Kettle Foods Marketing Plan

tympanic cavity Foods rateeting Plan white white potato vine chips as a point of intersection has been a major snack being consumed about the world tho most predominantly in is consumed English speaking countries and or so air jacket Afri tin green goddess countries as come up. Potato crisps were starting time developed in spick-and-span-fashi one and only(a)d York, Saratoga Springs in the year 1853 to be precise. It gradu eachy became popular as time went on. The manufacturing has confront well-nigh(prenominal)(prenominal) ch all in allenges over the age oddly in the UK due to the economic difficulties (recession) faced by the rural ara and consumers ar also in a flash aw ar of the wellness issues that arise due to unembellished consumption of much(prenominal)(prenominal) snacks which decreased the level barters level of such(prenominal) returns. However, the industry s manger stands and is still tip among snack industries. at that place be several( a) reasons and factors in industry still re chief(prenominal)ed crucial and one of such is the health survey. Many manufacturers and companies over the years name been trying to amount up with a solution to the response of consumers to potato crisps as a snack output that contains a eminent level of fat and atomic number 11 which sack up drag to a high blood pressure or blood sugar and as well asth erosion if consumed excessively.As mentioned above, one of the companies which keep back indomitable to come up with a solution to the problem that affects potato chips health-wise is middle ear hole. myringa has been in the product line of manufacturing potato chips ingrainedly without the engross of GMO ingredients. Our analysis as pull up stakes be discussed leave focus on the potato chips industry using timpani Chips as a case study. timpani was to begin with founded in 1978 in Salem by Cameron Healy. In 1987 accompanied by his son, Cameron went on a 6 week motorcy cle adventure which lead them to discover how much the British really liked chips. A process was later established in the UK, Norwich (1988). eardrum foods today atomic number 18 one of the biggest potato chips manufacturers and energize maintained their originality in taste and natural ingredients till date. The tympani Brand potato chips was perfected in 1982 and do been upward(a) and level off expanded their line of mathematical product to include Baked Potato Chips, Kettle Brand, Tortilla Chips and Kettle Brand in recount to meet vary tastes of their compriseumers (Kettle Foods Inc., 2009).2.0 UK MARKET DATABritish Population is the biggest snack eaters in atomic number 63 amid emergence health concerns about savory crosss. As a country it consumes an estimated 6 billion packets per year, that equivalent of almost 100 packets of crisps per person. Its a interior(a) obsession with crisps and nuts, which means that they spent 55 per person on them function year, more than than double the 22.50 of ne arst rival, Germany. This is projected to climb to more than 80 in 2014.Overall, they munched through 300 tons of the snacks in 2010, worth 2.47billion and a quarter of all gross revenue in Europe. Report author throng Manley, of leading commercializeplace analyst Mintel, said The UK is king in the European crisps and brininessy snacks securities industry. Eating occasions argon un special(a) and snacking is rife end-to-end the day.Though the health credentials of crisps be questioned, it still holds 48 per penny of sales in UK. Other snacks, including tortilla chips, popcorn and pork scratching shambling up the remaining 52 per cent. UK Potato Crisps Snacks Market to hit 2.61bn by 2014 Says modernistic-sprung(prenominal)found Report.As per past records and analysis, in 2006 the UK commercialize esteem of crisps, coarsenessy snacks and nuts was around 2500 million pounds. It has been noticed that the consumption of the chips is c ontinuously increase that too at a constant pace. As per current selective information i.e. 2011, the marketplace value is 3176 million pounds. In form1.1 diagram, at that place is a envision given for four years that is from 2012 to 2016. As per Mintel gauge it is estimated that UK market lead offake in for 2012 will be around 3300 million pounds and further increase to 3500 million pounds in 2013 and so on. The end of 2016 estimates the total UK market value for this to be 4183 million pounds. By taking all the provisions it t aneleet be reason that in the best case scenario maximum UK market value can go up to 4627 and in the worst case scenario it can go down to 3853 in 2016, keeping in mind all the different confidence level.Thus, analyzing all the past data and future forecast of UK retail sale of crisps, salty snacks and nuts it can be concluded that UK market has got huge potential for the consumption of the crisps and all and this can be taken as an fortune for t he existing market players of crisps and they can all increase their own market plowsh ar by adopting several strategies. nearly of the market sh be is captured by walkers so this can be an opportunity for kettle chips to snatch walkers customers by putting all the merchandising efforts or kettle can put such strategy to attract new different groups of customers.3.0 