Marketing Plan for Cario

Company Product & Service Description

Cario Medical Restore (Cario) is an international Florida based used medical equipment retailer. Cario sells a wide variety of used medical equipment includes, but not limited to, diagnostic equipment, long-term care equipment, and surgical equipment. Most of the medical equipment that Cario sells are found in hospitals, doctor’s offices, and veterinary clinics.

A portion of company sales are complete units (e.g., a completely assembled ultrasound), but used replacement parts are also sold as a core part of the business. Onsite repair services are offered on a small scale near their headquarters in Sarasota Florida and surrounding areas. All the products are procured in bulk for inventory from auctions throughout the United States, Mexico, Canada and sometimes from overseas. Retailing is completed using ecommerce websites eBay and DotMed.com.

DOTmed.com is known as a leading public buying and selling platform for medical equipment, medical equipment parts and services. Once Cario is approved by the Philippine FDA, (expected date April 1, 2019) they will be able repair and sell used medical equipment from their facility in the Philippines. Their Philippines operations will be running through a partnership with a group of Philippine bio-engineers. This partnership will add to the company’s distribution and repair services in that region.

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The Environment

For the sake of simplicity, the competitive environment is discussed on a global scale where the political/legal, demographic and economic environment focus specifically in the Philippines.

Competitive Environment

Cairo sells used medical equipment on a global scale in highly competitive market. Hospitals in developed countries are forced to update their equipment periodically, so used medical equipment is regularly available for this market. On the receiving side, there is a growing adoption of used and refurbished medical equipment due to several factors:

• Health Care Sector Privatization-The privatization of health care is on the rise because of governments are not making efficient investments in healthcare while there is still a high demand for healthcare technology and innovation that drives this technology. As a result, demand for used and refurbished medical equipment will continue to increase.
• Financial Constraints-Medical facilities make significant investments on labor wages and patient drugs. These investments reduce the ability to invest in new medical devices. While new equipment vendors are losing profits, used and refurbished medical equipment dealers are thriving.
• High Cost of New Medical Equipment-The high cost of newer medical equipment is aiding the used and refurbished medical device markets. Replacements of complete used medical devices or replacing damaged parts of these devices can cost a fraction of a making a purchase of a new medical device.

These factor create a pretty intense global market for used and refurbished medical devices. Other evidence includes a decreasing presence of large new medical device companies.

Political/Legal Environment

Regulation that can directly affect the sales of medical equipment for Cario internationally come from the FDA Philippines More specifically, regulation from this agency can be more specifically described from the follow areas:

• Regulation that makes old equipment obsolete-There are laws in the international theater as well as FDA Philippines that may restrict the sales of used medical devices.
• Licensing for medical equipment importers and distributors-The largest regulatory impact on companies engaging in the Philippines is the fact that starting in April of 2019 medical device distributors are required to register for a license by FDA Philippines before any marketing or distribution takes place. An interview with the owner of Cario revealed that the company is currently in the process of obtaining clearance to sell under FDA Philippines guidelines.
• The Philippine Development Plan (2011-2016)-This is a plan that had an initiative to expanding health care coverage throughout the country. This plan added to the success of medical sales in the Philippines through government health care funding.

Demographic Environment

Generally, the used medical equipment industry serves medicals intuitions like the ones listed below.

• Hospitals
• Clinics
• Doctor’s offices
• Rehabilitation centers
• Dentist offices

For a small country the Philippines has a fair amount of health care intuitions. The approximate number of hospitals in this country Is 1,800. 70 of these institutions are Philippines Department of Health hospitals and 721 are public hospitals.

Economic Environment

A poor global economy can drastically increase sales for used medical equipment in the Philippines or any other part of the world for that matter. Hospitals are more likely to repair equipment or purchase refurbished equipment in this situation. This doesn’t necessarily mean that business will be horrible for the medical device industry as a whole. A poor economy will open the opportunity to higher sales and higher margins for used and refurbished equipment until a recession ends.

Technology Environment

Since medical devices sell well when they are globally marketed the used medical device market depends on platform services like Ebay to make sales globally. Many markets like the Philippines depend on these platforms because they only manufacture a small amount of medical equipment. Additionally, due to the Philippine’s lack of development of domestic medical device industry, their medical device market relies on imports. Overall, since this industry is dependent on technology, drastic changes in the technological environment could dramatically influence this industry in the Philippines for better or for worse.

