Shisha Stand

Marketing Plan for Shisha Stand (Hookah Pipe)

Introduction

            A hookah is a multi or single-stemmed instrument used for smoking flavoured tobacco. Smoke is normally passed through glass based water basin before inhalation. Shisha stand is a product that can be use to hold the Hookah pipe for stability to prevent falling over. The product is already being used to hold Hookah pipes in various Hookah lounges and restaurants, for example, Mamounia, Mia, and Rym Cafe. Shisha stand just like any other product no matter how it might be must be marketed. The company producing Shisha Stands must come up with a strong marketing plan that will enable them succeed on the market. The paper intends to develop a marketing plan for Shisha Stands to enable the company producing them to expand to other markets other than restaurants, lounges, and bars (Gillespie & Hennessey, 2011.).

Situation Analysis

            Drafting a marketing plan starts with a situation analysis. A situation analysis will enable Shisha Stand Company to ascertain what is happening both in their macro and micro environment. With this being the case, it will be able to come up with marketing strategies that fit this environments. A situation analysis can be done using techniques such as SWOT analysis and PESTEL analysis (Westwood, 2005).

PEST Analysis

Political Factors

            There are various political factors that affect the production and distribution of Shisha Stands. There are laws that have been enacted by governments to control the production, distribution, and consumption of Shisha. The company producing Shisha Stands are normally affected by such laws because they affect their activities. Tax laws also affect the production and distribution of Hookah pipes. Shisha Stand Company depends on the activities of Hookah pipes. If their activities go down so will those of Shisha Stand Company. Generally, the company producing and distributing Shisha Stands must ensure that they adhere to the laws in the market they are operating to be able to avoid lawsuits (Andresen & Bouldin, 2010).

Economical Factors

Economic factors also affect the production and marketing of Shisha Stands. This is because they determine the cost of productions and the sales of products. A company should be able to identify areas or regions experiencing good economic growth to be able to succeed. Employment rates, for example, the numbers of customers willing to spend on tobacco products and levels of income will also determine whether or not people will be willing to consume Shisha and hence purchase the stand. Low income earners may be unwilling to purchase the products as it is not a basic necessity. However, in situations where people have extra cash to spend, they will definitely be willing to consume Shisha. As such the increase in sales of Shisha will lead to the increase in the demand of Shisha stand and vice versa (Rogers, 2011).

Technological Factors

            The world is experiencing technological advancements day in day out. The company should also ensure that they keep up with the advancements to be able to compete well. Current Shisha stands should not look like the future stands. This is as a result of technological advancements. Shisha Stand Company should use technological advancements to improve on the products production. It should also use it to develop products that are more superior to current products (Andresen & Bouldin, 2010).

Social Factors

            There are various social factors that affect the production and distribution of Shisha Stand products. One of the major social issues is the effects the consumption of Shisha has to an individual’s health. Addiction is also a social issue for Shisha Stand Company because it affects the demand for the stands. Such issues should be addressed for the company to be able to market these products well. The company can, for instance suggest to Hookah Pipe on how to create more pipes on their product (Rogers, 2011).

Competition Analysis

            The company producing Shisha Stands face competition from other companies producing Hookah pipe stands. The main objective of producing Shisha Stands is to increase the stability to the pipe to avoid it falling over. However, this does not mean that people will stop buying other stands and buy Shisha stands all together. As such Shisha Company should employ strong marketing strategies that will enable them counter the competition created by other stands companies (Proctor, 2012).

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

            Shisha Stand Company is able to make huge gross margins. The costs of producing these products are also slightly lower. With this being the case, the company are able to sell these products at a lower price which enables them to achieve high sales. The demand for Hookah pipe Stands products are also increasing. This means that the company producing these products have high chances of making great sales in the future.  The costs relating to using Shisha stand is also low or even zero. This means that more people will be willing to purchase the products to able to start Hookah pipe businesses which also increases the demand for Shisha Stand products (Westwood, 2005).

Weaknesses

            The company producing Shisha Stand have lesser market share as compared to their competitor companies. This is weakness the company have to consider when developing a market strategy because it determines their competitive advantage. This company have also not been able produce products that are completely stable and yet this in one of their major objectives (Proctor, 2012).

