Marketing Plan to Increase Sales of Stationery and Textbooks Suksaphanmukdahan Shop, Muang District, Mukdahan Province

Abstract

The objective of this research was to increase sales of stationery and textbooks of the Suksaphan Mukdahan shop following a decline in sales in 2020. The data were collected from from 400 participants and analyzed using descriptive data, including mean, standard deviation. Analyses of general environment using a PEST analysis, business competitors using the Five Forces Model, and the internal and external environment of the organization using a SWOT analysis were conducted. Results revealed that most of the customers (45%) were students, followed by civil servants and employees (27%). Main products purchased by the customers were stationery (25.75%), art supplies (24.60%), and paper and office equipment (22.50%). The principal reasons for using the shop’s services were convenient transportation (64.25%) and availability of parking lots (82.75%. The shop’s key weakness of the shop was the lack of marketing promotion. Based on the findings of the study, suggested market plans to increase the sale volume included (1) organizing attractive promotions by offering discounts to customers, (2) appropriately categorizing products in the store to facilitate shopping, (3) implementing a smartphone-based online shopping initiative to protect against the spread of the COVID-19 virus, (4) generating sales through live streaming to promote sales on Facebook, and (5) offering rapid delivery to support customers’ shops. It is expected that the adoption of these strategies would increase 2021 sales by 10% versus the previous year.