II. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The modern marketplace has become competitive and dynamic more than ever, and there is need for entrepreneurs to come up with solutions that are unique and which provide solutions to the challenges that customers are facing. It is for that reason that Arksim Fitness app seeks to bring a revolutionary fitness application in the marketplace whereby users will achieve their weight loss goals and grow their social network of friends. The power of networking cannot be underscored in the modern times. This paper is divided into situational analysis by looking at the internal and external factors, the marketing mix, marketing goals and monitoring systems to explain about the product in details.
III. SITUATION ANALYSIS
External
Clients (identify by market segments and target audience/s)
Arksim Fitness app will be the name of the product that I am making and marketing. The market segment will be made up of women aged 17-65 years who are conscious about their look and appearance. The market segment will be divided into two main segments. The athletic women target segment that will be made up of women in sports and who have active lifestyles who need to remain fit all the time. The rationale for selecting women as the main segment is because women are image conscious, and they are concerned about their looks (Farell & Pride, 2014). As such, they are likely to use the mobile fitness app for fitness purposes.
Environmental Issues (political, economic, social, technical, etc.)
The main environmental issues that will affect my business are mainly social and technical. The fitness app will require the use of latest technologies such as applicability of the app with android user interface, require technical knowledge to make the app secure among others. As such, technology is a major environmental factor that will influence the app making business. Secondly, the social factors have a major influence on the Arksim Fitness app. Social factors relate to attributes such as tastes and preferences, social trends prevailing at a given time among others. In the modern times, there is increasing awareness for people to remain healthy, and wide use of mobile devices as a result of diffusion of technology. Arksim Fitness app has been bred as a result of these trends (Broadbandsearch.net, 2021). Political forces have little impact on the business while economic forces exert little pressure on Arksim Fitness business because the app will be lowly priced.
Licensing and Regulatory Requirements (local, state, and federal)
In terms of regulatory and licensing requirements, the app will be expected to meet various regulatory requirements such as information security requirements since the app will be dealing with sensitive personal information. As such, the app will have to abide by the state and federal laws.
Competition (Within Your Market – who, what, where?)
The fitness industry is characterized by bloody competition from online and physical competitors. The modern marketplace has become competitive now than before, thanks to the seamless flow of information that gives customers more choices. Competitors in the online arena are such as tech giants like Google, MyFitnessPal, JEFIT, Yoga Studio, and the Nike Training club app from the renowned sports apparel company Nike. Competitors in the physical arena are such as fitness training centers and gyms in the neighborhoods where people go and workout. The fitness industry is very competitive, and the mobile fitness industry is characterized by fierce competition from seasoned app makers like MyFitnessPal that has been in the industry since 2005. As such, it has established itself in the market. Given that Arksim Fitness app is new in the market, there is much to the competition from both physical and online stores.
Vendors/Suppliers (where and how do you purchase your supplies?)
Arksim Fitness app has different kind of suppliers. The main suppliers of raw materials are such as app designers who will be responsible or prototyping, coding, and writing content. Once the app has been complete, it will be ready for hosting whereby different companies provide hosting services such as GoDaddy, bluehost, Hostinger, network solutions among others (Top10.com, 2021). In terms of supplier bargaining power, there is medium to high bargaining power of suppliers since there are many suppliers offering the app services, and the number of app makers is considerably high, as well.
Internal
Vision and Mission of the Business
Vision: Arksim Fitness app seeks to be your everyday fitness partner
Mission: Arksim Fitness app exists to uplift women’s esteem by taking their problems and making them our business
The positioning statement: At Arksim Fitness, we own your problem.
SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis refers to a business evaluation tool that seeks to examine the internal environment of a business. In the case of Arksim Fitness app, strengths include efficient marketing and customer loyalty. Weaknesses are limited financial resources, limited knowledge about the market, and high rate of technological evolution. since the business is a start-up and there are many expenses that come up a new business such as registration, application for pin certificate, licenses and other regulatory requirements. Arksim Fitness app has opportunities it can take advantage of such as the opportunity to venture into live streaming and expand into a different segment. Threats to the Arksim Fitness app are intense competition in the marketplace and constant changes in technology, which is likely to render the app to be obsolete.
IV. MARKETING MIX
Product
Arksim Fitness and wellness center is in the business of making a mobile fitness for women aged 17-65years of age. The main purpose of the app is to provide an opportunity for users to exercise, track their performance after a given period of working out. The features and the benefits of the app will be that women will have an opportunity to network with other users of the app since users will be registered into a database and will be provided with a link to join a social media page that will be used to socialize them. What differentiates Arksim Fitness mobile app from competition is the socialization aspect of the app whereby members will have an opportunity to learn, grow, and expand their social network of friends. Users in a given social media page will be socialized by being given different topics to discuss and air their views, monitor others, motivate others so that users have something forward to.
