Global Marketing Project

FLOCAFE

Demetris Korombilias

Ioannis Treppides

Demetris Demetriou

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 Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION

2. MARKETING RESEARCH

3. SITUATION ANALYSIS
3.1 Internal Analysis
3.2 The Product Life Cycle
3.3 External Analysis
3.4 Porters Power Forces
3.5 Target Market
3.6 Market Demographics
3.7 Market Needs
3.8 Market Trends
3.9 S.W.O.T. Analysis
4. OBJECTIVES

5. FLOCAFÉ MARKETING STRATEGIES

5.1 Boston Consulting Group Matrix
5.2 Ansoff’s Product/Market Expansion Grid
5.3 Generic Strategies
5.4 Segmenting
5.5 Targeting
5.6 Positioning
5.7 Branding
5.8 Adaptation Vs Standardization
6. FLOCAFE MARKETING TACTICS

MARKETING MIX
6.1 Product

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 6.2 Price
6.3 Place
6.4 Promotion
6.5 People
6.6 Physical evidence
6.7 Process Management
7. ACTION

8. CONTROL

9. CONCLUSION

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1. INTRODUCTION

Flocafe is a Greek coffee shop chain and the largest within Greece established in
1994. It offers high quality coffees through their sophisticated and well organized
shops. It started operations in Cyprus 5 years ago with their first shop in Nicosia at
Stasicratus Street another in Ledras and Limassol at the Sea Front. It is not just a
place to drink coffee but they offer a place where a customer can go away from reality
and express their feelings.

2. MARKETING RESEARCH
Primary data are collected from a questionnaire using closed ended questions. Data
analysis methods used include frequency distributions, factor analysis and regression
analysis. (Drousiotis A and Austin J, 2007)
The qualitative approach to research is not concerned with this sort of statistical
analysis. It involves gathering a great deal of information about a small number of
people or organizations. The information collected is generally not presentable in
numerical form. It is based on the belief that a full and rounded understanding of the
organizational experiences and situations of a few individuals however
unrepresentative they may be, is of more value than a limited understanding of large,
representative group. The methods used to gather qualitative information include
observation, informal and in-depth interviewing and participant observation.
(Ticehurst and Veal, 2000, p. 21)
In our research we decided it would be more appropriate to use qualitative data as the
source of primary data. For this purpose we have conducted interview with Mr.
Andreas Savva the manager of Flo café in Ledras street and Mr George
Papademetriou the operations supervisor again from Flocafé in Ledras street. The
purpose of these interviews was to gain access to the current marketing practices of
the company in order to be able to evaluate it and propose changes or additions to
their current marketing strategy and tactics as well as goals and objectives.

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In addition we used secondary data such as theory on marketing in order to give the
reader a better understanding on our comments as well as material from Flo café
website and other information given by the manager of Flo café.

3. SITUATION ANALYSIS

3.1 Internal Analysis

Flocafe has already built a good brand name. This is due to the fact that together with
the quality coffees offered the also serve a philosophy. Philosophy explained by
explanation of their logo, the spiral. Flocafe (2007) claims that the spiral serves as the
Flocafé symbol and it is depicted in our logo and our brand. It is also a
communication code, which represents values, messages and symbolisms that also
reflect our brand. The spiral is an ancient symbol. It can be found in nature, in life, in
our being, in our worlds’ laws, in our identity. It stands for centre, focus, time passing
from season to season, from day to night and to day again. Extroversion, Sociability,
Ritual. The spiral is a dynamic and genuine symbol. It is the identity of a new Flocafé
era.
People associate with this philosophy because it reflects their needs. This leads Flo to
have many repeating customers. Repeating customers create a steady sales volume
that guarantees profitability.
The market Share when it comes to this kind of businesses is not a clearly definable
variable. Customers tend to visit various cafés depending on their mood.

