International Marketing: Rococo Chocolates - Research Paper Example

International Marketing...Rococo Chocolates Introduction An amateur entrepreneur Chantal Coady formed Rococo Chocolates during March 1983. The young entrepreneur armed with small entrepreneurial knowledge and a tremendous interest for chocolates opened her first store in King’s Road located in London. The Rococo Chocolates now operates as the Grenada Chocolate Company, which happened owing to the building of a partnership with the founders of the latter concern. This partnership helped Rococo Chocolates to venture into the production of countless varieties of chocolate items. However the island of Grenada being hit by a tremendous hurricane spell huge loss for the cocoa planters and farmers. Rococo chocolates helped the hurricane affected farmers and planters through the production and sale of a special variety of chocolates. The joint venture that took place between Rococo Chocolates and Grenada Chocolate Company helped in the formation of Grococo. The joint venture form focuses on the production of organically based products of chocolate, which bears the hallmark of quality and taste. Grenada Chocolate Company also looks forward to the betterment of the farmers working in cocoa plantations. Cocoa produced from these farms help in the production of chocolates. The company in this light operates as a cooperative firm that takes special endeavor to grant equal work and better opportunities for both the plantation and the factory workers (About Rococo, 2009). Marketing Environment of Rococo Chocolates The marketing or the business environment of a firm is divided along two sets of factors viz. internal and external. The directions and policy mechanisms of the company can control the internal set of factors. On the contrary the external set of factors are those, which cannot be controlled by the actions of the company. These factors belong to the external environment of a firm. Internal or controllable factors of the company are like the objectives and policies of the company, its production potentials, organizational and financial competence and the management of information systems within the company. On the other hand the external or uncontrollable factors of the company consist of external components like changing interests of customers, potency of suppliers, the policies of the government, trade regulations and activities of competitors (Various, n.d., p.48). Internal Factors of Rococo Chocolates Rococo chocolates through its marketing policies have taken a further step to expand its market share through the use of Internet marketing. The chocolate firm though operates on wide markets through big retail firms in a desire to increase customer traffic have started selling its products online through its websites. The company launches the Internet site during December 2009 to help enhance the idea of chocolates sold as gifts during Christmas (A new e-commerce platform for Rococo Chocolates, 2010). Further Rococo Chocolates has a huge product portfolio containing of gift boxes and hampers, confectionary products, art products of chocolates, gift bags and other chocolate products like bars and sweets to cater to the increasing needs of different customers (Products, 2009). The marketing policies for Rococo chocolates also reflect on the firm’s pricing strategies. Rococo Chocolates has devised products for different sets of customers by setting different prices, which ranges from below five pounds to more than fifty pounds. (Spend, 2009). External Factors for Rococo Chocolates With these internal factors in place, Rococo Chocolates aims to target a new market in United Arab Emirates. Thus the external marketing factors of the firm would be studied in that respect. The United Arab Emirates is presenting a widely encouraging market for the chocolate and confectionary producers. In times of economic unrest also the Middle East countries presented a demanding market for chocolate and confectionary products thus helping their manufacturers. During 2008 the market for such products in Arab Emirates increased by 27 percent in value reaching around 546 million AED. (UAE Chocolate Market Estimated at AED564 Million, 2008). From the viewpoint of consumers in United Arab Emirates it is found that they widely enjoy the consumption of chocolates. An estimate made during 2007 shows that around 99 percent of the respondents consumed chocolates on a daily basis during a week. This figure was around 4 percent higher than that during 2004 (Sweet trends-the chocolate market in Saudi Arabia and UAE, 2007). Further United Arab Emirates also encourages the happening of trade fairs on chocolate and confectionary products to help attract large group of customers, suppliers and producers to venture into the region. During 2nd to 4th November 2009 the government of Dubai held an exhibition of a wide variety of sweet and chocolate products to help attract visitors from foreign locations. (Be One Step Ahead!, 2009). Market Identification of United Arab Emirates for Chocolate Products The market segmentation for chocolate products in United Arab Emirates is done on the basis of choice parameters of the customers dwelling in such regions. Customers of United Arab Emirates mainly choose the chocolate products based on their Brand Names, the characteristic features like type of flavor obtained from consuming such and the different forms in which such products are presented before them. The people of United Arab Emirates render special focus on the different brands for chocolate products along with the patterns or uses the products can render like providing gifts or rendered in form of promotion packages (Sweet trends-the chocolate market in Saudi Arabia and UAE, 2007). The target market for chocolate products in United Arab Emirates also includes the featuring of premium products. These premium product ranges are mainly used by the customers as presents in large parties and occasions. Estimates show that from the period ranging from 2006 to 2008 the amount of chocolate sold in retail stores increased from 3800 kilograms to around 12,000 kilograms in United Arab Emirates. (UAE premium chocolate business resists recessionary dynamics, 2009). Marketing Objectives for Rococo Chocolates in United Arab Emirates To target the customer groups in United Arab Emirates, Rococo Chocolates needs to expand its premium options pertaining to gift ranges. Rococo Chocolates produces special gift boxes containing special types of chocolates and ice creams. These gift boxes are mainly meant for occasional purposes like wedding anniversaries and birthday gifts (Gift Boxes, 2009). Rococo Chocolates also produces special gift items like ‘gift hampers’, which are used by customers to present gifts in special dinner and business parties. These gift packs consist of beautifully adorned packages consisting of designed chocolate products, which last impression on the minds of the people (Hampers, 2009). The chocolate products of Rococo Chocolates are also presented to the customers in the form of ‘Gift Bags’. These products help the customers to be easily carried from one place to another and rendered in the form of gifts in