Marketing Plan for Percolate Coffee in Singapore

The purpose of the assignment is to develop a marketing plan for a new product of an existing coffee shop in Singapore. The paper dealt with structuring a marketing plan, which included marketing strategies and tactics for the long-term success of the business.

Running head: MARKETING PLAN
PERCOLATE COFFEE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1MARKETING PLAN
Executive Summary
The purpose of the assignment is to develop a marketing plan for a new product of an
existing coffee shop in Singapore. The paper dealt with structuring a marketing plan, which
included marketing strategies and tactics for the long-term success of the business. The
business selected for this report was Percolate Coffee, located in Bedok, Singapore. The
discussed strategies involved in branding by reflecting on the product details and positioning
strategy. The pricing, distribution and integrated marketing communication strategy of the
new product has been planned is completely based on the changing preferences and demand
of the current market in which the business is operating in Singapore. The paper deduced that
the product could be of great success with better communication strategies, and finally, it will
also help in increasing brand awareness.

2MARKETING PLAN
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
Situational Analysis:..............................................................................................................4
PESTEL Analysis-.............................................................................................................5
Product Decisions.......................................................................................................................9
Branding.................................................................................................................................9
Product Description..............................................................................................................10
Positioning Strategy.............................................................................................................10
Target Market.......................................................................................................................11
Product Pricing.........................................................................................................................11
Product Distribution Strategy...................................................................................................12
Integrated Marketing Communication.....................................................................................12
Conclusion................................................................................................................................13

3MARKETING PLAN
Introduction
The business document that outlines the marketing strategies including, branding,
positioning, pricing, promotional and distribution strategy is referred to as a marketing plan.
The marketing plan is usually based on a 12-month plan. The purpose of the paper is to
design a marketing plan clearly outlines the marketing strategies and tactics for a new product
developmen of a business. The business selected for this paper is Percolate Coffee. It will
discuss about the plan to introduce a new product/service within the famous coffee shop
Percolate Coffee, which is situated in the heartlands of Bedok, Singapore. The business
started operating since the year 2014, which means it is a new business setup and can utilize a
lot of opportunities in the coming years. The name of this coffee shop is referred to the literal
meaning of "percolate", which is filtering of liquid through a porous substance for yielding its
true essence.
The mission of the organization is to serve the customers with speciality coffees that
would help them in getting the authentic taste and enjoyment of having coffee. The
organization considers themselves as the curator of exceptional beverages and artisanal
goods. They aim to provide their customers with a warm customer service experience. It can
be analyzed from the mission that the organization has a long term plan for serving the
customers for which it requires an effective marketing plan. Making up of a new product
planning in order to penetrate deeper in the market, therefore, requires a lot of market
research and analysis that are explained clearly as the assignment proceeds (Kotler et al.
2015). The plan discussed below will help in a clear understanding of the target market, the
time to be taken, the cost that can be incurred, and how the overall plan can be executed. It
will help in bridging the gap between what is thought to be done and what is being done.

4MARKETING PLAN
Situational Analysis:
In order to prepare a strong marketing plan for Percolate Coffee, it is necessary that
the external and internal environmental analysis of the market is done. The external analysis
will help in understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the organization, whereas the
internal analysis will help in understanding the opportunities and threats (Haider et al. 2019).
PESTEL Analysis-
PESTEL Analysis of Singapore is done in order to understand the external
environment and accordingly decide upon the product to be designed. Singapore is one of the
fastest-growing countries in the world. The economy is considered a high-income economy.
The critical factors responsible for this high economic growth are that the country has a high
private consumption expenditure, high local as well as external demands and huge
investments. PESTEL is an acronym for Political, Economic, Social, Technological,
Environmental and Legal (Pan, Chen and Zhan 2018).
Political Factors
 Singapore is a country with low political risk.
 According to the Political and Economic Risk consultancy, it can be stated that
Singapore enjoys the least political uncertainty within the continent.
 The country is democratic.
 People elect their representatives to lead them (Tremewan 2016).
 The political stability in the country has been converted into peace and a better
standard of living.
 This clearly states that the country supports startups and new business ideas. Percolate
Coffee, therefore, can take the opportunity of this situation to come up with several
new products and services without worrying about political interventions.

