Small-Business Marketing Strategy Small business

Derrick Fine Foods were established in 2001 by Derrick John with the San Francisco store being the first, followed by New York branch and the Tennessee. DFF deals in various consumables hence has the bakery department, meats department, produce section, cheese and dairy section as well as wine section. This gives it a wide coverage in terms of the edibles that may be needed on a daily basis by the clients that visit their stores.

There are various reasons that informed the location of the three branches at the regions they are at. San Francisco was identified and preferred for the first store after a thorough needs assessment that was carried out by Derrick hence indicating that a gourmet store was needed in the region. The most important factor was the population of San Francisco which was 60,000 on average at the time and was growing steadily at an impressive rate of 2% per year. The price of a median house was slightly over $2.5 million. These factors then led Derrick into conclusion that the area was best for a gourmet and it never failed since the sales were good and the store began to grow as soon as it was established.

The DFF is also well-known for the fresh products that they present to the market and their bakery is known to churn out fresh bread each day. This is another factor that gives the store a strong customer base. Derrick, the entrepreneur also has a lot of input in the business as he moves from store to ensure everything runs smoothly as well as taking part in the physical restocking of the stores once the stores close or before opening. This gives him a hands on experience of the condition of the business hence he is able to control the business direction well.

DFF is also supported by the fact that it is engaged in the corporate social responsibility. They ensure that their products are from finest organic ingredients, they also purchase from the local organic farmers. They are also engaged in donating food that needs to get off the shelves before the soon sell by date to the local homeless shelters and also to the food kitchens.

Being a gourmet food store that is fact growing and has exhibited the existence of customer loyalty among its clients, there is obviously a force that helps run the business and these are the strong points that Derrick would consistently capitalize upon and have work to the advantage of the business.

One of the strengths that DFF has is that it is a small organization; this means that they are able to supervise and monitor each and every aspect of the business to the letter ensuring that no detail that is significant is overlooked or passed. The monitoring at DFF is done on a daily and a weekly basis hence very effective.

The other strength that keeps DFF ahead in the market is the fact that there is no direct competition since there are no other gourmet stores within its geographical location. There are very few specialty stores and the available grocers and wine stores are small hence giving no serious competition.

The DFF stores also offer a wide range of choices for the customers to choose from making the clients satisfied with the variety hence keep coming back. For instance they have 16 varieties of apples, wine from around the globe, 250 different varieties of cheese as well as about 350 different kinds of fruits and vegetables. This is such a wide diversity that the major grocery chains may not be able to match.

The store also has a customer oriented business strategy. This is seen in the owner of the store, Derrick often serving at the counter as well as spending time out on the store floor interacting with clients and enquiring if they found whatever they were looking for. The clerks are also encouraged to be friendly and helpful to the clients. In a situation where several clients ask for the same thing...

Derrick ensures that he personally interacts with each employee at least each week and takes their concerns and the contributions seriously, a thing that is rarely found in the other stores.
Finally DFF also has the great capacity of retaining their clients and having a high rate of repeat customers. It is estimated that every seven to ten days a client will return to purchase more products.

Electronic marketing resources

There are various electronic marketing recourses that are suitable for this business to ensure the expansion of the customer base. One of the most relevant electronic sources for this business is the U.S. Small Business Administration. This is due to the various provisions that he website gives in helping the small businesses like DFF explore the capacities in full. There is a provision for acquiring loans to enable the expansion of small businesses, the small businesses also have a chance herein to bid for government contracts, and also get general assistance for instance incase of a disaster (U.S. Small Business Administration, 2012). The small businesses also have the provision of getting local assistance wherever they are, and this is a meaningful step for the businesses.

The other electronic resource is the Federal Business Opportunities website which acts as a platform between the federal government and the businesses or individual citizens. Here, the various government users or agencies have the platform to showcase the opportunities that they have (Federal Business Opportunities, 2012). Such businesses like DFF can therefore source for opportunities to supply various government agencies from this website since it holds a very high number of opportunities presented by these agencies.

Yet another electronic resource is the Government Register website. This offers even more government agencies that the Federal Business Opportunities since it deals with the National Archives. It gives as list of all government agencies fro 1994 to date with the relevant details that a business may need to get in touch with the agencies (Federal Register, 2012). With these pertinent information, the DFF can easily pursue supply tenders with various government agencies and get the gourmet food rolling out from their stores hence expand the supply chain instead of waiting for the clients who walk into the shops at the three locations.

For this kind of business, the electronic resource that proves to be of the least assistance or significance is the Federal Procurement Data System. This is due to the information that is contained in it not being in direct lie with the interest of the business. The website gives updates of disasters and the international contract positions (Federal Procurement Data System, 2012). It also gives high end products being rolled into the market like the database management systems which have little to do with the small business that is DFF. The website also gives the already awarded contracts by the government yet gives little about the pending opportunities or how a small business can be linked to the wider public for the benefit of its marketing. These factors make this website not relevant or significant for the expansion of the small businesses like DFF.

For such a small business, the support program that will enable it source for the…