Whittakers’ Honey and Nut ice cream range is a unique product on the market. This allows for Whittakers’ to penetrate the market and receive a significant share of the ice cream market as there is no other like it.
Whittakers’ is now a known and trusted brand name within the total consumer market. This will be a strength of the product as it will immediately be recognised by the consumer and Whittakers’ existing customers are likely to buy the ice cream.
Weaknesses:
Ice cream is a highly perishable product on many different levels. First of all the mixture must be pasteurized by heating at a temperature between 82ºC and 85ºC for 15 seconds, and then rapidly cooling it to eliminate potentially harmful bacteria. After a few more steps the ice cream is packaged and frozen at a temperature of -25ºC to allow the ice cream to harden. From this point the ice cream cannot reach a temperature higher than -18ºC. So a weakness of distributing ice cream is that it is highly perishable, it must be kept in a controlled environment to avoid melting and bacteria growth.
Although Whittakers’ Honey and Nut ice cream is a new and unique product, and has put consumers’ interests in the product, this factor may also work against the ice cream range. Consumers being unfamiliar with the product may wish to stay with their traditional ice cream choice. In this case, Whittakers’ will need to build familiarity with consumers and convince them that Whittakers’ Honey and Nut ice cream is the better choice, compared with their conventional choice, therefore creating customer loyalty.
Opportunities:
The opportunity that Whittakers’ health foods have taken up is to provide a healthy option for ice cream consumers. Whittakers’ has recognised the demand for a healthier option for ice cream consumption and has come up with the Honey and Nut ice cream range, with five different varieties, including Macadamia, Pecan, Cashew, Hazelnut and Almond. This low fat nutritious ice cream product meets the demands of the consumer.
Consumers weren’t only seeking and demanding for a healthier ice cream product. Whittakers’ has recognised that ice cream demand has become less seasonal, serving as a regular snack thorough out the year, peoples level of disposable income has risen allowing them to buy non-essential food products such as ice cream frequently, Australia is one of the largest consumers of ice cream, attributed to the warm climate, ice cream suits a modern lifestyle with it’s ability to be quickly prepared with a meal, and also the ice cream industry is one of the fastest growing in Australia. With this in mind Whittakers’ health foods have the opportunity to increase their entire market share in the Australian food industry by having a segment of this sector.
In this ice cream range, Whittakers’ health foods has the opportunity to produce a ‘take away’ product to be sold in small supermarkets, corner stores, service stations and take away stores. This version will be a small 200ml tub of ice cream coming with a spoon.
There are many other opportunities Whittakers’ has with releasing this ice cream range, other flavours may be developed, ice creameries may be opened, other frozen snacks may be developed and so on.
Example of the packaging style which will vary in size for the different volumes:
Threats:
Threats to Whittakers’ Honey and Nut ice cream range could be a cheaper similar product that may come on to the market, this may cause some of Whittakers’ customers to go else where for their ice cream. In order to combat this problem, Whittakers’ must create a brand loyalty with their customers to ensure that their customers don’t move from their product in the event of another, similar product entering the market.
Other threats to the business may be raw material shortage or expense, this is an economic issue. Whittakers’ Health foods may need to take their production of the ice cream over seas or they may need to raise the cost of their product, which would therefore mean loss of customers.
Existing threats to the Honey and Nut ice cream range are products such as frozen yoghurt, yoghurt, sorbets and other healthier frozen dairy products. All these products will have an existing; loyal customer base as Whittakers’ Health foods enters the ice cream market.
Although ice cream products are seeing a less seasonal demand for the product, the weather still poses a threat to Whittakers’ Honey and Nut ice cream range as sales decline in the cooler months of winter and rise during the warmer months of summer.
