MKTG801: Lion's International Marketing Plan for India Expansion

This comprehensive report outlines an international marketing plan for Lion, an Australian food and beverage company, aiming to expand into the Indian market. It begins with an executive summary and table of contents, followed by a detailed introduction to Lion and its objectives. The report employs secondary research methodologies for situational analysis, including company and market analyses, assessing the political, economic, social, and technological environments in India. It also incorporates a SWOT analysis to evaluate internal strengths and weaknesses alongside external opportunities and threats. The plan then establishes specific international and market objectives, recommending a target market identification, segmentation strategy, and market positioning. The recommended marketing mix strategy covers product/service, place (distribution), price, and promotion strategies, along with a budget and implementation plan. The report concludes with a discussion of the findings, referencing relevant literature throughout.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
This research report includes a detailed marketing plan for an Australian food and beverage
firm which is determined to expand its operation in a new market through its newly
developed AI (Artificial Intelligence) services. India has been chosen as the market for
expansion of Lion’s food and beverage chains. The purpose of the report is to develop a
suitable marketing plan which would help business to remain sustainable in the chosen
market. A detailed market analysis has been performed considering Indian political,
economic and environmental platforms. Findings of the analyses indicate that India in the
recent time has observed a significant growth in its economy which is economically backing
up all manufacturing sector in the country. Internal capability analysis of Lion has been
performed which implies that Lion has a unique product portfolio and services that are
capable enough to remain sustainable in any market. Thus, Lion has been advised to
implement AI services in the new market, in which it would sell existing products but serve
the customers with AI services.

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Table of Content
1.0 Introduction..........................................................................................................................3
2.0 Research Methodology.........................................................................................................4
3.0 Situational Analysis.............................................................................................................4
3.1 Company Analysis...........................................................................................................4
3.2 Market Analysis...............................................................................................................6
3.3 Nature and Extent of Demand........................................................................................11
3.4 Product Category Stage of Product Life Cycle..............................................................13
3.5 Competitor Analysis.......................................................................................................14
4.0 SWOT Analysis -...............................................................................................................16
4.1 Internal company Strength and Weakness.....................................................................16
4.2 External Market Opportunities and Threats...................................................................17
4.3 Implication of SWOT analysis.......................................................................................18
5.0 Objectives...........................................................................................................................18
5.1 International Objectives:................................................................................................18
5.2 Market Objectives..........................................................................................................18
6.0 Recommended Marketing Strategy....................................................................................19
6.1 Target Market Identification and Segmentation Strategy..............................................19
6.2 Market Positioning.........................................................................................................21
6.3 Market Entry Strategy....................................................................................................21
7.0 Recommended Marketing Mix Strategy............................................................................21
7.1 Product/Service and branding strategy:.........................................................................21

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7.2 Place (Distribution) Strategy..........................................................................................22
7.3 Price Strategy.................................................................................................................22
7.4 Promotion Strategy.........................................................................................................23
8.0 Planning Budget (Refer to Excel Sheets)...........................................................................23
9.0 Implementation and Control..............................................................................................24
9.1 Formal Project Plan for Implementation of Recommendations.....................................24
9.2 Monitoring of Action Plan.............................................................................................24
10. Conclusion -.......................................................................................................................25
References................................................................................................................................26