5MARKETING PLAN
Economic Factors
 Singapore is a high-income economy.
 It is a free market economy and is developing at a fast pace.
 The working environment is corruption free.
 A huge amount of investment has been made by the government in order to diversify
the economy.
 The country takes advantages of cheap labours from the neighbouring countries, as its
own labour cost is high (Lim 2016).
 The country is one of the most competitive countries and has the highest per capita
income in ASEAN.
 Therefore, Percolate Coffee can make smooth business operations free from any
corruption and can make its own business-related decisions quickly without any
intervention.
Social Factors
 Singapore strictly believes in family values.
 It is very traditional in respect of family connections.
 The younger section of the society, however, follows the western culture and values.
The people within the country value their work and perform sincerely.
 The people of Singapore have high purchasing power.
 The literacy rate is high as primary schooling is a compulsion in the country, and
strict adherence to attendance is mandatory.
 English and Chinese languages are given importance, which helps in facilitating
international trade and foreign investments (Teo et al. 2017).

6MARKETING PLAN
 The high purchasing power of the people is a positive factor for Percolate Coffee. It
can easily customize products and services as per customer specifications and can get
back a positive return.
Technological Factors
 The country is way advanced in terms of technology.
 It acts as one of the basic reason behind such a drastic change in the lifestyle and the
standard of living in the country.
 Internet is one of the most important factors responsible for such advancement.
 It has not only made cheaper communication possible but also opened gates for the
businesses to boost itself to the rest of the world through social media within seconds
(Kirchberger and Pohl 2016).
 There has been a significant investment in the IT sectors.
 Almost 70% and above of the population out there have high-speed broadband
Internet connectivity.
 Most of the businesses have changed their model from traditional brick and mortar to
online business structures.
 The government is also supporting technological innovation.
 Therefore, Percolate Coffee can make use of these modern communication
technologies to reach out to the customers with its new offerings at a very less time
and cheap cost.
Environmental Factors
 The Government has taken initiatives to prevent air pollution and other environmental
factors.
 The Ministry of the Environment and Anti Pollution Unit is responsible for
maintaining the air and environment quality.

7MARKETING PLAN
 The fast growth of the country in terms of business and other factors, the
environmental factor got neglected to a certain extent.
 This led to a reduction of 30% of the mangrove areas of the country, and many
species have become extinct.
 Water is one of the major concerns of the country (Chou et al. 2019)
 Percolate Coffee thus require to think about some sustainable use of water resources
that will help in attracting the local customers as well as reduce the wastage of water.
Legal Factors
 Transparent and market favourable laws and regulations prevail in the country.
 However, a certain degree of control is maintained to support proper growth and
development.
 The Government has developed many e-commerce initiatives and policies. Some of
the laws prevailing in the country are the Electronic Transactions Act, Intellectual
Property Rights, Import and Export Procedures, Amendments to Evidence Act, Tax
Issues and Content Regulation (Osman 2018).
 Therefore, Percolate Coffee has to keep in mind about the current policies of the
country and then decide upon launching the product that will not be against the
regulations.
The analysis of all these factors suggests that there are a lot of business opportunities
for Percolate Coffee. The new product that it is going to offer to the public can take
advantage of a lot of external factors.
SWOT analysis-
Strengths

8MARKETING PLAN
1. The location of the coffee shop attracts significant customers. The shop is located
right on the main road, which remains busy most of the times. It is easily accessible
(Percolate Coffee 2019).
2. The variety of products and services being offered to the customers. It does not only
include coffee and its variants but also includes tea, milkshakes, snacks and more.
Along with it, a lot of additional equipment like posters, coffee mugs and books are
also available for the customers (Percolate Coffee 2019)
3. The USP is coffee with art and satisfaction. The interior decoration of the shop along
with well trained and knowledgeable baristas of the shop attracts several customers.
4. Sourcing organic coffee beans directly from suppliers by maintaining positive
relationship (Percolate Coffee 2019).
Weaknesses
1. The weakness of the cafe is the challenge of maintaining the quality of the foods and
drinks in peak time.
2. Price is a bit high as compared to the quantity and the quality of a few items being
offered to the customers.
3. The number of staffs available to serve the customers in the rush timings is less than it
should be.
4. Poor Search Engine Optimisation and traditional advertising policies
Opportunities
1. The opportunity is the introduction of new products and better services with a
considerable amount of profit and government support.
2. It also has the opportunity to expand the business and open outlets in other busy areas
as it is slowly becoming a success because of its artistic nature and services.
Threats

