International marketing plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

International marketing plan - Essay Example In this report, the marketing plan of IKEA to enter into the Pakistani market has been presented. The external environment analysis shows that IKEA can find huge opportunities in the Pakistan furniture industry as currently no international furniture brand is operating in the country. Although economy of Pakistan is threatened by unstable political conditions, terrorism and weak economic conditions still, the changing patterns of people and their preference for western furniture products over weigh these threats. Porter’s five forces analyses show that furniture industry of Pakistan is a highly attractive industry. The market audit shows the strengths of IKEA which can help the company to ensure a successful presence in the Pakistani market. After identifying the corporate and marketing objectives of IKEA, this report also describes a preliminary marketing plan to enter into the market. Direct investment strategy has been considered as the most suitable strategy for IKEA to en ter into the industry. The report also describes the marketing mix of IKEA. The company will keep its IKEA concept to promote its products and services in Pakistan. INTRODUCTION TO PRODUCT Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd (IKEA) is a Swedish company. From 1954 to 2010, the number of stores of IKEA has grown from 1 to 316 stores (http://franchisor.ikea.com/showContent.asp?swfId=facts1). The company has been developed to offer low price and modern home furnishings to the consumers. Unlike other home furnishing retailers, IKEA focuses on providing a combination of low price and good design and functionality to the consumers which never goes out of fashion. Today, the company is printing its catalogue in 25 languages and circulate in 35 countries around the world (http://franchisor.ikea.com/showContent.asp?swfId=catalogue9). Moreover, the stores of IKEA attract around 600 million visitors (http://franchisor.ikea.com/showContent.asp?swfId=store9). IKEA is currently targeting countries f rom Europe, North America, Australia, Asia Pacific and Caribbean. In Asia Pacific, company has been able to enter into China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore. In this report, the marketing plan of IKEA to enter into the Pakistani market has been presented. Pakistan appears to be an attractive market for IKEA because the westernisation in Pakistan is increasing very rapidly and people are seeking to import western clothes, home furnishings and other products. Therefore, in this report, the plan of establishing IKEA store in Pakistan has been presented. The store will initially offer home furniture products in Pakistan. ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS PESTLE Analysis Political Pakistan is facing high political instability which influences both the consumers and businesses. The decline of exports of furniture since 2007 is because of the political and economic problems especially load shedding (Arifeen, 2010). However, direct political influence is very less on furniture retailer s. Government has very weak regulatory control in the furniture industry