Competitive Situation Of The Brand & How That affects The Marketing Plan

The used medical device industry is highly competitive, so the brand does not stand out at all. This is expecially true because the company is branding their Phillipines operation with a new name. The Phillipines business is the Medical Supply Warehouse.

Like Cario most competitors in this industry build inventory cheaply from auctions, repair equipment, then sell the equipment internationally to the highest bidding international customers. The biggest threats to the new brand are the bigger companies that are able to charge lower prices from buying supplies in bulk from larger auctions.

Key Attributes & Why They Are The Best To Use

The key attributes are of the Cario’s products are listed below:

• Low Price-Low prices are one of the biggest key attributes of Cario’s and soon new brand. Cario charges the fair market price for all of their products. This is the same for most companies in this industry with the exception of companies that markup their products significantly.
• Warranty-Cario and their new brand stand by their word when they say their products are under warranty. Since their products are used or refurbished, they understand that equipment could still be faulty even after they’ve tested it. Many companies in this industry have no warranty and state this as provision to the sale.
• Accurate & Good Condition-All equipment that Cario sells is tested and restored close to its original condition. The is an important attribute to customers as they want a product that is calibrated and in proper working condition. Many other companies in this market may post photos of one piece of equipment that look fair and is use but send other equipment.

Primary Target Markets & Why They Should Be Pursued First

For this marketing plan the primary target market will be specifically in the location of the Philippines. Within the Philippines, all medical facilities will be targeted. Most medical facilities are located within cities. Medical facilities that will be targeted in the Philippines fall under 3 classifications:

• Primary hospitals—These hospitals can care for patients through minor surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics and handle general medicinal capabilities.
• Secondary hospitals—Secondary hospitals can handle all services available in a primary hospital including gynecology, general surgery, and other ancillary services.
• Tertiary hospitals—These hospitals are fully departmentalized and can handle more specialized services than the secondary hospitals can.

This is the target market and will be pursed first because after Cario finishes its licensing to sell in the Philippines. This is where the company will have the highest opportunity to sell due to the. After their license is issued to sell in this country, containers will be shipped to the Philippines warehouse.

Cario’s secondary market that is not included in this marketing plan consists of Mexico, Ukraine, Greece, and the United Kingdom. These regions are the secondary market because they generate a high percentage of Cario’s revenue (see appendix). the majority of the sales revenue. Future marketing plans follow this will target distribution in these areas.

Positioning And Why It’s Appropriate to Achieve Goals of The Marketing Plan

Cario intends on becoming a dependable supplier of quality used medical in the Philippines region to keep hospital medical equipment running. To be dependable the company will have large supplies of inventory on hand with the added ability to service equipment. The positioning is appropriate to achieve goals of marketing plan because Cario’s focus on being dependable and have a quality produce don’t relate to a low price. Now that Cario will have a more personal experience with customers in their new target market

Service Development And Why

Products will vary in this industry. Cario currently offers a wide variety of medical equipment and does not plan to restrict or be specific about new product additions to the company as this point. Service are an area where Cario needs to improve. When Cario is able to ship product to the it’s warehouse in the Philippines, they will be able to repair equipment as need before resale just as they do in their home office in Florida. The change in service that will be adverted is the fact that Cario will have a full time repair technician to service equipment that they sell. Some item will be under a limited replacement warranty. As an added service, Cario will have a technician on standby to assist with warranty repairs that they encounter.

Cario will have a pricing advantage after their warehouse/repair facilities open. The cost of shipping will be drastically reduced allowing them reduce pricing on all equipment sold in the Philippines region. Often the cost to ship items are costlier than the items purchased. Currently, Cario uses an outside company to find the current market value of items that they carry. For all products sold in the target market of the Philippines, market product prices will be reduced 20% below the estimated. This will make Cario successful in the target market because they will be able to undercut international competitors.

The distribution of the product will occur in 2 stages which are outlined below.

First Distribution Stage

The distribution stage relies heavily on sending shipping containers to the Philippines to save on the overall shipping cost of the medical equipment. Cario already has a warehouse and partnership with engineers that repair equipment. At this point the product is received into the warehouse.