Price
The positioning statement: At Arksim Fitness is, we own your problem. This is the value proposition that will be used to let customers know that we take their weight problem to be our business. In terms of pricing, At Arksim Fitness app will use a penetration pricing strategy whereby users will need to pay $5 as the yearly subscription fee. The rationale for using penetration pricing is to capture a large market share as possible.
Place
In terms of place, I will rent a small office room whereby I will be meeting with programmers and designers to deliberate the way forward. The product will be distributed virtually since it only requires app users to download the app in their since the mobile application is a virtual product, there will be no distributors as customers only need their mobile phone. Customers will get to the location of the business through their mobile phones.
Promotion
An engaging website and content marketing are the two main methods of promotion that will be used to promote the product. Arksim Fitness and Wellness Company will have a website that is responsive and up-to-date to ensure that it represents the business well (Lumenlearning, ND). A website serves as a direct means of communication to customers and ensures the company to maintain a direct relationship. The website will serve as the source of information for customers who want to know about the application through components such as the frequently asked questions segment. Content marketing is another method that will be used for promotion whereby newsworthy content will be posted on different social media pages to attract traffic to follow the app.
V. MARKETING GOALS
The main marketing goals for Arksim Fitness and Wellness Company is to grow the marker share in the first year of operation and reach as many as 300,000 users. In the second year, the company seeks to increase the market share to reach a subscriber base of 0.8 million.
VI. MONITORING SYSTEMS
At Arksim Fitness and Wellness Company, the directors who are also the founders will be responsible for building the brand for Arksim Fitness app. Directors will attract brand following in the various social media platforms for the app. Since the app is relatively new, three social media platforms will be used at most, which are Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Since these channels have a command following, they will be primarily used as the main tools of communicating with customers and popularizing the brand. The advantage of using a channel like Facebook is because growth metrics are easily observable such as the number of followers, the likes, and comments, which are important tools to know how customers perceive the brand (Marcu, Semenescu, & Costoiu, 2016). Employees will be responsible for coming up with creative content that will be posted on Facebook and the level of user and customer engagement will serve as the basis of follow-up.
The modern marketplace has become competitive and dynamic more than ever, and there is need for entrepreneurs to come up with solutions that are unique and which provide solutions to the challenges that customers are facing. It is for that reason that Arksim Fitness app seeks to bring a revolutionary fitness application in the marketplace whereby users will achieve their weight loss goals and grow their social network of friends. The power of networking cannot be underscored in the modern times. This paper is divided into situational analysis by looking at the internal and external factors, the marketing mix, marketing goals and monitoring systems to explain about the product in details.
III. SITUATION ANALYSIS
External
Clients (identify by market segments and target audience/s)
Arksim Fitness app will be the name of the product that I am making and marketing. The market segment will be made up of women aged 17-65 years who are conscious about their look and appearance. The market segment will be divided into two main segments. The athletic women target segment that will be made up of women in sports and who have active lifestyles who need to remain fit all the time. The rationale for selecting women as the main segment is because women are image conscious, and they are concerned about their looks (Farell & Pride, 2014). As such, they are likely to use the mobile fitness app for fitness purposes.
Environmental Issues (political, economic, social, technical, etc.)
The main environmental issues that will affect my business are mainly social and technical. The fitness app will require the use of latest technologies such as applicability of the app with android user interface, require technical knowledge to make the app secure among others. As such, technology is a major environmental factor that will influence the app making business. Secondly, the social factors have a major influence on the Arksim Fitness app. Social factors relate to attributes such as tastes and preferences, social trends prevailing at a given time among others. In the modern times, there is increasing awareness for people to remain healthy, and wide use of mobile devices as a result of diffusion of technology. Arksim Fitness app has been bred as a result of these trends (Broadbandsearch.net, 2021). Political forces have little impact on the business while economic forces exert little pressure on Arksim Fitness business because the app will be lowly priced.
Licensing and Regulatory Requirements (local, state, and federal)
In terms of regulatory and licensing requirements, the app will be expected to meet various regulatory requirements such as information security requirements since the app will be dealing with sensitive personal information. As such, the app will have to abide by the state and federal laws.
Competition (Within Your Market – who, what, where?)
