Marketing case study ( Fox's Biscuites) - Essay Example

?Marketing Case Study Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 2. Analysis through Significant Macro and Micro Environmental Factors 4 2 Macro Environment Analysis- PEST Analysis 4 2.2 Micro Environment Analysis—SWOT Analysis 6 3. Porter’s Five Forces Analysis 8 4. Segmenting, Targeting and Positioning 12 5. Objectives of Fox’s Biscuits 15 6. Balanced Blend of Marketing Mix for Fox’s Biscuits 16 References 20 Appendices 26 1. Executive Summary With a 10.7 percent of brand share in the United Kingdom, Fox’s Biscuits has at present evolved as the UK’s second brand in terms of holding market position. Fox’s Biscuits is a popular brand name in the country, especially known for its quality and the sustained level of quality performance throughout the past several years. It was founded by Michael Spedding during the year 1853 by opening up a small shop for confectionary items in Batley. Apart from a factory in Batley, the organisation also has two factories situated within the UK. One is in Staffordshire and the other is situated near Blackpool. The distribution centre of the organisation is located in Uttoxeter (Staffordshire Newspapers Ltd, 2011). The long-term goal of Fox’s Biscuits is to evolve as the most pioneering, indulgent and ingenious biscuits. The most famous products of Fox’s Biscuits are Echo, Rocky, Classic and Creations. Fox’s Biscuits is better known as the synonym for quality because the company employs the best inputs for manufacturing the biscuits and feeding its customers with quality food items. Not only the company procures the best raw materials and processes them through the best machines but also it utilises the skills and expertise of quality personnel (Fox’s, 2011). The aim of this paper is to design marketing plan for making the Fox’s Biscuits more popular in the UK market. The plan will be designed through analysing the macro and micro environment affecting business operations of Fox’s Biscuits and also by critically analysing the current market position of the company. 2. Analysis through Significant Macro and Micro Environmental Factors The biscuit industry in the UK has kept on growing since the last five years depicting a rate of market increase up to a level of 22 percent. The industry has been forecasted to expand further in the future years with a growth of 15 percent according to Mintel’s market research (Mintel Oxygen Reports, 2011). High prospect of growth in overall biscuit industry in the UK also suggests high level of competition to prevail among the market players within this industry. In this competitive market, it is essential for the companies including Fox’s Biscuits to keep comprehensive track about the industry scenario so as to react instantaneously to the demands of the market with competitive products. Thus, for gathering comprehensive knowledge about the present market scenario and for evaluating the company’s potentiality to make itself compatible with the market, PEST and SWOT analysis will be performed in this segment. 2.1 Macro Environment Analysis- PEST Analysis Political Factors The government of the UK has depicted concerned behaviour over the health of its nation’s people in relation to obesity. The growth in the UK biscuit industry is as a result of the less conscious nature of the people in matters related to consumption of snacks inclusive of biscuits items. For countering to this, the UK government had even introduced stricter norms in relation to marketing practices of the snacks manufacturing companies. The move was aimed towards initiating the snacks manufacturing companies towards production of healthier food items. Thus, with regard to these facts about the political factors surrounding the biscuit industry in the UK, it is required by Fox’s Biscuits that it concentrates heavily upon the manufacturing of more healthy biscuits along with maintenance of expected crunchy and appetizing tastes. This way, the company can not only adhere to the political issues guiding biscuit manufacturing process but also can cater to the needs of the consumers (Net Industries, 2011). Economic Factors There are several economic factors that are assumed to be affecting the biscuit industry in the UK. The first and foremost economic factor influencing the biscuit industry in the UK is the level of income which in turn affects the UK people’s consumption pattern. To certain extent, changing size of the consumers’ income due to affects of recession can have an impact upon the company’s level of sales. Moreover, the overall economic recovery of the country does not depict much impressive picture, as also shown at the end of this paper in the Appendix 1. Taking these facts into consideration, Fox’s Biscuits is required to be more focused upon the marketing perspectives for sustaining its position within the UK market. Marketing concern will lead to enhanced level of consumption from the people being backed up by their urge to consume snacks items (Economics Help, 2009). Social Factors The price of food which has tremendously increased during the past few quarters has led to matter of concern in terms of changing lifestyles of the people. The concern of the people towards decreasing consumption on snacks in order to balance their lives’ basic needs (food, clothing and shelter) is an important social factor affecting the business operations of the companies manufacturing foods. In addition to this, due to obesity