Marketing Mix

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Qina Wheels and Tyres Company understands that the services in the industry are homogeneous in nature and the only way to differentiate its products from the rest is by closing competitors’

gaps in service delivery and thus providing a service that will capture the minds of the customers into believing that nothing beats the quality services offered by the company. This will be achieved through establishment of strong friendly long-lasting relationship with customers extending beyond the premises of the company.

6.3. Marketing Mix

Qina Wheels and Tyres Service Company intends to break into the industry by offering wheel alignment and balancing services to its target market. These are the two main services that the company will be specializing upon. The selling of brand new tyres ranging across Continentals, Michelins, Yokohama, Hankook, Pirelli, Bridgestone, Dunlop and second hand tyres will be our first product lines. Tyre repairs on the other hand is another service that is inevitable and our company like any other wheel and trye company will hire specialists who are experienced and efficient on the job. The company website will allow for booking of any kind of service including wheel alignment, wheel balancing and full tyre change. New tyres in stock ranging from light to heavy duty sizes, medium to high quality brands will be made available also on the website for easy reference by customers. Figure 13 below depicts examples of the wheel alignment and balancing services as well as the tyres that will be in stock.

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Figure14: Qina Wheels & Tyres Company product and service lines

The second hand tyres on the other hand will be made available to cater for customers who at the time of the service did not anticipate that they needed tyre change. Many motorists in Swaziland due to the economic downturns have opted for second hand tyres that are imported from either Japan or South Africa and as such, this have attracted many in the country to flock into Manzini where one of the already established companies offers good second hand tyres in huge quantities. This is an opportunity for Qina Wheels and Tyres Company to grab making sure that these conservative customers are accommodated and diverted to buy in Mbabane.

6.3.2. Place

The nature of the business requires that the location of Qina Wheels and Tyres Services Company be physical, easily accessible, and convenient for the target customers. As mentioned earlier on, the company will be located at Mbangweni-Woodlands Township just next to the newly built shopping mall intended to attract all motorist who either live nearby or are the residents of the fast-developing suburban area under heavy constructions. The strategic place will conveniently service all target customers working in the city centre, ideal for Manzini-Mbabane commuters, motorists passing by from Oshoek Border Gate to the city of Manzini-Mbabane and visa-versa. It’s a good first and last stop for someone either going out of town or going to town and wants to avoid unnecessary traffic jams considering the fact that it’s only a 6kms away from town and just 18kms to Oshoek Boarder Gate.

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All business dealings and official trading will be done at Mbangweni-Woodlands shopping complex where Qina Wheel and Tyre Service Company workshop will be. The place will be sub divided into a warehouse where all deliveries will be made and then the work of art service and distribution bay on the other end where customers will be treated to friendly shop assistants and specialist hired to professionally execute the wheel and tyre services. The wheel alignment and balancing specialist will be in a position to advice, address customers’ concerns and recommend according to the customer’s needs and in line with the quality services offered by the company. Customers on the other hand will also be able to view and select products that they need and even pay online using the company’s website before they can physically get to the company premises for service acquisition.

6.3.3. Price

The price of Qina Wheel and Tyre Services Company are dependent upon how much it costs per unit to offer the service taking into account the human resource unit cost factor, variable cost associated and fixed cost per unit of the product or service. Having determined all the costs incurred in offering a certain service or product, a percentage profit markup will be added but guided by the pricing behavior of similar products or services provided by other competitors in the market. Considering the fact that the industry’s product and services are homogeneous in nature as highlighted earlier on, the company intends gaining a larger market share in the early stages after starting operations by differentiation through offering the best quality products and services at competitive prices. Through the arrangement of bank stop orders, the company intends offering three-month payment options to all civil servants and credible private sector staff for full tyre change and wheel alignment and balancing services.

Below on Table 4 and Table 5 is a snap shot of the prices of the company’s products and services bearing in mind that all are in Swazi Emalangeni (E) currency:

DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMBA.030.2018.F08

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Table 4: Pricing for wheel and tyre services

Table 5: Pricing for wheels and tyres

6.3.4. Promotion

Qina Wheels and Tyres Service Company will take advantage of the technological developments the country has had in recent years. It intends going with the latest technology trends taking advantage that most Swazis now own gadgets are into the internet and social medias at large. For this reason, the company will engage heavy promotions mostly through the website, social media (WhatsApp and Facebook) to try lure customers into being loyal to the brand and enjoying the benefits of safe driving in the process. The company also plans to be involved in publicity campaigns in the form of road safety campaigns, sponsorships for social activities such as soccer tournaments, corporate social responsibility in the form of support for the poor, the vulnerable and disabled persons. In doing so, the media houses (newspapers and television) will be invited to cover the events.

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Promotional items with the company logo on the other hand will be a head start to greater things.

The company will be giving away products including umbrellas, key holders and bottle openers, camp chairs, mouse pads and pens. The first hundred customers to visit the company will be treated to lunch within the premises and will be given first class treatment whilst they await their cars during the first days of operation. The company will have a database of all customers who have either purchased or received a wheel and tyre service with Qina Wheel and Tyre Company. The data will consist of the name of the customer, place of residence, date of birth and work place. The intention is to send happy birthday wishes, happy mothers’ or fathers’ day wishes and Xmas wishes to all our customers through social media (WhatsApp and or text messages). Another platform that will benefit the company will be during marketing campaigns with the partner public or private companies where the use of banners displayed along the roads and brochures distribution will be efficient in improving the company’s brand and image.