The e-marketing plan of a Belgian SME: Cha-hu-the

Abstract

Nowadays, "the key question is not whether to deploy Internet technology - companies have no choice if they want to stay competitive- but how to deploy it".

Since 2008, the penetration rate of the Internet is 48.1% in Europe, and the average of the world is 21.9%. More specifically, Belgium is the 43rd country in the world and among the top 10 countries in Europe using the Internet the most, with a penetration of 52.8%. We also know that online spending by consumers is increasing every year. In 2007, to the question "Have you ever made a purchase on Internet", 97% of the interviewed people answered yes. These two facts reveal that people are increasingly using the Internet as a means of purchase, rather than only as a medium for searching information.

A website helps the company to establish a dialogue, and interactivity with its customers. It gives information to customers and enables clients to give the company their feedback, and ask questions. There is thus give and take between both players.

Le Cha-hû-thé, a SME in Louvain-la-Neuve is a shop selling tea, tea accessories and crockery. Through this document, we are going to explain why it is beneficial for le Cha-hû-thé to increase its web presence and how they are going to implement it, by following the six stages of an e-marketing plan.

We will first analyze the external and internal situation of the shop, and then conclude our study with a SWOT analysis. The second step will consist in an analysis of the tea consumers in general, and at le Cha-hû-thé in particular. After these analyses we will be able to explain why this SME should become a click-and-mortar and after that, in stage three, we will determine the strategic e-marketing which will include a segmentation of the tea consumers, the chosen targets for the website and its positioning. After that, we will briefly explain the main objective of our marketing plan, and in stage five the e-marketing mix will be described. Thanks to all the previous information, the description of the website itself will be possible, and finally, we will state how we plan to measure progress and performance.