Marketing Planning And Control Essay For Hubbard Foods.

Background of the Product

Discuss about the Marketing Planning and Control for Hubbard Foods.

Hubbard Foods Ltd. is a renowned breakfaster cereals manufacturer based in Auckland city, New Zealand. The company has acquired the remarkable position for selling the high quality and different flavored cereal foods and has created a greater customer base. The cereal products are sold under the renowned Hubbard Brand and private labels. Dick Hubbard, the founder, started the company in 1989, but later stepped down as CEO in the year of 2004 (Hubbards.co.nz, 2018). The company has strengthened the position among the top three players in the New Zealand market after Sanitarium and Kellogg’s. The study would be developing the situation analysis of Hubbard Foods for “Light & Right” Museli Cereals for the breakfast. It has been observed that food and beverage industry contributes a larger amount of economy in New Zealand. Every one person in five in New Zealand works for the food and beverage sector. It is needless to mention that the food and beverage sector earns over half of the merchandise export earnings. The study would thus present the ideas about the organisational strengths and weakness to ensure the business potentiality in a competitive scenario.

“Light & Right” Museli Cereals of Hubbard has captured the leading position among the breakfast cereals all over the world. The extensive breakfast cereal range of New Zealand has taken both the national and international recognition. This Museli Cereals is a light food products with yougurt compound flakes and freeze-dried feijoa pieces along with some extra apple fruits, bran sticks, wheat flakes, and yummy rolled oats (Nbr.co.nz, 2018). The product contains 39% less sugar and the product got approval from the Heart Foundation (Productsfromnz.com, 2018). The appropriate amount of nutrients and ingredients are mixed to produce this cereal meal. It quenches the need of the healthier breakfast in daily lives. The product has the higher selling rate on the domestic market of Auckland, New Zealand. The company is thus looking forward to expand the selling areas in other cities of New Zealand.

The internal environment of the company is associated with the skilled staffs, effective organisational culture, and advanced technological use for producing the high quality and healthier breakfast products. This privately owned company employs nearly 160 staffs in the factory situated at Auckland (Hubbards.co.nz, 2018). People who are knowledgeable enough in using the advanced technological tools to produce high quality cereal meals are associated with the company. The efficient technical knowledge and the diverse organisational culture are the major success factors of the company. The multiculturalism observed within the company develops the higher value for the products that helps in increasing the sales ratio.

Internal Environment of the Company

The major strength of the company is the high quality cereal products with rich nutrients and healthy ingredients. The demands of the healthier breakfast meal are the major aspect of increasing sales of the company. On the other hand, the company lacks the sound advertising strategy for promoting the products in the market (Sbc.org.nz, 2018). The poor promotional strategy is the major weakness of the company. The rival companies like Kellogg’s and Sanitarium are using the effective advertising strategies to draw the attention of the customers largely. In compare to the competitors, the lack of thee effective promotional strategy can be disadvantageous for the long run.

The Five P’s of marketing determines the business potentiality in terms of analyzing the people, product, place, price, and promotion. The analysis of these marketing components is presented further.

• People

Hubbard Food is focused on selling the cereal meal by targeting people who prefer healthier diets in their breakfast. “Light & Right” Museli Cereals contains the rich ingredients with extra nutrients that are healthier for maintaining a balanced diet in their breakfast (Futureintech.org.nz, 2018). Especially, the young generation, who are much conscious about the healthier diet, prefer the healthy breakfast. On the other hand, the mothers who are much concerned about the rich nutrients for their children. Considering such needs, the company is targeting the customers between the age group of 20 to 40. It is expected that the sales ratio would be increased depending on the demands of this high nutrient product. Moreover, the company is paying attention towards the food packaging as well. The customers opt for the effective packaging services to keep the product safe.

• Product

The company recognizes the needs of the high quality and healthier breakfast meal that would increase the demand for the future prospects. “Light & Right” Museli Cereals includes the ingredients that are healthy for both the adults and the adolescents. The existing products of the company have gathered the higher level of customer base not only in domestic market, but in international market as well (Shi et al., 2017). The light and healthy ingredients with rich nutrient value mixed in this cereal product are expected to generate more customers’ preferences in a significant way.

• Price

Hubbard Foods has structured the moderate price for “Light & Right” Museli Cereals. The customers belong to upper and middle class can afford the products for their daily use. The moderate pricing structure is expected to increase the customer base for the brand.

• Place

Five P's of Marketing

The Auckland market is surrounded with the upper and upper middle class customers who are much fond of the high quality ingredients in their breakfast meals. However, the ingredients used for preparing this meal are quite expensive (Renton, Daellenbach & Davenport, 2016). The product would be available in the grocery shops and the departmental stores. The people visit these places more often. Therefore, it is expected that people in Auckland that have the higher income rate would easily pay for the products that have high nutritional values.

