Marketing Plan

of Little Sesame
Oatmeal
目录
1 PART 1 Executive Summary................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Our Mission................................................................................................................... 1

1.2 Our Vision......................................................................................................................1

1.3 Our Value....................................................................................................................... 1

2 PART 2 Current Marketing Situation.................................................................................... 1

2.1 Internal situation...........................................................................................................1

2.1.1 Raw material suppliers.................................................................................... 2

2.1.2 Processing.......................................................................................................... 2

2.2 External situation..........................................................................................................3

2.3 Competitive situation....................................................................................................4

2.4 Market situation............................................................................................................5

2.5 SWOT analysis.............................................................................................................. 6

2.5.1 Strengths............................................................................................................ 6

2.5.2 Weaknesses........................................................................................................ 6

2.5.3 Opportunities.................................................................................................... 7

2.5.4 Threats............................................................................................................... 7

3 PART 3 Customer Analysis...................................................................................................... 8

3.1 Cultural factors............................................................................................................. 8

3.1.1 The historical origin of oats............................................................................. 8

3.1.2 The regional culture of oats............................................................................. 8

3.1.3 The cultural value of choosing oats.................................................................9

3.2 Social factors..................................................................................................................9

3.2.1 The continuous growth of breakfast consumption promotes the

consumption demand of oat food.................................................................................... 9

3.2.2 The growth of the snack food market drives consumption of oats............10

3.2.3 Product demand is getting green and healthy, promoting the benign

development of the industry...........................................................................................10

3.2.4 Oat health food is expected to become a new growth point....................... 10

 3.2.5 The domestic economy is developing rapidly and the consumer demand is

improving steadily...........................................................................................................11

3.2.6 The proportion of residents' food consumption expenditure is larger,

further promoting the demand for oat food.................................................................11

3.2.7 The industry has been further standardized and consumers' awareness of

food safety has been strengthened.................................................................................12

3.3 Personal factors...........................................................................................................12

3.3.1 Gender identity............................................................................................... 13

3.3.2 Education level................................................................................................ 13

3.3.3 Occupation.......................................................................................................13

3.4 Psychological factors.................................................................................................. 14

3.5 Buying behavior.......................................................................................................... 14

3.5.1 Recognizing the needs.................................................................................... 14

3.5.2 Collecting information................................................................................... 14

3.5.3 Making judgement..........................................................................................15

3.5.4 Purchasing decision........................................................................................ 15

3.5.5 After-purchase action.....................................................................................15

4 PART 4 Marketing Strategy.................................................................................................. 16

4.1 Market Segmentation................................................................................................. 16

4.2 Targeting...................................................................................................................... 16

4.3 Positioning................................................................................................................... 17

4.3.1 Product positioning.........................................................................................17

4.3.2 Competitive positioning................................................................................. 18

4.3.3 Target customer positioning.......................................................................... 18

4.4 4P Strategy...................................................................................................................18

4.4.1 Product.............................................................................................................18

4.4.2 Price..................................................................................................................20

4.4.3 Place................................................................................................................. 21
1 PART 1 Executive Summary
1.1 Our Mission
Little Sesame Oatmeal is a food company that produces and processes oatmeal. It
is specializing in fruit oatmeal products, including sesame, black beans, black rice and
other hair-protecting ingredients, as well as adding dried fruits, nuts, yogurt and other
healthy ingredients. Our products are characterized by hair loss prevention, high fiber,
non-puffing, and zero sucrose. In response to the current health problems of young
people such as fatigue, hair loss, high-oil and high-sugar intake, and the vacancies in
the meal replacement market with large demand and low supply, Little Sesame
Oatmeal has launched meal replacement foods that help prevent hair loss, shape and
reduce fat, maintain health, multi-flavor and good taste, committed to "creating a
healthy and natural lifestyle for Chinese people".

1.2 Our Vision

In pursuit of health, we are committed to creating a nutritious meal replacement
food for consumers to prevent hair loss and nourish hair.
Enable employees to enjoy their work and be dedicated to their work.
Realize the prosperity of the company and be the leading food company in
anti-hair loss.

1.3 Our Value

Conscience, healthy and natural ingredients, low-calorie and zero-sugar
guarantee.
Ingenuity, delicious and diverse products, quality of excellence.
Enterprise, focus on customer needs, take customer’s satisfaction as the driving
force, and constantly improve and innovate.

