Carnevale Company - Report Example

Carnevale and Carnevale Background Carnevale is an organization that has been manufacturing mozzarella, ricotta and other Italian cheeses, meat products and fresh pasta in the United Kingdom since its inception in 1966. The company is also recognized as one of the leading importers of the complete premium set of chilled, ambient and frozen- mostly Italian foodstuffs, beverages and provisions that are constantly added to by the organization’s innovative product development experts. The company’s present portfolio of commodities boasts of having more than 4,000 lines, hence it is capable of meeting the requirements of the restaurant, pizzeria, hotel, delicatessen, food processing and wholesale trade in any part of the country (Carnevale, 2001, p.1). Carnevale’s philosophy is to stick to and care for the consumers’ needs, offering them the most efficient service and premium products generated by accredited manufacturers who are widely known for their consistent quality. The company operates out of two BRC accredited manufacturing sites and six major depots located within the UK. This, together with its own fleet of vehicles and committed crew of telesales representatives, make sure that a high standard, effective service is offered for all the Carnevale retail and wholesale clients. Today, the organization has moved from being a small-scale national producer of fresh mozzarella, to a global award-winning supplier and distributor of credible mozzarella, ricotta, pasta and fresh Italian meat products (Carnevale, 2001, p.1). Today, mozzarella and ricotta Carnevale are easily recognizable and known as quality commodities for meeting all needs, whether it is pizza, pasta, desserts or sandwiches. Carnevale also produces fresh hand-made pasta and specialist Italian cheeses, meats and premium pork sausages. All these are manufactured with the use of the traditional family recipes. Carnavale’s humble roots can be traced back to 1966, when two young brothers, Carmine and Giovanni Carnale, from Appennine village of Capracotta in Molise, Southern Italy formed the organization. Thereafter, they started selling and manufacturing mozzarella and ricotta for the first time at the heart of London (Carnevale, 2001, p.1). As the public awareness of the existence of the Carnavale brand, as well as the Italian food rose progressively, the firm expanded, adding many manufactured and imported commodities to the portfolio. Presently, Carnavale’s broad range of premium foods, provisions and beverages are spread across the country by its own fleet of vehicles that set off on a daily basis from one of the six depots it has. The company remains a family-owned investment with many members of the family’s second generation taking part, and furthering the role of transforming it and safeguarding its image as the top brand in the industry. Over the last 15 years, Carnevale has bought other Italian import and wholesale firms, including; Pronto Provisions and J&G (Carnevale, 2001, p.1). Market Segmentation In the business world, what matters is being able to pass messages in a persuasive manner. Carnevale, as a profit-making organization, has been able to apapt to their target audience’s needs, wants and values. In order for Carnevale to achieve this uphill task, they have satisfactorily answered the questions such as how its consumer’s nature is, what they buy, and where they can be found. Kotler and Armstrong define market segmentation as the process of subcategorizing a market into distinct groups of consumers who have distinct needs, characteristics, or behavior, and who might need separate products or marketing mixes (Larsen, 2010, p.6). The process of marketing and the entire concept of the market are inextricably connected. If Carnevale is to enjoy the fruits of marketing, it must have the ability to match its own capabilities to the needs of the market segments. Central to this marching process is the segmentation of the market. Wendell Smith is renowned for offering the basis for the idea of market segmentation as it is used in the modern times. A review of the literature on audience segmentation underpins the idea that markets, and their segments, are clusters of prospective clients (Larsen, 2010, p.6). Demographic Segmentation Carnevales has focused mainly on demographic and geographic segmentation, in order to meet customers’ expectations. Demographic segmentation involves the division of customers into segments on the basis of demographic values like age, gender and family size, level of income, level of education, religious affiliation, and social class.The demographic segmentation is normally employed in market segmentation for the simple reason that the variables are easy to measure and recognize (Lancaster and Peter, 2009, p.33). Besides, the demographic characteristics are linked to the sale of numerous products and services, and ultimately offer a description of the target clients so that media buyers and others can target a desired market. Each demographic characteristic is helpful in segmenting the markets (Larsen, 2010, p.6). In order to distinguish the needs and wants of men and women, owing to the fact that the men and women have different attitudes towards a given product, Carnevale has introduced different types of wines, biscuits and other beverages. For example, the sparkling wine is primarily aimed at women, whereas spirits and beers are targeted for men, since men are the leading consumers of spirits and beers. Apart from gender segmentation, Carnevale has made use of income segmentation so as to design products and services that meet the needs of customers with different socio-economic status. Income segmentation divides the market into different income groups. Carnevales has mainly used this form of segmentation by designing different products with different prices and values. For instance, the Italian wine clearly targets people of relatively high socio-economic status, while biscuits and world wines are relatively cheaper and affordable; hence they target individuals of low socio-economic status (Larsen, 2010, p.6). Income segmentation subdivides clients into different income groups. This is especially used in food and beverage manufacturing companies. Many of such organizations within these categories attempt to target the high-income consumers. Others try to look for the clients with a considerably lower level of income so as to gain customer loyalty and lower the competitive pressures. Nevertheless, Carnevales ought to take into consideration the fact that some