Marketing decisions and planning are one of the main and most important parts of successful product management. The marketing team must constantly analyze and evaluate alternative situations and choose among them. To do so requires the simplification of marketing reality and the resolution of conflicts. Given conflicting marketing situations, the choice is often difficult and involves balancing risks and payoffs, knowledge, attitudes, opinions, feelings, judgments and facts, and current situations and future opportunities. In the case of Climate change chocolate, the decision-making process shapes a company’s destiny, since today’s decisions are a prelude to tomorrow’s marketing situations.
Product Description
Understanding buyer behavior is one of the more perplexing tasks confronting Climate change chocolate. The difficulty arises from the heterogeneity of buyers, from their being groups of individuals who differ from one another (Fill1999). The climate change chocolate market is divided into two main segments, regular buyers and occasional buyers. Climate change chocolate has developed a unique product that better satisfies customer wants and needs.
Also, the product is intended for both children and adults category. “Our Climate change chocolate bar is meant to educate while tasting great. It comes in a wrapper with 15 tips for lightening your environmental impact. These helpful hints teach you how to save energy by making small changes to your daily habits. And of course, thanks to Bloomsberry & Co., you can be sure the finest chocolate is attached to these green lifestyle lessons” (Climate change chocolate Home Page 2008).
The product involves a unique packing attracting millions of buyers. This product has psychological assets that convey something besides its physical utility. Relatively peripheral or superficial factors, which have only symbolic meaning rather than functional value, are important. In the case of this product, psychological influences play an important role in purchase decisions, because the willingness to buy — a significant component of demand — is dependent on more than income.
While research findings may not establish unequivocally why purchasers react as they do, the insights, tendencies, and perspectives offered by behavioral scientists are helpful. Particularly valuable are the psychological theories and concepts relevant to personalities, wants, needs, motivations, perceptions, attitudes, opinions, expectations, aspirations, security levels, and images. “Now, Climate Change Chocolate has joined the mix, offering a fun and delicious way to educate consumers on ways to reduce energy consumption.” (Climate Change Chocolate Home Page 2008)
Customer Base
The Australian market has gone through an income revolution that has created a redistribution of wealth. Older baby boomers can now be characterized as middle-aged, established family members with several automobiles and at least one mortgage. This market segment is important to food marketers because of their numbers, wealth, and departure from established lifestyles. This market segment is better educated than previous generations and is expected to inherit more wealth than in the previous history. Some products have specifically addressed the needs of baby boomers (Fill, 1999).
Many boomers, for example, grew up wearing jeans and traveling around the world and desire to continue this practice. Since waistlines have expanded with age, companies have introduced larger sizes with different styles to conform to the middle-aged physique. Many baby boomers are obsessed with aging and desire to maintain a youthful appearance using vitamins and drugs. Consequently, many boomers monitor waistlines and diets which has a positive impact on the pharmaceutical industry (Kotler and Armstrong 2005).
Competitive Environment
For climate change chocolate, the Australian competitive market is represented by the candy and confectionary markets. The main competitors of climate change chocolate are Nestle and Mars. Both companies are market leaders relying on the high quality of products and selling history. Competition refers to the creation of differential advantage particularly by the effective management of innovation to meet changing marketing opportunities (Boone and Kurtz 2002).
Consolidation and internationalization of buying operations, independently and through alliances, will remain dominant. Retailers will thus countervail collaborative moves among major manufacturers such as Nestlé-Coca-Cola, Nestlé-General Mills, and Nestlé-Baxter. Large food retailers have joined hands in the past five years to pool their resources for centralized buying and effective negotiation of terms with suppliers.
Major retailers have also consolidated and internationalized their buying functions on an individual basis. External factors that place a limit on competition and innovation include various types of governmental regulation, accepted industry practices and agreements, and the social. The main strengths of climate change chocolate are innovative methods of production and unique advertising and promotions methods. The main weakness is that the product is not ready for immediate launch (Climate change chocolate Home Page 2008).
