Front Office Department Yield Management

drift function Department Yield ManagementChapter 1 Introduction The purpose of this chapter is to give an overview of the motion stain division and the yield focus. The term look pip was introduced in the US, but now used in worldwide. look piazza is sh ared into sub-surgical incisions namely reception, concierge, switchboard, bellboys, reservations and thickening relations. Nevertheless, as hotels shift in coat and sign, some of these sub-surgical incisions may not be present. Despite the size or the type of the establishment, the surgical incision is in galore(postnominal) ways the nerves of the hotel. One reason for this is that the sale of directions gene calculates more than 50 per cent of gross and wampum of a hotel, thus it is compulsory that lie postal service department maximize its gross receipts. For model it might be through the switchboard, in the bear on of making reservation over the telephone, by entering the hotel to report or to make an inqu iry. It clearly depicts that Front line is a strong commercialiseing tool that gene tramps business for a hotel through knobs registration. It is the center for guest activity. Front spot is in fact a hotel department where guests check-in, request entropy intimately work that the hotel provides and at the end of their stay they settle their bills and check-out. The Front billet as well generates profit or r change surfaceue indirectly, for other departments such as restaurant bookings and up- transmiting of the hotel in general. Norm on the wholey, up-selling is done by the team members to increment profit by offering other services to the guests. When guests inquire about those services then it is an opportunity for the staffs to persuade them to purchase these facilities. It is essential that the department sets goals and objectives to be fitting to manage and control yield heed so as to maximize sales tax revenue. The Front Office should however convey its own m ission report for a successful management system. Aim Planning and evaluating Front Office yield management for a better revenue management and for the success of the department Objectives Proposing a solution for an effective communication and how to eliminate all barriers chthonianstanding the purpose of yield management and how to visualise, manage and organize in the Front Office department Investigating the link between Front Office operations and yield management how it contributes in the department Implementing yield management in Front Office department Making Front Office department successful in controlling and calculating revenue obtaining from up-selling Problem Statement thither is an summation in communication barriers interdepartmentally concerning sales revenue. Messages ar not passed accordingly to right person, to the right place and at the right time. It is noticed that employees are not change to do up-selling owing to lack of training facilities and proced ures. Thus, expectations are not met which way outs to a low revenue. The fact that there is mis disposition, conflicts may arise among staffs and supervisors to make decision on how to add sales. The time scale does not allow the employees to the right way plan, organise and implement their task if coachs do not set objectives and guidelines. Finally, owing to a misreckoning or a decrease in revenue and sales, it minimizes the profits. In general, team members do not take their planning of task into consideration thus result to ineffective, inefficiently and less productive. Updated information is not usually circulated. Thus, outdated data is given to guests concerning the selling determine of the products and services at the hotel. If there has been carelessness, guests get compensation, for instance a dinner free of charge on the beach. In somehow, reducing the revenue and sales. Chapter 2 Front Office department Front Office department is one of the departments within the suite division. It is the heart center of the hotel and is the most revenue generating. Front Office is a noticeable department in a hotel with the greatest amount of guest contact and highschoolly people orientated. It is designed as the first lasting impression. The front office functions can be divided into 6 general areas 1. Reception 2. Guest Relations 3. Bell service 4. Mail and information / Reservation 5. Concierge 6. Cashiers and night auditors Front Office Structure A hotels size and objectives determine the organizational structure of the Front Office. (Abbott,P. and Lewry, S. 1993) A table of Front Office structures is shown below. DrawingFront Office Manager Drawing Assistant Front Office Manager DrawingDrawingDrawingDrawingDrawingDrawingDrawingText wrapping Break Text BoxText Box DrawingReservation Manager DrawingText Box DrawingDrawingDrawingDrawing Text BoxText BoxText BoxText BoxText Box Drawing Text Box Planning and evaluating operations There are seven manage ment functions that have to be considered when planning and evaluating operations. These points are as follows 1.Planning 2.Organising 3.Coordinating 4.Staffing 5.Leading 6.Controlling 7.Evaluating Planning Planning is an crucial function in the success of different office operations. It is a procedure of mount objectives, developing plans and outlining tasks and rolls to accomplish the goals targeted. An effective strategic planning is done for the region of a successful operation and to maintain higher or constant revenue in the Front Office operation. At the stage of planning, the Front Office theatre director determines the departments goals and objectives. Therefore, the Front Office manager uses these goals as a guide for planning most specific and measurable objectives. Finally, through these goals, the front office manager determines the strategies and procedures to reach these objectives. These aims will thus discuss to the Front Office staffs so as to plan and organis e their task efficiently for the success of the department. Organising After setting the objectives, the Front Office manager organised the work to be done through dividing it among Front Office staffs. When organising the tasks, the work is distributed properly and is to be completed in a given period of time. Coordinating Coordination and team spirit are live. It involves togetherness and using the available resources to attain planned goals. Staffing The right persons and experienced ones are recruited. It is important to introduce training to the employees for a better success of the department. Leading Leading involves supervising, motivating, training, disciplining and setting an example for the Front Office department. Leading is important to maintain the strength of the tasks. Controlling with controlling, it ensures that the concrete outcomes of operations closely match the plan results. Leading and controlling of task are mostly the duties of the supervisors. Evaluating Through evaluating, it determines the extent to which planed goals and objectives are actually attained. Furthermore, it involves appraising and when necessary reviewing or helping to revise Front Office goals. Moreover, to maintain the successful of the department, every task are planned in advance. The agency allocations for arrival of guests are well planned. Before the arrival of guests, the registration card which is a legal form is limitd on the eve of the mean solar day as well as concerning the hotel information sheets. The cold towels and the cocktail juice are also prepared in the evening for the arrival of guests on the following day. The red ink and arrival check list are prepared one day before. If there are any group arrivals, a planning is done on how to do the check-in. A daily event record is prepared every evening by the Guest Relation Officers showing all detailed information about arrivals and departures of guests including total guests- in- house. A daily e vent report is shown in the annex. If there is any early arrival, then, the maintain department has to be advised to prepare the path earlier. Establishing direction rates The Front Office manager allocates to each room category a rack rate. In fact, the Front Liners are expect to sell board at rate unless a guest qualifies for an alternative room rate for example airline rate, commercial rate, group rate, day rate, piece of ground plan rate, complimentary rate, cooperate rate, promotional rate, incentive rate or family rate. While establishing room rates management has to consider its operating cost, flashary factors and competitions. In general, there are three well-known approaches to pricing room 1)Market condition approach 2)Ruled-of-thumb approach 3)Hubbart formula approach Market condition approach Under this approach management look at comparable hotels in the geographical market to verify the prices charging for the same products. Thus, charge only what the market wil l accept. In contrary, this approach is endangered to some drawbacks as it does not take into account the value of the property and the strong sales effort to accomplish. Ruled-of-thumb approach In this approach, the rate of a room is 1 for each 1000 of construction and furnishing cost per room, assuming a 70% occupancy rate. However, this approach does not consider the inflation term, the contribution of other facilities and services towards the hotels desire profitability. The Front Office manager must stay in contact with the General Manager and controller to observe room rate effectiveness. Hubbart formula approach This approach considers operating costs, desired profits and expected human activity of suite sold, that is, demand. Generally, this approach lays emphasis on the factors such as operating expenses, desired Return on Investment (ROI) and income from different departments in the hotel to establish room rates. This method relies on the Front Office to plead income to cover operating expenses, overhead and ROI for the hotel operation. According to Hubbart formula approach, the procedure of calculating a room rate is shown below i.Measuring the hotels anticipated profit by multiplying the desired rate of return (ROI) by the holders investment. ii.Measuring pre-tax profits by dividing the anticipated profit by 1 minus hotels tax rate. iii.Measuring fixed charges and management fees. This calculation includes estimating depreciation, fire expense, property taxes, insurances, amortization, building mortgage, land, rent and management fees. iv.Measuring undistributed operating expenses. This includes estimating administrative and general expenses and energy costs. v.Assessing non-room operating department income or loss, that is, Food and Beverages department income or loss, telephone department income or loss. vi.Measuring the required room department income which is the sum of pre-tax profits, operating department losses less other department in comes. vii.Determining the room department revenue which is the required room department income, plus other room department direct expenses of payroll and related expenses. viii.Measuring the average room rate by dividing retinue department revenue by the expected be of rooms to be sold. These methods are guidelines only. Room rates must frequently monitored with regard to market conditions of demand and supply. Furthermore, some more formulae are depicted below Doubles sold daily = double occupancy rate x total fleck of rooms x occupancy% hit sold daily = rooms sold daily number of double rooms sold daily Singles sold daily x X + doubles sold daily x (X + Y) = (average room rate) x (total number of rooms sold daily) Whereby X = price of singles Y = price differential between singles and doubles X+Y = price of doubles. portent Room Availability Forecasting room availability is to predict the number of rooms available for sale on forthcoming date. The kind of forecasting helps to manage the reservation process, guides the Front Liners for an effective rooms management and is used as occupancy forecast. Therefore, it is useful in attempting and to roster the essential number of staffs for a planned size of a department. In commit to predict room availability, the following information is needed figure of expected room arrivals/ check-ins Number of expected room truants Number of expected room walk-ins Number of expected room stayovers Number of expected room overstays Number of expected room check-outs Number of expected room understays The above mentioned information helps the Front Liners to involve discordant daily operational ratios. The formulae to calculate No-show contribution, Walk-ins percentage, Overstays percentage and Understays percentage are as follows i.No-shows percentage = (Number of no-show rooms) divided by (Number of rooms reserved) ii.Walk-ins percentage = (Number of walk-in rooms) divided by (Sum of the number of rooms arrivals) iii.Overstays percentage = (Number of overstay rooms) divided by (Number of expected check-outs) iv.Understays percentage = (Number of understay rooms) divided by (Number of expected check-outs) The predicted number of rooms available for sale for upcoming date can be likely successful by using the formula shown below Forecasted number of rooms available for sale = Total number of guests rooms -Number of out of order rooms Number of stayovers rooms Number of reserved rooms + Number of no-show rooms + Number of understay rooms Number of overstay rooms Under non-automated and semi-automated systems, total of rooms available for sale forecasts are measured upon demands and needs which vary