TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................................... 1 The problem .............................................................................................................................................................. 2 Background ............................................................................................................................................................... 3 Research ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4 PMB................................................................................................................................................................ 4 Primary data survey .............................................................................................................................. 5 Industry overview .................................................................................................................................. 7 Costs ............................................................................................................................................................. 7 Revenues ..................................................................................................................................................... 8 The solution ............................................................................................................................................................ 11 The product and service ................................................................................................................ 11 Target market .................................................................................................................................... 12 Brand ...................................................................................................................................................... 12 Price ....................................................................................................................................................... 13 Place ....................................................................................................................................................... 13 Promotion ............................................................................................................................................................... 14 Online promotion ............................................................................................................................. 14 Offline marketing ............................................................................................................................. 23 Evaluation of strategy ......................................................................................................................................... 25 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................................... 26 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................................... 27 Appendices .............................................................................................................................................................. 28 Appendix A – PMB database..................................................................................................................... A1 Appendix B – Survey ................................................................................................................................... B1 Appendix C – SPSS ........................................................................................................................................ B1 Appendix D – Costs and Revenues Analysis ...................................................................................... D1 Appendix E – Recipe ................................................................................................................................... E1 Appendix F – SEO ..........................................................................................................................................F1

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Executive Summary
Due to the perception that cooking is a time-consuming and difficult activity, students often spend large amounts of money on foods that are not necessarily healthy for them. In order to rectify this problem, we have devised an e-business solution that would permit these students to choose a meal online, order it, and receive all non-perishable ingredients as well as the instructions on how to prepare the meal, by mail. Through research and analysis of the shopping and eating habits of our target market, we have discovered that our product would in fact be very welcome in the student community and would satisfy a need for healthier and less expensive foods, as well as allow people who generally do not cook for various reasons to learn how to prepare delicious meals for themselves and for those around them. The strategies used in order to promote traffic to our website are designed with the ultimate goal of altering students’ perception of cooking and their current eating and shopping habits, by using an innovative system designed fulfill their desire to eat healthier food, help them to save money, and simplify their daily lives. In essence, our campaign is designed to encourage students to cook by offering them an alternative that is cheap, approachable, and fun. The promotion strategies we have designed involve appealing to the consumer both online and offline. The online activities are devised to attract students by allowing the users to visit the site for entertainment and to interact with each other, to provide them with a variety of information, incite them to participate in exciting contests, and offering them added benefits that encompass not only cooking, but provide the user with an delightful overall experience. On the other hand, our offline presence is meant to create awareness through universities. A presence on their respective websites and in student media, as well as colourful flyers at university sporting events, guerilla marketing, and outdoor live demonstrations, will all be used to this end. The overall product, service, and the strategic campaigns to acquire traffic and attention are tailored to our target market, and are expected to yield considerable results.

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The Problem
The service industry does not provide a solution for those who do not know how to cook but would like to eat healthy and are tired of resorting to store-bought frozen dinners, prepared food, or eating restaurant, ordering-in, or through take-out counters, anytime they want to eat anything other than extremely simple cooking (i.e. sandwiches, eggs, or pasta). As our research will demonstrate, university students are often confronted with the challenges of cooking for themselves. Having moved out of their parents’ home, they are tempted at first to buy the “unhealthy” foods that they did have the choice to purchase when they were not responsible for household grocery shopping. For the first weeks and months of living on their own, students often develop poor eating habits and spend a large portion of their income on foods that require minimal effort on their part. However, as time goes by, many come to miss the variety and quality of home-made food and in attempting to cook for themselves, they quickly discover that cooking is more difficult than they thought and requires knowledge of many different ingredients, how to assemble them correctly, in the right order and at the right time, cook them at the correct temperature using the correct kitchenware. This realization is often overwhelming and either by lack of time or lack of motivation, they revert back to “eating out”. Because it is very expensive, especially for the student life, they are continuously confronted with the high cost and the relatively low quality of the food they eat, while understanding that home-cooked meals are not only cheaper but are also of much higher quality. Our service will address all these issues and present the student population with an innovative and costeffective solution to their problem.

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Background

Service and products proposed:

The goal of our website is to simplify the process of cooking for those who need it most. Users would visit our website, simplyfood.com, select recipes that they would like to cook for themselves, add them to their shopping cart, submit the order, and process their payment as they normally would. A day or two later, the consumer would receive a package in the mail containing all the non-perishable ingredients in pre-measured, ready-to-add containers, including special tools which may be required (i.e. sushi rollers), complete with the recipe and simplified step-by-step instructions which refer back to a video demonstration posted on the website. The only thing left for the customer to do is visit a grocery store to purchase the perishable items required and cook the meal by following the instructions. Through our website, users will also have access to vast amounts of information, videos, entertainment, contests, interactive features, and discussion forums. The overall experience provided by the site is meant to be more than a simple meal: it is meant to refresh perceptions about cooking and portray it as an exciting, fun and accessible experience. We have selected students in Montreal as a viable target market because their lifestyles and habits make them prime candidates for a system such as the one we have developed. We conducted research in order to validate the preconceptions we had about students as a viable target market to determine whether or not our concept is an e-business that is likely to succeed. We researched secondary data available through the Print Measurement Bureau (PMB) databases (Appendix A) and examined grocery shopping habits of the 18 to 24 age group, the most popular items they purchase, as well as their cooking and restaurant habits and expenditures. Having gained a better understanding of our target market, we gathered primary data through the use of a survey (Appendix B) an analyzed it in SPSS (Appendix C) in order to determine whether the data obtained through PMB could be safely applied to our target
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market, and to explore the group’s attitudes and opinions about cooking, as well as their habits and experiences. A deeper understanding of our target market has not only allowed us to develop a better offering in terms of the website itself, its contents, and its features, it also allowed us to design a marketing and promotion plan specifically designed to appeal to our target market and maximize return on investment, both in terms of efforts and financial resources.