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3.2 The Product Life Cycle

A lot might say that Flocafé is at its maturity but in Cyprus there is still a lot of room
for growth. So we should say that it’s at its growth stage. Up to now there are only
three shops in Cyprus only in two cities. Some more shops could be opened in cities
like Larnaka or Paphos.
The product offered by Flo is high quality espresso based coffees like the traditional
espresso Cappuccino Freddo Caldos, filter coffees and classic instant coffees like
warm instant coffee and frappe. When it comes to their products they always give
emphasis on high quality.
The Prices of the coffees at Flocafe could be considered high, higher than the average
coffee price in the market. This is because they offer a lot more services than other
cafés.
The shops of Flocafé are all in very convenient areas were they are easily accessible
to people. As you go insight you can see a very well organized café nicely painted
giving a cosy feeling.
The Flocafé stuff is always trained to give the best service possible. Flocafe gives a
lot of emphasis on this area as it really cares about having happy customers and
customers are always happy when they are served well.
This goes together with the whole process of providing there service. By the time a
customer walks in the shop the supervisor of the shop will lead him/her to his table,
the waiter will come to give the menus brings water and wait for the order. The drinks
are prepared with quality coffee to add to an enjoyable experience.

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The way they choose to give some physical evidence about the quality of their coffees
is by putting pictures of their coffees in the menus. In many cases the customer will
choose a coffee by its picture.
According to the manager of Flo Café in Ledras street, the company does not have
any significant promotional tool available except from some events and occasional
competitions (i.e. with Mini Cooper). In addition the company rarely uses radio
advertisements to communicate new products.

3.3 External Analysis

Flocafe seems to know the market very well. They know the common prices in the
market and how their main competitors charge their coffees. There competitors are
not each and every café but the cafes that offer quality espresso coffees in a nice, well
organized environment. A key point is the communication with the customers. They
don’t just communicate that they have good coffees but they also communicate that
they have a nice place to have your coffee with great service and a beautiful
environment.

3.4 Porters Power Forces

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As © Mind Tools Ltd [1995-2008] claims the Porter’s 5 Forces tool is a simple but

powerful tool for understanding where power lies in a business situation. This is
useful, because it helps you understand both the strength of your current competitive
position, and the strength of a position you’re looking to move into.

Supplier Power: In our case the main supplier of Flo café is the franchisor as it
provides all the products and Lavazza coffee beans and as a result it has great power
over the Flocafe franchisee. However, this dependability is in the context of the
franchise and the franchisee in order to eliminate intermediaries has formed a
company, Lani Restaurants, in order to import all the required material. In the case of
the Cypriot suppliers, as the café is a franchise and has significant market share, as a
result Flocafe has bargaining power over the local suppliers.
Buyer Power: The power of the buyers is minor in a case of a café. A café has for
customers many and unknown people and those customers don’t just visit one café
but a lot. So the cost of the coffee is not really defined by the customers.

Competitive Rivalry: The number of coffee shops is large in the island but the
immediate competitors are not each and every coffee shop that sells cheap or
expensive coffees. The competitors of Flocafe are classified in three categories

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 a) The cafeterias that sell high quality coffee and offer quality service and have
the fame of a highly prestigious and upper social class customers (i.e. Pascucci
Haagen Dazs in Limassol, Pralina Le Café in Nicosia .
b) The cafeterias that are located in more popular locations such as Mondo and
La Mode in Makariou which the company considers to be inferior but have
large share because of their location rather than the quality of service and
products
c) The cafeterias that offer self service such as Starbucks and Costa which are
quality cafeterias but have different philosophy and different organizational
culture
Each category has relevant attributes that the management of Flo café considers to
be important and has affect on the performance. However, the main competitors
are considered those of the first category where the company wants to be
established.

Threat of Substitution: Substitutes in this market are a lot. Any coffee shop and
each and every place that sells coffee even a coffee prepared at home could be
considered a substitute. This is a threat when it comes to the product offered but
Flocafé does not just rely on the product but also relies on the service. The service
offered is not easily found in cafes. This gives a good advantage towards many cafes.

