“How often do you buy chocolate a week?” I asked this question so that I can see how I need to market my chocolate bar. I found that most people brought chocolate bar 5-7 times a week so this mean I need to advertise my chocolate bar as much as possible.
“What chocolate do you prefer?” I asked this question because then I could decide what kind of chocolate I needed to put into my bar. I found that milk chocolate is the favourite so I will put milk chocolate in my chocolate bar.
“What is your favourite existing brand?” I decided to ask this question because then I can find out what is the favourite brand at the moment and what is my biggest completer. I found that the most favourite existing brand is Cadburys.
“What filling do you prefer?” I asked this question to find out whether people like a filling in there chocolate bar, so that I could decide what filling to put in if the people want one. I found that people do prefer a filling.
“Where do you buy your chocolate from?” I asked this question so that I could decide where to sell my chocolate bar. I found that most people buy there chocolate bars from Supermarket, Garage, Post Office, and Other.
Shop Survey
I have also produced a shop to shop survey to find out what kind of chocolate is on the current market, where there is a gap that I maybe able to fill, and how much the current chocolate is priced at so that I can put my chocolate bar a competitive price.
Secondary Market Research (Internet based)
Introduction
Established markets generate intense competition during which new and innovative marketing strategies are required and new and existing products are developed.
As a market develops, consumers become more experienced and discerning and look for more benefits from the products they choose. Although some organisations' products may appear unchanged at this developed stage of a market, the more successful businesses re-work existing brands and continue to develop new ones to meet changing consumer needs.
The development of strong brands has always been a feature of the confectionery market.
Background To The Confectionery Market
Although some brands enjoy a rich heritage, the key need in a busy and developed market sector is innovation, not just of existing brands but also in the development of completely new brands. Brand-led innovation is a vital component in the growth of this market as it enables organisations to build competitive advantage. Over recent years, competitors in the chocolate market have made significant investments in new product development. Indeed, over 15% of volume sales in the last ten years have been generated by new products. For Cadbury, this figure is even higher, at 20%, with new brand launches such as Wispa Gold and Time Out.
This case study focuses on the launch of Cadbury's Fuse. In the face of strong competition from well-known brands in an already busy market sector, the launch of Fuse represented a significant investment in a new brand.
The Snack Market
It is not difficult to find out about 'snacking'. Walk into any newsagent, supermarket and petrol station and you are confronted by many different types of confectionery, as well as different varieties of crisps, cakes, nuts, pies and doughnuts. This is the snacking business, 'Held in the hand' categories include:
Confectionery £4.9bn (chocolate sector £3.4bn)
Biscuits £1.7bn
Snacks £1.2bn
Crisps £1.1bn
Ice Cream £0.8bn
Snacking is said to reflect the fast pace and busy lifestyle of many people in the 1990s. It is fast, convenient, easy and mess-free. The key snack consumers, 16-34 year olds, represent 37% of all snack buyers.
Product Development
Cadbury set out two objectives for the development of Fuse:
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To grow the market for chocolate confectionery;
2. To increase Cadbury's share of the snacking sector.
The 'Fuse' concept was developed after market research identified the growth of snacking and a definite gap in the market for a more chocolatey snack. A number of ingredients were devised and tested following a survey which questioned consumers about their snacking habits and preferences. A research and development team was then asked to develop a number of product recipes which addressed the needs expressed by consumers.
Not all products successfully emerge from the product development phase. Research and development involves combining various ingredients to develop potential new products. Considerable development time was spent on Fuse, carefully engineering the ingredients in order to deliver the right balance of chocolate, food elements and texture. More than 250 ingredients were tried and tested in various combinations before the recipe was finalised.
Any new product in the snacking sector must establish points of difference from existing products within the market - thus creating a unique selling proposition (USP) i.e. a product with unique appeal which is not shared by any of its competitors. Whereas other confectionery snacking products focus primarily upon ingredients, with chocolate used only to coat the bar, the product developers decided to use Cadbury's chocolate to ''fuse'' together a number of popular snacking ingredients such as raisins, peanuts, crisp cereal and fudge pieces.
Early Consumer Testing
As products are developed, they must be tested to ensure that consumers would be willing to buy them. As approximately 85% of all new products launched into the grocery and allied trade sectors fail in their first year, extensive research helps to reduce the risk of launching a new product into an already competitive market. Fuse went through two extensive 'in home placement' tests. The results of these tests were multiplied into repeat purchase and purchase frequency figures to allow Cadbury to anticipate the volume of bars required for the launch of Fuse and post-launch.
