Bingo

Marketing Environment
Regulatory Forces
The state of Indiana and Elkhart county have no laws for business owners of dog grooming facilities; therefore management has no reason to be concerned with interference of political forces, furthermore there are no licenses or permits required by the state or county to be a dog groomer. However there are regulatory issues facing employees which would fall under animal cruelty which requires that employees must ensure the safety of the animals that are in the grooming facility. Another regulation that employees are affected by is the healthcare act making it difficult for them to afford health insurance.
Competitive Forces
Bingo is in an exclusive position in Middlebury. The pet salon will have no direct competition within the town of Middlebury and operates in an oligopoly. The most prevailing competitor is, A cut above Groom & Board located in Bristol Indiana about 7 miles away. Elkhart County has a population of 199,619 people an increase from 197,559 in 2010 according to AVMA the percent of households owning a cat is 30.4% and for a dog it’s 36.5% which roughly equals to the amount of 132,167 pets to be groomed in the county.
There are 14 other dog and cat grooming facilities located in Elkhart County but they only compete on a very limited basis. Some only offer selective grooming as in not giving the full experience for one reason or another, others refuse to groom a dog because of the dogs breed, however at Groom Town we do the full service of the animals.
With today’s technology Bingo will design a web site primarily for the protection of their name and to introduce the business to the community; they will have a store front sign but other than that they’ll spend very little on advertising and rely on word of mouth to generate most of their business. What money they will spend is for business cards and once in a while they’ll print out fliers, and coupons in the local paper.
Economics
Talking with local groomers I learned there are a few situations on how the economy affects the business such as a poor economy will indeed cause some people to cut back on the amount of trips they take to the groomers and what treatment they want for their pets. As of this writing the county unemployment rate is 8.5% and the weekly income per individual is roughly $782.00. research has shown that people are spending money more now to have their dogs pampered than ever I have spoken with several grooming places that have told me that even during the recession the business grew even if it was as little as 1% growth.

Technological
The age of technology has made its way into the dog grooming industry by direct means using state of the art tools and cleaning supplies.
There is a new type of clipper called clipper vacuum groomers use for three reasons including.
1. Keeps clipper blades cool. Clipper blades operate at over 4,000 strokes per minute. The friction will quickly makes the blades hot enough to give your dog a serious burn. There are ways to avoid this, such as frequent blade changes or cooling sprays that can be applied to the blades. However, this requires the groomer to always be paying attention to their clipper blades. Even the most careful groomer will eventually forget to check their blade and allow it to become too hot. To eliminate this risk altogether groomers are using a clipper vacuum. The suction of the vacuum passes a steady flow of air over the clipper blades. This air flow always keeps our blades at room temperature.
2. Maintains a cleaner environment without a clipper vacuum, the hair that is clipped from your dog falls from the clippers to the floor and makes a big mess. With a fan running, the hair is circulated everywhere. Groomers are able to maintain a cleaner environment with a clipper vacuum because the hair is sucked straight into a central vacuum as it is clipped from your dog.
3. Smoother clip, the suction from the clipper vacuum causes your dog 's hair to stand up as it is being clipped. This gives a smooth finish clip to your dog 's coat.

Groomers use tables with hydraulics so they can adjust the height of the table while working on different sizes of dogs this makes grooming any size dog much easier compared to the old way of lifting the dog onto the table it’s better for the animal and the groomer. The table top has a nonskid surface to help ensure the animal doesn’t accidently slide off and the base is extra wide so the table is sturdy and keeps it from falling over.
In bigger city’s there are groomers that use a vehicle to go to their clients homes and groom them inside this van I could see this being a very good technological advantage for pet owners with disabilities that cannot get to a pet groomer they would receive the same service by having the pet groomer come to them. Record keeping is made much easier using programs such as groom pro which has many features such as client profiles, pet profiles, appointment tracking, and employee management.

