Table of Contents

Introduction:........................................................................................................2
LO3 Be able to formulate a marketing plan for a product or service....................................2
1.1 Write a marketing plan for a product or a service...................................................2
1.2 Explain why marketing planning is essential in the strategic planning process for an
organization......................................................................................................7
1.3 Examine techniques for new product development.................................................8
1.5 Explain how factors affecting the effective implementation of the marketing plan have
been taken into account........................................................................................8
LO4 Understand ethical issues in marketing.................................................................9
2.1 Explain how ethical issues influence marketing planning.........................................9
2.2 Analyze examples of how organizations in different industries including the industry of
you company respond to ethical issues.....................................................................9
2.3 Analyze examples of consumer ethics and the effect it has on marketing planning.........10
Conclusion:

..10
Bibliography...................................................................................................11

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Introduction:

With growth in both B2B and B2C markets, Lotus Company is one of the companies that
thrived on the Vietnam market. With just 30 employees and by using low-cost email marketing
and coupons and launching new-client referral and reward programs, Lotus Company was doing
better this time several years ago with many new customers and an increase in existing client
loyalty, but it was pre-recession. Increased competition that was bound to get hurt in this
economy meant small and medium business need to intensify its marketing efforts and show
consumers it is here to stay. In addition, sectors are feeling the pressure as consumers continue to
watch their spending in the current economy, and Lotus companys range of products are within
those ranks. Therefore, Lotus Company is going to launch a new energy-saving consumer
product before summer to cater for the needs of increasingly frugal and value-conscious
customers. In order to be outstanding in the competition, three major driving forces for hair care
competitors are sought: new product innovation, online selling, andeffective advertising. Among
all these success-leading elements, new product innovation is the foundation, which builds
sustainable competitive advantages. Lotus Company has decided introduces the new type of
shampoo Lotus dry shampoo. This is the energy-saving product which is without the use of
water, clean and shiny hair in just 2 minutes used.
LO3 Be able to formulate a marketing plan for a product or service
1.1 Write a marketing plan for a product or a service.
1. Stage 1: Environment analysis (FESTLE):
Political: According to the Law (2010), Vietnam is a country with political stability, less disease,
no war, so, Vietnam's economy is quite appealing, attract more foreign investment. In addition,
tax policy and export to foreign brands more easily, more suitable for the opening period and
integration. (Bao Phap Luat, 2010)
Social: Over the past five years, Vietnam's population increased by an average of one million
people each year makes up abundant human resources, large consumer market. In addition, the
proportion of urban population increased thanks to the process of migration and urbanization
(VOV, 2014)
Technology: Although there are new developments in scientific and technical, production lines
of Vietnam enterprises mainly imported from foreign countries. High degree of automation
products to help produce in large quantities, of higher quality compared with traditional manual
processes. For items shampoo, Network and Information Science and Technology (2009), said
the technology has produced shampoo herbal origin does not irritate the skin. A comprehensive
change in the access to new technologies is the development of social networks and smart
phones in daily life.
Economic: According to Dan Tri (2015), per capita income in 2015 reached 45.7 million with a
GDP growth rate nearly 6.68%, the highest in eight years. According to the analysis of the
human central forecast and the labor market (2015), the supply of labor in Vietnam is growing,
contributing to boosting the development of the economy. In addition, the entry of multinational