The fitness industry is characterized by bloody competition from online and physical competitors. The modern marketplace has become competitive now than before, thanks to the seamless flow of information that gives customers more choices. Competitors in the online arena are such as tech giants like Google, MyFitnessPal, JEFIT, Yoga Studio, and the Nike Training club app from the renowned sports apparel company Nike. Competitors in the physical arena are such as fitness training centers and gyms in the neighborhoods where people go and workout. The fitness industry is very competitive, and the mobile fitness industry is characterized by fierce competition from seasoned app makers like MyFitnessPal that has been in the industry since 2005. As such, it has established itself in the market. Given that Arksim Fitness app is new in the market, there is much to the competition from both physical and online stores.
Vendors/Suppliers (where and how do you purchase your supplies?)
Arksim Fitness app has different kind of suppliers. The main suppliers of raw materials are such as app designers who will be responsible or prototyping, coding, and writing content. Once the app has been complete, it will be ready for hosting whereby different companies provide hosting services such as GoDaddy, bluehost, Hostinger, network solutions among others (Top10.com, 2021). In terms of supplier bargaining power, there is medium to high bargaining power of suppliers since there are many suppliers offering the app services, and the number of app makers is considerably high, as well.
Internal
Vision and Mission of the Business
Vision: Arksim Fitness app seeks to be your everyday fitness partner
Mission: Arksim Fitness app exists to uplift women’s esteem by taking their problems and making them our business
The positioning statement: At Arksim Fitness, we own your problem.
SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis refers to a business evaluation tool that seeks to examine the internal environment of a business. In the case of Arksim Fitness app, strengths include efficient marketing and customer loyalty. Weaknesses are limited financial resources, limited knowledge about the market, and high rate of technological evolution. since the business is a start-up and there are many expenses that come up a new business such as registration, application for pin certificate, licenses and other regulatory requirements. Arksim Fitness app has opportunities it can take advantage of such as the opportunity to venture into live streaming and expand into a different segment. Threats to the Arksim Fitness app are intense competition in the marketplace and constant changes in technology, which is likely to render the app to be obsolete.
IV. MARKETING MIX
Product
Arksim Fitness and wellness center is in the business of making a mobile fitness for women aged 17-65years of age. The main purpose of the app is to provide an opportunity for users to exercise, track their performance after a given period of working out. The features and the benefits of the app will be that women will have an opportunity to network with other users of the app since users will be registered into a database and will be provided with a link to join a social media page that will be used to socialize them. What differentiates Arksim Fitness mobile app from competition is the socialization aspect of the app whereby members will have an opportunity to learn, grow, and expand their social network of friends. Users in a given social media page will be socialized by being given different topics to discuss and air their views, monitor others, motivate others so that users have something forward to.
Price
The positioning statement: At Arksim Fitness is, we own your problem. This is the value proposition that will be used to let customers know that we take their weight problem to be our business. In terms of pricing, At Arksim Fitness app will use a penetration pricing strategy whereby users will need to pay $5 as the yearly subscription fee. The rationale for using penetration pricing is to capture a large market share as possible.
Place
In terms of place, I will rent a small office room whereby I will be meeting with programmers and designers to deliberate the way forward. The product will be distributed virtually since it only requires app users to download the app in their since the mobile application is a virtual product, there will be no distributors as customers only need their mobile phone. Customers will get to the location of the business through their mobile phones.
Promotion
An engaging website and content marketing are the two main methods of promotion that will be used to promote the product. Arksim Fitness and Wellness Company will have a website that is responsive and up-to-date to ensure that it represents the business well (Lumenlearning, ND). A website serves as a direct means of communication to customers and ensures the company to maintain a direct relationship. The website will serve as the source of information for customers who want to know about the application through components such as the frequently asked questions segment. Content marketing is another method that will be used for promotion whereby newsworthy content will be posted on different social media pages to attract traffic to follow the app.
V. MARKETING GOALS
The main marketing goals for Arksim Fitness and Wellness Company is to grow the marker share in the first year of operation and reach as many as 300,000 users. In the second year, the company seeks to increase the market share to reach a subscriber base of 0.8 million.
VI. MONITORING SYSTEMS
At Arksim Fitness and Wellness Company, the directors who are also the founders will be responsible for building the brand for Arksim Fitness app. Directors will attract brand following in the various social media platforms for the app. Since the app is relatively new, three social media platforms will be used at most, which are Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Since these channels have a command following, they will be primarily used as the main tools of communicating with customers and popularizing the brand. The advantage of using a channel like Facebook is because growth metrics are easily observable such as the number of followers, the likes, and comments, which are important tools to know how customers perceive the brand (Marcu, Semenescu, & Costoiu, 2016). Employees will be responsible for coming up with creative content that will be posted on Facebook and the level of user and customer engagement will serve as the basis of follow-up.