Pack Design And Brand Name
A key element of any new product launch is the development of a strong pack design and brand name.
The design brief for Fuse had two clear requirements:
1. To communicate the dynamic and slightly wacky 'personality' of the new product and create interest at point-of-purchase (i.e. in store).
2. To bring the brand name to life by communicating the fusion of Cadbury's chocolate with the snacking ingredients.
Reference
So from this secondary research I can see;
- Average price of money spend on different areas of the confectionary market.
- The way Cadbury’s (leading confectionery seller) develops new products.
- How Cadbury use there ‘Brand Name’ and the pack design to draw people in.
- How Cadbury test a new product before it comes out (early consumer testing).
From this research I can change my plans to make my product different to Cadburys and/or use Cadbury methods of introducing a new product so that my chocolate bar can be come as successful as possible
Findings from Cadbury’s World
I have recently been to Cadbury’s world and there I found about the 4 P’s. This is where you find out all about my market and about how you will sell you product, the 4 P’s are Price, Product, Promotion, Place. Price means what price you are going to sell your product at. Product is where you decided what is going to be in your product and how it will be shown, Promotion is how your chocolate will be seen and sold. Place is where you chocolate bar is going to be sold (e.g. everywhere or only in selected places)
I also learnt about what are of the market there is for example: gutful (hunger), Indulgence (treat yourself), Share, Gift etc. By these area you can decided where your chocolate bar would be needed and would be sold best, a good example of this is milktray this is a indulgence chocolate and will be brought only for special occasion and not brought just to fill you up, show this information can help you target and market your chocolate bar.
Analysis
Recommended Strategy
Name: I have decided to call my chocolate bar yummy yeti because I think it will appeal to young children. I have used a simple name because I have found in shop that chocolate bars with fun names have more stock sold e.g. feddo, taz etc.
Description of my product: I have decided from my chocolate questionnaire that in my chocolate bar I will put nuts, milk chocolate, and raisin in my chocolate bar. I am going to put these ingredients into my chocolate bar because that is what I found to be the most popular ingredients that the young children I asked in my questionnaire liked.
Packaging: I have decided from my chocolate questionnaire that I will make my packaging white with bright colours on (e.g. yellow) because at the moment there is no packaging on the market that has a white wrapper so it will hopefully stand out on a shelf. My packaging in shown below: -
Advertising: I have decided from my chocolate questionnaire that I will advertise my product by sponsoring young children T.V programme so that my young audience will be able to see the product every time they watch there favourite T.V show. The T.V show that I would approach to sponsor would be: Tweenies, Postman Pat, and teletubs.
Sales Promotion: I have decided from my chocolate questionnaire that in the first 3 months of sale there will be a half price offer on my new chocolate bar so that people get interested in my chocolate bar before it is put back to it original price.
Sponsorship: I have decided from my chocolate questionnaire that I will sponsor some children T.V show on both ITV and Channel 4. The TV Show I will approach to sponsor will be Bob the builder, Hoobs, and Sesame St. I have decided to sponsor these TV shows because I think that the children will be able to see the advert for my chocolate bar straight after they favourite TV show.
Proposed Price And Connected Strategy: I have decided from my chocolate questionnaire that I will put and offer on my chocolate bar (show in sales promotion) and put my chocolate bar at half price for the first 3 months of sale. Then I intend to put the price up for my chocolate bar to 40p, I have decided to put my chocolate bar at this price me I think that it will compete will the leading brands and also my results from my survey show that young children will most likely buy 40p chocolate bars. This pricing is called penetration pricing and this means I will start off by selling the product cheaply and then increase the price.
Evaluation of Strategy
Strengths
My strengths that I have found with my product is that, there is no product currently on the market that is the same as the ‘Yummy Yeti’ so this would make the product unique and so that may attract more people. Also I have found that there is a market niche that I think my product would sell, another strength of my product is that if I did use penetration pricing I would get a lot of customer trying the product and then liking it, and then when the price when up they would carry on buying it.
Weaknesses
The weakness that I have found for my product and the way I have planned to release my product is that I didn’t ask any questions about the packaging so I had to make up the packaging that I think would look best, another weakness I found was that I could have ask some more question so that I can narrow down what my market really wants.
New Ideas
If I was going to improve my product I would try to make a different selection of the same product for example I could do a ‘king size’ or I could do a multipack option. If I was going to releases a new product I would do as much primary research as possible and re evaluate the market to see if there are any other market niches that I way be able to fill with a new product. But if the market didn’t like my product I could do a re-release for the product making new and improved so that it may attract more people.