INTERNAL ANALYSIS THE MARKETING MIX market can quickly and simply be defined as the process of do a product or serve up available to the consumer at the effective place, price, and time (James and Carlson, 1996-2012). This unremarkably involves the careful analysis of the product or service in four different aspects k this instantn as the 4Ps (McCarthy, 1960) before proceeding. You as a marketer has to consider what the consumer wants or what their necessitate are, the environment or location of your business, if the price of the product or service youll be crack will be too high or too mortified and finally o nly not the least, how to promote the product or service. right away we will be taking a look at Kettle Chips and how they market their products putting the 4Ps, which are merchandise (Service), Place, Price and Promotion into comity. originally we go into the full analysis, it is unassailable to turn over in mind the coach and objective of the confederations (Kettle Chips) product which is to provide for the consumer the best healthy, nutritious and tasty potato chips for them to enjoy and now we will see how they have managed to achieve this so far.merchandising MixAn effective marketing mix has to match consumer need, corporal resources and to create a competitive advantage. A market-oriented firm incessantly keeps an nub on its environment. The environment is divided into the microenvironment and macro environment. In microenvironment, the key actors are suppliers, management of the company i.e. the company itself, customers and competitors. Micro environment are inwr ought to the organization and the organization has sufficient controls over it. Macro environment consists of economic, social, legal, sensual and technology forces. Macro-environments are normally out of the companys control. (Jobber and Fahy, 2003)Four Ps of marketing mix3.1 ProductThis part of marketing mix mainly foc white plagues on what on the dot consumer wants. Under product, we have to consider what the consumer needfully are and what exactly consumers wants. For development marketing mix of Kettle Chips we need to consider the part of the market being targeted by Kettle. Kettle Brand targets health cognizant customers, which imply that their product has to be health inclined in order to appeal to the consumers and also to satisfy its customers.Secondly, Kettle, since 1978 produce their chips using only natural ingredients (Non-GMO products) in order to give their consumers free reassurance of steps they take to condition ingredients with integrity (Kettle Foods Inc. , 2009). Findings from question, (Mintel, 2009) provides us with information showing an improvement in the sale of crisps due to the fact that they are more healthy in ground of calories and fat than they were before.The Non-GMO project stated Kettle Brand Chips as the starting line potato chips being produced without the expend of GMOs in 2009. Their chips are gluten free and they use expeller pressed oil for their products in order to give their consumers a expert product to enjoy. Kettle Chips arent just bent on the health aspect of their products and ignoring how tasty their chips should be. They cleft different seasonings of potato chips such as honeyed Onion, Tortilla Chips, Lightly Salted Sea Salt and Vinegar, Spicy Thai, Unsalted, Jalapeno, Red long pepper etc. All of these are produced naturally to meet different tastes of consumers.Product Life CycleThis is simply a principle that suggests that e real product has different gunpoints that it must pass through befor e it is eventually pushed from the market. psychiatric hospital This is when the product is first introduced into the market and as a result of that, a colossal number of the consumer market are unaware of the product so its profits are low at this stage. Normally in this stage the company or manufacturer will try to cover its high address of production, which will result in the product becoming slight affordable for the average consumer.(Vernon, 1966)According to product life cycle theory, the Kettle Chips products in this section are Jalapeno chili, Mexican Potato Bake, New Kettle Ridge Chips, Sour Cream, Corn, Tomato, Avocado and lime dip, Peach and cilantro Salsa. (Kettle Foods Ltd., 2012)Growth This is the stage that usually determines if the product will survive or not. The producers at this stage will try to bring down the bell of the product as to suck in it more affordable for the average consumer by coming up with ways to cut down the cost of production and present make better offers. In addition to this, the company will have to make use of a tough approach in ad and onward motion strategies in order to catch the attention and interests of their customers.(Vernon, 1966)Under this section, Kettle Chips have products such as Mature Cheddar Multipacks, Ridge Chips, Tortilla Chip. (Kettle foods Ltd., 2012) maturity The third stage is only attained assuming the product has survived the forward stage (Growth Stage). At this stage, the price must have fallen to a more affordable level for more customers to purchase due to standardised production. Here, production and technology whitethorn also be exported to underdeveloped and developing countries where production costs will be disgrace and developed countries can focus on innovation to make the product better.