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Topic- International Marketing Plan (IMP) of the organization Lion
1.0 Introduction
This research report is an international marketing plan (IMP) of a food and beverage
firm called Lion located in Australia. The firm is determined to expand its operation in a new
market- a new nation. The firm is determined to expand its operation in India which is an
emerging nation. The major purpose of the report is to develop and design a suitable
marketing plan for Lion which would help business to remain sustainable in the chosen
market. In addition, the plan also sheds light on how AI (Artificial Intelligence) can support
the business of Lion to deal with the marketing requirements.
Overview of the company- Lion
Lion is a leading beverage and food organization along with a large portfolio of several
Australia and New Zealand’s top-class brands. The major purpose of Lion’s operation to
enrich the world everyday by championing scalability as well as helping people to live a
better life. The major products of Lion fails under three categories such as Lion Diary
Drinks, Lion Beer Australia and Lion New Zealand Beverage. In general the products
categories include Alcohol beverage, milk beverage & alternative, cheese, juice, drinks and
water Ice, Yoghurt, Cream and Custard, Australian Alcohol export, adult soft drink and New
Zealand Alcohol Export (lionco.com 2018). Apart from New Zealand and Australia, the
organization also has presence in China, North America, and South East Asia and in some
European nations. However, as the business has till now been profitable both in domestic and
global markets, Lion is targeting the nation India for its further expansion. The main target
markets in India for Lion is food and beverage, which includes food items, soft drinks and
alcohol items. The major market entry strategy that Lion would use to enter Indian market is
franchising as the existing business model of Lion is quite unique due to the inclusion of

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alcohol items in Food & Beverage and the brand has a strong brand recognition which can be
utilized globally.
2.0 Research Methodology
In order to perform the market research secondary research analysis methods have
been applied. Thus, to perform secondary analysis, secondary data has been collected from
books, international marketing journals, company blogs and wide reading sources such as
websites. The collected data are quantitative in nature and collected from secondary sources
only. When performing the analysis, the data has been compared to the consequences of the
market factors have on other organizations in the sector.
3.0 Situational Analysis
3.1 Company Analysis
Resource or
Capability
Valuable Rare Inimitable
and non-
substitutable
Organized
to Exploit
Impact on
the
competitive
advantages
Strong
global
presence
Yes Yes Yes Yes Sustainable
competitive
advantages
Speciality
coffees and
alcohol items
Yes No Yes Yes Competitiv
e parity
Upscale and
Cozy
Atmosphere
Yes Yes No Yes Temporary
competitive
advantages

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Table 1: VRIO framework of Lion
(Source: Self-Made)
Strong Global Presence:
Valuable: Lion is having a strong global presence such as in the nation like Europe,
North America and China, which is helping the organization to increase their size, sales as
well as market share. It is a crucial way of deriving revenues from new and existing
customers.
Rare: Lion is one of the largest food and beverage firms in a global market after
Starbucks. Even though Starbucks is recognizable but Lion has a unique market presence
with its unique inclusion of alcohol and diary items with coffee, which is certainly rare in
global market.
Imitable: No competitors could compete Lion in the global market due to its unique
market presence. It would take significant time, ideas and resources to accomplish this
Organized to exploit: It is worth mentioning that Lion has effectively taking
advantages of its capability of producing unique beverage items.
Specialty Coffees:
Valuable: Lion provides several unique as well as satisfying food and beverage items
compared to other competitors on a daily basis. Lion has the speciality of providing calorie
information on its product menu to lure customers.
Rare: There are several other food and beverage producers provide specialty drinks
such as Starbucks. So, speciality drinks are not limited to Lion only.

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Inimitable: There are many other large coffee producers like Starbucks and Costa
Coffee are leveraging capability; thus, it can be limited.
Organized to exploit: By providing a vast series of options and constantly changing
the menu with the inclusion of several other substitute products, Lion is taking advantages of
this capability. As there are several options, people can find what they like and people who
like to try new items on a frequent basis.
Upscale and Cozy Atmosphere
Valuable: The ambience at many Lion outlets make customers spend a little more time to
drink a cup of coffee and feel relaxed with the company.
Rare: It is certain that Lion is not the only coffee shops with an upscale as well as
sophisticated ambience; so the upscale and cozy environment is not limited to Lion
Imitable and Non-Substitutable: Any medium size coffee shops can take the initiatives to
design or innovate the store and imitate the business model of Lion.
Organized to exploit: Lion is particularly leveraging this capability as well as creating the
environment that many group of customers could enjoy equally (lionco.com 2018). The brand
is particularly taking the advantages of trendy life style
3.2 Market Analysis Political/Legal/ Institutional Environments: Sehrawat and Dhanda (2015) mentioned
that balance between executive, legislation and judiciary could lead to stable political
structure in India. However, presently NDA government in India is welcoming the
foreign investors. The nation is quit in favour of business development of foreign
organizations. For example, in 2017, the US President Trump hosted Prime Minister
of India for “Prosperity through Partnership” which means US-India bilateral trade in

