4.2 Target Market Segment Strategy
to the brides and grooms, as well as to the family members. The company will
position itself as an experienced provider of wedding planning services. Unlike most
of its competitors, TLC will be offering a full range of services and thus provide the
convenience of one-stop shopping for its clients. This will significantly reduce the
customers' time and efforts preparing for such an important event as a wedding.
Moreover, by utilizing numerous supplier contacts that the company owners have
established and economies of scale, TLC Wedding Consultants will be able to pass on
to its customers sizable cost savings.4.2.1 Market Needs
The market needs for wedding planning services are strongly shaped by the
customers' desire to have a perfectly planned and executed wedding ceremony.
Although both major customer segments, brides and grooms and family members,
plan and budget for the wedding ceremony as far as a year or more in advance, they
often realize that they cannot make all the necessary preparations by themselves in a
cost effective manner. Strongly affected by the established social values, such
customers seek professional advice to ensure that all the important aspects of the
wedding ceremony meet or exceed perceived expectations.4.3 Service Business
Analysis
The wedding services market is fragmented with the overwhelming majority of the
incumbents offering only a limited line of services. There are numerous florists, hair
stylists, and caterers to choose from. However, there are almost no companies that
will provide the full range of services associated with the wedding planning and
execution.4.3.1 Competition and Buying Patterns
Competitive analysis conducted by the company owners has shown that there are 20
companies currently offering some sort of wedding planning services in the Eugene
area. However, the majority of the incumbent competitors offer only a limited line of
services like catering, flower arrangements or gifts. In fact, of these 25 competitors
only three offered a range of services comparable with what TLC Wedding
Consultants plan to offer to its customers. The following is the list of the major
competitors with a brief description of their services:
Rent-An-Action offers ceremony preparation, rehearsing and execution services.
Cross & Reeves provide flower and catering arrangements and wedding consulting
services.
Lafayette Wedding offers its clients entertaining, catering, floral design and hair
styling services.
The market research has also shown that customers anticipate the complete wedding
consulting services to be expensive and they budget accordingly. In fact, lower prices
are very often associated with poor service quality. By aggregating a complete range
of wedding services under one