Marketing plan for the wedding planner company master project in business and marketing management

The author has made a lot of efforts to gather information as well as to conduct a survey to understand the consumer behavior and attitude towards using wedding planner services.. Type o

MBMM 4

VO THI THO

MARKETING PLAN FOR THE WEDDING PLANNER COMPANY

MASTER PROJECT MASTER IN BUSINESS & MARKETING MANAGEMENT

Tutor’s Name: Dr Trần Hà Minh Quân

Ho Chi Minh City (2010)

DECLARATION

I declare that this final project contains no material that has been accepted for the award of any other degree of diploma in any university or other institution and contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference is made

This final project contains a survey that is primarily conducted by myself under guidance and support of the tutor Therefore it has high level of trust, confidence and agreement

Signed:

Vo Thi Tho

15-Dec-10 Master of Business and Marketing Management

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude and great appreciation to

Dr Trần Hà Minh Quân, my tutor, for his guidance, valuable advices and great support in developing my thesis

Secondly, I would like to express my sincere thankfulness all professors, program coordinators, alumni community members, and my classmates for devoting me their inspiration, support and sharing their valuable knowledge during my time studying at the MBMM program of the Solvay Brussels Schools and Ho Chi Minh City Open University

Finally, I would like to thank my beloved ones for their love and continuous encouragement to me during my study

TUTOR’S COMMENTS

Ms Vo Thi Tho tries her best to make the final project with the topic of “Marketing Plan For The Wedding Planner Company” The author has made a lot of efforts to gather information as well as to conduct a survey to understand the consumer behavior and attitude towards using wedding planner services The recommended marketing plan in this project is practical and useful

The thesis meets the requirements for the final project of MBMM4 program I suggest the committee should allow the author to present it to your kind perusal and consideration

Signed:

Dr Ha Tran Minh Quan

15-Dec-10

V MARKETING STRATEGY 21

5.1 Market segmentation and targeting 21

LIST OF FIGURES

Figures Pages

Figure 3.5 Type of wedding planner services have used or intend

to use

8

Figure 3.6 Source of awareness and source of information 9Figure 3.7 Decision of using wedding planner 10Figure 3.8 Perceived advantage of using wedding planner 11Figure 3.9 Perceived disadvantage of wedding planner 12

Figure 3.11 Brand awareness of key competitors 14Figure 3.12 Brand leverage of key competitors 15

Figure 3.14 Satisfaction with the wedding planner ever used 17

LIST OF TABLES

Tables Pages

Table 4.1 Brief description of 4 key competitors in HCM City 20

familiar with hiring wedding planner They prefer to arrange the wedding on their own even though it’s time-consuming and stressful Couples and their family’s members desire to have a perfectly planned and executed wedding ceremony Usually they need to prepare and complete a lot of work at least one year before the wedding date These things leave them a sheer of exhaustion by the time the ceremony has ended They also realize that they don’t have enough time and energy

to make all the necessary preparation in a cost effective manner Finally, the professional advice to ensure every aspect of the wedding meet expectations should

be considered

For most couples, their wedding day will be the most expensive important day of their life and they might need professional advice when spending such a lot of money People pay an expert for advice when buying a house or a vacation, why not the most important day of their life – their dream wedding The problems are supposed to come from consumer behavior toward using wedding planner

Consumer behavior reflects why and how people make a purchase decision A thoroughly understanding of this will help a marketer to formulate appropriate marketing stimuli that will result in increasing sales and brand loyalty As The Wedding Planner is a new player in the wedding planner market, it is essential to know how to evaluate and influence consumer behavior The research about consumer behavior towards using wedding planner service will be conducted in order to determine which marketing efforts should be used and when

As using wedding planner service is new to Vietnamese, communication is extremely important to educate consumers and to make them familiar with it Finally, this drives them to adventure to use wedding planner service and then make a transition to hiring a wedding planner instead of self-preparing their

wedding By offering a full range of wedding services with efficiency and professionalism, The Wedding Planner will create a totally new experience for consumers who strive for a dream wedding