Research
Secondary Data - PMB The Print Measurement Bureau data collected provided us with a good understanding of our target market’s grocery shopping habits in terms of what they purchase and how much money they spend per time period, as well as their restaurant – sit-down, take-out, drive-thru, and delivery – habits and expenditures. Montreal is home to 123,000 students, 108,000 of which are registered in undergraduate programs. The 18 to 24 age group represents 32% of the student population while the 25 to 34 represent 31% across “French Canada”. For convenience, we assume that the majority of university students in the 25 to 34 age group registered as undergraduates are closer to age 24 than they are to age 34. Therefore, we feel that we can comfortably apply our findings to the 25 to 34 age group. PMB data revealed that only 7% of the 18 to 24 age group had cooked a gourmet meal in the last 12, however, 84% had eaten at a restaurant in the past 30 days, 51% had ordered for delivery; 36% of them once or twice and 11% three or four times, 45% had ordered for takeout; 30% of them once or twice and 9% of them three or four times, and 33% of them had used drive-thru; 19% of them once or twice and 11% three of four times. In terms of meals prepared at home, only 29% regularly prepared meals in the household while another household member did 47% of the time. Regarding grocery shopping, 46% of them purchased between $50 and $149 per week in grocery stores 70% of the time and in department stores (Wal-Mart) 39% of the time. Only 33% regularly frequented fruit and vegetable stores.
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In the last 30 days, the most widely purchased non-frozen food items are chicken, purchased by 76% of the group; mostly 1 to 4 times but 5 to 9 times quite often as well. Beef was purchased by an almost equal proportion. Other meats such as ham, lamb, and pork were purchased by 48% of respondents which is also significant. Bacon, wieners, and cold-cuts were also very popular, purchased by 48%, 41%, and 68% of the group in the last 30 days. 31% also purchased dry pasta and sauces in the last 30 days, the most popular being Kraft Dinner, followed by Lipton Sidekicks. In terms of frozen foods, 44% had purchased frozen pizza, 23% had purchased frozen main courses, and 28% had purchased frozen French Fries.

Primary Data – Survey Having gained an understanding of our target market’s shopping and purchasing habits, as well as their frequentation of restaurant, we constructed a 20 question and gathered data from 60 university students between the ages of 18 and 24 from Concordia, McGill, Université de Montreal, and UQAM. Although we did not survey an equal number of students from each university, we believe that lifestyles and attitudes are consistent across universities. Our data, based on the preceding 30 days, revealed the following. • • • • • • • 51.7% of respondents lived on their own, outside the parental home. 33.3% had cooked for themselves 7 to 10 times, and 30% had cooked 4 to 6 times. 53.3% had cooked for others 1 to 3 times, and 28.3% had cooked 4 to 6 times. 36.7% considered their skill level to be low and 28.3% believed that they were either very low, or average. Only 5% believed that they had no skills at all. 50% spend no money on groceries at all, presumably because they live at their parents’, and the remaining 50% spent between $50 and $149. 46.7% frequented restaurants 2 to 3 times per month, and 31.7% once or twice per week 43.3% ordered take-out or delivery 2 to 3 times per month and 40% once or twice per week

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• • • • • •

53.3% spent between $50 and $99 per month on restaurants, delivery, take-out, and drivethru, and 23.3% spent between $100 and $149. 71.7% believed that “eating out” cost more than cooking at home. 67.8% reported that they would cook more if cooking was easier. 78.3% believed that “eating out” and eating prepared meals and frozen meals was less healthy than eating home-cooked meals. 30% reported that would sometimes cook if a cheap, simple, and healthy system was presented to them. 20% reported that they would cook often. 48.3% would spend between $20 and $29 on an effective system based on ingredients and instructions, and 20% would spend between $30 and $39.

The 50% that did shop for groceries and spend between $50 and $149 per week, purchased:
Not at all 3.3% 1 23.3% 6.7% 50.0% 10.0% 10.0% 10.0% 20.0% 16.7% 16.7% 13.3% 13.3% 23.3% 23.3% 2 23.3% 46.7% 16.7% 10.0% 13.3% 23.3% 26.7% 26.7% 10.0% 26.7% 13.3% 6.7% 16.7% 3 16.7% 26.7% 30.0% 43.3% 20.0% 26.7% 13.3% 16.7% 10.0% 13.3% 26.7% 10.0% 13.3% 4 16.7% 10.0% 3.3% 16.7% 23.3% 23.3% 13.3% 10.0% 16.7% 26.7% 13.3% 30.0% 10.0% Every time 16.7% 10.0% 16.7% 33.3% 13.3% 23.3% 6.7% 30.0% 3.3% 33.3% 20.0% 3.3%

Fruits and Vegetables Chicken and Meat Spices and Condiments Prepared meals Frozen meals Frozen pizza Frozen French Fries Hotdogs Cold cuts Canned soups Dry pasta and sauces Frozen pastries Frozen bread

3.3% 3.3% 3.3% 23.3% 16.7% 16.7% 10.0% 33.3%

Our primary data essentially confirmed what the PMB data had led us to believe about our target market’s grocery shopping habits and their use of restaurants for either sit-down meals, or take-out, drive-thru, or delivery. Furthermore, our findings about their attitudes towards cooking confirmed what we initially believed: students are prime candidates for our offering.

