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Question: Discuss About The Simulated Output Showing Product Catalogue? Answer: Introduction Norman and Kohl would never have dreamt that their small time baking unit called Cakes and Buns would grow to become a company that would someday cater to international consumers. Overcoming the initial hardships, Cakes and Buns had slowly but surely moved forward with a loyal set of customers, who enjoyed the savouries, which had been attracting them for long. Taking advantage of the trust and goodwill the company was able to garner over the past 30 years, Cakes and Buns plans to extend their operations even further. The company and its owners have been a perfect example of dedication and commitment, making visions and goals to reality, through structured planning and proper strategizing. Industry Background As early as 600 BC, there had been evidences of baking bread in Greece. The history of baking is believed to have started during ancient Egyptians use of yeast, for brewing beer. The same was experimented with baking bread to make it soft. Starting from the 15th century onwards, there have been records of baking as an industry (Burnett, 2013). Using ingredients like sweet dough, cream, butter, raisins and minced meat items like Wigg, Ryvita and Ginger bread were made and sold on a commercial basis. Currently, the Baking industry has been engaging in line production instead of traditional baking (Httner and Arendt, 2010). The emphasis on hygiene has led to the creation of baking equipments apt for wet cleaning, which reduces the time for cleaning. Continuous Kneading is another process which has been introduced for kneading dough in line production which ensures its consistency. The industry has recovered itself from this recent economic crunch by emphasising on natural and organic components that promote healthy eating. Growing concerns over health and diet has encouraged the industry to transform itself from early baking practices (Martinez, 2013). The industry has gradually moved itself away from the use of trans-fats and gluten-free products. The safety of the workers in the industry is of high priority now and new equipment such as pouring trays have been adopted for safe guarding the hands of bakers. The future of baking lies in catering to consumers who look specifically for healthy options to practice. A few of the products that the industry may promote in the immediate future are bread loaves that are rich in protein, flavoured by fruits and nuts (Ureta, 2014). Gluten, free, fortified and multi grain loaves have seen a rise on demand and are believed to be the trend in the coming years (Della et al., 2014). Business Model and Target Audience Cakes and Buns is an already established brand, and plans to extend itself towards having an online presence soon. Since their local products are in high demand, a business model should be adopted such that that their products could have the same demand abroad too (Johnson et al.,2008) . A Bricks and Clicks model, as the name suggests, is a business model through which a company plans to demonstrate its presence by a combination of physical stores and online sites. Since English is not the primary language in countries like Japan, the websites should be localized, and should have a unique look and feel if they plan to extend it to those countries. While following a Bricks and Clicks business model, the important thing to be taken care of is the establishment of a strong logistics and supply chain. The timely delivery of the products is as important for the success of an online store as much as the taste they provide. (Baden and Morgan, 2010). Especially when it comes to food products, the packing, quality and freshness of the items should be maintained (Frow and Payne, 2011). The Bricks and Clicks business model would be ideal for a company like that of Cakes and Audit as they are already a well established name by their physical presence in Australia for the past 3 decades. Value Proposition Cakes and Buns: A mix of taste, trust and artistry. At Cakes and Buns we believe in healthy eating, and make sure our products retain their traditional savour, without preservatives or any unhealthy additives. Ours are the freshest choice of breads and each of our loaves is made with the same flavour, texture and quality. Few of our highlights at Cakes and Buns are Marvellous Muffins : These fluffy, aromatic balls of richness are the perfect foil for your busy schedule. Grab a couple of these while you rush to office and enjoy each of our fruity flavours every new day. Tasty Tarts: These fruity delicacies would be an accompaniment to any meal, and would appeal to the ones who have a sweet tooth. Sprinkled with a dash of vegetables or fruits these colourful tarts appeal to the eyes as much to your palate. Zesty Pies: A delicious pie from Cakes and Buns is just what you need when you are hit by those unanticipated food cravings. Swot Analysis The Swot analysis of Cakes and Buns gives a clear picture about the structured planning required for its growth and success. It gives a detailed analysis of the objectives that the company plans to achieve, and the different factors that could influence in attaining these objectives. Strengths An already strong customer base at Melbourne. Well experienced in the field of baking for almost 30 years. Flexibility in catering to the number of customers served. Ideal for large groups as well as individuals. Economical and pocket friendly. Weakness The company does not have the skills or enough employees to