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companies had the impact on the economy, but also the economic development opportunities
when creating a positive economic value for the industry (Vietnam.net, 2015).
Legal: In general, Vietnam legal system is quite complete, consistent with standards and
international practices. However, commercial law is still many gaps, causing many difficulties
for foreign companies in Vietnam (Cafef.vn 2015). Pirated goods has not been focused to affect
business operations of enterprises true (Thoibaotaichinhvietnam, 2015)
Environment: Although Vietnam is one of countries with natural resources abundant and
diverse in the world, but the extraction and use of natural resources is not rational has led to the
scarcity of resources, make the production costs increase. Currently, cosmetic industry in the
world has developed rapidly due to the need to use of the cleaning products, aesthetic needs of
humans is relatively large.
According to data tracking, in 2009, dry shampoo took 1% of global shampoo launch
activity, increases to 5% in 2014 (Andrew McDougall, 2014). Therefore, despite the fact that
entire dry shampoo market share is low, clearly this industry has great potential to expand in
Vietnam. About economically and politically, the company should adjust the supply of goods in
line with the purchasing power of people. About technology, to better compete with the products
of natural origin, Lotus need new inventions using natural ingredients such as aloe, avocado to
increase competitive strength in the market shampoos.
2. Stage 2: Audit of capability (SWOT):
Strength
Weakness
Lotus Company is a developing company in the
Lotus has a lot of competitors in the market
market of Vietnam, mostly in two areas are of Vietnam and foreign countries such as
B2B and B2C. Therefore, Lotus has experience Dove, Batiste from UK. In addition, Lotus
in launching new products.
The traditional shampoo brand in Vietnam
Like other companies, most supermarkets in which are Pantene, Head & Shoulders,
Vietnam such as Big C, Lotter mart, Fivimart, Clear, Rejoice, Dove as well as the large
Vinmart, Aeon mall are retailers for lotus. Apart competitors of Lotus Company.
from these large supermarkets, Lotuss
shampoo products are also sold in other small
markets and grocery stores throughout the
country. So, Lotus has expansive distribution
network.

Opportunities
Currently, industrialization and modernization

development, people are always busy with

work. So they do not have much time to take
care of themselves, especially hair care for
women. This is the advantage of Lotus Dry
shampoo.

Threat
The increasing or decreasing in inflation
and unemployment rate can affect the
businesses. The reason is that they can
influence to the purchasing power of
customers. In Vietnam, the customer price
index (CPI) reduced from 223.6 to 205.8

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Currently, Vietnam's market has not developed

the field of dry shampoo, mostly imported from
overseas. Therefore, Lotus will have more
opportunities to dominate this field.

between 2011 and 2012. This shows that

people purchase less than the year before.
As a consequence, the Lotuss sales may be
reduced.

3. Stage 3: Set Marketing Objective:

In order to develop company operation and diversified products, Lotus Company also
sets up objectives for long-term development in dry shampoo industry. Lotus Dry Shampoos
objectives are to obtain certain amount of market share and sales. Moreover, Lotus marketing
managers also aims to promote Lotus Dry Shampoo as a leading brand name in Vietnam dry
shampoo market. One of the important objectives of Lotus Dry Shampoo is become popular in
the market, many people love and used, generate brand awareness from customer.
4. Stage 4: Develop marketing strategy:
Target:
Lotus and its dry shampoo products are main targeting to women who are in age of 18 to
35, people who have medium income and stability, they have interested in convenience products,
dont have time to wash their hair; people who busy with work but still interested in the beauty
of hair; people who suffering from dermatological diseases and abstain from use of water;
women who are well aware about beauty and care for their hair, women having the minimum
purchasing power for Lotus product.
Positioning:
Lotus Dry Shampoo is high quality product, after only 2 minutes of use you have got
smooth hair, clean, many fragrant and without using water, with reasonable prices.
Positioning maps:

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There have many different brands of shampoo in this Positioning Map. It included:
Pantene, Head & Shoulders, Clear, Dove, Lotus and Batiste. This is a useful research tool both
internally (to help Lotus Company understand itself) and externally (to see how consumers see
the brand).
4Ps:
Products: Lotus Dry Shampoo is a starch based hair product with a no water needed formula,
which rid the hair of oily roots, refreshes and cleans the hair. The waterless feature of this
product is a benefit to consumers because this gives them the opportunity to get clean and
refreshed hair anywhere they go. The Lotus Dry Shampoo product comes in various sizes (mini
size and full size) as well as different scents such as original, lemon, grapefruit, lime oils, rose,
and cherry. Packaging of the product is eye-catching design, spray bottles. The spray-on
application of this product is beneficial to consumers because it enables immediate application.
This feature is great for consumers that like to-go options. Moreover, Lotus Dry Shampoo has
two sizes includes mini size with 50ml / bottle and full size with 200ml / bottle.