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Industry overview In Montreal, no company is currently offering a service that is similar to the one we have designed. We will therefore benefit from a first mover advantage, but we will also be subject to a learning curve. Nonetheless, we do not believe that this will slow our progress or affect our success in any significant way. Our most immediate competitors in Montreal are grocery stores, namely IGA, Provigo, Mourelatos, and Metro, as well as hundreds of small grocery stores and “farmer’s markets”. Although many grocery chains have attempted to establish an online grocery service, most failed during the dot-com bust and none have succeeded in establishing a solid online presence, mainly due to the very small margins grocery stores operate on. Online, we would be indirectly competing with countless other websites which essentially offer various recipes but no single website dominates any segment of the industry. Through a great deal of differentiation and the innovative kits we will be shipping to our customers, we do not intend to compete head-on with these sites, unless some of them eventually imitate our offering.

Costs Detailed research (Appendix D) was conducted in order to determine the costs per kit of the four sizes we intend to offer. Our findings are summarized in the table below.
Estimated total cost per kits $10.00 $20.00 $30.00 $40.00

Estimated cost of various containers Estimated cost of ingredients Instructions Cost of box Total cost of each kit

$1.20 $3.00 $0.50 $0.42 $5.12

$2.30 $7.00 $1.00 $0.68 $10.98

$3.20 $13.00 $1.50 $0.68 $18.38

$4.30 $18.00 $2.00 $1.46 $25.76

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In terms of fixed operating expenses, at the start-up stages, costs will be minimized by operating from locations which will not require any rent (i.e. homes and existing places of business). Until the company grows to a size which requires office space, packaging, and storage areas, we will not require a dedicated space to conduct business from. Because the store front is virtual and the internet can be accessed from practically any location, our physical place of business has no incidence on our customers. Our fixed expenses are detailed in the following table.

Expenses High Speed Internet connection Linux-based webserver Toll-free Number (incl. 100 minutes of talk time Local business telephone line (VOIP) Total Expenses

Monthly Yearly $50 600 $20 240 $10 120 $25 300 $105 1260

Revenues Finally, sales and revenue estimates were generated for the first three years of operation.

1st Year

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2nd Year

3rd Year

Summary

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In addition to revenue from sales of recipes and kits, we intend to profit from ad revenue, based on the traffic generated by the website, its contents, and its functions. Our estimates are as follow.

Finally, we intend to benefit revenues generated through affiliate programs.

Although we cannot predict the actual traffic that will be generated, conservative estimates lead us to expect at least 7,200 visitors during the first year and at most 28,800. 2nd and 3rd year visitors will depend on the results of the first year and we do not have enough information to generate an appropriate estimate.

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The Solution
The Product and Service The service we provide is a website-based, simple solution for easily cooking healthy and delicious meals for customers who do not know how to purchase and assemble ingredients, are reluctant to try recipes, and are intimidated by cooking. The website would provide users with a choice of recipes categorized by basic ingredient (such as “chicken dishes”, “pork dishes”, “fish dishes” and “casseroles”, ethnic origin (such as “Romanian cuisine”, “Jewish cuisine”, “French cuisine”, “Asian cuisine” and “Indian cuisine”), total number of ingredients (5, 7, 10, 15 ingredients), cooking time (ranging from 20 minutes to 2 hours), level of difficulty (easy, medium, difficult), and event (such as “cook for your girlfriend”, “Christmas dinner”, “Thanksgiving dinner”, “host your summer party”, “Your sushi fiesta”). Users will also have the choice to choose a meal depending on the price (i.e. $10 meals, $20 meals, $30 meals). Upon choosing a recipe, the user simply submits the order for the meal. The customer then receives a small package by mail containing every non-perishable ingredient that is needed to cook the selected recipe. This means premeasured quantities of pasta, spices, rice and canned foods, all in separate ready-to-add containers. For the basic ingredient (i.e. chicken breast, fish) the user is directed to the local grocer to purchase a specific quantity of the product. The package received is essentially a box filled with small individual containers of ingredients that are meant to be used in conjunction with the basic food. A step-by-step recipe included with the package explains the entire process in basic terms, prompting the user to add premeasured ingredients in containers of various sizes, indentified by numbers or letters, at specific timings during the cooking process (Appendix E). Identifying ingredients by color-coded packages rather than by name will serve two purposes: (i) it will facilitate cooking for users who cannot identify different spices and prefer to add them in the order in which they are numbered, and (ii) it would allow the site to create proprietary recipes based on the red spice, the blue spice and the green spice, for example. This labelling system would also allow users to create their own recipes by using the spices or spice mixes they like without needing to know

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their exact names. In addition to the recipes, the complete nutritional information of every meal would be made available along with the list of ingredients. As a starting point, the website will start with 20 recipes with at least one in each price range, in order to measure which ones appeal most to our consumers. Additional recipes will be added every subsequent month.

