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They strive to provide the next best experience for aspiring athletes, employing staff with the knowledge and passion to give this high standard of service. Currently, Epic Board Shop is in the infantile stages but has goals to expand to a common name in the extreme sports industry, with the prominent goal to put an Epic Board Shop next to every Gummier location in the country. The impact they are attempting on the public includes community events, competitions, and social media.
With their closely knit team they have a good concept of what the target demographic is looking for and hey continue increase their appeal constantly. Merchandise offered by the Epic Board Shop is high quality and highly specific. They offer clothing and apparel that gratifies the target market, boards including: skateboarding, longstanding and snowboarding; as well all major names in hardware and accessories.
Because of the passion and field knowledge this team has first-hand experience and knowledge of the area and technology they are working with. As a Marketing Team, we want to improve the hospitality and positive responsiveness from the general public while increasing the frequency of loyal customers. The plan to accomplish this will be to create a loyalty program, whether that means something as simple as a punch card or e-mail list, or a more complex purchase based tracking system that applies rewards and discounts.
We also want to encourage a positive friendly atmosphere, where people that have never been to the Boards and also people that don’t board, will feel comfortable and confident entering. There is a very closed off vibe that I noticed the first time I entered, the only reason I returned was because I knew it was a small business and I like to support small businesses. We want to also encourage more structure so they can better delegate and specialize in every area of their business, from marketing to customer service.
GOALS CLIENT * Firmer establishment of Epic Boards on the market * Open an Epic Boards next to every Gummier in the United States TEAM * Build a comprehensive plan for our client * Aid the increase of client brand and awareness SOOT Marketing Plan – Bishoprics By ginghams THE MARKETING PLAN By: Giovanni Conclaves, Moan Powell and Corny Waffled Epic Boardroom’s strengths come from the close knit relationships between the employees, they have a common goal and are working towards it together.
The current store locations are suited to and stocked according to their demographic, ‘e. The Gateway store in Salt Lake City deals more with Skate equipment and accessories, while the Park City store is angled towards mountain and winter sports. WEAKNESSES: Epic Boards is still more of a Boutique store, albeit one with ideals of expansion. As such, costs can be a little higher than the average department style store such as Dicks or Gummier where a larger variety of items is available.
Currently, the promotion or Epic Boards seems to be negligible. At a recent event held in Gateway while Epic Boards was mentioned over the loudspeaker as being a Sponsor of the event, no actual signage was up to indicate this or to promote the Store despite being in the same location. Epic Boards does have an online media presence via Faceable and Instating but the posts are irregular and not very dynamic. One of the posts was even quite negative towards vandals who caused an event to be cancelled.
This negativity online, may be understandable but is not the right forum for a professional operation hoping to establish their name. OPPORTUNITIES: The popularity of board sports in the United States is growing at a rate of 3% per year – it is a slow growth industry, but the retention rates are quite high which is something Epic Boards can take advantage of. They also have the opportunity to improve their current marketing by looking over what has and what has not worked for them in the past and putting into action new marketing plans.
THREATS: Board sports are increasing in popularity with an expanding demographic. This could lead to increased competition and market saturation. Larger department stores with heir wider range of products tend to be more popular than boutiques as they are able to provide more competitive prices. SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS STEP Segmentation: Markets can be broken down into separate segments, each made up of customers with similar wants, needs and buying habits. Ex. : boarders, sports, radical adventures.
Targeting: You need to identify the consumers you want to market your product to and determine the growth potential of the product in the market you choose to target. Ex. : skateboarders, landholders, snowboarders. Positioning: involves a process of defining the marketing mix variables so that target customers have a clear, distinctive, desirable understanding of what the product does or represents in comparison with competing products. Ex. : custom products, quality product, different brands.
Product: Currently, Epic Boards stocks high quality, long lasting products from established brand names. They offer custom designs and features as well as a still be considered on the expensive side for those looking at board sports as an occasional rather than a constant activity. Place: Both stores are well suited to their demographic and as per the business aim, each store is in close proximity to a Gummier store. The Salt Lake City store concentrates more on its street sports providing skate boards, longboat’s and accessories suited to the Salt Lake lifestyle.
The Park City store, being placed in the Mountains focuses more towards Winter activities and is well placed to cater to the clientele of that particular genre. Promotion: Epic Boards has a website that is still in the construction phase, it offers a selection of stock carried by both stores, they advertise some events sponsored by the business as well as those of particular interest to the clientele. Pages are maintained and posted randomly by staff members on Faceable and Instating.
By way of suggestion, when ready to expand, Epic Boards could open a third store at Fashion Place in Murray. The mall is extremely busy with a lot of foot traffic especially the target demographic of 15 – 34 years. The Mall is host to a number of stores including Gummier and is placed on a main road near High Schools affording. The physical positioning of Fashion Place is close to the multiple Freeways giving easy access to mountainous and suburban areas which could allow an Epic Boards to stock a mix of products.
Perhaps even as the end of season store to sell off excess product. TACTICS RUNNING: Utah in Summer is a Mecca for Running. You have the various Color Runs, Mud Runs, Dirty Runs, Halloween Runs, Neon Run and any other kind of Run Autumn’s can think of- if there is a reason to Dress up goofy, raise money and run, you can bet they will be doing it. Why not have a staff team enter wearing the Epic Boards logo and offer to sponsor the water stand?