(Vernon, 1966)Examples of kettle chips products that are currently in this stage are Sea Salt and balsamy Vinegar and Lightly Salted. These are among the most conducted Kettle Chips sea sonings.(Kettle Foods Ltd.,2012)Decline This is the move stage. The product begins to fade out of the market, crave, and production and of course, profits begin to barge in as well due to new technologies and new products coming up. It usually still survives for a while in the underdeveloped and developing countries hardly is eventually completely pushed out over time. (Vernon, 1966)The Boston Consulting Group speculation (BCG)Bruce Henderson founded this in the early 1970s. Initially, it was designed as tool to be utilise for financial management but was then put to better use in marketing. Boston Matrix considers products in two dimensions relative market share and market increment rate. (Cranfield School of Management, 2000)Boston Matrix categorizes products in four boxes, which are lead-in, Cash Cow, Problem Child/ Question Mark, and cross.Star Building market shares as sales improve. Products here are property neutral. They generate hard cash as volume and revenue bu ilds rapidly, but they usually require special attention in funding because they are new products. Usually, aggressive marketing is required for such products.Cash Cow The products in this box have high a high market share but low market growth, which implies that they are mature products. These generate cash that is requisite to support new(prenominal) aspects of the business.Problem Child/ Question Mark These are products that do not hold a dominant market share but are high in market growth. These are often newly introduced products that have a high tendency of flunk in the market. They usually require large amounts of cash to fund their development.Dog These are products that were once on top but have declined and now generating low cash flow and in some cases, even let liabilities to the business. Henderson advises that such products should be discarded. (Cranfield School of Management, 2000)In the following diagram some of the Kettle Chips products are categorized accordin g to the Boston Consulting Group Theory.BCG hyaloplasm pattern. 1.23.2 PlaceWhen considering place, one have to consider the location of the business, how accessible it will be to the customers and probably the dispersion channel or transmit that will be employ. Kettle Chips products are found almost everywhere around the world but predominantly in European and West African countries.The Kettle Foods office in UK supports a network of independent distributors which make their products available in the Middle East and European countries outside UK such as Denmark, Belgium, Greece, Austria, France, Germany, Finland, Ireland, Ice land, Spain, Switzerland, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Italy, Malaysia, Malta and Luxembourg (Kettle Foods LTD, 2012).Distribution ChannelKettle chips are found in various supermarkets and retail shops around the world fashioning it easy for their consumers to access their products. on that point are various distribution channels that can be used by any bu siness that produces consumer goods such asProducerConsumerProducerretailerConsumerProducerWholesalerRetailerConsumerProducerAgentWholesalerRetailerConsumerSource Figure 9.8. design to marketing theory and practice (Palmer 2004357)Kettle Chips use wholesalers as well as retailers but do not use agents in their distribution channel. They sell directly to their wholesalers. Their distribution channel would appear like this for congressmanKettle ChipsTescoOff-license shopsConsumers (Kettle Foods Ltd., 2012)3.3 PriceUnder price, there must be consideration of if the price of your product or service will be too high for your consumers or too low for the company to turn in profits. Kettle as a company usually build their facilities upon locations with good vegetation and natural resources that supports their business such as the Green structure mentioned above under place and their facility in Salem, Oregon which is laid adjacent to a nearly 2-acre wetland (Kettle Foods LTD, 2012) . T hese in turn enables them to avoid extra expenses that would have been spent on purchasing some raw materials and gives them the capability to keep a low cost on their products while fashioning sufficient profit to grow the business.Kettle Chips products are not the cheapest and can still put up more effort in delivery their prices to a lower level. A minimum level of price should be maintained with a good role in production because the lower the price, the higher the demand. This will give an organization an edge over its competitors that offer a higher price for the same quality or even less(prenominal)er quality. (Kettle Foods LTD, 2012)Kettle Chips Pricing StrategyKettle Chips came into the market in 1978 to be specific and at this period, they were not many companies manufacturing chips, especially in the UK and so, they decided to penetrate the market with their naturally made potato chips and were change them at a high price. Kettle Chips had very littler disceptation at this period so