Target Market Montreal not only serves as home to a highly diverse community but it also attracts many thousands of students every year. Four large universities are established within the downtown area: Concordia University, McGill University, Université de Montreal & UQAM. Together, these four welcome over 17,000 foreign students & 123,000 students all together. Although there are many viable markets for our company, we have decided to target university students residing in downtown Montreal and the Plateau areas. These students share similar lifestyles and schedules, generally live in areas that surround their respective universities, belong to a narrow age group, and are the most likely to require the types of services that we offer. Furthermore, students spend a great deal of time in school, studying with each other, and as well as at parties and other gatherings. As a result, their social networks, both online and offline are very large, which allows word-of-mouth to be a key factor in making our target market aware of our existence and of the services we provide. Brand Simplyfoods.ca is will be the brand name we operate under. Our brand identity will be centered on 3 themes: healthy eating, simple shopping, and easy cooking. The image we want to project is that of a young, fresh and exciting brand that brings an innovative approach to cooking, to a group of people that is typically unlikely to cook because it requires too much effort, time, and knowledge that they do not have. The brand will convey a message of simplicity, accessibility, and ease-of-use by anyone who wants to improve their dining experience. By keeping the entire process as simple as possible and minimizing the number of steps from initial contact
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with the website to serving a meal, we intend to become the alternative to TV dinners, Macaroni and cheese, Pizza, and Chinese food. Price The price of a meal will be based mainly on the number of ingredients included in the containers sold. This way, price will remain proportional to size, quality, and difficulty of the meal. However, in order to make this section as simple as possible recipes will have specific price ranges. While the ones requiring less instructions and less ingredients will cost roughly $10, recipes that are more intricate and may require a dozen ingredients will be priced for $20, $30 and $40 dollars. Our research has demonstrated that these prices are within the range the market can bear. Aside from the recipes for big events such as “Thanksgiving dinner”, no recipes will be over $40, so as to keep within the range that students would be willing to pay. If lager orders are required, users can simply order additional kits. Users will be responsible for cost of shipping. Small packages will cost approximately $5 anywhere in Montreal, and the largest packages will cost approximately $10 to ship (Appendix D). As we grow, we hope to enter into agreements with a specific shipping company in order to minimize these costs. Place The product and related services will be available exclusively through our website. This will allow us to update existing recipes, add new content as often as necessary, adjust prices, and gather metrics (such as which dishes are preferred, when the website is used the most, etc) to accurately identify the preferences of our users. The “shopping” section of the website will be based on the format of most online shopping cart systems. This web 2.0 site will be very visually stimulating (with big text, large banners and bright colors) and will center on simple cooking as a main line of business. It will have many easy-to-browse categories that will allow the user to find recipes quickly and easily, in very few clicks, as explained earlier in the product section. The design will also inspire the user to try new recipes and acquire information about a variety of topics ranging from nutrition (i.e. which foods are best for you) to etiquette (i.e. how to serve certain meals, table manners in different contexts). Features are detailed below.

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Promotion
As with most other websites, the main problem for our company is attracting and retaining relevant traffic to the website, by creating and implementing an elaborate online and offline promotion strategy. 1. Online promotion Driving traffic on the internet can be accomplished in two very distinct yet equally important ways. The first is purely technical and consists of optimizing a website to conform to certain desirable characteristics sought out by various search engines (Appendix F). The second way to drive traffic is through creating and maintaining a content and feature-rich website with constantly updated contents.

Promotion that appeals to the senses
a. Seduce her by cooking for her Seduction is one of the greatest motivators for people to take action. This section will teach men and women how to use the art of cooking to seduce members of the opposite sex. From and elaborate breakfast in bed to a home cooked candle lit dinner, food is often an effective way to elevate the senses and give an ordinary moment the extra little push it needs to become an exciting, memorable, and hopefully “productive” one. To help our users master the art of seduction-by-cooking, the first category of meals will be ‘Aphrodisiacs’ and will feature a full range of ‘hot’ meals for every occasion at all times of the day, along with a variety of advice from ‘make her feel secure - cook the meals of her childhood’ to ‘get her tingling in all the right places – we’re talking about her taste buds!’. To help put the concept in perspective, a variety of pop culture articles as well as a variety of serious academic research linking the awakening of the five senses through food to an elevated sexual desire. Finally, a ‘share your experience’ section will feature blog entries and videos of encouraging success stories by users who have succeeded, as well as quirky and embarrassing videos about users that failed miserably.
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b. Gastro Porn ‘Gastro-porn’: accentuated pleasure experienced when looking at extremely appetizing food. Our take on the concept: ‘sexy people cooking sexy food... and finally getting somewhere with each other’. Much in the way that preparing, smelling, and eating delicious foods can activate the senses, watching beautiful and delicious dishes being prepared can be an exciting

experience, hence the term ‘gastro porn’. To develop the concept, this section of the site will feature images, videos, and animations of sexy dishes being prepared by scantily clad men and women, sensually cooking in their underwear, teasing each other and enjoying each other’s company. There are two goals we hope to accomplish with this section of the site: (i) that cooking is pleasurable for more than just the end result and that cooking for the sake of cooking, if only to enjoy an intimate moment together, is an activity that can be conducive to an awakening of the senses for men and women alike; and (ii) to pique out target market’s curiosity by using a term that is both ambiguous, suggestive, and mostly unheard of. All content of the section will be made available through YouTube and social networking sites under the name ‘Gastro Porn’ with no description at all. We believe that the term itself will attract attention and that the idea is novel enough to be shared between users and become an internet phenomenon.

