Long Term Investment Decision Of The Low Calorie Foods Essay

IntroductionMy name is Kevin Chen and I am a senior consultant of the Boston Consulting firm. Per the request of the A/S Dansk Minox, a food products manufacturer, I am preparing this analysis to identify the existing problems within the business of A/S Dansk Minox and provide possible recommendations. As a consultant, I will present the analysis without bias and for the best benefits of A/S Dansk Minox. In the following analysis, I am going to answer the following question: Should A/S Dansk Minox bring the new product, complete meal, to the market?Company backgroundThis case is set in Denmark in 1967 when the "boom" in consumer food products was just beginning more working mothers, more disposable income, more choices in convenience food

Operating on very thin profit margins, players in the supermarket industry traditionally either focus on a premium segment or follow a discounter strategy at the low end. Premium players address educated and more price elastic consumers who value healthy, natural and organic food; the share of perishable items for these players is normally distinctly higher. Players that focus on a discounter strategy offer a higher share of simple necessity items and value price competitiveness over premium features like healthiness or organic origin. Independently of the focused customer group it is imperative for players in the supermarket industry to be cost efficient and optimize operations

Identify market structure Weight Watchers is a company that has been around for the last 50 years and has been developing their brand of giving out weight loss services and products that make them a leading weight management service all over the world. Weight Watchers, without a doubt the largest single player in the highly disjointed industry has over 45 years of industry experience and like many of its competitors, is constantly changing its core program so as to become more useable to and petition to a lot of its members. Since November 2010, it appears that the company has been able to hit a marketing sweet spot that will lead them to a long term period of profitability that will keep rising. Weight Watchers Food Co. is revising their trade marketing structure to a big test this year with the start of their new strategy which involved the "Points Plus program," marketing plan (Denos, 2009). This will be part of their first major trade and consumer advertising. This is something to take advantage of especially since people are in the diet season. The company is reorganizing in order to set parallel roles for consumer and trade promotions managers and likewise bringing down the wall that divides marketing and sales. The change in this marketing strategy is the first key step in a procedure aimed at re-generating the company's sales

Use the Internet to research two (2) of the leading competitors in the low-calorie frozen, microwavable food industry, and take note of their pricing strategies, profitability, and their relationships within the industry (worldwide).

Researchers with the RAND Corporation examined data from studies on civilian-based grocery chains as well as previous studies on commissary shoppers. They concluded that because of a combination of factors, including the availability of other stores and the distance many commissary shoppers travel to get there, a price increase would drastically cut the amount of money shoppers spend and the number of times they come to commissary stores. The result would be lower revenue for the commissary and, potentially, continued budget shortfalls (p.

For the analysis the packaged food company ConAgra Foods, Inc (CAG) was chosen. According to ConAgra 2013 Annual report, ConAgra Foods, Inc. is one of the USA’s leading food companies. It has a strong brand recognition and consumer loyalty. ConAgra 's products are sold both in large supermarkets and convenience stores. Company operates in Commercial and Consumer Foods segments. The food industry is especially interesting for the research as the demand on food will stay relatively stable even during economic crises and is continuously growing.

We believe that Ice-Fili, to stop the decline in its market share, should focus on the market opportunities in the Russian ice cream market. The main opportunity seems to lie in consumers’ behavior. They only consider ice cream as an "on the go" snack. Ice-Fili should use all possible means to create a change in their way of consumption. It would be doubly useful as it would both increase ice cream sales in restaurants but also in supermarkets so that families eat them at home.

Is there a way to estimate the cost of services and product to customers such that Stuart’s Branded Foods can be competitive in their market? Use the illustrations of the two customers to demonstrate your approach. What would be the selling price per kit or per cup for each customer?

With giants such as Walmart, and Kroger running the grocery store industry it’s difficult for companies such as Smuckers to bargain for shelf-space and prices. Brand name items drawn to the center of the store are what leverages these companies to succeed in the industry. After numerous acquisitions and strategic alliances, Smuckers developed a solid core of product lines which experienced success rapidly. Product lines that experienced the most success as a result of strong positioning in the industry included their Coffee labels, flour and baking products, Oils and food spreads. A 9-Cell Industry Attractiveness/Business Strength Matrix shows that the Industry attractiveness is relatively moderate. With many competitors and strong buyer power from large grocery chains such as Kroger, companies such as Smuckers have explored different strategies that have proved successful in what can be described as a saturated industry. The case insinuates that there may be opportunities in the industry in regards to special markets and perhaps Oils and Baking with sugar free products, but otherwise the recession, although it drove families to buy store bought as opposed to eating out, has had its effects on the food service industry as well.

