations in local organic food markets. Journal Of Consumer Culture.

Wang, Y. & Haruvy, E. Tiers in Consumer Fractional Ownership Markets. SSRN Electronic Journal.

Yesawich, P. (2014). A Market-Based Approach to Forecasting. Cornell Hotel And Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 25(3), 47-53.

Yesawich, P. (2008). Planning: The Second Step in Market Development. Cornell Hotel And Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 28(4), 71-81.