they were able to sell their products to high income earning consumers at high prices while having a low promotion. In other words, they used the Slow Penetration strategy to penetrate the market. This was possible for them because their kettle modal value cooking was unique at this period.Presently, Kettle Chips have a strong brand, so they maintain a Slow Skimming strategy because they have a strong brand. Being already established, they are relaxed about promotion and that is one of the reasons why more recent companies such as Walkers have a higher market share. Consumers are more aware of companies that blow over a lot on promotion.3.4 PromotionKettle advertises their products through the use of e advertising (internet), Television and radio b roadwaycasts, and public relations such as their community giving. Kettle makes donations of money, product and time to local organizations. They donate chips for fundraising events at local schools and give more than 175,000 pounds of potatoes to local hunger reserve agencies every year. They also give out their brand products to organizations and schools.Kettle Chips successfully created a world-shaking uplift in sales from existing, lapsed and new purchasers through a brand campaign in newspapers. They are now looking more confident than ever, their market share has increased as a result of this (Kettle Chips The Story, 2012).The result of the campaign is as followsNewspapers immediately hike up sales by over 20%During the newspaper campaign, Kettle Chips sales of featured products were 20.5% higher among people in the public who saw the adverts, compared with a matched unexposed sample and maintained sales contact In the 12 weeks mail campaign, newspaper advertising continued to increase the sales by 19.5% (Kettle Chips The Story, 2012).Newspapers take in all types of dealersKETTLE Chips advertising successfully increased penetration and oftenness of purchase as well as reengaging lap sed users. (Kettle Chips The Story, 2012)Newspapers are shiny for making big bold brand statementsKettle Chips simple but confident campaign captured readers attention and increased their emotional brand involvement. This was very beneficial in the sense that it gave their customers a sense of affiliation with the product and of cause this aids loyalty to the brand as well. (Kettle Chips The Story, 2012)4.0 EXTERNAL ANALYSISFig 1.3 The Marketing Environment.Source Jobber, D and Fahy, J. (2003), New York Mc Graw Hill culture UK LTDMicro Economics inletCr take customer value and satisfaction is the main key to build relationships with customers. It is not a one man task.so there are many actors playing role to build micro environment. Marketing success requires building relationships with other company departments such as competitors, suppliers, customers, various publics and marketing intermediaries .All these are combined to process effective delivery network.Components of micro environment4.1 CompetitorsMarketing concept is ground on believing better customer value and satisfaction than its competitors. Thus the company should adopt itself to the needs of consumers.one of the important aspects of gaining strategic advantage is by positioning their gos strongly against competitors offering in the minds of customers. All companies have their different marketing strategy based on their size and industry positioning.In the context of kettle chips, the lead most powerful competitors for kettle chips are Walkers (PepsiCo), Pringles (PG), and McCoys (UB). The following table describes the leading brands value shares in crisps and salty snacks from 2009 to 2011. From the table it is clearly visible that Kettle Chips stands in the 5th position in the market of crisps and salty snacks.Fig 1.44.2 CustomersCustomers are the most important element in the companys microenvironment. The main baffle of the entire delivery system is to serve customers and build strong r elationship. There are five type of customer market and the company may target any or all of them. To start with the customer market, first type is consumer market, which consists of individual and households that buys product for personal consumption. Business market consists of buy the goods for further processing or in the production process whereas reseller market buys goods for the purpose to sell them at profit. government markets consist of government agencies that buy goods for public service or to transfer them to others who need them. International market is made up of buyers in other countries who may be consumers, producers, resellers or government.Kettle chips has established itself as a premium brand for chips and olibanum these chips are mainly for a specific targeted customers whose income level are little high than others because as compared to walkers kettle chips are slightly costlier and kettle chips believes in delivering good quality crisps and consumers who are really health conscious go for kettle chips.Consumption of crisps, salty snacks and nuts in the last 6 months, by type, by demographics, November 2011Fig 1.5* small sub-sample (75-100)SOURCE Toluna/Mintel4.3 SuppliersSuppliers are important link in the companys overall delivery system. They are the source of resources needed by