Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc.: Online Marketing Plan - Research Paper Example

Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc Online Marketing Plan Executive Summary Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. has proved to be the most successful fruitjuice industry producing fruit juices from the natural fruit extracts. It has set up its business in the US and UK fruit juice markets and attracted large number of customers for its products. The company produces fruit juices mainly of cranberries and grapes. However, the company plans to diversify its products according to the customers’ desires. The company owns vast farmland cultivating cranberries and grapes and selects the best quality of fruits for producing the fruit juices. It aims at serving customers of different age groups who are fond of their products. The company uses various promotional strategies in order to launch its new products in the market and creates brand awareness for its products. Its managers are efficient enough to design new strategies for manufacturing products on a large scale for the loyal customers. Since the company produces quality fruit juices with high nutrition value, it has gained brand loyalty from the customers. The loyal customers prefer to purchase fruit juices produced by Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. and thus the company enjoys monopoly power in the fruit juice markets of US and UK. The managers within the company are responsible of planning for the future growth prospect of the company. Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction 5 Chapter 2 External analysis 5 2.1 PEST Analysis 5 2.1.1 Political 5 2.1.2 Economic 6 2.1.3 Social 6 2.1.4 Technological 7 2.2 Market Analysis 7 2.3 Customer Analysis 8 2.4 Competitor Analysis 8 Chapter 3 Internal Analysis 9 3.1 Overall Performance 9 3.2 Marketing Mix 9 3.2.1 Product 9 3.2.2 Price 10 3.2.3 Place 10 3.2.4 Promotion 10 Chapter 4 SWOT Analysis 11 4.1 Strengths 11 4.2 Weakness 11 4.3 Opportunities 11 4.4 Threats 12 Chapter 5 Objectives 12 5.1 Mission Statement 12 5.2 Objectives 12 Chapter 6 Marketing Strategy 13 6.1 Strategic Theories 13 6.2 Core Target Segments 15 6.3 Positioning 16 Chapter 7 Marketing programs 16 7.1 Product strategy 16 7.2 Pricing Strategy 16 7.3 Place 17 7.4 Promotion 17 7.5 Marketing Communication Strategy 17 Chapter 8 Marketing Implementation and Control 18 8.1 Schedule 18 8.2 Responsibilities to be taken 18 8.3 Budget 18 8.4 Control 19 9. Conclusion 19 Reference List 20 Chapter 1 Introduction Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. (AQC) is a company that deals with the agricultural products and it has its headquarters in the United States (Ailawadi Lehmann and Neslin, 2003). The 80 years old company is established by the joint efforts of three cranberry growers from Massachusetts and New Jersey. Grapefruit growers from Florida joined the co-operative later in 1974 (Constantinides and Fountain, 2008). At present, it is owned by 46 grapefruit farmers and 630 cranberry growers (Amit and Zott, 2001). The main aim of this paper is to carry out research on the US fruit juice market and to know about the company’s initiatives and its market expansion. This research would allow the researcher to study and analyse the fruit juice market in the US economy and how far the company has created its brand awareness. Chapter 2 External analysis 2.1 PEST Analysis 2.1.1 Political Political environment of the United States and United Kingdom has a severe impact on the market for fruit juices. The UK government alone does not control the entire market because the policies were controlled by the World and European level politics (Constantinides and Fountain, 2008). The political environment of the United States also has an impact on the fruit juice market. With an undisturbed political environment, Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. found it profitable to set up their business in the US as well as in some parts of UK (Damanpour and Damanpour, 2001). The company does not face any political issues within the economy and hence it has effectively set up its business in both US and UK markets. Political issue within the markets also play a significant role on the companies that prefer to set their business in the countries (Constantinides and Fountain, 2008). However, the political conditions of both the US and UK market did not pose any threat to the fruit juice markets. Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. was able to enjoy its monopoly power for a longer period of time (Gummesson, 2004). 2.1.2 Economic There have been various economic factors that have affected the fruit juice market in the US as well as UK. The climatic conditions of the economy determine how the consumers and the stakeholders are expected to behave in the economy (Hanna, Rohm and Crittenden, 2011). A credit crunch that originated in the US had an impact on the UK market as well. An overall increase in interest rates in USA affected the share price of the UK market as well. Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. is highly concerned about the economic conditions of the citizens of the US and UK and therefore, the company aims at providing its products to the customers at reasonable rates (Gummesson, 2004). The company sets the prices of its products that would be favourable to the customers but still earns a higher profit and expands its business. 2.1.3 Social Social factors determine the behaviour of the customers for the products that are produced by the company. The structure of the population in the UK as well as US has determined the demand and supply conditions within the market and depending on this demand and supply aspects, the company decides its production levels (Hewett and Bearden, 2001). Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. aims at organizing social campaigns for promoting their brand and creating awareness among the customers regarding the products newly launched by the company (Kalyanam and McIntyre, 2002). The social campaigns organized within the US and the UK economy attracts huge customers from various regions to purchase the new products launched by the company. Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. also aims at producing the fruit juices as per the desires of the customers. 2.1.4 Technological Technological innovation within the economy of both the UK and US market encourages Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. to set up its business in these countries (Malhotra, 2000). The innovation would help the company to raise its market share and the company would earn a very higher profit. Technological innovation helps the company to provide better services to the customers which would prove to be beneficial to the customers. Technology has helped the company to create awareness among the customers through the internet and the social media websites that the company may use for promotion (Mangold and Faulds, 2009). The company itself has also undergone many technological processes over the years and the researchers have noted that it has invented some new machines and equipments for its production. The machines are used to produce large quantity of fruit juices that can serve large number of customers within a short span of time. The company sees to it that there are no shortages in the market for the supply of fruit juices (Gummesson, 2004). 2.2 Market Analysis The citizens of the US as well as UK prefers to have a healthy lifestyle and hence, they have developed a habit of consuming fruit juices every day. There are millions of young and adult consumers who try to maintain a balanced diet regularly (Matsuno, Mentzer and Ozsomer, 2002). Hence, it is expected that Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. would be profitable by setting up its business in the US and UK markets. The company is one of the largest producers of fruit juices in the economy and it has set up its brand loyalty as the producer of good quality fruit juices made out of natural fruit extracts (Morgan, Kaleka and Katsikeas, 2004). The company has not received any sort of complaints regarding using artificial flavours and hence it has successfully gathered the faith of millions of the customers. The fruit juice market is gaining its control over the economy compared to the other flavoured drinks. Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. mainly produces fruit juices made out of cranberries of good quality and the company enjoys its monopoly over a longer period of time (Morris, Schindehutte and Allen, 2005). However, the demand for these cranberry fruit juices have risen to a greater extent and the company faces high competition from the other rival producers of fruit juices. 2.3 Customer Analysis Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. provides quality fruit juices to its target customers who maintain a regular diet by consuming healthy fruit juices. The target customers for the company would be the parents of school going children who prefer to provide fruit juices to their children during breakfast (Palmatier, et al., 2006). The teenagers as well as the adult population who are concerned about their fitness regime can be considered as the important customers of the fruit juice markets in the UK and US. The researcher has noted that the citizens of US and the UK are highly health conscious and prefer to consume fruit juices as their regular diet (Parasuraman and Zinkhan, 2002). 2.4 Competitor Analysis Although it has been studied by the researcher that Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. enjoys monopoly power in the US and UK markets for fruit juices; yet, it was found in the later years that there were many new companies emerging in the economy that are trying to give it a healthy competition (Payne and Frow, 2005). The company has further improved its quality of fruit juices so as to attract the target customers. It has successfully gained its brand loyalty by meeting the customers’ day to day requirement for nutritious diet. The company also invests in creating brand awareness among the customers and offering them products at a very cheap rate. Chapter 3 Internal Analysis 3.1 Overall Performance Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. is at present controlled by 46 grapefruit and 630 cranberry cultivating farmers (Pires, Stanton and Rita, 2006). It has set up its brand name as ‘crantanas’ (Prasad, Ramamurthy and Naidu, 2001). It not only produces fruit juices but also non-juice drinks. Through its quality it has gain brand loyalty from the customers and it has a huge customer base. The company has undertaken various innovations that are favourable to the customers. As the company offers good quality fruit juices at cheaper rates, it enjoys a huge monopoly power and earns higher profits from its sales (Gummesson, 2004). 3.2 Marketing Mix 3.2.1 Product Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. produces good quality fruit juices made out of natural fruit extracts. The products supplied by the company has brand name in the market due to its highly nutritious food value. The company is set to enjoy monopoly power over a longer period of time due to its huge customer base who purchase the fruit juices produced by the company (Reinartz and Kumar, 2000). 3.2.2 Price Another reason for the company to draw a huge reputation in the market is due to its objectives of serving its customers with quality products at lower rates. The company aims at offering fruit juices at reasonable rates to its loyal customers thereby setting up an even stronger business in the market (Rhodus and Witney, 2004). 