The Benihana Case Study

The Benihana Case Study

Segmenting the Market for Benihana

According to Sharma et al. (2021), segmentation includes breaking down the market into homogenous groups based on customer preferences and needs. Benihana can use market segmentation to increase competitive advantage by focusing on its existing and potential customers’ behavioral, geographic, demographic, and psychological attributes. For example, the restaurant can segment the market based on demographics, such as income, by setting prices based on customers’ income levels. Also, the restaurant can utilize behavioral and psychographic criteria by considering customers’ dietary preferences and purchasing behaviors, such as dine-in and takeaway purchases. Additionally, Benihana can use geographic segmentation by opening restaurants in geographical areas with many customers.

The target markets that the restaurants would have based on the suggested demographic, behavioral, geographic, and psychographic segmentation criteria include middle-income people living around urban centers, individuals with a preference for fresh steak and Japanese cuisine, and individuals with the assumption that they will get the best Japanese steak house from a restaurant with a Japanese steakhouse. Customers with this assumption may prefer purchasing the steak from Benihana because of the authentic Japanese farmhouse interior.

Benihana’s Positioning Approach

Benihana uses the differentiation positioning approach. According to Kostelijk & Alsem (2020), differentiation positioning includes differentiating a service or product from competitors by conveying its unique qualities. Benihana’s differentiation approach includes creating an interior that features a Japanese farmhouse, entertaining the guests with fire shows and knife skills, and combining groups of up to eight customers in every serving area to share the activities in the food preparation process.

Creating a Restaurant That Would Compete With Benihana

Benihana creates stiff competition for other restaurants because of its unique features and differentiation strategy. Therefore, if I were to create a restaurant competing with Benihana, I would begin by ensuring that my products and services are unique. The product would be Japanese cuisine prepared by Japanese chefs. The physical restaurant would blend modern elements and traditional Japanese design. For instance, I would place Japanese art on the walls and use modern furniture and artificial plants to enhance the ambience. The menu would be written in English and Japanese to accommodate customers from different backgrounds.

Gaining a competitive advantage over Benihana would require marketing my restaurant to reach more customers and increase market share. As such, I would combine digital and traditional marketing. On the one hand, digital marketing strategies focus on creating experiences with a brand (Clow & Baack, 2022). Therefore, I would use digital platforms to interact with potential customers and share information about the restaurant. For example, I would post photos of the restaurant and its interior on social media platforms and short videos explaining the products and services offered at the restaurant and special offers such as discounts and loyalty programs. Regarding traditional marketing, I would also distribute flyers around the restaurant’s location to inform customers about the products and services offered at the restaurant and their prices.

Using Advertising to Enhance Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)

According to Clow & Baack (2022), integrated marketing communication involves integrating and coordinating all marketing communications sources, avenues, and tools in a company into an efficient program to maximize the impact on stakeholders and customers. My new restaurant and Benihana can use advertising to enhance integrated marketing communications within the restaurants’ marketing programs by using various marketing channels that complement each other. For example, the two restaurants can use social media marketing to complement radio and television advertising. Restaurants can also use multiple communication channels to coordinate their marketing mix. For instance, they can share information about their products, prices, and distribution channels on social media platforms.

Considering the Business-to-Business (B2B) Aspect

My new restaurant and Benihana can use advertising to enhance the concept of integrated marketing communications within their marketing programs that would be aimed at business-to-business marketing by using emails to market their products and services to a shopping mall’s management so that they can be given a space in the shopping mall to open the restaurant. The restaurants can focus on sharing information about how opening the restaurants at the shopping mall will attract more customers, leading to more purchases from other stores in the mall due to impulse buying.

References

Clow, K. E., & Baack, D. (2022). Integrated advertising, promotion, and marketing Communications (8th ed.) Pearson Education (US).

Kostelijk, E., & Alsem, K. J. (2020). Brand positioning and brand architecture. Brand Positioning, 194–209. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429285820-13

Sharma, R. R., Kaur, T., & Syan, A. S. (2021). Market segmentation, targeting, and positioning. Sustainability Marketing, 119–132. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80071-244-720211009

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Unit III Case Study
Assignment Content

For this assignment, read Case 1 that is titled “The Japanese Steakhouse Experience,” which can be found on pages 118-119 of your textbook. Once you have read and reviewed the case scenario, respond to the following questions with thorough explanations and well-supported rationales:

Thinking about the segmentation process that could utilize demographic, behavioral, geographic, and psychographic criteria, explain how you would segment the market for Benihana. Taking this one step further, apply the segmentation strategies you just examined, and describe the target market(s).

The Benihana Case Study

Explain the positioning approach used by Benihana.
Assuming you are interested in creating a restaurant that would compete with Benihana, describe your restaurant, beginning with the product, the style of the physical restaurant, and the types of marketing communications (specifically the advertisements) that you might utilize to reach the target market.
Explain how Benihana and your new restaurant use advertising to enhance the concept of integrated marketing communication (IMC) within the restaurants’ marketing programs. Within your explanation, include a look at the theoretical aspects of IMC.
Thinking about the business-to-business (B2B) aspect, explain how Benihana and your new restaurant could use advertising to enhance the concept of IMC within the restaurants’ marketing programs that would be aimed at the B2B market. This might entail marketing to a shopping mall’s management staff in order to be able to open a Benihana in those locations.

Your response should be a minimum of two, double-spaced pages. References should include your textbook and a minimum of one additional, credible source. All sources used, including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations and be cited per APA Style guidelines. Make certain to include a title page and a references page.