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goods and service and the stock of Indian Foreign Investment in both nations and
leading to employment opportunity and trade (Townshend, 2017). This initiative
indicates that India is open to foreign business development in the nation.
Furthermore, when it comes to legal environment, Gandhi and Zhou (2014)
mentioned that entry strategy in Indian market generally depends upon the nature of
business, scale of operation and foreign business can develop a Limited Liability
Partnership (LLP) in India. Indian businesses are governed by Companies Act 2013,
while the LLLP are governed by Limited Liability Partnership Act 2008 (Whittaker
& Machell, 2016). Regulatory Framework: It has been identified that Foreign Investment into are
usually governed by a comprehensive foreign direct investment (FDI). FDI into LLP
is enabled and it is subject to certain conditions and NDA government has announced
its commitment to further liberalise India’s FDI policy depending upon the view of
attracting greater foreign capital. Picciotto, (2017) commented that India has transfer
pricing rules that apply to related party transactions and on the indirect taxes front, a
comprehensive Goods and Service Tax (GST) has recently been introduced in India in
2017. In addition to this, India’s Competition Act, 2002 is a major legislation which
deals with the anti-trust issues. The act particularly prohibits anti-competitive
agreements. Economic Environment: Nölke et al., (2015) mentioned that India has emerged as
one of the fastest major economy and is expected to be one of the three economic
powers of the world over next 10 to 15 years. However, Billaiya, Malaiya and
Parihar(2017) mentioned that GDP is on a recovery path after the slowdown in first
quarter of 2017-18 and real GDP growth for the second quarter (2QFY18) increased
to 6.3% from 5.7% in the last quarter. Thus, the present condition of Indian economy

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has been characterized by optimistic growth as well as effective macro-environment
fundamentals.
Figure 1: Economy of India
(Source: Bagli & Adhikary 2014)
However, when it comes to economic trends, Chatterji, Mohan and Dastidiar (2014)
stated that Indian economy has observed a large swing in growth and inflation over the past
decade. Growth of GDP has trended higher and the inflation has come down and the fiscal
position has become more sustainable than before.

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Figure 2: Indian GDP Growth and Inflation
(Source: Chatterji, Mohan and Dastidiar, 2014)
 Social and Cultural Environment: India holds gigantic consumer market with an
overall population of approximately 1.2 billion. Sinkovics, Sinkovics and Yamin,
(2014) mentioned that accessible and affordable labour forces have encouraged
several multinational organizations to outsource their business to India. Indian is a
multi-lingual and multi-religious nation with communal harmony as the major
strength. Dahnil et al., (2014) arguably mentioned that the nation sometimes observe
tensions in ethnic lines. On the other side, when it comes to culture, it is worth
mentioning that India has world renowned film industry which impacts several other
small and medium size businesses. Sports such as Indian Premier League is one of the
biggest event in India.

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 Demographic Environment: It is made clear that India is the second most populous
nation in the world. The average annual rate of growth of India’s population is 1.76%
in 2011 (Krishna et al., 2014). The rate of population in India is not equally
distributed in all states and some states have a very high density of population. The
sex composition rate in India indicates that there are 933 females per 1000 males in
India (Kumar & Majumdar, 2014). It has also been identified that sex ratio is certainly
in the urban areas among the educated. The current life expectancy rate in India is
around 62.80 years in 2011. Kumar et al., (2015) commented that portion of
individuals above 65 years of age and youths below 15 years of age are considered to
be economically dependent to economically affluent age group of 16 -60 year). Technological Environment: Tandon and Ahmed (2016) mentioned that after the
launch of liberalization as well as globalization of Indian economy, a significant
changes have come in the technological standards in India. Mukherjee et al., (2014)
stated that free availability of foreign exchange, foreign collaboration, FDI and
establishment of MNCs have led to development of several sort of R&D centre in
several firms (Gupta & Barua, 2016). India has developed a significant development
in internet and digital platform allowing the launch of android applications.
Leveraging this growing platform, several small and medium size firm are able to
target the wide markets. Internet technology in Indian also enables e-commerce in
India. Consequently, the implementation of smart technology in Indian market
strongly influences the values of society by changing expectations. In addition to this,
as there is a technological advancement in the nation, most of the medium and large
size firms are trying to adopt AI technology. Physical Environment: Bharti (2014) mentioned that Indian economy is increasing,
with the rate of GDP going beyond 8% every year. Such ongoing growth is due to the