• Promotion

The promotional strategies undertaken by the company determines the business potentiality to attract more customers. It has been observed that the greater promotional activities help the company to achieve the competitive advantage (Chen et al., 2015). Especially, the New Zealand food market is associated with the higher level of competition with the greater competitors like Sanitarium and Kellogg’s. Hubbard Food needs to work on their advertising strategies to gather the attention of more customers. In order to remain competitive, it is essential for the company to strengthen their position in this aspect.

The external market is associated with two major factors, the micro environment forces and macro environment factors. While operating in the New Zealand market, Hubbard Foods is concentrating on both of the environmental factors in a significant way.

• Micro Environment

The micro environment is surrounded by the suppliers, competitors, and the market. The major suppliers of Hubbard Foods are the local farmers, packaging suppliers, and the local distributors. The local farmers supply the basic ingredients for preparing the cereals. On the other hand, the customers demand for the greater packaging systems (Tomczak, Reinecke & Kuss, 2018). The company deals with the suppliers who supply the materials for the packaging process. The packaging material helps in preparing the attractive packages for the customers. The company can sell the products through the grocery shops. The personal marketing process can be applied in such method. The local distributors play a remarkable role to supply the products.

The market is highly competitive and the effectiveness of the key players in the market posing more challenges for the company. The highly competitive market demands for the unique strategic decisions that would help them to strengthen the position for a long run (Tomczak, Reinecke & Kuss, 2018). The company is thus looking forward to develop the unique taste and flavor of the cereal with rich ingredients. The market demands are taken into account.

External Environment

Another most considerable factor is the market competitors. It has been observed that the company face majority of the challenges from two key players in the New Zealand market, Sanitarium and Kellogg’s. The unique promotional strategies and the effective business strategies used by these market players are quite challenging for Hubbard Foods. It is necessary for the company to adopt more technicalities to develop the better strategic method that can strengthen the competitive positioning in this market. 

The macro environmental factors such as political, economical, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors have the remarkable influence on the food industry in New Zealand. The political influence on the cereal food industry is much considerable. The political parties are much concerned about the food policies for developing the health and nutritious values on the food products by eliminating junk foods (Maile, Kizilbash & Miller, 2015). However, the internal corruptions in the political scenario are affecting the food industry in New Zealand. On the other hand, the food and beverage industry is significantly contributing to the New Zealand economy. Moreover, targeting the customers with higher income rate also increases the economy level. In addition to this, the money earned from the food export business is invested to the food production. Hence, the economic influence is also quite effective for the company.

The social factor is much recognizable. In today’s world, the young generations are much fond of the healthier diet due to their health consciousness. In fact, mothers are also looking forward to grab the best cereal products that are enriched with high quality ingredients and nutrients. Therefore, the social demands for the cereal breakfast are also quite remarkable. Finally, the development of the technologies is beneficial for the food production house (Nzstory.govt.nz, 2018). The use of the latest technologies is contributing towards the betterment of the food industry, especially in the nutritious cereal food and beverage industry.  

The two major competitors for Hubbard Foods are Sanitarium and Kellogg’s. The further study would present the competitor analysis of these companies that pose challenge for Hubbard Foods.

Sanitarium Group has captured the leading position in the breakfast cereal market in New Zealand. It offers the non-dairy beverages and vegetarian meals to the customers. The 119 year heritage is creating the greater impact on customers’ minds (Nzstory.govt.nz, 2018). The effective promotional strategy, the value chain process, and the remarkable distribution process are the core business of the company that have drawn the attention of the customers and strengthened the competitive position.

Kellogg’s is another leading market player in the cereal food market of New Zealand. The core value of the company is to create the unique culture and behaviours for the long term sustainability of the business. The company seeks to create the meaningful connection for improving the lives.  The company identifies the benefits of the cereal products and mixes ingredients to quench such needs of the potential customers (Scrinis, 2016). The company believes in diversity and inclusion and develops the market segment on basis of the diverse demands. On the other hand, the effective promotional strategy is also much remarkable for considering the high level of customer base.

The SWOT analysis of Hubbard Food is presented further:

Table 1: SWOT analysis of Hubbard Foods

(Source: Marsden & Arce, 2017)

Managing the customer needs is the basic motif of the company. The “Light & Right” Museli Cereals is introduced to the market to satisfy the need of the higher nutrients cereal breakfasts (Productsfromnz.com, 2018). Considering such needs of the customers, the company has paid attention to two different customer segmentations. Firstly, the company has targeted the customers between the age group of 20 to 40 in the demographic field. Secondly, in the psychographic parameter, the company has targeted the young adolescents and adults who are much conscious about health and prefer healthy cereal meal for breakfast.  

Conclusion

The study develops the idea about the marketing plan and control of Hubbard Foods. The study suggests that the company is launching the “Light & Right” Museli Cereals concentrating on the target customer segments. Customers between the age group of 20 to 40 are targeted for selling the products. The continuous competition from the key market players, such as Sanitarium and Kellogg’s is posing the considerable challenges for the company. With the help of the market opportunities, the company requires implementing the unique business strategies and effective promotional marketing to strengthen the competitive position for a longer time.

References

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