EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report presents useful information to the owner of Sunflower bubble tea to solve current problems related to the research question How will the new bubble tea shop compete to the others? Mr. Nguyen Dinh Dung the Marketing director of Sunflower said that the company has recently faced to three main problems. The first problem of Sunflower is the price of the company is higher than other company so discount is one of important part of marketing strategy. Secondly, there are many competitors who invest much in newspaper advertising but according to Xuan (2008), advertising in newspaper is less effective than magazines so Mr. Dung suggested the company should invest more in magazine advertising industry. Thirdly, web design is one of the important parts to contribute companys brand name so sunflower company need to consider carefully about it. Therefore, there are some recommendations for Sunflower to improve .First; the company should build an effective web site to catch customers eyes such as Mr. Nguyen Dinh Dung suggested in the interview that Sunflower should use animation pictures and bright color to create differences to compete with different brand name. Besides, to improve the quantity of sell for Sunflower, Mr. Dung recommended that Sunflower bubble tea should offer seasonal discounts or offering free gifts, voucher or hand bags with the Sunflowers logo for customer to promote its brand name. Moreover, instead of an effective of magazine is rather than newspaper so the company should invest more money in magazine advertising to promote its image to customers. Finally, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Dung thought that creating wide choices for customer such as low price for Take away option can satisfy busy customers and also reducing expense for the company. Hopefully, these recommendations have shown above can help the company solve current problems and develop its brand name in the future.

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................ 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 3 PROBLEMS & ACHIEVEMENTS ................................................................................................................ 3 SWOT ANALYSIS ...................................................................................................................................... 5 STRENGTHS ......................................................................................................................................... 5 WEAKNESSES....................................................................................................................................... 5 OPPORTUNITIES .................................................................................................................................. 5 THREATS: ............................................................................................................................................. 6 RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................................................. 6 CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................................... 7 REFERENCE .............................................................................................................................................. 7

INTRODUCTION
First appearing in Taiwan in 1983 by Liu Han-Chah and spreading quickly to most part of Pacific Asia, bubble tea is becoming one of the favorite beverages for Vietnamese teenagers when first introduced in Vietnam in 1998. Vietnams bubble tea business is also developing impressively so there are 150 branches of bubble are established until now. Among of them, Sunflower bubble tea is one of the top leading the bubble tea business in Vietnam .Currently, Sunflower Company is getting problems how to compete with others during the economic crisis so this report is written with the purpose of bringing useful information to solve current problems of Sunflower Company.

PROBLEMS & ACHIEVEMENTS

Advertising
Newspapers Advertisements On the interview with Mr. Nguyen Dinh Dung, the marketing of SunflowerCompany on August 2013, he states that newspapers advertisements are unnecessary, especially for kind of business as tea shop. In addition, he also gives some reasons to prove his statement such as high expenses, limitation of teenagers habits. The team members totally agree with Mr. Dungs explanations. Firstly, newspapers advertisements do not only get high expenses for a large company as Sunflower but also overcomes a small tea shops financial potential. According to Tuoi Tre newspapers (the largest sales newspaper in Vietnam) advertising cost chart (2013), the lowest price of ads is 1.800.000 VND per time and the highest is 42.000.000 VND per time. Transparently, the cost is too high for a small shops finance. Furthermore, newspapers advertisements are wasteful for small business (Businesstown, 2003). The main reason is small business shops ads usually get lost in advertising paper because lack of illustrated graphics and discernible positions (Businesstown, 2003). Secondly, Mr. Dung also persuades accurately that newspaper advertisements are not effective because teenagers, who involve a large number of bubble tea customers, usually ignore newspapers ads. Moreover, Teenagers also find reading newspapers is boring and recognize them as substitute information sources (Newcomer, 2009). In overall, the team members conclude that newspapers advertisings are not a good decision.

Discount Program
the interview of Mr. Nguyen Dinh Dung, marketing director of Sunflower Company on August 6, 2013, Mr. Dung claims that discount is an important part of marketing strategy. Moreover,

discount strategy also reduces service expense of the company. In detail, the Sunflower Company applies two price policies which are call take away and guests. Take away menu is cheaper than the left one but the quality isnt different. According to Mr. Dung on August 2013, take away option is used for busy customers who dont have time to enjoy bubble tea in fantastic atmosphere at the tea shop. As the result, take away help the company saving expenses of hiring service people and keep tea shops not to be over crowded.

