
PIZZA INN - Competitive Action Plan

SYNOPSIS
The objectives of this study are to give a bird’s eye view of the Cyprus Pizza market and to explain the new Pizza Inn strategy. The Pizza Inn management developed a business and marketing plan aiming to capture an additional 8% market share within an 18-month period.
Fast food is increasing in acceptability in Cyprus and it is expected to increase its presentation and share of the market. Pizza in particular has high awareness and acceptability in the Cyprus Market. This means that there are opportunities for a further growth of the existing pizza brands.
The Cyprus Pizza market is mature enough and there is also a tough competition among the established competitors. The direct competitors of Pizza Inn are the international and local chains of Pizzerias that engage in delivery service and take-away. Currently, Pizza Inn is the 4th market player in a continuously growing pizza market. The market leader is Pizza Hut, followed by local brands Toronto and Pizza Mia.
The strategy to be followed focuses on challenging the market leader. Pizza Inn will aim to establish itself in the Cyprus market as a high-profile international brand with a premium product. The implementation of the strategy will be done though the “manipulation” of the various marketing tools i.e. pricing, new product developments, promotion mix and packaging that will communicate the new brand positioning.
The broad public composes Pizza’s Inn target market, but special focus will be placed on the youth market. The pricing policy includes the enlargement of the pizza size by 25%, and free delivery. The menu will be enriched in order to attract the Pizza Hut lovers and the small % of non-pizza lovers. Therefore, the menu must include additional Pizza dishes, and also dishes to attract non-pizza lovers. Packaging is very important because is linked to hygienic perceptions and to the delivery of the product in the best possible conditions. It is essential to develop a competitive packaging. As a result, a new improvement special packaging will be used in order to sustain the warmth for a longer period.
Pizza Inn will use several channels, i.e. TV, printed press (newspapers and magazines), and outdoors advertising, in order to communicate the new messages to the public. It will also use sales promotion techniques such as free gift for every delivery, sampling for every delivery, and coupons with every take-away order to participate to a big draw. Finally, the management decided that in order to improve the image of the Pizza Inn to do the following about sampling:
- At local festivities and special sports events will be given free Pizza sampling to attract new clients.
- Free pizzas delivered to parties of a high profile to gain exposure.
The management has developed detailed action plans for all aspects of the business and the employees have participated in the preparation of all the imminent change though participation at brainstorming sessions. Once the re-launching is in the process, the efforts will be monitored and closely followed, in order to have the expected results at the predetermined deadlines.
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