Promotions through entertainment

Video Content Videos are an integral part of any community-based websites that promote interaction of the user with the website, as well as with other users. Videos, both amateur and professional, make a site more personable and generate interest from a variety of users who access them both for entertainment purposes and for live demonstrations of a process that is more complicated to understand in a set of detailed instructions. Two types of videos would appear on the website as well as on every possible video hosting service that allow hyperlinks. The first type of videos
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would be instructional videos on how to assemble each recipe which would be generated by the website itself and be available for download in various formats from simple AVI, MPEG, RM, or YouTube to be viewed directly on a computer or iPods. They would also be available in downloadable podcasts and burnable DVD images which could be viewed on virtually any device. In addition to instructional videos, the site would provide a variety of content generated with various associates that would become official collaborators of the site. The second type of videos would be user-based amateur videos which would be posted in various relevant sections of the site and link back to individual user profiles. This way, individual users could become valued contributors to the site and gather faithful users who genuinely enjoy the content they provide. To encourage contributions, pre-defined sections for uploads would be created which would allow simple categorization of materials, as well as facilitated browsing for users. a. Record your dinner party, cookout, and video blogs Allowing users to post their success stories using our products for their parties would contribute to generating buzz around the site, demonstrate its ease of use, and encourage others that don’t believe in their capacity to cook to attempt it, based on video evidence of their success. Furthermore, these videos are likely to contain a touch of humour and unpredictability which would turn the videos into a source of entertainment, as well free advertising for the site. The funnier or more awkward a video, the more likely it would be to generate hits on sites like YouTube and file sharing communities. Contest could be developed to encourage participation. One contest that we foresee is encouraging consumers to make a video of their “Introduce your friends to simplyfood.com” event. This even will serve two purposes for the website: it will allow students to actually present our products to their peers and it will encourage video posting. For the user, the benefits served are showing off the skill and enjoying serving a meal to others, while also receiving a gift for promoting us and making a video. The gift that we envision for this contest is a dishwasher. The campaign would run under the banner: “Cook a meal, record it, and we’ll help you do the dishes!” The website would promote this gift as a complement to cooking, since the one additional downside to this activity is doing the dishes
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afterwards! The strategically chosen prize (it is not a very expensive item, but it is definitely a luxury many would like to have) would really encourage student participation. Finally, we could also benefit from possible sponsoring from the dishwasher company, while they would benefit from our advertising. b. Celebrity, known, unknown, and ethnic chefs demonstrating how to cook
One of the most prominent features of the website will be created and maintained in collaboration

with a variety of celebrity, known and unknown chefs, and ethnic chefs. Showing these chef using our recipes and ingredients would give additional credo to the site in terms of quality of recipes, ingredients, and understanding of the different tastes of different cultures. In addition, we will eventually hire one specific chef as the “face of simplyfood.ca”. This chef would appear in the instructional videos for each recipes, as well as in all advertisements and marketing initiatives. It would also allow the site to follow the recent trend of cooking shows, celebrity chefs, and cooking channels which are constantly gaining in popularity. c. Videos of every event in which the site was mentioned in the media Keeping track of all mentions of the website in any type of media, and promoting them as much as possible through every possible source, which would link back the site, would help to multiply the effects of even the shortest mentions in various media and maximize the benefits of each occurrence.

Promotion that appeals to sharing and community

a. Post your own recipes Allowing users to post their recipes through their personal accounts will help to cultivate a longterm relationship with these users. The site would review each recipe to ensure that it is compatible with our business model, would categorize them in the existing sections, and would
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fulfill orders based on these recipes by assembling various kits. A rating system on each recipe page will allow other users who have tried the recipes to rate them. The recipes achieving a minimum rating would be kept while the lowest rated ones would be eliminated. b. Email a recipe to a friend On each recipe page, a link would be placed to allow users to email that recipe to a friend. Every email address entered would be recorded and added to a database which would facilitate email marketing, and newsletters. It would also contribute to data gathering on the typical users of the site which would serve as an indicator of a whether the targeted market is indeed appropriate, or if it should be changed to a more profitable one. This also allows for viral marketing since users can share the information. This attracts more clientele to the website. c. Blogs and discussion forums Blogs and discussion forums on the website would serve two purposes. First, they would allow users to discuss various recipes, tricks, and tips with each other. Less experienced users would benefit from free advice from those who are more familiar with cooking but enjoy the extraordinary convenience provided by the website. Furthermore, it would allow the webmasters to monitor the blog in search of innovative ideas, based on user comments and conversations, allowing to address issues as they arise, and stay ahead of trends by reacting to changes in user preferences almost immediately. Blogs also contribute a great deal of new content on a regular basis which, in turn is beneficial for search engine optimization.