clients may have other tastes and preferences, and prioritize their money differently (Larsen, 2010, p.6). Geographic Segmentation To achieve the purpose of geographic segmentation, Carnevales has divided its customers into categories based on the geographical areas, such as towns and districts. In the UK, the company targets customers located in London, Bristol, Bedford, Glasgow, Huddersfield and Gateshead. The organization targets these areas since the data, according to the geographic segmentation, varies owing to population shift. The company’s own fleet of vehicles delivers and distributes products and services to all the aforementioned UK destinations with no minimum order required for free delivery (Larsen, 2010, p.6). Carnevales considers it vital to segment its audience according to geographic location, owing to the fact that the consumer behavior of the clients are dictated by where they live, work and study. For that reason, the organization customizes its products, advertising, promotion and sales efforts to conform to the requirements of the geographical determinants. Segmenting the markets geographically is further useful in situations where there exist differences in a location where a product is marketed. The company attributes the differences to cultural factors, traditions and politics. Besides, the dissimilarities can be important in one segment, while in other segments the differences may be minute and insignificant (Larsen, 2010, p.6). How the Competitor’s Segments Differ from Carnevales One of the main competitors of Carnevales is the Cheese Warehouse.This is a subsidiary of the Irish Dairy Board, an Irish owned cooperative. The company has a built-in facility in North Shropshire, which processes and distributes high-standard cheese and other food products in many formats, such as grated, crumbled and diced to the United Kingdom food manufacturing, wholesale and food-service sectors. The Cheese Warehouse does not merely supply cheese; they offer a detailed service such as product development, ideas and inspiration. The firm’s developed Kitchen is furnished with creative and innovative thinking and testing of new products, concepts and ideas. The objective of the organization is to be the most innovative supplier of cheese and other food products to the food industry (The Cheese Warehouse, 2010, p.1). Unlike Carnevales, whose primary segment is England and the major towns in the UK, the Cheese Warehouse has expanded the size of its geographic segment beyond the United Kingdom. In this regard, the Cheese Warehouse currently focuses not only on manufacturing and distributing its food products in the UK, but also beyond the national frontiers, such as the European continent and America. This makes its market segment quite larger than that of Carnevales. This company exports manufactured cheese and other fresh food products in terms of their geographic reach. For instance, the company has several types of cheese, such as regional cheese, continental cheese, and Gr8. The regional cheese is mainly distributed within the national frontiers, whereas the continental cheese aims consumers within the European continent (The Cheese Warehouse, 2010, p.1). Another factor that makes the Cheese Warehouse’s market segment different from Carnevales is that while the former used behavioral segmentation, the latter applied demographic segmentation. To this end, the Cheese Warehouse has segmented its target clients in terms of their attitudes towards use of or reaction to a given product. Their marketers believe that the behavioral patterns like occasions, benefits, user status and rate of use, buyer-readiness, customer loyalty status, and attitude are the most ideal starting points for designing the market segments; hence such determinants have been highly considered (The Cheese Warehouse, 2010, p.1). The experts in the Cheese Warehouse have recognized that customers have shown reacted differently to the various forms of products they have consumed from the organization. As a result, they know have designed cheese according to the customers’ requirements, such as flavor profile, texture, melt characteristics, stretch and browning. This is a form of benefit segmentation, which subdivides the consumers in terms of the different benefits they get from a given product or service. Benefit segmentation attempts to find the benefits that customers seek in a particular product, the forms of individuals who look for each benefit, as well as the kind of brands that deliver the benefits. Further, this form of segmentation identifies the market segments by casual factors rather than the descriptive factors associated with demographic segmentation that has been applied by Carnevales (The Cheese Warehouse, 2010, p.1). How the Company has attempted to Profile their Customers Carnevales has made use of many sophisticated tools at its disposal to profile customers in order to meet their needs and expectations. Such tools include; cluster analysis, factor analysis, and latent class analysis. Most significantly, the company has profiled its consumers in two major ways-demographic and psychographic. Demographic profiling involves analysis of consumers on the basis of factors like age, spending habits, location, and socio-economic status.Psychographic profiling, on the other hand, is based on the way consumers respond in some situations, like how frequent they order a given product or service, what they order, when they order, and what marketing stimuli they react to most positively (Shajaharan, 2004, p.86). Carnevales has deeply considered the perceived benefits that consumers gain in buying their products or services before profiling their clients. This is because; most consumers buy solutions to their problems or needs. Most customers approach the company seeking for solutions to their requirements and expectations. For instance, most women who make arrangements for dinner dates need wines that look visually appealing on the outside. To offer a possible answer to this problem, the organization came up with sparkling wines that are packaged in very attractive boxes and bottles. This offers the clients’ solution to the question of visual satisfaction. Once the customers’ needs are understood, it is easy to come up with a possible answer to the problem in question (Shajaharan, 2004, p.86). Features of a product determine whether a customer buys it or not. Different customers require different product features. That is why Carnevales has a wide variety of the same kinds of products, to satisfy the different needs of