Analysis Of Marketing Environment For Confectionary Company In Canada

Political

The current market position of Canada consists of various macro economical factors like political and social. Peppermint Pop, the new start confectionary company should conduct an analysis of the marketing environment of Canada to gain information about the current market situation of the country. The business would come under the influence of macro environmental factors like politics, economic conditions, social conditions and technological conditions. The company would be required to form strategies to adapt to these factors. An analysis of the market situations in Canada is as follows:

Canada is a political stable country, which follows the parliamentary system of government. The nation is a part of the Commonwealth Group of countries and the Queen Elizabeth II is the constitutional head of the country represented by Julie Payette. The laws of the country are very strict and headed by the Supreme Court of Canada seated in Ottawa, the national capital. The country has strong political ties with several countries in Asia, America, Australia and Europe. This political stability, legal stability and foreign relations encourage the growth of business ventures (business.financialpost.com, 2017). These factors can act as drivers for Peppermint Pop in multiple ways. First, the company can obtain licenses from the government bodies legally without being stuck due to corruption. Second, the stable government of Canada makes strategic economic policies, which encourages expansion of trade and business. Third, the government makes laws to promote start up ventures by providing them facilities like financial help (ic.gc.ca, 2017). The firm company can use this financial support the obtain the resources like raw materials and labour it would require to start production of chocolate candies with peppermint cores.

The political stability, foreign relations with major nations in the world and strong economic policies result in a stable economic situation in Canada. The market of Canada has a rich network of banks and the other financial institutions, which would provide venture capital to the confectionary company. The country provides skilled labour which the confectionary company namely Peppermint Pop can use to operate and produce candies. The market of Canada provides robust opportunities to firms to collaborate with each other to execute business operations and bring bout open innovations. The confectionary maker should use this partnership facility and enter into joint venture with other firms. This would help it to share resources with them in the initial stage and help it to tide over shortages of resources (Gilpin, 2016). A very important factor which manufacturing companies have to consider while operating in the market is availability of raw materials. The basic raw materials to make candy are wheat flour, sugar, peppermint, cocoa and milk. Canada produces huge quantities of wheat and milk but does not produce the other raw materials. Peppermint Pop can acquire wheat and milk from the local market by setting up its own supply chain. However, the firm has either to import the other ingredients or acquire them from the local wholesalers but have to high prices. The candy firm in its initial stage should consider acquiring these raw materials from the wholesalers at higher rates but eventually shift towards forming its own international supply chain to import these materials directly (McDonald & Eisenhardt, 2017).

Economic Conditions

The above analysis shows that the Canadian economic conditions are favourable for start-ups like candy firms. However, it must be pointed out that the stability of Canada’s market also attracts big manufacturers like Nestle. Thus, the immense market opportunities in Canada like availability of capital and resources have led to entry of multinational companies, which tend to restrict the entry and sustenance of small ventures (Safiullin et al., 2014). Thus, Peppermint Pop has to form aggressive marketing, financing and manufacturing strategies to enter and sustain the Canadian market. The market of Canada is highly developed but is under severe debts of about $12.9 billion. This means that the country may face economic instabilities in the future resulting from the huge demand between demand and supply of funds. This shows that Peppermint Pop should also consider expanding its business into other countries like the United States to diversify the business risks it may face in Canada, its home country due to the economic slowdown (Dai et al., 2014). This analysis of the economic aspects of Canada’s market shows that it offers both challenges and opportunities to the newly entering firms. One can infer from the discussion that Peppermint Pop should form strategies to take advantage of the market opportunities and counteract the threats.

The social factors in an economy play very important roles behind the success of business ventures which make it important for start-ups to analyse these factors. The graph below shows the increase in the GDP per capita in Canada. This means that the people of Canada have disposable income in their hands to buy luxurious goods like premium chocolates.