Promotion that appeals to health consciousness

a. Nutritional information, calorie counter, and food ratings Allowing users to create accounts to keep track of their purchases, the total amount of calories consumed, as well as nutritional information on various foods that we may or may not carry will
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contribute to frequent visits from various customers. It would also allow users to set personal goals in terms of maximum calories consumed per day or per week, or set an upper calorie limit on the meals they have the option of purchasing. In addition to simple nutritional information, foods would be classified based on how healthy they are and would be assigned a letter grade based on various criteria, namely nutrient and mineral contents, saturated and trans-fats contents, sodium contents and potassium contents, all based on the recommended daily intakes detailed in the Canadian Food Guide. Nutritional information would also include information relevant to different lifestyles and conditions. For example, body builders can gather information on high-protein foods while diabetics would learn about low glucose foods; all information would link back to relevant recipes or categories, as well as to websites related to these conditions, in order to facilitate and accelerate browsing and information gathering. This is also meant to create intrinsic quality since it promotes the website as being oriented towards the well-being and benefit of the consumer, rather than portraying the image of just another e-commerce competing for students’ limited dollars. b. Suggest a wine to go with a dish Most people have difficulty matching wines with specific dishes. Besides reading the back of the label of various wine bottles or various conventional wine guides, there are not many simple ways to choose appropriate wines. The website would facilitate this process by suggesting a list of wines at different price points that would complement specific recipes, or different courses of the same meals. For instance for the “Jewish foods” section, Matzo ball soup recipe would be included. The wines that can be served with this dish include a pinot noir (red wine) or a chardonnay (white wine). Wine etiquette information would also be provided. Special agreements with provincial liquor boards (SAQ) or websites offering similar services (http://www.nataliemaclean.com/matcher/) could be struck in order to link directly to their sites, or to develop a co-branding initiative. Once again, this added information differentiates our website and creates a complete, studentoriented guide for everything that involves cooking.

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Promotions that come to the user

Feeds and Podcasting Content syndication through RSS, and podcasting - recipe of the day on your iPod, cook while watching how on your iPod – will be an integral part of our promotion strategy. The ultimate goal of all promotion efforts is to spread content to as many possible sources as possible by every means available. RSS feeds and content syndication is the latest method in diffusing information across the internet but as opposed to most other sources, they are essentially tailored to the customers’ demands since users must subscribe (content is free) to feeds they wish to receive. RSS feeds are text-based and can contain anything from the latest news stories to the recipe of the day. They are delivered directly to the users’ desktop or portable device. They can also be formatted as teasers which require the user to click the feed in order to be redirected to the website and obtain the full version of the material being publicized. In terms of video content, many sites offer syndication services and subscribing to podcasts is as simple as subscribing to an RSS feed, usually requiring two to three clicks. Podcasting works by automatically downloading new video content and storing it on the user’s computer until a portable device is connected, at which point the video is transferred to the device and videos can be watched on-the-go, or while cooking to follow real-time cooking instructions. For instance, forget having to go back and forth between paper instructions and actually caring out the activity! Our users will be able to listen to their iPods as they are cooking and getting the instructions in real time. The main advantage of RSS feeding and podcasting is the unlimited CRM possibilities in terms of tailoring the offering to the customers’ habits, tastes, and preferences. In other words, customers whose viewing patterns reveal a preference for certain foods will be targeted with recipes that are consistent with their expressed tastes. In terms of data mining, RSS feeding and Podcasting offer the possibility of using various metrics to determine the most popular and

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appealing types of media, so that future efforts at content generation could concentrate on the popular forms, while the less popular or totally ignored ones could be abandoned.

Promotions through online communities

a. Online fan pages Creating an online presence on every online community is absolutely necessary in order to fully reach out our target market. Almost all students maintain a Facebook profile or a MySpace page and spend countless hours sharing information about each other’s latest discoveries, both online and offline. Pictures, videos, and ideas are shared and propagate through these networks at incredible, often exponential rates. Cut-and-paste solutions that fit the general format of these sites will be made available to users to facilitate the propagation of information and to allow us to control our message to a degree. b. Contests designed to acquire a maximum number of members to group To establish a significant presence on these sites relatively quickly, a contest will be launched to encourage as many people as possible to join the site’s Facebook and MySpace pages. The first thousand members would be eligible to win a larger prize, and the second thousand a slightly smaller prize. These prizes could be anything from free recipes to much larger prizes as the company grows. This bank of people will allow us to market them directly and will give us limited access to their individual networks, allowing us to reach a maximum number of members of our target market while creating possibilities for future expansion and widening of segments.

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c. Member privileges Both through the website itself and through group membership on social networks, members will be eligible for special discounts, offers, free gifts, trial periods, and first look at new content. d. Refer-a-friend program In order to encourage students to refer their peers to the website, a reward system would exist for referrals. Members would send an email to their friends. When the person referred opens the link from the email and registers, the member automatically receives a free gift such as a set of ingredients. In order to maintain our marketing efforts, users can also receive a gift such as t-shirt with the name of our website imprinted on it. The front could read “Healthy eating. Simple Shopping. Easy cooking.” while the back can have the URL address written. Even if students might not wear these shirts around school, wearing it at home would also be sufficient. If a friend came to visit, or came to enjoy a cooked meal, or to cook a meal, the tshirt would prompt questions and discussion about the website would arise. This sort of advertising can be done with any kind of promotional items. Aprons, mugs, travel cups or key chains can be used towards this goal. This form of reward system is meant to encourage wordof-mouth and reward users, in order to keep them returning to the website.