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increasing service, manufacturing sectors and government’s commitment to
rejuvenate the agriculture sector and stabilize the economic conditions. So, the
construction remains as the second biggest economic activity in India as the
production of industrial machinery is one the rise as well as increased flow of goods.
The major infrastructure growth require a substantial arrival of investment capital.
The governmental policies of India seek to encourage the investment in domestic
infrastructure.
3.3 Nature and Extent of Demand
As mentioned that every nation’s journey to toward the economic development lead to
the development of food supply. Liberalized foreign direct investment (FDI) policy, stable
macro-economic indicators as well as reforms have resulted in the development of production
processing, distribution and marketing of food and beverages (F&B) in India. Odunlami and
Matthew (2014) mentioned about the fact that entry of foreign technical know-how,
processes and products to India, availability of food through e-commerce and technical
advancement such as AI (Artificial Intelligence) through research and development to cater
to regional tastes as well as health benefits. (Gandhi & Zhou, 2014) mentioned that F&B
sector remains as the fifth largest sector in manufacturing in India. It has been further
identified that within the domestic F&B sector, ten segments have particularly gained
increasing acceptability among the Indian consumers.
Segment Categories Some major players in
India
Breakfast Cereals
Savoury Snacks
Ingredients
Hot and Cold Cereals.
Traditional snacks, potato
chips, Processed Snacks,
Kellogg, Bagrry’s PepsiCo,
Starbucks, Costa Coffee,
CCD, ITC, Nestle

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Dressing Sauce
Pet Food Pet food, Cat Food and Dog
food
Royal Canine India, Indian
Broiler Group
Naturally Healthy
Beverage
100% fruit juice, Super-Fruit
Juice, Natural Mineral
Water, green tea and Malt-
Based Hot drinks
Dabur, PepsiCo, Tata
Global, Beverage, HUL and
Mount Experience
Ready meals Ambient ready and dried
ready meals and Frozen
Ready meals
Nestle, MTR, ITC, Gift,
Foods Bambino
Confectionary Chocolate, Gum and Sugar
Confectionary
Mondelez, Mars
International, Parle,
Products
Organic food
Dairy products
Bakery
Organic Packaged foods,
beverage
Sresta Natural Bio Products,
Gujrat Corporate Milk
Table 2: Demands of F&B products
(Source: Gandhi & Zhou, 2014)
According to Bulatović et al., (2014), Ministry of Food Processing Industries of India on
High Growth Segments of Indian F&B sector a, apart from India’s strong macro-indicators
and production base. However, there are several factors are leading to an increase in
consumption of F&B items.
 Changes in taste and preferences of Indian customers

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 Increase in tourism in India and international travel by Indians, for instance, increase
in the use of ready to eat meals during travels.
 Increasing rate of consumption of fast growing F&B segments during special
occasions and celebrations
 Unique advertisement and rise in supermarkets as well as growth of ecommerce
creating awareness among consumers
Demand gap
It is identified that even though Indian food and beverage chains observed the demand of
several products but the major concern is, customers do not receive what they ask for in the
menu. The F&B chains have extended series of product items but manual order collection
practice is a significant problem in providing the services, which is resulting in poor serving
to customers. Thus, Coffee chains in the market are in the need of a more advanced
technology like AI (Artificial Intelligence), which would speed up the process of serving the
items to customers. For example, customers can select the items screened on the table and
choose by tapping the items. The selected items will further be furthered added in the Data
Storage.
3.4 Product Category Stage of Product Life Cycle
Product life cycle is a significant concept in marketing. It particularly explains the
stages a product usually goes through from when it was first considered until it finally
removed from the market (Chang, Lee, & Chen, 2014).

