Endura Sofa: Marketing Plan for Year 1 - Student Project

This project presents a comprehensive marketing plan for the Endura sofa, a stain-resistant piece of furniture designed for families. The executive summary highlights the product's features, target market (families with young children), and its value proposition. The plan details the product's design, materials (polyester fabric), and manufacturing process in China, with shipping to Australia. It outlines a mid-range pricing strategy, promotion through television and radio, and a phased channel strategy. The cost analysis covers variable costs (fabric, manufacturing, shipping) and revenue projections, aiming for profitability. The plan also includes a cost chart and a bibliography of research sources. The product aims to solve the problem of furniture stains for families with young children.

‘Don’t get caught up with life’s mess, live in the moment’
Endura
Mike Yazdan – New Product Report
Product – Endura
Year 11 – Laura Juratowitch
Word count - 1227

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.......................................................................................................................................................................................................3
TARGET MARKET................................................................................................................................................................................................................4
PRODUCT...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................5
PLACE................................................................................................................................................................................................................................7
PRICE.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................9
PROMOTION....................................................................................................................................................................................................................11
APPENDIX........................................................................................................................................................................................................................12
COST CHART........................................................................................................................................................................................................................12
BIBLIOGRAPHY.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................13
RESEARCH.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 13
IMAGES........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 16
2

Executive Summary
Endura is a family sofa made of polyester fabric, making it an unstainable piece of furniture. It
will allow families to not worry when their children are eating on the couch during family time
and just live in the moment. The target of this product is for families with young children, who
can make a mess sometimes and also want a high-quality comfortable couch that ties in with
the aesthetic themes of their household. The product will be shipped from a Chinese
manufacturer to Australia to save on manufacturing costs. Endura will be sold at a mid-ranged
price of $1,299.99, to allow affordability to big families who are trying to save on their
furniture. Endura will ideally be advertised on television on a Friday night, where it’s more
likely for families to see the promotion and act upon it.
3

Target market
Endura is targeted at families with toddlers and young kids, who want to live in the moment
during family time and not worry about their kids staining their furniture. A survey that asked
whether a product like this would be desirable was conducted on 10 different families who
currently have kids and 80% of surveyor’s including my own said that it they would buy such a
product for their family home.
4
Figure 1 – Survey of the Need for Endura in a family household

Product
The Endura unstainable couch will be a Three-seat
style, round back sofa, with classic round arms1 that
will be stitched with polyester fabric that rejects
liquid stains. It will be; 2.5 meters wide (from the
left arm to the right), which is above the tradition
three-seat style sofa2, but it allows more space for a
larger family, 1.5 metres high (from the base to the
top), to allow a longer back rest, creating
comfortability, 0.75 metres high (from the base to
the seat), easy for young kids to get on but not too
short for the adults and it is lifted 3 centimetres off the floor. It will have cushioning to shape
extra comfortability, buttons on the face of the arms to create the look of luxury, on the back
the Endura logo (written in small cursive font) and most importantly premium stain-proof
polyester fabric, that sets Endura apart from the competition.
1 (21 Different Types of Sofas and Slipcoverability - What's Mine?, 2017)
2 (Abbas, 2019)
5
Figure 2 – Sketch of Endura Logo (top right) and an Endura couch sketched in
front back and side dementions

The name Endura got its name from endurance, which the dictionary defines as the power of
enduring an unpleasant or difficult process without giving way3. This is the motive of the
product, to endure any unpleasantries a normal piece of furniture endures, but not give way.
Place
Endura will be manufactured in china, as it is the largest producing country of polyester in the
world4. Furthermore, mass production of such a product in china will occur at a more efficient
3 (Endurance | Definition of Endurance by Oxford Dictionary on Lexico.com also meaning of Endurance, n.d.)
4 (Hodakel, 2020)
6

pace5. Subsequent to the production, the product will be shipped to Australia via ocean freight,
as it is more economical to ship with sea for bigger shipments6. A liability to shipping by sea is
that the speed and reliability of shipping is undermined compared to air freight.
5 (West and Lansang, 2018)
6 (Vineyard, 2011)
7
Figure 3 – Deciding whether to go with air freight shipping or sea freight shipping visual

