Taking over the Marketing Department at Nestlé

University Degree Business and Administrative studies

Adam Riches Kit-Kat Coursework

Introduction

and Research Plan

After joining the Marketing Department at Nestlé, my first task that has been given to me is to re-evaluate Kit-Kat’s current image and attempt to improve it, to boost sales figures, which have been declining over the past few years. The Managing Director believes that sales have been on the decline due to the “rather traditional image”, which Kit-Kat possesses. The Managing Director of the company has asked me to carry out some market research, with the intention of using this to help Nestlé repackage and develop some new product ideas and promotional materials for Kit-Kat. After collecting together the necessary research and analysing the market, I’m going to create some new product designs that comply with what the public would want from the product.

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In order to work out what newly modified product would sell well and successfully, I will have to undertake some market research to see what the consumers want in an adapted version of the Kit-Kat. I will gather this information by asking current buyers of the Kit-Kat if they’d want a modification made to the Kit-Kat, and if so what minor modifications they would appreciate in their chocolate bar, such as adding an extra ingredient or changing the shape of the present bar. I will use primary and secondary research for my investigation, to determine what the Kit-Kat consumer would most value. The information that I will need to acquire will be on current and recent sales of products from the same market, to gain knowledge of what consumers really want from their bar of chocolate. For example, if sales of Mars bars are on the increase, it might be because the buyers like the layer of caramel. I’ll also need to find out what style of packaging most appeals to the public, because Kit-Kat needs packaging that will stick out ahead of market opposition, whilst on the shelf. I will attempt to gain this information by interviewing members of different sections of the public, to see what their personal preferences are. Interviewing as many different segments of the public as possible will give me a better overview of the publics needs, but I also need to find out what segment of the public purchases more Kit-Kat’s. I’m going to ask my interviewees on a one-to-one basis, because I think this way will be more successful and accurate because nobody will be able to alter their decision. I intend to gather it and store my research from the public, on questionnaire sheets, and store the reply slips according to age and gender. To find out sales of the chocolate bars, I am intending to contact the companies and ask them to send me the brand’s figures of sales, and the dates of when they introduced modified products. I understand that the companies may not be willing to co-operate, so if they don’t I will add a question into my interview asking what is the interviewees favoured bar of chocolate, and why they most prefer it. This should hopefully be enough market analysis to come up with some modified designs for the packaging and the product of Nestlé’s Kit-Kat.

Sources: - GSCE Business Studies Second Edition Introduction and Research Plan