extend its planned operations. The owners are not very computer savvy and this may be a hindrance while trying to achieve an online presence. Having a global presence requires brand awareness and advertising to a large extent. Currently, the aspect of advertising has not been looked into. Opportunities An increase in the existing customer base by introduction of the online portal. A presence in new countries and introduction to new markets. New personnel and new technologies to meet with the global and local customers. Threats By being global, Cakes and Buns would have to face stiff competition from other global giants that are already in the market. The items would have to be more diverse and cater to the individual tastes of the people of different countries. Each country would have strict regulations about their international trade policies and the company would have to abide by these regulation. (Helmes and Nixon, 2010). Porters 5 force analysis Porters five force analysis lists out the possible threats that Cakes and Buns would have to face during their extension to new domains (Porter, 2008). Here the main analysis is the competitiveness in the market for Cakes and Buns. An in depth study is also made, as to whether it will be viable for them to proceed with their expansion plans. The five forces and their level of intensity is listed out as follows: Competitive rivalry (strong force) Bargaining power of the customers (weak force) Bargaining power of the suppliers (weak force) Substitute Products (strong force) Chances of new entrants (moderate force) Their main rivals, the likes of Brumbys, have a strong hold on local and international markets. Breaking into their domain would initially be very crucial. The catch phrase for the business is to provide good quality food at affordable rates. So the affordability of the products would be attractive to the consumer and would not be such a leveraging factor. The company has been operative for the past 30 years and the food items are manufactured in house. The longevity of the business and the good will they have had over time does not pose much threat for the company in terms of suppliers. The main factor to be considered while taking into account this factor is the availability of substitute products. Unlike their local customer base, since Cakes and Buns products are yet to be acknowledged by an international audience, the threat of switching to substitute products is very relevant. New entrants would be finding it difficult to live up to the good will that the company has created for itself over the past 30 years. It could be thus considered as a negligible factor that may influence the success of Cakes and Buns business outcomes. (Dobbs, 2014). Trends based on datasets The dataset shows that the individual products offered are very reasonably priced. The different flavours for the items like muffins and tarts could be made more diverse. Gluten free products are mentioned separately, and similarly products with no trans-fat could be explicitly listed out. The product catalogue could be diversified even more once they start their online operations. Prototype pages for the user interface The three main webpages for Cakes and Buns are listed above. The first page shows the initial screen that the users see once they login. The second page emphasizes the services offered by Cakes and Buns. The product catalog page shows a sample where their highlighted products are listed out. The given data set shows the different products that would be sold at Cakes and Buns. The items listed out in the dataset can be added on the Product Catalog. As the prices for the flavoured products may vary, the price field could be added at a later stage. For increasing its competitiveness, Cakes and Buns can promote different combo meals and food packages at special occasions and on weekends. The website can use a banner to inform the customers on discounts or free offers on occasions like Christmas Eve. A login option can be given for the client, and if the customer is a regular one, the company can offer the customer special deals or surprise packages to the customer by giving an inbox facility and the option to send mails to the company. Search engine optimization techniques could be used to promote the website further, so that online customers can be redirected to the official website if they search for any specific items like chocolate muffin. The webpage can be designed in such a way that there is enough dynamism for populating the fields in the product catalog or the special offers section. Web analytics could be used to identify the top trending search terms pertaining to baking, and these search terms can be populated in the websites special offers section. A specific page could be dedicated for health related articles or tasty recipes and these sections could be updated on a daily basis with interesting tips which could also work effectively as a marketing tool. Conclusion The business report gives a detailed analysis of the different operations carried out at Cakes and Buns, a baking unit, established 30 years ago. The company has immediate plans to expand its operations online. As the expansion is a long and cumbersome process, a business document would be helpful in identifying the different opportunities as well as the risks involved during the entire process (Chesbrough 2010). Different studies such as the SWOT analysis and Porters 5 force analysis are done to identify the possible threats and revert them in a timely fashion. 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