Is there a gap in the chocolate market?
This report has been written to discover whether there is a gap in the market? And if so any suggestions as for how to fill it.
In order to find if there are any gaps in the market I had to carry out some research. To start of I wrote up a basic questionnaire to ask the public to find out what it is that the consumers want. A copy of the questionnaire is labelled as appendix 1.
I also carried out research on existing products in order to find out which chocolates are currently unopposed in the chocolate market and how we can oppose them but have little amount of rivals.
Within this report I shall also be suggesting possible marketing strategies and production strategies for the suggested product.
Section A
Is there a gap in the chocolate market?
My research showed firstly that the most popular type of chocolate was white chocolate followed closely by milk chocolate. It also showed that most people buy chocolate boxes as presents or for parties and the other choice most often chosen was to say ‘thank you’.
The majority of people thought that there were not enough chocolate boxes for young people.
These were the results from the closed questionnaire questions (appendix 4 shows the results in full). From the open Question, which was, “what sort of chocolates would you like to see on the market?” My results show that most people wanted to see white chocolate, bubbly chocolate, children’s chocolate and sugar coated chocolate.
There was also a selection of other chocolates that were wanted, see appendix 6 for the full results. I had found the gap in the current market, which I had found by Mars Maltesers. I had noticed that Maltesers did not have much competition at all the closest competition for them was Terry’s Chocolate orange segments but they were not much competition for them as they were different types of chocolate completely. From the Graphs (shown in appendix 5) I found that the most popular type of chocolates were milk chocolates and white chocolates. I also found that most people buy their chocolates for either under �1.99 or from �3-�3.99, which is why I suggest that the proposed chocolate should be sold within these, price bands. Appendix 3 shows were these price bands came from. Read about highlighting gaps in provision
Section B
How can the gap be filled?
The Marketing mix
The 5 Ps
The suggested Product – the product is a box of round balls of bubbly chocolate. They have different colour sugar coatings, including pink, blue, green and yellow. It is different to anything else because it includes many things, which approve to different people. These are that the things that people said they would like in the questionnaire, appendix 6. It approves to children and people buying for children and this equals up to a unique selling point. (See appendix 5 and 2)
Price – RAINBOWZ should be sold at �3.25 when bought in the large container. You can also buy refill packets in boxes, at prices ranging from 50p to �2.50. There are three different ways to price your products. These are Cost plus pricing, competition based pricing, and destroyer pricing. Cost plus pricing is when you take into account all the prices involved in making the product (direct costs) and all of the prices involved in the other factors of the product (indirect costs). Competition based prising is when you look at the prices of your main competitors and you make your prices according to them. Destroyer pricing is when you set your price so low that it will be sure to run your competitors out of business. I have chosen the prices by competition based pricing our original research showed that our main competitors (Mars Maltesers) at around �3 although our largest box costs more than the Maltesers box it is much bigger in size so it shouldn’t make much difference, but our smaller boxes that are about the same size as Maltesers are �2 which is �1 cheaper than Maltesers.
Place – the product should be sold in Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Asda. It will also be sold in newsagents and corner shops, as well as petrol stations and smaller supermarkets. The way the item is sold will depend on the shop. This is because most people shop in major supermarkets and the product will be seen more and also a lot of people occasionally go to newsagents to buy things and the product will also be seen there. To get the products from the company warehouse to the shops I would have them taken by lorries to the superstores regional distribution centres, and for the little shops I would have them taken to the wholesalers. This is so that we do not have to take them to each individual shop.
Promotion – I suggest to promote RAINBOWZ with a competition. There will a gold ball in certain chocolate boxes and if these are found then a new RAINBOWZ bike can be won, this bike can promote the chocolate. We will advertise the chocolate box on TV, Radio, posters on the sides at bus stops and on the sides of buildings in town centres. We would also communicate with the public, by asking them if they enjoy the product. This should help us to promote the product further so that it will be seen and tried more
Packaging – I have already made a design for the Box of the chocolate. The main body of the box is a transparent Sphere in which you can see the chocolates and the sphere will also have a flap at the top for the package to be refilled and for sweets to be taken out of. The box will also have a stand but the sphere will be stuck to it. The stand will be coloured with the colours of the rainbow and the box will be quite big so that it attracts customers.
Methods of production
There are three methods of production, Job, batch and flow, I suggest that we use two of the three at different points. Flow production will be used to first start the process as it can just go and keep on going without having to stop but when we get to the sugar coating process, this will have to be done by batch production as you will need them to be taken to the different sections for different coloured sugar coatings. After the sugar coatings are done, using batch again, the dried products will be mixed up again then put into their boxes in batches and weighed to make sure that they meet the Trade descriptions act and weigh the amount stated on the boxes.
Job production will not be used as it is designed for a one off this would only be used if every single box were to be different.
I would suggest using Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) but I would also have a lot of workers because with the CIM online you would need people to make sure it is working properly and would also need the workers for taking the chocolates from the flow production area to the batch production area. To ensure that the quality of the product is kept up to standard I would have regular tasting sessions and have the tasters fill in questionnaires. I wouldn’t need to use Computer Aided Design as the chocolate box and the chocolates have already been designed. Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) would be used on the production line so that the chocolates are made quickly.
Marketing Plan
Advertising
I suggest that to promote the new product by advertising on TV, in the press and on picture boards. The TV advert would consist of some thing that tells the consumer about the product but also gives a bit of comedy that will attract the consumer. In the press we should use a big marketing campaign with promotions in newspapers, magazines and on the radio.
Sales Promotion
I have already planned a competition for the new product, where if you find a golden Chocolate you will win a mountain bike that is coloured according to the chocolate’s name “Rainbowz”. I would also suggest having local radio competitions around the UK in which the winners will win a free full box of the chocolates. I would also like to have tasting sessions around the UK in order to promote the products and to let the public know about them.
Public Relations
I would suggest sending boxes of the new chocolate to respected radio stations to get them to mention the products on radio and Promote the product further more.
Sponsorship
In order to help promote the product would suggest sponsoring a popular children’s TV show or cartoon. I would also suggest getting some sponsorship boards at heavily supported football clubs as many people watch football and will see the sponsorship boards. This is so that as much attraction is made towards the product as possible.
Direct Marketing
I would probably suggest not using as much direct marketing as other companies but may choose to send out leaflets to some houses in the UK. This is because other companies end out packages to the public but do not spend as much money on other sources of marketing. We should have spent enough money on other areas of marketing that we may not feel the need to contact our consumers directly. But advertising on TV may cost too much so if this was the case I would suggest reverting to using direct marketing instead. Sponsoring may also cost too much so I would suggest looking at other marketing sources such as having ads in children’s magazines if this was to happen.
