JM Smuckers - Report Example

JM Smucker’s: The company was founded in 1897, and has had strong and well planned values and roots which is still followed until this day. The company continues to work on the basic belief that quality, people. Growth, Ethics and Independence are the most essential. The company has also been able to make it to the top 100 companies by the Fortune Magazine for the United States and it ranks at the first position. J.M Smucker Company is one of the leading brands in North America for fruit spreads, peanut butter, shortening and oils, ice cream toppings, sweetened condensed milk and health and natural foods beverages (Smuckers). The company owns several brands which include: a) Smucker’s ®, b) Jif ®, c) Crisco ®, d) Eagle Brand ®, e) Hungry Jack ®, f) Martha White ®, g) White Lily ®, h) Krundsen Family ®, i) Robin Hood V, j) Five Roses ®, and k) Bick’s ®(Smuckers). The company has had its headquarters for over 108 years in the city of Orrville, Ohio, and the company has been run by four generations. SWOT Analysis of Smucker’s: Strengths Leaders in the market of jams, jellies and preserves in the US Customer centric Very employee friendly and hence features in the top quartile of the Fortune’s 100 Best Employers Has earned the record of ‘Best Overall Deal and Breakthrough Deal’ in 2002 Based on Innovativeness and freshness of ideas The company has been the market leader in a number of different food categories High increase in the market share Excellent marketing, advertising techniques adopted Good levels of public interactions and publicity programs Focused portfolios Good use of all resources thereby being cost effective Excellent product portfolio with innovativeness and healthy options Numerous acquisitions and excellent management Spread across over 45 countries and very successful in Latin America Constant increase in revenues Excellent brand management and constant efforts to grow the brand successfully Excellent customer relationship management Weaknesses Small operations and limited product line Obsolete technology and facilities lead to failure of the business like Mrs. Smith Post acquisition of Crisco the company has been faced with a fall in sales Opportunities Acquisitions like Crisco and JIF add to the total brands of the company Also the acquisition allows a more expansion in terms of the sales, profits, and cash flows Newer acquisition strategies and growth strategies can be implemented to improve the overall growth of the company. The newest and most advanced form of information is becoming a major part of the project to help the company reach out to number of customers (Jobber, 2004). Also use of several newer systems helps the company to grow back to a decent amount when the company can also use newer technology for the cartridge. The company also requires to keep in track with several other acts and to comply with several standard requirements and regulation requirements. Brand extension into breads Threats Suppliers have a major impact on the business The company has a high level of dependency on the suppliers and the major suppliers of the company include Wal Mart which has almost 24% of the company’s total sales. The company has several smaller brands that it possesses and the business portfolio like that of Smucker’s Numerous substitutes available that lead the company to be faced with a threat The company is not faced by a single company as competition and currently the company has three main competitors, a) Unilever, b) Kraft Foods, and c) Conagra Foods. Since the company deals with food industry, there are several rules that they need to adhere to. The economical factors include several others like the slowdown of the country and the recession that is faced. The level of demand has see a continuous growth and increase, which can lead the promoting the product on the store shelves. Conclusion: J.M. Smuckers has a major market share in the current time. The company has several strengths that it can use to the benefit of the company and can easily develop a better brand image as well. The current brand image and brand perception of the company by the customers is excellent making them a major player in the markets. However it is essential for the company to capitalise on its strengths and discount on the weaknesses. Also, there are clearly numerous opportunities for the company which can be taken up and used to extend the brand and also improve the overall performance of the company. One of the major recommendations to the company is to incorporate a more interactive website and to explore the electronic media as a form of marketing and advertising. The scope for the company is very high in this medium and there is a high possibility for the company to move into an ecommerce website as well which in turn would add to the sales and help improve the overall profits of the company. This would prove to be quite beneficial for the company as it will not only allow for the company to increase the sales, but would also provide the company with a solid form of marketing. The cost for the company will be very minimal as the company already has a well developed site. Hence it would only mean an inclusion of the E – Commerce feature. The benefit for this however will be more than just an increase in the sales. It would prove to provide a good marketing for the company, and the company can also include its banners in other websites which would provide for as a strong advertisement (Johnson, Scholes and Whittington, 2006). The benefit of the website is more of the non monetary along with the monetary benefits. There is a greater deal of advertisement and a good will which is created for the company. The return on investment is very fast as this would help the company save up on the monies it would otherwise need to spend for the advertisements and the transaction costs when it comes to the physical stores. This will also meet the growing use of the internet and the growing use of the e – Commerce websites (Kotler & Armstrong, 2007). The only form of resistance that might occur is the extra work that the employees might need to put in to complete the orders and sending the ordered goods to the customers. This however can be overcome by ensuring that the work is spread out between all the employees and this will allow for all the work to be spread out across every employee and this will not cause a burden on any person. Works Cited Jobber, D., 2004, Principles and Practice of Marketing, 4th Edition, McGraw – Hill, Berkshire Johnson, G., Scholes, K. and Whittington, R., 2006, ‘Exploring Corporate Strategy’, 7th edn, Prentice Hall, Essex Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G., 2007, ‘Principles of Marketing’, 12th edition, 9 March 2007, Prentice Hall Smuckers. About Us. 2009. 8 November 2009 http://www.smuckers.com/family_company/about_us/default.aspx Read More