The Australian market proposes enormous opportunities for climate change chocolate because it will be the only company producing such products. The main strength is that for the next 3-5 years, climate change chocolate will be the only market leader in this sector. The main weakness is that any other company can enter this market and reduce the price level. Thus, even such leaders as Nestlewill need large cash reserves for research and development. These reserves also enable them to take risks in spending large sums for advertising and promotion. Today, climate change chocolate has full advantage of the quality and unique image of its products (Climate change chocolate Home Page 2008).
Price Potential
in Australia, prices are the terms of exchange among goods and services, and price policy is a central element in the marketing program of any company. Under competitive conditions, prices are determined primarily by costs. Researchers explain that prices may vary as part of the marketing policy of a company and costs may vary correspondingly (Dobson and Starkey 2004). The price potential for climate change chocolate varies from $4.95- $6.95.
Price should be seen as the ingredient of the marketing mix that has been subjected to the most intensive analysis. But as an aspect of the mix, it cannot be divorced from other ingredients. A lower price does not necessarily mean expanded sales. This price is the best one for Climate change chocolate because pricing decisions should be viewed from the perspective of a company’s total product line since products have complementary and competitive demands, joint and common costs, and by-products.
In this case, a skimming policy is effective because demand is relatively inelastic. It pays with new products, where smaller volumes can be produced economically and a high price does not attract heavy competition. On the other hand, penetration pricing is suited to markets that are price sensitive. Its value is greatest in situations where production or distribution costs, or both, decrease with volume and low prices discourage competition. Also, it is important to note that “at a low price Climate change chocolate could never hope to recoup the massive cost of production development” (Climate change chocolate Home Page 2008; Crawford 2003).
Distribution
In Australia, climate change chocolate would be positioned as a market leader and a top brand. Thus, intention to buy would be treated as a dependent variable as well as an independent variable. Regarding the consideration of intention as a consequence of the internal processes, it is generally the intention-behavior issue is larger than the attitude-behavior issue. The unique image and perception of the product would be supported by the fact that Climate change chocolate is the first in the product category (Hollensen, 2007). Segmentation would be based on behavior and psychographic characteristics (Drejer, 2002).
The target audience would involve pets owners who are willing to pay high price for both adult and children consumers. A special group would involve those customers who have insurance. Climate change chocolate should locate a brand in customers’ minds as a unique and innovative solution. Positioning of a product can be characterized by establishing trustworthiness, confidence, and competence for customers. “Whole Foods sells a variety of cause-related chocolates that raise awareness and funds for everything from saving endangered species to protecting the rainforest” (Climate change chocolate Home Page 2008).
The image of the innovative product will help Climate change chocolate to locate it in customers’ minds. Usually, customers integrate all their experiences of observing, using, and consumÂing the product with everything they hear and read about it. Information about this product should come from a variety of sources, including advertising, publicity, sales personnel, and packaging. Perceptions of price and distribution should be also taken into account (Pittengrew et al 2006).
The sum of impressions is the image, a unified image about both the products and services. The product would be distributed through direct agents and representatives of the company and the retail chain. Agents will be representatives who act on behalf of Climate change chocolate. The agents will be paid based on commission. This is the best way to reach a customer and familiarize practices with an innovative product. Also, marketing communication is based on psychographic characteristics that group people in terms of their attitudes, values, and lifestyles (Climate change chocolate Home Page 2008).
TV programs and press clubs, trade shows newsletters, press releases would help to inform potential clients about recent developments and innovations, about future directions and strategy of the company. Newsletters would inform all clients about recent changes and innovations applied by the company. This information will help to create an image as a unique brand (Cooper et al 208). Promotion and communication by Climate change chocolate would be tied intimately to consumer and buyer behavior. But not all consumers will necessarily respond to marketing promotion in the same way, following the same sequence concerning the hierarchy of effects in the dimensions of attitude and behavior – cognitive and affective.
Most buyers are driven by success and brand prestige, brand loyally, and qualities of the products and services. Marketing communication has a direct impact on buyer behavior. Climate change chocolate marketing communication would appeal to the rational choice of consumers proposing high-quality goods. Climate change chocolate should base its strategy on a rational approach appealing to logic and speak to the customer’s intellect (McDonald and Christopher 2003).