Threat of New Entry: New entry in the café market is very easy. The problem that
they face though is the ability to remain in the market. The whole point is not just to
open a coffee shop but offer something that not many offer and if possible something
unique. What Flocafé managed to do until now is show to people that is different. It is
not something simple that’s why it has survived.

3.5 Target Market

The main target market is people from 18 to 35 that require a place to have their
coffee, relax and enjoy a beautiful service.

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 Total Population

The rest
20%

18-35
The rest
18-35
80%

Table 1

3.6 Market Demographics

Geographics
The immediate geographical targeted population is estimated at 400,000. This covers
total population of Nicosia and Limassol. The targeted population is estimated at
around 100,000.

Demographics
Our target group is males and females, aged from 18 to 35, single or committed,
educated, who go out for a drink around 1 to 3 times a week

Behavioural Factors
Cypriot cafeteria customers tend to have the habit of enjoying their coffee on the
place of its creation. They view it as the ideal way to socialize and to be in places that
appeals to their social class or communicate with the class they want to be part of.

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3.7 Market Needs
Flocafe (2007) claims that one of the things that make Flocafé so special is that it
gives guests the chance to create their very own Flocafé experience. They can enjoy
this experience during their spare time, not only through the relaxed, carefree and
stylish Flocafé ambience, but also through the lively and upbeat entertainment, made
up by the music, the colours, the action and the Flocafé staff with their service. An
amazing mixture of coffee and chocolate aromas, a sumptuous feast of tastes, fills us
with energy, bringing to life all sorts of different moods at the same time. It’s in every
Flocafé that our guests create new and enjoy old friendships, turning their everyday
getaway from routine and the quick city rhythm into an environment that suits ideally
their taste!

What the customers need it to be in a nice environment with great service. This
environment is developed with the organized way the cafés look their colours and the
chill-out music they play. The service provides by Flocafé stuff is much better that
any good café and also the fact that it is not self service gives people what they want.
The prices at Flocafe might be a bit higher than average but they have not much of a
difference than prices at cafés like Pralina, Le Café and other competitors. So people
will not discard it because of the price.

3.8 Market Trends

The market trend is heading towards some more sophisticated and posh customers
looking for higher quality places to go that will benefit their image.
Coffee quality is something Cypriots look for. According to the manage of Flo café in
Ledras street, Instant coffee became very famous in Cyprus but nowadays they tend to
turn around to espresso based coffees. Cafes like Starbucks, Gloria Jeans and Costa
that recently started operating in our island have shown to the people that there is a
very nice alternative to instant coffee (frappe) and people started to ask for these kinds
of coffees. But all of these cafes are self service, a trend in their home countries.
Cypriots tend to prefer to have someone to serve them and this is what Flo does.

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3.9 S.W.O.T. Analysis

Out of the interview with the Manager of Flo café in Ledras street, we extracted the
following Strengths Weaknesses of the company itself and Opportunities and Threats
in the Cypriot Market that Concern Flocafé.

Strengths
One of the main strengths of Flocafé is the whole idea behind their philosophy. They
don’t just offer to the people a place to have their coffee but they offer “the” place to
relax feel well and spend a great time. This environment has built a “relationship”
with the customers that have become loyal.
The shops are located in key point areas so they can attract customers.
The stuff goes through a good training that makes them able to offer the high quality
service promised by Flocafe.
The products offered are of a large variety giving the chance to the customers to select
anything they like. This catalogue is updated constantly with new tastes different for
each season.
The franchisee has high economic strength and thus Flo café has economic feasibility
and funds to grow and expand and in addition invest in advertising.
An effective distribution network is built by the franchisee with the creation of a
company that imports all materials needed and distributes them to the shops as fast as
possible.