2.1 Our services

The Wedding Planner is a start-up company that provides wedding consulting services to brides, grooms and their family members Nowadays people are too busy to plan their important individual events They even get overly stressed and frustrated when having to prepare the event as far as one year in advance We are a full-service wedding consultant company who help to create a memorable and stress-free wedding for our consumers We provide a wide range of wedding services from wedding scheduling to day-of-wedding organization We also design

a wedding suited to the couple’s unique style as a true expression of their relationship and personality They just need to sit back and enjoy their event

Our core services include:

1 The whole wedding planner packages

2 Partial wedding planner packages, including:

 Wedding couture: answers to etiquette questions as well as

full-service referrals to bridal stylist, florists, hair stylists, entertainers, musicians, photographer etc

 Day-of-wedding organization and coordination: rehearsal attendance,

ceremony and reception organization

3 Custom tailored wedding service upon request: destination wedding, wedding theme design, etc

2.2 Our mission

The Wedding Planner is unique in that we offer our consumers a full range of services for a wedding Our consultants are experienced and dedicated professionals with many years in event planning We listen to consumers’ need and create the wedding of their dreams Our clients’ wishes become our commands Whether they need a traditional wedding or a western wedding, we can help They can choose a host of package or only one of our services include budget planning, event scheduling, answers to etiquette questions, as well as full-service referrals to florists, hair stylists, entertainers, musicians, photographer etc

2.3 Our business objectives

We understand that wedding is an especially meaningful event in our clients’ life Therefore we want to turn these special moments into magical days We aggregate many services under one roof in order to offer couples the ease of selection They can come with us for a full package or just one of services they need

III MARKET RESEARCH

3.1 Research objectives

The research will clarify the bellow 3 areas:

- Attitude towards using wedding planner services in relation to

self-preparation: Advantages and disadvantages of wedding planner service

- Determinants when choosing a wedding planner service

- Brand awareness of key competitors

3.2 Sampling method & research method

3.3 Research scope and limitation

The research only focused on consumers in Ho Chi Minh City Cultural, social and economic differences among areas (the north, central and south) would be ignored Descriptive analysis was used to describe the variables in term of frequency No software for the analysis of survey was used Therefore, analysis of variance would not be considered Due to the small sample size, the analysis result would not come into any model

Wedding is a large industry in term of dongs spent on it every year It is made up of multiple smaller enterprises like caterers, wedding consultants, bridal shops, various beauty suppliers, photographers, music, etc While it is a billion dong sector, each of the component parts is very small Most of these small suppliers are locally operated and privately owned They are of traditionally the types of businesses that do not necessarily report financial information to any agency other than tax authority Moreover, this industry doesn’t affect the economy as a whole

on an obvious scale These make it not easy to access on this industry

Many of the small components like carters, music, photographers, gifts, etc also do other events at the same time Wedding is a part of their business and they just don’t need to break their business down into wedding versus non-wedding Some

of the individuals and businesses that provide wedding services and products may only work part-time as freelances on wedding-related services to supplement their income or out of friendship Figure if we can track will likely not be in the industry tally

As overall industry numbers are hard to find, we will find the information by other ways One way is by searching local press and websites that provide information on local market Contacting local companies gives us experience and knowledge on the local scene Another important information comes from interview with future brides and grooms

3.4 Research analysis

3.4.1 Respondent profile

Wedding in Viet Nam is traditionally considered as an event of the whole family rather than of couples Decision of using wedding planner service comes from both family members and couples Therefore survey is distributed to respondents from

20 to 55 years old The sample includes 81% of respondents aged from 20 to 35 years old and 19% of respondents aged from 35 to 55 years old Figure 3.1 shows age distribution

Of 100 respondents, 34% who got marriage already arranged their own weddings in the past The remaining 66% is single Meanwhile marriage people give us feedback base on their experience, single ones provide us their expectation on a wedding planner Most of them have involved in the process of arranging a wedding as a bride or a groom or a family member Respondents diversifying in 4 economic classes will cover difference in decision-making influenced by income Figure 3.2 and 3.3 respectively show marital status and income distribution of the respondents

3.4.2 Which way consumers usually choose to arrange a wedding

Do it by themselves is the most popular way consumers choose to arrange a wedding Hiring wedding planner accounts for only 27%, which is still a very small number This shows that consumers do not familiar with using wedding planner services The result is presented in Figure 3.4

