Mars Incorporated
Mars Incorporated is an American multinational which manufactures confectionaries among other food products. The company is privately owned by the Mars family and ranked highly by Forbes magazine as among the most successful privately owned businesses in America. The headquarters of the company is located in Virginia in McLean in America. The company majors in six product segments which include pet care, food, drinks, and symbio-science, Wrigley and chocolate. The company was established in 1911 by Frank Mars who made the first candy in his kitchen in Tacoma, Washington. With a vision of mutually benefit for all stake holders, the company has grown to have operations in over 73 countries in the global market. In UAE, Mars GCC was established in 1993. This company unit was established for sales and marketing purposes across all GCC nations. The unit provides employment for over 300 associates and produces and sells some of the company’s premium products produced in state of the art factories (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel, 2009).
Marketing Environment
The company depends on its strong brand name to attract customers to the product. The company has many products in the market, some of which are sub brands. The brand name is associated with quality, high end product which is a major strength of the company. The company main competitor is Hersheys where the competition affects the company’s sale. The company also faces the challenge from the lack of connection of the sub brands to the brand of the company. This is due to the scattering of this sub brands in the market. The company is trying to associate the sub brands to the main brand through increasing awareness about the products in the market and putting the brand logo on the obvious parts of the product. The changing consumer treads in the market can be exploited by the company to increase sales in emerging market.
Segmentation
The product Snickers, has been enjoyed by every one in the market but the company plans to focus on the young adults in the population. The changing market trends in the market are that the market is shifting towards healthier snacks. The age between 18 and 40 is the market segment that the company should focus on when evaluating the market for Snickers candy bar. The product also appeals to the women in the market as research shows that a higher population of women buy chocolate than men. Advertising the product to address the needs of these segments will ensure that the company increases the revenue generated by the product. Advertising will also ensure that the company has a competitive advantage over other competitors in the market.
Product description
Snickers was first produced in 1930 and named after the Mars’ family favorite horse. It is a chocolate covered caramel, peanut and nougat bar and has been America’s beast selling candy bar of all time with annual sales of 2 billion US dollars globally. The increased competition and slow economic growth has resulted in a decline of sales. This has made the company result to promotion strategies to increase the sales made. The product has also undergone modifications from 1930 to ensure that the changing market trends are addressed. From the packaging to the content of the product, the company has designed the product to attract the targeted market segment.
Current target market
The company has to ensure that it can identify a prime market to advertise its products so as to increase sales. A prime candy market in the global market is consumers in the age of 18-24. This market make up around 61% of the customers in the candy market thus the need to use advertisements that will appeal to this group. According to the general manager of the company, the advertisement strategies focus on the 12-24 year olds as the core market for the product. The company however considers their advertisement strategy to cover other customers in the product. The brand popularity in America and other global market make the company strategize its advertisement such that the culture of the organization is maintained while changing with time. Focusing on a target market enables the organization to maintain its sales level thus maintain a competitive advantage over its rivals.
Description of the marketing opportunity
The decline in the sales of the company has been attributed to the competition from other companies in the environment. The slow rate of economic growth among major product markets has resulted in a decline in luxury spending. The market is also experiencing a lifestyle change with customers buying healthy foods. This changes can be utilized as an opportunity for the company to sale some of its sugar free products in the market. The company has various products and sub products. The company should attach the brand name to its sub products to ensure that the revenue generated increases. The company can produce cheaper products to counter the decline in luxury spending in the global environment. The company should utilize available marketing opportunity to ensure that its products dominate the market (Luan & Sudhir, 2010).
Marketing analysis
The opportunity to be analyzed is the market for a low calorie sugar free candy bar from the company. To evaluate this opportunity, a simple three question questionnaire was to be presented to some of the customers buying the brand products in the market. The first question was the customer’s thoughts on the brand, the second was whether they would buy such a product from the company and the third would be the reason for buying the product. The results of the questionnaire revile that the brand is associated with quality products. Many of the people interviewed would buy the product because it is a healthy product (Constantinides, 2006).