Opportunities

            The company producing Shisha Stand products can target households. Shisha Stand Company should also target markets they have not entered yet. Shisha Stands were introduced not long ago. Their popularity has increased in a short time. However, they have not being used in many lounges and bars. Shisha Stand Company should also engage in broad marketing campaigns that will improve the products popularity (Ehwa, 2011).

Threats

            Shisha stand company face competition from other Hookah pipe stands companies. Health concerns also pose a threat to the going concern of this company. This is because they affect the demand for Hookah pipe products which in turn affects the demand for their stands (Dornelas, 2012).

Marketing Segmentation

            The company producing these products targets the Lounges, Bars, and restaurants. This is because these are the places where Hookah pipes are used. However, as mentioned earlier, the company should also target household owners because there are household owners who have purchased Hookah pipes and may be interested in Shisha Stands (Raab et al. 2010).

Marketing Mix

Product

             The product under consideration is Shisha Stand. The company producing this product should consider improving the product’s using the current technological advancements. The company make sure that the product is able to deliver as promised that is providing stability to Hookah pipes (Andresen & Bouldin, 2010). The company can also create different products in terms of where they are used, for instance, those meant to be used at home by individual owners should be different from those in bars and lounges. This will enable them achieve product differentiation. It is also essential for the company to improve on the attractiveness of the stands. This is because there are Hookah pipes that are very attractive and as such, the owners will only purchase stands that match the attractiveness. They can also create different products to be used in different places, for example, a stand used to be used in a bar should be the same as the one used in a lounge (Hatten, 2011).

Price

The company producing this products offer them at a lower price. This strategy should be continued, however, they should consider employing discriminative price strategies. This can be achieved by the company producing different Shisha stand products and pricing them differently depending on their consumers’ capabilities. With this being the case, those with more income can purchase the expensive ones while those with low income can purchase the less expensive ones. However, this should involve comprising the quality of the products. The company should focus on the attractiveness of the products and not the way they are to serve customers (Hatten, 2011).

Place

            Currently, the company distribute these products in lounges, restaurants, and bars, for example, Mamounia, Mia, and Rym Cafe. This strategy has been able to work for them for quite some time now. Nonetheless, they should consider targeting homes. This way they will be able to increase their sales. This will also call for the company to start selling the products in stores to ensure that those willing to purchase them have easy access to them ( Explorer Publishing, 2012).

Promotion

The company producing Shisha Stand can employ different strategies when promoting the product to create awareness. They can use, for example, print media and visual media to advertise this product. They can also use the internet to market their products. The company can also use social Medias that are normally visited by some of the lounge, restaurants, and bar owners. This will enable them reach a large number of customers with a single advertisement that can be posted on the social media pages such as twitter. They should also post adverts in bars and lounges to ensure that those who visits this places are able to see them (Gillespie & Hennessey, 2011).

Conclusion

Marketing plans are very important to any company producing products and services regardless of how good they are. The company producing Shisha Stand should come up with marketing strategy that will enable market their product with ease. They should also do this to be able to expand customer segmentation. Generally, marketing plans enable companies to understand their position in the market to be able to develop marketing strategies that suite that position.

References

Explorer Publishing. 2012. Dubai : the complete residents’ guide. Dubai: Explorer Publishing.

Andresen, E., & Bouldin, E. D. 2010. ublic health foundations : concepts and practices. San Francisco, CA : Jossey-Bass.

Dornelas, E. A. 2012. Stress proof the heart : behavioral interventions for cardiac patients. New York, NY : Springer.

Ehwa, C. 2011. The book of pipes & tobacco. New York, NY: Random House .

Gillespie, K., & Hennessey, H. D. 2011. Global marketing. Mason, OH : South-Western Cengage Learning.

Hatten, T. S. 2011. Small business management : entrepreneurship and beyond. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Proctor, R. N. 2012. Golden Holocaust: Origins of the Cigarette Catastrophe and the Case for Abolition. University of California Press.

Raab et al., 2010. The psychology of marketing : cross-cultural perspectives. Burlington, VT: Gower.

Rogers, K. 2011. Substance use and abuse. New York, NY: Britannica Educational Pub. in association with Rosen Educational Services.

Westwood, J. 2005. The marketing plan workbook. Sterling, VA: Kogan Page.