being considered nowadays as an important social factor, people are becoming enormously conscious about maintaining sound health conditions. The increased trend of obesity in the UK has been shown in the Appendix 2 in comparison to certain other countries as well. These societal issues at times can act as essential factors for companies such as that of Fox’s Biscuits to alter their marketing concepts and at the same time alter their ingredients of biscuits so as to adhere to the health conscious nature of the people (Food and Drink Business, 2011). Technological Factors In order to cope up with the growing demands of the people in relation to good tastes and good quality of food items, it has become extremely essential for the companies to renovate technological aspects in their manufacturing process. Effective transformation of the inputs is thus important for producing innovative products with regard to innovated tastes resulting from innovative ingredients. In addition to this, the products are also required to be presented in the market with attracting packing styles for stimulating the consumers to buy. However, these innovations are also required to be brought at an alarmingly fast pace so that market demands can be met on time. These factors determine the importance of developing and upgrading technologies in the biscuit manufacturing companies (Manley, 2000). 2.2 Micro Environment Analysis—SWOT Analysis Strengths The greatest strength of Fox’s Biscuits is the level of quality and variability that the products of the company possess. As also mentioned earlier, Fox’s Biscuits is often utilised as a synonym for quality. In addition to this feature, the company’s product mix is also composite of several variations as the company offers biscuits in a number of flavours that are adequate enough to cater to the different moods of the people. Along with this, other strength of the company is its wide presence in the market. The biscuit items are widely available in great retail chains such as that of Tesco. Greater presence adds more accessibility of the company in terms of reaching greater volume of consumers (Fox’s Biscuits, 2011). Weaknesses The most important disadvantage of Fox’s Biscuits is that its products are mainly made up of sweets. Apart from sugar, the company’s products are primarily made up of butter and other similar contents which contains high amount of calories. With these contents that can harm people’s health even for a mere amount of consumption, it is tough for the company to attract the health conscious people towards buying their products. Opportunities There is a lot of opportunity prevailing in the UK biscuit industry. The number of mergers and acquisitions prevailing in the UK biscuit industry such as that of Greencore with Northern Foods provides huge opportunity for Fox’s Biscuits to grasp the benefits out of the deal. Northern Foods is the parent company of Fox’s Biscuits and along with the growth of Northern Foods, it is also expected to grow enormously in the near future (Guardian News and Public Limited, 2011). Threats The most prominent threat for the firm’s manufacturing sweet biscuits is the preferences of the consumers. The consumers have evolved as so much conscious about their health that they have started preferring biscuits with healthy ingredients to tastier and sweeter biscuits. For reacting towards this growing healthy preference of the consumers, almost all the biscuit manufacturing companies have turned up towards nutrient contained biscuits, thus adding up more to the stiff competition. Hence, the level of competition also acts as a threat towards biscuit manufacturing companies such as that of Fox’s Biscuits. Apart from this, the changing governmental regulation towards directing the firms to market healthy content of biscuits also poses as a threat towards the company’s operations (Guardian News and Media Limited, 2011). 3. Porter’s Five Forces Analysis Porter’s five forces tool is a comprehensive analytical approach which is helpful in determining the present competitive position of a company and the tool is also helpful in understanding the exact place of power within the market. This tool has been utilised for analysing business condition of Fox’s Biscuits because this provides the basis for evaluating the present competitive situation along with determining the potency of a particular position where the firm wants to move on. The Appendix 3 depicts precise description about the five forces of the Porter’s model. Bargaining Power of Suppliers The main raw material for manufacturing biscuits is wheat flour. The bargaining power of suppliers is dependent upon their availability within the market and their influencing power upon bringing about changes in prices of the raw materials. The biscuit industry of the UK has plenty of suppliers of wheat floor and due to their huge number, automatically bargaining power of the individual suppliers decrease. However, Fox’s Biscuits is concerned with utilising the best raw materials for producing the biscuits because of their high concern about maintenance of quality. Still, it is noteworthy to mention that due to the company’s high reach in terms of operating with three manufacturing locations in three important places of the country, it has wide reach towards huge number of suppliers (Futur Master, 2011). Bargaining Power of Buyers Bargaining power of the buyer is determined by their abilities to influence the price setting of