Marketing Plan And Strategy For The Chocolate Industry

Marketing Environmental Analysis

Discuss about the Marketing for Business Environment of the Chocolate Industry.

The aim of the following report is to prepare a marketing plan and strategy for the chocolate products under the brand name of the D. Bilo Chocolates. The chocolate product maker already has two stores in the city of Melbourne and he would like to expand his business in the various parts of the country of Australia. The two stores are located in the Toorak Rd South Yarra and Lygon St Carlton. It has been noted that the products made by the D. Bilo Chocolates. The entrepreneurship of the business has seen good potential for the future success and this is why he us very much concerned about the growth of his business all over the country (Malhotra & Peterson, 2014). The business environment of the chocolate industry will be discussed in this paper. The paper will be divided into two sections. The first part of the paper will consist of the business environmental analysis and the second part of the assignment will consist of the marketing mix and strategy for the expansion of the business. The chocolate producer wants to compete on a bigger arena where the competitors would sell the cocoa-chocolate based products such as normal chocolates and drinking chocolates and confectionery products like the marshmallow, candied nuts, candied popcorn and other such products. The competition would be very high in this context so the makers of the product would like to get into the rivalry with better preparation (Malhotra & Peterson, 2014). 

One of the most important aspects of understanding the success route of the business organizations is to discuss about the business environment of the company. The company has to endure the threats of the competitors and this is why it is very important to understand both the internal and external environments of the company (Hair Jr & Lukas, 2014).  Before proceeding with the assignment, it will be crucial to discuss in detail the product line of the company.

The quality of the products is very high. Donald B sells a wide range of the chocolate blocks that are very tasty. He also sells different types of small boxes of the chocolates and truffles and boxes of the mixed chocolates (Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012).  The chocolates are of different shapes and sizes. He does not sell his chocolates through the retail outlets of the multinational stores like Coles, Woolworths or Aldi. He sells his products directly from the two stores mentioned above. He supplies his products to the local restaurants and cafes with the hand-made truffles that he prepares. These truffles are the desserts for the customers. He has a good taste of the liking of the customers and he prepares it likewise (Hair Jr & Lukas, 2014)

Industry Analysis

The quality of his chocolates is so high that he has won the awards in the Australian Artisan Chocolate Competition. This competition is being held in every two years. This is how he is becoming successful by time. This is very inspiring for him as his fame is spreading in the chocolate manufacturing industry. He is into this field of business for almost four years now. He is trying to make the process smooth and easy for the future success. The two stores that are now in the operations are doing fairly well and Donald B will look to expand his business indeed (Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012).

The producer of these chocolate products has focused more on the quality. The products are much health conscious. The nutrition value of these products is very high indeed. The ingredients of the chocolates are very good and the producers of these products are able to meet the demands of the customers (Hill & Brierley, 2017). The products are very sustainable for the industry. The growth of the brand has been quite steady and the brand has acquired much popularity over the last two years. The customer preferences are always changing so they have come up with several new products indeed. The largest product segment of the chocolate is the cocoa. Donald B always uses the best quality cocoa to prepare the products (Hill & Brierley, 2017).

One of the biggest weaknesses for the brand to grow is the increasing market competition. The saturation in the market has been on the rise as well. The price of the cocoa is increasing as it is mainly imported from Africa. He is an entrepreneur and he is not associated with any of the retail stores. The household incomes of the people are limited but the expenses are rising so the people will find it hard to spend money to buy the chocolates. As he is not associated with the large retail stores, it will be very problematic for him to give special offers on his products. Otherwise special offers on some selected chocolates would have earned him much money (Pulver, 2012). The communication channels with the customers are very weak as well.

There are endless opportunities for the brand of D. Bilo Chocolates to grow in this competitive environment (Flint & Woodruff, 2014).  The producer of the chocolates will need to introduce the technology to connect with the customers. The new innovative products will be a very good option for the benefit of the customers as well. The major threats will have to be overcome by the brand if it wants to attain a major growth in the coming two years (Pulver, 2012). 

Macro-environment

Australia is considered to be a politically stable country. This is why the D. Bilo Chocolates will not face any such challenge from the perspectives of the political unrest. Other important things like the government policies will be important for the organization to overcome (Jurevicius, 2013).  The chocolate manufacturing is a part of the food industry. The food industry has a huge potential in the future so the organization will look to capitalize on the levies that the government will provide for them (Armstrong et al. 2015).

The economic challenges are huge in the aspect of the growth of the D. Bilo Chocolates. This is why the organization will look to cope up with the economic hardships and the global inflation rates. The industry will look to increase their resistance to the vulnerabilities in the economic context  (Armstrong et al. 2015).

The children and the women generally are very fond of the chocolates. This is why the cultural issues (Robson, 2015). The premium products of the industry will be very important for the organization. The social aspects should be kept in mind like the changing tastes of the customers are very crucial in this case. The ingredients like the fruits, nuts and raw cocoa should be put in the products with the highest quality (Robson, 2015).

The latest technology should be used by the company to connect with the customers. The customers should be informed about the different products and their offers through the social media (Hartley, Sørensen & Torfing, 2013). The machines with the latest technologies should be used to prepare tyheir products within a less time. Thus more amount of products can be prepared wwith the use of those machines.

The environmental factors should are very important for the brand reputation of D. BIlo Chcocolates. Donald B should always look upon the different facts like the manufacturing of the products by safeguarding the environment (Camisón & Villar-López, 2014).  The cocoa tress should be planted in the regions more to help the keeping of the environmental balance.