from three-day to ten-day forecasts. Nevertheless, under overflowingy automated systems, forecasts are done at any instant for imminent period of time. For instance, on opera system, room forecasts are already registered and considered, thus eliminating monotonous labour work and human error mar gins. Budgeting for Operations Hotels have to prepare annual budgets, which are profit plans that address all revenue sources and expense items for the next calendar year. Furthermore, the hotel annual operating budget represents against which management can evaluate actual outcomes of operations. In the twelve-monthly budget preparation process, close coordination efforts of all management personnel are essential. The annual operation of a hotel budget is generally divided into monthly plans which in turn divided into weekly and even daily plans for a better control over the current consequences. In addition, while preparing the Front Office department annual budget, the Front Office manager has to coordinate with the financial department to estimate only rooms revenue and related direct expenses. The hotel controller and the General Manager, therefore, have to revise this budget. Forecasting room revenue In order to predict room revenue, the Front Office manager considers the hist orical financial data such as past room revenue, past number of rooms sold, past average daily rate and past occupancy rates. Thus, compare and contrast for a better decision making. Forecasting direct expenses Owing to the fact that the Front Office manager is responsible only for his or her department direct expenses, that is, variable costs the Front Office manager consult past financial data showing variable costs to room revenue ratios, in order to estimate department expenses. polish budget plans If ever the external strong factors change considerably, in an unpredicted way, then the actual operating budgeted figures have to be revised. Evaluating Front Office Operations A successful Front Office manager has to continuously evaluate the outcomes of the department activities on a daily, monthly, quarterly and yearly basis. While evaluating, the following items and tools have to be considered Daily operations report for example Room move report Occupancy ratios Rooms revenue an alysis Hotel income statement for example primal breakfast sale Rooms division income statement or schedule for example up-selling of rooms Rooms division budgets report Operating ratios and ratios standards Daily operations report This report is also known as the managers report, the daily report and the daily revenue report. It encloses a summary of the hotels financial activities during a 24 second period. In addition, it assists as to reconcile cash, bank accounts and revenue and accounts receivable. Occupancy ratios Occupancy ratios measure the enhancement of the Front Office in selling the hotels guestrooms. Some common ratios that are used in the Front Office department are depicted below i.Occupancy percentage = (Number of rooms occupied) divided by (Total number of rooms available for sale) ii.Multiple occupancy percentage = (Number of rooms occupied by more than one guest) divided by (Total number of rooms occupied) iii.Average guests per rooms sold = (Total number of g uests) divided by (Total number of rooms sold) iv.Average daily rate = (Total rooms revenue) divided by (Total number of rooms sold) v.Average rate per guest = (Total rooms revenue) divided by (Total number of guests) Room revenue analysis One prime report to succeed control over room revenue is the room rate variance report, that is those rooms that have been sold at rates other than their rack rates, for instance, airline rate, corporate or commercial rates and so on Another form is the yield statistics, which is the ratio of the current revenue to the sum of the possible potential revenue if all rooms are sold at rack rates. Formula of Yield statistic is shown below Yield statistic = (Actual room revenue) divided by (Potential room revenue) Hotel income statement This statement provides vital financial data about the outcomes of hotel operations for a given period of time. Room division income statement The room division income statement also known as a schedule has to be referen ced on the hotels income statement. Furthermore, the room division schedule has to be prepared by the hotels financial division not by the hotels Front Office accounting agent, that is, the Night Auditors. Room division budget reports These reports are monthly budget form comparing to current revenue and expenses figures against budgeted amounts depicted both in Euro values and percentage variances. Operating ratios Operating ratios for instance occupancy ratios, yield statistics assist managers in evaluating the success of the Front Office operations. In addition, for the ratios to be meaningful they should be compared against proper standards such as prior periods, competitors or budgeted ratios. Front Office Operations A need for communication exists to hand with other managers and staffs operative other shifts. The reservation area is the sales department of the Front Office, thus a revenue center for the department in the sense that reservations determine on occupancy levels. The Front desk staffs must compulsory alert the guests when their credit limit is exceeding. Lastly, the Front Office staff should take the check-out as an opportunity to offer the guest supplementary services for example, proposing the guest to book a room in the hotel for the future. (Vallen, J.J. 1985) Night audit, reception and Guest Relation are an essential element of Front Office department and claimed to be revenue generating department. The Guest Relation Officers have to convince the guests to accept upgrades. (Jones, C and Paul, V. 1993). There has to be a control process system to monitor the performance objectives targeted. Furthermore, the Front Office controls its cash or revenue sales. Interdepartmental Communication The Front Office staffs cooperate with all departments of the hotel including market and sales, housekeeping, food and beverage, banquet, controller, maintenance, security and human resources. Each department has a different kind of communication with the Front liners. These departments view the Front Office as a communication connection in providing guest services. The Front Office is a clearinghouse for communication activities. Marketing and Sales department The marketing and sales department depends on the Front Office to provide data on guest histories or concerning guests prior visit. The guest history is a valuable resource for marketing and sales as it uses the guest registration information to target marketing campaigns, develop promotions, prepare mailing labels and select appropriate advertising media. Housekeeping department communication theory between the Front Office and the Housekeeping department is vital as it revolves around room status. Team members of the Housekeeping department provide a room status report to the Front Office department. Thus, follow-up can be done easily through this report. Food and Beverage department There are handovers which are used to communicate a charge to a guests account. It is e ssential that the Food and Beverage department communicates with the Front Office department to know the repast plan of the guests. This is to charge the guests accordingly prior to their meal plan they paid for. Through interdepartmental communication, information is spread out to all the departments so as to communicate effectively for an enhancement situation of the hotel and to increase revenue. It is also essential for a better planning of work. Intradepartmental communication Communication within the department is essential for a better planning of work. After planning the goals and objectives for the success of the Front Office operation, it is important that all the Front Liners work together and communicate effectively to deliver a proper task. Through effective communication, the Front Liners may achieve their aims and increase their revenue in the operations. The team spirits and understanding are the prime factors to be considered for the enhancement of the Front Office department. There has to be an interaction between the Front Office manager, the supervisors and the Front Liners so as to determine the root of the problem and therefore find solutions to remedy the situations. Interdepartmental exchange of information is crucial to attain goals and objectives. Barriers resulting to a decrease in sales revenue Decrease in sales revenue leads to unsuccessful operations of the hotel. There is lack of co-operation between departments which results to barriers of communication. A decrease in arrival of tourists results to a negative outcome concerning a raise in revenue. That is, a low demand leads to low revenue for instance, a decrease in room sales, products and services revenue. The problem root comes primarily from the reservation department. There may be barriers in departments such as Financial department, Food and Beverage department and housekeeping department relating to sales. For instance, if a guest has an Half come on voucher and that o n the opera system it is All-inclusive it creates confusion to the departments concerned. The All-inclusive minibar and that of the Half Board is completely different. If the Housekeeping, Food and Beverage and Financial departments are not advised or change the guests meal plan on the system by the Front Liners, may create loss in revenue. Lack of training procedures concerning up-selling will not increase sales revenue. The lack of skills does not convince the employees to make upselling. There may as well conflicts in different tariffs charged to guests for example a Front Liner may charge a guest Rs two hundred instead of 200 resulting to a huge decrease in sales revenue. Ways to remedy the barriers relating to a decrease in sales revenue Through effective communication, there may be an increase in sales revenue and a successful department. It is important to maximize rates when demand is high but if demand is low, special promotional package has to offer to guests to increase the demand. The Front Office manager has to well-trained the Front Liners to understand the meaning of yield management and how to increase sales or ensure sales revenue. The Front Office management has to set objectives to increase sales revenue and thus discuss with various departments of the hotel. Through these strategies, there is co-operation among the departments for successful revenue generated. Front Liners have to communicate effectively and efficiently to departments such as Food and Beverage, Financial and Housekeeping concerning the guests meal plan. Training allows team members to be successful in delivering good sales techniques. It is vital that each department provides training facilities and procedures to the employees so as to learn the methods to increase the sales revenue. The employees should be product knowledgeable thus promote more profits and the staffs have to attentive when taking payment from guests. Questions have to be asked properly concerning the boo king for accommodation and meal plan when guest reserved a room. It is important to keep a record concerning the financial transactions so as the Financial department may evaluate the ways to remedy the barriers relating to a decrease in sales revenue. Its not always easy and often takes a lot of determination. But making an effort to remove the obstacles tangible and intangible that stand in our way, can be the key to building relationship that genuinely works by Eric Garner Yield Management Yield Management is a demand forecasting technique used to maximize room revenue that the hotel industry borrowed from the airlines. It is based on the economics of supply and demand, which means that price rise when demand is strong and drop when demand is weak. Thus, the purpose of yield management is to increase profitability. Yield management allocates the right type of aptitude to the right customer at the right price so as to maximize revenue or yield per available room. (Kimes, S.E, 1989) Yield management will monitor reservations and based on previous trends. Existing demand determines the number and type of rooms to sell at what price to obtain the maximum revenue. The yield management program will monitor the demand and supply and recommend the number and type of rooms to sell for a given day including the price for which to sell each room. Planning sales revenue The Front Office plays a vital role in promoting sales and the Front Office manager has to develop and implement a plan to the utmost to increase sales opportunities to the Front Office agents. This plan focus on areas of promotions, developing objectives and procedures, incentive programs, training program for staffs, budgets and tracking systems for employee feedback and profitability. Moreover, planning yield management includes setting up objectives, evaluating alternatives, drawing up budgets and developing an evaluation tool for feedback. The plan has to be discussed with the General Manager, department managers and Front Liners from different department to attain goals and objectives. The team members have to ensure that the lucrative plan is accordingly developed. According to Narula, (Feb 1987), some goals were provided to the Front Office employees to increase sales. The following are depicted below Sell rooms to the guests who have not make prior reservations. Upgrade is to be made to the guests so as to boost the customers to purchase higher priced product or service to those guests having former reservations. celebrate the record of the rooms. Convey information about the product facilities available in the premises for sale, for instance, Food and Beverage and other facilities. The objective of the Font Office employees is to sell all facilities and benefits available at the hotel. Ensure that the maximum revenue is generated from the sale of rooms by prominent a stability between overbooking and a full house. Achieve guest feedback Planning can only be started if there an increase of communication between Front Liners and Marketing and Sales department. It is essential to work an effective marketing strategy when there is a change in the market conditions. The eventual goal of a sales-oriented Front Office is to increase revenue from room sales, Food and Beverage sales and sales in various departments. The Front Office and other departments of the hotel have to plan on how much to increase revenue to accomplish the objectives set. Before decision making, several questions have to ask for a better planning of revenue management. Each moment new objectives has to plan for future months to generate revenue. When developing and implementing a program to increase sales activities, the Front Office manager along with other department managers and employees, have to make products and services to promote. A list of services and products to be promoted is shown in the annex. Evaluating sales Yield management in Front Office Operations The Fron t Office team members have to determine which concepts to produce in order to increase sales re

