Brand Performance: Corn Flakes - Assignment Example

Assignment part B Executive summary Every business must make sure that it occasionally provides an analysis of its product and the market so that they can ensure that they are always ahead of the game. To do this effectively, a number of facets must be looked into. This paper has shown how these facets and metrics have been used to increase the brand visibility in the market. In this paper, the cornflakes brand has been taken as the specimen and several factors looked at. These are brand performance, awareness and salience. From the inferential statistics and analysis conducted herein, it will be found out that these three metrics are key in improving brand visibility and revenues. Part B: Sec.1 Brand performance Q1. Corn Flakes will be analysed following a number of analysis parameters in this paper. These parameters are; Market share (MS) Average purchase frequency (APF) Market penetration (MP) Category buying rate(CBR) Share of category requirements(SCR) Sole loyalty (SL) The Market share of Corn flakes MS= {117/318}*100= 37%. The market share metric shows how strong a product is, that is, the extent of command that the product has in the market (Varadarajan, 2010, p.120). 37% figure, which is the market share for the cornflakes products has been achieved through dividing sales of cornflakes over the total sales of cornflakes in the cereal brand category. Then the figure has been multiplied by 100% to give the percentage rating. The figure means that cornflakes commands 37% of the market share. Even though this is not the dominant figure, it is certainly the highest in this particular market, meaning that people prefer to buy cornflakes more than any other brand in this particular market. Average purchase frequency APF = 117/51=2.3. APF figure shows the number of times an individual buys a particular brand (Ashcroft, 2010, p. 90; Taiwo, 2010, p. 25). In this market, the ratio is 2.3 for the cornflakes brand. This means that people buy this product 2.3 times. This is done over a certain stipulated amount of time. in this market from the calculations, this 2.3 figure for APF for cornflakes marks the highest figure. The implication is that more people buy more of cornflakes over the other brands in a certain period of time. Market penetration for cornflakes brand Penetration = {51/70}*100= 73%. The metric of market penetration for a product shows the level or the extent to which this particular product has been able to command attention from the buyers (Fornell & Wernerfelt, 1987, p.338). It shows the responsiveness that people have pertaining this brand (Karadeniz, 2010, p. 16). In this case, the market penetration for cornflakes is 73%. It means that the product has a 73% exposure and attention in this market category. This figure is normally reached at by taking the number of clients who purchase this particular brand in the market, in this case, 51, divided by the total number of the people in this market category, that is 70. In interpretation, a figure of 73% implies that the product market penetration is good because its beyond average at 50%. Despite this success, the product has not been able to achieve a 100% market penetration meaning that there are still some areas where the product hasn’t been able to cover. Category buying rate (CBR) =273/51=5.4. The CBR for cornflakes in this market is 5.4. The CBR shows the total number of buyers present in this category over the number of buyers of this particular brand (Kanagal, 2006, p.2). In the case of the cornflakes brand, a rate of 5.4 implies that out of the total number of 273 buyers present in this market, 51 of them decided to buy cornflakes brand. And that they bought the product at a ratio of more than five times. Share of category requirements SCR = (2.3/5.4)*100=43%. The SCR shows in percentage form the extent by which a particular brand in the market has a power over the decision that consumers make in purchasing products in this market category (Fejza & Asllani, 2013, p.6). The SCR for the cornflakes brand in this market is 43%. This implies that the cornflakes brand is most preferred in this market because it has a higher SCR than any other product. Sole loyalty Sole Loyalty= (11/51)*100= 22%. Sole loyalty shows the extent to which people remain loyal to a certain brand. Sole loyalty implies that people purchase a particular product and they are not willing to try out any other products in the market (Slater & Olson, 2001, p.1055). Akramov (2012, p. 53) states that the concept of sole loyalty is a psychological one which shows the levels at which people will go to ensure that they purchase products of only one particular company. In this market, the sole loyalty metric for cornflakes is 22%. This means that of all total number of people in this market, 22% of the people are loyal to the cornflakes brand. Despite the fact that this percentage may seem low, it is the highest in this market, meaning that more people prefer to buy cornflakes brand than any other brand. Q. 2.a. Markets can either be described as either repertoire or subscription market. By definition, the repertoire market is a market in which the buyers are solely few (Sarker & Begum, 2001, p.104). This is because most of them have their category requirements that run across several brands in the market. They do this using a very well defined and clear and steady manner. On the other hand, the subscription market have many solely buyers. This is because most of these buyers tend to have their category requirements allocation based on a certain particular brand (Kumar et al 2012, p.483; Hunt & Madhavaram, 2006, p. 97). 