Weaknesses

The fact that 2 of the shops are located in busy roads makes it difficult for people to
find place to park. This leads them sometimes to go at some other cafes with more
parking spaces available near by.
The prices even if they are reasonable for the service offered still they are high
leading people to visit similar cafes with lower prices.
There are also weaknesses based separately for each Flo café outlet. For example, in
Stasicratus street according to the manager, the design and the absence of a large
frontal porch that is preferred by customers of the given class (or class wannabe) in
order to view and be viewed. Moreover the café was initially based on the Greek

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model and it is not suitable to the culture nor the preferences of the social class that is
located in this area and the equipment and atmosphere in general gives the feeling of a
more middle and lower class cafeteria which is not the appropriate for the area

Opportunities

Flocafe is found only in two cities of Cyprus. There is a very good possibility of
success in opening shops in other cities like Larnaka and Paphos where the target
group of Flocafé is large.
In the case of Flo café in Ledras street, a change in the political environment now
provides a new opportunity for growth and increased sales. With the change in the
Cypriot Government, the road block that separated the Turkish occupied area with the
area controlled by the Cyprus Government has opened thus creating increase in the
visitors of the historic street and thus more potential customers both Greek-Cypriots
and Turkish-Cypriots as well as more tourists.
Competitors such as Starbucks and Costa have contributed to the change in the habits
of Cypriots constantly shifting from instant coffee to espresso. This is in favour of
Flo as well since it provides both instant and espresso coffees and in addition more
differentiated products based on espresso.

Threats
The main competition is already established and has a very positive image which
would be very difficult to overcome.
Secondly, the case of Flo cafeterias in Greece has a negative appeal to the image the
franchisee wants to create since in Greece are considered more middle class
cafeterias.
Finally another threat is the constant threat of new entrants and since customers
always give a trial period to new cafeterias in the case of the entrance of a new of
internationally known brand would hurt the company’s efforts to achieve leadership
and excellence.

4. OBJECTIVES

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According to the Manager of Flo Ledras, the management of Flo café has set the main
goal to be the establishment of the Flo chain of cafés among the leader in market
share and the determinant force of the coffee fashion and being able to adapt rapidly
to the changing environment

In order to achieve this goal, several objectives were placed:

Firstly to create aesthetically upgraded cafeterias with a very pleasant modern and
warm environment through the next 3 years
Secondly, to continue to introduce new coffee creations that will constantly be ahead
of the competition
Thirdly, to monitor and constantly improve the service level and the quality control of
the products and services by employing the best and maintain highly trained and
committed employees. The training of supervisors must be completed until the end of
2008.
Last but not least to be able to differentiate from competition by identifying the needs
of the segment of 19-40 years old and adapting the service offered by the company

Our goal is to introduce how the goals and objectives of the Company itself and
examine critically the strategies and tactics that are currently implemented and
propose changes based on the general marketing concept.
We would suggest that another objective to be added which would be the creation of a
new communication mix which would have appeal to the targeted segments and will
contribute to the improvement of the Flo brand by the end of 2008.

5. FLO CAFÉ MARKETING STRATEGIES

5.1 Boston Consulting Group Matrix

According to Kotler et al (2002) the Boston Consulting Group matrix approach is a

classification of a company’s strategic business units/products according to the
growth/share matrix. In the case of Flo café we are examining the business portfolio
and specifically the coffee beverages. Since it is a bundle of similar but different

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products we will examine some in particular in order to be able to form our strategy.
For example, the Flocafé frappe is a standard product identical to that of other
competitors. As we describe in the situation analysis the instant coffee market is
nowadays in decline, however frappe must be clarified as a “cash cow” since it is a
product with standard sales and very low cost relatively to other products, thus
contributing with a high margin to the profitability of the company. We would
suggest that the company maintain this product at all cost since it is in its mature stage
and has several loyal customers. On the other hand, the majority of the new products
are clarified as question marks since most of them are unique products and are
depended on the good introduction and explanation of its ingredients by the waiters
and supervisors in order to be sold. Other products such as cappuccino and espresso
related products must be considered as “Stars” since they have a high margin of
growing sales and the espresso and real coffee market in general is constantly
growing in Cyprus and especially after the introduction of new competitors that sell
only espresso coffee such as Starbucks, Costa and Gloria Jeans. However, it is
important to point out that the above information are not absolute since all products
are subject to seasonality with hot drinks sales decrease dramatically during summer
period and cold drinks sales decreasing dramatically during winter period. Therefore
we decide not to change the current strategy of the product portfolio nor propose
changes concerning