2 PART 2 Current Marketing Situation

2.1 Internal situation

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2.1.1 Raw material suppliers
At present, there is serious homogeneity in the oatmeal product market so relying
solely on sales promotion or advertising is not a long-term solution. Focusing on
consumers, improving food quality, researching and developing product categories is
the most important. Different varieties and qualities of oats can be processed into
oatmeal, but the quality of the final product will not be the same. To obtain
high-quality and stable finished products, the supply of raw materials must be
carefully investigated.
Little Sesame Oatmeal pays attention to product quality and selects natural and
additive-free raw materials to create healthy composite oatmeal. When selecting raw
material suppliers, Little Sesame Oatmeal considers quality, price, and whether it can
establish a long-term cooperative relationship. Besides, Little Sesame Oatmeal mainly
focuses on ecological manufacturing. In order to ensure the fresh taste of oatmeal
products, our team goes to the planting area in advance to conduct field inspections
and select samples of different brands for processing tests. The quality inspection
department is responsible for the quality acceptance of raw materials, mainly
inspecting the supplier's product processing accuracy and inspection reports. Finally,
we comprehensively select suppliers according to various standards such as sample
quality and raw material cost.

2.1.2 Processing
From raw materials to finished products, each portion of oats has to go through
manufacturing steps such as cleaning and removing impurities, dehulling,
hydrothermal treatment, grain cutting, pressing, drying and cooling, screening, mixing,
packaging and many different quality tests. Each specific step is a prerequisite for the
next step. Different raw materials have different requirements for processing, so the
required employee skills are also different. Raw materials such as sesame and black
beans need to be ground into powder and then mixed with oatmeal. For such single
repetitive tasks, machines can be used instead. When making oatmeal, it is usually
processed by microwave curing equipment, one is to sterilize and kill enzymes, and
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the other is to produce aroma. This will not only benefit the long-term storage of the
product, but also improve the quality of the oatmeal. For other steps that require
manual technology or experience, such as the machine's inability to distinguish the
quality of raw materials and whether they are fresh. These have certain requirements
on the quality of employees.
Therefore, Little Sesame Oatmeal is divided into different workshops to form
production lines according to different production steps, and the division of labor is
clear. Once mistakes are made, they can be quickly located and held accountable to
avoid losses caused by large-scale mistakes. In addition, our company also provides
training for newly hired employees to ensure the efficiency and quality of the
processing line to the greatest extent.

2.2 External situation

Our country attaches great importance to oat planting and breeding research. The
Protection List of Agricultural Plant Varieties of the People's Republic of China
(Ninth Batch) (Order No. 1, 2013 of the Ministry of Agriculture) included oats in the
List of New Plant Varieties Protection to stimulate the innovative vitality of oat
varieties. Modern Seed Industry Improvement Project Construction Plan (2019-2025)
incorporates the construction of oat grass germplasm resource nursery and improved
seed breeding base into the scope of implementation of the plan and supports it. The
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of our country organized the construction of
the national oat and buckwheat industrial technology system in 2008 and researched
on the breeding of new varieties of oats, and high-value processing technologies. At
present, technical regulations for oat cultivation suitable for different regions and
different production needs have been formulated, and a breakthrough has been made
in small oat harvesting machinery.
China's agricultural science and technology development roadmap to 2050
compiled by the Agricultural Strategy Research Group of the Chinese Academy of
Sciences puts forward the concept of functional agriculture for the first time.
Functional agriculture refers to the nutrition and functionalization of agricultural
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products. It is to make agricultural products have health-care functions through
biological nutrient fortification or other biotechnological means. In recent years, many
government documents have emphasized the importance of "functional agriculture".
Guiding Opinions of the State Council on Promoting the Revitalization of Rural
Industries pointed out that “encourage enterprises to develop and produce products
that meet health needs and increase the supply of health products”.
The source of raw materials for our brand of oats is the state-backed breeding
base and modern agricultural industrial park, which not only guarantees quality, but
also contributes to the national poverty-relief work. At the same time, our brand's
innovative development of product functions caters to the concept of "functional
agriculture" and "healthy China", aiming to develop foods with health care functions
to help people's health.