Product Life cycle:
Introduction:
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Product: the product range will be released in five different Honey and nut flavours there will be:
- Honey & Macadamia
- Honey & Cashew
- Honey & Pecan
- Honey & Almond
- Honey & Hazelnut
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Place: Whittakers’ honey and nut ice cream range will be released in various large super market chains such as Woolworths, Coles and Bi-Lo. This will allow the product to be in a low risk environment where consumers will be gaining large amounts of awareness of the product as large supermarkets have high amounts of customers. Placement costs will be high in order to achieve break-even point.
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Promotion: like placement, promotion costs will be high during this time so the business will be able to achieve break-even point on the product. This will be of very high priority to the business. It will initially result in high costs and low profits.
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Price: for the introduction, Whittakers’ has the option of penetration pricing or price skimming. Although the Honey and Nut range has a huge range has a unique flavour, Whittakers’ still needs to break through and penetrate the ice cream market in order t gain market share. Whittakers’ will need to gain customers from their competitors who already have a loyal customer base.
Growth:
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Product: During the growth phase, Whittakers’ will be aiming to maintain customer awareness of the product, build brand familiarity and develop customer loyalty. By this time it should be becoming obvious as to which of the five flavours is the most popular. The product will remain the same.
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Place: Whittakers’ Honey and Nut ice cream range will remain in large supermarket chains, and distribution costs will remain high.
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Promotion: Promotion costs won’t be as high as they were during introduction but, will remain at a high level to maintain consumer awareness and develop customer loyalty.
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Price: During the growth period, consumer awareness is still being developed so prices will rise slightly but still remain low.
Maturity:
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Product: as similarly favoured products enter the market, Whittakers’ will need to remain competitive by offering the best quality product, the superior product. Whittakers’, now having an established brand and product will be able to become competitive through creativity. Whittakers’ can experiment with flavours such as chilli and chocolate, fruit and nut, and various fruit flavours. Whittakers’ will be able to increase their market share by making products such as frozen yoghurts.
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Place: Whittakers’ will now be able to increase their product distribution to smaller convenience stores, service stations and take away stores.
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Promotion: Promotion costs will fall to a minimum level during the maturity phase.
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Price: Price will be stable and at a higher level as there is high product awareness and customer loyalty during this time. Whittakers’ should be receiving the most profit from the product than ever before.
Post – Maturity: Product rapidly declines until non-existence.
Marketing Objectives:
As Whittakers’ health foods is a well established company and brand name, releasing an ice cream range would be in order to increase product range. Whittakers’ health foods already provides an extensive range of products and by releasing this range of products it allows them to have a share in different market segments. Having the Honey and Nut ice cream range also adds to the status of Whittaker’s health foods and being a unique product it should bring in good cash flow. Different marketing strategies will be adopted for this product range than with previous product ranges.
The marketing objectives for Whittakers’ health foods by releasing the Honey and Nut ice cream range will be determining the product range as well as increasing market share.
Target Market:
Whittakers’ Health foods will be selling to a concentrated market in releasing this healthy range of Honey and Nut ice cream. Whittakers’ target market for the Honey and Nut ice cream range will be health conscious women aged 18 – 34. The reasoning for this target market is that this age bracket of women is becoming increasingly health conscious and are looking for healthier options for their favourite foods. Women, as market research shows women in this age bracket are far more likely to snack on foods such as ice cream.
For promotional, the target market will be separated into two different age demographics, 18 – 26 and 27 – 34. These age groups will be marketed to differently. The 18 – 26 year olds will be marketed to in a young, fresh, bright and energetic way where as the 27 – 34 year olds will be marketed to in a ‘health conscious’ way, showing the nutritional value of the ice cream as the age group particularly wants to be healthy and stay healthy.
Specific Marketing strategies:
Product:
The Product that Whittakers’ health foods will be releasing is Honey and Nut ice cream. The product will be 99% fat free with 5 different flavours:
- Honey & Macadamia
- Honey & Cashew
- Honey & Pecan
- Honey & Almond
- Honey & Hazelnut
The products will be released in three different packaging styles:
- 2L tub sold in super markets
- 1L tub sold in super markets
- 200ml tub to be sold in small convenience stores, service stations and take-away stores
The product will be central to all promotional material and was developed for the target market.