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Figure 1: Product Life Cycle
(Source: Chang, Lee & Chen, 2014)
There are four different stages in product life cycle namely introduction stage,
growth stage, mature stage and decline stage. When entering the Indian market, Lion has
considered its AI technology which would be used to serve beverage items to customers.
So, the impact on marketing the product is as given in the following:
 Artificial Intelligence service should be installed to serve the food and beverage
items to customers and intellectual property such as patents and trademarks need to
be obtained
 As Indian economy is booming, disposable income of citizens are increasing, so
unlike other brands, Lion should focus on premium pricing for the unique AI
services, which helps to hold its global brand image
 Distribution should be limited or selective until consumers show acceptance of the
service
 Promotion should include the use of AI in providing the beverage services.
Particularly, in the marketing communication approaches, the brand needs to show

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the launch of AI services helping customers to enjoy beverage products without any
hassle
3.5 Competitor Analysis
Who/Where are the competitors: The major competitors in food and beverage chains
in India are Starbucks, Barista and Café Coffee Day and these players are in all major
markets such Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengalore, Chennai and Delhi in India. In addition, the local
coffee retail giant Café Coffee Day has developed 1682 outlets in the market and above 500
kiosks in 2016 (Mukherjee et al., 2014). Kapusniak and Nebesny (2017) mentioned that
excelling coffee chain Barista is also in the expansion in terms of its outlets and coffee shops
along with some other significant retailers.
What/Who is the market: The major market or the customers whom the AI services
will be provided are the young youths, college and high school students, corporate employees
who hang out in coffee chain and people in general who love coffee and look for convenient
services.
Brand’s advantages: As discussed above, existing food and beverages chains in
Indian have extended product portfolio which have acquired a large market and created
market competition in terms of product and its quality but they are yet to develop a desired
services. Thus, if Lion introduces its AI technology based service in the sector, the initiative
will be a unique and innovative choice to customers. So, by introducing AI services, Lion can
gain customer attention, which will further help them to gain competitive advantages.
Perception of services by consumers: It is certain that India in the recent time has
paid a broad attention to technology adoption, which has influenced people and changed the
social values, as customers expects and accepts more advancement and innovation in
technology, which should spread across the market. Mukherjee et al., (2014) performed a

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study on Indian consumers’ test and preferences and found that a large flock of people visit
the outlets and order their items but the entire process takes too much time and outlets
become crowded. This chaos affects the intention of consumers to visit. Therefore,
consumers expect a speedy service through technology which would help to serve all
customers with equal importance and care. So, the launch of AI service in F&B would be a
significant and highly demanding service.
Describing the sector: In the recent time, Indian coffee retail chains observe a
tremendous growth as outlets are gaining popularity of hangout zones with friends, family,
colleagues and business associate, etc. The enhanced acceptance of coffee is attributed to
emergence of some premium stores like Starbucks, Barista Coffee Ltd and local giant Café
Coffee Day. Dani (2014) commented that the coffee retail shop in India remains as the
primary hangout place for Indian youths particular the age between 16 to 45 years.
Particularly, the young youths of the age group between 16 to 30 years are more in favour of
innovation in services. The major competitor Starbucks is trying to aggressively expand its
business in the western nations and entire nation and they are planning to reach over 100
outlets in 2018. The major players in the market are trying to apply aggressive marketing
strategy through expansion but they are yet to pay attention to the quality of services or
adoption of technology to services, which pushes the sector behind the global coffee chains
sectors.
4.0 SWOT Analysis -
4.1 Internal company Strength and Weakness
Strength Weaknesses
 Large and Unique categories of
products such as Alcohol Beverage,
 Even though AI services provided
by Lion is a unique but quality of