Benefits of Social Network Marketing for the Business

Benefits of neighborly Ne twainrk Marketing for the BusinessChapter OneIntroductionFor rough merchandise man termrs, the twenty- startle century may appear a in truth strange place indeed. Much of that strangeness comes from the electronification of traditionalistic merchandising practices. OConnor et al (2004) said that flat and entropybase merchandising might be fairly well(p) understood, yet what roughly the concepts such as mixer profit trade. This is nonp aril of the latest tools available to todays marketing managers. The virtually popular hearty net income marketing tools atomic number 18 Facebook, Twitter, My Space, LinkedIn, etc., hike up if there ar some some other diametrical well-disposed meshwork marketing methods want blogs, netmail marketing, video promotion on YouTube and m either a nonher(prenominal) more. In truth, the migration from traditional marketing to internet marketing is occasion of a process that has interpreted place over t he past decade. But what is Social internet marketing and how it is antithetic from ordinary marketing, advantages and disadvantages of genial lucreing, its impact on other ances straines has been questi aced in this dissertation. pushTo analyse how loving intercommunicate marketing rump sponsor in the rehearseful marketing of a businessObjectives fail the impact of complaisant net income marketing on other businesses.Analyse the advantages and the disadvantages of the hearty lucre marketing in a business context.Analyse the utileness of social ne 2rk marketing.Chapter twoResearch BackgroundThe Cumin RestaurantThe Anand family throw away a long and roaring history of ply, originating from their home in Nairobi, Kenya. They came to the UK in 1975 and keep up been in the catering business ever since. Their first restaurant in the UK was The Brilliant, followed by Madhus, both in Middlesex. These were followed by Curry Craze in Wembley, Curry Special in Ilford and Curry Fever in Leicester, both of which atomic number 18 tranquil very successful today.The restaurant capacity is 74 cover over two floors 20 on the ground floor and 54 on the first floor. Being in the city centre, they atomic number 18 in addition an ideal place to h aged business go steadyings or lunches. (The Cumin Restaurant online, 2011)Chino Latino, Park mallTheir primal Nottingham hotel features Chino Latino, the multi award-winning, on- come out restaurant.Chino Latino serves fresh, gourmet Pan-Asian cuisine and Latin-inspired cocktails in a relaxed, modern atmosphere.One of the flush Nottingham restaurants, Chino Latino avers a fantastic pickaxe of a la carte, set, tasting and bento box menus. The bar offers an array of exciting cocktails, bottled beers and bar platters in a classifiablely Latin atmosphere.Chapter three Literature ReviewIntroductionA literature review is a survey and discussion of the literature in a accustomed bea of account. It is a con cise overview of what has been studied, argued, and established near a topic, and it is unremarkably organised chronologically or thematically. A literature review is written in es recount coiffure. It is non a commented bibliography, beca map it groups connect works unneurotic and discusses tr nullifys and developments quite a than focusing on one item at a time. It is not a summary rather, it evaluates previous and current seek in imply to how pertinent and/or usable it is and how it relates to your let investigate. (University of Toronto Online, 02.12.2009)Ridley (2009) described literature review as the part of the thesis where there is extensive reference to related research and theory it is where connections ar make believe between the source texts and the research among these sources. It in addition refers to the process twisty in creating the review that appears in the thesis.The changing media environmentThe mainstream issue and broadcast media permit approach major challenges in recent years, with m either paper titles face up closure and television carry lining shortfalls in revenue. An most-valuable reason for this has been migration of signifi dissimulation amount of advertising bud catch up withs to online channels. Research by Forrester Jennings (2007) has indicated that earshots and attention is shifting to online channels as 52 per cent of Europeans are regularly online at home. Around 36 per cent of European internet users watch less TV, 28 per cent have reduced their newspaper and magazine reading and 17 per cent have decreased listening to the wirelesss since going online. This shift away from conventional media has been further exacerbated by the recession from 2008 which led many advertisers to cut their budgets, guideing in print and broadcast media receiving a diminishing share of the declining total budget (Jennings, 2007). Online advertising has been the makee of recent changes in the allocation of adver tising budgets, but this ecumenic shift hides a number of different formats for communicating with target audience, ranging from mass appeal monetary standard ads placed on betrayly visited websites, by means of to face-to-faceised e-mail campaigns in which the pass can be uniquely tailored to the requirements of individual target buyers.Social media can be characterised as online applications, platforms and media which aim to facilitate interactions, collaborations and the sacramental manduction of content (Universal Maccann Inter matter, 2008, p.10). the importance of social cyberspace media lies in the interaction between consumers and the community, and in the facilitation of asynchronous, immediate, interactive, inexpensive communication (Miller et al, 2009, p. 306). Social communicate sites allow individuals to spend a penny a public or semi-public compose within a bounded system to articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and to view a nd swing out their list of connections and those made by others within the system (Boyd and Ellison, 2007, p. 211). On larger social interlocking sites a connection, individuals are typically not looking to meet new people but are more interested in managing relationships by takeing contacts with old friends who are already part of the extended social entanglement (Boyd and Ellison, 2007 Hart et al, 2008). To sum up, social network sites can be seen as alternative communication tools which support existing relationships and activities in a fun and jazzy way that can enrich the users experience (Ofcom, 2008). Many social network websites have emerged attracting distinctive groups on users in terms of their demographics, for example the average age of users of Bebo is lower than for Facebook. Many appeal to communities with specific shared interests.In addition to consumers-oriented social network sites, many professional and trade associations have set up networks to exchange in formation of particular interest to member, for example the social networking site LinkedIn is particularly aimed at professionals. in that location is now lot of evidence that social network sites have become mainstream and it has been reported that globally, these sites account for one in every 11 proceeding spent online. In the UK, this figure is even higher one in every six minutes (Neilson Company, 2009). Over half (54 per cent) of internet users between 16 and 24 have set up their own knave or visibility on a social networking site (Ofcom, 2008). The take up of online social media has been at the expense of traditional media, and a contain by Ofcom of the media habits of UK 15-24 year olds shows that since using such media for the first time, the amount of time spent reading national newspapers declined by 27 per cent reading local newspaper by 22 per cent reading magazines by 21 per cent listening radio by 15 per cent and watching TV by 13 per cent (Ofcom, 2006). Online so cial media offers opportunities to connect these hard-to-r from each one audiences drifting away from traditional media.Social profit MarketingMarketers need to be where their customers and potential customers are, and increasingly this is on social networking sites. Most of their marketers have started using social networks to market their businesses and to gain financial repositiondom. It standardisedwise markets and concordly offers the increase or service to the relevant audience and provides significant benefits using the dialogues and personal connections and to gain a wider audience for the product, but according to Scott (2007, p.229), marketing on these sites can be tricky because the online community at social networking sites hates unaffixed commercial messages.There are abundant amount of active users crosswise sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Hi5 2.6 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day (Shih 2009). Social networking has become a rapidly growi ng global phenomenon cattle ranch across the conception. According to Chaffey and Smith (2008) well-run communities on the social networks sanction relationships, trust and loyalty, as well as maintaining blot awareness in the minds of the community members. Communities also allow a unique opportunity to stay pie-eyed to customers, their concerns, their worries and their desires. Despite these benefits, building an active community can be time consuming and arduous though cheap. Careful moderation and seeding of topics from a subject sound may be need. An alternative approach is to link up to an established community that has greater independence. Either way social networks are the part of the energizing dialogue and dynamic opportunities that todays marketer enjoy.Social network networking has many advantages which makes it an interesting and a useful marketing tool for any business. This tool is cheap compared to other methods of advertising, when it comes to costing to r each the target audience. Another advantage is that it is easy to record and review any marketing campaign which makes it easier to analyse the changes that need to be made in service or products. But when we look at the negative side of it, social network marketing has got some disadvantages as well. According to Shih (2009), the biggest draw bet on of social network marketing is that the business could be the main targets for the detractors and their criticism which would make people who are interested in the business turn off by reading the negative comments. Some of the common disadvantages of social networks are security and safety of the business, colza of copyrights, vulnerable to thefts and scams. (Sethi and Adhikari, 2010)In general, the problem with the social networks is they need frequent updating and it is time consuming as well.Branding on Social NetworksSocial networking sites offer discolourations many opportunities for engagement. When set visibilitys are created , the brands can exist as people on the sites. Friends can interact with the brands, share information, photos, and videos, and participate in two-way communication. The brand as person enhances the ability of a brand to use discourse marketing. Building a brand persona strengthens brand personality, differentiates brands from competitors, and sets the stage for a perceive relationship. Assuming the brands persona is likable and credible, it can facilitate message internalisation (the process by which a consumer adopts a brand belief as his or her own). (Tuten, 2008)Why would a person friend a brand? There are lots of incentives for friending brands, as explained in the Never Ending Friending report. These include incentive-driven motives like getting invitations to upcoming events, receiving information on sales and circumscribed offers and relationship-oriented motives such as a desire to support the company because it offers high flavour products, to come to with the brand and its