Elephant Wines: Marketing Plan for Online Platform Sales in Spain

This report presents a marketing plan for Elephant Wines, a Spanish wine company specializing in Ribera del Duero wines. The plan focuses on leveraging an online platform to increase sales and expand market share. It begins with an executive summary, followed by an introduction to the company and the Spanish wine industry. The report includes external and internal analyses, a SWOT analysis identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It defines the target market, outlines a marketing mix strategy covering product, price, place, and promotion. The marketing objectives are set, and strategies for product portfolio, positioning, segmentation, pricing, and communication are selected. An action plan and control plan are also provided, concluding with a summary of the key findings and recommendations. The report highlights the growing ecommerce sector in Spain and its potential for Elephant Wines, while also considering challenges like domestic consumption decline and economic fluctuations. The company aims to attract a younger audience and increase brand awareness through events and online marketing.

MARKETING PLAN FOR ELEPHANT WINES
MARKETING PLAN FOR ELEPHANT WINES
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Executive Summary
In this paper, the Spanish wine industry has been discussed. The company Elephant wines
and their marketing objective to increase sales from online platform is also discussed in the
paper. The paper also addresses the steps towards the marketing objectives and strategies The
Company has also set out an action plan that it will follow to complete the objectives set out
by it. There is also a control plan for the company in case the marketing plan fails or is
delayed.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
External Analysis...................................................................................................................3
Internal Analysis....................................................................................................................6
SWOT Analysis.....................................................................................................................6
Strength..............................................................................................................................6
Weakness............................................................................................................................7
Opportunity........................................................................................................................8
Threats................................................................................................................................8
Target Market.........................................................................................................................9
Marketing Mix Strategy.........................................................................................................9
Product...............................................................................................................................9
Price..................................................................................................................................10
Place.................................................................................................................................10
Promotion.........................................................................................................................11
Setting the Marketing Objectives.........................................................................................11
Selection of the Marketing Strategies..................................................................................11
Product Portfolio Strategy................................................................................................11
Positioning and Segmentation Strategy...........................................................................12
Functional Strategy..........................................................................................................12

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Pricing Strategy................................................................................................................12
Communication Strategy..................................................................................................12
Action Plan...........................................................................................................................12
Control..................................................................................................................................14
Conclusion................................................................................................................................14

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Introduction
The company Elephant is a company that was established in the year 1999. The
company is devoted to the sales and the distribution of the wine with it established in the
region of Origin Ribera del Duero. Ribera Del Duero is a wine region in Spain. It one of the
eleven quality wine regions. It is known for the high quality of red wine that is made from the
Tempranillo grapes (Ramos, Jones & Yuste, 2015). Spain in the term of having vineyards has
the most in the world, yet the country cannot has lower production of wines due to the dry
climate and the poor quality of the soil. The country because of its topography has an
extensive variety of wines. The company Elephant has a high quality wine product that has
won many prizes. One of the aims of the company is to become an association for the
younger audience. Elephant’s marketing plan that it has created is an online platform for
sales. The online channel will help the company to have a wider reach and gain more market
share. The company wants the consumers to have the possibility of having an offline and
online platform for buying the product (Berbegal, et. al., 2017). Spain has had to deal with a
huge financial crisis; however, the effect of it on the ecommerce sector was less. The
ecommerce industry was one of the few industries that had a growth in the year 2011 and
2012. The ecommerce sector is growing tremendously in the upcoming years. Though the
industry of ecommerce is growing, yet in terms of percentage it is not that huge in Spain, as it
only accounts for 3% of the total retail sales. In this paper, the marketing plan for the
company will be presented in respect to the online market of Spain.
Discussion
External Analysis
The wine industry in Spain has made numerous efforts in changing the direction of
the market of wine. The country is investing in wines and grapes like the Tempranillo that are

