A New Line of Organic Products for an Existing Company - Assignment Example

?A New Line of Organic Products for an Existing Company Executive Summary A proper marketing plan can support a particular company to accomplish its desired business targets. In this regard, an effectual marketing plan has been devised for an American based retail chain named Auntie Anne’s which tends to introduce a new line of organic products in the business markets where it operates. Several important aspects have been taken into concern while devising an effectual marketing plan for the company. These aspects embraced conducting market analysis, identifying the target markets as well as buying behavior of the customers and performing competitor’s analysis among others. It is to be stated that the devised marketing plan would eventually serve the company to accomplish its expected business targets in terms of introducing its new line of organic products successfully in different business markets. Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 Introduction 6 Evaluation of Current Business Prospects of the Organization 7 Need for New Organic Products 7 Market Analysis 8 Target Customers 8 Buying Behavior 9 Influencing Factors 10 Competitor Analysis 10 4 Ps Strategies 11 Financial Forecast 12 Challenges 13 Conclusion 14 References 15 Introduction Auntie Anne’s came into existence in the year 1988 in the USA. The company has been viewed to perform its different operational functions in nearly 24 countries worldwide. The company specializes in the art of delivering packed food products to the customers. The company is known to deliver its broad assortment of products in airports, railways stations and busy shopping streets among others. The company desired to provide many nutritional benefits to the customers with its different product offerings as compared to the products belonging to other similar companies. It has been apparently observed that the company primarily focuses on making freshly baked pretzels, flavored sticks along with drinks among others. Specially mentioning, the company has recently started its operations in the UK where it is planning to attract new customers through delivering its flavored pretzels product (Auntie Anne's UK, 2011). There are several benefits that can be expected if the products are launched in accordance with a proper marketing plan. The marketing plan can provide a distinct idea about the current business status of the company and it will also help in analyzing the need and demands for new organic products by the consumers. In addition, the plan will prove to deliver great aid in developing a clear picture about the competitors of the company and the current buying behavior of organic products by the consumers. Thus, all these facets will deliver a lot of clarity for launching the products in a diversified manner. With this concern, this paper will consist of designing a marketing plan for introducing as well as promoting a new line of organic products on behalf of Auntie Anne’s that would comprise cocoa dusted chickpeas, flavored hazel-nuts and kale chips. The plan would entail all relevant marketing strategies that will be required to be undertaken by the company for ensuring a proper launch of the aforementioned products in the business markets where it operates. Moreover, efforts will be made to identify the potential areas and specific segments where these products could be launched backed up with the formulation of an appropriate marketing plan. The steps that are needed to be undertaken for launching the products will primarily be based upon the product’s characteristics. Evaluation of Current Business Prospects of the Organization The current business prospects of Auntie Anne’s are set to be flowing in a very customer oriented manner. There are numerous prospective factors, which the company is currently working upon. The main factor is that the company is intending to create a level of distinctiveness in order to satisfy the customers by complying with their requirements by a considerable level. The products that manufacture by Auntie Anne’s are prepared in such a way that it is bound to increase the frequency of purchasing the products of the company frequently by the customers. The products of the company have been viewed to be prepared by handpicked substances and ingredients which give a very interesting texture to its products. In addition, the company excels in delivering its products to various locations where they are demanded the most i.e. airports, railways stations and into busy shopping streets. The company widely operates in the UK and Ireland along with the US where its products are widely sold to the consumers. There lays a huge demand of its products and therefore, Auntie Anne’s manages to manufacture nearly 250,000 pretzels each day which is possible only because of the demands that is created from the part of the customers (Auntie Anne's UK, 2011). Need for New Organic Products Based on the current business prospects of the company, it can be noted that the products of Auntie Anne’s are widely liked by the public, especially the pretzels. However, based on the current demands and the consumption pattern of the consumers, the company decided to diversify the present product range. It has also been noted that if the company launches Cocoa dusted chickpeas, flavored hazel-nuts and kale chips, then it will help in the diversification of its different that would be an added advantage for the company to further promote