Social
The social cultural around the town is a religious community varying in multiple forms of Christianity. One of the biggest social groups in the community are the Amish and Mennonite. People residing here interact socially, have common historical or other ties, meet each other’s needs, share similar values, and often share physical space all this sharing forms a strong community culture. The buying trends vary according to background the contemporary person doesn’t think twice about buying new items that have broken, need upgraded or they outgrew. The Amish tend to be a lot more practical and self-sufficient and don’t own modern conveniences. The Mennonite are somewhere in between the other two. There is one thing that is common among all three and that’s the care they take in the animals they own to some they are pets and to others it’s a way of life. It’s a small town so gossip gets around pretty fast and one bad comment about a business could have a devastating effect.
The biggest social factor that influences the business is word of mouth which is why Bingo does not use much revenue in terms of advertising. They volunteer at the local veterinarian, the county humane society, and several other animal rescue centers throughout the county.
Target Market
Demographics
As of 2010, there were 3,445 people, 1,263 households, and 822 families residing in the town of Middlebury. The population density was 911.1 people per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 95.6% white, 0.6% African Americans, 0.1% Native American, 1.2%, Pacific Islander, 1.1% from other races, and 1.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race was 3.2% of the population.
There were 1,263 households of which 35.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.3% were married couples living together, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.4% were non-families. 20.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.70 and the average family size was 3.11.
The population was spread out with 29.0% under the age of 18, 8.0% from 18 to 24, 24.8% from 25 to 44, 24.8% from 45 to 64, and 13.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36.7 years.
The median income for a household in the town was $59,002, and the median income for a family was $68,273. Males had a median income of $48,894 versus $34,688 for females.
Geographic
The geographic market is local within 10 miles radius it includes. The location is the perfect spot as there are no direct market threats from competitors.
Psychographic
Most responsible people know the importance of a well groomed dog but they just don’t have the time or physical ability to wash their pets whenever they get dirty so their thankful we’re readily available to care for their pet in this regard
Customer attitude varies from one to another and attitude comes in all forms most of the customers have a very positive attitude and it’s a pleasure grooming their dogs and or cats, a few customers are just grumpy for no apparent reason.
It is our belief that we as a business have to be honest with our customers at all times , no matter the situation for instance if one of the groomers accidently cuts a pet that groomer takes it upon themselves to be forthright with the customer and tell them of the accident and how they treated the wound. We believe that most customers will appreciate the honesty and hopefully they will understand that accidents do happen.
However emotions play a big part of how an owner of a pet feels about grooming and in dog grooming accidents will happen, we realize that some customers will not be able to accept that accidents do happen to their beloved pets, if an accident does occur we will more than likely lose a customer.
Benefits sought and usage rate
Clients vary greatly in spending there disposable money in dog grooming, some clients always consider how their pet will be affected in making a big decision such as a vehicle “will my dog have enough room back in the back?” or will the landlords allow my dog to live here? In a lot of cases people will put the interest of their pets just as important as if they were their own and in some cases the dog will be above them an example of this is a lady was asked why she bought designer shampoo for her dog but used regular shampoo for herself her response was the dog was like a child to her and that she deserved it.
There are many ways a dog owner may decide to spend money on their pets including having the groomer check the dogs anal glands and to empty them if needed, other clients want their dogs nails painted, there’s special haircuts, skunk baths, brushing the dogs teeth to help remove tarter and bad breath.
There are a couple times per year when owners are willing to spend more on their pets for instance around Thanksgiving and Christmas some customers will buy fragrances for the dog during the spring to counteract the wet dog smell when it’s raining a lot outside and the pet is an inside dog. How often customers buy the product varies from one customer to another and basically boils down to the customer the amount of money they have to spend on their pets and time of year.

References:

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/18/18039.html https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/Statistics/Pages/Market-research-statistics-US-pet-ownership.aspx http://www.nidataplus.com/lfeel1.htm http://www.city-data.com/city/Middlebury-Indiana.html http://indianaeconomicdigest.com/Main.asp?SectionID=31&SubSectionID=116&ArticleID=70414 http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2007-08-05/the-pet-economy http://www.groom-pro.com/ http://www.frugah.com/Adjustable-Dog-Pet-Grooming-Table-p/5663-0994.htm http://www.animalbehaviorassociates.com/pdf/RMN_positive_grooming_effects.pdf http://www.city-data.com/zips/46540.html

References: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/18/18039.html https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/Statistics/Pages/Market-research-statistics-US-pet-ownership.aspx http://www.nidataplus.com/lfeel1.htm http://www.city-data.com/city/Middlebury-Indiana.html http://indianaeconomicdigest.com/Main.asp?SectionID=31&SubSectionID=116&ArticleID=70414 http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2007-08-05/the-pet-economy http://www.groom-pro.com/ http://www.frugah.com/Adjustable-Dog-Pet-Grooming-Table-p/5663-0994.htm http://www.animalbehaviorassociates.com/pdf/RMN_positive_grooming_effects.pdf http://www.city-data.com/zips/46540.html