Web Design
Mr. Dung is really interesting in the question about internet advertisings when asked on the interview in August 2013. He describes about processes of building the Sunflowers websites and provided to the team members much information of advantages of owning an impressive and colorful websites. On the interview, Mr. Dung also tells the team members that 70% of franchise contracts (for more details, read What is franchise? The definition franchise by Don Daszkowski at <http://franchises.about.com/od/franchisebasics/a/whatfranchises.htm>) are earned through the internet. Moreover, customers will be able to order online by a new feature of the websites which is just done by phone at the current, Mr. Dung states. Besides interviewing Mr. Dung, the team members also access the sunflower websites at http://hoahuongduong.vn/index.php. In fact, the websites are designed by bright lay-out which mainly colored by yellow and red. In addition, the designers also use funny animations and impressive pictures to cover transparent information. According to Hilton (2009), a good websites is much lower cost than printed advertisings such as newspapers, but help to access a large number of customers because its run 24 hours by 7 days of a week. She also adds that websites satisfies information needs of customers by unlimitation of pictures and number of words. Furthermore, the team members found that customers can find all contacts of tea shops named Sunflower which are not discriminated original or franchised shops. Finally, the team members draw out that websites is an important part which should be strongly invested in if a new tea shop determines to compete with others because of low cost but high efficiency.

Competitors
At the current, there are over 150 bubble tea brands owned by Taiwanese and Vietnamese. In other words, a new tea shop will get great competitions if it is opened at the current. On the interview with Mr. Nguyen Dinh Dung, marketing director of sunflower company in

August 2013, he says there is a large competitor in the market right now. This is Feeling Tea which is originally established in Taiwan in 2004 (Vnnavi, 2004). According to Vnnavi websites (2004), feeling tea has sold franchise to Ho Chi Minh City and Vung Tau city. According to Mr. Dung, Feeling Tea is expanded quickly in Ho Chi Minh City to compete with Sunflower. To prove that statement, he claims feeling tea owns many tea shops at business streets and commercial complex building where teenagers usually hang out with friends in weekends. Furthermore, Feeling Teas strength is the price strategy. On the interview on August 2013, Mr. Dung states price of feeling tea is usually lower than sunflower from 3.000 VND to 4.000 VND. However, according to Mr. Dung, Feeling Tea weakens at shop decoration. Actually, following an evaluation on yeah1 which is large Vietnamese teenagers websites, teenagers prefer to drink bubble tea at Sunflower than Feeling Tea because Sunflower shops is more attractive than. However, Mr. Dung also says that Sunflower is suffered by the price policy of Feeling Tea. Thus, it forces the company to reconsider about the current price policy in the future.

SWOT Analysis
Strengths: During the interview, Mr. Dung stated that Sunflower Company has great
technology foundation, facilities and imported raw material to bring the best products base on food safety standard to customer. For example, when Vietnam found melamine in imported milk and cookies last year, there was no suffering in quantity of sell at Sunflower bubble tea because raw material powder milk for Sunflower bubble tea are imported from Friesland foods Group so customer are pleasured when using Sunflowers products.

Weaknesses:
According to Mr. Dung, Sunflowers products are priced much higher than local bubble tea in Vietnam such as one of main competitors of Sunflower is Feeling tea has the lower price than sunflower from 3,000 to 4,000 VND. Furthermore, Sunflower distribution system has limited in some places. In addition, the company have not launched to the potential markets in leisure centre, trade centre and the rest of Vietnam.

Opportunities:
According to Dung (2013), one of sunflowers activities is selling franchise to who want to be the owner. This is an opportunity for Sunflower to impulse the development of brand name and easily come into customers minds. Moreover, selling franchise not only helps the company have more money to invest in others activities but also reducing expense

for Sunflower by dividing the advertising fee for each shops so the fee for one shop is very low.

Threats:
Nguyen Dinh Dung asserted in the interview that there are many high competitions between Sunflower bubble tea and other local brand name in recent years, such as Feeling tea, Boba tea, etc. Furthermore, all of them have the price lower than Sunflower from 3,000 to 4,000 VND.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Magazine Advertisement
In the interview, Nguyen Dinh Dung stated that teenager do not like to read newspaper especially ads sessions and according to Xuan (2008),Magazines are more effective than newspaper as they generally reach specific target audience and the way that advertisements are inserted in magazines offers more chance for readers to be exposed to the ads so leading in magazine advertisements can help the company attract more customers attention.

Discounts:
Nguyen Dinh Dung said that because of the price of one of the main competitors is lower than Sunflower Company from 3,000 to 4,000 so it is difficult for Sunflower to attract more customers. Furthermore, according to Chakravarty, A K and Martin, G E (1988) making discount in price can help to entice a buyer or buyers to purchase in larger quantities so a useful recommendation for Sunflower company is making a discount for regular customer by the way you buy more, the less you paid or Sunflower can make seasonal discount during the Tet holiday, public holiday or the foundation day. Hence, the company can make a discount in price or offering free gifts, voucher or hand bags with the Sunflowers logo for customer. By doing this way, the company can satisfy customers need and also promote for the company brand name.

