Case Study : Pet Food Store Essay

The product will be sold at the store in Little Rock, Arkansas, focusing on the zip code 72212. Considering the small size of my city, the geographic segment will focus on those individuals that live in the suburban neighborhoods in the area. Most of the people in this area are millionaires in their mid-50s without children so they treat their pets like they would their children because they consider them an extension of their family. Since these individuals love their pets much like they would their family members they will spend a great deal of money on them to ensure they have the proper care and treatment. This will hold especially true when it comes to their pet food. From my personal experiences, wealthy individuals have a tendency to purchase the most expensive items on the shelves for the simple fact they think it is better than all the rest. Needless to say, they will not have an issue paying expensive prices for an all-natural pet

The Smackey Dog Food, Inc. is a family owned business. It was started by three sisters, Sarah, Kim and Jillian, in the kitchen of their home. They lived in a suburban area of Chicago, Illinois. Their business is making all natural dog food. After using their own dogs and the neighbor’s dogs as test subjects, it was discovered by local vets, pet stores and grocery stores. These local places began to distribute the dog food. The demand for their food began to increase and they moved their business to a larger facility and hired additional workers. As compared to competitors, Smackey Dog Food, Inc., began to rise

As this was Keller’s first audit on a dog Foods company, additional research was conducted to gain insight on some the most common risks that occur in the dog Foods industry. The audit team also went to visit the client prior to the audit to gain a clear understanding on how their business works. The audit team consisted of the audit manager Pete, and two audit staffers Maureen and Ben.

A SWOT analysis looks at a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The following is a SWOT analysis of Petco, a well known company that provides the common products that pet owners would need. Taking a deeper look into how they got started, what their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are in the prosperous market place that has a high demand for pet products in today’s culture that are reliable and inexpensive.

This analysis is provided by the members of the marketing team at Natureview Farm, Inc., on behalf of Christine Walker, Vice President of Marketing.  The purpose of this analysis is to provide a recommended course of action for the company to grow their revenues by 50% by the end of the 2001 through the use of SWOT analysis on the three recommendations proposed by the senior leadership at Natureview Farms.  The findings will serve as the recommendation for Christine Walker to present to the CEO, Barry Landers.

Strengths:-High brand awareness within the marketing world.-Extensive distribution of product throughout United States-A.1.Steak is sponsored by largest food company in U.S.-Product quality/longevity helped to perpetuate company name|Opportunities:-Can test piloted promotional rates for future pricing-Can assess manager’s ability to generate “on-the-fly” marketing strategies-Opportunity to test new steak sauce flavors in the market-Consumers continue to be satisfied with quality of old A.1. taste|

After hearing Marketing Momentum Unimited’s proposal, Breeder’s Own Pet Foods was presented with the problem of: Should Breeder’s Own Pet Foods go with the advertisings firm’s proposal, if so, which one?

Breeder’s Own Pet Foods, Inc. proposes to adopt a market penetration strategy due to having identified a growth opportunity in the dog food market, for its nutritionally balanced, high quality dog food brand, Breeder’s Mix. This premium product has been sold traditionally, to the show dog kennel market, but company executives are now convinced it can be repackaged and offered as a frozen premium product, to picky pet owners via general retail distribution channels. Since the product is considered premium, it should fetch premium prices because of its ingredients and its claimed benefits to

Since Breeder’s Own Pet Foods does not have any Brand Equity, they must win the “hearts and minds” of its consumers by performance, availability and pricing. To accomplish this feat, it must train the minds of its patrons to begin to shop in the frozen department for organic dog food. Without the latter two suggestions, Breeder’s Own Pet Foods may have unsuccessful

Positioned to be perceived by buyer as the only dog food that they would want to purchase for a dog that is considered part of the family

Caninantics’s mission is to be the leader in introducing innovative, dog food dispensing product to the market. Through close customer contact and excellent relationships, Caninantics, will meet the needs of the customers. Caninantics, LLC, is a privately-held corporation and maintains an office and a small warehouse in a mixed-use area of North Beach. Three of the four investors in the company have full operational responsibility, the co-founders, have both entrepreneurial and industry experience to brings operational management, marketing, and financial skills

|Weaknesses: •   Lack of availability in all stores •   Lack of appeal to consumers due to thawing time / freezer space (convenience) •   Lack of appeal to supermarkets due freezer location •   Lack of brand equity in retail market •   Premium price | Threats: •   Store Location - Consumer must be educated to find product in different area of store •   Saturated market – sales top 14 million in 2011.   Dog food is also heavily advertised, so the challenge is to entice the consumer to buy Breeder’s Mix. •   Competition - 5 major brand name dog food companies dominate market with 75% of US dog food sales •   Challenge to get supermarkets to give up valuable freezer space for dog food |Evaluation of AlternativesBreeder’s Own Pet Foods product development strategy should be evaluated.   Currently only 1 out of 10 dog owners regularly buy frozen or refrigerated dog food and ¾ of those surveyed expressed no interest in purchasing frozen dog food (Kerin and Peterson, 2013).   This indicates that there is a limited market for dog owners who would be interested in a product such as Breeder’s Mix. Research does suggest however that frozen dog food dollar volume is increasing annually indicating there is a strong opportunity for Breeder’s Own to be the first to tap into the frozen dog food market in the Boston area.   Breeder’s Own Dog Foods needs a strong marketing campaign to convince consumers their brand is superior to

After careful review of each of the elements in launching this product, the following analysis can be determined. Zenith has to answer a specific series of questions in order to decide if their product of Show Circuit dog food will be a viable product. The market was in fact correctly segmented, although Zenith needs to see the shopping behavior of those willing to spend more on pet food. Marketing in a supermarket could inhibit the potential growth of the product. Because the market is already segmented and offered such a variety of dog foods, Zenith will have to market the product correctly and focus in on the benefits to be successful. Show Circuit needs to seek a position of a higher quality product in a different, more convenient location. It is important to play up how the location is a benefit rather than a detriment. This goes along with the sales program being successful. Show

7. Carry out a SWOT analysis for this market with all inclusions referenced to the information source. STRENGTH: The increasing consciousness of people regarding the health of their pets leads to a focus on nutritious food which helps increasing the life span of their beloved animals. This benefits the pet food industry greatly as it leads to increased demand and allows manufacturers to set their prices for selected products at a high level.

Conventional marketing has appealed to consumers based on the idea that the pet food is enjoyed by the animal. Our product marketing will instead appeal to the parental instinct in pet owners, emphasizing health characteristics such as omega-3, senior pet health supplements, and calcium enrichment. Our preliminary research leads us to believe that consumers feel lost in determining which foods are safe, and which are potentially dangerous for their pets. Our campaign will attempt to create a memorable campaign to classify the relative health and safety qualities of a particular product in a simple way.