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The Lotus Dry Shampoo products

Price: Lotus will used Penetration pricing strategy for Lotus Dry Shampoo. This price
penetration strategy means that the organization sets a low price to increase sales and market
share. Once market share has been captured the firm may well then increase their price. (Learn
Marketing, 2016) It is because this method will support Lotus Dry Shampoo on three main
considerations: getting Lotus Dry Shampoo to be accepted; maintaining and increasing market
share in introduction stage; and achieving sales target in year 1. Lotus will set a sales target for
the first year is 500 000 Lotus Dry Shampoo bottles (300,000 bottles with full size and 200,000
bottles with mini size). Specifically, Lotus Dry Shampoo will be priced at 48,000VND for
50ml / bottle and 190,000VND for 200ml/bottle.
Place: Lotus wants to help people have a shiny hair, clean anywhere without using water.
Therefore, Lotus had widespread distribution dry shampoo across all retail stores and
supermarkets. In the retailer like the grocery, the big supermarkets such as Big C, Lotte, Metro,
we can all see Lotus dry shampoo on store shelves. With the widely distribution, always ensure
quality and satisfy the customer needs, so Lotus Dry shampoo will very well-known and very
rapid development and providing Lotus dry shampoo products to customers the most convenient
way. In this era of modern technology, internet shopping, credit card use influence the marketing
strategies for Lotus.
Promotion: Like other companies, Lotus with activities promoting products on television, email and newspapers to aim as informs consumers of new products, product manuals, etc. It is
through direct advertising campaigns at the right time, appropriate, timely, traveled Lotus Dry
shampoo strides in the market in a short time. In addition, Lotus also use the usual common
form, such as discounts, coupons, bonus forms, donated samples for customer trials, promotions
or scratch lottery winners valuable prizes treatment, sponsors competitions and forums on
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television. Such activity has created a good image with consumers of Lotus. Moreover, Lotus
will advertise in online newspapers and social network to attract more customers.
5. Stage 5: Marketing tactics & Schedule:
The usage of environmentally packaging design is important objectives of Lotus that affect the
benefits of the company and determine the success in many aspects of business. The packaging
of Lotus Dry shampoo designing for Vietnamese market plastic bottle. This kind of plastic are
considered as one of the safe kinds of plastic for products packaging and can recycle easily.
Lotus has a variety of packaging and bottles with more convenient different capacity to meet the
needs of customers such as 50ml and 200ml.
Mass media: Lotus spent an extremely high cost for Lotus Dry shampoo ads on television on
primetime in order to attract greater number of viewers. Lotus will make a TVC to promote its
products with content about a girl on a date with a guy at 7:30 pm. But she arrested overtime on
that day by the director, so she finished at 7:00 pm. Not enough time to prepare, she used the dry
shampoo to make hair fluffy, clean and fragrant, and she felt more confident. Thanks to the
confidence that she has conquered guy. At the end of TVC will be showing the Lotus logo and
slogan. Lotus will invite celebrities like Chi Pu, Noo Phuoc Thinh who has a large fan and
scattered throughout the country to acting TVC..
Sponsorship: To customers know more about products, Lotus will decide funding for a number
of television programs about beauty such as Vietnam Next Top Model, The Face Vietnam, or
Hair contests.
Direct marketing: Lotus will use email marketing because it is fast and cheap, while enabling
Lotus to target messages to the right people at the right time. Lotus will send email with content
about information of products, new promotion, discount coupons, etc.
In addition, based on the power of the Internet media, Lotus Dry shampoo will has increasingly
expanded market and rapid development through created a Web site for Lotus to customers may
know more information about this product. Lotuss website provides the information about the
updated products, recommendations and the making hair beautys approaches.
Online media: Like others competitor, Lotus will hire writing online newspaper articles to Ads
for the Lotus Dry Shampoo. Lotus can hire reputable newspapers and have many customers as
Dantri.com, VnExpress.net, Baomoi.com to increase the trust of customers for the product. In
addition, the influences of this online newspaper are very large and spacious that brings more
benefits for Lotus Dry Shampoo.
Currently, there are many methods to direct marketing such as send mail to clients, send SMS to
customers, creating communication channels of the company. However, one of the most effective
methods of direct marketing is advertising on social networks are video ads on YouTube
channels and fanpage in Facebook , especially Facebook.
Schedule (Time line):