Unit: %

Base: All respondents (n=100)

Ref: Q4- Marital status

Figure 3.4 Way of arranging wedding

Figure 3.2 Marital status Figure 3.3 Economic class

Ref: Q16-Personal monthly income

Unit: % 

Base: All respondents (n=100) 

Ref: Q1 – Way of arranging wedding  

A: > 15,000,000 VND B: 7,500,000-15,000,000 VND C: 4,500,000-7,499,999 VND

D: 3,000,000-4,499,999VND

3.4.3 Type of wedding planner services consumers have used or intend to use

Wedding event scheduling is the least interested Only 16% of consumers want budget planning service Most of them need professional assistance for wedding day organization (37%) and wedding couture (35%) for ensuring a perfect wedding day

3.4.4 Source of awareness and source of information for wedding planner

Internet and newspapers or magazines are the key two channels for awareness of wedding planners However, consumers seek for further information about wedding planners mainly from internet and recommendations from relatives or friends

Unit: %

Base: All respondents (n=100)

Ref: Q6 – Type of wedding planner

services have used or intend to use

Figure 3.5 Type of wedding planner services have used or intend to use

3.4.5 Decision of using wedding planner services

Consumers are looking for a perfectly planned and executed wedding ceremony (33%) They also need assistance and advice of a wedding planner during wedding preparation process because they don’t have enough time to prepare on their own (29%)

Figure 3.6 Source of awareness and source of information

Unit: %

Base: All respondents (n=100)

Ref: Q7 – Source of awareness and

source of information

3.4.6 Perceived advantage of wedding planner

As compared to running from one wedding supplier to others for getting all they need for a wedding, wedding planner is credited for delivering a stress-free wedding and saving valuable time

Unit: %

Base: All respondents (n=100)

Ref: Q8 – Decision of using wedding

planner services

Figure 3.7 Decision of using wedding planner

3.4.7 Perceived disadvantages of wedding planner

Key barriers to adoption of wedding planner are expensive price and poor selection

of services Consumers think that wedding planner only provides the whole package service from pre-wedding preparation to wedding day organization Therefore they budget accordingly

Unit: %

Base: All respondents (n=100)

Ref: Q9 – Advantages of wedding

planner

Figure 3.8 Perceived advantage of using wedding planner

3.4.8 Important factors of choosing a wedding planner

The four leading factors when choosing a wedding planner are :

- Wide selection of wedding suppliers (93%)

- Well-known brand (90%)

- Smart wedding scheduling (85%)

- Quick and efficient service (84%)

- Popular brand (80%)

Be noted that low price is the least in consumer’s consideration

Unit: %

Base: All respondents (n=100)

Ref: Q10 – Disadvantages of wedding

planner

Figure 3.9 Perceived disadvantage of wedding planner

3.4.9 Brand awareness of the key competitors

Vietnam wedding planner is the best-known wedding planner brand with 67% of the respondents mentioning as the 1st name in the category

Unit: %

Base: All respondents (n=100)

Ref: Q11 –Important factors of choosing

wedding planner

Figure 3.10 Important factors of choice

3.4.10 Brand leverage of key competitors

Both Confetti and Vietnam Wedding Planner successfully build a very strong bond with its users demonstrating through high retention rate across all levels of the relationship ladder

Figure 3.11 Brand awareness of key competitors

Unit: %

Base: All respondents (n=100)

Ref: Q12 –Wedding planner awareness

3.4.11 Brand Association

Figure 3.13 shows that Confetti wedding planner and Vietnam wedding planner are the two market leaders among wedding planners with significantly higher scoring than other players on most important factors for wedding planner choice Although Vietnam wedding planner is the best-known brand, it has four among five most important factors lower than the second known player-Confetti wedding planner

Figure 3.12 Brand leverage of key competitors

Base: All respondents (n=100)

Ref: Q13 –Brand awareness

3.4.12 Satisfaction with the wedding planner ever used

Confetti wedding planner gets the highest satisfaction than any other competitors This reconfirms Confetti’s leadership among wedding planners

Base: All respondents (n=100)

Ref: Q14 –Brand association