2.3 Competitive situation

From the perspective of the competitive landscape, the global oat industry can be
divided into three echelons. The first tier is dominated by companies with higher
brand awareness and larger scales, mainly Quaker, Kellogg's and other companies.
The second tier is dominated by regional enterprises, which have obvious competitive
advantages in the region. For example, Seamild and WangBaoBao are only deployed
in China, and their scale is relatively small. There are also companies whose main
business is not only oatmeal, such as Nestlé. The third-tier companies are relatively
small, mostly below 100 million yuan, and their brand awareness is not high. The
main competitors of our brand are the second and third echelon brands.
By collecting and analyzing public consumer reviews on Taobao's e-commerce
platform, the three well-known oatmeal merchants, Nestlé, HONlife, and
WangBaoBao, are analyzed from multiple dimensions such as product performance,
usage scenarios, purchase sources, and target audiences.
For Nestlé oatmeal, the most mentioned by consumers are the taste, product
function and ease of brewing. Users prefer the taste of black rice, black sesame,
purple potato and taro. For HONlife oatmeal, the most mentioned by consumers are
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taste, packaging, ease of dissolution and raw materials. Users prefer flavors of fruit,
yogurt and nuts. For WangBaoBao oatmeal, the most mentioned by consumers are
taste, packaging and raw materials. Users prefer strawberry cheese flavor and peach
oolong flavour. Many users think WangBaoBao oatmeal is crispy and chewy when
cooked.
Users of Nestlé oatmeal prefer to eat oatmeal for breakfast, and like to drink with
milk; users of HONlife prefer to pair with milk, yogurt or eat oatmeal as snacks, and
there is little demand for weight loss and meal replacements; users of WangBaoBao
prefer to eat as a snack with yogurt, and also as a meal replacement for breakfast and
weight loss.
Users of Nestlé have a lot of returned customers, most of whom are buying from
brands; users of HONlife are attracted by Guan Xiaotong's endorsement and Tik
Tok's referral traffic; users of WangBaoBao mostly follow the brand through Tik
Tok’s recommendations, and most of them are buying for the first time.
Users of Nestlé mainly buy oatmeal for children and the elderly; users of
HONlife mainly buy for children; users of WangBaoBao mainly buy for children, and
some of them are buying for couples and lovers.

2.4 Market situation

Recently, the market size of China's oatmeal industry continues to grow, among
which the breakfast oatmeal market is developing at a faster pace. According to
statistics, the market size of China's breakfast oatmeal industry reached 6.222 billion
yuan in 2016, and rose to 7.402 billion yuan in 2018, with an average growth rate of
9.07%, showing a trend of continuous growth. The market has a broad prospect.
Oatmeal is consumed by people of all ages. For infants and young children,
oatmeal can supplement eight essential elements for their growth. For adults, they use
oatmeal as a meal replacement to prevent vitamin and mineral deficiencies. For the
elderly, oatmeal can reduce cholesterol and prevent cardiovascular disease effectively.
More than 250 million people in China suffer from hair loss, according to CCTV
News.The biggest feature of our products is to prevent hair loss as well as to help hair
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nurture. Our main consumer groups are those who stay up late and those who are
bothered by hair loss and white hair, such as college students, office workers,
programmers, postpartum mothers, etc.The main feature helps them deal with hair
loss, which makes our brand more competitive in oatmeal industry.Besides, most of
these people are young and middle-aged, who are open-minded and easily attracted by
the advanced concept of our products. Also, the exquisite packaging as well as various
flavors of our products will satisfy their high requirements of the appearance level and
taste.

2.5 SWOT analysis

2.5.1 Strengths
Refer to Page 19, Product of 4P strategy in PART 4 Marketing Strategy.

2.5.2 Weaknesses
Lack of funds
As a start-up enterprise, Little Sesame Oatmeal has insufficient financing
channels .Thus, we are unable to raise enough funds in the early stage for massive
publicity such as celebrity endorsement and live broadcast. Therefore, the initial
promotion efforts and brand awareness are limited.

Hidden dangers of customized services

Although the DIY service can meet the personalized needs of different consumer
groups to the greatest extent, its particularity may reduce the efficiency of production
lines, increase mistakes and production costs, and extend consumers’ waiting time.
The ROI and customer satisfaction may be challenged.

Doubt about the effect of preventing hair loss

The lack of experts' professional appraisal reports on the anti-hair loss efficacy of
our products may lead to consumers’ doubt about the authenticity of the effectiveness.
Even if they believe in the efficacy, after buying for a period of time, consumers may
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find that although other brands don’t advertise the anti-hair loss effect, they also add
some “anti-hair loss” ingredients into their products, which achieve similar effects.
Thus, avoiding homogeneity and improving innovation ability are of great urgency.

2.5.3 Opportunities
The acceptance of grain food in China is rapidly increasing. Grain food has
become the major category of natural food market with development potential.
People's pursuit of healthy diet is increasing day by day. The outbreak of
pandemic not only contributes to the growth of "home economy",but also arouses
people's attention to healthy life.

2.5.4 Threats
High market entry barrier
According to our surveys, the oatmeal market competition is fierce. Quaker,
WangBaoBao, OGAK, Seamild have occupied a certain market share. For the taste of
products, we will launch various flavors, but most of which have been widely existing
in the current market. In the face of these well-known existing brands, we must
strengthen the development of new products so that our goods can be adapted to the
ever-changing needs of customers. A variety of flavors is not enough.