5.2 Ansoff’s Product/Market Expansion Grid

According to Ansoff’s Product Market expansion grid, Flo café is currently using a
Product Development strategy where it constantly introduces new products for the
existing markets. We agree to this strategy which is best related to the goals and
objectives of the company and it best appeals to the way the cafeteria is formed.

5.3 Generic Strategies

According to this model introduced by Michael Porter, the company tries to obtain a
competitive advantage over its competitors through a differentiation strategy. We
agree to this strategy since it is best serving the objective of the company to compete
with leading local cafeterias by introducing different products, such as new coffee

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creations (flocachino, espresso caramel caldo etc) which is not available by
competitors, to broader target. Thus the company is able to offer new services create
another competitive advantage over its competitors.

5.4 Segmenting
According to Kotler et al (2002), Segmentation is the process of dividing the market
into distinct group buyer segments with different needs wants etc who might require
separate products.
The four major market segmentation categories are: Geographical segments (nation,
states, region or cities, Demographic segments (age, gender, family size, and income,
Psychographic segments (social class, lifestyle or personality) and Behavioral
segments (occasional, benefits user status etc).
Flo Café is currently using mainly the geographical segmentation since it is always
located at popular public places and usually close to competitors. According to the
manager of Flo café in Ledras, the company is trying to focus on psychographic
segments such as medium and higher social class. According to our opinion we
would suggest that the café consider other demographic segments as well such as
families with children segment.

5.5 Targeting

According to Vrontis (2009), targeting is defined as evaluating each market segment’s

attractiveness and selecting one or more segments to enter. According to the current
practices of Flo café, the company uses a Concentrated Targeting strategy where
the company focuses on a number of segments but with one company marketing mix
Based on what we mention above, Flo Café is correctly focusing on Geographical
segments since it is always trying to establish new service “factories” in popular
public places which is a common practice in the café industry. Moreover, to our
opinion, the company is correctly trying to focus its marketing efforts in the medium
and higher social class segments, since it is more appropriate to the style of the
cafeteria itself. We believe that by competing on other psychological segments
irrelevant to the corporate culture would not be beneficial since Cyprus has a large
medium social class which makes this psychographic segment more relevant even to
the number of the Flo café chain. However, we suggest altering its targeting strategy

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to a Differentiated Targeting strategy. Even on the current targeted segments we
see that each different Flo café factory could alter slightly its service offering in order
to appeal best to the targeted segments that surround it. It is a fact that in Flo in
Ledras Street, a higher number of tourists as well as families with children is present
than in Stasicratus street. So we would suggest that the company modifies slightly
tactics (basically its additional services) to serve the segments that are closely related
to the geographical area.

5.6 Positioning

Positioning is a marketing strategy where a company decides the way it will address
to the markets it has targeted. A company may differentiate its products in a way that
the strengths of the company are better developed so that the needs and wants of the
target market are satisfied (Kotler et al, 2002).
As we mentioned previously, Flo Café in Cyprus is targeting the middle-higher social
class customer segment. Therefore the positioning of the company should be relevant
to this. The company aims to position the Flo café line among its competitors, (Le
café and Pralina in Nicosia) that is, among the best and more prestigious cafeterias in
Cyprus. We created a perceptual map (Appendix) in order to illustrate the positioning
of the company in the Nicosia Geographical segment among main competitors and
other competitors. In the case of Cyprus we identified that the Flo café chain has
been the subject of repositioning, where the café changed its positioning in relation
with the positioning of most Flo cafés in Greece. We totally agree to this strategy
since as we mentioned previously the Cypriot population’s average income is higher
from Greece and there are some differences in culture. Therefore the adaptation on
this field can be considered successful