its brands. Furthermore, the people of the US and the UK possess the desire towards trying new variances and twists in taste. Market Analysis The marketing plan will consist of a proper market analysis about various factors that will aid in developing proper marketing strategies for launching the new organic products by Auntie Anne’s. The factors have been portrayed hereunder. Target Customers One of the imperative objectives for any company before launching new products is to determine those divisions of customers who can be largely attracted to purchase those products. Before launching any kind of new product, the company i.e. Auntie Anne’s should segment the market by identifying the actual needs and demands of the consumers. Secondly, the company can evaluate the potential factors for the segments and plan accordingly to target the segments. After targeting a particular segment, the company can focus on positioning the selected segment and can formulate as well as execute effective marketing mix strategies (Market Segmentation Study Guide, 2012). This can be better understood with the help of the following pictorial illustration. Source: (Market Segmentation Study Guide, 2012) Thus, the aforementioned STP process (Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning) can help the company in selecting a particular group or groups of consumers (who may or may not belong to different age groups) and can target them accordingly as per their needs and demands. For Auntie Anne’s the potential group of consumers will primarily consist of different age groups as its products are specially prepared by taking into concern the health factors along with freshness and taste. The company can select all age groups of people and can target them accordingly (Market Segmentation Study Guide, 2012). Buying Behavior Another striking factor that is needed to be considered is analyzing the behavior of the consumers and their purchasing pattern. It can be affirmed from a broader outlook that a proper marketing plan should primarily comprise a detailed idea about the level and frequencies in which the products are being consumed by the consumers. Before making any expansion plan, it is quite indispensable to evaluate the current purchasing procedure and behavior of the consumers. It is to be stated that if the rate of consumption is high, then the tendency for increased rate of purchase of the products will definitely increase. The best time to launch a new product is the period when a company has reached the saturation level and is able to create a strong brand image in the business market. Based on the purchasing rates of the consumers of Auntie Anne’s, the company can build strategies to launch its Cocoa dusted chickpeas, flavored hazel-nuts and kale chips as the new organic products. The rate of purchase of any product strongly reflects the buying behavior of consumers which different companies consider before launching any kind of new product in the market (Hawkins, 2010). Influencing Factors There are various factors that are required to be considered before launching a new product in the business market. There are factors pertaining to the growth of a company which are solely based on its strategies of launching new products. However, before launching the new organic products of Auntie Anne’s, the economical, social, environmental and technological factors are needed to be considered. By acknowledging the above factors, the company will be able to analyze the financial strengths and based on these factors it can work upon to mobilize its capital for launching the new products. In addition, by taking into concern the aforesaid influencing factors, the company can evaluate the level up to which the products of the company are liked by the consumers and can have a fair idea of the business environment. This would ultimately provide a greater aid to the company in developing proper business ideas for launching the products successfully (Reynolds & Lancaster, 2012). Competitor Analysis Before developing a proper marketing plan of a company concerning the introduction of new product offerings in the business market, it is quite essential to analyze its competitors. In this similar context, various significant factors like customer attraction, profitability and brand image among others will provide Auntie Anne’s with a fair idea about the market standing of its chief business market competitors. For Auntie Anne’s, analysis of its competitors will provide a great level of idea to evaluate its current market standing and a specific comparison can also be made in relation to different crucial factors. However, before launching the new organic products in the market, the company can go for a deep analysis about its top competitors that comprise Mrs. Fields' Original Cookies, Inc., Wetzel's Pretzels LLC and Yogurt Ventures U.S.A., Inc. among others. These companies can be viewed as the major business market participants of Auntie Anne’s (Cravens, 2010). 