BRAAAP Company Essay

Introduction The Braaap motorcycle brand was established in 2008 by Brad Smith. Brad began with a vision to supply motorbikes which would making motorcycling more fun and accessible for people. The plan from the start was to build a motorcycle that would compete with custom built American race bikes, but be affordable for people that wish to have a go at this sport. It took a lot of visits to different manufacturers before they found one that believed in his vision. Since then it has been onwards and upwards for the Braaap brand, they have their own concept stores in Tasmania and Victoria, and franchise opportunities throughout Australia and the rest of the world. Braaap are also one of the only motorcycle brands on the market to offer a lifetime warranty. Key Characteristics of Braaap products and services The Braaap products have four major features to their products and services, they are: Lifetime warranty option, customisation, flexible finance and built for adults. The lifetime warranty option is available on all their products and bikes. Having this option improves the attractiveness of the product to their customers and gives them piece of mind about repairs and maintenance on aspects of their bikes. Customisation is another feature that Braaap offer to their customers. This means that the customers can choose from a wide range of colours and accessories to personalise their motorbikes to suit their own tastes. This doesn’t impact the performance of the bikes at all, in fact with all the different options available to purchase the customer can change some of the accessories on their bikes as their tastes change. This would actually improve the life of the bike and make certain that customers would perhaps return at a later stage to either upgrade their bikes or their cust omisations. Currently 37% of Braaap customers return at later stages to upgrade to full size bikes. Flexible finance is a big feature that Braaap offer, from $3 per day finance it makes owning a motorcycle very affordable for most people. As the bikes vary in price, Braaap will provide term payment and also a rent to own option. This enables customers to ride now and pay later. Braaap bikes have been spec ifically designed to that adults can ride them. They have the Learn to Ride program,  Lifetime Coaching and Ride Club which enables most adult riders to become proficient in riding the Braaap bike the correct way Review of pricing policy and analyse pricing variables to determine their effect of demand The pricing policy for the Braaap products are based on dealership and manufacture prices, including Braaap overheads, this determines the final price that’s displayed online and instore. These prices encompass all the products within the Braaap brand from clothing, spare parts, motorcyc les etc Prices for the bikes are as follows: Kids 50cc$1,799.00 88cc$1,999,00 125cc$2,399.00 Classic 150cc$2.999.00 Maistro 150cc$3,999.00 Pro 190cc$4,649.00 Road Racer 250cc$3,999.00 Braaap are a reasonably priced brand with the performance of the other major motorbike brands like Yamaha and Honda. Yamaha in comparison with the 250 cc road racer with a similar model sells for around $8,999.00 and Honda is around $4,300.00.This means that they are competitively priced and affordable to the mass market. One problem that could arise is the price of the components, if the cost of these rise this could influence the overall price of the motorbikes. Other factors that could affect this is the strength of of the Australian Dollar and the international market. Analyse the impact and importance of the following elements to market outcomes. a/The promotional methods – Customer Interaction Programs like having permanent ride clubs established to provide safe and fun riding environments for all riders from beginners to the more advanced. They have a ride club with sponsored events and  fundraisers; these provide another alternative for riders of all levels to be involved. They also have email newsletters that people can get regular updates as well as a facebook page (38570 likers) which promotes the safe riding environment and a place for people to interact with others. Using current technology is a huge plus for Braaap as the website is full of information, embedded videos for customers to see and also online stores and information about franchise opportunities, dealership opportunities and staff opportunities. b/Channels of distribution – The channels of distribution are online and instore. They have also introduced a franchise opportunity within Australia and are actively looking at distributors in the international market. The dealership opportunity is very generous with a Cashflow Positive Guarantee which removes cashflow risk. The other benefits are the same as the concept stores with the easy finance option, Braaap website availability plus customisation etc. c/Level of customer service provided_ Braaap have passionate and motivated sales staff that excel in the level of customer service provided. The despatch from their online stores is fast (the plan is to have parts ordered during the week and to the customer by the weekend so they can ride). The Braaap Company has a high expectation with regards to their customer service and they only employ driven people that love the motorcycle industry as much as they do. Braaap also demands a high level of customer service to be provided to their customers from their partners within Australia, NZ and the USA. Identify Braaap’s potential customer base and key pressure points for success in reaching them Braaap’s potential customer base is the 80% of customer’s new to the sport. They are not actively targeting the existing 3% of customers that currently own dirt bikes. The way that Braaap reach their potential clients is via social media, hosting dirt bike events regularly and through their Learn to Ride programs (registration is done on their website). Establish the components of the marketing mix, include information on how  each element of the marketing mix has been used, their significance to each other and their relevance to the customer base.