5.7 Branding

Branding is a very important part of the current Marketing strategies of Flo café.
Firstly, the name of the café meets the requirements of an appropriate brand name. It
is distinctive; it is easy to pronounce recognize and remember. Moreover it does not
mean something bad in the Greek language nor English. The branding of products
and especially coffee products which we are interested in are baptized with a new

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name (for example Flocachino, Biscolato etc) in order to connect the product to the
firm in the perception of consumer. Thus the Flo brand name and the related new
product brands is a very good weapon against competitors since the attributes and
benefits of the products are immediately directed to the brand image thus creating
more value and quality to the service, more loyalty and credibility by the customers
and most importantly, it is the identification of the café.
We find this strategy innovative in relation to the common coffee shop practices and
very successful. The franchise has put much effort and money to build the Flo brand
name. This brand name was rather known to Cypriot public because of the intense
presence of Flo chain of cafés in Greece since there are thousands of students
studying in Greece and because Greece has the majority of Cypriot tourists every
year. However, according to the Manager of Flo Ledras, Flo cafes in Greece have a
number of differences and the most important is that it targets different segments of
the population rather than of those that targets in Cyprus. So the effort of building an
image was a difficult goal which they consider achieved.

5.8 Adaptation Vs Standardization

In general, as a franchise, Flo Café has highly standardized operations and behavioral
patterns. We consider this quite important for the uniformity of the quality and
performance. However, we suggest applying flexibility for adaptation in some areas
such as the design of the service factory, the dress code of the employees and the
additional services of each outlet. This is to ensure that each outlet is appealing to its
target segment and the publics of the location.

6. FLOCAFE MARKETING TACTICS

MARKETING MIX

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According to Kotler et al (2002), marketing mix is defined as the set of controllable
tactical marketing tools that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the
target market. The marketing mix consists of everything the firm can do to influence
the demand for its product. The marketing mix is also known as the “seven P’s”:
product, price, place, promotion, people, physical evidence, process management.

6.1 Product

According to the differentiation strategy that the company tries to obtain in order to
compete with leading local cafeterias, Flocafé had introduced some new coffee
creations (flocachino, espresso caramel caldo etc) which are not available by
competitors, in this way the company is able to offer new services creating another
competitive advantage over its competitors. . The main input that the company uses
in the production process is coffee. All the franchise outlets use the same Italian
coffee, Lavazza. The coffee has to be stored according to strict specifications and
grained at the correct moment in the production process in order to maintain its aroma
and taste as genuine and fresh as possible. As far as the packaging of flocafé’s
products we strongly believe that offer convenience especially in consuming and that
they have their unique personality build loyalty with the customers and are easily
recognizable than any other product of any competitor. The Flo brand name and the
related new product brands is a very good weapon against competitors since the
attributes and benefits of the products are immediately directed to the brand image
thus creating more value and quality to the service, more loyalty and credibility by the
customers and most importantly, it is the identification of the café. The franchise has
put much effort and money to build the Flo brand name. We Find this very successful
and innovative and are leading towards the creating of a very strong brand name.

6.2 Price

As it is well known Good pricing decisions are critical to a firm’s success in the
workplace and also that the only source of product for Flocafé is through the price
charged for products. The price charged for the products in Flocafé Cyprus are a little
bit higher than the price charged in Flocafé in Greece since the standard of living is a
little different between the two countries and also consumers, especially in Cyprus,

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see price as a quality indicator and since Flocafé considers le café and Pralina in
Nicosia as the two most important competitors must place their price respectively to
those two cafeterias. Although they set their prices a little lower than the two
competitors in order to acquire a larger market share.