Web Design:
During the interview in 2013 ,Nguyen Dinh Dung believed that Sunflower bubble tea are going to hire a group of designers to make a brand new decoration lay-out of entire of Sunflower tea shop and animation pictures and bright color which is dyed by yellow will be used. Moreover, according to Essex (2009), Giving readers' eyes convenient resting points

such as the use of bold to emphasize keywords or making the text of a link meaningful, rather than simply 'click here' can attract more readers eyes. Therefore, the contribution of web design in company brand name is important so building an effective web site can bring more customers to Sunflower bubble tea through internet.

Bundle Options:
According to Mr. Nguyen Dinh Dung (2013), Sunflower Company is applying more options for customer such as Take away and Guest. Specifically, Take away option is cheaper than Guest option but they are the same quality and in the interview Mr. Nguyen Dinh Dung showed that take away option is used for busy customers who dont have time to enjoy bubble tea in fantastic atmosphere at the tea shop. As a results, creating more options not only satisfy customers need but also help Sunflower reduce expense of hiring staff and avoid crowded- atmosphere.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, Sunflower Company should build an effective web site to catch customers eyes such as Mr. Nguyen Dinh Dung suggested in the interview that Sunflower should use animation pictures and bright color to create differences to compete with different brand name. Besides, to improve the quantity of sell for Sunflower, Mr. Dung recommended that Sunflower bubble tea should offer seasonal discounts or offering free gifts, voucher or hand bags with the Sunflowers logo for customer to promote its brand name. Moreover, instead of an effective of magazine is rather than newspaper so the company should invest more money in magazine advertising to promote its image to customers. Finally, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Dung thought that creating wide choices for customer such as low price for Take away option can satisfy busy customers and also reducing expense for the company. Hopefully, these recommendations have shown above can help the company solve current problems and develop its brand name in the future.

Reference
1. Beres, D. 2005, Pearl Tea, Food, Globalrhythm, viewed in 22 April 2009, http://globalrhythm.com/Food/PearlTea.cfm 2. Chakravarty, A K & Martin, G E,1998,An optimal joint buyer-seller discount pricing model COMP. OPER. RES. Vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 271-281. Parkinson, R. 2004, Are Bottled Tea Drinks as Healthy as Brewed Tea, Chinese Food, About, viewed in 22 April 2009, <http://chinesefood.about.com/od/chineseteaandliquor/f/bottledtea.htm>

3. Sasse, D. 2006, Bubble Tea For Those Who Like an Unusual Twist to Their Tea!", Tea, Enzinearticles, viewed in 22 April 2009, <http://ezinearticles.com/?Bubble-Tea---For-ThoseWho-Like-an-Unusual- Twist-to-Their-Tea!&id=388579> 4. Hoahuongduong, 2013, introduction, viewed in 2nd April 2009, <http://hoahuongduong.vn/content.php?id=3> 5. Zing, 2009, Moi Nguy Tu Tra Sua Tran Chau, Style, Zing, viewed in 22 April 2009, <http://news.zing.vn/news/doi-song/nguy-co-tutra-sua- tran-chau/a32902.html> 6. Tuoitre, 2013, Advertising Cost Parameter, Cost, viewed in 22 April 2009,<http://quangcao.tuoitre.com.vn/Quangcao/?t=95> 7. Businesstown, 2003, newspaper advertising, method, viewed in 22 April 2009,<http://www.businesstown.com/advertising/newspaper- advice.asp> 8. Newcomer. K 2009, Teenagers say they dont have time to read newspaper, Living, viewed in 22 April 2009 http://www.macon.com/146/story/652527.html 9. Hilton. A, 2009, 7 important reasons you need a website, Business Online, viewed in 22 April 2009 http://ezinearticles.com/?7- Important-Reasons-Your-Business-Needs-aWebsite&id=1729354 10. Vnnavi, 2008 Feeling tea, Gioi Thieu, viewed in 22 April 2009, <http://www.vnnavi.com/restaurants/feelingtea/> 11. Yeah1, 2008, Tra Sua Cho Teen, Ban Luan, viewed in 22 April 2009 ,<http://photo.yeah1.com/showthread.php?t=80379>

Appendix
Interview Questions: We are students from Raffles Institutes, Bangkok Campus. This semester, we are doing a research of Sunflower company. Thank you for your agreement to join an interview with us. Here are five questions of an interview which help us to complete our research:

1. What are strength and weakness of the sunflower company in the past? 2. What is the main competitor of the company at the current? Do you have any research of them? Their strength and weakness? 3. What is the significant key of the company marketing strategy?

4. In your opinion, what is the main key of a new tea shop to succeed? 5. Could you please tell us about the company plan in the short term?

Thank you for your answer!