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milk beverage, cheese items, juice
drinks and Water ice, Yoghurt,
cream and custard (lionco.com,
2018)
 Alcohol items with beverage
products indicates the unique value
proposition
 AI services helping consumers to
save their time in selecting items and
having coffee
customer relationship and services is
poor due to limited number of deals,
offers and loyalty programs
 Requiring training and development
for employees; although AI is
helping customers to receive their
coffee more conveniently but
kitchen stuff of Lion are not
experienced enough to understand
the inputs provided by customers in
the AI devices, which is delaying the
services
 The store design of each outlets are
not similar; thereby, customers are
having different images in their
mind
4.2 External Market Opportunities and Threats
Opportunities Threats
 The selected market India which is
open to technology development,
which is a significant opportunity for
Lion
 None of the competitors in Indian
markets use Artificial Intelligence
 Aggressive marketing strategies of
Barista Coffee, Starbucks and Café
Coffee Day could create significant
market threats for Lion as these are
strategies are helping the
competitors to get into a new market

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based services when serving its
beverage items to its customers. This
service gap is significant market
opportunity for Lion. By
implementing this service to existing
ones, Lion can gain competitive
advantages.
(Chen et al., 2015)
 Although, Indian economy is
improving but the nation has the
history of sudden economic
downturn, which has a strong impact
on the business industry.
Table 3: SWOT analysis
(Source: Chen et al., 2015)
4.3 Implication of SWOT analysis
The outcome of the SWOT analysis indicates that Lion has the internal capability to
differentiate its business by incorporating changing in its existing services. Broad product
portfolio enables the firm to compete in a global market. The inclusion of AI services with
the beverage items enabling the business to gain competitive advantages. However, India is a
wide market with second highest population; thereby, to maintain the quality of service with
AI technology could be challenging if workers do not have appropriate knowledge about the
use of AI technology.
5.0 Objectives
5.1 International Objectives:
 To become the global leader in food and beverage sector by driving the preferences of
people with highly advanced services in food and beverage
 To increase the general standards of living: growth of business activities across the
national borders make available quality products at the most reasonable price all over

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the world. So the people of one nation can use the similar quality of products that
people in other nations are using and this certainly enhances the quality of living
5.2 Market Objectives
 To launch new and innovative services for the convenience of people through which
returns can be gained
 To increase the brand awareness in global market
 To increase the market share by enhancing customer relationship
Comparison of market share: The core products of Lion and its competitors are more and
less similar but the process of providing service and its quality could differ. Therefore, in
order to measure the market share, Lion identifies the customers who have accepted AI
services or take the service of Lion due to its advanced and innovative services which
customers do not find in other coffee chains.
6.0 Recommended Marketing Strategy
6.1 Target Market Identification and Segmentation Strategy
Target market: Lion should focus on the four major cities of India such as Mumbai,
Bengalore, Kolkata and New Delhi. In addition, the organization should focus on people of
the age group between 16 to 45 years old. The business should focus on college students who
tend to hand out in coffee chains with friends, corporate people who completes their informal
business meeting in coffee shops and general coffee lovers who look for unique experience.
Segmentation: Market segmentation can be done on the basis of the three major
segments such as demographic, geographic and psychographic.
Demographic segmentation: When targeting the customers in India, Lion should
target both male and female above 16 years old. As Indian economy is growing, thereby,

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disposable income of adults are also increasing. It could particularly focus on corporate
employees who has monthly earning above Rs. 20,000.
Geographic Segmentation: The major large cities in India, which Lion should
consider is Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengalore and New Delhi because people in these four cities
nourish a urban culture, where the family members or the family as a whole often go out to
coffee outlets. In addition to this, these four cities are surrounded by large MNCs which
builds a large corporate platforms. Consequently, people from these large companies have the
tendency to visit outlets but as they have limited time, as they ask more speedy and
convenient services, which can be satisfied through AI services.
Sustainable marketing principles in the plan: The proposed AI services would be
sustainable enough as it is undeniable that India as an emerging nation welcomes technology
advancement. For example, the adoption of digital marketing, and cashless trends in the
recent past have changed Indian traditional business culture because many small and medium
sizes firms are incorporating technology in business. Thus, it is worth mentioning that AI
services of Lion would be highly exposed and accepted by customers in India as it is unique
and innovative in nature.
Consumer Oriented marketing: The marketing plan of the AI services is consumer
oriented as the purpose of the plan is to facilitate food and beverage services by serving
beverage items. This means that customers already have multiple choices of beverage items
produced by competitors but customers do not have the ease of selecting the items
conveniently and them on time. Thus, to satisfy this demand, Lion designs its AI service in
which customers just simply have to tap the items on the screen reflected on the table and
then the items will be placed automatically.

