ADMS 4900 GROUP PROJECT REPORT
"MAPLE LEAF CONSUMER FOODS - FIXING HOT DOGS (A)"
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Maple Leaf Foods (MLF), a result of many mergers and amalgamations, has been in Canada for over 100 years. Its operations focus on three core areas: meat products, agribusiness and bakery products. The meat product group is the largest, with sales to about $2.5 billion in 2000. Each business is made up of independent operating companies (IOCs), with each IOC run by a president and encouraged to follow a common set of values. Efforts are underway to optimize vertical coordination of the IOCs. A major concern for the meat product division is the loss of market share in the hot dog industry where average price per kilo is increasing
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RESULTS OF SITUATION ANALYSIS
MLF is losing market share due to proliferation of unsuccessful brands such as _Beef Dogs_, _Lean 'n Lite_ and _Burns_. Having too many brands has spread corporate resources thin and has underutilized the Maple Leaf brand name leading to lack of a national identity of their hot dog segment, productivity problems and rising costs, both operational and production.
THE ALTERNATIVES & THEIR ANALYSIS
ALTERNATIVE 1: _Eliminate poor performing hot dog brands and re-allocate the funds associated with them to existing brands that are doing well in order to increase their sales._
The hot dogs that we are trying to improve sales for are: _Hygrade_, _Maple Leaf Originals_, _Top Dogs_ and _Shopsy's_. This option involves reformulating _Top Dogs_ to make it taste better and provide value for the consumers, without trying to make it a national brand. MLF will increase market research in order to gain vital information to help properly position this brand in each of the different regions. MLF can borrow money from other, more profitable IOCs
In order for both Burger King and Tim Hortons to reach their maximum growth potential, it is necessary for the Tim Hortons brand to expand into new US markets. In order to do this, the company should implement a combination of alternatives 2 and 3. The main justifications are as follows:
As this was Keller’s first audit on a dog Foods company, additional research was conducted to gain insight on some the most common risks that occur in the dog Foods industry. The audit team also went to visit the client prior to the audit to gain a clear understanding on how their business works. The audit team consisted of the audit manager Pete, and two audit staffers Maureen and Ben.
Loblaw Companies is one of the largest food retailers in Canada, owning well maintained brands such as NoFrills, Real Canadian Superstore, and Shoppers Drug Mart. With its focus of fresh produce, real Canadian pork, and low prices on other instore food products, Loblaw’s had created well-established branding for themselves in the local communities. However, in the past few years, Loblaw’s Companies have faced an ever-growing competitive market, with other retail competitors such as Walmart, Costco, and Drugstores expanding in the food retail industry. It is sourced
For the analysis the packaged food company ConAgra Foods, Inc (CAG) was chosen. According to ConAgra 2013 Annual report, ConAgra Foods, Inc. is one of the USA’s leading food companies. It has a strong brand recognition and consumer loyalty. ConAgra 's products are sold both in large supermarkets and convenience stores. Company operates in Commercial and Consumer Foods segments. The food industry is especially interesting for the research as the demand on food will stay relatively stable even during economic crises and is continuously growing.
After hearing Marketing Momentum Unimited’s proposal, Breeder’s Own Pet Foods was presented with the problem of: Should Breeder’s Own Pet Foods go with the advertisings firm’s proposal, if so, which one?
Breeder’s Own Pet Foods, Inc. proposes to adopt a market penetration strategy due to having identified a growth opportunity in the dog food market, for its nutritionally balanced, high quality dog food brand, Breeder’s Mix. This premium product has been sold traditionally, to the show dog kennel market, but company executives are now convinced it can be repackaged and offered as a frozen premium product, to picky pet owners via general retail distribution channels. Since the product is considered premium, it should fetch premium prices because of its ingredients and its claimed benefits to
Trader Joe’s operates over 340 stores in 9 states were they “buy direct from suppliers whenever possible, bargain hard to get the best prices and then pass the savings on to the customer” (Trader Joe’s, 2013, para. 4). Whole Food’s Market is the “world’s leader in natural and organic foods, with more than 360 stores in North America and the United Kingdom” (Whole Food, 2013, para 2). Trader Joe’s and Whole Food’s Market have managed to take original ideas and spread them throughout the nation to many different customers. Although they differ not only in the technique in which they decide to bring products to their customers but also in term of inventory management and supply chain organization. These two companies have become so successful in my opinion, not by what they differ in but what they have most in common, which is their commitment to their loyal customers, employees and undeniable quality in their products they sell. Through their loyalty to their customers and employees in addition to their irreplaceable value
The over-arching problem that Breeder’s Own Pet Foods has is which marketing-strategy would best serve as a vehicle for entry into the dog food retail business. Additionally, it has to select the most prominent geographic location (s) for distribution of its product. Another root problem component is how to get the supermarkets to stock and distribute this dog food since it is in the frozen category and may not appeal to traditional dog food buyers because they don’t readily associate dog food with frozen goods.