image, and to respond to a friends suggestation about the brand. The abide by proposition is already in place. (Clifton, 2009)Ultimately, branding on social networking sites promotes brand awareness, brand recall, and, if done well, builds on brand loyalty and brand equity. Social networks offers opportunities for brand promotion and engagement for those brands that learn to leverage the unique attributes of network in question. (Clifton, 2009)However, social networking is not without its flaws. Advertising, even when developed and distributed in superlative online venues, still suffers from the limitations facing all forms of advertising. Clutter is a tremendous distraction for people as they are faced with advertising in and on every imaginable media. Online readers are bombarded with sometimes numerous ads on a integrity scalawag. With the many dis accept ads, profile components, and widgets macroscopical on social network pages, clutter is an issue. There is also li mited inventory for advertising space on the sites. (Tuten, 2008)Social networks offer the greatest benefits to brands when the brands play to a networks culture, developing brand personas and engaging friends in dialogue. However, the workhorse of social network advertising is still the display ad. Unfortunately, display ads are not nearly as effective on social networking sites as they are on other types of websites. Clickthrough rates are much lower. (Clifton, 2009)Marketing in Post Modernism orbPostmodernism invites a unique perspective of how to manage marketing and how to realise the consumer. Postmodernism says that social experiences are an interplay of myths which produce regimes of truth and that much of what we gain or believe about the individual, self, freedom, structure and so on is arbitrary and short-lived, fleeting rather than essential and fixed. We need to change our views as the customer changes.The main conditions of postmodernism marketing are hyper-reality, fragmentation, reversals of product and consumption, decentring of the subject, paradoxical juxtapositions (of opposites) and loss of commitment. (Kotler, 2009, p. 27) Hyper-reality Exemplified by the virtual words of meshwork and the pseudo worlds of theme parks, hotels and heritage centres, hyper-reality involves the creation of consumption sites and marketing phenomena that more real then real. Here the distinction between reality and fantasy is momently blurred. (Kienscherf, 2004) Fragmentation Marketing in postmodernity is unfailingly fast, furious, frenetic, frenzied, fleeting and hyperactive. (Kotler, 2009) Reversals of production and consumption Postmodern consumers are active in the production of content, of marketing, of consumption. They do rather than have done to them. (Kotler, 2009) Decentring of the subject Centeredness is where individuals are defined by their occupation, social class, demographics, postcode, and personalities and so on. Postmodernism suggests t hat this is not so, and that the harder marketers try to pin down the decentred consuming subject the less successful they pull up stakes be. Paradoxical juxtapositions (of opposites) We have examples of the mixing and matching of opposites and the combination of strange styles in the world famous Irish dance show Riverdance or captain of Rings. (Kienscherf, 2004) Loss of commitment Growing disillusionment with the delivery of promises and the willingness to try different experiences has resulted in a loss of commitment. The postmodern consumer takes on multiple, sometimes even contradictory be afters, to which he/she is marginally and momentarily committed. This is observed in all walks of purport in relationships, in professions, and consumption. Marketing managers experience this when consumer loyalties to brands change. (Kotler, 2009)Customer Perception and comfortCustomers perceptions of the quality of a service and their overall satisfaction have some observation indica tors. Customers may pull a face when they talk about the product or service. They may say total things about the product or service. Both actions are manifestations or indicators of an underlying construct we might call customer satisfaction. The term customer satisfaction and perception of quality are labels we use to summarise a set of observable actions related to the product or service. (Hayes, 2008)The largest contributor to customer satisfaction, however, is something an organisation cant amply control the customers perceptions. Whether theyre found in fantasy, fiction, or some other state of unreality, perceptions have the weight of fact. In the business of pleasing customers, perceptions are fact.Perceptions are also wildly inconsistent. Two different customers can consume the exact same product and have radically different perceptions about its quality. The differences may result from expectations each customer brought to the transaction, or they may simply result from varying powers of perception. Moreover, even one customer with consistent expectations might have varying perceptions about a products quality, depending on his or her mood, or stress level, the time of day, the alignment of the planets whatever. Its tempting to stop that customer satisfaction is whatever the customer happens to think it is at any point in time. (Hayes, 2008)Customer Psychology and behaviourApruebo (2005) defined consumer Psychology as the study that deals with the activities directly bear on in selecting, obtaining, and using products, service and ideas to satisfy needs and desires, including decision process that precede and follow these actions. It is an applied branch of psychological acquisition on consumer behaviour.Consumer behaviour is the study of buying units and the exchange processes involved in acquiring, consuming, and disposing of goods, services, experiences and ideas. First and foremost, emerging definition refers to the concept an exchange proc ess, as a fundamental element of consumer behaviour. A consumer is inevitably at one end of an exchange process in which resources are transferred between two parties. (Solomon, 2009)Consumer behaviour is an interesting line of business of study. Its nature is dynamic and an interactive process. All of us are consumers because our tendency or impulse can direct us to market our everyday acquire decisions in the marketplace or any shopping place. compendThe review also identifies the impact of social network marketing on businesses along with its advantages and the disadvantages. The literature review gives a greater understanding on the chosen topic set out in the aims and nonsubjectives, by the comparative study by different authors, and by highlighting areas of research that have not been fully explored.The information found enabled the detective to come across different theories and ideas that need to be considered so as to proceed further into the research.The limitation th at was faced small-arm doing the literature review were that it was sometimes quite difficult to find the information on certain(p) areas of subject as topic being very contemporaneous and not many books or journals being published on this topic.The upcoming section will be examining methodology, where the usage of different types of research will be discussed in order to gain appropriate and thorough information.Chapter four MethodologyIntroduction to methodologyThe research methodology defines what the activity of research is, how to proceed, how to measure progress, and what constitutes success. It provides emanation of wealth of human knowledge, tools of the trade to carry out research, tools to look at things in life objectively develops a critical and scientific attitude, disciplined view to observe objectively skills of research particularly in the age of information. According to Fisher (2007) methodology is the study of a whole academic field. It is a stepping-back fr om a subject and a consideration of it at a broader and deeper level.The research methodology is a science that studying how research is done scientifically. It is the way to systematically work out the research problem by logically adopting variant steps. Also it defines the way in which the selective information are collected in a research project. several(prenominal) different methods are commonly used in research project and it would vary according to the nature of the aim and objective, scope of the topic and thesis and the sources of data which are used. (Jankowicz, 2005)TriangulationTriangulation is the use of multiple methods usually quantitative and qualitative research, in the study of the study of the same research problem. Triangulation is a complex methodology that usually requires a term of qualitative and quantitative researchers to maintain the integrity of both methodologies. The philosophical soil and assumptions for both quantitative and qualitative research mu st be maintained when these methodologies are combined, if the findings are to be meaningful. (Grove, 2005)Objective one Analyse the impact of social network marketing on other businesses.Marketing managers from two organisations will be interviewed in order to barelyify the first objective which helped him to have a thorough knowledge of the impact of social network marketing on the businesses. They are very short personal interviews which will mainly offer hardheaded data which is much appropriate to obtain a luxuriousd vision into the first objective, with the hopefulness of achieving first-hand knowledge or primary data. The questions which are designed will be same to all the marketing managers. The researcher was encouraged by the words of Fisher (2007) that the idea of an interview is straightforward, the interviewer engages in informal conversation with the respondent about a particular area of interest. The interviewer may steer the conversation a little, by picking up on the cues and themes raised by the respondent, but more often than not the respondent leads the direction of the interview. More comprehensive information can be obtained during an interview, however the core strength of an interview cannot always be accurate as some interviewees may feel forced into providing better responses, but actually contributing prejudiced data. Some online articles, books and case studies will also be referred to elaborate the impacts of social networking marketing on the businesses.Objective two Analyse the advantages and the disadvantages of the social network marketing in a business context.The mix of personal and the electronic mail interview will the method which will be relevant for second objective and will justify the same. It will be made sure that the format of the questions is simple, easy to understand, concised and precise so that the respondents are able to understand each one of it. There would be around 8 questionnaires in the interview with the change of closed and open questionnaire. The difference between closed and open questionnaire is simple. The closed ones have lots of tick boxes for respondents to fill in, whereas open questionnaires allow a free response so that people answer using their own words. (Long, 2007)The second objective which will analyse the advantages and disadvantages of the social network marketing, mix of secondary resources like books, internet, journals, case studies etc. may be helpful to the research and to get some elaborated information because some people may feel faint-hearted sharing the information during face-to-face interview and questionnaires and therefore gift a good backup to the objective.Objective three Analyse the effectiveness of social network marketing.The third objective is to analyse the effectiveness of social network marketing so in order to obtain exceptional outcomes the researcher thinks that it is reasonable to procedure explanatory research, making a preci se blend of interviews, statistical data and facts, books and various other methods. The researcher thinks that the information or data relevant to objective three is very limited and hence using a blend of interview, statistics, books etc. is very simple in the growth of knowledge to gain a better understanding. Fisher (2007) thinks that observation is relatively underused method in research hence it will be sensible thing to use this method as it provides good examples and information to illustrate the objective.Observation can be used as a technique to gather quantitative data, and quantitative data may be combined into a participant observation study as it is most commonly associated with qualitative research derived from an ethnographic tradition of studying different peoples way of life (Long, 2007).The researcher would be observing his workplace (Cumin Restaurant) to justify third objective as Facebook community page was made by the researcher so as to observe the effectiven ess of the social network marketing.SummaryThis report has examined some insight into the theoretical outline that constructs the essentials of the methodology. It demonstrates and explains the choice and use of various research methods that are appropriate to the aims and objective of the research project chosen. It is a sound justification of chosen methods, including evidence of secondary data supporting the choice of methods. Alternative methods have been demonstrated confirming malfunction is not a possibility because of external restrictions and limitations. Some objectives are justified by a single method but there are some objectives which required more than one method to justify it.Chapter