The Pillsbury Cookie Challenge is a case study written by Natalie Mauro under the supervision of Professor Allison Johnson. The case study creates an open discussion about what the marketing manager of the refrigerated baked goods category for Canada General Mills should do to revive his products. Ivan Guillen, the marketing manager, was faced with tough challenges. He was initially “…faced with the challenge of developing a strategy that would lead to improved business performance on his category” (Johnson and Mauro, p.1, 2011). To clarify, Guillen’s category is refrigerated baked goods (RBG), which means, this category is his marketing responsibility. The issue here is that “RBG was GMCC’s fourth largest category, and its performance over the past two years had been less than stellar” (Johnson and Mauro, p.1, 2011). It is important to note that GMCC stands for General Mills Canada Corporation. Pillsbury has enjoyed majority market share in the RBG category in Canada, however, recently, the market was experiencing only moderate growth. Guillen was disappointed that their goal of 5%-7% market growth was not being achieved mainly in the refrigerated cookie dough segment. To be exact, their volume growth for two years was flat and they were having difficulty reaching new households. There was a shift among consumer’s purchases, which Guillen was challenged to figure out why.

Due to economic downturn the strength of the buyers’ power has increased as the industry looks to gain consumers with pricing strategies much like those of McDonald’s “Value Menu” and combination meals even though the cost of commodities have gone up (James, 2010). Customers of QSRs are looking for quality food without high costs. While Chipotle does not have a value menu or offer any type of combination meal much of their success is due to the fact that the customers are willing to pay a higher cost for higher-quality (Chipotle, 2010).

Ice-Fili’s marketing approach and product distribution could be seen as weaknesses in the company’s primary activities. In 2001 the firm started its first TV marketing campaign years after competitor’s advertised through the media outlets. To date Ice-Fili is still very inexperienced and far lacking of marketing strategies deployed by Western competitors such as Unilever and Nestle. Not only does Ice-Fili need to market more fiercely against competitors within industry, it must also compete against other consumables such as beverages and snacks. Another weakness is the distribution that is handed over to several distribution companies. There is a much higher chance (twice as likely) to find products of its biggest competitor Nestlé than those of Ice-Fili. Another detriment is how ice cream is viewed socially. Currently ice cream is primarily an impulse purchase. If Ice-Fili can change this outlook, it would result in an enormous

Starbucks can follow some strategies to differentiate their product even more that will lead to vary their menu prices. For example, Starbucks might create “saving menu” by selling some products at a lower prices to attract even more customers. Also, Starbucks might take into consideration the strategies of opening “Starbucks carts” that open in smaller express places that don’t fit for a whole store. Those “Starbucks carts” will attract even more customers because it is easier to get access to. “Starbucks carts” may provide the customers with low cost products to draw larger market base. To be a best cost provider in the market will allow Starbucks to be the most attractive company in the coffee market internationally. Thus, Starbucks will have a competitive advantage over its rivals by fulfilling the needs of a huge customer base in the market, by providing a high quality products and provide products with the best costs.

ABC Company manufactures some options of low calories microwavable products for its customers. Healthy Choice is the direct competitor of our company. Both of these companies are offering their customers with same category of microwavable low calories food products. ABC Company has segmented its target market on the basis of behavioural, demographic and psychographic variables.

While remaining a superior global food company, Kellogg’s management realized that they had to have the strongest possible resources to support their business growth in a diverse and competitive environment (Kellogg, 2009). Likewise, Starbucks is managing its competition challenges; the current economic conditions are factors that Starbucks needs to consider in order to market the new products to preserve its clientele and bring in new customers. Hence, Starbucks is wise to use the four P’s model; Price, Product, Place, and Promotion, to determine the course of action best suited to stay ahead of the competition.