Dunkin Donuts Marketing Final Paper

        So it’s 6:30am and you are on your way to Dunkin Donuts to buy your morning coffee.  You get in line, buy the coffee, delightfully sip it in your car, finish it at your desk, and throw it away.  Seems simple doesn’t it?  Not so much.  Whether it’s your morning coffee or the laptop I am typing this paper on, very rarely do you see someone actually ponder where that product truly came from.  It is far more complicated than just having a Dunkin Donuts truck drop off loads and loads of coffee at a store location.  As any successful business knows, there is a lot of effort that goes into distributing a product.  With all of that being said, for our group project we have decided that we want to sell an advanced dog collar that will allow you to keep track of your dog from your phone.  And as if it wasn’t easy enough to already tell, I have the pleasure of explaining how we would incorporate Jerome McCarthy’s fourth P’s, place.  

        Before I get into place and distribution, I will just give a very brief background of our company and product.  Our company is called Furry Finders and we specialize in dog collars that gives you the ability to track where your dog is at all times.  We have three versions of the product you can buy listed in the following table:

 As you can see we have one basic version of our product with two upgrades of $50 more for each if you desire.  As far as the additional $5 a month goes, that is for the Smart phone application that you must download in order for the tracking device in this collar to work.  The collar has a tracking device in it, and from there the information is directly relayed and available on your phone, similar to how a car GPS works.  

        In comparison to Jerome McCarthy’s other four P’s, I think place is a very interesting one and has changed tremendously to adapt to modern day lifestyle.  One of the main reasons for that is the surge and growth of the internet.  The internet plays a major role in place and distribution, and a lot of that is due to the convenience threshold that shoppers expect.  Now of days, an overwhelming number of people online-shop, even from the comfort of their phone.  So obviously we took that into major consideration when talking about our place and distribution.  Nonetheless, there still is a lot of work that needs to be done to have a successful traditional distribution channel.  

        First, I thought it was important to talk about where potential customers would look for our product.  After discussing with our group, we decided we thought it was better for our product to be placed in high-end stores rather than places like Walmart and Target.  Yes, it is definitely a product that could belong in a Walmart, but due to its price, particular components (downloadable app), and the stigma we want associated with it, we thought it would be better to keep it in pet stores and high end technology stores.  As far as pet stores go, we narrowed it down to the following; Petco, Petsmart, PetEdge, and Pet Supplies Plus.  These are four highly active stores that definitely would be great candidates for holding our product.  One great benefit is that they are not particularly price conscious, which is what we are looking for.  In addition, they are each large chains so that will help maximize our U.S reach.  Last but definitely not least, they each have their own website, so our product would be accessible there.  Next, we have two “high end” stores we would desire to keep them in.  Those stores are Brookstone, as well as Sharper Image.  The reason why we chose to include it in these stores is because they thrive on having products with new 21st century technology, and they love to showcase it.  This is perfect with us because this is the stigma our company to give off.  Considering you need a smartphone to own our product, it makes a lot more sense for us to have it in stores like Brookstone or Sharper Image rather than Walmart.  However, eventually once we have newer updated products and our prices on this particular product have dropped, Walmart or Target might be a good avenue to look at for our older and cheaper products.  But as for now, due to price constrictions and our products features, stores like Brookstone and Sharper Image and obviously pet stores comply with us perfectly.

        Apart from on the shelves of stores, our product will be widely available online as well.  To start, our website will offer our product available online at store prices 24/7.  Our headquarters will be stationed right out of Boston and will offer standard, priority, and overnight shipping.  Shipping will be offered exclusively in the US, and standard shipping will be $4.99, priority $9.99, and overnight $24.99.  In addition, our product will be sold on large online shopping sites like Amazon to maximize our reach as best as we can.  

        Not only that, our product is also available is certain catalogues like the Pet Edge catalogue.  Anyone who is ordering pet catalogues is most likely very connected to their pets, which means they may have a larger incentive to cough up a little extra money to make sure their dog is safe at all times.  Lastly, we will have copious pamphlets of it in the Vets office.  So when you need to bring your dog in for whatever the case may be, you will be exposed to our product there as well, despite not being able to buy it there.