the company to produce its goods and services. Supply shortage can cost sales in the short run but it can blockade customer satisfaction in the long run. Most marketers today treat suppliers as their partners for generating customer value.The people who make Kettle Chips have always believed that the simple approach to good food is best. So the highest quality potatoes are sourced locally, and no artificial colours, whole tones, preservatives or MSG are added to the process. Only the best potatoes are used to give the distinctive golden colour, crunch and flavour of a Kettle chip. Kettle Chips source 75% of the brands potatoes from its home county of Norfolk, and 90% from East Anglia. Kettle Chips are made in the Kettle Foods Ltd factory in Norwich, where the company has been ever since it was first launched in the UK.Nelson County Potatoes is a bespeak growers group to Kettle Foods Ltd- makers of the famous hand-cooked KETTLE Chips, a premium quality product made using the finest potatoes. Its Norfolk-based growers produces more than 65000 tonnes of potatoes each year, a large proportion of which go in to kettle chips at the kettle foods limited base in Norwich. From this part about 100 million bags of kettle chips are produced each year and distributed across the country to all the major supermarkets and other food store.4.4 The companyFor designing the marketing plans, the company has to be and coordinate with all the departments within the company like top management, finance, research and development purchase, operations and accounting. The duty of the top management is to set the companys mission, objective, strategies and plans. Marketing managers work closely with other departments.Kettle chips takes pride of being a well-known and growing business with its roots based in the local community.it has got wide diversity of people from all backgrounds, working hand by hand to one common goal of making better chips. The company provides great working conditions and friendly management and this helps company retain the employees. soon the managing music director of kettle Foods at Diamond Foods, Inc. is Dominic Lowe, the Cadbury man who became Green Blacks managing director last year, moving from a 1bn-a-year business to a 40m-a-year one, believes the public is more concerned about the deeds of an ethical company than its ownershipMacro-EnvironmentIntroductionThe macro environment comprises of forces that do not immediately affect the business but it may have effect in the long run, as time goes on. As these environmental changes take place, macro-environment affects the micro relationships of the b usiness as well. The micro environment is complex and interdependent. (Palmer, 2004)Components of macro environment4.5 Political/ levelheaded factorsIn UK, food products including the Snacks are heavily influenced and controlled by legislation relating to makeup and labeling requirements, such that consumers can be confident of the wholesomeness and value for money that they diddle (Van Horn, 2002). On a world perspective, the availability of safe food is an increasing problem in fast-growing urban populations. Meeting this need by the provision of new food product is a major opportunity for UK as these markets develop.These refer to government polices such as the degree of incumbrance in the economy. What goods and services does a government provides, To what extent does it subsidized firms, What are its priorities in terms of health of the people, Political decisions can impact on many vital areas for business such as the education of the workforce, the health of the nation and the quality of the infrastructure of the economy such as the road and rail system. In developed economies, government intervention is inevitable in order to uphold the consumers trust and faith in the governments systems.Over the years, consumers lifestyles have become eclectic and the culture of ready meals and snacks has become popular. This has lead to several lifestyle diseases. Children studying in primary and secondary schools are the largest buyers of angelical and savory snacks. It has been observed that such snacks formed an integral part of their tiffin boxes. Due to the adverse affects of snack food on childrens health, the government, through its stop Regulation Commission, has proposed certain standards for school food. The standards restrict the sale of confectionery, savory snacks further nuts and seeds, and deep fried snacks like crisps and burgers. (Better Regulation Commission, 2007).The government in the linked Kingdom has become proactive in promoting healt hy eating and balanced diet patterns to the citizens. The government, along with various other organizations like the NHS, initiated several awareness campaigns to tackle the growing problem of obesity. The campaigns promote the reduction of fat, salt and sugar the consumers daily diet. This move by the government can lead to a projected decline of 4.1% in the sweet snacks market and 3.4% in the savory snacks market over a period of five years (Just Food, 2009).4.6 Economic factorsThese include interest rates, taxation changes, economic growth, inflation and fill in rates. Change in these factors can lead to a major impact on a firms