five FindingsIntroduction to aim and objectivesThis is the largest and probably the most important part this research. This chapter gives an opportunity to discuss the research findings, based on the methods used that were already been discussed in the methodology. These findings are deri ved from the analyses of statistical data and interviews used for research collection and the measurement of data. Important points of this chapter are linked back to principle ideas in the Literature Review with the evidence obtained in the research.AimTo analyse how social network marketing can help in the effective marketing of a business.ObjectivesFollowing are the objectives of the reportAnalyse the impact of social network marketing on other businesses.Analyse the advantages and the disadvantages of the social network marketing in a business context.Analyse the effectiveness of social network marketing.Findings from personal InterviewMr. Sandeep AnandOwner, Manager,The Cumin Restaurant, Nottingham1. Do you or your business have a profile on any social network? Which?Sandeep Yes I had a personal profile on Facebook previously but as I came to know that now businesses can make their community page on it as well, I made my business profile.2. How often do you update your profile? SandeepMy web designer generally updates my business page which is usually updated once a week.3. Did it make any difference to your business?Sandeep Not really at the moment, because the profile is quite new, not many people know that we are in Facebook but I hope as the time passes we will get some customer through it. In my knowledge I have got three costumers plentiful reference from Facebook.4. Did anybody recommend you to have a profile on social network?Sandeep Yes, my web designer recommended me to have one, which I thought is a good idea.5. If no, then what made you join?6. Have you identified any business advantage of using Facebook over traditional media?SandeepThe biggest advantage of using Facebook is there are good choices which you can make according to your budget and if you are not interested to spend any money just make a profile page and dont publish it. But you have to put surplus effort to make it more effective.7. What are the drawbacks of social networks to the business?SandeepI have seen some business which has got negative comments which can be viewed by all viewers which is not good for the business. So I think privacy and security is the biggest drawback.8. Would you recommend anyone to have a business profile on social networks? Why?Sandeep Yes definitely, because it gives you an edge over other businesses with very little cost and is more effective than the traditional forms of advertising if used effectively. I will highly recommend to the small and medium businesses which are coming into this sector as a strong with a minimal budget.Findings from Email InterviewMs. Srijana GurungRestaurant executive program (Chino Latino)/Duty Manager,Park Plaza, NottinghamA same set of questions was sent to Ms. Srijana Gurung who is a Restaurant supervisor and a duty manager in Park Plaza Hotel in Nottingham. suffice 1 Yes I have a personal profile and a profile for my hotels restaurant Chino Latino. My hotel gave me liberty to make a profi le page for their restaurant as it is good for their hotels business and for their restaurant as well.Answer 2 I go on to the profile daily just to have a look and to make necessary updates for eg. I introduced a new module uniform for my restaurants staff, so I have put the pictures of it.Answer 3 Fan following and liking has gained good publicity of our restaurant but we havent mensurable any difference but I hope it goes well in the future.Answer 4 No, nobody recommended me.Answer 5 It is one of the most upcoming trends of having a profile on the Facebook and in this post recessive period many businesses have made their pages on Facebook and results are very positive. So I thought of having one for my restaurant.Answer 6 Yes, I am sure there are many advantages of social network marketing over traditional media. They are very cheap, cost efficient, easy to manage and run away and the bst one is they are very contemporary.Answer 7 They take time to show results. There is very l ess privacy. Anybody can have their profile page on these social networks and even histrion profiles can be made and some of these fake profile.Answer 8 Yes absolutely, they are here for us to use and to use efficiently and as they are very cheap they are very cheap but has to be managed properly and updated regularly. But do maintain the businesss privacy level so as to protect from spam and fraud.Statistical Data (Econsultancy, 2010)* Facebookclaimsthat 50% of active users log into the site each day. This would meanat least clxxv one thousand thousand users every 24 hours A considerable increase from the previous 120 million.* Twitternow has75 million user accounts.* LinkedInhas over50 million members worldwide.This means an increase of around 1million members each month since July/August last year.* Facebook currently has in excess of350 million active users on global basis.Six months ago, this was 250 million meaning around a 40% increase of users in less than half a year.* Mo re than 35 million Facebook users update their status each day.* Wikipediacurrentlyhas in excess of14 million articles, meaning that its 85,000 contributors have written nearly a million new posts in six months.* flick uploads to Facebook haveincreased by more than 100%.Currently, there are around2.5 billionuploads to the site each month this was around a billion last time I cover this.* There are more than70 translations availableon Facebook. Last time around, this was only 50.* Back in 2009, the average user had 120 friends within Facebook. This is now around 130.* runny is even bigger than before for Facebook, withmore than65 million users accessing the site through mobile-based devices.In six months, this is over 100% increase. (PreviouslyBenefits of Social Network Marketing for the BusinessBenefits of Social Network Marketing for the BusinessChapter OneIntroductionFor some marketing managers, the twenty-first century may appear a very strange place indeed. Much of that stran geness comes from the electronification of traditional marketing practices. OConnor et al (2004) said that direct and database marketing might be fairly well understood, but what about the concepts such as social network marketing. This is one of the latest tools available to todays marketing managers. The most popular social network marketing tools are Facebook, Twitter, My Space, LinkedIn, etc., but there are some other different social network marketing methods like blogs, e-mail marketing, video promotion on YouTube and many more. In truth, the migration from traditional marketing to internet marketing is part of a process that has taken place over the past decade. But what is Social network marketing and how it is different from ordinary marketing, advantages and disadvantages of social networking, its impact on other businesses has been researched in this dissertation.AimTo analyse how social network marketing can help in the effective marketing of a businessObjectivesAnalyse the impact of social network marketing on other businesses.Analyse the advantages and the disadvantages of the social network marketing in a business context.Analyse the effectiveness of social network marketing.Chapter twoResearch BackgroundThe Cumin RestaurantThe Anand family have a long and successful history of catering, originating from their home in Nairobi, Kenya. They came to the UK in 1975 and have been in the catering business ever since. Their first restaurant in the UK was The Brilliant, followed by Madhus, both in Middlesex. These were followed by Curry Craze in Wembley, Curry Special in Ilford and Curry Fever in Leicester, all of which are still very successful today.The restaurant capacity is 74 cover over two floors 20 on the ground floor and 54 on the first floor. Being in the city centre, they are also an ideal place to hold business meetings or lunches. (The Cumin Restaurant online, 2011)Chino Latino, Park PlazaTheir central Nottingham hotel features Chino Latino , the multi award-winning, on-site restaurant.Chino Latino serves fresh, gourmet Pan-Asian cuisine and Latin-inspired cocktails in a relaxed, modern atmosphere.One of the top Nottingham restaurants, Chino Latino offers a fantastic choice of a la carte, set, tasting and bento box menus. The bar offers an array of exciting cocktails, bottled beers and bar platters in a distinctively Latin atmosphere.Chapter three Literature ReviewIntroductionA literature review is a survey and discussion of the literature in a given area of study. It is a concise overview of what has been studied, argued, and established about a topic, and it is usually organised chronologically or thematically. A literature review is written in essay format. It is not a commented bibliography, because it groups related works together and discusses trends and developments rather than focusing on one item at a time. It is not a summary rather, it evaluates previous and current research in regard to how relevant and/or useful it is and how it relates to your own research. (University of Toronto Online, 02.12.2009)Ridley (2009) described literature review as the part of the thesis where there is extensive reference to related research and theory it is where connections are made between the source texts and the research among these sources. It also refers to the process involved in creating the review that appears in the thesis.The changing media environmentThe mainstream print and broadcast media have faced major challenges in recent years, with many newspaper titles facing closure and television channels facing shortfalls in revenue. An important reason for this has been migration of significant amount of advertising budgets to online channels. Research by Forrester Jennings (2007) has indicated that audiences and attention is shifting to online channels as 52 per cent of Europeans are regularly online at home. Around 36 per cent of European internet users watch less TV, 28 per cent have reduced t heir newspaper and magazine reading and 17 per cent have decreased listening to the radios since going online. This shift away from conventional media has been further exacerbated by the recession from 2008 which led many advertisers to cut their budgets, resulting in print and broadcast media receiving a diminishing share of the declining total budget (Jennings, 2007). Online advertising has been the beneficiary of recent changes in the allocation of advertising budgets, but this general shift hides a number of different formats for communicating with target audience, ranging from mass appeal banner ads placed on frequently visited websites, through to personalised e-mail campaigns in which the message can be uniquely tailored to the requirements of individual target buyers.Social media can be characterised as online applications, platforms and media which aim to facilitate interactions, collaborations and the sharing of content (Universal Maccann International, 2008, p.10). the im portance of social network media lies in the interaction between consumers and the community, and in the facilitation of asynchronous, immediate, interactive, low-cost communication (Miller et al, 2009, p. 306). Social network sites allow individuals to construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system to articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and to view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system (Boyd and Ellison, 2007, p. 211). On larger social network sites a connection, individuals are typically not looking to meet new people but are more interested in managing relationships by maintaining contacts with old friends who are already part of the extended social network (Boyd and Ellison, 2007 Hart et al, 2008). To sum up, social network sites can be seen as alternative communication tools which support existing relationships and activities in a fun and colourful way that can enrich the users experi ence (Ofcom, 2008). Many social network websites have emerged attracting distinctive groups on users in terms of their demographics, for example the average age of users of Bebo is lower than for Facebook. Many appeal to communities with specific shared interests.In addition to consumers-oriented social network sites, many professional and trade associations have set up networks to exchange information of particular interest to member, for example the social networking site LinkedIn is particularly aimed at professionals.There is now lot of evidence that social network sites have become mainstream and it has been reported that globally, these sites account for one in every 11 minutes spent online. In the UK, this figure is even higher one in every six minutes (Neilson Company, 2009). Over half (54 per cent) of internet users between 16 and 24 have set up their own page or profile on a social networking site (Ofcom, 2008). The take up of online social media has been at the expense o f traditional media, and a study by Ofcom of the media habits of UK 15-24 year olds shows that since using such media for the first time, the amount of time spent reading national newspapers declined by 27 per cent reading local newspaper by 22 per cent reading magazines by 21 per cent listening radio by 15 per cent and watching TV by 13 per cent (Ofcom, 2006). Online social media offers opportunities