Eco-Fone: UK Smartphone Market Analysis and Business Expansion Plan

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Eco-Fone, a smartphone retailer with existing outlets in Putney and Richmond, exploring the potential for business expansion into the Kingston market. The report begins with an overview of the UK mobile phone market, forecasting smartphone usage among adults and examining the market potential among older customers. It assesses the feasibility of expanding into Kingston using a pros and cons table, followed by an analysis of the costs associated with a new building and an overview of commercial mortgage lenders in the UK. The report also includes an analysis of customer satisfaction through a questionnaire and examines potential differences in net takings between the two existing shops. The report concludes with an overview of quality procedures and offers recommendations for Eco-Fone's business strategy.

Eco-Fone Summative Assessment

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK...............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 An Overview of the Mobile phone market in the UK...........................................................3
1.2 Forecasting the UK adult smartphone use ...........................................................................3
1.3 Smartphones – A potential market for older customers .......................................................4
1.4 Feasibility of Expanding business to Kingston using Pros and Cons table..........................4
1.5 Cost of a new building and well-known commercial mortgage lenders in the UK..............5
1.6 Testing the Possible Difference in Net Takings in the Two Shops.......................................8
1.7 Customer Satisfaction...........................................................................................................9
1.8 Quality procedures..............................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Market of smartphones are rapidly growing because without human bodies are very fond
of using latest and advanced technology. Taken organisation for this assignment is Eco-Fone
which is engaged in smartphone market and they have two outlets which are located in Putney
and Richmond. Apart from that but still they are not selling laptops or tablets in the market.
Management of organisation is planning for making expansion of their business in Kingston
market. This report will discuss about information related with offerings, customer and financial
information of the Eco-fone and overview of Mobile phone market of UK.
TASK
1.1 An Overview of the Mobile phone market in the UK
As per the survey report of Deloitte on the topic of mobile usage in UK market, using of
smartphone are enhancing day by day which are providing positive outcome in terms of
enhancing sales by 1.5 billion on the yearly basis. Presence of Smartphone in UK market is
around 58% in which mostly adult and young age population are included. It has been identified
from the research that percentage of presence of smartphone will be reached 90% by 2020. Such
enhanced percentage is expecting because majority of citizens in UK are more attracted towards
smartphone due to which market of smartphone is rapidly growing in UK market. As
Smartphone has various features through which any individual can do their official works and
personal works in easy manner therefore, it is analysed that in the 33.5 million of population of
UK are working in the offices or super markets out of which around 32 million of citizens are
using smartphone for their business or job purposes. Smartphone is very useful in performing
several functions like messaging, E-mail, reminders, calendar management and many more
features which assists the individuals in performing their daily functions in more effective
manner. Apart from that, old age persons are also fond of using smartphones so that their motive
of entertainment can be fulfilled (Premkumar, 2015).
1.2 Forecasting the UK adult smartphone use
As per the survey report of Deloitte, It has been determined that, 17% of population
which is under the age group of 16 – 24 are using their mobile phones for 100 times in a day and
other 12% of same age groups are checked their phones for 200 times. In addition to this, 34% of
16-75 age group are very addicted for using mobile phones even they use it while they eating

food or sitting with the family members or relatives. This habit of using smartphone are also
founded in the age of 16-24 which is around 49% whereas, 11% of 16-75 year age group uses
their phones at the time of crossing roads and 53% persons of same age groups are talking with
someone on the phone while walking on the road (Global survey of Mobile Users, 2017). Hence,
It can be said that the main users of smartphones are founded in the age group of 16-75 in
comparison of others (Koch, 2014).
1.3 Smartphones – A potential market for older customers
As per the given report of Dan Adams, 2017, It has been determined that sale of
smartphones are regularly enhancing with old customers in UK. As per the case study of market,
71% of old customers of 55-75 age group are owned smartphone and it has been also identified
that this age group is adopt technology faster than the comparison of others in last five years.
Furthermore, as per the conducted research of Deloitte, they have taken sample size of 1163
individuals in which they have identified that 55-75 age groups are using smartphones more than
the comparison of youngsters or other age groups (Enhancement of Smartphone sale, 2019).
furthermore, it has been also determined that most of the wealthy and rich persons are mostly
liked to purchase premium handsets. Research team also provide an acknowledgement that first
time buyer can encourage or influenced from various factors of technology for making
purchases.
1.4 Feasibility of Expanding business to Kingston using Pros and Cons table
Should we spread out
our business in
Kingston Market.
Yes, Market of Kingston is very beneficial for the company
to expand their business in it.
Pros Score/10 Cons Score/10
Through making
expansion of the
operations in Kingston
market. Company will
get benefits of attracting
a large number of
customer which are
beneficial for the firm
in gaining overall
growth in the
9 When Eco-Fone have
decided to expand their
market share in Kingston
therefore they have
responsibility to make
arrangements of funds
and capital so that
business operations can
be operated in more
effective manner.
6