2.b. There are several differences between the subscription and the repertoire markets. These differences could best be explained in a tableau form as shown below. market share market penetration Average purchase frequency category buying rate Share of category requirements sole loyalty Repertoire market Low market share low market penetration low APF Low CBR Low SCR Low sole loyalty Subscription market High market share High market penetration high APF High CBR high SCR high sole loyalty 2. c. Corn flakes brand is in a subscription market. The explanation rises from the data that has been attained in part 1 of this assignment. The data shows that cornflakes command a high presence and market exposure than any other brand in this market category. For instance, the market share is 37% and the market penetration is 73%. This shows that the brand is more preferred in this market than the other brands. The sole loyalty figure of 22% also confirms this by showing that the brand has more loyal buyers than any other brand in this market despite the percentage being low. Q. 3. For the cornflakes brand, I think this is a good idea. The reason for the support of this statement is because the company operates in a subscription market as depicted above. This implies that the sole loyal customers are the most responsible for the revenues of the company through repeated purchases. If the brand focuses its attention on this clientele enables the brand to become stronger because these people will feel more appreciated by the company. Sec. 2. Q. 4. By definition, the concept of brand salience shows the degree of visibility in a mental and attitude capacity of the brand to clients (Ozsomer & Prussia, 2000, p.28). In other words, it shows the type of perception people have on this brand once they get into the various shopping stations. For example, when you walk into a supermarket and look at a certain product, there is that particular feeling that you achieve from your contact with the brand. The importance of building up brand salience shows is that the brand salience makes the brand remain in the heart and minds of the people for a long period of time (Mohr & Nevin, 1990, p.38; Mentzer & Williams, 2001, p. 29). This eventually builds up the sole loyalty for the brand. Q. 5. From table 2, cornflakes brand is performing to an extent following a number of metrics that relate to the same. These metric are top of mind awareness, overall brand awareness and whole sample’s salience. The salience level is 37% for the cornflakes brand. This being the highest salience level in this market category, the interpretation of this is that people think more highly of the cornflakes brand than they do any other brand in this market. The salience levels show that cornflakes is the most preferred brands in the minds and purchase dockets of the buyers in the market. The nearest competitor based on this criteria is the Just Right brand. Q.6. From the results, the implication is that the cornflakes brand is trying its level best to compete with others in the market but its salience levels are low, meaning that there is a lot of room for development and creation of a stronger brand. The brand salience be enhanced. The company should engage into a lot of marketing to ensure that the salience is uplifted as this will translate into more sales. Cue in a cornflakes advertisement The following cues are expected to be present in a cornflakes advertisement. A tagline or motto that uniquely identifies this product Good and attractive packaging Blended tastes Ingredients of the package Mark of quality on the package Fair pricing of the product 24 hours availability of the product Guaranteed Quality of the package’s content The product should be labeled as very nutritional Age factor which shows the product is good for people of all ages. Sec. 3. Q.7. The customer profile of cornflakes is not different from the other customers in the market. From the statistics in the table, most of the factors shown in the table are similar implying that the customer profiles is the same. On three metrics, single, couple or divorced and taking two products, Special K and Weebix, the profile is the same. These are 16 for singles Special K, 17 for Weebix and 22 for cornflakes. On the couple data, 65 for Special K, 68 for Weebix and 62 for cornflakes. On the divorced factor, 18 for Special K, 14 for Weebix and 14 for cornflakes. The deviations are very minimal implying that the customer profiles are the same for all these products in this market. Q.8. The cornflakes brand should concentrate their marketing and advertising strategies to the heavy 20% of the clientele base. This percentage is important in that they are the loyal and with these kept that way, they would then be able to go forth and capture the other market and build on their brand salience. References Akramov, T, 2012 ‘Marketing strategies: concepts and implications’, European journal of business and economics, Vol, 4, pp. 52-54. Ashcroft, L, 2010, ‘Marketing strategies for visibility’, Journal of Librarianship and Information Science,  Vol, 42, No,2, pp. 89-96. DOI:10.1177/0961000609351365 Hunt, S & Madhavaram, S, 2006, ‘Teaching Marketing Strategy: Using Resource-Advantage Theory as an Integrative Theoretical Foundation’, Journal of Marketing Education, Vol, 28 No,2, pp. 93-105. 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