to connect these hard-to-reach audiences drifting away from traditional media.Social Network MarketingMarketers need to be where their customers and potential customers are, and increasingly this is on social networking sites. Most of their marketers have started using social networks to market their businesses and to gain financial freedom. It also markets and then offers the product or service to the relevant audience and provides significant benefits using the dialogues and personal connections and to gain a wider audience for the product, but according to Scott (2007, p.229), marke ting on these sites can be tricky because the online community at social networking sites hates open commercial messages.There are abundant amount of active users across sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Hi5 2.6 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day (Shih 2009). Social networking has become a rapidly growing global phenomenon spreading across the world. According to Chaffey and Smith (2008) well-run communities on the social networks strengthen relationships, trust and loyalty, as well as maintaining brand awareness in the minds of the community members. Communities also allow a unique opportunity to stay close to customers, their concerns, their worries and their desires. Despite these benefits, building an active community can be time consuming and difficult though cheap. Careful moderation and seeding of topics from a subject expert may be required. An alternative approach is to link up to an established community that has greater independence. Either way social networks are the part of the dynamic dialogue and dynamic opportunities that todays marketer enjoy.Social network networking has many advantages which makes it an interesting and a useful marketing tool for any business. This tool is cheap compared to other methods of advertising, when it comes to costing to reach the target audience. Another advantage is that it is easy to record and review any marketing campaign which makes it easier to analyse the changes that need to be made in service or products. But when we look at the negative side of it, social network marketing has got some disadvantages as well. According to Shih (2009), the biggest drawback of social network marketing is that the business could be the main targets for the detractors and their criticism which would make people who are interested in the business turn off by reading the negative comments. Some of the common disadvantages of social networks are security and safety of the business, violation of copyrights, vu lnerable to thefts and scams. (Sethi and Adhikari, 2010)In general, the problem with the social networks is they need frequent updating and it is time consuming as well.Branding on Social NetworksSocial networking sites offer brands many opportunities for engagement. When brand profiles are created, the brands can exist as people on the sites. Friends can interact with the brands, share information, photos, and videos, and participate in two-way communication. The brand as person enhances the ability of a brand to use conversation marketing. Building a brand persona strengthens brand personality, differentiates brands from competitors, and sets the stage for a perceived relationship. Assuming the brands persona is likable and credible, it can facilitate message internalisation (the process by which a consumer adopts a brand belief as his or her own). (Tuten, 2008)Why would a person friend a brand? There are lots of incentives for friending brands, as explained in the Never Ending Fr iending report. These include incentive-driven motives like getting invitations to upcoming events, receiving information on sales and special offers and relationship-oriented motives such as a desire to support the company because it offers high quality products, to associate with the brand and its image, and to respond to a friends recommendation about the brand. The value proposition is already in place. (Clifton, 2009)Ultimately, branding on social networking sites promotes brand awareness, brand recall, and, if done well, builds on brand loyalty and brand equity. Social networks offers opportunities for brand promotion and engagement for those brands that learn to leverage the unique attributes of network in question. (Clifton, 2009)However, social networking is not without its flaws. Advertising, even when developed and distributed in superlative online venues, still suffers from the limitations facing all forms of advertising. Clutter is a tremendous distraction for people as they are faced with advertising in and on every imaginable media. Online readers are bombarded with sometimes numerous ads on a single page. With the many display ads, profile components, and widgets visible on social network pages, clutter is an issue. There is also limited inventory for advertising space on the sites. (Tuten, 2008)Social networks offer the greatest benefits to brands when the brands play to a networks culture, developing brand personas and engaging friends in dialogue. However, the workhorse of social network advertising is still the display ad. Unfortunately, display ads are not nearly as effective on social networking sites as they are on other types of websites. Clickthrough rates are much lower. (Clifton, 2009)Marketing in Post Modernism worldPostmodernism invites a unique perspective of how to manage marketing and how to understand the consumer. Postmodernism says that social experiences are an interplay of myths which produce regimes of truth and that much of what we understand or believe about the individual, self, freedom, structure and so on is arbitrary and short-lived, fleeting rather than essential and fixed. We need to change our views as the customer changes.The main conditions of postmodernism marketing are hyper-reality, fragmentation, reversals of production and consumption, decentring of the subject, paradoxical juxtapositions (of opposites) and loss of commitment. (Kotler, 2009, p. 27) Hyper-reality Exemplified by the virtual words of cyberspace and the pseudo worlds of theme parks, hotels and heritage centres, hyper-reality involves the creation of consumption sites and marketing phenomena that more real then real. Here the distinction between reality and fantasy is momentarily blurred. (Kienscherf, 2004) Fragmentation Marketing in postmodernity is unfailingly fast, furious, frenetic, frenzied, fleeting and hyperactive. (Kotler, 2009) Reversals of production and consumption Postmodern consumers are active in the producti on of meaning, of marketing, of consumption. They do rather than have done to them. (Kotler, 2009) Decentring of the subject Centeredness is where individuals are defined by their occupation, social class, demographics, postcode, and personalities and so on. Postmodernism suggests that this is not so, and that the harder marketers try to pin down the decentred consuming subject the less successful they will be. Paradoxical juxtapositions (of opposites) We have examples of the mixing and matching of opposites and the combination of contradictory styles in the world famous Irish dance show Riverdance or Lord of Rings. (Kienscherf, 2004) Loss of commitment Growing disillusionment with the delivery of promises and the willingness to try different experiences has resulted in a loss of commitment. The postmodern consumer takes on multiple, sometimes even contradictory projects, to which he/she is marginally and momentarily committed. This is observed in all walks of life in relationships , in professions, and consumption. Marketing managers experience this when consumer loyalties to brands change. (Kotler, 2009)Customer Perception and satisfactionCustomers perceptions of the quality of a service and their overall satisfaction have some observation indicators. Customers may smile when they talk about the product or service. They may say good things about the product or service. Both actions are manifestations or indicators of an underlying construct we might call customer satisfaction. The term customer satisfaction and perception of quality are labels we use to summarise a set of observable actions related to the product or service. (Hayes, 2008)The largest contributor to customer satisfaction, however, is something an organisation cant fully control the customers perceptions. Whether theyre based in fantasy, fiction, or some other state of unreality, perceptions have the weight of fact. In the business of pleasing customers, perceptions are fact.Perceptions are als o wildly inconsistent. Two different customers can consume the exact same product and have radically different perceptions about its quality. The differences may result from expectations each customer brought to the transaction, or they may simply result from varying powers of perception. Moreover, even one customer with consistent expectations might have varying perceptions about a products quality, depending on his or her mood, or stress level, the time of day, the alignment of the planets whatever. Its tempting to conclude that customer satisfaction is whatever the customer happens to think it is at any point in time. (Hayes, 2008)Customer Psychology and behaviourApruebo (2005) defined consumer Psychology as the study that deals with the activities directly involved in selecting, obtaining, and using products, services and ideas to satisfy needs and desires, including decision process that precede and follow these actions. It is an applied branch of psychology on consumer behavi our.Consumer behaviour is the study of buying units and the exchange processes involved in acquiring, consuming, and disposing of goods, services, experiences and ideas. First and foremost, emerging definition refers to the concept an exchange process, as a fundamental element of consumer behaviour. A consumer is inevitably at one end of an exchange process in which resources are transferred between two parties. (Solomon, 2009)Consumer behaviour is an interesting field of study. Its nature is dynamic and an interactive process. All of us are consumers because our tendency or impulse can direct us to market our everyday purchase decisions in the marketplace or any shopping place.SummaryThe review also identifies the impact of social network marketing on businesses along with its advantages and the disadvantages. The literature review gives a greater understanding on the chosen topic set out in the aims and objectives, by the comparative study by different authors, and by highlighting areas of research that have not been fully explored.The information found enabled the researcher to come across different theories and ideas that need to be considered so as to proceed further into the research.The limitation that was faced while doing the literature review were that it was sometimes quite difficult to find the information on certain areas of subject as topic being very contemporary and not many books or journals being published on this topic.The upcoming section will be examining methodology, where the usage of different types of research will be discussed in order to gain appropriate and thorough information.Chapter four MethodologyIntroduction to methodologyThe research methodology defines what the activity of research is, how to proceed, how to measure progress, and what constitutes success. It provides advancement of wealth of human knowledge, tools of the trade to carry out research, tools to look at things in life objectively develops a critical and scientif ic attitude, disciplined thinking to observe objectively skills of research particularly in the age of information. According to Fisher (2007) methodology is the study of a whole academic field. It is a stepping-back from a subject and a consideration of it at a broader and deeper level.The research methodology is a science that studying how research is done scientifically. It is the way to systematically solve the research problem by logically adopting various steps. Also it defines the way in which the data are collected in a research project. Several different methods are commonly used in research project and it would vary according to the nature of the aim and objective, scope of the topic and thesis and the sources of data which are used. (Jankowicz, 2005)TriangulationTriangulation is the use of multiple methods usually quantitative and qualitative research, in the study of the study of the same research problem. Triangulation is a complex methodology that usually requires a te rm of qualitative and quantitative researchers to maintain the integrity of both methodologies. The philosophical basis and assumptions for both quantitative and qualitative research must be maintained when these methodologies are combined, if the findings are to be meaningful. (Grove, 2005)Objective one Analyse the impact of social network marketing on other businesses.Marketing managers from two organisations will be interviewed in order to justify the first objective which helped him to have a thorough knowledge of the impact of social network marketing on the businesses. They are very short personal interviews which will mainly offer realistic data which is much appropriate to obtain a detailed vision into the first objective, with the hopefulness of achieving first-hand knowledge or primary data. The questions which are designed will be same to all the marketing managers. The researcher was encouraged by the words of Fisher (2007) that the idea of an interview is straightforwar d, the interviewer engages in