Findings: As head of Marketing for White Associates I have been investigating the crisp market for Josso’s Snacks Company Limited to introduce a new crisp. In my secondary research I was looking for information on what other companies used to attract the consumer and for current trends in the market. I looked at advertising in Magazines, and on posters, and on television and radio as well as checking out sites on the world wide web.
When it came to advertising all the sites were clearly aimed at the younger consumer. I took this as a sign that this was the segment of the market I should recommend targeting.
was a very helpful site giving excellent help to retailers on advertising, pricing and recommended ranges for different regions and different outlets. It even included a margin calculator for the tradesman. It was a very useful site for assessing the approach of one of the main producers in this area.
www.geocities.com/ukcg0 was a very useful site showing that there are vast number of crisp snacks on the market, and showing that some have only regional outlets limited to very specific parts of the country. It gave an independent comparative taste assessment alongside price and weight of packets.
Another useful site was which was a similar site to the geocities with independent reviews of the products on the American market where extraordinary flavours are plentiful, and there are an enormous number of manufacturers.
On some sites such as www.pringles.com there was very little information on price, packaging, promotion or placing but was all about attracting a certain market. In the case of Pringles the site was a game site aimed at the 7 – 18 year old market.
is an original site where one can purchase crisps online and have them delivered to you. It had a selection of games for consumers. It was the only site I visited that allowed me to buy online.
Primary Research
This is research carried out to provide data for a specific purpose through direct investigation.
The main methods of gaining primary data are via observation, survey or experiment.
Observation includes looking at and recording people’s actions in response to similar products. Although it enables you to get direct information about peoples’ choices and shopping habits it is very time consuming and lacks any information about what is behind their choices.
Surveys can take many forms and include a variety of information. Questions are put to consumers and the answers recorded and analysed. The format can be varied from a questionnaire to be filled in either over the phone, or in person, or by post to a personal interview. All methods are quite time consuming but have the advantage of allowing detailed information to be gathered, and different options to be explored. I will use a questionnaire to gain primary data and I will think carefully about the limitations. It is important to get the balance of the questions right to gain the information I need. I will have to make sure that I get a big enough response to make the answers statistically significant. I will need to ask people from a variety of age groups to complete my questionnaire.
Experiments can be used to test products to gain information as to the popularity of a particular product. I will do an experiment to test the popularity of the different types of crisps currently on the market. I will use the results to make recommendations to the manufacturer.
Copies of the questionnaire and taste test are included in appendix 1.
Findings: In my work as Marketing Director of White Associates researching the crisp market for Josso’s Snacks Company Limited I aimed my primary research at trying to find out more details of particular areas of consumer needs and what affects their choices.
Questionnaire
My secondary research indicated that young people were the major consumers of crisps so I chose to conduct my survey at the Harrodian School choosing a random sample of pupils in years 6 to 11.
- 70% of them were male and 30% female.
2. Half the people in my survey were under 15 and half were over 15.
3. From my questionnaire I discovered that 20% buy 2 – 3 packets per day, 40% buy 0 –1 packets per day and the remaining 40 % buy 0 – 3 packets per week.
- All the people questioned ate crisps 30% eating 1 – 2 packets each day, 60% eating 3-4 per week and 10% eating 14 packets per week.
- 80% bought their crisps at the newsagents or corner shop and 20 % at the supermarket.
6. The most popular brand was Walkers 70%, followed by Skips 20%, and 10% chose other.
7.
There was interest from everyone about different flavours with 50% selecting Crispy Duck, 30% Barbeque Sauce and 20% Roast Beef.
8. 70% said that they would be interested in or attracted by different shapes.
- When asked to match a particular colour bag to a particular flavour it was clear that Walkers are influential as 80% of the contributors selected green as indicating salt and vinegar.
10. Price clearly matters with 20% saying they would pay only 20p for a standard bag of crisps, 60 % would pay 30p and 20% would pay 40p.
11. The final question asked about different types of promotions. The most attractive was price, with extra free coming second, a competition on the packet third and a free gift last.
Taste Test
My next piece of primary research was a taste testing. The members of a selected class were given four different makes of crisp to taste. They were asked which crisp tasted best, which tasted worst, which had the best appearance, which had the nicest texture and which crisp was the most fatty. Finally they were asked to guess the brand of the crisps in the test.