Figure 1. Graph showing GDP per capita  of Canada

(Source: tradingeconomics.com, 2017)

The health benefits of chocolate to the consumers are numerous. Chocolate can release stress and help students to concentrate in their studies. The adults use chocolate to counteract the stress they encounter due to professional competition. Chocolate lowers stress and consequently lowers the heart rate, thus minimising the chances of cardiac problems. The ingredient is a source of simple sugar and help the diabetes patients maintain steady suger level in their bodies (telegraph.co.uk, 2017). This analysis of the benefit of chocolate on the people makes it the most sought after flavoured adored both adults and children. Peppermint, the other important ingredient in the candies has medical use as a pain reliever especially on case digestion troubles. The leaves of the plant are in high demand all across as flavouring agents in food items and beverages (medicalnewstoday.com, 2017) One can infer from the analysis that, Peppermint Pop would be able to obtain a huge consumer base in Canada for its chocolate candy products with peppermint cores due to demand for food items containing these ingredients.

Canadians people love chocolate and often exchange them as gifts during festivals. This would allow the candy company to expand its product line into manufacturing of bars of chocolate to cater to a wider Canadian consumer base. However, people often blame chocolate for causing dental problems and stomach acidity (abcnews.go.com, 2017). Peppermint Pop should form strategies like introducing other variants like caramel to attract people to do not consume chocolate products.

Social

The level of technological development in a market has strong influences on its industries. Confectionery is a premium product and the finish, taste, texture and packaging have strong influences on the consumer decision-making process. Advanced technology is used to make sophisticated high quality confectionery and candies (Ford, Mortara & Minshall, 2015). Technology has made it possible for the business firms to receive orders online. Thus, Peppermint Pop should adopt advanced online order receiving system to receive orders, which would allow it to mass-produce the confectionery products. Canada is advanced technologically which provide the new candy manufacturing company use advanced technology to make high quality confectionary products like candy. However, Peppermint Pop should be aware of data thefts. This analysis shows that the company should use the online space to conduct business but secure its data against online frauds (Potdar et al., 2015).

A SWOT analysis of Peppermint is as follows:

1. Peppermint Pop is a chocolate and mint candy manufacturing company in Canada. The social analysis shows that the people in Canada love chocolate both for its flavour and its health benefits. This can prove as strength and the company can flourish in the market.
2. The company is Canadian by origin and hence is aware about the Canadian market conditions. This would help it to make more aggressive and market oriented strategies according to the market conditions of the country.

1. The firm is new and dependent on the venture capital provided by the banks and other big organisations. This limits its power to acquire resources and market its products.
2. The economic analysis of the market of Canada shows that it already has presence multinational confectionary companies like Nestle. These companies have stronger financial, technological and resource base. The limited resources of Peppermint Pop cannot challenge these big companies.
3. Limited financial resources impair the capability of Peppermint Pop to promote its products. This results in limited awareness about the product in the market, which results in average sales and revenue for the company (Kagiri & Wainaina, 2017).

1. The limited resources of Peppermint inhibit it from acquiring huge amount of resources to facilitate mass production. The firm in its initial stage can enter into joint venture with other firms. This would give it opportunities to accede to resources of others and it can use the combined resources to increase its productivity and earn more revenue.
2. The firm can counteract the challenge from multinational players like Nestle by manufacturing low priced candies having local flavour. This would enable it to cater to a huge customer count and earn higher revenue, which would promote towards its business growth (De Clercq, Lim & Oh, 2013).
3. The firm is new and its limited resources leave little opportunity to expand into markets. The firm can gradually strengthen its hold over the local market in Vancouver and Canada. It can use this huge revenue to expand into profitable markets like the US.

1. Peppermint Pop receive threats from health conscious people and medical professionals. This is because chocolate is known to be detrimental for oral health.
2. The biggest threat Peppermint Pop would face as a new company is from the multinational companies making confectionary. It would also face challenges from the local confectionary manufacturers in Vancouver, which sell similar low priced candies.

            The above discussion presents the following objectives of Peppermint Pop:

The objective of Peppermint Pop is to cater to a huge consumer and earn high revenue in the market of Vancouver in the initial stage and then Canada as it grows. The firm would aim to offer high quality candies to the people and form a loyal customer base, which would yield it more revenue.

