R. Twining and Company Limited - Assignment Example

These may be seen as primary areas for Twining’s to focus on in the development of a future marketing strategy. Unilever’s second tea brand “Lipton” has had considerable success in marketing its range of products including iced teas at a relatively young market segment. This may be seen as an area further development. Changing consumer demands have seen a need for producers to change product portfolios in recent years. In general the customer may be seen as looking for healthier option moving away from instant tea and toward alternatives such as green and fruit teas (Parsons and MacLaran, 2009) In general customers may be segmented by type of product consumed and by demographic considerations, such as age (Kotler et al 2009).

Key customer product segments include general black tea, healthier options such as green and fruit teas and alternatives to traditional products such as iced teas. While the power of the supplier may be seen as relatively low, given the commodity nature of the product (Porter, 2004). The major problem for producers such as Twining’s is that suppliers in recent years have suffered from several years of poor harvests (OECD, 2009, 2010). As such, overall production has fallen and thus an overall rise in prices has been felt in the market.

Further distribution takes place in the restaurant and catering sector, Twinings may seek to develop a competitive advantage here marketing their teas and alternatives as a premium product suited to the distribution channel In summary, the external macro environment in which the tea industry operates in may be seen as generally stable with almost static sales volumes and a number of key growth areas. While the market is generally stable, this is the possibility of further rising costs due to environmental concerns in the come seasons (OECD, 2009,