Questionnaire sample
Surname……………..
Age………………….
Location……………..
1. What are your thoughts about Snickers candy bar?
2. Would you by a low calorie sugar free candy bar from the company?
3. If no or yes state reason?
Proposed product
The proposed product is a low calorie sugar free energy bar made using natural sweeteners. The product will have the same products used to make the original Snickers candy bar but the level of calories will be low and natural sweeteners will be used instead of conventional sugars. The product will be branded as a healthy product to increase the awareness in the market. The product will be targeting all market segments with emphasis on the core segment.
Product pricing
The price of the new product should be relative in the market due to the slow growth of the economy. The company should use a penetrative pricing strategy to market its products. The merit of this strategy is that apart from making high revenue, the brand name in the market pushing out competition. The pricing strategy also enables the manufacturer to market the new product in the market. The target market does not control adequate resources in the market thus low pricing of the product will enable the company to attract customers in the targeted age group. The pricing strategy will enable the company to recover production cost and attract new customers to the brand. The company which produces many types of products will be able to make sales in other products from increased product awareness (Lehtinen, 2011).
Location
The product should be distributed through channels that have a high traffic. Distributing the product in cafeterias and retail markets will enable the company to generate the targeted sales. The company can approach schools and campuses. This channel of distribution would ensure that the number of middle men is reduced thus low pricing of the product. Direct supply to the institutions would eliminate the effect of the competition on the company. The company can also supply to supper markets or distribution outlets to supply to smaller shops and directly to the customers.
Promotion
The new product targets an age that uses the internet daily. The best way to promote the new product would be the use of the social media networks. The company can invest in advertising the product on its website and on televisions. These modes of advertisement are used by the target market and should be used to promote the product. The advantage of using social media is the high population of customers reached by the advertisement. The management should ensure that they have an active page in the social media sites where information concerning the product is posted (Möller, 2006).
Other methods of product promotion include direct selling in the market where the company interacts with the customers. Magazines and newspapers can be used to advertise the products to attract those customers outside the target market. The company can also invest in vending machines installed in the institutions to advertise the product and for sales purposes.
References
Constantinides, E. E. (2006). The Marketing Mix Revisited: Towards the 21st Century Marketing. Journal Of Marketing Management, 22(3/4), 407-438. Retrieved on 28 May 2012 from http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/detail?sid=f56e3d66-0770-4709-99de-8508e0bfcfc8%40sessionmgr4&vid=1&hid=1&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=bth&AN=20474898
Lamb, C. W., Hair, J. F., & McDaniel, C. D. (2009). Marketing. Mason, Ohio: South-Western Cengage Learning. Retrieved on 28 May 2012 from http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=op9zkXLpwvUC&pg=PT73&dq=marketing+mix&hl=en&sa=X&ei=kUbDT_SHNMjA0QXM443fCg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=marketing%20mix&f=false
Lehtinen, U. (2011). Combining mix and relationship marketing. Marketing Review, 11(2), 117-136. Retrieved on 28 May 2012 from http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/detail?sid=fc585f7d-6905-40de-9b7f-f04b656ab4b7%40sessionmgr12&vid=1&hid=1&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=bth&AN=66296935
Luan, Y., & Sudhir, K. (2010). Forecasting Marketing-Mix Responsiveness for New Products. Journal Of Marketing Research (JMR), 47(3), 444-457. Retrieved on 28 May 2012 from http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/detail?sid=92d58907-6203-498e-be43-8e7bf060da0a%40sessionmgr13&vid=1&hid=1&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=bth&AN=50522115
Möller, K. (2006). Marketing Mix Discussion – Is the Mix Misleading Us or are We Misreading the Mix?. Journal Of Marketing Management, 22(3/4), 439-450. Retrieved on 28 May 2012 from http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/detail?sid=dc6de732-1319-41ba-959e-df5d26c70e59%40sessionmgr14&vid=1&hid=1&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=bth&AN=20474899