customers.For example, the company has designed a wide variety of tea, since clients have different tastes and preferences. These types of tea include CamomileBonnomelli, English breakfast tea, English Breakfast Twinings, Green Tea Twinings, and Pepermint Tea Twinings(Shajaharan, 2004, p.86). In the business-to-customer perspective, the company has demographically profiled its target clients with respect to age, level of income, academic level and nationality. This is because; each category of product comes with different prices, with some being more expensive than others. In addition, the organization has designed products and services that specifically aim at serving the needs of individuals with different nationalities. Apart from the aforesaid demographic qualifiers, the organization has also focused on its size, type of products manufactured or sold, revenues collected, industry sector and age (Shajaharan, 2004, p.86). Profiling the customers in a psychographic way helps to answer the question, “what do the customers do, and want?” This is an opportunity to evaluate the organization’s target market’s attitudes, beliefs, and emotions. The kinds of responses that customers give in relation to the products and services provided, has enabled Carnevales to evaluate their attitudes, beliefs and emotions. That way, the organization is able to design products and services that satisfactorily meet their attitudes, beliefs and emotions. In Carnevales, some of the psychodynamic considerations include; hobbies, family stage, leisure, status, awareness, outside interests, and social responsibility (Shajaharan, 2004, p.86). In order to understand the attitudes and beliefs of customers, the company has been lately involved in Public Relations and research exercises, which are meant for collecting the public opinion of the organization, information on the consumers; tastes and preferences, as well as their status economically and academically.This is considered as helpful in designing the most appropriate products for meeting the psychographic needs of the customers.Also, by including the psychographics to the demographic information, Carnevales has increased the richness of the customers’ understanding (Shajaharan, 2004, p.86). Competitors’ Customer Segments Carnevales has two major competitors in the industry. These include; Cheese Warehouse and Mars. While Carnevales is only active within the major towns in the United Kingdom, its major competitors, Mars and Cheese Warehouse, have already established an international presence. Mars’s geographic segmentation is different from Carnevales in the sense that it operates in 74 countries globally. As one of its leading rival firms, Mars has a significant international presence in over 74 states, with fully furnished offices in Europe, America and North Africa. Unlike Carnevales, whose primary segment is England and the major towns in the UK, the Cheese Warehouse has expanded the size of its geographic segment beyond the United Kingdom. In this regard, the Cheese Warehouse has today focused not only in manufacturing and distributing its food products in the UK, but also beyond the national frontiers, such as the European continent and America. This makes its market segment quite larger than that of Carnevales. Therefore, while the two rival firms operate globally, the company’s geographical segment is limited to major local cities like London, Bristol, Bedford, Glasgow, and Huddersfield and Gateshead. Importance of Knowledge of Consumer Behavior the Companies in achieving Objectives Consumers’ products and services preferences are constantly changing. Thus, the marketing experts of these firms ought to understand these changes and needs in order to establish a proper marketing mix for a well-defined market. Therefore, it is critical that marketing executives and managers have a comprehensive knowledge of consumer behavior. Consumer behavior describes how the customers make purchase decisions and the ways in which they use and dispose of the purchased products and services. The study of consumer behavior also includes factors that dictate purchase decisions and use of products (Panda, 2001, p.185). Having knowledge of how the customers make purchase decisions can be helpful to marketers in various ways. Consumer behavior is helpful to both the companies and its customers. This is because; most customers spend most of their time indirectly in the market environment. Consumers’ patterns of buying products and services need to be studied because some decisions are highly influenced by their behavioral patterns or expected actions. From the marketing perspective, understanding the consumer behavior is vital in the successful delivery of an organization’s offerings in the market arena. One of the marketing application areas of consumer behavior knowledge involves conducting marketing opportunity analysis. This entails evaluating the current patterns and conditions in the marketplace in order to identify the distinct groups of customers who possess unique requirements that have not been satisfactorily met (Panda, 2001, p.185). The knowledge of consumer behavior can be applied in target market selection. This involves identification of distinct groups of customers who possess unique needs, and selecting the segments that match the organization’s strengths, after which a better opportunity is offered. Apart from target market selection, the knowledge of consumer behavior can be of help to companies in carrying out the process of marketing mix determination.Marketing-mix determination is the process by which a strategy for providing an efficient mixture of want-satisfying characteristics to customers is developed within the target market segment. Therefore, companies need to carry out regular researches on consumer behavior if they are to accomplish their marketing objectives (Panda, 2001, p.185). Bibliography Carnevale, 2001.Company History. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 19 December 2014] Lancaster., and Peter., 2009. Understanding and Managing your Customer. London: Pearson Publishing. Larsen, N., 2010. Market Segmentation: A Framework for Determining the Right Target Customers. Ph.D. Aarhus School of Business. Available at: [Accessed 19 December 2014] Panda, K.T., 2011.Marketing Management. 3rd ed. New Delhi: Excel Books. The Cheese Warehouse, 2010, About Company. [Online] Available at [Accessed 19 December 2014] Shajaharan, S., 2004.Relationship Marketing: Text and Cases. New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill.     Read More