3.2.3 Place The company is known to have set up its business in the fruit juice markets of the US and parts of UK. The citizens of these countries are expected to be health conscious, and hence the company can earn huge profit by setting up its business in these regions (Matsuno and Mentzer, 2000). The markets of the US and UK are also free from political issues and the company can peacefully run its business (Rust, Lemon and Zeithaml, 2004). 3.2.4 Promotion The company organizes various social campaigns in order to create brand awareness and also uses the social media to promote the new products that are launched by the company. Through its promotion, the company has the aim to attract the target customers (Sharma, 2002). Chapter 4 SWOT Analysis 4.1 Strengths Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. is known for its best quality fruit juices in the market and it aims at producing fruit juices as per the desires of the customers. It produces fruit juices using natural fruit extracts and does not use any artificial flavours. It maintains the nutrition level in its products. The company can serve various types of customers who consider fruit juices as a necessity for consumption (Sheehan and Hoy, 2000). 4.2 Weakness Due to rise in demand for fruit juices the company often runs out of stock. It fails to meet the rising demands of the customers and their desires for varieties of fruit juices. It only manufactures juices using cranberries and grapes (Hartline, Maxham and McKee, 2000). The company often remains biased towards producing same type of fruit juices for the customers which may act against the customers’ demand for innovative products (Gummesson, 2004). 4.3 Opportunities Since the company has set up its business in the markets of US and UK, it is likely to enjoy huge sales and earn higher profits. The citizens in UK and US are believed to be more health conscious and strong consumers of fruit juices to maintain a healthy diet. The improvement in technology has provided the company with huge opportunities to spread its business by producing large amount of fruit juices for its huge customer base (Singh,Veron-Jackson and Cullinane, 2008). 4.4 Threats The company after its establishment had gained reputation in the market as the best fruit juice producing industry in the US and UK fruit juice markets. But gradually there were many other rivals that were emerging in the economy that gave a huge competition to Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. in producing highly nutritious fruit juices. Further the company has to select the good quality of cranberries and grapes which requires time and with the rise in demand the company is expected to raise its production even further. This requires the company to hire even more labourers for raising its production (Ulaga and Chacour, 2001). Chapter 5 Objectives 5.1 Mission Statement Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. has its mission statement of serving its huge customer base by providing them with best quality fruit juices containing high nutritious value. 5.2 Objectives To produce the fruit juices with natural fruit extracts rather than using artificial flavours and preservatives. To maintain the nutrition level in the fruit juices produced. To serve large number of customers by providing best quality fruit juices at cheap rates. Collecting customer feedbacks regarding its products and likely wise making the products favourable to the customers. Expansion of the business by setting up its reputation in the international markets. Inventing new technologies to produce large quantity of fruit juices for its huge customer base but within a short span of time. Gaining brand loyalty from the customers by providing them the products as per their desires. To overcome the challenges and compete with the rival firms in order to gain competitive advantage. Chapter 6 Marketing Strategy 6.1 Strategic Theories Figure 1: Ansoff Matrix for Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. (Source: Amit and Zott, 2001) Market Penetration Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. has set up a huge business in the US as well as UK market by provides fruit drinks to its loyal customers. It provides good quality fruit drinks at cheaper rates that has made the company one of the largest fruit drink producing industry (Varadarajan and Yadav, 2002). Product Development The company aims at inventing new varieties of fruit drinks in the market by collecting feedbacks from the customers regarding their choices of products. The company also uses new equipments for producing fruit juices for large variety of customers (Vargo and Lusch, 2004). Market Development In order to expand the company wishes to set up its fruit juice business in parts other than UK and US and earn a reputation among the citizens of those countries. Diversification This initiative taken by the company poses some risk factors as the company wishes to produce different varieties of fruit juices in different markets. Earlier the company used to concentrate on producing juices out of cranberries and grapes and now the company plan to produces other fruit juices as well (Venkatesan and Kumar, 2004). Bowman’s Strategy Clock The company offers a wide variety of fruit drinks made out of cranberries and grapes at very reasonable rates. By providing highly nutritious fruit drinks at a very low price the company has satisfied large number of customers in the US and UK fruit juice market. The company managers plan for low cost techniques that can be used to produce large quantity of Cranberry juices to serve large number of consumers. It sets reasonable prices for its products that would be affordable for all (Singh,Veron-Jackson and Cullinane, 2008). Figure 2: Bowmans Strategy Clock explaining the marketing strategy of Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. (Source: Venkatesan and Kumar, 2004) 6.2 Core Target Segments Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. targets customers of different age groups. The target customers vary from young generation to the adults who are health conscious and consider consumption of fruit drinks as essential. The children prefer different types of fruit drinks depending on its tastes and preferences (Singh,Veron-Jackson and Cullinane, 2008). 