Ag Gurus
APEC 4821W
Project Proposal
In 1860, General Mills entered the market as a flour producer that revolutionized the industry by producing flour that had superior baking properties. Great customer satisfaction coupled with their ability to maintain quality enabled them to develop other products that were not considered agricultural commodities. By the 1960s, they were marketing beloved children's products that included Play-Doh, Easy Bake Ovens, Spirograph, Monopoly and Nerf balls (General Mills, website). The popularity of these products enticed General Mills to create memorable characters such as Betty Crocker and the Pillsbury Doughboy, which have become icons in American history. Throughout the years, General Mills
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“The full line of products that Yoplait offers today is wide and diverse. They offer a yogurt line that consists of the original yogurt, grande, whipped, light, and ultra light. Yumsters is a line for younger children, which includes a spoon attached to their yogurt (Nestle LC1).” When considering General Mill’s brand Yoplait they have an absolute cost advantage because of their reputation for quality which in turn establishes brand loyalty. “Yoplait is a first-mover in the yogurt industry. They have offered many new innovative products to their consumers from Go-GURT to their Nouriche Smoothies. Yoplait created the first ever yogurt placed in a tube called Go-GURT, which has become the yogurt for those that are on the go and always in a rush. Within the last year of introducing Nouriche, the product’s sales have increased by 35%. Yoplait just recently began offering a yogurt that contained sterols, which is a cholesterol-lowering plant (Nestle LC1).” Finally, there are many different flavors, health benefits, packaging, and niche segments that firms utilize to differentiate their products, and this is a central factor for barriers to entry. The third aspect of Porter’s Five Forces is substitutes and complements. When considering General Mills Yoplait, they have so many different varieties of yogurt that a consumer can substitute one flavor for another, but Dannon also
Consumers are increasingly skipping breakfast and morning food sales are on the decline. Yogurt tastes are changing as well, with many consumers opting for Greek yogurt as opposed to regular yogurt. GIS was greatly impacted by these changes in consumer preferences and saw US cereal sales drop 3% from 2017 to 2016 while US yogurt sales dropped 18% year-over-year. In July of 2017, GIS introduced a new French Style yogurt brand to appeal to changing consumer tastes and increase yogurt sales. One positive for the industry is that consumers are snacking more often. Consumers want convenient filling foods that fit in with their busy lifestyles. The packaged food industry can take advantage of this growth capitalize on the growing popularity of quick meals and nutritious snacks. Snacks comprise 21% of GIS’s total net sales and this is expected to continue to grow as GIS introduces more healthy options. Another concern is aging populations in the developed world. As consumers age, their dietary needs change. Older populations move away from many foods products with high levels of sugar and fat in favor of more nutritional products. There is slow population growth with birth rates below the replacement level in many developed nations. This decline in new consumers is a problem for the industry as they can no longer rely on consumer growth
In Ice-Fili’s case, they used multiple suppliers for the same raw materials and had a steady stream of offers from new suppliers. Equipment manufacturers had more bargaining power; however, as more domestic producers begin manufacturing that equipment, their bargaining power erodes. Bargaining Power of Buyers is moderate. Their buyers are resellers as well as consumers. Switching costs for buyers are low, resellers don’t have any particular brand loyalty, and consumers can purchase the same style of ice cream (such as Lakomka) from multiple different companies. That being said, a sizeable portion of the market prefers domestically produced ice cream that does not contain preservatives. Another portion of the market is willing to pay much more than the average price of ice cream for what they view as a premium product and experience. Threat of New Entrants is also moderate to low. While there are new companies joining the market, fixed costs are high, including the need to import equipment for production. Many of the companies that have entered the market are companies who already had cold storage facilities that were underutilized. As this excess capacity phases out, the number of new
Flour mills were grinding wheat for years before Charles Pillsbury arrived. Charles had his own industry. Pillsbury also invested in a failing flour mill. Pillsbury flour company became the largest flour company in the 19th century.
The ready-to-eat (RTE) sector has increased sales and therefore have given the Breakfast cereals market an advantage to have a higher market share of 4.2% in 2013. The emphasis is more to the value and the convenience of cereals rather than the quality. However people are starting to be more heath conscious and are going to the higher nutritional brands which tend to be the well-known ones such as Kellogg 's, Weetabix and Nestle.