The second objective of the firm at a later would be to expand its business and give stiff competition to multinational companies like Nestle. This would give it higher competitive advantage and revenue generation capability in the market.

Peppermint Pop being start-up company has limited financial resources to function in the market. This limited financial resource limits the credibility of the firm to take loans from financial institutions.

The firm is new in the market and has no supply chain of its own. This results in high expenditure to acquire raw materials which further adds to the cost of production. This forces the firm to raise the price of its candies whereas the larger confectionary manufacturers offer the similar products at lower prices. Peppermint Pop as a result loses its customers to the bigger companies which erodes its profitability.

Peppermint Pop would sell chocolate candies with mint cores to its target markets comprising of adults and students. The chocolate candies would provide these two customers energy and help them to counter stress. The children would eat the candies, which would provide them with energy to study for longer hours and perform well academically. The elders would chew the candies and derive energy from them. They would as a result be able to gain more energy and perform multiple tasks at office that would lead t their professional growth.

According to Armstrong, Delia & Giardina, (2016) the global presence of Peppermint Pop has been one of the major factors that leads to the success of the business organization. The different marketing strategies of the company have been the key force to the success of the mentioned mint company in the market.

A value Proposition tells the prospects the reasons behind why do they do business with the company rather than any competitors in the market (da Silva Lopes, 2016). It helps the organization to get an idea of the benefits of the products and services of the particular organization. The main determinants of the value proposition includes

• The market segmentation of the peppermint company
• The best target market where the company can set its foot
• Who are the major competitors of the following company
• What are the major competitive advantages of the company
• How can the value proposition of the company change the positioning statement of the same company

Technology

The mentioned company has been in the market for quite a few some times now and it now aims to enter the Vancouver market and establish them efficiently in Canada (Calvo, Stanton & Lévy, 2016). The unbeatable marketing strategy and the focused approach is the way to a great marketing strategy. The consumer market in Vancouver has been segmented by the company on different ways namely;

1. Demography
2. Geography
3. Behavioristic
4. Psychographic

The target segment of the market is mainly the adults and the teenagers who have been targeted just because the market research conducted by the organization has revealed that almost 60% of the users of the particular product fall under this category. The main part of the product is the unique design and the attractive flavor which will surely give other products in the same category a run for their money. The mission of the company is to surpass all the competitions in the market and become the leading producer of dual flavored chocolates in Vancouver.

The brand positioning statement of the company will be;

Peppermint Pop is the one and only chocolate in Vancouver that offers a double delight for all the chocolate lovers of the city.

The product strategy of any business organizations is among the four key P’s of marketing. The better the product, the better is the response of the customers and the better is the profit earned from such business. The main product of the company is a new chocolate with a dual flavour (Aichner, 2014). The product launch should be made in a perfect way to make sure that there is enough scope for it to be successful in the Vancouver market. The presence of a varied range of competitors will make life tough for the new chocolate but once it is properly launched and reaches the potential customers, it is estimated to be one of the best products in the market. The unique flavor of the chocolate will be an added advantage for the product as such a mixed flavor is totally new to the Vancouver market. The management of the chocolate company has decided to sell its new chocolate in some of the largest retail stores of Canada which is certainly the most ideal location for the product to get spotted and increase its brand awareness among the teenagers and adults who have a liking for chocolates (Calvo, Stanton & Lévy, 2016).

Price is one of the main determinants of marketing mix. A competitive price which best suits the price range of the target range of customers has been fixed by Peppermint Pop to ensure the high product positioning of the chocolate in a few month’s time. Pricing affects all the other marketing mix elements like products, channel strategies and the promotional activities undertaken to increase the brand awareness of the product (Burkhalter, 2015). The price is determined to increase the profits which will ensure the rise in the quality of the existing chocolate. The detailed marketing research conducted by the management team of Peppermint Pop has helped them to get the exact figures and statistics behind the price range of the competitors which is used to determine the price of the new range of chocolate that is going to be launched in Vancouver.