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1.2 Explain why marketing planning is essential in the strategic planning process for an
organization
The preparation of marketing plans can be viewed as a main direction from the everyday
running of a company, providing the opportunity to put in some solid thinking about where the
business needs to be going. Alternatively it may be seen as a necessary burden, a timeconsuming process producing a report that rapidly outdated and is soon forgotten.
The marketing managers ought to provide plans on both strategic and tactical scopes. The
process of planning may be more important than the plans that emerge. The planning occasion
requires managers to schedule thinking time. Thus, marketing managers ought to think about
what has happened, what is happening, and what might happen? They must set goals and get
agreement. The goals must be communicated to every company member (employee, for
instance) in accordance with their authority and responsibility. Progress towards the goals must
be measured. Corrective actions must be taken when the goals are not being achieved. Thus
planning turns out to be an intrinsic part of good management.
Marketing planning is a systematic process involving the assessment of marketing
opportunities and resources, the determination of marketing objectives and the development of a
plan for implementation and control. By planning for up-coming activities, the marketing
managers examine organizational capabilities and environmental factors that affect the operation
of the company.
In a fast-changing and increasingly digitalized world, some degree of planning is
essential, if only to avoid expensive mistakes. The planning process also provides the
opportunity to gather support for proposals, co-ordinate different functions, bring about cultural
change, and communicate objectives to team members.
1.3 Examine techniques for new product development
New product development is a process which designed to develop, test and consider the
viability of the new product in the market. It helps to distinguish the growth or survival of the
organization when a new product launch. There are several steps in the new product development
process:
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Idea generation - It can be obtained from market research by using SWOT analysis.
Idea screening - In this process, unsuitable or unattractive ideas would be abandoning.
Concept development and testing - After the early stage of concept development, it
requires to launch a concept testing by asking the prospective customers' feedback.
Market strategy development - It requires identifying which type of marketing strategy
should be use.
Product development - Converts a product idea into a physical form.
Test Marketing - Placing the product on sale and observing its actual performance.
Commercialization - Implementing a marketing plan and full production
1.5 Explain how factors affecting the effective implementation of the marketing plan have
been taken into account
The effective implementation of the marketing plan is very necessary and there are many
factors which affects the marketing plan easily. The factors that will affect the marking plan
include business strategies, geographical location, and cultural environment, pricing strategies,
customer behavior and the competitive analysis. The marketing plan is for the customers and to
sell the products and services but all these things depends on the customer retention and the
competitive analysis in the market (Wilson, R. M. S & Gilligan, C, 2005). The best factors that
affect are the cultural environment and the geographical location. Cultural environment is
important because every cultural has different requirement based on the geographical locations
because the competitive market is different. Also the external analysis is important to decide on
what price the marketing plan should be implement. For example, if the same retail company
offers the price of a specific product then if the same company also proposes the same price for
the product then it will be very difficult to compete in the market. Therefore, for this the
company needs to either the lower the price or to make customer royalty.
LO4 Understand ethical issues in marketing
2.1 Explain how ethical issues influence marketing planning
Ethical problems in marketing stem from conflicts and disagreements. Each party in a
marketing transaction brings a set of expectations regarding how the business relationship will
exist and how transactions should be conducted. Each facet of marketing has ethical danger
points as discussed below:
Pricing Ethics: The price of a product or service plays a large part in how well it sells.
Producers and retailers practice ethical pricing strategies to earn profits without defrauding
competitors or consumers.
Ethics in Advertising and Promotion:
Deceptive marketing is not specific to one target market, and can sometimes go unnoticed
by the public. There are several ways in which deceptive marketing can be presented to
consumers; one of these methods is accomplished through the use of humor. (Boundless, 2016)
Delivery Channels:
Direct marketing is the most controversial of advertising channels, particularly when
approaches are unsolicited. TV commercials and direct mail are common examples.