Use of big data by competitors

It is understood that many oatmeal brands have taken advantage of big data
technology for product improvement, positioning and development. For example,
Quaker is trying to innovate new products based on the "big data" of consumers.
Through cooperation with Alibaba, it has discovered nine high-potential consumer
groups of nutrition and selected two types of the groups for key research in order to
realize cross-category innovation. The technology is expected to be used by other
competitors in the near future. As we are short of sufficient funds and corresponding
technology,our competitiveness will be threatened.

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3 PART 3 Customer Analysis
3.1 Cultural factors
3.1.1 The historical origin of oats
The cultivation and utilization of oat has a long history in China. Its efficacy has
been recorded early in Compendium of Materia Medica and Agricultural
Administration Book. These profound history and culture have enhanced consumers'
love and trust for oats. Therefore, consumers are more inclined to buy oat products
which they are familiar with and have a cultural background. This requires enterprises
to establish their own cultures and brand images. Once culture is deeply rooted in
people's mind, it can maintain stability and influence consumers' choices in a subtle
way.

3.1.2 The regional culture of oats

Wulanchabu in Inner Mongolia is one of the main planting areas of oats in China.
It has a suitable climate and a superior geographical position, so it has the title of "Oat
Capital of China". Wulanchabu oat planting has a long history. It has held several oat
culture festivals, and the products sell well in major cities. The products are also
exported to South Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, Mongolia and other countries and
regions. The locals plant naked oats whose seeds grind out flour. The oat flour is one
of the most common food on the table of Wulanchabu people.
It can be seen that oat consumption is closely related to its unique processing
skills and eating habits due to regional culture for a long time. So when it comes to
food choices, locals tend to choose oats; when it comes to oats, they tend to choose a
variety they are familiar with. Such customs indicate a nation's food culture tradition
and ancient civilization, and influence the consumption behavior of generations.
Cultural factors make the companies step up efforts of publicity in different
regions to create products suitable for local residents and consider it as the core
competitiveness. They also pay attention to the potential value and enhance the charm
of products.

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3.1.3 The cultural value of choosing oats
When choosing oatmeal products, people tend to consider many aspects, such as
ingredients, color, size, taste, cost, etc. All of these factors have gradually formed a
cultural value.
Cultural values mean that people develop enduring convictions of specific
patterns of behavior and life through constant learning and their own experience.
Once the values have been formed, they will cause a huge impact on the individual's
own life and way of behavior. Under the guidance of these cultural value systems,
consumers have also formed consumption behaviors with Chinese characteristics,
such as thrift, harmony and moderate consumption concept.
Companies create corresponding conditions to help consumers complete the
learning process. For example, they can design product image and shape corporate
culture according to the driving force of consumers. Enough market incentives are
also provided to encourage consumers to buy.

3.2 Social factors

3.2.1 The continuous growth of breakfast consumption promotes the
consumption demand of oat food.
Oatmeal is rolled from oatmeal grains through fine processing, which makes it
more convenient to eat and improves the taste. It has become a popular health food.
Oatmeal can effectively reduce cholesterol in the human body. Regular consumption
can play a certain role in the prevention of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular
diseases, diabetes, etc. Oatmeal can also improve blood circulation. It contains
calcium, phosphorus, iron, zinc and other minerals to prevent osteoporosis, which is a
good calcium supplement. With the increasing awareness of health, people pay more
attention to breakfast, especially the nutritional matching of breakfast, which
promotes the continuous growth of China's breakfast market consumption. Among
them, the breakfast oat market size has a relatively high growth rate. According to
Euromonitor statistics, in 2020, the market size of China's breakfast oat is about 9.547
billion yuan. The five-year compound growth rate has reached 11.23%.
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3.2.2 The growth of the snack food market drives consumption of oats.
In recent years, with the increase of per capita income, consumption upgrade
continues to advance, and China's snack food market scale has steadily increased.
According to statistics, from 2016 to 2020, the market size of China's leisure food
industry has increased from 822.4 billion yuan to 1,298.4 billion yuan, with an annual
compound growth rate of 12.09%. The market size of China's snack food industry is
expected to reach 1401.5 billion yuan in 2021, according to the China Commercial
Industry Research Institute. The data shows that the per capita consumption of leisure
snacks in China was 75.3 yuan in 2019, much lower than the average consumption of
860 yuan in the United States and 742.1 yuan in the United Kingdom. Leisure oat
food, such as baked oat biscuit and puffed oat has a unique taste and flavor. It has
been promoted in the market, and in the overall growth of leisure food trend, it will
get a good opportunity for development. The market prospect is promising.