Based on Show Circuit’s positioning strategy, provide a recommendation for a price point for a case of the produce and calculate the company’s contribution per case.
Caninantics’s mission is to be the leader in introducing innovative, dog food dispensing product to the market. Through close customer contact and excellent relationships, Caninantics, will meet the needs of the customers. Caninantics, LLC, is a privately-held corporation and maintains an office and a small warehouse in a mixed-use area of North Beach. Three of the four investors in the company have full operational responsibility, the co-founders, have both entrepreneurial and industry experience to brings operational management, marketing, and financial skills
|Weaknesses: • Lack of availability in all stores • Lack of appeal to consumers due to thawing time / freezer space (convenience) • Lack of appeal to supermarkets due freezer location • Lack of brand equity in retail market • Premium price | Threats: • Store Location - Consumer must be educated to find product in different area of store • Saturated market – sales top 14 million in 2011. Dog food is also heavily advertised, so the challenge is to entice the consumer to buy Breeder’s Mix. • Competition - 5 major brand name dog food companies dominate market with 75% of US dog food sales • Challenge to get supermarkets to give up valuable freezer space for dog food |Evaluation of AlternativesBreeder’s Own Pet Foods product development strategy should be evaluated. Currently only 1 out of 10 dog owners regularly buy frozen or refrigerated dog food and ¾ of those surveyed expressed no interest in purchasing frozen dog food (Kerin and Peterson, 2013). This indicates that there is a limited market for dog owners who would be interested in a product such as Breeder’s Mix. Research does suggest however that frozen dog food dollar volume is increasing annually indicating there is a strong opportunity for Breeder’s Own to be the first to tap into the frozen dog food market in the Boston area. Breeder’s Own Dog Foods needs a strong marketing campaign to convince consumers their brand is superior to
After careful review of each of the elements in launching this product, the following analysis can be determined. Zenith has to answer a specific series of questions in order to decide if their product of Show Circuit dog food will be a viable product. The market was in fact correctly segmented, although Zenith needs to see the shopping behavior of those willing to spend more on pet food. Marketing in a supermarket could inhibit the potential growth of the product. Because the market is already segmented and offered such a variety of dog foods, Zenith will have to market the product correctly and focus in on the benefits to be successful. Show Circuit needs to seek a position of a higher quality product in a different, more convenient location. It is important to play up how the location is a benefit rather than a detriment. This goes along with the sales program being successful. Show
The Pillsbury Cookie Challenge is a case study written by Natalie Mauro under the supervision of Professor Allison Johnson. The case study creates an open discussion about what the marketing manager of the refrigerated baked goods category for Canada General Mills should do to revive his products. Ivan Guillen, the marketing manager, was faced with tough challenges. He was initially “…faced with the challenge of developing a strategy that would lead to improved business performance on his category” (Johnson and Mauro, p.1, 2011). To clarify, Guillen’s category is refrigerated baked goods (RBG), which means, this category is his marketing responsibility. The issue here is that “RBG was GMCC’s fourth largest category, and its performance over the past two years had been less than stellar” (Johnson and Mauro, p.1, 2011). It is important to note that GMCC stands for General Mills Canada Corporation. Pillsbury has enjoyed majority market share in the RBG category in Canada, however, recently, the market was experiencing only moderate growth. Guillen was disappointed that their goal of 5%-7% market growth was not being achieved mainly in the refrigerated cookie dough segment. To be exact, their volume growth for two years was flat and they were having difficulty reaching new households. There was a shift among consumer’s purchases, which Guillen was challenged to figure out why.
Treating all of Canada as one market has many advantages. A company typically implements a global strategy when it wants to save money. A company can be more effective when it sells the same products to every market, because there is no extra time spent on differentiating the products per market, which means there are also no extra costs. Money is saved from buying in bulk and having a standard packaging. In return, the company can put more focus on the product and work towards changing and enhancing the product. The case states that the market share of Saralyn Mills has increased in each of the product categories in which it competes. By implementing a standardized strategy,
To maximize the impact of the project, the study focused on the hotdog line that comprises almost 73% of the demand being processed every week. Only the packaging line of the hotdog process was dealt with. Data collected were from the outputs of January 2011 to February 2011. Future demands for all hotdog lines were gathered. The company set policies for acquiring and maintaining equipment were also considered.