Second Distribution Stage

This distribution stage involves selling product through eBay and DotMed.com that are created just for the Philippines market. Cario needs these separate selling platforms so they can establish their lower Philippines pricing. There is already a group of engineers and staff that are prepared to use these selling platforms. Distribution to all areas of the Philippines will be available from these DotMed. Distribution Cario’s Philippines warehouse.

Describe the promotion plan that you will employ and explain why it will be successful within this target market.

Several activities to promote this new brand are outlined below.

New Website

A Philippine webmaster will be hired to manage the website as well as Google Ad campaign. Cario will not be used as the brand on the website. The partnership name ‘Medical Supply Warehouse’ will be used to avoid any confusion about lower cost. When Cario receives inquiries about the Philippines they will be redirected to the Philippines office or website.

Additional Promotional Aspects of the Website

As I stated in the distribution Medical Supply Warehouse will have their own eBay and DotMed.com accounts. All items available in inventory will be posted on the website. This aspect will help with SEO because Google will link to their web site based on the items that are posted. Each item posted will have a link to either eBay or DotMed.com to make the purchase. The will be no purchases made directly through the website.

A web page will be created for onsite service repairs.

Google Ads Campaign

To raise awareness about the new brand name a Google Ad campaign will be created. The Google Ad created for Cario’s new partnership is described in detail below:

• Goal: Create awareness for the new brand
• Target: Philippines
• Service Keywords Used:
• Run from Apr. 1 – Mar. 31
• Total Spend is $6,000/yr
• $500 per month
• Total impression opportunity is 3,929/yr
• Total Estimated clicks 1,123/yr

The monthly budget for this campaign was set above competitors’ campaigns for new or used medical equipment at $500/per month and the campaign will run for one year. The service aspect of the company is not addressed in the promotion because it is not the intention to be branded as a service. new can be found when the customer browses the website.

• Who is the target audience?
• What do I want to say to them?
• What do I want to accomplish?
• Where can I reach them?
• How much will this campaign cost?
• How much revenue will this campaign generate?
• Advertising -Brochures and booklets
• Digital Marketing -Facebook

Increasing the effectiveness in all of these activities will cause an increase in market share.

Cario has a very primitive website that needs to be enhanced. The company has never completed a key word analysis nor tracked their site with analytics tools. Enhancing the website should occur in these steps:

1. Set up an analytics tool to form a baseline for website traffic analysis
2. Complete a key word analysis and update the web site
3. Add at least 1200 words of text to each webpage to boost traffic
4. Add carousels to there website from the purchasing platform
5. In addition, the company should use key words in their

How will you use customer experience to enhance the value of your offering? Why will your plan work?

Customer experience will be enhanced at three different areas the new website, through social media, and through the service.

Website

Customer experience will enhance the offering by enhancing the appearance of and outlay of information about the product in the product online listings. After the customer is directed toward Cario’s online listing, they are need to make a decision to pursue a product based on a photo and description. In order to enhance the customers’ experiences in their evaluation, it is recommended that Cario systematically

Customer Experience in the Repair Service

Adding a service component into the target market is great but to enhance this part of the offering the service component will track customer repairs. The customer experience will be improved by giving the customer efficient way of purchasing used medical supplies.

What outcomes would you expect if each of the recommendations you have developed are followed? Explain why you expect these outcomes.

• Improved brand awareness
• Increase in sales
• Higher rankings in the Google search results
• Increase in website view
• More informed customers
• Records of analytics and response process
• Process to creating new descriptions
• Growth
• Increase popularity
• Increased social media presence

Since the new brand has not any sales yet I need to use their sales figures as a basis. I believe this estimate is fair even though Cario is based in the United States. My reasoning behind this is because a majority of Cario’s sales are completed internationally.

This marketing plan is unique since is involves one owners distribution of medical equipment to his partnership who also has their own expertise for the new company. For the outcome to flow better I would like to treat the partnership as a child company of Cario.

SWOT Analysis And Reaching Growth

Reaching the Goal of Growth

To reach an increased growth in sales of 10%, Cario has plenty of strengths that that push through this goal:

• Sales expertise
• Medical Device Knowledge
• International Presence

While Cario already has an international presence, selling in over 15 countries worldwide, they have the opportunity to expand into other international territories through practice by the sales staff. The company’s knowledge of medical equipment helps them know when certain pieces of equipment should to be sold and at what prices considering demand and current pricing.

To promote growth Cario have a few weaknesses that need to be addressed. Cario has low brand awareness, low technology, and a small sales staff.