9MARKETING PLAN
1. Traditional coffee taste is not found in most of the items, which makes the company
lose traditional customers.
2. The shortage of water is a threat to the organization.
3. There are several other coffee shops like 6 Letter Coffee, Dapper Coffee, Tiong Hoe
Speciality Coffee, Starbucks and many more who offer unique services similar to
Percolate.
Product Decisions:
Branding-
The product that the organization can bring up with is “Creamy Espresshake”, which
will be regarded as the ultimate drink for the premium segment of the market. This will be a
combination of espresso coffee, milkshake and cream. The value addition of this product is
that it will be served both hot and cold depending on the weather condition. The branding
strategy for the product in the coffee shop will be created by stimulating an emotional
connection. The cups or bottles used for the product can be reusable and will have a
customized name printed at the time of billing. The emotional connection will be synched
with the motive of associating premiumnes with the product. The emotional connection will
be enhanced by enabling the customers to have the same order by carrying the same bottle
sold at the previous purchase, by a recognizable bar code on the bottle. These added steps
towards customization will be used for branding the new product.
Product Description-
The ingredients of the product itself justify the name “Creamy Espresshake”. It is a
creamy blend of coffee along with almond milk and fresh cream. The blend is thickened by
adding different flavours of protein powder, including mango, vanilla, strawberry and
banana. The product will not just offer a boost of energy from organic coffee and protein

10MARKETING PLAN
intake, but it will also add new flavours to a regular cup of coffee. This particular coffee
shake will be made available in a number of flavours like vanilla, chocolate, pure espresso,
pumpkin spice, strawberry mango, banana. The shakes will be available in 500-litre bottles,
tall and medium cups. It will help in the replenishment of joy and energy by eliminating
stress level or by being a healthier way of addressing cravings of coffee. The product will be
subjected to customisation as per the customer’s tastes and preferences in terms of sugar
contents and toppings. The value addition of this product is that it will serve as a mixture of
both ice cream and drinks in the summer times. The well designed strong glasses made of
recyclable and reusable plastics. The thick layers of cream, almond milk, protein powder and
coffee will be visible from the outside of the glass, and it attracts the customers to taste it for
at least once.
Positioning Strategy-
The positioning strategy used for this offering will be based on product characteristics
and pricing (Iyer et al. 2019). The product will be positioned as low fat, and healthier form of
having coffee for the coffee lovers or addicts as the almond milk will be topped with the
customizable flavour of protein powder and the sugar intake will also be customizable as per
the preferences of the customers. Customers are becoming health conscious and prefer to be
in control of what ingredients they are consuming. The product is targeted for the premium
customer segment, which can be referred to as a mono-segment positioning strategy. The
ingredients and the preparation plan of the product reflects its premiumness. Thus the product
is targeted to the premium customer segment, who are willing to pay extra for the additional
quality and services. The product will be positioned in the market as an experience for
releasing stress during the hot summers and also as a relaxing refreshment while hanging out
with friends and family.

11MARKETING PLAN
Target Market-
The target market for this product of Percolate Coffee will be the premium segment
for the people who will be prepared to pay extra price for a customizable quality drink. For
the new product “Creamy Espresshake”, the coffee shop, therefore, will target office goers,
businessmen (Demographic segment) and the tourists. The target population will be of the
age group between 20 to 40 years old, thereby targeting the demographic segment. The
reason for the age range is that people within that given age are more health-conscious and
are involved in fitness activities. The other purpose is that most of the people within the given
range are either middle or high-income earners and prefers to hang out enjoy leisure time
with friends and family (Porter 2018). The customers targeted mostly belong to Generation
Y. The product will also target the psychographic segment by addressing the lifestyle of
fitness lovers and for a vegan lifestyle choice. The business aims at creating a loyal client
base by offering healthy delights. It can be stated that it is an undifferentiated mass marketing
strategy.
Product Pricing:
The pricing strategy for the product offering will be premium pricing. The pricing of
the product is one of the essential factors that will contribute to both demand and revenue. It
is one of the most crucial decisions taken by any organization. The pricing of the product will
depend upon the cost incurred, the competition prevailing in the market, and the quality and
value of the product being offered. Creamy Espresshake will be positioned as a healthier, a
tastier form of having coffee for the high and middle-income group, which will use a
premium pricing strategy.
Product Distribution Strategy:
The product distribution strategy for the product will be exclusive as the customizable
shake will only be available through their outlet. Percolate Coffee maintains the quality of its
coffee by importing and sourcing organic coffee beans. It helps in bypassing most of the