informal conversation with the respondent about a particular area of interest. The interviewer may steer the conversation a little, by picking up on the cues and themes raised by the respondent, but generally the respondent leads the direction of the interview. More comprehensive information can be obtained during an interview, however the core strength of an interview cannot always be accurate as some interviewees may feel forced into providing better responses, but actually contributing prejudiced data. Some online articles, books and case studies will also be referred to elaborate the impacts of social networking marketing on the businesses.Objective two Analyse the advantages and the disadvantages of the social network marketing in a business context.The mix of personal and the email interview will the method which will be relevant for second objective and will justify the same. It will be made sure that the format of the questions is simple, easy t o understand, concised and precise so that the respondents are able to understand each one of it. There would be around 8 questionnaires in the interview with the mixture of closed and open questionnaire. The difference between closed and open questionnaire is simple. The closed ones have lots of tick boxes for respondents to fill in, whereas open questionnaires allow a free response so that people answer using their own words. (Long, 2007)The second objective which will analyse the advantages and disadvantages of the social network marketing, mix of secondary resources like books, internet, journals, case studies etc. may be helpful to the research and to get some elaborated information because some people may feel shy sharing the information during face-to-face interview and questionnaires and therefore giving a good backup to the objective.Objective three Analyse the effectiveness of social network marketing.The third objective is to analyse the effectiveness of social network ma rketing so in order to obtain exceptional outcomes the researcher thinks that it is reasonable to procedure explanatory research, making a precise blend of interviews, statistical data and facts, books and various other methods. The researcher thinks that the information or data relevant to objective three is very limited and hence using a blend of interview, statistics, books etc. is very simple in the growth of knowledge to gain a better understanding. Fisher (2007) thinks that observation is relatively underused method in research hence it will be sensible thing to use this method as it provides good examples and information to illustrate the objective.Observation can be used as a technique to gather quantitative data, and quantitative data may be combined into a participant observation study as it is most commonly associated with qualitative research derived from an ethnographic tradition of studying different peoples way of life (Long, 2007).The researcher would be observing hi s workplace (Cumin Restaurant) to justify third objective as Facebook community page was made by the researcher so as to observe the effectiveness of the social network marketing.SummaryThis report has examined some insight into the theoretical outline that constructs the essentials of the methodology. It demonstrates and explains the choice and use of various research methods that are appropriate to the aims and objective of the research project chosen. It is a sound justification of chosen methods, including evidence of secondary data supporting the choice of methods. Alternative methods have been demonstrated confirming malfunction is not a possibility because of external restrictions and limitations. Some objectives are justified by a single method but there are some objectives which required more than one method to justify it.Chapter five FindingsIntroduction to aim and objectivesThis is the largest and probably the most important part this research. This chapter gives an oppor tunity to discuss the research findings, based on the methods used that were already been discussed in the methodology. These findings are derived from the analyses of statistical data and interviews used for research collection and the measurement of data. Important points of this chapter are linked back to principle ideas in the Literature Review with the evidence obtained in the research.AimTo analyse how social network marketing can help in the effective marketing of a business.ObjectivesFollowing are the objectives of the reportAnalyse the impact of social network marketing on other businesses.Analyse the advantages and the disadvantages of the social network marketing in a business context.Analyse the effectiveness of social network marketing.Findings from Personal InterviewMr. Sandeep AnandOwner, Manager,The Cumin Restaurant, Nottingham1. Do you or your business have a profile on any social network? Which?Sandeep Yes I had a personal profile on Facebook previously but as I ca me to know that now businesses can make their community page on it as well, I made my business profile.2. How often do you update your profile?SandeepMy web designer generally updates my business page which is usually updated once a week.3. Did it make any difference to your business?Sandeep Not really at the moment, because the profile is quite new, not many people know that we are in Facebook but I hope as the time passes we will get some customer through it. In my knowledge I have got three costumers giving reference from Facebook.4. Did anybody recommend you to have a profile on social network?Sandeep Yes, my web designer recommended me to have one, which I thought is a good idea.5. If no, then what made you join?6. Have you identified any business advantage of using Facebook over traditional media?SandeepThe biggest advantage of using Facebook is there are good choices which you can make according to your budget and if you are not interested to spend any money just make a profi le page and dont publish it. But you have to put extra effort to make it more effective.7. What are the drawbacks of social networks to the business?SandeepI have seen some business which has got negative comments which can be viewed by all viewers which is not good for the business. So I think privacy and security is the biggest drawback.8. Would you recommend anyone to have a business profile on social networks? Why?Sandeep Yes definitely, because it gives you an edge over other businesses with very little cost and is more effective than the traditional forms of advertising if used effectively. I will highly recommend to the small and medium businesses which are coming into this sector as a fresher with a minimal budget.Findings from Email InterviewMs. Srijana GurungRestaurant Supervisor (Chino Latino)/Duty Manager,Park Plaza, NottinghamA same set of questions was sent to Ms. Srijana Gurung who is a Restaurant Supervisor and a duty manager in Park Plaza Hotel in Nottingham.Answer 1 Yes I have a personal profile and a profile for my hotels restaurant Chino Latino. My hotel gave me liberty to make a profile page for their restaurant as it is good for their hotels business and for their restaurant as well.Answer 2 I go on to the profile daily just to have a look and to make necessary updates for eg. I introduced a new staff uniform for my restaurants staff, so I have put the pictures of it.Answer 3 Fan following and liking has gained good publicity of our restaurant but we havent measured any difference but I hope it goes well in the future.Answer 4 No, nobody recommended me.Answer 5 It is one of the most upcoming trends of having a profile on the Facebook and in this post recessionary period many businesses have made their pages on Facebook and results are very positive. So I thought of having one for my restaurant.Answer 6 Yes, I am sure there are many advantages of social network marketing over traditional media. They are very cheap, cost efficient, easy to manage and operate and the bst one is they are very contemporary.Answer 7 They take time to show results. There is very less privacy. Anybody can have their profile page on these social networks and even fake profiles can be made and some of these fake profile.Answer 8 Yes absolutely, they are here for us to use and to use efficiently and as they are very cheap they are very affordable but has to be managed properly and updated regularly. But do maintain the businesss privacy level so as to protect from spam and fraud.Statistical Data (Econsultancy, 2010)* Facebookclaimsthat 50% of active users log into the site each day. This would meanat least 175 million users every 24 hours A considerable increase from the previous 120 million.* Twitternow has75 million user accounts.* LinkedInhas over50 million members worldwide.This means an increase of around 1million members each month since July/August last year.* Facebook currently has in excess of350 million active users on global basis.S ix months ago, this was 250 million meaning around a 40% increase of users in less than half a year.* More than 35 million Facebook users update their status each day.* Wikipediacurrentlyhas in excess of14 million articles, meaning that its 85,000 contributors have written nearly a million new posts in six months.* Photo uploads to Facebook haveincreased by more than 100%.Currently, there are around2.5 billionuploads to the site each month this was around a billion last time I covered this.* There are more than70 translations availableon Facebook. Last time around, this was only 50.* Back in 2009, the average user had 120 friends within Facebook. This is now around 130.* Mobile is even bigger than before for Facebook, withmore than65 million users accessing the site through mobile-based devices.In six months, this is over 100% increase. (Previously

Comparison of Nandos and KRR

Comparison of Nandos and KRRKRR is a rotisserie chickenhearted restaurant that was launched in 1991 by country music singer Kenny Rogers and former Kentucky chief executive officer John Y. Brown, Jr. More consumers ar concerned about the healthy lifestyle and foods thus Kenny Rogers employ this opportunity to start up the first restaurant that served healthy yet delicious foods in Coral Spring, Florida, August of 1991.As the first mover in the market, KRR had extended and franchised over 350 restaurants around the world, much(prenominal) as Middle eastmostern countries, Canada, Asian countries such as China, Philippines and Malaysia. Initially, the menu offered mainly on wood-fired rotisserie chicken scarce later on had introduced much variety such as turkey, seafood, ribs, home-made muffins, jacket potatoes and ve trainable salads.Due to economic downturn in 1999, KRR went into bankruptcy. Nathans Famous Inc. had bought it and initiated downsizing of their locations off ered. With the words of consumers see, we localize consumers dont see, we globalize, KRR now operates entirely outside of the ground forces and operates primarily in Asia.The franchise holder for KRR in Malaysia is Berjaya Roasters (M) Sdn. Bhd. In 1994, Berjaya conference Berhad had wholly owned subsidiary and incorporated. In 2008, Nathans Famous divested itself and selling it to Asian franchiser, Berjaya Group Malaysia. At the season, only one outlet was still operating in United States.The franchise holder of KRR in Malaysia, Berjaya Roasters (M) Sdn. Bhd. operates 60 restaurants in West and East Malaysia. Besides that, the executive director of the company decides to expand six to eight new outlets in year 2010.The vision of restaurants is Roasters stands for real food and high bore utility that bridges the gap between quick service restaurants and casual dining.NandosNandos is a Portuguse-style chicken restaurant that founded in 1987 and originating from South Africa tha t specialized in kindle-grilled chicken and hot sauces. Nandos went global and operating in more than 30 countries such as Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Pakistan, Israel and Malaysia.Nandos originally named as Nandie in 1975 after the name of the son of Fernado Duarte, a Portuguese living in South Africa. He bought a restaurant in Rosettenville, Southern Johannesburg and collaborated with his friend naming it Chickenland in 1987. That was when the first Nandos restaurant appe ard.Consumers admire Nandos flame-grilled peri-peri chicken and the unique sauces as it is very delicious. Nandos offered variety of flavor such as lemon and herb, mango and lime to satisfy the different needs and wants of consumers. Peri-peri choices argon mild, hot and extra hot peri-peri marinades.Nandos ensures the demand is always available by tailoring their selection of location to suit the consumers. Currently, there are 32 outlets in Malaysia located in Selangor, Melaka, Johor Bahru, Pulau Pinang and Kuala Lumpur.Their vision is Our vision is to be the premier provider of chicken to our consumers with superior product outstanding go, while their mission is To be the scoop out chain in the world by offering a world class chicken experience at affordable charges with consistent quality, value and perpetration to its customer base.Segmentation and Target MarketThe themes for both companies which are Peri-peri and Less fat. Less salt. Less Calories have de circumstanceined their way of segmenting their market. Both have used a few segments to target. Both identified their consumers needs and serve them with differentiated food selection. Food is also defined as physiological needs consort to Maslow Hierarchy of Needs.NandosBenefit. Nandos is targeting consumers who crave