Demand, and Strategic Planning in the COVID-19 Era

Introduction

In the recent pandemic era of COVID 19, there is increasing demand for masks across the globe, where the individuals fight against corona virus. It is one of the important equipment for the individuals where all the people try to wear masks for being safe and secured (Margherita, Sharifi and Caforio, 2020). The aim of the study is to design and develop the masks in the market as the demand for the quality masks is increasing over the period of time. During social distancing and lock down phase, the sales volume of masks is also rising rapidly and this study is effective to describe the market condition and future market trend for the product masks. The study also provides a scope to develop further strategic planning of producing quality masks and branding the new masks in the market to attract the individuals and make the business successfully. The entrepreneurs in this regard try to launch the new company in the market by launching quality mask with latest design. It further influence the leader to strategies their business and acknowledge the actual needs and preferences of the clients in the market. Through this study, it is possible to analyse the use of masks in NHS where the doctors, medical staff members, nurses and social workers are wearing masks and it is necessity for them to control infection. On the other hand, recently, purchasing different masks become fashion for some customers who try to make purchase decision for the quality and unique designed masks in the market. Both the market trend for masks will be explored and it further provides a scope to the strategic planning for successful branding of the masks in the market.

Recent market trend

Surgical masks are generally referred to the surgical face mask which are predominantly utilised by the medical practitioners during the health care procedures to prevent harmful germs. The quality and efficacy to protect the face are high and it is labelled as surgical masks. It is utilised to maintain safety for pollution as well. The surgical masks in the market are renowned and its demand is also increasing over the period of time where the health care professionals are using the masks during providing patient care. Adoption of surgical masks raise concern among the people and its implementation is conducted with strict norms across the medical institution to ensure hygiene (Kennedy et al., 2020). Before pandemic, the health care professionals adopted the surgical masks to fight against germs and other infections, pollution as well. The masks reduce the risks for both the wearer and patients by limiting the spread of infection and it is protective measures for the medical staff, where they can secure their lives and serve the health care services to all the patients safely. Due to recent pandemic changes, there is increasing demand of the masks where the individuals are fighting against the virus (Leung, Lam and Cheng, 2020). The perception of the individuals changes over time due to such pandemic era and in this regard the perception is towards safety, wearing surgical mask and maintaining norms under such critical situation. The revenue of the mask producer and manufacturer is increasing over the period of time, here the individual become concerned about wearing masks. Rising relevance of infectious diseases also raise demand for the masks across the globe (Kennedy et al., 2020).

The outbreak of COVID 19 is acting as catalyst to the market growth for masks and there is significant change in the first and second quarter of 2020 where the infections has been spreading rapidly and the individuals are concerned of taking safety protections efficiently by using masks, sanitizer and gloves. European and East Asia nations are also doing efficient jobs in raising awareness in the market so that the individuals can wear mask and take safety measures to stay safe (Koonin, 2020). Government of international nations and the health care organisations are also working collaboratively regarding raising awareness of wearing masks. Europe is projected as highest market share in purchasing masks and health care sector is also doing great job to increase concern. Hence, the demand for the masks is hereby increasing at a high rate. Asia Pacific - consisting of East Asia, South Asia, and Oceania is expected to have high growth and market value in masks. It further influences the entrepreneurs to brand new masks collection in the market to raise further awareness in wearing masks so that the people can live safely. It is hereby beneficial for the business leader to launch the new masks in the market and retain the customers for long run.

Contextual issues

In the recent years, there are many companies offering different masks in the market, and the individuals increase intention is also increasing over the period of time. The organisations such as 3M, and Medline Industries, Inc., Honeywell International Inc., Medline Industries, Inc., Halyard Health (Owens & Minor, Inc.), Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc., Moldex-Metric Inc., Kowa Company Ltd., etc., which are efficient to provide high quality masks in the market. The major types of the masks are such as Surgical Mask, N95 Respirators, Face Mask, Full-Face Mask, Laryngeal Masks and Anaesthesia Masks. All the masks are medical masks and in the recent years, the individuals are concerned about wearing mask. However, there are certain issues in the market for which the individuals and the organisational are suffering (Kennedy et al., 2020). There are presence of low quality and fake products in the market where there are duplicate companies producing low quality masks in the market. It is harmful for the individuals to wear duplicate or low quality masks (Kumar et al., 2020). The organisations are also facing difficulties for such practice where their sales volume and profitability is being affected negatively. There are duplicate and low quality masks at lower price where the individual choose wrong masks for their protection. These are the major issues in the market where the individuals may face further issues in skin for choosing duplicate masks. On the other hand, there is still lack of concerning some parts of world, where the individuals are not wearing masks. It is high time to raise awareness among the individuals for wearing masks and it is beneficial to protect the lives of the people.