3.2.3 Product demand is getting green and healthy, promoting the benign
development of the industry.
With the improvement of residents' income level and consumption level, the
upgrading of consumption structure is a general trend. Residents' daily diet
consumption gradually changes from "be full" and "eat well" to "eat healthily". Being
green and healthy is the inevitable trend of the future development of snack food.
More and more consumers will pay more attention to the green, natural and healthy
characteristics of food when buying snack food, and they are more interested in foods
rich in vitamins and other functions. In order to meet the ever-changing market needs
of consumers, manufacturers also take into account the safety, nutrition and
functionality while satisfying the delicious attribute. It can be predicted that the snack
food with low sugar, low salt and low carbohydrate will become the main force of
market expansion.

3.2.4 Oat health food is expected to become a new growth point.

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 At present, the public health situation in China shows an increasing trend of
senile diseases and chronic diseases. It has become one of the important trends of
China's medical and health care industry to adjust the health status, enhance physical
fitness and prevent diseases through daily diet. Oats contain a large amount of dietary
fiber, which helps consumers to optimize their diet and improve their health status.
Oat health food is expected to become a new growth point of oat food industry in the
future.

3.2.5 The domestic economy is developing rapidly and the consumer demand is
improving steadily.
In recent years, China's domestic economy has shown a sustained rapid growth,
and the consumption capacity of domestic residents and the per capita consumption
level have been greatly improved. According to the website of the National Bureau of
Statistics (NBS), China's annual GDP in 2020 was 10,1598.6 trillion yuan, showing
an increase of 2.3 percent over the previous year calculated at comparable prices. The
per capita GDP in 2020 was 72,447 yuan, showing an increase of 2 percent over the
previous year. The continued rapid growth of China's economy and the steady
improvement of residents' consumption level have promoted the vigorous
development of the retail industry.

3.2.6 The proportion of residents' food consumption expenditure is larger,

further promoting the demand for oat food.
With the accelerating pace of life of Chinese people, the continuous improvement
of per capita income level and the gradual transition of residents' consumption level
from the solution of food and clothing to the improvement of quality, the proportion
of residents' income spent on food is relatively stable in general. In recent years, the
annual food expenditure of urban residents in China accounts for a large and
relatively stable proportion of the total consumption expenditure. With the increasing
demand of consumers to improve the quality of meals, the consumption demand for

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oat food will further increase under the background of the increasing per capita food
consumption expenditure.

3.2.7 The industry has been further standardized and consumers' awareness of
food safety has been strengthened.
China attaches great importance to food quality and safety, and has issued
policies such as the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan for Food Safety" and the "Thirteenth
Five-Year Plan for Food Safety Standards and Monitoring and Evaluation"
(2016-2020). They have constantly promoted the construction of a modern food safety
governance system in China. For one thing, the country has continuously introduced
laws and regulations, and established a food safety supervision legal and regulatory
system with the Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China as the core. For
another thing, the national industry standards continue to improve, and the industry is
gradually filled in the blank field.
In recent years, with the increasing social attention to food safety issues,
consumers' awareness of food safety has also been generally promoted. Food safety
has become a hot topic of consumer concern. Consumers begin to choose brand
products that are more trustworthy and have a good reputation in the industry, which
plays a positive role in the healthy development and competition of the leisure food
industry.

3.3 Personal factors

In view of the impact of consumer personal characteristics on consumer behavior,
we distributed questionnaires to consumers through WeChat, QQ and Weibo, and got
270 valid questionnaires returned. Among them, the number of respondents willing to
buy oat products is 189, accounting for 70%; the gender of the participants are
generally balanced, with 48% of male, and 52% of female; in addition, our
participants are generally young, 80% of which are under 40 years old; 70% of
participants’ are undergraduates, 14% are in high school and below education, and

12
16% have a master's degree and above; the occupation of most participants are
white-collar workers and students, which accounts for 80%.

3.3.1 Gender identity

Gender difference have a significant impact on consumer consumption of oat
products. Female consumers are 20 per cent more likely than male consumers to be
willing to buy oat products. This suggests that women play a more important role in
their daily shopping, and are more likely to be exposed to oat products and make
purchases. Women are also more concerned about their health and more sensitive to
product advertising, packaging, etc. Therefore, we consider gender as a market
segmentation variable to launch a mixed marketing strategy catering to different
genders.

3.3.2 Education level

There is an obvious positive correlation between consumers’ education level and
their consuming possibility on oat products. If the education level increases one year,
the probability that consumers will be willing to buy oat products increases by 2%.
Highly educated consumers who have a generous income usually have a greater
consent on the nutritional value and health care function of oats than consumers of
lower income level, and they have both the money and the willingness to buy oat
products.