Hardcopy of an interview with Mr. Nguyen Dinh Dung, the marketing director of Sunflower company on Wednesday Ausgust 7th, 2013 at Sunflower office, 141, Banh Van Tran street, Tan Binh district, Hochiminh city, Vietnam Interviewer: Good morning, Sir! Could you please tell us about strength and weakness of the company in the past? We really need to listen about them to avoid when opening a new tea shop. Mr. Dung: I am really pleasure to answer your question, because not many students do such an interesting activity like you! Well, every company gets its own problems. I would like to say about weakness first because we have learnt a lot from failures. As you know, the Sunflower was established lately when the industry has existed many large and creditable brand names. At that time, Sunflower got difficult to attract customers by quality and brand name, because we are as same as other company. After a few months getting loss, the company decided to change the marketing strategy. Firstly, the Sunflower hired a group of designers to make a brand new decoration lay-out of entire of Sunflower tea shop. Furthermore, the designers were prior to use animation pictures and bright color which is dyed by yellow. Secondly, the company applied a new price strategy. In this strategy, we made 2 options which called take away and guests. In other words, if customers are in hurry and dont stay at tea shop, they could choose take away option which is cheaper than guests but they are both in same quality and quantity. The main purpose of take away option is reducing expenses of hiring service men and keeps the number of customers not to be over-crowed. As the result, changes were effective on the sunflowers financial performance and make the company develop up to one of the most successful tea shop brand at the current time. So, from that experience, I think our strength is good performance group work. Interviewer: Do you mean about joint? Mr. Dung: Not enough, joint is necessary but market research is also needed to do as well! Vietnamese proverbs states that Understanding enemies is victory.

Interviewer: By the way, in your opinion what is the main competitor of the sunflower at the current? Mr. Dung: well, as I said above there have been many competitors before the Sunflower was established. At the current, we are highly focused on Feeling Tea because they are expanding quickly and competing strongly to us.

Interviewer: Is it the Feeling Tea from Taiwan? Mr. Dung: Exactly, they are originally from Taiwan and now they are applying accurately what they have been successful in Taiwanese market. It makes us worry about.

Interviewer: So Does the company have any research of them? What are their strength and weakness? Mr. Dung: Of course, we do. According to the company market research in 2008, the Feeling Tea has been established in Hanoi, Hochiminh city and Vung Tau city. Especially, they own many shops at many good locations of business streets in Hochiminh city. Following to information I have, Feeling Tea company is focusing some locations in commercial complex buildings which teenagers usually come there in weekends. Well, I just highlight about their price policy because we are suffer from it a lot. According to our market research, the Feeling Tea is selling bubble tea lower than us from 3.000VND to 4.000VND. I think they are quite successful in that strategy because our sales have been lost. However, their decoration is not a big deal because it seems too simple and boring. According to our internal survey, most of customers answer that they found that the Sunflower tea shops were comfortable than other tea shops. As the result, we will use our strength at decoration to compete to the Feeling tea.

Interviewer: personally, I also agree that bubble tea does not only need to be sweet but also to be enjoyed in a great place! So, could you please tell me about what the main key of the company marketing strategy? Why havent I seen any advertisement of Sunflower on newspapers?

Mr. Dung: well, firstly I want to claim that the company doesnt have intention to invest to newspapers advertisements because we believe it is unnecessary. In fact, there are two reasons: high cost and teenager habit. If you access Tuoitre newspaper online, you may find the cost chart of newspapers advertisements which is about over 20.000.000VNd for an average ads per time. The second reason, most teenagers who involve in a large number of our customers dont like to read newspapers especially for ads sessions. Then, I also noticed about the price policy and decorated style of the Sunflower company above. Generally, I can state they are

a backbone of our marketing strategy. Interviewer: We are planning to open a new tea shop next month? Do you have any recommendation for us? Mr. Dung: Interesting! Did you buy a franchise? Interviewer: Actually, we buy franchise from Sunflower! Mr. Dung: Great! If you buy franchise from us, our company will highly support your shop, especially you are still young. Well, I can just say that you should pay attention in your shop financial performance, location and maintain quality of service. Firstly, reducing expense is really necessary for a new tea shop like yours. Secondly, a good location is also effective on your business. However, it also means that your rental house cost will be increased much. One more thing that is good service also brings customers back to your tea shop again. To do so, you should improve the quality of bubble tea, to train employees and invest more to shops decoration. Interviewer: Thank you for your suggestion! This is the last question. Could you tell me the short term plan of the company? Mr. Dung: Well, I just can say briefly about our short term plan because its really sensitive. We will continue to sell franchise, but the policy will be changed in the next 2 months. In other words, the company will increase cost of buying franchising to 20% because of upgrading new management process. Furthermore, the company experimentally sells food beside bubble tea. We hope it will be successful. Interviewer: Thank you for participating in the interview. I hope the company will be more successful in the future. Mr. Dung: Youre welcome!