marketplace.
When cited firm will
spread out their
business in Kingston
market they will be able
in developing their
brand image.
7 During expansion of
business operations
company have to face
various issues which are
related with policies and
regulations of local
authorities.
7
Through developing
business operations in
Kingston market,
company will get
opportunities of
understanding the new
culture and marketplace
and they will also able
in hiring or staffing new
knowledgeable and
experienced employees
which will also
beneficial of local
citizens of respective
nation..
8 During the expansion of
business in the market of
Kingston company they
have to face issues
which are related with
the language and that
can hamper the business
functions and operations.
6
When cited firm will
enhance their business
in Kingston market they
will be able in
increasing overall
profitability and
customer bases.
8 Through enhancing
market share and
operations in the market
of Kingston, company
will also face challenges
of competitors which
will affect the
profitability of business
in positive or negative
manner.
6
Total Pros 32/40 Total Cons 25/40
Average Pros 0.8 Average Cons 0.63
1.5 Cost of a new building and well-known commercial mortgage lenders in the UK
Loan Amount £350000
Number of EMIs 180
Interest rate per annum 0.07
Interest rate per month 0.00583

EMI per Month £3145.90
Total amount payable for Loan £566261.81
Total Interest Payable £216261.81
Mortgage loan is defined as a debt instrument that is provided by bank against property
of loan taker. This kind of loans are mainly taken for gaining any kind of property like home,
apartments, shops etc. In addition with this, it is a most secured method in which lender can
acquire the property if the borrower will fail to pay the amount of loan. The main components of
loan are interest, amount, tax duties and insurance which provides secured method of money
lending and borrowing to the borrower and lenders (Fotis, 2015). There are some main examples
which offers mortgage loans to the individuals of UK are given as under:
1. Lloyds bank
2. HALIFAX Mortgage loan services
3. HSBC UK commercial mortgages

4. Royal bank of Scotland Commercial Mortgages
5. Yorkshire Bank, Mortgage Loan services
6. Godiva Mortgage Loan providers
7. Bank of Ireland

8. Ultster Bank
.
1.6 Testing the Possible Difference in Net Takings in the Two Shops
As Eco-fone is engaged in Smartphone market and it also providing accessories on
discounted rates in these two shops in which first shop has received profitability that is around
100 Euro. Whereas, other shop has generated profitability of 90 Euro. But both are taken as a
sample size of 40 on the basis of their daily takings in which after calculating standard deviation
of these shops it has been analysed that the mean of these shops are £20 and £40 (Bagga, 2016).
After analysis it can be said that first shop has generated more profits than the other. With the
enhancement of sample size and standard deviation it has been expected that variability will be
reduced but in first case through taking sample size of 40 and mean of 100 standard of variation
is around 20 but another shop with similar sample size has got less mean but high variability.
From this analysis, it can be said that both shops can't take same profits or gaining hence, it is
proved from the above analysis second shop has to reformulate their marketing strategies and
provide discount to the customers so that same profitability can be gained by them.

1.7 Customer Satisfaction
As Cited firm is engaged in smartphone products and services and wants to expand its market
share in Kingston market (Ali, 2016). Therefore, Management of firm have decided to take
feedbacks from their customers a format of questionnaire about services are given as under:
1. When was the last time you purchased a product or services from us?
 In last month
 Between 1 or 3 month
 Within the 3 or 5 months (√)
 Within 6 months or 1 Year
 More than one year
 Never
2. How long have you used our products/services?
 Less than 6 month
 Within the 6 months or 1 year (√)
 Between 1 and 3 years
 Between 3 and 5 years
 More than 5 years
 Never
3. Please rate us on the following: (Please tick one: excellent=4, Good=3, Fair=2,poor=1)
Basis 4 3 2 1
Engagement of staff members with customers (√)
Quality of products and services (√)
Pre-sale and post-sale services of firm (√)
Pricing of the products (√)
4. How would you rate your overall satisfaction with us?
 Highly satisfied
 Satisfied (√)
 No response