In contemporary China, people not only focus on what’s delicious, but also the health benefits that the food product had to offer. Frozen yogurt is a hybrid food, offering both a delicious taste and health benefits. The usage of fresh fruit and lower calorie ingredients has thrust frozen yogurt into popularity amongst dessert lovers worldwide, while still capturing the health food sector of the market. High quality and healthy food defined the Yogen Fruz culture and allow the company to appeal to its target market.
The cereal industry is very adamant on using a differentiation strategy to make one’s brand stand out in the minds of certain people. The companies break down the public into different target markets; and then make products that will be attractive to their target markets. Companies make different brands for young kids, teenagers, adults, and people who are health conscience. Currently, there are 387 different brands of cereal sold in the United States and each family is estimated to purchase 17 different brands per year. (O’Connor, Amy) Companies continue to brainstorm for new product ideas to attract the various market segmentations.
The threat of customers finding substitute products from other manufacturers in the food industry is high. In the ready-to-eat breakfast cereals segment, General Mills’ primary business focus, there are a variety of similar products being
Handi’s company knows very well what brought them to success. It was his innovation to introduce a new kind of yogurt to the market and successfully promoting that made his company consumer’s favorite.
General Mills (NYSE:GIS), our company, is a global consumer foods company. We develop distinctive value-added food products and market with our unique brand names. We work continuously to improve our established products and to create new products that meet our customers’ potential needs and preferences. Our company has $14.88 billion in sales last year. Our sales has grown substantially throughout the years due in large part to our popular brand names, this however is only part of the reason that we has been so successful. We markets global brands such as Green Giant, Old El Paso, Häagen-Dazs, Yoplait, Cheerios, Betty
Natureview has succeeded in the natural foods channel over the usage of sales brokers that send its yogurt to natural food stores. Nature View has prospered by apprehending 25% of the natural food market. To cement the success, the company has planned to raise the sales of its 8 grain and 32-ounce portions and to create apportion diversity by introducing the children multi-pack.
Since Gerber’s founding in 1928, they have continued to grow to over the years with increased market share. As a company they are committed to providing children with nutritional food. In 1991, Gerber represented 72% of market share in the United States since it introduced processed baby food. Gerber was always focusing on quality and it paid off when it came to their bottom line. Even though birthrates within the United States had begun to fall off, sales increased 11% which brought total sales to over 1.2 billion. Another interesting statics was during the same time period 4% of U.S. homes had babies
1. Decline in competitor popularity – As frozen yogurt seems to have reached its maximum tier, this creates an opportunity for an ice cream business to obtain more of the market share.
1) Colombo Yogurt Company faces competition in two different channels, namely the independent yogurt shops and impulse shops that sell other products besides yogurt. During the early 90s, Colombo’s competitive environment consists mainly of franchise operations like TCBY and Freshens. The size of these franchise companies that account for most of the independent yogurt stores pose a serious competition to Colombo and by the early 90s, the yogurt stores have added distinctive new products such as smoothies, boosters and granitas. Meanwhile, many yogurt stores that fail to innovate and introduce new products were put out of business. This puts a lot of pressure on Colombo to continue its research
The biggest leading market for Frozen Yogurt globally are US and Europe, with the US producing more than 50% of the sales in 2015. The marketing for this product in the US is so efficient and has recorded a big evolution over 25% between 2009 & 2014, “says Technavio. “this big increase might be advantaged to the rising number of the Frozen Yogurt franchises across the country and increasing demand from customers for a healthier alternative to ice cream. The storyline will stay the same the forecast period. However, the evolution rate will slow down as a result of the mature nature of the market. rising private equity investments will develop as a driving force for the growth of the market,” according to the study.
General Mills, as one of the Big Three companies that focused on diversification of consumer goods on cereal division, restaurant chains and packaged consumer foods. In 1994, the cereal industry was profitable and had been one of the most concentrated industries overall historically, and the big Three company had a dominant position in this industry. However, the problem was although the high profitability attracted fewer entry company due to the high entry barrier restrained by joint monopoly of the Big Three, they were facing the threat of private label companies which grew fast in market share by sales and volume. Therefore, what is General Mills strategy to increase revenue while dealing with the threat of private labels. This is a critical issue because General Mills need measure the trade-offs among strategies, and this determines whether General Mills would still be one of the top players in terms of market shares in the industry.