3.3.3 Occupation
White-collar workers and students are more willing to buy oat products,
accounting for about 74 percent of those willing to buy them. This is because
white-collar workers have a higher income, strong consumption capacity, new
consumption concepts, low price sensitivity, and a greater pursuit of health. In the
meantime, students generally have certain economic source, a pursuit of novelty and
trends, and an ability to accept new ideas, so they may pay more attention to product
packaging.
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3.4 Psychological factors
According to the Report on Young People's Health Consumption Trends released
by First Finance in 2020, the core consumer groups, mostly millennials, have
increased their focus on keywords such as "health", " regimen " and "nutrition" in the
selection of snacks by 11% in the past three years. At the same time, in Dr. Lilac's
self-health score for different age groups, young people in their 20s score the lowest,
meaning that they psychologically feel sub-healthy, and have health anxiety. Anxiety
is the eternal motivation that can bring along a large number of healthy consumptions.
Foods with concepts of original ecology, organic, non-additive, non-fried, non-GMO,
low-calorie, low-fat, anti-hair loss, hair-assisted, low sugar, anti-aging are caught on
among young people.

3.5 Buying behavior

3.5.1 Recognizing the needs
With the continuous improvement of people's life quality and dietary concept,
people are not only satisfied with satiety and sensory enjoyment, but also pay more
attention to food nutrition, physical development, disease prevention, auxiliary
medical and other functional characteristics. As cereal food, oatmeal has a
comprehensive and balanced nutritional content, thus catching the attention of lots of
white-collar workers, students and other key consumers, stimulating the
corresponding purchase demand consequently.

3.5.2 Collecting information

When a consumer has a buying motivation, they begin to engage in activities
associated with the purchase motive. Today, online shopping has become the way
most consumers buy goods. However, the oat brands online is a feast for the eyes. We
expect that when customers enter Taobao, JD.com and other sites, they can see the
advertisement of Little Sesame Oatmeal on the home page, attracting people’s
attention for the first place; in addition, consumers can also get to know our brand
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through live streaming or star endorsement; and customers can also receive coupons
from time to time to arouse the purchase desire.

3.5.3 Making judgement

When consumers get the relevant information, they will also analyze and
compare and evaluate different brands before making the final purchasing decision.
It has been observed that consumers' purchase behavior in oat products is often
characterized by habitual purchase behavior. In customary buying behavior,
consumers only buy brands they are familiar with and are less likely to try new brands.
Therefore, Little Sesame Oatmeal can rely on its publicity on the anti-hair loss effect
of its ingredients, its unique packaging, its new tastes, customized service for DIY
ingredients, its excellent production process, the competitive price, the introduction of
diverse eating methods, as well as the vigorous advertising will potentially let those
consumers who used to buy other brands gradually transfer their consumption trends
to our brand, forming a habitual purchase behavior loyal to our brand in the future.

3.5.4 Purchasing decision

It is not enough for consumers to have a good impression or a buying intention
for a brand, but it is also necessary to truly turn their purchase intentions into buying
actions. For example, Little Sesame Oatmeal can offer 24h customer service in its
official online store, and consumers who encounter problems in taste selection or
other problems in the course of purchasing can contact online customer service at any
time. We will offer personalized and accurate positioning and reasonable guidance for
customers to improve the rates of successful transactions.

3.5.5 After-purchase action

Little Sesame Oatmeal will set up a special logistics department, arrange
personnel for packaging services, and choose Shunfeng as our dedicated courier
company, guarantees timeliness and product packaging integrity. Therefore, we
provide consumers with a high degree of guarantee in logistics. If consumers have any
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problems or dissatisfaction with logistics, packaging, or product quality, he can
always make complaints or feedback to the sales service personnel, get a reply and
receive corresponding compensation. Little Sesame Oatmeal will increase consumer
satisfaction by strengthening after-sales service, maintaining contact with customers,
and providing them with a comprehensive understanding of the characteristics of the
product, thereby prompting consumers to repurchase or recommend our brand to their
friends.

4 PART 4 Marketing Strategy

4.1 Market Segmentation
According to User status, the market can be divided into the following parts.
For nonusers, they may still have wait-and-see attitudes towards oats. However,
our derivative products, such as oat milk combining milk with plants and oatmeal rice
pudding combining oat with grains, are easily accepted by public. These products use
the most commonly known ingredients as a media, which can effectively draw
attentions of nonusers..
For ex-users, according to age and gender, our targets are young women who are
in pursuit of slim shape, middle-aged people who have trouble of hair loss, and old
people who advocate keeping in good health. Our main products are designed for their
needs.
We regard teenagers as potential users. Teenagers are in adolescence.
Psychologically, they pursue fashion and follow the trend. Our innovative packaging
and concept of environmental protection can attract their attentions. Physiologically,
oats are rich in nutrients and minerals, which satisfy the requirements of growth.
For first-time users and regular users, we adopt specific promotion methods and
customized after-sales services to increase customers' loyalty.