The crisps included in the test were all a plain salted variety from four different manufacturers: Crisp A – Golden Wonder
Crisp B - Walkers
Crisp C - Tesco value
Crisp D - Highlander
1. Highlander proved to be the most popular for the best tasting crisp with no votes for Tesco Value.
2. The answer as to which tasted worse was more clear-cut with The majority of the votes going to Tesco value crisps and two people selecting the previous favourite Highlander.
3. The crisp with the best appearance was Highlander.
4. The crisp with the nicest texture was also Highlander. Once again the Tesco Value crisps did not score at all.
5. The most fatty crisp was Tesco value by a unanimous vote.
6. When guessing the brands:
Crisp A was correctly identified by 2 people as Golden Wonder, 5 thought it was Walkers, 1 thought it was a supermarket own brand and 4 didn’t know.
7 people correctly identified crisp B as Walkers, with 1 vote for supermarket own brand, and 3 don’t knows.
Crisp C was correctly identified by everyone as the supermarket own brand crisp.
Everyone identified crisp D incorrectly. 7 said don’t know, 1 Pringles, 3 McCoys and 1 Supermarket own brand.
Recommendations for Marketing Strategy
My secondary research showed me that there are a large number of crisps on the market, but not all of these are well known or available everywhere in the UK. The USA has many times more types and new ones appear on the market regularly. The market is a very popular one for young consumers (the potential target group) who like change and novelty, and I think there is certainly room for a new type of crisp. One of the facts I found on the Walker’s web site was that the salty snack market has grown by 35% since 1992.
The Tayto crisp site that I visited while doing my field research also stated that ‘In general, flavours have got stronger and more sophisticated, led by the demand from consumers for intense, robust flavours.’ My primary research backed up this opinion and showed me that there is interest among the target group for different flavours and shapes. I recommend that the new crisp have an unusual shape and a different flavour from the more common types. In the survey crispy duck was a flavour not commonly found in the crisp market in my secondary research and was the most popular choice in the survey. I recommend using Crispy Duck as the new flavour. I recommend careful control to avoid a fatty taste, as the least popular crisp in the taste test was associated with the crisp that also tasted the most fatty. I feel that a completely unique flavour will increase sales sufficiently to balance out the investment in production.
The survey showed that many of the target group consumed several packets each week and this shows that the smaller packets are popular. Price was also important so I would recommend a bag size of 30g. I would recommend avoiding packet designs with colours that are predominately blue or green as these were shown in my questionnaire to have strong associations with particular flavours of crisps. Texture was also an important ingredient in my taste test and I recommend high quality packaging to maintain the crisp texture for the time between packaging and consuming. The quality is important as it was clear in my taste test that the average crisp eater considers this makes a difference to their enjoyment. They also indicated that they were not just interested in the lowest price although price was the thing that affected choice most.
It is essential to get the pricing of a product right. Too expensive and you may price yourself out of the market, too cheap and your product may be considered undesirable. The price must also cover overheads and give a profit.
Skim pricing is where products are sold at high prices to maximise profits. Producers of luxury goods to give the illusion that the product is very desirable, and to recover high research and development costs generally use it. It is not really appropriate for this product.
Cost-plus pricing is where you work out the unit cost and add a percentage profit mark-up. It is a good strategy for a retailer to use but Josso’s want to set the price of their product themselves.
Competition based pricing involves looking at the prices the competition are charging and setting the price at a similar level. My secondary research gave me plenty of information on which to base competition pricing. The average size of the 30 makes of packets that I looked at was 30.55g and the average price was 27.56p.
Penetration pricing is commonly used for fast moving consumable goods (fmcg) where a low price is charged initially to try to gain a share of the market. The hope is that high turnover will compensate for a low profit margin.
Although penetration pricing is common in the fmcg market I am recommending Competition based pricing to Josso’s because I think they will get a better return if they are seen as a quality manufacturer on a par with the best-known crisp producers.
My primary research also showed that although price was the most frequently chosen purchase attraction most of my sample in my survey said they would choose to pay 30p rather than 20p or 40 p for a standard size packet of crisps. As this is the most common price I think that a cheap price is seen as offering a lower quality or less tasty product. My recommendation is that they price the product at 30p.
