A Dog Lover's Paradise

Marketing Mix

 

Place

This website is called Puppy Petting Café, the idea came from researching cat cafés and after seeing the popularity with them across the country. After researching for dog cafés in the UK, I was surprised to see there was only a couple. With Birmingham being the UK’s second biggest city, it seems like the perfect location for this business.

 

Product

The company is a café which just like any other offers hot drinks, soft drinks, sandwiches and paninis but dog owners are welcome to bring their dogs along. With a separate play area, the dogs are free to run around and play together, dog lovers are also welcome to enter the play area to pet the dogs. The idea of having dog’s from local dog shelters is about raising awareness of dogs who deserve a good home and by having them visit in a place where there are dog lovers is a perfect opportunity.

The Café also offers evening classes for dog training and customers are able to book online for this course as well as ringing up and also visiting in the café.  This is mentioned in the About us and able to book in the Our Team section. It is also available to be booked in Our services, in an option called Training classes.

​

Price

The café has a menu which highlights what is available; hot drinks, soft drinks, sandwiches and paninis. The reason to why there are no prices on these is due to the variation of options available to which can be swapped and exchanged.

 Dog owners are asked to give a small donation when bringing their dog in to the play area and it is free of charge for dog lovers to enter the play area to pet the dog.

There is a price of £20 for the training session which lasts for 2 hours, this price was decided as training classes are always in high demand and always popular. I decided on a price which seem affordable but also worth the money and the service provided.

 

Promotion

The social media sites used; Facebook and Instagram have been chosen as they are a very popular form of communication and it is easy to get information to the masses. By using these social media sites, the company is able to promote themselves easily and effectively.

​

7 C’s of website design

 

Context

The layout of the website is easy to read and navigate. Across the top of the website there is a menu and sub menus within, this means that customers can switch between pages with ease. There are also buttons on some of the pages so that customer can get more information if they want. I decided to keep the overall design of the website simple with a white background but with different pictures on each page. This is so that the website does not look too overcrowded and distracts the eye. The colour scheme is blue and is consistent throughout the website, I chose this because it is a calming colour (Wright, 2017).  The titles and page titles are all in blue font and the information is in black font.

 

Commerce

The website enables customers to book online for the training class, there is no purchase on the site but customers have to enter personal details such as their full name, email address and phone number. There is a lock symbol next to the title to show their information is secure and encrypted on the website. This means that bookings can be flexible and customers can cancel their booking without the trouble of refunds online. A confirmation email is also sent to the customer so they know their booking has been approved.

​

Connection

On the website there are links to a Facebook and Instagram page. They both advertise the company and promotes some of the services that they provide. There are links from these pages back to website so that customers that have seen the social media platform can click for more information.

​

Communication

On the contact page there is a form that customers can fill in and email the company. There is also a phone number available, allowing customers to call up during opening hours. Through the social media sites, the company can talk to its customers and also potential customers. Customers can also talk to the company through these sites by leaving them an inbox message or commenting on statuses/ pictures. Social media is a strong form of communication and information can be spread quickly to a large audience.

​

Content

The text is easy to read, the font and sizing is the same for titles and paragraphs throughout.  It fits the colour theming throughout; it still looks professional while being a bit diverse from other websites. The imagery corresponds with topic or subject on the pages and are relevant. There is no sound or videos presented, I did not want the website to be too cluttered or busy. There are buttons within the pages allowing the customer to see more information if clicked on, this is good as the customer does not have to scroll to a bottom of a page and makes it more accessible.

​

Community

The website has an FAQ page to answer popular questions asked, customers can then share these on their social media platform of their choice. Unfortunately, as of yet there is not an option for customers to add their own questions like a forum which can be useful for customer interactions on the website. E-forums can help customers build trust with the company and helps to reduce their concerns for security and privacy (Chen and Barnes, 2007). Through social media the company are able to answer the question not covered in the FAQ and this also allows for the necessary customer interaction similar to a E- forum.

​

Customization

There are various ways in which customers can navigate the website, the contact form allows the customer a personalised experience where it is one on one communication with the company. 

​

​

​

​

References

Chen and Barnes. (2007). "Initial trust and online buyer behaviour", Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 107 Iss: 1, pp.21 - 36

Inumcconnect.org (2013) Coffee [online image]. Available at: http://inumcconnect.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/coffee-smil.jpg [Accessed 6 March 2017].

Lifetasteslikefood.com (2011) Panini [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.lifetasteslikefood.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/img_3046.jpg [Accessed 6 March 2017].

runningwithtweezers.com (2011) Sandwich [Online image]. Available at: http://www.runningwithtweezers.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Sandwich311.jpg [Accessed 6 March 2017].

Lakeland Animal Shelter, (2015), Adopt [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.lakelandanimalshelter.org/images/uploads/slideshow_images/6/lakeland-adopt_banner__large.jpg [Accessed 8 March 2017].

Leadingcanines.co.uk (2015), Dog Behaviour [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.leadingcanines.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/slide2.jpg [Accessed 6 March 2017].

Nutritiouslife.com (2011) Apple Juice. [online image]. Available at: http://nutritiouslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Apple-Juice-.jpg [Accessed 6 March 2017].

Pinimg.com (2017) Coffee and dogs quote, [online image]. Available at: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/f0/d3/51/f0d351570146f0d76f04626b81039b2a.jpg [Accessed 8 March 2017].

Wright, Angela. (2017.) "Psychological Properties Of Colours - Colour Affects". Colour-affects.co.uk. Available at:http://www.colour-affects.co.uk/psychological-properties-of-colours. Accessed 12 Mar. 2017.