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Customer value marketing: As put forward by () customer value marketing is entirely
based on two different set of values namely desired value and perceived. Lion’s AI service is
designed based on desired values of customers which means, since the customers look for
more innovative and enhanced services in a coffee chain outlet than the existing ones, Lion
designs its AI services.
Societal marketing: The plan developed by Lion also includes its social duties for the
purpose of marketing its brands through social activities. For example, Lion is suggested to
develop a weekly campaign on the ban of plastic and use of paper cups. This campaign
should be promoted both offline and online. In addition to this, Lion should only use earthen
cups which refers to Indian traditional culture. Hence, the organization is indirectly uplifting
the market value of those traditional businesses who produce earthen cups. This will increase
community engagement.
6.2 Market Positioning
When positing the brand in the market, Lion must consider its global image. It should
not compromise with brand identity due to moderate economic standard of the market. So,
Lion should position its AI as premium service. This is also aligned with the approach of
differentiation as Lion provides a kind of unique service to serve beverage items which the
consumers will not find anywhere in the beverage sector.
6.3 Market Entry Strategy
Lion should include franchising strategy as the market entry mode of entering the
Indian market. Laufs & Schwens (2014) mentioned that franchising is known as typical North
American Process for speedy or rapid market expansion; however, it is gaining transaction in
other parts of the world. It is certain that franchising work effectively for businesses that have
a repeatable business model and can be easily transferred into other markets. Thus,

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franchising strategy could be effective for Lion because it Lion belongs to a food sector and
its newly developed AI services are unique and having a strong brand recognition which can
be globally utilized and this might create a future competition as if AI service is embraced by
consumers, other players in the market might shift their focus to AI.
7.0 Recommended Marketing Mix Strategy
7.1 Product/Service and branding strategy:
Lion would introduce its AI services with beverage items. The service features
include the automation in ordering beverage items. This means customers do not have to ask
outlet staff to take their orders. Customers only have to choose items from menu which is
reflected on a Virtual LED screen at different corners of the outlets. Once, the customers
selects the options by tapping on their respective items, the selected items will automatically
store into the storage device which is DBMS. The branding strategy includes the
demonstration of the balance between technology and environmental sustainability. Lion
needs to design the proposed “earthen cups” with clay and logo of the brand. Brand’s logo
should be instilled on the earthen cups, which says that a society should never abandon its
ancient culture. This branding strategy has been aligned with environmental awareness
efforts. This means Lion in one hand, is promoting its brand leveraging the “earthen cups”
which was an old tradition of having tea earthen cups in India and on other hand, it is creating
awareness among people to restrict the use of plastic and become natural.
7.2 Place (Distribution) Strategy
Lion places its products through its own exclusive outlets and the service will not be
available to any other retail chains. The organization needs to establish its own outlet
infrastructure like it has in other global outlets. The firm develops its outlets in the downtown