It is important to have the new crisps easily available to the target group. My examination of Josso’s shows that they already have a small following for their other snacks in the South East of England. I recommend that Josso’s build on their current market and use their new product to establish them firmly in this area.
My questionnaire showed that my target group mostly bought their crisps in newsagents and corner shops so I recommend that these retail outlets be supplied directly by the company. My research showed that not all of the crisps eaten were bought directly by the participants in the survey (it is likely that parents purchased the difference in number between packets eaten and packets bought), so I recommend that the company also supply the major supermarket chains.
My secondary research showed me that the large companies supply their products to a very large variety of retail outlets. By targeting a smaller variety of retailers the company can use its more limited resources to promote the new product in those places.
Advertising is a popular type of promotion strategy but its disadvantage is that it can be expensive. Television advertising reaches a huge number of people but is very expensive. Newspapers are relatively cheap but are limited to black and white and are not frequently read by the target group. Posters can be reasonably cheap, are seen frequently but have only a short-term effect. Radio is cheaper than television and reaches a large number of people. I recommend that the company have a short radio campaign on local radio programmes targeted at the young.
Personal selling where products are sold door to door is not appropriate for this product as it is not an ethical or effective way to target the young.
Public Relations involve an agent trying to get good news about the product into the press. This can backfire, as the company has no real control over what is published and can be an expensive mistake.
The most effective form of promotion for this product is sales promotion. This method aims to give a short-term boost to the product which is often effective in raising its profile. I recommend this approach to Josso’s snacks. In my research the most attractive option selected was price followed by 25% extra free. I recommend that for a limited time of two weeks the company run a ‘5p off’ offer. This would reduce the price temporarily as in penetration pricing to make it desirable to try. One month later I recommend another short-term promotion offer of 25% extra free. After this the product should be well established into its growth phase and the target group should know the product.
I would also recommend creating a web site as this is an excellent way of reaching the target group, and raising awareness of the product. For promotion purposes I recommend I site similar to the one designed by Taytocrisps as being attractive to the young and unusual.
Evaluation
I am going to look at my original aims and see whether I have done what I was asked to do. I am also going to assess whether there are areas that I could improve on, and things I could have done differently.
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To find if there is consumer interest in a new product. My questionnaire was completed willingly and with enthusiasm indicating consumer interest. Although my sample were keen and interested I think I should have taken my questionnaire to more schools from different socio-economic backgrounds. My secondary research showed there to be many web sites devoted to crisps indicating consumer interest.
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To find the type of product the consumer may be interested in. My primary research indicated two areas of positive interest; shape and flavour. It also demonstrated an awareness of value for money and an interest in quality. I was pleased that I included the question about association to different coloured packets as it enabled me to make recommendations that avoided a potentially expensive mistake.
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To assess whether the market has room for a new product. Although my research showed a thriving market with new products arriving all the time I could have checked whether the smaller producers were sustaining their market share or whether they were ‘one hit wonders’.
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To evaluate, recommend and advise on the marketing strategy. I produced a firm marketing strategy based on solid research. I could have extended my primary research and made it more thorough.
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To increase the market share of the crisp manufacturing business for Josso’s. Only time will see if my strategy worked.
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To improve the image of the business. My recommendations are based on research but only time and feedback will enable full assessment of this area.
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To recommend a pricing strategy. My strategy was based on my assessment of the current market and my research. I also took into consideration a variety of pricing methods available to the company.
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To recommend a promotional strategy. My research gave indicators of the type of promotions that appeal to the target group, and I based my recommendations on this. I wish my primary research had been more extensive over a greater range of socio-economic backgrounds, and that I had done more taste tests with different age groups and backgrounds.
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To research and recommend the most suitable outlet for the product. My primary and secondary research led me to my recommendation for outlets.
Summary
I think I fulfilled the aims of my action plan and came up with viable recommendations for the company Josso’s Snacks. There are some things I would do differently. I would devote more time to the survey part of my research, targeting a greater number of people in different areas and from different socio-economic backgrounds. I would ask more and slightly different questions. In particular I would liked to have known: more about the purchasing patterns of the group
more about their reasons for selecting the crisps that they favoured.
whether packet design affects purchasing.