a particular product. In the case of the UK biscuit industry, buyers’ bargaining power can be mentioned to be high due to the prevalence of huge number of manufacturers of biscuits with obvious wide variety of tastes. However, the prices in a competitive market are set up due to the prevalence of demand and supply within the market. Due to the presence of excessive biscuit brands with varied tastes and nutrients, Fox’s Biscuits faces tremendous pressure upon launching innovated products once after every season. Considering such a competitive scenario with wide availability of both demand and supply of biscuits, it can be mentioned that bargaining power of the buyers is high (Food and Drink Innovation Network, 2011). Threats of New Entrants The biscuit manufacturing firms operating in the UK biscuit industry are faced with continuous threat from the new entrants both in terms of completely new manufacturing unit as well as old units manufacturing biscuits of varied tastes and flavours. The biscuit manufacturers also face threat due to imitation of their products by the new entrants. It is pretty easy to imitate the tastes of biscuits and moreover, when a biscuit manufacturer produces biscuits especially with a particular type of flavouring (chocolate in the case of Fox’s Biscuits), threats from the new entrants involuntarily rises for it. Thus, the threat from new entrants for Fox’s Biscuits is high in the UK market (Whipple, 2010). Threat of Substitutes Biscuits are manufactured through making use of an important agricultural product, i.e. wheat floor which is an effective agricultural product that can be transformed and utilised into several food products. Thus, there prevails threats from the substitute products that can be manufactured through making use of the same raw material but being provided a completely different form through addition of spicy materials or can be even addition of certain better proteins such as that of rice other than the ones which are provided at present. Moreover, biscuits, at times are also considered as snacks as these are mostly consume by people as a means of adding savour to their moods at various points of times in a day. Thus, threats would always exist from substitutes as people consume snacks according to their moods and snacks are widely available. Even popcorns at times are considered as substitute for biscuits. Rivalry among Competitors Considering the power of the above mentioned factors of Porter’s five forces model, it is implicit that there is stiff competition within the UK biscuit industry. The competition is intensified due to the presence of huge variety of biscuit items within the industry. The level of intensification initiated by not only a few branded biscuit items of a particular company but the use of own label of brands for a number of products also make the competition more harsh. Taking the case of Fox’s Biscuits which itself is a brand; under this a number of other brands are also created with the extension of the brand Fox’s Biscuits. In this way, greater innovation of tastier and healthier products has ignited the competition among rivals. The preliminary rivals of Fox’s Biscuits are Cadbury and McVities. Competition from these branded companies will always remain stiff. Along with this, biscuits being manufactured with the utilisation of rice apart from wheat which can also be used as a substitute can also add up to the competition within the industry. Besides these facts, with the passage of time, both the number of suppliers as well as consumption pattern of the buyers will increase along with growth in the economy. The manufacturers of biscuits should remain well active as per the nature of introducing tastier and healthier biscuits at different points of time (Office of Fair Trading, 2004). From the facts derived through utilising Porter’s five forces model, it can be mentioned that Fox’s Biscuits is holding a competitive position within the UK biscuit industry with respect to being able to distinguish their products from their competitors in terms of quality. It can also be taken to be implied from the above analysis that Fox’s long-term aim with the short-term operational objective of maintaining superior quality will add up to the industry competitiveness in the UK biscuit industry. 4. Segmenting, Targeting and Positioning Segmentation, targeting and positioning perspectives of a firm is better known as the STP marketing and holds strong value in determining the most appropriate marketing strategy for the firm. This marketing form helps in determining the marketing mix effectively for a particular market as this considers almost all aspects of the market inclusive of the consumers’ behaviours, tastes, preferences and also demands for products. Segmentation, the first blend in this aspect of marketing, represents the process through which the people within the market are grouped in accordance to certain necessities, traits or behaviours. After segmentation process is effectively conducted, the second step or targeting a particular suitable segment of the market takes place. Targeting process encompasses selecting the market segment according to those needs and demands the products of a company are designed and brought in place within the market. The last step of the marketing aspect is the positioning which determines the perfect use of the marketing tools that can create a visual image of the firm’s products in the minds of the consumers (Bharadwaj, 