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area of cities which is mostly crowded. Both urban and sub-urban areas of cities should be
covered when placing the product in the market.
7.3 Price Strategy
Since AI is a unique service in Food and Beverage sector, the brand should not
compromise with its service values. Thereby, it should develop a premium pricing strategy
for advanced AI services. However, the pricing strategy of Lion must comply with the
economic standards of Indian market, which means even though the price would be little high
than the competitors but it would not be greatly higher than the average industry price. It is
certain that AI service is unique and the competitors cannot provide the service but Lion is
not taking any undue advantages of the uniqueness of the service. Therefore, the price
charged for the AI service with beverage items are moderately high, while it keeps a
moderate distance in the price ranges set by the competitors. So, the pricing approach is
ethical and at the appropriate level.
7.4 Promotion Strategy
According to Tiago and Veríssimo (2014), promotion of a brand or product is a
significant aspect of the marketing plan. Therefore, when promoting the AI services in Indian
market, Lion should pay attention to technology. Technological platforms in India is effective
and adaptable due to growing emergence of digital marketing. Thus, to promote the service,
Lion should leverage the social media platforms that are popular in India such as YouTube,
Facebook and Twitter and on the other online music apps are population in India. Thus, Lion
should advertise its AI based services to those music apps. In addition to this, brand could
also design respective category of promotion. For example, one day in a week, it would
reduce the price on some particular items, while the charges for AI should be same as usual.
Furthermore, online delivery partners such as Swigy, Zometo and Uber eats in India are quite

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popular and those delivery agencies themselves promote the products of their vendors. So,
Lion can also leverage its delivery partners.
Promotional Budgets
Promotional Activities Budgets
Advertisement on Social media platforms
(YouTube, Twiter and Facebook) for three
months
Rs. 250,000
Advertising Agencies Rs. 5,00000
Online food delivery agencies Rs. 50,000
Total Rs. 80,0000
Table 4 : Promotional Budget
8.0 Planning Budget (Refer to Excel Sheets)
8.1 Planning Assumptions (Refer to Excel Sheets)
8.2 Forecast Sales (Refer to Excel Sheets)
8.3 Forecast Cost (Refer to Excel Sheets)
9.0 Implementation and Control
9.1 Formal Project Plan for Implementation of Recommendations
In order to implement the recommended plan, Lion needs to follow the steps which
range from service development to promotional initiative. In the first step, the brand needs to
design and develop the AI service which should be implemented and communicated
throughout all organizational levels or hierarchies. Hence, the organization only develops the
service but the existing beverage items will remain same as provided in the global market or
domestic market. In the next step, the organization needs to design its premium pricing

26INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
strategy, which should be done on the basis of the existing pricing ranges followed by the
competitors in the sector. The premium pricing strategy should be applied across all services
of Lion. Likewise, the following step is to distribute or place to the target market, which
should be done through the establishment of brands exclusive outlets in the major areas or
downtown of the cities. The final step of the implementation is to design the promotional
activities such as consulting the advertising agencies who design and prepares the advertising
content. Similarly, the brand needs to consult with the advertising channels or social media
channel such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
9.2 Monitoring of Action Plan
Lion needs to adopt marketing control process to monitor action plan of
recommended marketing plan. The control process must include measurement, evaluation
and monitoring. The brand needs to develop the standards based on which the performance
will be measured. In the next phase, the marketing manager of Lion should compare the
actual growth against the standards. If the performance or activities are not going towards the
desired destination, corrective action should be taken. When applying the corrective actions,
the manager needs to perform an investigation to identify and establish the picture why the
differences have appeared in the plan. In addition to this, monitor the sales and the standard
of service provided, the organization needs to talk to its customers for marketing efforts such
as awareness developing, customer survey and the member of the target audiences in the
Indian market.
10. Conclusion -
In conclusion, it is worth stating that proposed marketing plan would be effective for
Lion and relevant to its global objectives as Food and Beverage sector in India is rapidly
developing due to the increasing demand of the innovative services. In addition to this, the
major aspect that Lion could rely on is Indian economy; it is discussed above in the analysis

27INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
that Indian economy is developing. The stable economy assures the desired returns against
the investment made on the plan. Nonetheless, Lion needs to consider the fact that the food
and beverage sector in India is highly competitive and aggressive marketing strategies of
competitors are certainly challenging for Lion. Thus, apart from the stated plan, Lion also
needs to develop different the short-term goals which would increase brand value in the target
market. Moreover, short-terms objectives are required to satisfy the changing or dynamic
needs of market. Taxation and trading norms in Indian are dynamic in nature; Lion needs to
have back-up plan for its market dynamics

28INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
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