In the early stages of the product, the channelling method used will be indirect method. This is
where Endura as a producer hands it down to a wholesaler and then they distribute the
product to retailers, who will then sell to consumers. This method will have a high overhead
cost meaning the product won’t be profitable until the later stages of the product life cycle, but
it will increase the sales volume and get the Endura name out there and make it more well
known. After retailers and consumers know and trust the Endura brand, the next step will be to
channel directly to consumers and open up exclusive Endura Shops around the nation. This will
give a more luxurious sense to the brand name and can only succeed if people know about
Endura.
Price
The first Endura product will be sold for $1,299.99 each, which is about the base price for mid-
ranged couches. This price was set so that the product could be profitable yet still affordable
for growing families who are trying to save money on quality furniture.
8

The average 3-seater sofa requires about 18 metres of fabric, but Endura couches are slightly
larger than that so an estimated 20 meters of fabric7 will be needed per sofa at around 80
cents a meter. 500-2,500 sofas will be manufactured per month depending on desirability
meaning the cost of fabric alone will be $8,000-$40,0008. Then, manufacturing of a 3-seat sofa
varies from $250-$5009, so roughly $400 per couch meaning manufacturing the couches will
cost around $200,000-$1,000,000. Delivery on 10 sofas (in a 40ft container)10 cost about
$2,50011, which means $125,000-$625,000 for 500-2500 sofas. So, cost of goods12 will vary
from $333,000-$1,665,000 and ideally if all units sell then net revenue will be $649,995-
$3,249,975 creating a profit of around $316,995-$1,584,975. That’s a 94.89%13 of return and
those are when the prices are set low to penetrate the market. The goal is to reach 150% profit
by maturity phase.
The Two pricing strategies that are being used for this product is penetration pricing, as it is a
new product and it needs to be cheaper than the competition to attract customers at first, and
psychological pricing, to make the sofa seem even cheaper than the average cost of furniture.
7 (Sofa Fabric | Sofa Fabric Estimator | Sofa Fabric Calculator | How Much Fabric to Cover a Sofa?, n.d.)
8 (Circle Furniture - How Much Does a Fabric Couch Cost?, 2017)
9 (furniture from china with prices, furniture from china with prices Suppliers and Manufacturers at Alibaba.com, n.d.)
10 (WHAT CAN YOU FIT INSIDE A SHIPPING CONTAINER?, 2020)
11 (Maritime Engine, n.d.)
12 (Tuovila, 2020)
13 (Percentage Calculator: 316 is what percent of 333? = 94.89, n.d.)
9

10

Promotion
When Endura is being advertised and promoted it needs to be at prime family time hours. For
example, during the ad breaks on Friday night football when most Australian families gather
around, the product will catch people’s attention more. Another great promotional
opportunity would be convincing radio show hosts to talk about it during rush hour in the
afternoon weekdays on radio. The main goals of promotion for Endura are to catch adult
members of families when they are actually paying attention. Using tools like Facebook
advertising that use target marketing would also be a terrific convenience to spot parents who
are looking at baby furniture or food and catch their eye with an Endura product.
Appendix
Cost chart
Variable Cost Range
Polyester Fabric $8,000 (for 500 sofas) - $40,000 (for 2,500
sofas)
11

Manufacturing of Furniture $200,000 (for 500 sofas) - $1,000,000 (for
2,500 sofas)
Shipping Expense $125,000 (for 500 sofas) - $625,000 (for 2,500
sofas)
Total Cost of goods $333,000 (for 500 sofas) - $1,665,000 (for
2,500 sofas)
Revenue $649,995 (for 500 sofas) - $3,249,975 (for
2500 sofas)
Profit $316,995 (for 500 sofas) - $1,584,975 (for
2500 sofas). That is a 94.89% profit.
Bibliography
RESEARCH
Abbas, A., 2019. How To Make Sure Your New Furniture Will Fit. [online] The Spruce. Available
at: <https://www.thespruce.com/standard-furniture-measurements-1391374#:~:text=Here
12