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more lucrative to the global wine consumers. Spain has the qualities to become the global
leader in the market, where the quality matters more than the quantity of the wine (Gilinsky
Jr, et al, 2015). The country to achieve the reputation for having a fine quality of wine. The
people of other countries think of France and Italy as the finest producers of wine, not Spain.
Spain though is the third largest producer in the world for wine is perceived as much lower in
the list.
Chart 1: Top 15 countries producing wine. Source: OIV, November 2019
The wine exports are rising and have exceeded the domestic consumption in the
country. The rising in exports is one of the highlights for the wine industry as the domestic
consumption is decreasing at a rapid speed. The global financial crisis that happened affected
the wine industry and it is one of the biggest concerns, as the domestic market was one of the
major consumer of the wine (Lorenzo, Rubio & Garcés, 2018). The country has had a
continuous downfall in the domestic consumption. More than two thirds of the wine is
exported to the foreign market. The growth that is happening in the industry is due to the fact
that export is rising. The exports are important for the wine industry and the importance of
quality wines is increasing at a good pace. The wine that is produced in Spain is priced lower

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than the rest of the wines from the world. The price to quality ratio of the wines from Spain is
one of the best from the in the world.
Many problems are also faced by the country when producing wine. The producers of
wine, produced a large quantity of wine, it was reconsidered as producing in huge quantities
was driving down the price and the reputation of the countries wine (Bardají, Estavillo &
Iráizoz, 2014). The people boosted the exports in a significant manner, yet too rapidly that the
price of the wine decreased. The producers could produce the wines at a lower rate because
of the irrigation system, harvest mechanisation, the storage units and the cheap labour costs.
Many people although have suggested that the country not produce wine in bulk, however the
income of many farmers and wine makers depends on the bulk production.
The wine making sector in Spain is updating and being modernised. The main
producers of wine in the country are small businesses and many are agrarian co-operatives.
The control of quality throughout the production process has made the producers extend the
vineyards (Sellers Rubio, 2016). The small wineries and the co-operatives work together with
the large companies who operate in the sector of production in different areas. There have
been investment in the new wineries, improvement of the machinery and the adapting of the
different ageing techniques to provide the consumers new varieties of wine. The wine sector
is dynamic and concentrated.
As stated earlier, Spain is the world’s leading wine exporter in the world it is however
the third in the manufacturing. The perception of the wine of Spain is though not good. It is
perceived to be of a lower quality than that of Chile, Argentina, and New Zealand though the
quality of the wine of Spain is better than that of these countries. The perception is
considered to be lower because of the bulk in which the wine produced. There have always
been competition between Spain, France and Italy in terms of producing wine. The cost of the

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bottle of wine from Spain is lower than that of the other countries, which is also one of the
major causes of the perception of the wine being low.
Ecommerce in Spain is growing yet it is not the primary market. In 2019, there were
approximately 26.2 million ecommerce users (Valarezo, 2018). The most preferred system of
payment was PayPal, after which debit cards, credit cards, and then cash on delivery. The
growing ecommerce business is a booming market that can be tapped and used by Elephant
Wines to market their wines.
Internal Analysis
Elephant Wines has many varieties of wine, which can be divided into Red wine and
White wine, the main wine that is offered by them is the Red wine made by Tempranillo
grapes. The company has won many awards for producing the best quality of wines. There
are many services that are offered by the company that is they have a resort near their
vineyards where people can stay, taste the new vines and learn more about making wine. The
company aims to be a part of the lives of the teenagers and to have a theme that resonates
with them. The company is also planning to expand the resort and have wine festivals to
attract more people.
SWOT Analysis
Strength
 Bulk production of wine: The production of wine at a bulk rate is a
competitive advantage for the company, as it can reach more number or
people
 Situated in a region where the grapes are of the best variety: The
company, Elephant Wines, is situated in the Ribera Del Duero distract, where

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one of the best variety of grapes can be found to make wine (Gürel, & Tat,
2017)
 Huge exporter of the Red wine: The company is one of the biggest exporter
of wine from Spain
 Events for people to participate in: They organise events and festivals and
launches for new products in which people can take part and are lured to buy
the products
 Resorts and Villas where people can stay with the tour of the vineyard
included: The company to increase more brand awareness and image is
coming up with a resort that is near its vineyards, where people can spend
their vacations, learning about wine and the process of making wine (Bellia &
Pilato, 2014)
Weakness
 Perceived to be of a lower quality of wine: Spanish wines are perceived to
be of a lower quality of wine due to the pricing of the wines and the
production being in bulk
 Government rules and regulations regarding vineyards and wines: The
government has come up with many rules and regulations that affect the
production and the export of the wines. The export rules getting more strict
and the import rules of other countries regarding alcoholic beverages getting
more strict is also one of the biggest problems that the company faces
(Phadermrod, Crowder & Wills, 2019)
 White wine and Sparkling wine are less known: The less awareness of the
white and sparkling wines reduce the chance of the company penetrating into
that market and capturing the market share