The demographic section is an important part of the target market segmentation. The health conscious people should be the target markets because these chocolates are enriched with much protein. This is why these chocolates can be distributed in the gyms and fitness centers. The products should be full of protein and can be exported to countries with high demand of protein foods (Camisón & Villar-López, 2014). 

Target Market Segmentation

It would have been better for Donald B to tie up with the big retail stores in the country with the high potential for increasing the sales of the products. As brands like Woolworths, Coles and Aldi are present in different countries, they will be able to sell the products of D. Bilo Chocolates with high potential rates. The sales volume will begin to grow as well. The business will be directed towards the positive in a high manner.

Positive business direction

 Negative business direction

There are certainly many competitors who are much active in this industry. Donald B will look to capitalize on the market size he has already got. As he is eyeing the potential larger target segments, he should go for increase the variation of his products. The target market will be larger and he should be able to capture it with the better quality products with high amount of protein (Yüksel, 2012).  The taste of the chocolates should be given more focus as well. As of now, the company size os smaller. The company is looking to take on the bigger sized companies for the sake of competing and gaining more customers. They should fix some of the key products that should be the USP of the company brand like the drinking chocolates and the candled nuts. As far as the gaining the competitive advantage is concerned, they should look to open the online selling activities as well. The products can be delivered at the workplaces of the customers within time and it should be a good advertisement for the company brand as well. The strengths of the brand like the good relationship with the customers and the quality products should be kept up (Yüksel, 2012). 

The approach to the consumers is the most important issue for the upcoming brand like the D. Bilo Chocolates manufactured by Donald B. It has been noticed that most of the medium and high economic class people The Company should keep the price of the products to an affordable range for their target customers. After they get a fair amount of popularity within their demographic target segments, they can go on to increase the price of their products (Carroll & Buchholtz, 2014).  

The brand reputation of the company can only be increased if the consumers are satisfied with the quality of their products. The organization should be very much cautious about the potential threats that they face in their external environment. The industry is tending to go through the growth path i.e. very interesting for the betterment of their popularity. One thing is indeed very important for the company and it is the fact about the selling of their products through the supermarkets. The tendency of the medium and high society people is to purchase their every day goods from the supermarkets and shopping malls. In this scenario, it can be said that the company can go on to make partnerships with Coles or Woolworths (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012).  

This will definitely be helpful for them since the marketing strategy of these companies is much better than D. Bilo Chocolates. As they are a small firm, their prices of the products should not be very high. The consumers will not be interested to buy high quality products from a growing brand. The Chocolate and Confectionery Manufacturing industry is believed to be in the mature phase of its life cycle (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012). So, it is highly important for the D. Bilo Chocolates to make online surveys about the changing preferences of thee consumers. They can opt to receive the feedback from the social media platforms and make arrangements for providing new range of varied products to the consumers (Khan, 2012).

This will surely increase the brand value of the organization. The customer behaviors should be understood and this should be a big boost for the brand to grow (Roper & Fill, 2012).  The opportunities are huge in front of Donald B. He should focus on the areas where there are many departmental stores, supermarkets, petrol stations, railway stations and bus terminus. Thus he can be able to attract more customers at their disposal (Wedel & Kamakura, 2012). The target audience for Donald B should be within 18 to 40 years of age and they should focus on the children and working women who need more proteins in their foods. The wholesalers of the products should be able to buy those products directly from the manufacturers. The aim of the manufacturers and suppliers will be to prepare many products and make them reach to the customers without any fault. The promotional marketing activities of D. Bilo Chocolates should be done through the social media channels (Wedel & Kamakura, 2012).

Conclusion

This paper can be concluded by saying that the products of D. Bilo chocolates are of very good quality. This is why it would not be much problematic for them to expand into the foreign markets in the upcoming years. However, their marketing strategies are quite weak. This is why they will need to address this situation in a better way. It has to be remembered that they have done a good business within four years and it is time for them to increase their brand reputation by a rise of their revenues. The marketing mix activities of the brand of D. Bilo Chocolates have been discussed in this context as well. One very important aspect is they should take the help of the large supermarket chains to improve their marketing strategies. They should make proper surveys to keep a track on the changing consumer preferences. This will enable them to provide better quality products. 

References

Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M., & Brennan, R. (2015). Marketing: an introduction.

Camisón, C., & Villar-López, A. (2014). Organizational innovation as an enabler of technological innovation capabilities and firm performance. Journal of business research, 67(1), 2891-2902.

Carroll, A., & Buchholtz, A. (2014). Business and society: Ethics, sustainability, and stakeholder management. Nelson Education.

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Hair Jr, J. F., & Lukas, B. (2014). Marketing research (Vol. 2). McGraw-Hill Education Australia.

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Jurevicius, O. (2013). Pest & pestel analysis. Strategic Management Insight, 13, 2013.

Khan, I. (2012). Impact of customer satisfaction and retention on customer loyalty. International Journal of Scientific & Technology Research, 1(2), 106-110.

Malhotra, N. K., & Peterson, M. (2014). Basic marketing research. Pearson.

Pulver, S. (2012). Business and the Environment.

Robson, W. (2015). Strategic management and information systems. Pearson Higher Ed.

Roper, S., & Fill, C. (2012). Corporate reputation: brand and communication. Harlow: Pearson.

Tuten, T. L., & Solomon, M. R. (2017). Social media marketing. Sage.

Wedel, M., & Kamakura, W. A. (2012). Market segmentation: Conceptual and methodological foundations (Vol. 8). Springer Science & Business Media.

Yüksel, I. (2012). Developing a multi-criteria decision making model for PESTEL analysis. International Journal of Business and Management, 7(24), 52.

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