This essay will cover the importance of creating a Marketing Audit and the role a Marketing Mix plays in a business. These two key elements will then be applied to the leading speciality chocolate manufacturer and retailer in the United Kingdom (UK), Hotel Chocolat.
Kotler (1972 cited by Baker, 2007, p.248) defines a marketing audit as “an independent examination of the entire marketing effort of a company, or some specific marketing activity, covering objectives, programme, implementation, and organisation”. Similarly, Blythe (2012, p.321) defines it as “a systematic assessment of the organisation’s current marketing activities to inform the planning process.”
A marketing audit is necessary to monitor external and internal factors which
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In order to conduct a Marketing Audit for Hotel Chocolat, the various frameworks discussed earlier need to be used which have an impact on how a business makes its future decisions.
Macro-environment: PESTEL
Economic Factors
Since the recession, it is evident that the customer data base has become more frugal. It has driven consumers to become more value-conscious which can result in less demand for expensive chocolate products.
Despite selling premium chocolate products priced at the top end of the market, Hotel Chocolat still continued to grow in sales and profits, therefore, Hotel Chocolat felt optimistic in their approach during and after the economic crisis. They expanded their stores across the UK, USA and other parts of Europe, as well as other transformations which include opening their first international airport store in Copenhagen Airport. (Hotel Chocolat, date unknown)
However, consumers are still wanting ‘more for less’, increasing the value proposition. Thus, this could be a future threat for Hotel Chocolat’s sales and profit margins as people realise there are alternatives, which may not have greater brand equity but
left of disposable income after paying for necessities” (Quester et al, 2007, p. 744). Because of the
The premium chocolate industry is a large market in the United States and continues to grow around 10% annually. It is also populated with very strong
The marketing strategy of Haigh’s chocolate has been identified through detailed analysis of the external and the internal environment of the present market conditions and development of the Haigh’s. There has been complete detailed SWOT analysis of the company on the basis of research conducted from several secondary sources. It has been conducted in order to determine the important strategies and the key strengths of the company. Talking about the chocolate sector which has been further segmented into several categories in which Haigh holds the important position and have captures the major chunk of the market. Such markets range from chocolate blocks, bars and other diet varieties like gluten and eggless products. The demand in the chocolate market is also divided on the basis of the geographic location markets like that in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide chocolate markets. Other factors affecting demand in the market includes demographic, behavioural and psychographic segmentation.
Research has proved that humans have been consuming cocoa for over 2600 years from once upon a time being used as currency to becoming serious pirate loot to being the key ingredient along with sugar in producing chocolate today.
The main threat to Rogers’ chocolate is the competition. Not being able to keep up with the competition or current trends can lead to lost market share. With Godiva having superior packaging, distribution, and price points, and Bernard Callebaut having superior packaging and seasonal influence, Rogers’ Chocolate could be falling behind soon if they do not join the ranks. Rogers’ must find their niche in order to be able to compete not just locally, but globally.
With the increasing trend in healthy diet preference, the underlying drivers of change of competition in premium chocolate industry at the strongest level are the buyers’ preferences for differentiated, refined products, instead of standardized ordinary products that are no longer demanded. In addition, baby boomers - generation with their disposable income are spending a lot on high quality premium chocolates.
The premium chocolate market has been growing at 20% annually, showing that buyers are willing to pay more for a better tasting and better quality chocolate. The declining growth of the overall chocolate market and rapid growth of the premium chocolate market is positive for current producers of premium chocolates in that the decline
Sarto’s gourmet pasta process good information about the market and knows a great deal about the common attributes of our most prized and loyal customers. Sarto’s gourmet pasta will leverage this information to better understand who is served, their specific needs, and how sarto’s can better communicate with them.
When Howard Schultz launched Starbucks, its main targets were the competitors and the customers. Schultz’s brand aimed at gaining dominance in the coffee industry in addition creating a Italian coffee shop feel in the United States (Buchanan & Simmons, 2009). The strategy of Starbucks was based on new products, listening to customers wants and ensure future expansion (Buchanan & Simmons, 2009). In creating convenience for customers, Starbucks created stores almost on top of eachother. They hinged on the idea that, they did not want to lose out on a sale if a line was too long. This action, of placing stores in heavy populated areas, basing need on projected growth of an area caused some decline in sales during economic trouble with the economy. The 2007 recession, failure of subprime mortgages, increased competition from McDonald 's McCafe brand, and Dunkin Doughnuts all led to a decline in sales for Starbucks in the fourth quarter of 2007 (Buchanan & Simmons, 2009). To attempt to regain market share and recover after the
2. Evaluate the achievability of the company objectives for Montreaux USA. Identify the most salient (or important) aspects of the chocolate confectionary industry, globally and domestically, that are critical for understanding a new product introduction of this type. Provide support for your conclusions.
The social demand for chocolate varies for several reasons. One of which is a change in the level of the population. The population of the UK is aging, people are living longer and there are a lower percentage of children. This would indicate that although the population is increasing because of people living longer there are fewer children, which is the main consumer for the chocolate industry resulting in less demand for the product.
The next exhibits show payroll structure and income volume per location in 2002 and product mix for North American company-operated stores. Exhibit 6 shows US retail coffee market predictions till 2005 years. It clearly shows changing in Americans’ coffee drinking style into specialty coffee. It is very important for Starbucks because company’s main market is specialty coffee. Next of the exhibits, shows positive customer snapshot scores for North America stores. Those snapshots suggest further company’s success. The only issue we can find is the product quality. According to the exhibit product quality went down during 3rd quarter of 2002.
After a thorough analysis of Apollo Foods business situation, a decision plan regarding the launch of a new chocolate product for its new branch acquisition Montreaux Chocolate USA has become clear. This decision plan is based on the following key challenges and marketing issues that need to be addressed. These challenges and marketing issues can be best summed up by a decision on what brand the product will be home to, whom the product will be marketed to, the ingredients and formulation of the product, the packaging of the product, can the product perform well enough in a sales forecast plan to exceed a $30 million dollar hurdle rate, and finally to launch or to test market the product. After reviewing Apollo Food’s data, their market research findings, and sales forecasts. A decision plan that addresses all of the key issues and marketing points has been created and will be
The purpose of this report is to identify, analyse and evaluate the marketing factors that Whittaker’s has adopted in attempts to position themselves as a top-quality chocolate confectionery brand. In addition, this report would also be an aid to the major assignment in terms of developing detailed plans with marketing factors, data and facts.
With the development of economic globalization, “fast food” becomes a more and more substantial industry in the business world, which adapts to the pace of people’s life. Each organization spares every effort to stand forward the competition due to the fierce competition. In this article, we focus on the “Starbucks”, a prevailing coffee manufacturer in recent years.