4 Ps Strategies It is of primary importance to follow a proper and an effectual marketing mix before launching any kind of new product in the intended business markets. It can be viewed that an appropriate marketing mix typically consists certain significant factors that can be better comprehended with the help of the following graphical representation. Source: (McBratney, 1998) The launch of highly demanded products at the right place and the right time based on the current demands of the public or the customers plays a decisive part in the overall marketing context. In this similar concern, Auntie Anne’s has to make a detailed plan before launching its new organic products. Relating to marketing mix factors, the company is required to fix a price which is prevalent with the market standards, so that it can attract maximum number of customers. The company also needs to make a consideration regarding the type of products that are to be launched in the market. The company needs to analyze that whether the products can deliver greater value to the consumers and satisfy them or not. However, in terms of pricing, Auntie Anne’s can opt for adopting and executing nominal pricing strategy in the beginning as it will help the company in attracting huge base of customers. Secondly, it can launch its products in the respective outlets of Auntie Anne’s where it is publically known. In terms of promotion, the company can distribute brochures or leaflets for generating maximum public awareness of its launch of new product offerings i.e. cocoa dusted chickpeas, flavored hazel-nuts and kale chips (McBratney, 1988). Financial Forecast It is quite significant for different companies to conduct proper financial forecasts before launching any kind of new product in the market as it helps the companies to estimate the requirement of cash flows for making a successful launch of the products. For Auntie Anne’s, a proper financial forecast relating to all the expenses required for performing various operational activities like advertisements, developing production and delivery procedures among others are needed to be analyzed upon (Sofat & et. al., n.d.). It is estimated that the company may require a capital of 1000 US Dollars approximately in the initial stage for carrying out an advertisement thorough out the city. As the company has already created a brand image for itself, there will not lay major requirement to carry out broad advertisement strategies. For production of three new products, the company might require an additional capital of around 600 US Dollars per day in order to satisfy the consumers by delivering high quality cocoa dusted chickpeas, flavored hazel-nuts and kale chips to them. The company specializes in delivering its different products to its customers according to their requirements. For ensuring proper delivery of the new products, the company may incur daily transportation expenses of 200-250 US Dollars per day (Sofat & et. al., n.d.) Challenges One of the severe challenges that Auntie Anne’s might face is to maintain the freshness and quality of the products while delivering to the consumers. The company specializes in fast packaging of the products. Auntie Anne’s packs food products which are taken out of hot ovens and wrapped almost after 30 minutes following the baking of snacks. This process is followed in a very fast manner as the company focuses not only on packing the products but also preserving the freshness along with those. Thus, following such a fast process may lead to defaults in packaging which may lead to give improper shapes and structures to the products. With increased rate of production, the levels of challenges are bound to rise. The company has to take care of its operations in a much diversified manner and train the operations and packaging teams to work in a more sustained manner to cope up with the challenges (Moutinho & Chien, 2007). Conclusion From the above analysis, it can be derived that Auntie Anne’s is regarded as one of the most successful pretzel makers which is recognized in many parts of the world. The company successfully caters to large groups of consumers through its distinctiveness in maintaining quality and freshness of its broad assortment of products. Thus, the theme of this research is to devise an appropriate marketing plan that is to be utilized for launching three different products i.e. Cocoa dusted chickpeas, flavored hazel-nuts and kale chips by Auntie Anne’s. In order to get into a conclusion, a proper marketing plan was designed which reflected the overall strategies that is needed to be undertaken by Auntie Anne’s in order to launch its new organic products in the market. It can be stated that the devised marketing plan would eventually support the company to accomplish its predetermined business targets in terms of successfully introducing new line of organic products in the business markets where it operates. References Auntie Anne's UK, 2011. Welcome to Auntie Anne’s. About Us. [Online] Available at: http://www.auntieannes.co.uk/ [Accessed June 11, 2013]. Cravens, D. W., 2010. Strategic Marketing 8E. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Hawkins, D, I., 2010. Consumer Behavior, 11E (Sie) With Cd. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Market Segmentation Study Guide, 2012. A Free Study Guide for Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning, Designed for University Level Marketing Students. The STP Process. [Online] Available at: http://www.segmentationstudyguide.com/stp-process/what-is-the-stp-process/ [Accessed June 11, 2013]. McBratney, C., 1998. Marketing Records Management. Introduction. [Online] Available at: http://units.sla.org/chapter/cwcn/wwest/v1n2/mcbrat12.htm [Accessed June 11, 2013]. Moutinho, L & Chien, C. S., 2007. Problems in Marketing: Applying Key Concepts and Techniques. SAGE. Reynolds, P. & Lancaster, G., 2012. Marketing Made Simple. CRC Press. Sofat, R. & et. al., No Date. Strategic Financial Management. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. Read More