2003). Segmentation Fox’s Biscuits views the prospect of segmentation as essential in successfully generating customers inclusive of huge retailers. The UK biscuit market is huge with earnings of 2.3 billion Pounds on yearly basis and Fox’s Biscuits hold an important position within this huge market by contributing around 9 percent of the total market. In this huge market, it is obviously not feasible for the companies to target the entire market segments. Thus, Fox’s Biscuits preliminarily identified the particular market segment to which it can target in the most effective manner. The company especially segmented the entire biscuit industry of the UK on the basis of the demographic profile of the consumers (Mintel Group, 2011). Targeting Segmenting the consumers in a market according to certain common features of the consumers formed under a group or segment leads to effective targeting of the consumers. Targeting provides assistance to the companies in designing the product portfolio in the most effective way such that not only the needs and demands of the targeted segment of the market gets fulfilled but also the objectives of the company gets accomplished in terms of earning greater revenue. For example, Fox’s Biscuits introduced its brand named Mini Melts especially designed for targeting the female consumers. Also Fox’s Rocky Rocks was introduced by the company for targeting friends’ groups and families who strive to enjoy a whole day out of their regular works or dinner somewhere outside of their home. The brand Rocky Rocks is an innovated product being launched by Fox’s Biscuits which was manufactured by using different ingredient from the company’s general ingredient which is chocolate (Food and Drink Innovation Network, 2011). Positioning Positioning is extremely important for a company from time to time which is operating in a competitive market. New brand positioning and old brand repositioning are required to be taken up by the companies so as to sustain the market position within the industry. For successfully positioning the brands of a company, it is fundamentally required that the most efficient mode of promotion is selected by the companies. Various promotional tools are required to be evaluated for recognising the most effective one so that the set objectives of the company get fulfilled. For instance, during the year 2008, Fox’s Biscuits launched a new advertisement campaign for repositioning itself among the people as a ‘biscuit expert’. For this purpose, the company selected a blend of promotional activities for the purpose of supporting the repositioning process. The promotional activities selected are through website concerning entertainment, new modes and styles of packaging and through poster as well (Jay, 2008). 5. Objectives of Fox’s Biscuits For designing the marketing plan for Fox’s Biscuits, taking into consideration the various operational aspects of the company, it is essential to identify the short-term objectives and the long-term goals of the company. The identification of the objectives will help to design the marketing plans in the most effective way by determining the path towards long-term visional aspect of the company. Long-Term Goal The long-term objective of Fox’s Biscuits is to evolve and sustain as such a brand within the market which depicts an innovative and generous reputation among the people in the entire world. The company aims to generate the position through providing its consumers with the best valued products so that they become able to create that ever-lasting reputed image within the minds of the consumers (Fox’s, 2011). Short-Term Objective The short-term objective of Fox’s Biscuits is designed with a view towards achieving the long- term perspective of the company. Considering the short-term perspective of the company, it has been evaluated from the operational aspect of the firm that it aims to achieve the long-term goal through effective sustenance of its reputation as one of the best manufacturers of quality products. At present, the company is observed as another dimension towards quality and it aims to sustain this reputation in the future too through launching various innovative products at different points of time and thus rejuvenating its image among the consumers (Fox’s, 2011). Financial Objective From the financial point of view, Northern Foods, the owner of Fox’s Biscuits aims to continuously invest on this brand so as to provide ample support towards the future growth and development of the company. It is also aimed to maintain sustainable strong balance sheet all throughout the business operation of the company, both in the short-term as well as in the long- term prospects (Fox’s, 2011). Qualitative Targets in Business Operations Fox’s Biscuits aims towards creating strong business position in terms of operating in full swing with regard to the trading scenario not only within the local market but also among all other countries of the world. Qualitatively, the company strives towards benefiting from a well established business position through creation of a wider network in terms of trading and maintaining business relationship with the traders around the world (Fox’s, 2011). Quantitative Targets in Business Operations Quantitatively, it is apparent from Fox’s Biscuits operations that the company aims to maintain its financially solvent position throughout its business life cycle with effective generation of high level of profits so as to fulfil both its short-term as well as long-term objectives (Fox’s, 2011). 