SWOT Analysis

Peppermint Pop has to ensure that they eventually reach out to the final customers. The following customers may be difficult to identify and hard to reach the potential customers. On the other hand, the management of the company must use different distribution channels to make the products available in the market of Vancouver and serve the customers efficiently. There are a number of features of the channel strategies namely;

1. Distribution- Peppermint Pop has plans to market the new chocolate to the customers with the help of intermediaries. These intermediaries can effectively handle specific tasks that are needed to be carried out for reaching the products to the customers. The management of the mentioned company has identified and appointed a number of local vendors who have signed an agreement to sell the new chocolate in the Vancouver market from different outlets (da Silva Lopes, . 2016).
2. Market Influence- The main aim of the chocolate manufacturer is to provide the best value for the chocolate to its ultimate consumers. It is quite difficult for the manufacturer of the chocolate to effectively provide service to the consumers on a regular basis. Vancouver is a large market as it is one of the largest cities of Canada. This forces Peppermint Pop to concentrate solely on production and appoint other parties as distributors (Bhattacharya, 2016).
3. Product Influence- Chocolate is one of the most likeable products of all time and the range of customers that have been chosen by the organization is just suitable for the success of the brand in the Vancouver market (Wong et al. 2016). The following product is more attractive and unique in the sense that the chocolate is filled with a mint flavor inside it once it is crushed or chewed. This attracts more and more customers towards the particular chocolate.
4. Manufacturer Influence- The manufacturer of the following chocolate controls the distribution strategy and the decision taken in regards of the product strategy is to be made on the consideration of the size, resource and capabilities of the organization (Fill, Hughes & De Francesco, 2013). The design and the manufacturing of the Chocolate have been done based on proper expertise.
5. Potential Strategies- Distribution strategy characteristics include the structure of the channel and the nature of the business partners. The company has to gain an efficient competitive advantage by creating a shorter and low cost channel or by the selection of the partners in business who are able to perform their duties in a much better way. The main aim of the management of Peppermint Pop is to make sure that the optimal distribution channel strategy uses only the third parties that can ensure the proper value for the chocolate to the target group of customers.

Integrated Marketing Communications can be defined as the use of the different media channels to increase the effectiveness of the marketing communications programmes. The mentioned chocolate company uses the integrated brand communication in an efficient way to make sure that such strategies reflects the values and the image of the company in a proper way (Alon et al. 2016). The proper use of such integrated marketing communication has been will offer the chocolate company competitive advantage over their rivals in the market. Peppermint Pop can take the help of a large number of communication forms at its disposal and thus it can be used in different ways to make sure that the most effective form of communication tool is used to reach out to the potential customers and influence their buying behaviour. The management of the company has decided to increase the brand communication by means of extensive marketing campaigns especially in the form of social media and television. Social media especially is notable for its large number of users. The active presence of teenagers and adults in social media is sure to encourage the increase in the sales of the product in the market.

The company has decided to sponsor a major event in Canada in the coming days or aims to involve itself with a large sporting event in Canada to popularize the brand in the market. According to the marketing and promotions manager of the company the use of the different sources of marketing communication will be helpful for the growth of the business in Vancouver. According to Burkhalter (2015) one of the most important aspects of the new product is the right choice of the design and the colours which was designed by a team of experts. The attractive design of the chocolate can be the x factor for the new brand.

Conclusion

The following report will help the readers to identify the different marketing strategies of Peppermint Pop to introduce a new chocolate in the market. The marketing mix along with the integrated marketing communication strategy will help the organization to have a sustainable future planning. The thorough assessment of the project will help the readers to get a positive knowledge of the marketing strategies that are needed for the launch of the product in a new market.

References

Aichner, T. (2014). Country-of-origin marketing: A list of typical strategies with examples. Journal of Brand Management, 21(1), 81-93.

Alon, I., Jaffe, E., Prange, C., & Vianelli, D. (2016). Global marketing: Contemporary theory, practice, and cases. Routledge.

Armstrong, C. G., Delia, E. B., & Giardina, M. D. (2016). Embracing the social in social media: An analysis of the social media marketing strategies of the Los Angeles Kings. Communication & Sport, 4(2), 145-165.