Creating planning to introduce masks for health care professionals

The organisational entrepreneurs aim at branding masks in the market for managing the organisational activities and run the business strategically. The National Health Service or NHS is concerned in raising awareness in the market to save peoples live and in this regard the surgical masks, N95 are also utilising by the health care professionals in order to maximise safety measures at the health care institutions. The health and social care professionals are concerned about infection control and traditionally before COVID 19; they also wear masks for their safety and security (Stephens et al., 2020). To tackle with pollution, wearing masks is also mandatory for the professionals and in the health and social care industry it is necessary for the doctors, nurses, social care workers as well as other nursing homes staff to wear masks continuously in order to protect human body and stop spreading infections. In this regard, the business is trying to promote masks in the market and increase the sales volume in long run. The entrepreneurs would like to launch quality masks including the surgical masks and N95 as well as full face protection shield in order to support the health care workers with safety measures. It is the major aim of the business to promote the masks in the market and maintains its quality to protect the human life from germs and infections.

It is hereby one of the successful business planning to design full face protection shield, face masks and N95 masks to provide high quality products to the individuals. It is beneficial for the business to support the health and social care professionals as well as provide quality products to the individuals in order to satisfy them in long run. The business idea to launch quality masks is effective and beneficial as there is increasing demand for masks in the market over the period of time due to the recent pandemic era. It also provides a scope to the entrepreneurs to maintain good brand image and secure future sustainable development

Developing strategies to introduce masks for fashion statement

Apart from the surgical masks and N95, face shield and full face masks, using masks become a fashion statement in the recent years. The individuals are wearing different designed masks to protect themselves as well as ensure fashionable products. It is also another business strategy in the recent years where there are many small and medium sized organisations focusing on starting their business in reducing masks. The design and quality of the mask differ from each other’s and this further influence the entrepreneurs to design diverse masks and maintain product diversity in long run (Stephens et al., 2020). It is beneficial for the company to promote the diverse masks in the market and retain the customers in long run. There are strategies to promote diverse masks with different design, quality of the materials used to produce masks and the type of masks. There are also diverse materials, such as organic colours, cotton materials or others through which the entrepreneurs are able to maintain product diversity and retain the customers for their quality products.

The entrepreneur mainly focuses on attracting the customers who has the tendency to purchase different deigned masks for fashion statement. In this regard product diversification strategy is effective for the organisation to manage the branding of new masks in the market and attract the diverse customers segment as well for running the organisation efficiently. The new firm must focus on customer’s segmentation in this regard with the fashionable masks. In the recent years, during summer, the simple and good collection of masks are in high demand and thus the organisation must aims at designing the masks with light colours and lightweight materials so that they can use it freely (Margherita, Sharifi and Caforio, 2020). There is a cotton material and other animal printed materials which are utilise to design the masks. Assert from that, the organic colour masks and simple one colour masks are also produced which have strong market base in the recent years. Initially, there is high demand for the surgical masks and N95 even in the social communities. However, recently, the choice and preferences of the customers move towards designed masks, which is simple and good to wear and carry it successfully. Thus, designing the masks with effective colours, organic materials and creative design are effective to promote the business and ensure brand expansion in long run.

The strategy of designed masks for fashion statements is hereby beneficial for the organisation to launch new and innovative masks in the market and target the customers for influencing their purchase decision making behaviour. In this regard, customer’s segmentation is mandatory for the entrepreneurs to promote new masks with latest design and in this regard segmentation can be conducted on the basis of age, gender, income status, demographic background and location. These are effective factors to understand the needs and preferences of the customers. In this regard, the company will target all the age group and design the masks for kids, teenagers, middle aged erosion and old age, so that would be a huge variety of masks available in the market and it is possible for the customers to choose the best masks for their protection (Almazrouei and Yassin, 2020). On the other hand, as per gender, both male and female members are targeted as well as per the income class, all the income group, including low and middle income class as well as high income earners, where there would be different masks at different price range, so that the individuals can afford them and wear for their protection. In order to fulfil the needs and preferences of the customers, the company will design a variety of masks with different colours, creative design and organic materials (Margherita, Sharifi and Caforio, 2020).