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2.2 Analyze examples of how organizations in different industries including the industry of
you company respond to ethical issues
Toyota has finally admitted to engaging in unethical behavior when it comes to
investigating the safety of its vehicles. An article released by the Associated Presslate Sunday
night, confirms that Toyota not only dragged its feet when looking into safety defects, but also
patted itself on the back for doing so. In a 2009 presentation called, "Wins for Toyota Safety
Group," it shows that in 2007, Toyota purposely and repeatedly delayed safety regulations by
avoiding defect investigations and obstructing government inquiries into safety concerns. The
Associated Press also states, "The new documents show the financial benefit of delay. In the
presentation, Toyota said a phase-in to new safety regulations for side airbags saved the company
$124 million and 50,000 man hours. Delaying a rule for tougher door locks saved$11 million. "In
a situation like this it is easy to see that something went wrong, but how can things go so wrong.
Toyota is a company that has a mantra of "kaizen," or continuous improvement. Instead they
somehow found a way to justify negotiating with the government to make their problems
disappear. However, consumers have found themselves victims of a PR spin game in which
Toyota would recall a limited amount of vehicles at certain times of the year to avoid a massive
recall.
At the same time, Toyota was producing new vehicles with known safety flaws and
advertising their vehicles to be the safest and highest quality vehicles on the road. A further look
into the documents reveals several other reports entitled "Wins for Toyota &Industry," including
"favorable recall outcomes," "secured safety rule making favorable to Toyota" and "vehicles not
in climate legislation." Another page lists "key safety issues, "including "Sudden acceleration on
ES/Camry, Tacoma, LS, etc. What this goes to show is that Toyota conspired with NHTSA, the
government department responsible for crash test ratings, to falsely improve Toyota's safety
record while hiding the fact that NHTSA and the Department of Transportation were neither
adequately staffed nor compensated to deal with influx of safety concerns raised by consumers.
The larger problem with this scandal is that it has created a precedent for corruption and
unethical behavior when it comes to the safety of vehicles that so many of us use and depend up
on every day.
On the other hands, based on Bunkley (2010) A Lexus E350 collision in San Diego,
California, on August 2009 resulted in killing four persons, which got the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the San Diego Sheriffs Department to conduct an
investigation. Later on they revealed to have a problem with the vehicles floor mat that was
based on the investigation wrongly fitted and also to have a heavy braking consistent with a
stuck accelerator pedal (NHTSA, 2011). Based on Mail Foreign service (2010) the victims
lawyer Tim Pestotnik said that the same car had been rented to another customer and had been
returned with a complaint with the accelerator. He also added that the sheriff reported that not
only the floor mat was a factor, but also there was another factor with an electronic malfunction.
Whatever was the cause of the accident the ethical dilemma is that Toyotas mechanical
and quality assurances teams didnt do their job perfectly to check the safety standard in first
place, and that because of the organizations growth strategy that resulted in a tragic accident.
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According to Lawton and Paez (2015) they found that leaders should build and pursue their
vision based on ethical purpose. Also Gustafson (2013) stated that the moral managerial decision
from ethical behavior perspective should ensure common interests of humanity as of utmost
importance.

To sum up, Toyota is not a moral agent company because Toyota used marketing is
not true about their products, it affects society and customers.
2.3 Analyze examples of consumer ethics and the effect it has on marketing planning.
Environmental issues, animal issues and ethical issues, including oppressive regimes and
armament when shopping. In order to proceed with a good marketing plan, the organization shall
take consumer's right into account. As being immoral in product sales and product purchase, it
may cause bad attitude or situation.
For example, if customer purchasing product which is illegal or against the law, obviously the
organization would not consider about customer's right for the sales. It would directly affect to
the market itself and unethical behavior will be spreading around.

Conclusion:
The marketing plan shows how the company will establish and maintain profitable
customer relationships. All of these relationships are important to the organizations success;
hence, it put emphasis on the essential functions of organizations marketing plan.

Bibliography
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Andrew McDougall. (2014, November 26). Dry Shampoo market grows as cosumer
perceptions charge. Retrieved from Cosmeticsdesign-europe.com:
http://www.cosmeticsdesign-europe.com/Market-Trends/Dry-shampoo-marketgrows-as-consumer-perceptions-change
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