Baker, A. (2017). National Chocolate Day: 10 convincing health reasons you should eat more of the stuff. The Telegraph. Retrieved 24 November 2017, from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/nutrition/chocolate-10-health-reasons-you-should-eat-more-of-it/

Bhattacharya, C. B. (2016). Responsible Marketing: Doing Well by Doing Good. GfK Marketing Intelligence Review, 8(1), 8-17.

Burkhalter, J. N. (Ed.). (2015). Maximizing commerce and marketing strategies through micro-blogging. IGI Global.

Calvo-Porral, C., Stanton, J. L., & Lévy-Mangin, J. P. (2016). Is the economic crisis changing marketing strategies? Evidence from the food industry. Journal of Global Marketing, 29(1), 29-39.

Canada GDP per capita | 1960-2017 | Data | Chart | Calendar | Forecast. (2017). Tradingeconomics.com. Retrieved 24 November 2017, from https://tradingeconomics.com/canada/gdp-per-capita

Canada’s economic growth has come at a price — its debt level is now highest in the developed world. (2017). Financial Post. Retrieved 24 November 2017, from https://business.financialpost.com/business/canadas-economic-growth-has-come-at-a-price-its-debt-level-is-now-highest-in-the-developed-world.

da Silva Lopes, T. (2016). Building Brand Reputation through Third-Party Endorsement: Fair Trade in British Chocolate. Business History Review, 90(3), 457-482.

Dai, L., Maksimov, V., Gilbert, B. A., & Fernhaber, S. A. (2014). Entrepreneurial orientation and international scope: The differential roles of innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking. Journal of Business Venturing, 29(4), 511-524.

De Clercq, D., Lim, D. S., & Oh, C. H. (2013). Individual?level resources and new business activity: The contingent role of institutional context. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 37(2), 303-330.

Debra Rose Wilson, C. (2017). Peppermint: Health benefits and precautions. Medical News Today. Retrieved 24 November 2017, from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/265214.php

Fill, C., Hughes, G., & De Francesco, S. (2013). Advertising: strategy, creativity and media. Pearson Education.

Ford, S. J., Mortara, L., & Minshall, T. H. (2015). The emergence of additive manufacturing: introduction to the special issue.

Gilpin, R. (2016). The political economy of international relations. Princeton University Press.

Kagiri, D., & Wainaina, G. (2017). Time and Cost Overruns in Power Projects in Kenya: ACase Study of Kenya Electricity Generating Company Limited. Orsea Journal, 3(2).

Lukito, R. B., Lukito, C., & Arifin, D. (2015). Implementation Techniques of Search Engine Optimization in Marketing Strategies Through the Internet. Journal of Computer Science, 11(1), 1.

McDonald, R., & Eisenhardt, K. (2017). Category Kings and Commoners: How Market-Creation Efforts Can Undermine Startups’ Standing in a New Market.

Neporent, L., & UNIT, A. (2017). Dentists Sink Teeth Into Kids' Chocolate Milk Debate. ABC News. Retrieved 24 November 2017, from https://abcnews.go.com/Health/GMAHealth/school-chocolate-milk-bans-dentists-enter-debate/story?id=13364693

Potdar, A., Patil, P., Bagla, R., & Pandey, R. (2015). Security Solutions for Cloud Computing. International Journal of Computer Applications, 128(16).

Safiullin, M. R., Safiullin, A. R., Elshin, L. A., & Prygunova, M. I. (2014). Matrix approach to assessing competitiveness of regions: From methodology to practice. Asian Social Science, 10(20), 47.

Scrinis, G. (2016). Reformulation, fortification and functionalization: Big Food corporations’ nutritional engineering and marketing strategies. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 43(1), 17-37.

Services, S. (2017). Designing the Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative - SME research and statistics. Ic.gc.ca. Retrieved 24 November 2017, from https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/061.nsf/eng/03053.html

Wong, H., McLean, J., Lam, L., Shan, M., & Chen, M. (2016). Marketing Plan Report.