4.2 Targeting
In the aspects of Market Targeting, the strategies we choose are niche marketing
and micromarketing.
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 Niche marketing is when a firm targets a small subsection or previously
unexploited gap in a larger market. For young women, we introduce different flavors
of oatmeal, using a variety of popular food modifiers to stimulate young women's
desire to buy; for young and middle-aged groups, we introduce the summer oatmeal
ice cup, extending the eating scene of oatmeal to barbecue; for the elderly, we
introduce oatmeal rice pudding to provide appropriate oat derivatives for the elderly
who pursue health.
Micromarketing is the practice of tailoring products and marketing programs to
suit the tastes of specific individuals and locations. In order to meet the different
preferences of consumers, Little Sesame Oatmeal not only provides ready-made
flavors of oatmeal, but also customizes their own oatmeal for different consumers.
Consumers can choose different ingredients according to their favorite tastes. Little
Sesame Oatmeal selects eight kinds of fruits and five kinds of hair-protecting grain,
which perfectly meet the needs of consumers.
For young people, they may prefer sweet foods such as freeze-dried yogurt. But
for some diabetics, they cannot eat too much sugar, and other oatmeal on the market
don't give consumers the choice of ingredients, which may make consumers buy
products that are not suitable for them. Little Sesame Oatmeal's customized service
provides them with more choices, allowing consumers to spend every penny on their
favorite food.

4.3 Positioning
4.3.1 Product positioning
For customers who are in pursuit of product quality, Little Sesame Oatmeal can
offer the most satisfactory high-quality products, because our materials are natural
and additive-free, and we are committed to creating a composite oatmeal brand with
healthy ingredients and fresh taste. In addition, the Quality Inspection Department
will be specifically responsible for the quality inspection of the raw materials of our
product to guarantee food safety for customers.

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4.3.2 Competitive positioning
The main competitors of Little Sesame Oatmeal are brands in the second and
third tiers. The global oatmeal market can be divided into three tiers: the first is
dominated by enterprises with high brand acknowledgement, such as Quaker and
Kellogg’s; the second-tier companies are mainly regional dominators. For example,
Seamild and Wangbaobao are only sold in China, and their market size are relatively
small. Besides, there are also second-tier companies who not only sell oatmeal, such
as Nestle. The market size of the third-tier brands is the smallest, mostly in less than
100 million yuan, and the reputation is not high. Therefore, since Little Sesame
Oatmeal is a start-up brand, we position ourself in the third tier at present, but we
hope that in the near future, with our excellent market promotion, we will stand out in
the third tier and gradually enter the second tier.

4.3.3 Target customer positioning

In terms of the specific consumer level, since Little Sesame Oatmeal is a
third-tier brand with a competitive price in comparison with other existing oatmeal
brands, it is suitable to attract attention of low and middle-income people first. After
having a fixed customer group, we can gradually improve the price and attract the
purchase of high-income people while expanding our product influence.

4.4 4P Strategy
4.4.1 Product
Brand name
Little Sesame Oatmeal
Features
With the low temperature baking technology, we steam and press high quality
oats to make oatmeal, which has the characteristics of "no calories, no sugar, high
fiber, non-extrusion" shared with other brands on the market. The biggest feature of
our products is to prevent hair loss as well as to help hair nurture. Black sesame, black
rice, black beans, rye, triticale and other hair nurturing ingredients are added into the
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products. These ingredients play a role in “nourishing the black with the black”. A
unique processing technology is used to balance the flavour, by which the chewiness
of the ingredients and the crispness of oatmeal are perfectly integrated.
Design
Our brand will establish two main production lines, namely ready-to-eat oatmeal
production and oat derivatives production. For ready-to-eat oatmeal, our basic
products are oatmeal with different flavors, such as flavors of matcha poi, crispy
black chocolate, hazelnut coffee, aroma corn, mango coconut, cheese peach, yogurt
berry, black ingredients and so on. According to their edible methods, we adjust the
tastes and launch milk tea exclusive oatmeal, milk exclusive oatmeal, coffee
exclusive oatmeal, baked oats and other advanced products. At the same time, we
develop customized services. Consumers can choose the ingredients according to their
preferences online. They can mix, match and make unique flavous for themselves. For
oat derivatives, we introduce triticale, oat milk and oatmeal rice pudding. The two
production lines complement each other.
Our brand will launch a new product every two months or so. Seasonal products
will also be introduced. For example, the Healthy Oatmeal Porridge will be
introduced in winter to bring warmth to people. In summer, we will launch Oatmeal
Ice Cup, which will add cool to barbecue and hot pot.
Packaging
The packaging has the characteristics of uniqueness, beauty and environmental
protection. The whole package is in the shape of a house. The lower part is an iron
box and the upper part is a paper spire. The products inside are packed in small
easy-pull bags, numbered to represent different rooms. Taking the adventures of the
brand IP "Zhizhi" (a child with thick hair) as a clue, consumers are encouraged to
open a "room" every day to follow the footsteps of Zhizhi. This will arouse
consumers' interests of buyback. At the same time, the independent bag is helpful in
preserving and preventing spoilage. After eating the whole box of the product, the
lower iron box can be used to store goods or plant flowers.
After-sales service
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 Companies should be in good charge of after-sales service and try their best to
meet the reasonable needs of consumers to obtain a good reputation. Online
sales-oriented brands pay more attention to the completeness of services. We can
conduct systematic training for customer service staff of e-commerce platform to
make smooth communication with consumers. In addition, we can also develop return
visits, such as filling out the questionnaire to get a small cash reward, thus improving
the products and services according to the needs and consumption orientation of
consumers.

