Last month there have been many complaints from the public and the press about there advertisement about sports equipments for children, this was so because they had a good idea of giving away sports equipment to the less fortunate children, when they brought Cadburys chocolate bars. The problem with this was that you would have to eat about 20 chocolate bars to get one football.
Opportunities
There are many directions Cadburys could take in the future, for example they could go into the main meal or dessert type of confectionary like Heinz Bake Beans have with their product lines. This would be quite easy to a company of this size as they have got the reputation, the money and the fact that they are a large company.
Threats
The main threat to Cadburys is competition. Due to the fast pass of the confectionary section there are many competitors. Each competitor has new ideas and has a different marketing strategy to the rest, one companies may be better than the others so there has to be an increase in risk taking. If risks are to be taken place, by entering a new product into the market then there may be some profit loss as marketing the new product may cost a lot of money and also the product has to be suitable for customer needs. Rising costs of raw materials may also cause a threat to Cadburys due to inflation, this will affect the business as prices will have to be increased for the production and therefore if they don’t increase the price of the final product then they will make a loss. By increasing he price of the product then they may loss customers to other competitive brands as their prices may be lower. This will affect my final marketing strategy as I will have to look at the effects of the rising inflation of the raw materials to the prices customers would be happy to pay for the product.
PEST
The PEST analysis will examine the external environment and the global factors that may affect a business. It can provide a quick and visual representation of the external pressures facing a business, and their possible constraints on strategy.
Political
There are many political developments Cadburys will have to look at when producing the final marketing strategy, both regionally, and nationally and also internationally.
For instance Cadburys will have to look at the Weights and Measures Act which states that you have to have on the labeling of the package a round about weight of the final product. This is an international Law which all businesses have to keep to. Regional factors can come from just environmental acts, where their factories are built and whether it is built on an environmentally stable area. Also will the government increase financial support to such a large company if rising costs do occur?
Economic
The marketing strategy will have to involve economic factors and their effect on the business. Consumer activity can change throughout seasons in the year, their spending patterns and willingness to spend can all depend on interest rates, and this will affect the strategy by having prices rising and falling and income monthly being vary. Does a new product have the need to come on the market?
Economic variables which I have already briefly talked about can change the way customer needs apply. Inflation is the main, prices will go up for raw materials and production but customers wont want prices to increase in the final product. I will need to make a balanced price incase inflation does increase by a lot to stop there being a loss. Unemployment levels can also affect a company, if the company is situation in a low unemployment level area then it would be harder to find people willing to work the areas of Cadburys Company and will have to look away from the local public, but if unemployment levels are high then there may not be a need for more staff.
Social
If there is a social change taking place outside Cadburys then it might affect the way a strategy may be run or even designed, for example if there was a fall in birth rate and the life expectancy increased, then people will be living longer this will then cause a larger demand on confectionary for the elderly and middle aged consumers rather than the younger population. But if there was an increase in birth rates and a decrease in life expectancy then there would be a greater demand for confectionary within the younger population.
People dieting will also cause a big problem. Statistics in the last few years have announced that obesity has increased; this therefore means that the demand for chocolate will have fallen as more people will want a healthier option rather than a chocolate bar.
Due to fashion and taste people change their minds every month to want the rich and the famous eat and wear. Although chocolate is not directly involved, it will still affect the choice people make on which brand consumers will buy. Adverts and promotions can also affect the way people spend their money, if there is a famous actress on a Cadburys advert then people are more likely to want to buy that product if they think someone the admire is consuming it.
Technological
From the early days of Cadburys, technology has changed dramatically. It has become quicker and more efficient to this day. Production lines have been swopped for machines which can produce the whole product in one quick easy procedure. From this if extra demand is wanted from consumers then it will be easier to produce the product quicker than the original hand made chocolates. Communication has improved as well as marketing the product through word of mouth has now changed to advertising in magazines, newspapers, bill boards, television and even the internet. This will help with the strategy as it will be easier to promote the product to the consumers.