6. Balanced Blend of Marketing Mix for Fox’s Biscuits After conduction of the wide research surrounding the prospect of business of Fox’s Biscuits that helped in determining the objectives of the firm, it is now eminent that there has to be a comprehensive blend of marketing mix for Fox’s Biscuits. The aim of this section is to design the exact marketing strategy for the company that comprises of the right product traded or sold at the right price brought into the right place within the market through utilisation of the most appropriate promotional tools. Product Strategy The UK biscuit market is enormously competitive and considering the business prospect of Fox’s Biscuits, it is mandatorily required that the company keeps on introducing innovated products with innovative tastes and attractions for the consumers. Thus, Fox’s Biscuits is required to be redesigned with respect to product ingredients so that the consumers urge towards consuming this brand so as to experience a different feeling each time they consume different products of the company. The company is required to break up its mode of providing chocolate specialised products alone and follow up the process of diversified mix of products. In other words, Fox’s Biscuits should start specialising in other forms of biscuit items such as that of creams, salts, spices among others apart from just chocolates. The company should create high concern about inclusion of healthy ingredients such as proteins and calcium instead of fats and sugars (Fox’s Biscuits Company, 2011). Pricing Strategy For effectively setting up the most appropriate marketing mix in terms of pricing strategy for Fox’s Biscuits, it is important that firm launches attractive products in the market with respect to better tastes, essence, looks and most significantly nutrition than its competitors in the market. Considering the present reputation of the firm in terms of quality products, it will not be hard for the company to attract the consumers for a first trial to their new products launched in the market. The company should strive for applying penetration pricing strategy in its present market to gain competitive advantage over its competitors. It should take the advantage of its wide reach in the retail segment of the market. The company’s products are widely available in most of the retail giants of the world such as that of Tesco, Sainsbury and ASDA among others. The products of Fox’s Biscuits competitors are also present within these retail sectors. Thus, by setting lower prices than its competitors, Fox’s Biscuits holds strong implication of attracting retail consumers towards their products. This process will be eased up through present reputation of the company where consumers perceive Fox’s Biscuits as ‘a synonym for quality’. Placing Strategy Fox’s Biscuits is widely available in almost all the retail giants of the world inclusive of the topmost retailers operating worldwide. Retail segments of the market are the most effective means of reaching the consumers and also the most promising distribution channel which are being adopted at present by various product manufacturers. Considering the popularity of the company among the consumers in terms of holding high quality, it should also concentrate heavily upon opening up own branded stores in various parts of the country. This step will add value to Fox’s Biscuits brand recognition among the consumers. Along with distributing through retail chains, the company should also strive to reach the masses by making use of the online media. Fox’s Biscuits should grasp the lesson about effectiveness of the online media through the fame of Alexander in Meerkat. Alexander is the sequel of the site comparing prices on Comparethemarket.com. More influence towards enhancing marketing through online forms of media will definitely fulfil the objectives of the company. Backed up by the online launching of figured image of the brand, the company should also create chains of distribution through the websites designed for this purpose alone (Web Marketing Group, 2009). Promotional Strategy At present, the company is focusing widely upon its promotional campaigns featuring Vinnie, the Panda and it has already assigned a huge amount of money for campaigning more enormously. The campaigning has been mostly through advertising media, especially through Television (The Grocer, 2011). Taking into consideration the present prevailing craze among the masses about the image of the brand, Fox’s Biscuits can make use of several other mediums such as that of making mascots featuring Vinnie and launching them in the children park or any areas where families gather to spend time with each other. This promotional strategy will provide the company the benefit of directly interacting with the people that would lead towards children making friends with Vinnie and their parents gathering information about the mascot representing the company. Another approach towards effective promotional strategy for the company could be to adopt external media that involves advertising ‘on the go’. The delivery vans or the means of transportation being used by the company for delivering products in the retail outlets can be designed all around through promotional effects of Fox’s brands and thus can create awareness among the people. References Bharadwaj, S., 2003. 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