6.3 Place

Place means making the goods and services available where and when customers need
and want them. Place is all the company activities that make the product available to
target customers. Flo café’s marketing channels are directly from manufacturer to
consumer, in other words all products are prepared in each |Flocafé’s shop and served
directly to the customer. Flo café is always trying to establish new service “factories”
in popular public places which is a common practice in the café industry. For example
the establishment of two cafeterias in two of the most popular streets in Nicosia,
Ledras and Stasicratus. Flo café, very correctly in our opinion, alter slightly its service
offering in order to appeal best to the targeted segments that surround it. Like for
example in Flocafé in Ledras street there are higher numbers of tourists and families
present than Stasicratus street, that are mostly young people present, so we would
suggest to the company to modify slightly mostly its additional services according to
the characteristics of people that are present to each geographical area.

6.4 Promotion

When we say promotion we mean bringing products to the attention of consumers and
persuading them to bye those products. We strongly recommend Above the line
technique to be used by the company since this technique is using mass media to
promote brands for example TV and radio advertising especially radio that is used in
Greece by the company and happens to experience great success. If some advertising
will take place in Cyprus as well especially in some popular radio stations that are
heart by mostly young people together with some print advertising in magazines we
believe that this will help the company to increase its market share. Also the
development of good public relations, the development and maintenance of good
relations with different publics, will help Flocafé to build up good brand name. Some
of these publics include the customers, the government, the community even the

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competitors. Also something else that could possibly help the building of a good
brand name for Flocafé is sponsorship, a form of enlightened self interest where a
worthy activity is supported with cash or consideration in return for satisfying specific
marketing or corporate objectives, that will enable Flocafé to be heart more often by
the public by offering to society as well and this will have a very positive impact on
the company.
Moreover since the café is targeting higher social class we would suggest creating
collaboration with magazines that appeal to this segment and create certain events in
each outlet with the presence of important persons, celebrities and other people that
act as models of behavior especially among young adults which is the main target
segment.

6.5 People

The people dimension has to do with the types and skills of the staff, their ability to
get things done correctly and also, very important, how they interact with customers.
It is very important for an organization like Flocafé to have a well trained staff that
will make the difference, if it’s possible, when customers compare Flocafé with its
competitors. So it is our opinion that very often the staff should be trained, not only
when there is a new product introduced, in order to keep the high level that everybody
in the company aims for. The staff can be trained through seminars that the company
will organize for their best interest. We strongly believe that a trained staff is a
comparative advantage for a company to have that will “force” the customers to come
back if they are satisfied from the treatment that they had, so management of Flocafé,
confirmed to us by the manager of Flocafe Ledras, invest a lot for the proper training
of their staff because they believe that people in their organization can make the
difference.

6.6 Physical evidence

Physical evidence relates to the surrounding in which the other elements are delivered
and the sorts of messages they send to the customers. For example in one of |

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Flocafé’s competitors, Pralina, they serve chocolate pieces to match with the drinks
they serve and this idea seems to work very well. We suggest for Flocafé, having in
mind that Flocafé Ledras attract young families with children, to introduce a small
playing ground for children to keep themselves busy so their parents enjoy their
drinks without worrying for their children. Of course Flocafé tries to keep the
company in good position and they give a lot of effort in ‘small’ details’, for example
they serve bottled water together with every drink, mostly coffee, and this we believe
gives a great impression to the customers. Also in Flocafé one can enjoy soft music
together with his drink since Flocafé offers music as well and also one can enjoy an
important sport event from the big screens that are presents in the area of Flocafé
Ledras and Stasicratus.
Finally, we would suggest since the company has identified that the decoration and
equipment of the café in Stasicratus does not correspond to the demands of the
psychographic segment of higher social class (or class wannabe) which is present at
the location we would strongly recommend the alteration of the design is necessary in
order to reconstruct the physical evidence of the café in order to communicate the
message that the café seeks to be placed among the leading cafeterias of the island.