4.4.2 Price
The price principle of Little Sesame Oatmeal is to enter the market quickly and
establish brand and quality image. In the early stage, we choose the penetration
pricing method to attract more consumers with a lower price, obtain higher sales
volume and occupy market share.
There are three main factors affecting product pricing: cost, demand and
competition. First of all, the production and processing costs of products should be
taken into account in the pricing, and the profit should be added appropriately on this
basis. Secondly, the current market demand for cereal products is large, so the
relatively low price is more competitive in the market and can attract those customers
who are willing to try new products rather than just pay attention to the brand. Finally,
the oat market is divided into three echelons because of the oligarchic competition
pattern: the first echelon is dominated by large enterprises with high brand awareness.
The second echelon is made up of regional enterprises, which have obvious
competitive advantages in specific regions. Enterprises in the third echelon are
relatively small and not so popular.
Therefore, after Little Sesame Oatmeal entering the market, it will stand in the
third echelon at first. As the existing brands such as Quaker, Wang Baobao have been
mature, our products' price should not exceed them. At present, the price of Wang
Baobao fruits cereals is 49.9 yuan /350 grams, so Little Sesame Oatmeal can be priced
at around 35-40 yuan. At the same time, different coupons can be offered on different
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platforms, because the mian competitors on different platforms may not be exactly the
same, and therefore the pricing strategy required will be different. After having a
certain consumer group, we can raise the original price to 49 yuan/bag and issue
vouchers of 5 yuan at the same time, choosing such a less obvious way to raise the
price and cater to consumer psychology of accepting sales promotion and preferential
activities.

4.4.3 Place
The sales channel of Little Sesame Oatmeal is a mixed mode of both online and
offline, but mainly online.
For online channel, Little Sesame Oatmeal will be stationed in Taobao and JD
platform. Celebrities will be invited to make endorsement and live-streaming for our
brand to attract customers; coupons will be distributed to make promotions and lift
competitiveness; logistics department will be set up, and we will choose Shunfeng as
our courier company to ensure timely delivery and complete packaging; goods will be
delivered directly from our warehouse for better inventory management.
For offline channel, Little Sesame Oatmeal will collaborate with large-scale
point-of-sale as well as retailers. In off-line markets, Little Sesame Oatmeal can
definitely stand out on the shelf with its eye-catching packaging and moderate price.
At the same time, we will forecast the follow-up plan according to the initial sales
volume to ensure stable supply, arrange for internal personnel to carry out delivery
services directly, and fetch feedback from the point of sale to ensure timely
replenishment.

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In addition, different stars can be invited to stand up for different categories.
For example, young female stars such as Ouyang Nana and Zhao Lusi can be invited
for the category of young women, and middle-aged female artists such as Liu Tao and
Sun Li can be invited for the category of middle-aged and elderly groups, which can
make the advertisement more targeted.
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Promotion methods
For a certain number of products, we can attach gifts, such as oat bowl or oat cup
printed with our brand logo, or a whole box of oatmeal attached with a small packet
of oat derivatives of other categories. For one thing, consumers can enjoy a discount,
for another, we can also promote the brand and other types of products.
In addition, for oatmeal ice cups and other cup-shaped oatmeal, we can
implement the activity of "One More Cup", which can also promote the purchase of
consumers.
We can bind the two packages together and offer a discount of 20%-40% of the
second bag. We can also bind the best-selling flavor and the unpopular flavor together
to facilitate sales promotion.

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