Developing branding strategy for masks

It is mandatory for the business to strategies the whole process and in this regard product diversification provides a scope to the company to penetrate the market and attract the audiences. The organisation must focus on using cotton fabric and high quality organic materials to reduce the masks. Choosing simple and creative design for the masks is also effective for the company to develop fashionable masks and retain the consumers in long run (Margherita, Sharifi and Caforio, 2020). The organisational also set competitive price so that the customers can afford the products and maintains safety in a fashionable way. Hereby, product strategy and pricing are effective factors that reshape the business activities and help the entrepreneurs to promote innovative masks in the market (Stretton, 2019). The organisation also develops the distribution network to serve the customers within effective time. Strong distribution network and hiring efficient distributors are necessary to secure brand position and deliver high quality masks to the customers.

The promotional activities provide a scope to the business entrepreneurs to manage their operations and promote the masks efficiently in the market. Social media promotional campaign is necessary to be arranged efficiently, so that it is possible to raise awareness in the society and influence the customers to wear masks for safety and protection of others. The promotional campaign is also fruitful to influence the purchase decision of the clients, where they are willing to purchase the designed masks. It becomes a fashion statement, where the organisation focus on creating designed masks to attract the audiences and increase organisational sales volume. On the other hand, social media advertisement through Facebook posts is also beneficial for the company to manage their activities and promote designed masks in the market. Hence, the promotional activities are crucial for the business to launch designed masks and retain the clients for long run (Phornlaphatrachakorn, 2019). There is increasing sales volume of the masks and strong market growth which further influence the firm to promote more designer masks in the market and influence the purchase decision of the clients. In the recent years, developing organisational best and handle the online sales would also be beneficial for the firm to promote the designer masks, where the organisation can share the pictures and information related to the masks and attract more audiences in future.

Discussing the future trends

As per the recent market trend, wearing masks is mandatory for all the individuals in the society to protect themselves and also protect others in the society. It is the responsibility of the individuals to raise awareness and wear mask for creating better living environment for all the social communities (Margherita, Sharifi and Caforio, 2020). In order to fight against such pandemic situation, it is mandatory for the individuals to take protective actions by wearing masks, face shield and maintains social distancing, as well as using gloves and sanitizer. Hence, wearing masks become necessity for all the individuals and recently it becomes fashion statement for some groups of customers, where the consumers would like to wear different innovative mask for protection. Hence, in the recent phase the demand for masks in increasing at a rapid rate and it is beneficial for the company to design the masks as per the requirements and personal preferences of the customers in the market (Stretton, 2020). It has also been predicted that, in near future 2025 to 2030, using designed masks become a trend and there would be high demand for the masks in the market, where the individuals try to grab the designed masks as per their personal choices. Hence, it would be one of the creative business ideas for the entrepreneurs to launch new products in the market and retain the customers for long run. The entrepreneurs must focus on designing good quality masks to attract the audiences and satisfy them in long run by delivering quality masks at affordable prices (Margherita, Sharifi and Caforio, 2020).

Conclusion and recommendations

It can be concluded that, the demand and market growth for masks is high in the recent years where the individuals are concerned about using masks for protecting their lives and fighting against the pandemic situation. The market across the international countries is also growing rapidly as well as the organisations producing masks are also flourishing with high growth and market development. The market for designed mask is increased with the high demand for the surgical mask and N95, where the individuals prefer to wear designed masks for different purpose. There are different qualities of masks, organic colours, animal printed and other cotton materials masks which attract the individuals in the market. In this regard, it would be beneficial for the entrepreneurs to design the creative masks for all the individuals including kids, teenagers, middle aged and old aged person and promote the masks in the market successfully. In this regard, the product diversification strategy is effective for the company to penetrate the market and set effective price to attract more audiences in the market.

In addition to this, the organisation would have the opportunity to expand the business through online e-commerce activities, where there is increasing sales volume for the designed masks in the market. The company in this regard must focus on social media advertisement to promote the designed masks in the market and attract the audiences in future. Arranging Facebook posts as well as YouTube videos are also effective to attract the customers and share the information about the quality of masks, design, type of face masks and other brand related information so that it would be possible to influence the purchase decision making behaviour of the consumers. Moreover, raising awareness through attractive pictures of the masks and sharing utilities of the masks are also beneficial for the social communities as a whole to fight against such pandemic situation and wear mask to protect their lives.

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