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| Unit 4 Individual Project | |
| Deliverable Length: | The body of the paper should be 6-8 pages |
| Details: |
Over the past three weeks you have successfully navigated the marketing process. You have an understanding of your customer needs and the marketing environment through research. You have developed a marketing strategy and begun development of the marketing mix including your product or service, its price and how it will be made available to your target market. Now your promotional decisions can be made based on these other elements in order to communicate your position to your customers. Over the past three weeks you have developed most of the components of a marketing program for your product. Now it is time to add the last few sections. The final plan should include: Definition of marketing (U1 DB)Introduction of your product/service (U1 DB)Situation Analysis – marketing environment forces impacting your product/service (U1 IP)Marketing Strategy – target market(s) and positioning (U2 DB & U2 IP)Product/Service overview and strategies to consider (U3 DB)Pricing Strategy (U4 DB)Distribution Channels (U3 IP) You will now add the Abstract, Introduction, Conclusion, and the Integrated Marketing Communications Mix, including: Overview of integrated marketing communicationsPromotion Mix Strategy – explain if you will use a push or pull strategy or both and whyMessage Strategy – decide what general message will be communicated to your target market across all promotional toolsPromotion Mix – choose at least three (3) promotional tools (advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, public relations or direct marketing). For each include:Why this promotional tool was chosen.Which forms of the promotional tool you will use and why (for example, in advertising you can use TV, radio, magazine, etc. and in direct marketing you can use direct mail, telemarketing, catalogs, etc.).Discussion of how your message strategy will be implemented using this promotional tool and the execution style. Your report MUST include a reference list. All research should be cited in the body of the paper. In-text citations and corresponding references should be included in your paper. For more information on APA, please visit the APA Lab. The paper should be written in third person; this means pronouns like “I”, “we”, and “you” are not appropriate. The use of direct quotes is strongly discouraged. Your assignment should contain a cover page, an abstract page and a reference page in addition to the body. The body of the paper should be 6-8 pages in length – starting with a brief one paragraph introduction and ending with a short conclusion. The entire submission will be 9-13 pages in length. Please submit your assignment as a Word document in APA format using the attached Template. |
Running Head: CHOCOLATE INDUSTRY 1
CHOCOLATE INDUSTRY 3
Chocolate industry
Latoya Rush
Marketing
AIU
10/10/12
There are various types of chocolate bars especially in the United States. These bars belong to different companies that all compete to get a niche in the market. However, due to the high number of entrants in this market, there is a lot of competition in the market for chocolate bars as some companies have already established themselves compared to others. To obtain a greater share of the market, massive marketing efforts are required from these new firms.
The three musketeers is one chocolate bar brand that is popular in the United States market and has been in the market for a long time; since 1932. What was appealing to most buyers of this chocolate piece since the early times was the fact that it was very big and was going for only 5 cents. Since then, the firm has continually made changes to this brand through introducing other brand extensions and this has saw the firm gain more customers and obtain a larger market share. This product belongs to the chocolate industry and due to competition; strategies must be applied if the product is to remain in the market (Smith, 2006).
This product is affected by the following market environmental forces; transportation costs, the cost associated with the cocoa that is used in the production of the chocolate bar, and finally, competition in the market for chocolates. All these factors affect the 3 musketeers chocolate bar brand as it interacts with consumers and the entire market (Groucutt, Forsyth & Leadley, 2004).
A) The price of cocoa
First of all, the price of cocoa is a very significant factor in the process of making chocolate bars. For instance, when the price of cocoa is set at a high price, it implies that the overall cost of the 3 musketeers piece of chocolate will be high and this can lead to the firm losing clients s they seek cheaper chocolate pieces. Generally, the price of cocoa as a raw material for the making of chocolate bars affects the pricing decision of the final product. Therefore, if a competitor of the 3 Musketeers such as dairy milk which is from Cadburys incurs lower production costs such as low costs of cocoa, then it will definitely charge cheaper prices for the chocolate bar brand. This will attract more customers especially those who are price sensitive, to purchase the cheaper brand (Smith, 2006). Therefore, the price of cocoa, as a raw material for the making of chocolate brands, affects the pricing decision of firms in the industry and therefore this affects the 3 musketeers chocolate product as it can either work for or against the competition for this chocolate brand.
B) Transportation costs
Transportation is very crucial to any product as it determines the time within which the product will be available to the consumers. Most importantly, transportation of products determines their pricing. When the costs for transportation are high may be due to a rise in the price of fuel, the overall costs of the product is affected and this also affects the buying decisions of consumers. Therefore, if the transportation costs for the three musketeers from the suppliers to the stores or retailers are high; this will affect the price of the product as this will be adjusted in the final commodity price (Michman & Mazze, 1998).Therefore, the best thing for the 3 musketeers chocolate bar company is to ensure that the supply chain is shorter to reduce the costs incurred in the supply chain as they affect the final commodity price. When the supply chain is shorter, the costs increase is lower and therefore the final product will not be expensive. This will therefore be advantageous to the firm as it will attract more and retain the existing customers.
C) Competition from other products
The other environmental force affecting this industry is competition. Competition is a major factor that affects all industries. However, in order for the 3 musketeers to stay at the top compared to other competitors in the market, the firm can use strategies such as charging lower prices for its products, and increasing the size of the commodity compared to that of the competitors while charging the same price as it will give them additional utility and attract more customers. The other strategy is to ensure that products are available as and when required by the customers (Michman & Mazze, 1998).
Explore strategies to overcome the threats
In order to outdo the threat such as competition from the market, the firm can increase the value of the product in the eyes of the consumers through; increasing the sweetness of the chocolate bar, coming up with more flavors for the product such as the mint flavor and the strawberry flavor. The company can also provide the customers with more value for the product by making the product with much healthier ingredients that are less harmful to the body; for example, reducing the sugar level and increasing the milk content of the chocolate bar. To reduce the high transportation costs that lead to a high price for the overall product, the firm can shorten the supply chain to cut down on the costs increment in the supply chin that leads to a high pricing for the product (Groucutt, Forsyth & Leadley, 2004).
Explore strategies to take advantage of the opportunities.
These strategies may include; using high quality products that are lowly priced to cut down on the costs. The firm can also maximize on the opportunities by getting into strategic talks with the best experts in the production sector of the product in order to gain helpful information for doing better (Groucutt, Forsyth & Leadley, 2004).
Conclusion
When thorough analysis of the environmental factors affecting the chocolate industry is conducted, there can be efficiency in terms of the delivery of the product to the final consumer and at a favorable price compared to that of the competitors.
References
Groucutt, J., Forsyth, P., & Leadley, P. (2004). Marketing: Essential principles, new realities. London [u.a.: Kogan Page.
Michman, R. D., & Mazze, E. M. (1998). The food industry wars: Marketing triumphs and blunders. Westport, Conn: Quorum.
Smith, A. F. (2006). Encyclopedia of junk food and fast food. Westport, Conn. [u.a.: Greenwood Press.