This product will be of the highest quality using Australian produce. Quality is of great importance to Whittakers’ health foods, in order to stay competitive in the market.
Guarantee and customer service is a very important part of the product. There will be access to the existing Whittakers’ help line and complaint phone service. This will allow the customer to have questions answered about health foods, complain about problems with the product and connect with the company.
Price:
The recommended retail price (r.r.p.) of the Honey and Nut ice cream range will be:
- 2L tub r.r.p. approximately $5.00
- 1L tub r.r.p. approximately $3.00
- 200ml tub r.r.p. approximately $1.50
These prices will cover Whittakers’ production costs including initial set up costs, raw materials, labour, overhead expenses, administration and selling costs as well as allowing for reasonable profit for both Whittakers’ health foods and the retailer.
When the product range is released, Whittakers’ will use the pricing strategy of penetration pricing. As they are entering the ice cream market, they will need to set low prices in order to gain market share.
Promotion:
Whittakers’ health foods will use a number of different mediums in order to promote the Honey and Nut ice cream range. When the product range is launched, multiple forms of media advertising and personal sale will be used. Television commercials and brochures will be used in the introduction of the product range and will remain for the duration of the growth phase to increase consumer awareness and customer loyalty. These media forms will be pushing the customer to the products where as in store product testing will be pulling the consumer to the product. The in store taste testing will only be used during the introduction period in order to ensure maximum consumer awareness of the product.
Advertising will vary for the target markets different age demographics. Two different television commercials will be aired in order to reach these two different age demographics. The first to reach the younger 18 – 26 year old women will be reached by an ‘image’ advertisement, being young, vibrant, fast paced, exciting, “be free and stay free”. It will be different for the 27 – 34 year old women; they will be reached by an informational advertisement, telling them of the nutritional value so they can “be fit and stay fit”
During the introduction phase, Whittakers’ will run a promotion for a chance to win a weekend at a health retreat. This promotion goes along the line of the healthy product and helps promote the brand image.
Place:
In the introduction Phase, only the two large tubs of ice cream will be sold to large retail outlets such as Woolworths, Coles, and Bi-Lo. This will allow for the consumer to become aware of the product on a large scale. During the growth phase of the product, it will be released in its smaller size to small convenience stores, service stations and take-away stores.
Implementing, monitoring and controlling the marketing plan:
Financial forecasts:
The projected revenue of the product and forecast sales are difficult to determine as their accuracy depends on three different factors; the advantages the product has over the competitors, who the customers are and why they buy, the competitors and their strengths and weaknesses.
You can break down the expenditure of the product into three different categories, research and development costs, order getting costs and order filling costs. These costs will include the making of the product, the advertising, and the transportation and warehousing of the goods.
Implementing:
This is the process of turning the plans into actions and involves all the marketing activities that put the marketing plan to work. Successful implementation depends on how well it blends all its resources into a program that supports its marketing plan.
In order to implement this marketing plan the product needs to be developed by hiring new staff in order to produce the product, this production needs to be on time and meet the quota demanded from the wholesalers but production must not get so far ahead that inventory stocks get built up. The promotional strategies must also be implemented, and must be attracting consumers to the product so they buy it. The product must also be being distributed efficiently and correctly in order to avoid late arrivals and perishing.
Monitoring and controlling:
Monitoring and Controlling allows for the business to check whether or not it is on track with the marketing plan. His is absolutely necessary as it allows Whittakers’ Health foods to take the necessary actions to meet the marketing objectives. There are three tools that Whittakers’ health foods can use to monitor the implementation of the marketing plan. They are:
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Sales Analysis This breaks down the total sales by market segments to identify the strengths and weaknesses it different areas of sales. Business sales will be broken down into two segments; large supermarkets and small retailers.
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Market share analysis This compares Whittaker’s Health foods business sales with that of its competitors.
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Marketing Profitability analysis This analysis looks at the cost side of the promotion and the profitability of the products.