small occasions (Gift Bags, 2009). Thus the objective of Rococo Chocolates to increase the number of ranges in premium gift product categories is highly feasible for firstly the company has already an existing knowhow of the style of gifts produced and secondly the target market based in United Arab Emirates is also viewed as the right market for such chocolate gift packs. Marketing Strategies for Rococo Chocolates and Needed Action Plan The marketing strategies for Rococo Chocolates is studied based along the several marketing mixes like price, product, place, promotion, people, process, packaging, public relations. Product Product wise Rococo Chocolate gains advantage in being able to present to the customers a wide diversity of product categories ranging from chocolate bars and confectionary items purchased for daily consumption to a wide variety of gift items. The company also produces molten chocolate to be served as hot drinks. Further the company also sponsors a new type of art form designed on chocolate (Products, 2009). The people of United Arab Emirates also like to present products like cakes and pastries in special occasions other than chocolates. Thus the production team at Rococo Chocolate must look forward to incorporate such items in its product portfolio while producing cocoa based products. Price Rococo Chocolates helps the customers to gain access to a large diversity of product ranges and categories by offering them different price ranges. The prices of the different products belonging to different categories like gift products, confectionary items, art and chocolate drinks range from absolutely lower to absolutely higher ranges. Prices observed reflect that products are available to customers from below five to above fifty pounds depending on their purchase potential. (Spend, 2009). Place In terms of place the company Rococo Chocolates focus on increasing its sales through the creation of a large number of stores in different prime locations in the city and along the sub-urban regions. Based in United Kingdom the company also has a worldwide market for its chocolate products and thus is a recognized brand. Further the company to cater to the increasing and differential demand of different types of customers spread along different geographies also has a large network of suppliers. (Stores and Stockists, 2009). Promotion Rococo Chocolates renders large amount of discounts and gift coupons on its products to attract the minds of the customers. For volume purchases and also for purchases made for presenting corporate gifts the company presents specific discount amounts to help encourage such activities. Again the company also presents specially designed gift sets for occasions like Christmas. It has also dedicated corners for catering to special type of events like wedding and birthday occasions. (Rococo Gifts and Promotions, 2005). The promotion team at Rococo Chocolates in order to gain success in Saudi Arabian markets must endeavor to focus on religious events like Id and Ramzan to gain much wider acceptance. People Rococo Chocolates earns credit in being able to personify the product offerings to the different consumer groups both in international and domestic markets. The company not only produces products for special occasions but also in making matters memorable by presenting special gifts to teachers, corporate personalities, for different family members and also for rendering gift as a token of love. This shows that it renders special care for the different angles of the society in which it performs (Persons, 2009). Process The chocolate production company Rococo Chocolates has incorporated ‘software-as-a-service’ (SAAS) management information system in its business process to help both the internal people consisting of employees and management staff and the external people like customers and suppliers to get readily available information. This sharing of business and other relevant information has helped the company in rapidly augmenting its sales and revenue potentials (Ashford, 2008). Packaging Rococo Chocolates earn their fame owing to the wide variety of packaging styles consisting of wonderful wrappers reflecting an artistic and designing passion. The products were also widely known for their white and blue covers along with their mouth-watering flavors (Rococo Chocolates Catalogue, n.d.). Gift Boxes rendered by Rococo also have distinct packaging styles, which have an antique, and British flavor adhered to it. (Go British, n.d.). Public Relations As a mark of Public Relation activities the company makes a large amount of information available to the general public through its Internet and website sources. Further the company also uses the Handbook of London to further spread its company, product and store information to large number of people located in different areas (The Handbook, 2011). In United Arab Emirates also the company needs to conduct wide amount of marketing activities by advertising through both print and visual media. Marketing Budget Rococo Chocolates in the light of targeting a newer market like United Arab Emirates needs to carry out an extensive marketing and promotion program. Thus, Rococo Chocolates must prioritize its actions through the allocation of funds for carrying on its promotion campaign successfully. This act of allocation of funds along the different marketing actions must be based on adequate planning or budgeting activities. Budget prepared on such accord is known as the Marketing Budget (Importance of a Marketing Budget Plan, 2009). Monitoring and Evaluation of Advertising Programs The usage of extensive marketing activities in the form of advertising programs needs strict monitoring and evaluation activities from the sponsors and companies. Monitoring is done to understand the parameters of relevancy with the target media and its success in helping to disseminate the information rightly to them as desired by the marketer. Evaluation of such programs can be done by understanding the impacts of the program in augmenting the sales revenue and volumes of the products of the company (Yeshin, 2006, pp.246-247). Critical Issues of Advertising in United Arab Emirates While conducting advertising programs in United Arab Emirates special care must be taken to cater to the moral and ethical values adhered to such. Further the marketers are restrained from rendering any false information to increase the publicity of their products in the region. Special permission is also required to be obtained to broadcast advertisements through visual media in the region (Murray, 2009). Conclusion The Rococo Chocolate Company originally started by an amateur entrepreneur in United Kingdom has earned worldwide fame in the modern period owing to its wide diversity of flavor chocolate products and customer servicing techniques. The company in a bid to track new markets like United Arab Emirates needs to implement and monitor the separate marketing mixes to earn the same success as in other regions. Reference 1. “About Rococo” (2009), rococochocolates.com, available at < http://rococochocolates.com/about-us> (accessed on March 12, 2011). 2. 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