 Dissatisfied
 Highly dissatisfied
5. How likely are you to continue doing business with us?
 Most likely (√)
 Likely
 No response
 Unlikely
 Very Unlikely
6. How likely are you to recommend our products/services to others?
 Very likely (√)
 Likely
 Neutral
 Unlikely
 Very Unlikely
7. Please suggest how we can improve our products/services to better serve you.
Recommendation - When research is performed by the management it has been asked from
each respondent that when they were purchase any product or services from the outlets of
organisation then most of them have answered i.e. within 3 or 5 months. Second question is
related with duration of using of product or services of the firm in which they have answered
within 6 month or 1 year that shows negative influences on organisation because validity of their
products are less than comparison with other rivals. In third question, several things are asked
from the respondents such as about customer services, quality of products, sales staff, prices of
offerings and they have answered good for customer services, fair for sales staff and so on. It
defines overall experience of the customers from their purchases of offerings.
In addition with this, fourth question is related with overall satisfaction of customers in
which they have answered that they are highly satisfied with the offerings of organisation.
Hence, the management should take some effective steps so that they can improve the validity of
their products. In last, it has been recommended that overall satisfaction of customers is
necessary so that managers should make consideration on making improvement of their
offerings. Through which revenue and sales figures of organisation can be enhanced within a
small time period (Dicks, 2018).

1.8 Quality procedures
Poisson distribution is statistical distribution that defines number of events are happened
in a specific time period. Furthermore, statistical distribution is used for analysing independent
events which happens at constant rates in a particular time frame. This distribution is also called
function that defines all the events are measured on the basis of happening or not happening and
variables are also measured for determining number of events. Happening of different things are
not a part of this model.
Advice is given to the management of Eco-fone that they have to follow proper
procedures which are related with quality measures. It is also analysed that company sends
around 10000 invoices during a month and two or more cheques are returned due to error. For
calculating average they can use cumulative frequency of cheques which are returned from the
other parties. With the help of this, they will easily identify weak areas and take effective
measures for resolving these issues (Premkumar, 2015).
CONCLUSION
It has been summarised from the above report that users of smartphone are enhancing day
by day in UK. Old age individuals of UK nation are more addicted of smartphones in
comparison of other age groups because it includes various attractive features such as big screen,
Wi-Fi connectivity, Bluetooth etc. through which they are not feeling bored and easily spend
their time. When a smartphone manufacturer wants to expand its market share in international
market then they have to conduct various research and taking reviews from the customers of
their products or services. So that a better decision can be formulated for expansion of business.
Management of firm can also taking feedbacks about quality and performance of their products
which assists them in making improvement in their existing products or services.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Abi Ghanem, D. and Mander, S., 2014. Designing consumer engagement with the smart grids of
the future: bringing active demand technology to everyday life. Technology Analysis &
Strategic Management. 26(10). pp.1163-1175.
Ali, A., 2016. Business continuity and disaster risk management in business education: case of
York University/Continuidad de negocio y gestion del riesgo de desastres en la
educacion de negocios: el caso York University. AD-minister. (28). pp.49-73.
Bagga, C. K., Noseworthy, T. J. and Dawar, N., 2016. Asymmetric consequences of radical
innovations on category representations of competing brands. Journal of Consumer
Psychology. 26(1). pp.29-39.
Che Ani, M. N. and Chin, J. F., 2016. Self-reinforcing mechanisms for cellularisation: a
longitudinal case study. International Journal of Production Research. 54(3). pp.696-
711.
Dicks, A. and Rand, D. A. J., 2018. Fuel cell systems explained. New York: Wiley.
Elo, M. and Minto-Coy, I., Diaspora Networks in International Business.
Fotis, J.N., 2015. The Use of social media and its impacts on consumer behaviour: the context of
holiday travel (Doctoral dissertation, Bournemouth University).
Frail, D. E., Brady, M., and et. al., 2015. Pioneering government-sponsored drug repositioning
collaborations: progress and learning. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. 14(12). p.833.
Koch, S. and Kerschbaum, M., 2014. Joining a smartphone ecosystem: Application developers’
motivations and decision criteria. Information and Software Technology. 56(11).
pp.1423-1435.
Premkumar, K. and Nigel, K.G.J., 2015, March. Smart phone based robotic arm control using
raspberry pi, android and Wi-Fi. In 2015 International Conference on Innovations in
Information, Embedded and Communication Systems (ICIIECS) (pp. 1-3). IEEE.
Online
Smartphone sales boom with over-55s, 2019.[Online].Available
through<https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-41319684>
Global mobile consumer survey. 2017.[Online]. Available
through<http://192.168.1.18/projectfiles/internal_chat_attatchment/
deloitteglobalmobileconsumersurvey2017_ukcut1552049277.pdf>.