SWOT Analysis
How to mitigate weaknesses and threats
Weakness - No customer base/ No brand equity
How to mitigate - Firstly, a strong marketing campaign including possible promotions/giveaways and live music/movie screenings would help to increase the awareness of our café and therefore help to build our customer base. Delivering on these promises and providing quality customer service, quality food and drink and a fun, welcoming atmosphere will lead to positive word of mouth, therefore building brand equity.
Weakness - Starting costs would be higher than a normal café because of the cost of buying games and accessories.
How to mitigate - Charging customers for the use of the gaming consoles, through an hourly rate. This would help to pay off the cost of the gaming consoles and eventually would contribute to purchasing new games.
Weakness - No experience opening/running a café.
How to mitigate - Hiring an experience head chef and a couple of experienced baristas. These staff could help to train the owners and other staff and set the correct systems and procedures in place. Furthermore, the owners could take barista courses and cooking/preparation courses.
Weakness - Limited University semester times
How to mitigate - University and TAFE students are a major part of our target market and they would be more likely to visit our café during the semester during breaks between classes and before/after attending the University/TAFE. During semester breaks we would have to offer promotions during the day such as gaming tournaments or free movie screenings to attract these people. Our location would be close to public transport and also close to student residential areas, so if our promotions reach our target market and interest our target market, they would still come to the café because it’s easy for them to get there.
Threat - Other cafes in the area/other cafes opening up in surrounding areas
How to mitigate - Currently there are no cafes in the surrounding area that offer the same experience in terms of gaming/movies and live music. This should help to position our café differently to those that currently exist. Having strong promotions when we open and continuing to run strong promotions should help us develop and maintain a solid customer base that would stay loyal, even when new cafes open in nearby suburbs.
Threat - Changing market tastes
How to mitigate - The theme of our café does mitigate this to a degree, because we are already targeting a specific target market. Also, we could keep changing the games and movies that we offer to cater for different tastes.
Threat - Limited income of our target market
How to mitigate - To make the price of food and drink affordable. Possibly we could run promotions such as a happy hour or a free movie night/free live music.
How to capitalise on strengths and opportunities
Strength - Unique concept
How to capitalise - Retrospect has a unique retro gaming theme, so it can be easily distinguished from other normal cafés. The unique and creative concept can help the business to be recognised and establish itself in the market. The unique theme will be communicated in all marketing communications in order to catch our target markets attention.
Strength - Close to University and TAFE
How to capitalise - Being close to the university and TAFE gives retrospect easy access to it's target market. To capitalise on this, the university and TAFE will be heavily targeted in marketing campaigns, with posters and flyers being frequently distributed at these places.
Strength - Close to public transport
How to capitalise - To capitalise on this, bus and train routes/timetables will be included on the website so it is easy for our customers to access this information.
Strength - Skills possessed by owners & owner operated
How to capitalise - The four owners all hold degrees in different business disciplines and will be taking active roles in the operation of the business. Therefore, the owners will be able to make use of these degrees, eliminating the need to hire outside staff, which will reduce further expenses.
Strength - Knowledge in Retro games
How to capitalise - The management staff have some knowledge in retro games and will be able to choose which consoles and games to purchase in order to best meet the target markets needs.