for tasty food. The varieties for consumers who crave for spiciness are extra hot peri-peri, hot peri-peri and mild peri-peri. Meanwhile, the non-spicy consumers are left with lemon and herbs flavour. Besides that, the flame grilled chickens are offered for healthy concern consumers.Geographic. Nandos outlets are located in over 20 countries worldwide including Australia, Malaysia and Canada.KRRBenefit. It focuses on targeting consumers who are more health concern, where some(prenominal)(a) consumers insist on having balanced repast while parents are concerned about their childrens nutrition. KRR used this opportunity to serve a balanced meal of roast chicken with low calories, low fats and less oil and other sidelines such as vegetable salad, fruit salad, mashed potatoes and rice. KRRs philosophy is weaved on preparing wholesome, hearty and well-balanced meal which mirrors todays discerning consumers changing attitude towards healthy eating lifestyle. KRR also has daily food guide pyramid which enhances their products reliability (Appendix I).Demographic. KRR meal is tailored to consumers of all ages. sr. citizens passel enjoy the roasted chicken without the fear of high calories a nd high cholesterols. Consumers of all income levels can enjoy a well-balanced meal by paying only RM14.90 for a quarter roasted chicken meal with three sidelines (Appendix II)Geographic. there are numerous of KRR located in 6 countries Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore. It is very provable that they are more focused in Asian countries where there are already over 64 stores alone covering West and East Malaysia. In the metropolitan area of Klang Valley, there are 32 stores because the density of population is higher.In-Store AtmosphereSurvey MethodologyIn-store atmosphere observations were conducted at one of the outlets in key Malaysia for each company by two of our members (Appendix III). This method serves us the primary survey that allows us to have the direct in-store experience. During the observation the elements of perception are swan into the test such as sensation. In addition, we also had a simple evaluation of the in-store atmosphere (Appendix IV). Schiffman et. al. mentioned that consumers often judge the quality of products base on essential and extrinsic informational cues of the product. Thus, the observation details below are a mixture of both, explained in chorological order of our observation journey.Nandos Nandos Chickenland (M) Sdn. Bhd. (Mid Valley)Entry. At the moment we have arrived to the outlet, there was already a waitress standing by the menu stand. Immediately, she gave a tight-lipped smile and ushered us to our tables after confirmation of number of person dining. There aroma from the unsympathetic kitchen was not ventilated to the dining area.Table. When we were seated on the dining area, the menu is immediately come backn by the waitress. After that, we were left unattended for about quintuple minutes as we were selecting our choices of meal. A simple hand gesture to signal the waitress to take order was acknowledged and the taking order process began. There were not any recommendations o f highlights. The drinks are served within five minutes while the meal is about ten minutes upon ordering.Environment. Although there was not any music during our survey yet our previous experience is vice versa. The lightings were warm and comfy. The hard seats are made of wood. The overall decorations were well blended with their Peri-peri concept. The air is middling ventilated with decent temperature.Exit. The time taken for bill payment services is less satisfied. A simply gratitude was given by the waiter. However, the waitress standing by the menu stand did not.KRR Berjaya Roasters (M) Sdn. Bhd. (Mid Valley)Entry. Despite waiting in-line for 10 minutes at the menu stand, a waitress keeps taking order to reduce the line over-crowding while another ushered the consumers to their available seats. There is a muffin display area located beside the menu stand that gave attraction to us while waiting. We did not order at the stand as there is a two-seated table available.Table. The menu is given as soon as we are seated. We were left a few minutes to decide our order until we signal the waitress to take order. Similarly, there were no recommendations of highlights. However, the menu is rather dinky as it is covered in leather and the overall menu presentation is informative, providing food guide pyramid and nutrition information (Appendix V).Environment. The lightings are too bright and created a warmer environs (Appendix V). The surrounding walls are displaying the photos and album of Kenny Rogers.Exit. The bill payment service is less satisfied as it takes longer time. The entry and exit point are overcrowded with consumers queuing-up. We found it difficult to make an exit from the outlet.Store Image/PositioningBoth the restaurants positioned their store image differently in terms of product selection, interior and outside design, fixtures and fittings, lighting and pricing.Product selection can be further refine for food industry to theme selection. Nand os is using Peri-peri as their theme which is a term describing the African birds-eye chili. Thus, the degree of taste and spiciness of the food are emphasized. The degree includes mild, hot or extra-hot peri-peri for those craving for spiciness whereas lemon and herb are for others. In contrast, KRR used the theme of Less fatLess saltLess calories to attract healthy conscious consumers to consume roasted chicken in a more healthy way.Nandos chose its origin country as the base of its interior and exterior design. It created an African feel throughout the outlet with wooden based furniture and African-like ornaments. Moreover, the music broadcasted is also emitting African environment. Part of their uniform is to wear a scarf which resembles the African scarf. On the other hand, KRR used the theme of its entrepreneur, Kenny Rogers. The interior generally consists of pictures and records of him. Furthermore, the famously homemade muffins are displayed at the entrance of the outlet to further attract consumers. The displaying at the entrance is part of the fixtures and fittings placement strategy as the profile and aroma of tempting foods generated greater consumption (Schiffman, Bednall, OCass, Paladino, Ward, Kanuk, 2008).Through our observations and direct experience, we found that KRR offers more comfortable and family-oriented environment whereas Nandos provide more variety for 3-4 persons with Makan-makan together, riang riang forever. The seatss are the main comparison of comfortable environment Nandos wooden seats and KRRs cushion seats. In terms of family-oriented environment, KRR provides more seating for group consumers (more than 4) in contrast with Nandos seating availability of 2-4 seaters assuming it is static. Although both provide group meals but their target perspectives are slightly different where KRR confined to family while Nandos targeting 3-4 persons.Despite the comparative trim back prices of Nandos with higher prices of KRR yet bot h have distinctive pricing strategy. Take the quarter chicken with sidelines as example Nandos chicken with 2 sidelines is at RM14.95 but KRRs RM15.90 chicken meal comes with 3 sidelines and a muffin (Appendix II). According to Schiffman et. al., if the absence of direct experience or other information, consumers will likely take price as an indicator of quality. However, the store images and brand names are likely to be known to consumers assuming that they have paid their first visit or heard it from their peers. Thus, pricing factor to perceive quality of the products is lowered.SWOT Analysis and Marketing 4 PsBy examining their SWOT (Appendix VI) and 4 Ps, the list of advantages and disadvantages are able to be generated.Marketing 4 PsProductBoth Nandos and KRR are fast food industries. Both of the main courses are served with chicken and some sidelines. Nandos chicken is emphasis on the taste and spices so that consumers can choose the degree of spiciness they want, ranging f rom lemon and herbs, mild peri-peri, hot peri-peri and extra hot peri-peri. part KRR emphasize on healthy concern low on calories, cholesterols, oils and fats. KRR also offers consumers with their famous home cooked muffins. Both restaurants soft drinks are refillable.PromotionThe website of Nandos is more attractive than KRRs. Customer can purchase Nandos peri peri sauces online in Australia, United Kingdom and USA. Those who ate at KRR and spent a total of rm60 above are entitled to get one roasters reward card, which have a chance of winning up from RM2-RM1000. Nandos is a partner of United against Malaria, which raise fund for the malaria victims by create and selling specially-commissioned beaded African bracelets. The sale of each bracelet will be used to help United against Malarias programmes to eradicate malaria in Africa. This is the social responsibility of Nandos. organiseNandos operates more than 26 countries and in five continents Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bots wana, Canada, Cyprus, Fiji, India, Ireland, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritius, Namibia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, South Africa, Swaziland, Turkey, UAE, United Kingdom, USA, Zimbabwe, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and others more. Nandos is more towards globalization. While KRR only operates in China, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines and Australia, which is almost 4 time lesser than Nandos market.PriceThe overall prices of Nandos are lower than KRRs. However, KRR is providing a noticeable additional proportion than Nandos (Refer to Appendix).Competitive advantages disadvantagesOne of the competitive advantages of Nandos is the homepage of Nandos. It is more interesting and attracting than KRR. Nandos provides a few recipes at the homepage for customer to click and learn, and online purchases for peri-peri sauces while KRR does not provide any recipes and online purchase either. In term of market development, Nandos outlets operate i n more than 27 countries worldwide.The disadvantage of Nandos is not well-known in Malaysia, because there is no advertisement in television, therefore less consumers know about Nandos. Nandos needs to facial expression with different government policies in different countries thus need to go through a lot of agreement and documentation. Adapting to another country cultures and values consumes a lot of time and resources.KRR provides food which low in calories, cholesterol, oils and fats have competitive advantages in capturing healthy conscious consumers, where more and more consumers are more health conscious in the future. This is an opportunities for KRR. The brand name of KRR is more well-known to consumers in Malaysia because of advertisements in the television.In our opinion, the disadvantage of KRR is less youngster local consumers, where they prefer ironlike taste and spicy food.ConclusionWithout proper in-store atmosphere that can compliance with their themes, food alone will not make heighten the brand image. reason the consumers needs and wants provide wagerer information for an improved marketing strategy thus better competitive advantages. The changing trends of needs and wants need to be evaluated from time-to-time so that companies can reposition themselves in the eyes of consumers.RecommendationsThe actual quality of service can vary from day to day (Schiffman et. al., 2008) thus standardization of services is authoritative to improved quality. A daily briefing prior to opening hours can be done to improve the standardization and morale of service employees. As such, mentioning the proverb of Customers are always right can be a healthy way to remind the employees about the quality service should be delivered everyday. A good non-verbal language should also be conveyed such as a warm and shiny smile to greet the consumers.Schiffman et. al. also mentioned that services are normally biodegradable thus it is good to distribute the service m ore equally over time. Assume that consumers will usually have their dinner from 7-8p.m., the seatings will mostly be full. Thus, offering a less expensive early bird dinner at 6p.m. can shift the customers from peak hours. Often during peak hours, the quality of services will decline due to insufficient service employees.KRR excelled at providing positive effect while customers waiting in-line. Whereas, Nandos only provides a menu stand that can be considered insufficient to give positive effect. Therefore, by replicating KRR strategy at the entrance can further enhance the effect such as displaying the peri-peri sauces and give consumers a try on the level of spiciness.Evaluating the delivery services done by Nandos is a must since there are several dissatisfied consumers with the service provided. If the evaluation seems to show that the profit margin generated is less than expected yet it is hurting the image of store by not delivering on time, then it is better off to focus on the restaurant rather than providing this services.Since food industry is a mixture of products and services thus food quality and image must be improved in differentiating the service from competitors. A constant feedback form from consumers can tell the restaurant whether they are satisfied or unsatisfied about the food and services. From the feedback generated, the management can focus on specific improvements.