6.3 Positioning The company has set up its business in the fruit markets of US and UK and has enjoyed monopoly power over a longer period and has earned a brand name in the economy. The company has been highly successful in positioning its brand in the international markets creating a huge customer base for its products (Singh,Veron-Jackson and Cullinane, 2008). Chapter 7 Marketing programs 7.1 Product strategy The managers of Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. decide to plan out new product strategies for attracting customers of various age groups. It plans to diversify its production by manufacturing fruit juices of various types. It plans to work on the preferences of the customers for its products as per the feedback given by the customers. The company plans to conduct market survey on customers of various age groups and understand their preferences (Vorhies and Morgan, 2003). 7.2 Pricing Strategy The company aims at using low cost techniques for manufacturing the products for large number of customers. The managers within the company are efficient enough to designs innovative ways of manufacturing fruit juices at low expenses. The company plans to design new machines and equipments to reduce the burden of the workers within the industry and to produce fruit juices for large number of customers (Wind and Rangaswamy, 2001). Thus if the company uses low cost production techniques it can offer it goods to the customers at low prices. 7.3 Place At present the company has set up its fruit juice business in the markets of US and UK. However it plans to expand its business to other countries as well. The company decides to conduct market research in various international fruit juice markets and also on the citizens of those countries regarding their preference for healthy fruit juices (Zott, Amit and Massa, 2011). The market research carried out by the company would further help the company in deciding which countries to set up their business. 7.4 Promotion The company decides to carry out various promotional strategies in order to create brand awareness for its fruit juices. It decides to take the help of social media as well to promote the wide varieties of fruit juices produced by the company. It enables the customers to get additional information regarding the company’s new products through social media (Zou and Cavusgil, 2002). The company even plans to advertise its products through television. 7.5 Marketing Communication Strategy The company plans to retain its huge customer base by carrying out market communication strategy. This deals with the process of communicating with the customers to create brand awareness as well as collecting the feedback from the customers regarding the new products launched. Likewise the company can think of further improving its products to satisfy the customers and attract new customers to consume their products. The company has a plan to hire sales executives who can personally communicate the target customers to understand the customers’ desires (Zineldin, 2000). Chapter 8 Marketing Implementation and Control 8.1 Schedule 8.2 Responsibilities to be taken The managers of Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. are responsible for designing various strategies and planning for their implementation. They should be efficient enough to design new machines and technologies in order to reduce the work load of the employees such that the company can deliver quality products to the customers on demand. 8.3 Budget The managers are needed to set the budget within the company for creating brand awareness through social media. Also the company plans to organize campaigns for the target customers for which the company requires funds to organize various programs. 8.4 Control The performance of the company in the international fruit juice markets of US and UK can be measured based on the annual sales of the company. The profits and the reputation that the company has earned within the economy also contribute to its performance. The brand loyalty that the company has gained by its production of fruit juices can be considered as company’s success in the fruit juice markets. 9. Conclusion Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. has been very successful as the largest fruit juice producing industry in US as well as UK markets. The company offers low cost quality fruit juices that serve large number of customers. It has gained brand loyalty from its loyal customers and wishes to expand its market in other countries as well. The managers within the company are efficient enough in designing new strategies for the improvement of the products as well as expanding the business to other parts of the world. The company even plans to use various low cost techniques and machineries in order to produce fruit juices in large quantities. Reference List Ailawadi, K. L., Lehmann, D. R. and Neslin, S. A., 2003. Revenue premium as an outcome measure of brand equity. Journal of Marketing, 67(4), pp. 1-17. Amit, R. and Zott, C., 2001. 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