Beach Essentials: Emily Robins & Faith Cali 06/22/20 ✓ Solved

The Beach Essentials Emily Robins & Faith Cali 06/22/20

The demand for this product is high because the ease of access and convenience is its largest selling point. A decent beach chair can cost a minimum of $30 and the same goes for a beach umbrella. Our product offers the ease of a grab, go, and rent “worry free” concept. Not only does it eliminate unnecessary spending on products that you will not want to lug onto a plane after your trip or stick in your vehicle for a long ride with your additional luggage that you likely will not need or use at home. A lot of the tourism in Charleston is centered on its beaches so it is unlikely that many of our visitors would have a use for these items once their vacation is over. The beaches in Charleston do of course have vendors that provide these products, but they are often booked far in advance, have higher prices, and do not offer multiday use. If a guest were to purchase rental items on the beach, they not only run the risk of the vendor being sold out, but they will also have to pay approximately $65.00 for each day they visit the beach.

Our product has an upper hand in this market by offering discounted rates for multi day rentals, and discounts on additional beach supplies. This essentially makes our location a one-stop shop for beach supplies for locals and guests alike that are on their way to the beach. The additional sales in beach extras as well as the extra money made from multiday rentals would be enough to support the cost of replacing any beach equipment rentals.

The Beach Essentials is a seasonal “Beach Essentials” package, available beginning in May until September of each year. This package offers a beach umbrella and two foldable chair rentals as well as the option to purchase a Charleston tote bag (with sunscreen included), beach towels and kid’s sand toys at a discounted price. The price for the “Beach Essentials” package would be advertised at a price of $65 and would provide the guest with access to the umbrella and chairs for other days of their stay for only an additional $15 per day. This package would also be available to any locals living within ten miles of the hotel with a rental day limit of 4 consecutive days without a room reservation. Any rentals will automatically be eligible for 20% off their purchase of beach towels, tote bags and toys. “Beach Essentials” will be promoted on Instagram as well as the company’s website. In addition to these online promotions, there will be lobby and elevator signage plus hotel room table tents.

Our target market includes all beach lovers but specifically appeals to married couples, households with 3 or more members as well as persons between 15 and 24 since they frequent the beach more often than business travelers or those traveling alone.

Our first map shows an immediate radius of two miles surrounding our location, and the second shows surrounding areas that we’d target and market to as they’re further from the beaches but must pass our location to get to them while still being within a reasonable marketing distance. We have three target markets: our first is married couples, the second is age groups between 15-24, and the third is households that have three or more occupants. Each of these demographics were chosen as they are the most likely to visit the beach versus those that are traveling alone or on business.

According to the Average Expenditure for Entertainment, approximately 7.6 million tourists visited Charleston in 2019, providing about 8 million dollars in economic impact. Of those 7.6 million tourists, they are beginning to opt for the beaches and breweries instead of plantations and shopping. It has become the perfect time to promote the things that relate to their interest.

The local economy of Charleston has an average of 43 new residents per day and of those residents, they were forecasted to spend an average of $30,000 in the Charleston retail market. Most of our competitors are located on the beach or at a beach resort, but will charge guests top dollar for their products. Not only do we have our items on hand at the hotel, we went a step up from our competitors by choosing our “home base” that had a bit of distance from the beaches, but is close enough to interest a large area of locals as well as tourists. This provides a competitive edge in this economy where convenience is key.

The goal is to generate at least $300 a month in sales for our product. Given that the months of May to September are peak season for the hotel industry, it is very likely that this goal is attainable. Training for staff members would involve one-on-one practice in proper upselling techniques and role-playing to teach them how to start conversations that lead to selling the product. Each member would be knowledgeable about the product, what it includes, and any stipulations regarding renting items as well as the perks that would be received when renting.

Our strengths include better prices than our competitors, and our deals for multi-day guests. The training that will be given to employees that are upselling the product will provide even more confidence and knowledge to our team to make Beach Essentials successful. Our major weakness would be the weather; anyone who lives in or has visited Charleston knows that weather can change quickly. Bad weather for extended periods would likely decrease sales and rentals for the day.

In conclusion, Beach Essentials has the potential to be the most convenient way to rent beach items. At only $65 for two chairs and an umbrella, plus discounts on add-ons and additional days, it is a deal that cannot be beaten. The interest is there, the market is there, and it is time for Beach Essentials to capitalize on that.

References

• “5 Economic Trends for Charleston: SC: USA.” Charleston Regional Development Alliance News & Blog, 10 Apr. 2015.
• “Beach Chair & Umbrella Rentals.” Folly Beach Chair Company, 30 July 2019.
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• “Visitors to Charleston Broke Records Again, Exceeding 7.2 Million Last Year.” Post and Courier, 28 Oct. 2019.
• “Gale Business: Demographics Now.” Gale Business.
• Horsley, Scott. “The Latest Pandemic Shortage: Coins Are The New Toilet Paper.” NPR, 21 June 2020.
• “OTS Rentals - Rental Beach Chairs, Umbrellas - Charleston SC.” OTS BABY & BEACH GEAR RENTALS.