behavior. Likehigher(prenominal) interest rates because it costs more to borrow.A strong currency may make export more difficult because it may raise the price in unknown currency.Inflation may provoke higher wage demands from employees and raise costs.Higher GDP growth may boost demand for a firms products.The market value of Snacks companies in the UK represents a further contribution to wealth, both in the holdings by private shareholders and in those held by institutions. The balance of trade arising from Kettle products is positive because the major materials are already found and created in UK plants. Also, the personality of the product cost structures is not ruling out significant inter-country dispatch of such low price-dense, high bulk packs. The United Kingdom was faced with two unfortunate economic crises in the second half of 2007. The to-do in the financial markets along with steep increase in the furnish and food prices severely affected the business and commerce, as well as consumer confidence. The consumers have become relatively conservative in their approach to pass on consumer goods.The sweet and savory market has however shown a beauty growth in sales. This reason could be attributed to the nature of these products. Snacks are specially seen as indulgent and impulsive products with a low unit price. Snacks are also low involvement products unlike other consumer goods. In the United Kingdom, the market for crisps and snacks grew by 5% since 2007. This is mainly because the snacks companies have responded well to the consumers needs in this fragile economic environment. (Mintel, 2009)In spite of positive growth signs, the manufacturers still have to struggle due to the existing credit crunch, match with the rising costs of wheat, flour, maize and potatoes, and instability in crude oil prices. All these factors put a strain on the manufacturersprofit margins. (Research and Markets, 2008)4.7 affectionate factors / CulturalChanges in social trends can impact on the demand for a firms products and the availability and willingness of individuals to work. In the UK, for example, the population has been ageing. This has increased the costs for firms who are committed to pension payments for their employees because their staff is living longer. It also means some firms such as Asda hav e started to recruit older employees to tap into this growing labor pool. The ageing population also has impact on demand for example, demand for sheltered accommodation and medicines have increased whereas demand for toys is falling.There is now a wealth of evidence to show that consuming a high salt diet brings with it increasing health problems. High salt intake is linked to increasing blood pressure, which causes strokes and heart disease, with other less well-known effects including stomach cancer and osteoporosis. Basically, these issues are advantage for Walkers since majority of their products are potatoes. Potatoes are low calorie and excellent for people that are health conscious. The sale of sweet and savory snacks thrives on consumption patterns of younger consumers aged between 15-34 years. Due to persistent efforts by the government to encourage consumers to adopt healthier lifestyles and eating habits, the demographics of main consumers of snacks has changed. Fewer children are attracted to crisps and snack. The Government regulations as mentioned above have also been a cause in making crisps and other sweet and savory snacks unpopular among children.4.8 Technological factors technology can reduce costs, improve quality and lead to innovation. These developments can usefulness consumers as well as the organizations providing the products. Online shopping, bar coding and computer assisted design are all improvements to the way we do business as a result of better technology.In the process of building this successful brand Kettle Chips, the business found that it had developed a report problem in lower management. The company system consisted of 70 to 80 spreadsheets, which were constantly being updated and sent back and forth between departments. The coverage process took at least eight weeks, and if any modifications needed to be made, it took a minimum of two days.Employees also had difficulty creating their own reports, and would have to rely on an IT software developer to do the job for them. This ended up taking most of the developers time, which would otherwise have been spent on other pressing IT needs.After a long search for a solution, Kettle Foods Ltd chose IBM Cognos Express, along with Logicalis UK as their IBM Business Partner. Kettle chips selected IBM Cognos Express because it combines the planning and role model strengths of IBM Cognos TM1 and the reporting strengths of IBM Cognos Business Intelligence in a value-for-money offering providing a complete planning, reporting and scenario-modeling toolset.4.9 Environmental factorsEnvironmental factors include the weather and humor change. Changes in temperature can impact on many industries including farming, production cost and Product life. With major climate changes occurring due to global warming and with greater environmental awareness this external factor is becoming a significant issue for firms to consider.The gener