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 The consumption of wine and visiting the resorts by the people is
seasonal: There are certain occasions and celebrations in which the people
will visit the resort, most of the time the resort will be empty and in a loss
Opportunity
 Can increase more brand awareness with the events: The company has the
opportunity to increase more brand awareness by promoting itself through
various means, like online marketing, launches, and many more
 Ecommerce section is rowing thus easier for tapping into the ecommerce
market: The ecommerce market in Spain is growing rapidly and it is expected
to grow in a more rapid manner in the upcoming years
 The company can expand and open franchises: Elephant Wines can expand
itself and open more branches and franchise of itself for more people to visit
the place
 Export demand is increasing and a lot of people are buying the Spanish
wine: The demand for wine is on the rise in the world and as Spain is the
leading in exporting of wine it has an huge advantage to gain more consumers
and capture more of the market share
Threats
 Decrease in the consumption in the local market: The consumption of wine
in the domestic market of Spain is decreasing which is creating a huge
problem as it was at a point of time the biggest consumer of the wine (Sarsby,
2016)
 Fluctuation in the economy: The inflation and recession in the economy
affect the prices of the raw materials, labour rates and other such factors that
in turn affect the price of the product

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 Effect of Brexit on the sales of the product: United Kingdom is one the
largest importer of wine from Spain and due to the Brexit, the export of wines
to United Kingdom has decreased, resulting in loss of a major consumer
 Drier soil and climate changes: Though Spain is the leading in the number of
vineyards, the production of the wine is not equivalent of it as due to the soil
being dry and climate changes happening the production of the grapes gets
hampered
 Over production can lead to boom and bust: Over production of the
product can make the product redundant in the market and can be then
perceived as product of bad quality that results in dropping of sales and losing
of consumers
Target Market
The target market for Elephant wines is mainly the young crowd, the people between
the ages of 23-40. The social status of the target market is upper middle class and above. The
people who genuinely want to taste and experience the wine. The brand wants to create an
image that the TG can relate to. The company wants to target the people who would love to
have an adventure in the resort and villa that is created by the company and are interested in
the festivals and events that are organised by the company. The target market of the company
can be described as hip. This segment of the people are the ones that usually try new variety
of wines and can be easily converted to loyal customers.
Marketing Mix Strategy
Product
A company to effectively utilise the marketing mix must be able to define the product
that they are selling. The company must describe both the primary and the secondary

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products to understand the mix in a better manner. The company must also be able to develop
the value that the product has. The main product of the company is the wine (Huang &
Sarigöllü, 2014). The company produces three types of wine: red, white and sparkling. As
secondary products, the company also has resorts and villas, where people can stay and learn
more about the wine and wine making process. Red wine and sparkling wine are mainly
made from Tempranillo grapes while the white wine is made from Albillo. The company also
uses Garnacha for rose wines. The maturity age of the wine ranges from 6 months to 10 years
and the price is dependent on the texture, age, colour and flavour of wine. The company has
won many awards for the quality of wine that is produced by them. Their bottles are
packaged attractively and the resort and villa provide a nice tourist destination for the people.
Price
Price is one of the most important aspect when considering the marketing strategy of a
business. The price of the product is determined by the cost of raw material, the competition,
labour and the government regulations. Elephant wines adopt a penetration pricing strategy
than the premium pricing strategy (Londhe, 2014). The pricing strategy chosen is because the
company wants to increase the brand awareness and gain more consumers to increase the
sales of the company. It is one of the leading brands to export wines to the other countries in
the world. The pricing strategy is also adopted to increase the market share of the company
domestically where the consumption is decreasing.
Place
The place refers to the location either physical or virtual where the customers can buy
and access the product of the company. Elephant wines avail the wines in four and five star
hotels, wine shops, high-end restaurants and online platform created by the company (Khan,
2014). The place has to be in accordance with the target market of the company to make more