6.7 Process Management

Process management is mostly concerned with the ways in which customers are dealt
with from the moment of initial contact right through to the sales follow-up and the
after sales service. As we mentioned before the company invests a lot in the training
their staff because they know how important is to treat the customers in the proper
way from the time they get in to the time they leave the place. In Flocafé they try to
be as polite as possible with everybody that enters the cafeteria and after serving the
waiters try to be close to the customers by visiting their table often and also changing
their ashtray when needed, by asking them if they need anything else and generally by
being close to all their customers. When a customer decides to leave the cafeteria the
manager that is in charge is obliged to thank the customer for the preference of the
specific cafeteria and very politely leads him to the exit by saying goodbye to them.
In general the whole process of production and serving the customer is highly
standardized and based on the strict regulations imposed by the franchisor which

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includes models of behavior, dress code and most importantly, measurements of the
proper quantities of raw materials in the production process which reassures the
uniformity of the product and a constant quality control. We find this very important
but we have some comments that derived through the interviews where problems arise
with products that expire in the stock room thus creating risk of bad service and
increased cost of destroyed stock. We recommend applying Just-in-Time inventory
management strategy for stock control, the quality of the raw materials will remain
high and will avoid costs related with obsolete or destroyed stock and correspond to
the objective to offer good quality service.

7. ACTION

Planning good strategies is only a start, towards successful marketing. A well

designed strategy without a proper implementation is not valuable to an organization.
Marketing implementation is the process that realizes marketing strategies and plans
into actions to accomplish the strategic objectives (Vrontis 2004). Based on what we
have seen we would propose to change first of all the decoration of Flo in Stasicratus
which is the central and directly related to competition. Our suggestion would be a
renovation of the service factory in order to improve the physical evidence of the
outlet. We believe that a minimum number of 80,000 Euros must be invested for this
goal.

8. CONTROL

Control is the process of measuring results, diagnosing the results and taking
corrective actions if necessary. This allows to the organization to monitor and review
the strategic marketing plan and direct possible methods of improvement and
updating (Vrontis 2004).
Naturally, in order to achieve the goals set, correct monitoring is necessary. We
believe that the top management must be in constant contact with middle management
and lower management as well as employees in order to get constant feedback
concerning the implementation of the strategies and tactics as well as to identify
potential mistakes of the strategy. Moreover, the marketing department must

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constantly monitor the perceptions, needs, wants and demands of the targeted
segments as well as to measure the effect of the strategies and tactics in order to be
able to evaluate their effectiveness and efficiency an be able to form new strategies to
improve mistakes and take advantage of new opportunities in the market.

9. CONCLUSION
Flocafe has managed to create around its name a strong brand that made it a key
player in the market. The fact that there are strong competitors exists and this is what
is giving Flocafe a lot of room for improvement. The Cypriot market still allows
improvement to café’s like Flocafé and people will not give second thought to change
the café they prefer.

References

Drousiotis A and Austin J, “Job Satisfaction of managers in Cyprus”, EuroMed

Journal of Business Vol. 2 No. 2, 2007 pp. 208-222 [electronic]. Available from:
Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1450-2194, Article DOI
10.1108/14502190710826068 [2007].

Kotler Philip, Armstrong Gary, Saunders John, Wong Veronica. (2002), Principles of

Marketing, 3rd European Edition, Prentice Hall, UK

Mind Tools Ltd, 1995-2008, [online] Available from

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_08.htm

Ticehurst G W and Veal A J, 2000, Business Research Methods a managerial

approach, Longman, London.

Vivartia S. A., 2007, “Flocafe” [online]. Available from: http://www.flocafe.gr/en [ 1

May 2008].

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 Appendix

Perceptual Map
High quality
Service

. .Le
.Flocafe Pralina .Flocafe café

.Venue
.La
Mode
.Da
Capo
.Likno

.Monaco
Least highly
Prestigious Prestigious

.Mondo

.Pizza Hut
café

.Cafe
City

Low quality
Service

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