Improving through Feedback

Perhaps the most important aspect of running a site with content that is subject to different tastes and preferences is gathering feedback and addressing issues that could be potentially problematic to more than just the user who deemed it important to complain. Feedback would also allow us to tailor the site to our customers’ demands and demonstrate to them that their concerns are heard and that their business is valued. Feedback will be gathered in 2 ways: (i) by calculating “net promoter scores” using a single question in an email sent to the user after a
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purchase, and (ii) by creating an optional pop up website survey about the actual functioning of the website which will be used to plan improvements.

2. Offline marketing

Creating awareness through universities a- University websites Students are often prompted to visit their school’s website for information, library services, access to portals, etc. By being in the “News” section or in main banner at the top of the homepage of Concordia’s website, for instance, would enable the company to receive important exposure to students and would encourage clicks to our website. On the Université de Montréal website, the small section on the left-hand side of the page dedicated to advertising is where we would place our ad. b- School agenda Another form of advertising that should be explored is featuring in the school agendas. Students often use these agendas, provided free of cost, by several associations at Concordia. Placing ads in them will stimulate students’ curiosity and encourage them to visit the website. c- School newspaper There would also be efforts dedicated to getting the school newspapers to feature an article about the website and the services that it offers. It is noteworthy to mention that exposure in the school newspaper both enables us to appropriately target the exact clientele, while enabling us to spend very little advertising money.

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d- Flyers and sporting events Lastly, in order to create awareness about the website, we would print out colorful flyers that we would leave on desks in classrooms. They would read “Too much studying? No time to cook, when you need to eat most? Visit simplyfood.com!” Without giving away too much information and keeping the text as brief as possible, those who feel that the situation applies to them will visit the website, even just to find out what service it offers. Similarly, distributing these flyers at sporting events, where a large number of people attend is ideal. The socializing, leisurely aspect of the setting allows easy interaction about this type of topics. e- Holding events on university grounds Having obtained permission from universities, we will hire attractive male and female models to demonstrate our system on university grounds. Because the basic kits require very few tools which are usually available in a portable or camping format, the only requirements would be a table that could be set-up anywhere. The unusual nature of the display on sidewalks or between school buildings would certainly draw crowds and the demonstration by models with no cooking skills whatsoever preparing delicious meals with minimum equipment and ingredients would convince the audience of the simplicity and efficiency of the system. Samples of the prepared food would be handed out and a few kits would be handed out to those who accept to participate in the demonstration. In addition to being held randomly on school grounds, demonstrations would take place in the line-ups for the Concordia shuttle busses, in front of metro stations and bus stops frequented by university students, at university sporting events, fundraisers, social events, in front of university residences, and every other gathering of students. Seeing the product in action is a very efficient way to convince people of its worthiness.

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Evaluation of the Strategy
Swot analysis

Key Success Factors Constantly improving brand recognition is critical to the success of the website. Not only will it create brand loyalty, once the website is a success, competitors will surely imitate the concept and strong brand recognition will allow us to maintain a competitive advantage. A logo and company slogan will be an integral part of these efforts. Furthermore, delivering on our promises will be critical to our continued success. Because return-customers are important to our growth, we must absolutely delight them on the first occasion that presents itself, this way, they will share their experience and contribute to increased traffic. The website itself will need to be updated often and the contents must always be representative of our brand identity. In terms of promotions, new and innovative campaigns will continuously be developed to ensure continued interest in the website from our target market. Because our target market is local, offline efforts will be crucial in increasing awareness for the site and because the student community is relatively small but tight-knit, any shortcoming can be devastating to the company, especially since word travels very quickly through the student community. The opposite is also true, positive experiences will be shared, therefore, word-of-mouth is critical.
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Future plans for the website essentially focus on promoting growth in three ways. (i) Expansion into new segments, namely young families, single adults, and eventually anyone else that can benefit from the system. In is important to note that the website will never be restricted to any market, segmenting only applies in terms of marketing efforts. (ii) Expansion through line extensions will allow the website to generate income from sales of additional items, namely kitchenware, clothing, recipe books, cd and dvd colelections, and through co-branding agreements with various suppliers. (iii) Geographical expansion in terms of shipping locations will be the most ambitious growth strategy since it requires the largest investments. In order to appropriately serve markets located far from our base of operation, additional locations will be established in strategic areas which minimize shipping delays and costs, first in Canada, and eventually abroad. Finally, as sales increase, we intend to offer free shipping, an expense which would be partly or completely offset by economies of scale in production of the kits, which would serve as a great promotional tool, as well as to eliminate one step of the process.