12MARKETING PLAN
middle market. In the case of Percolate Coffee, it has only one coffee shop outlet in the
heartland of Bedok. The distribution strategy it can use for Creamy Espresshake is exclusive
distribution strategy (Batzer 2019). Exclusive distribution strategy is suitable for every small
business having exclusive products. In this case, there are no such middlemen as the
distribution only takes place from the maker of the coffee to the end consumers. The only
middlemen are the employees within the coffee shop who are preparing the coffee and
serving it on the table. In case of the bottled product, the distribution strategy is a little
different as it is available online through an application of the business as well and will be
made available to the customers through the store valet only. The revenues earned can be
utilized for future expansions.
Integrated Marketing Communication:
Percolate Coffee already has a visible in online communication skills. The company,
however, does not have a more significant approach towards traditional advertising methods.
It is already active in social media marketing like Facebook and Instagram. The social media
page is filled with videos and attractive pictures of the products and services. Offer related
announcements are also made, and the page is highly interactive with the audience. Percolate
Coffee has been operating since the year 2014 on the East side of Singapore, Bedok
(Percolate Coffee 2019). The shop is well decorated and situated on the street side. In spite of
having this influential social media presence, some people are unaware of the existence of
this shop. This is because of the lack of traditional marketing methods. The shop can go for
newspaper advertisements and outdoor advertisement such as billboards. The product can
also be advertised by transit media form through moving vehicles. It can also opt for
advertisements on YouTube. The target segment is active users of YouTube, and hence, a
non-skipping ad can reach millions of customers within seconds. Attaching a menu card
along with a newspaper advertisement will also increase brand awareness. The company must
concentrate on getting Google reviews along with Facebook reviews. Most of the people try

13MARKETING PLAN
to find out for shops and restaurants through Google rather than on Facebook. Therefore it is
essential for the coffee shop to do a better search engine optimisation and stay ahead in the
Google search list, which it lacks in reality. The product can be advertisement by approaching
a Malaysian YouTuber to vlog the experience of having the customizable, healthier version
of coffee by reviewing the tastes and service for every variant with the price point. This will
influence the buying decision and the sense of reliability amongst the target customers.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded from the paper that Percolate Coffee is one of the most
attractive coffee shops in Eastern Singapore but it lacks effective advertisement plan because
of which it is unknown to many people. The shop has the opportunity to come up with the
product "Creamy Espresshake". This product will act as a premium product and will help the
shop in increasing its revenue that can be utilized by the company for future expansions.
Premium pricing will ensure a positive return from the product and exclusive distribution will
ensure maximum reach. The product will not only serve the high and middle-income
customer base but also help in increasing the communication skills of the coffee shop. The
strengthening of the communication plan and customizable product characteristics will help
in raising the brand awareness of the shop. The overall features and customization facility of
the product will also increase customer loyalty.

14MARKETING PLAN
References:
Batzer, E., 2019. Marketing strategies and distribution channels for foreign companies in
Japan. Routledge.
Brownlee, I.A., 2018. Memories of traditional food culture in the kampong setting in
Singapore. Journal of Ethnic Foods, 5(2), pp.133-139.
Chou, L.M., Huang, D., Tan, K.S., Toh, T.C., Goh, B.P. and Tun, K., 2019. Singapore. In
World Seas: An Environmental Evaluation (pp. 539-558). Academic Press.
Haider, A.A., Zafar, A., Khalid, A., Majid, A., Abdullah, M.A. and Sarwar, M.B., 2019.
Marketing Management.
Iyer, P., Davari, A., Zolfagharian, M. and Paswan, A., 2019. Market orientation, positioning
strategy and brand performance. Industrial Marketing Management, 81, pp.16-29.
Kirchberger, M.A. and Pohl, L., 2016. Technology commercialization: a literature review of
success factors and antecedents across different contexts. The Journal of Technology
Transfer, 41(5), pp.1077-1112.
Kotler, P., Burton, S., Deans, K., Brown, L. and Armstrong, G., 2015. Marketing. Pearson
Higher Education AU.
Lim, L.Y., 2016. Fifty years of development in the Singapore economy: An introductory
review. In Singapore's Economic Development: Retrospection and Reflections (pp. 1-15).
Liozu, S., Boland, D., Hinterbuber, A. and Perelli, S., 2015. Mindful Pricing: Transforming
Organizations Through Value Based Pricing. In Marketing Dynamism & Sustainability:
Things Change, Things Stay the Same… (pp. 412-421). Springer, Cham.
Osman, N.D.B., 2018. The legal regulation of biosafety risk: a comparative legal study
between Malaysia and Singapore (Doctoral dissertation, Nottingham Trent University).

15MARKETING PLAN
Pan, W., Chen, L. and Zhan, W., 2018. PESTEL analysis of construction productivity
enhancement strategies: A case study of three economies. Journal of Management in
Engineering, 35(1), p.05018013.
Percolate Coffee 2019. Percolate Coffee. [online] Percolate Coffee. Available at:
https://percolate.sg/.
Porter, L., 2018. Business Plan: The Coffee Project.
Teo, N., Gao, Q., Nyunt, M.S.Z., Wee, S.L. and Ng, T.P., 2017. Social frailty and functional
disability: Findings from the Singapore Longitudinal Ageing Studies. Journal of the
American Medical Directors Association, 18(7), pp.637-e13.
Tremewan, C., 2016. The political economy of social control in Singapore. Springer.