Pricing
Pricing policy is therefore a vital strand of strategy, which because of the complexities involved is often difficult for manÂagement to judge. Pricing strategies should consider both cost and demand conditions, and the dynamics of markets, thereby accounting for both internal and external variables. Although the determination of an optimal price is usually impossible, a satisfactory one can be developed by analysis (Hollensen, 2007).
A skimming policy should be used for climate change chocolate. This strategy is valued by those who believe that a concentration on a unit that focuses their efforts is better able to serve their needs of a narrow strategic target more effectively than their competition. A low price would decrease brand image and does not allow Climate change chocolate to sell Climate change chocolate at a premium price. The too high price would have a great impact on sales because only a limited number of customers would buy Climate change chocolate at $3.00 and high.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
In Australia, the least obvious case of consumer learning is when products and competitors remain stable, unchanging for years, perhaps decades. A lack of innovation and the absence of new competitors may lead you to believe that there is no buyer learning occurring. In both laundry detergent and ice cream, for instance, product benefits have remained unchanged for years, there have been few innovations, and virtually everyone is familiar with major brands in both categories. Despite that constancy, buyers continue to learn. Buyers may, for a particular product category (such as graduate business education), engage in this process only once. In the case of automobiles, they may engage in it every few years, and in the case of wine, buyers may engage in this process more frequently (Paley, 2006).
Weaknesses
The two populations in these subgroups share common life experiences or events that might be useful in targeting these groups. Therefore, the oldest and the youngest baby boomers would appear to have the most differences and would likely require different marketing programs. Manufacturers are trying to develop products aimed at this market for removing wrinkles or easing baldness (Geller, Zenick, 2005). Baby boomers have an active lifestyle and are increasingly the buyers of leisure products and services such as educational seminars, travel and sporting goods, and recreational equipment.
Opportunities
On the Australian market, for Climate change chocolate competitive strategies play a central role in the buyer learning process. The competitive strategies brands pursue create the buyer experience and, based on this experience, buyers learn three key things—how to perceive brands, how to value the differences among brands, and how to make a choice among the alternatives. These perceptions, preferences, and choice strategies become the essential rules of the competitive game.
Those rules, however, are continually updated as buyers continue to learn. In contrast, under the conventional view of buyers—that they know what they want—the rules of the game remain fixed, or at least they are beyond the influence of competitors’ strategies. Competitive strategies are crafted subject to those rules. Competitive advantage, in that case, arises from playing by the rules that buyers establish and creating unique value in the minds of buyers. If buyers learn, competitive strategies play a fundamentally different role in the competitive process. Buyer knowledge still defines the rules of the competitive game. But
Threats
The main risk of Climate change chocolate is that it would not be able to set a premium price for its product. On the other hand, the launch of Climate change chocolate on the Australian market would help to position Climate change chocolate as a market leader and create a strong brand image. Also, it would help Climate change chocolate to pass ahead of its competitors. To minimize these risks, Climate change chocolate should create a strong brand image and establish trustworthiness, confidence, and competence for customers.
This strategy would be supported by the buying process and the pricing and as the most important this positioning strategy. Branding would be crucial for Climate change chocolate because it enables customers to better organize their marketplace experience by helping them seek out and zero in on particular products (Keegan and Green 2004).
In sum, those rules are the outcome of the competitive process. Rather than a chess match between rivals, a better analogy might be a poker game where the game is the dealer’s choice and the selection of the dealer is up for grabs. The dealer defines the winning hand, and competition determines who deals. Through competitive strategy—the market segments targeted, the brand positions adopted, the products offered, the advertising messages crafted, and the prices chosen— the firm influences the buyer learning process. It is supposed that the unique image and parching is a key component of consumption, and the stimulus inducement or purpose in a certain desire.
Its energizers are drives, including the visceral, activity, aesthetic, and emotional drives. Concepts of aspiration levels, images, cognition, and vector analysis add to our understanding of human behavior. People seem to aspire to goals that might be attained — that are just outside their immediate grasp. Once goals are achieved, higher aspiration levels spring up. Purchasers experience brand, product, price, quality, company, and store images.
Bibliography
Climate change chocolate Home Page 2008. Web.
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