Conclusions
As a small start-up company with limited funds and a small workforce, innovation and creativity will be the key to growth and success. Although our marketing plan is extremely detailed and relatively simple to implement for the most part, others do require a certain amount of funds. Although many celebrity chefs may enjoy “guest appearances” on the site, others like “the face of simplyfoods.ca” will need to be hired and paid. Most other offline marketing efforts will require a certain amount of funds. Campaigns to raise awareness on university campuses through live demonstrations, the hiring of models, and the free promotional items will certainly need funding, therefore, we will likely seek financing to be used exclusively for promotion, shortly after the establishment of the website. On the other hand, online marketing is essentially free, essentially necessitating hours of work on the part of the website owners. Therefore, it is likely that, should financing not be immediately available, initial promotional efforts will largely concentrate on search engine optimization, website features and contents, creation of our brand, presence on online communities, exposure through university websites and publications, and positive word-of-mouth.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Articles

1. BRANSWELL, Brenda. Tuiton Fees: The Two Solitudes. JMAC, vol. 169(5), Sept 3rd 2003, p.458 2. CULLEN, Christine, Katherine Fugler & others. How Much Are we Really Paying?, The McGill Tribute, Montreal, Online Edition, Oct 13 th 2004

Books

1. CANZER, Brahm. E-Business: Strategic Thinking and Practice. Houghton-Mifflin, Second Edition, 2006, 347p.

Websites

1. Montreal International website. Retrieved on Nov 12th 2008 from http://www.montrealinternational.com/en/metropole/etudiants.aspx 2. Every Nation’s Montreal page. Retrieved on Nov 13th 2008 from http://www.everynation.org/churches/church-spotlight/the-living-room-montreal-canada

Reports

1. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Home Prices Report. Spring 2008. 2. Pricing of Government-Supplied Goods and Services in Quebec. Commission Montmarquette et al. Quebec. 2008

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Appendix A PMB Raw Data
18-24 in FRENCH CANADA University population in French Canada 12-17: 6,000 (3%) 18-24: 69,000 (35%) 25-34: 65,000 (33%) 35-49: 45,000 (23%) 50-64: 10,000 (10%) 65+: 4.000 (4%) Average age: 31 Number of university students in Montreal: 123,000 Undergraduate: 108,000 Masters: 37,000 PHD: 4,000 Professional designation: 5,000 Memberships to health clubs in French Canada (18-24): 103,000 Personally do gourmet cooking in the last 12 months (18-24): Don’t: 526,000, Do: 41,000 1-2 times: 13,000 (2%) 3-9 times: 16,000 (3%), 10+ times: 12,000 (2%) Personally eat at restaurants in the past 30 days (18-24): Don’t: 71,000 (12%) , Do: 475,000 (84%) Personally used delivery restaurants in the past 30 days (18-24) Don’t: 276,000 (49%), Do: 291,000 (51%) 1-2 times: 204,000 (36%), 3-4 times: 62,000 (11%), 5+ times: 25,000 (4%) Personally used drive thru restaurants in the past 30 days (18-24) Don’t: 378,000 (67%), Do: 189,000 (33%) 1-2 times: 107,000 (19%), 3-4 times: 60,000 (11%), 5+ times: 22,000 (4%) Personally used take-out restaurants in the past 30 days (18-24) A1

Don’t: 312,000 (55%), Do: 255,000 (45%) 1-2 times: 170,000 (30%), 3-4 times: 50,000 (9%), 5+ times: 34,000 (6%) Person who regularly prepares meals in the household Yourself: 167,000 (29%) Other household member: (268,000 (47%) Yourself and other household member: 111,000 (20%) Other: 25,000 (4%) Total 567,000 bought groceries 30,000 (5%) bought between $1-$49 per weel 259,000 (46%) bought between $50-$149 per week 99,000 (18%) bought between $150-249 per week 53,000 (9%) bought $250+ Types of stores used more often Bulk food stores: 135,000 (24%) Convenience stores: 149,000 (26%) Department stores: 224,000 (39%) Drug store: 122,000 (22%) Frozen food store: 63,000 (11%) Fruit/vegetable store: 184,000 (33%) Gourmet store: 33,000 (6%) Grocery store: 396,000 (70%) Health food store: 42,000 (7%) Public market: 119,000 (21%) Packages of Frozen Pizza used in the household 289,000 (51%) used in the last 6 months and 248,000 (44%) in the last 30 days Light users (1-2) 181,000 Medium users (3-4) 45,000 Heavy (5+) 22,000 Frozen main course 151,000 (27%) in the last 6 months and 129,000 (23%)in the last 30 days Light users (1-4) 95,000 Medium users (5-9) 28,000 Heavy (10+) 6,000 Number of times chicken and turkey used in the household 427,000 (75%) in the past 6 month 417,000 (74%)in the last 30 days Light users (1-4) 263,000 Medium users (5-9) 124,000 Heavy (10+) 30,000 Number of beef used in the household A2

434,000 (77%) in the past 6 month 429,000 (76%)in the last 30 days Light users (1-4) 219,000 Medium users (5-9) 151,000 Heavy (10+) 59,000 Other meats 405,000 (71%) in the past 6 month 273,000 (48%)in the last 30 days Ham: 273,000 (48%) Lamb: 37,000 (6%) Pork: 333,000 (59%) Veal 174,000 (31%) Kilograms of Bacon used in the household 325,000 (57%) in the past 6 month 274,000 (48%)in the last 30 days Light users (