When a consumer sets out to fill their cabinets with their everyday necessities the owner and operator of these grocery stores needs to take into consideration the wants, needs and desires of their shoppers, how to pull them in and how to keep them. Michael Porter provided a framework that models an industry as being influenced by five forces. The strategic business manager seeking to develop an edge over rival firms can use this model to get a better understanding of the industrial context for which these firms operates. Porters first of five is Rivalry among competing firms is where firms strive for a competitive advantage over their rivals. Rivalry in the grocery industry is a strong competitive force for several reasons.
The five forces include; threat of entry of new competitors, the bargaining power of suppliers, the bargaining power of customers, the threat of substitute products or services and the rivalry among existing firms in the industry. An example of Kudler’s strategies aimed at each of these five forces is discussed below. Kudler uses differentiation and focus strategies to meet the threats of any new competitors by being unique in its industry. Kudler is an upscale specialty food store catering to the epicurean delights. Kudler has created a niche market.
Kudler is a well established name in the gourmet food market, but Kathy and her marketing research team needs to use the best strategies they can to stay ahead of their competition and to provide items that they customers are in need of and that they want. Using public information is part of competitive intelligence it is legal and it helps a business identify the next move of the competitor as well what they are introducing new to the market. The competitive intelligence and analysis will let the organization determine marketing strategies and opportunities that they can take advantage of to make there business a
Companies do this by gathering information about other similar companies, customers, and products. Competitive intelligence information is used in the decision making of managers and executives to support strategic decision making for the company. It is important for Kudler Fine Foods to know what their competitor is doing for several reasons. First, if their competitor is offering a promotion to the public that is attracting more business, then Kudler Fine Foods will want to offer something along the same lines so more business will sway in their direction. Second, although the company may feel that they offer the best product, if the public feels that the competitor is offering a better product, they may want to consider changing their supplier of certain food products.
The situation is very ironic because the grocery stores with nutritious food advocates for fast food restaurants that are, in context, competing with their sales. Prices of fast food products appear cheaper than full home cooked meals. On average, costumers pay four dollars for a drink, a burger, and a side item. Additionally, fast food is fast. Each fast food corporation has special procedures to keep their paying costumers happy by giving them exactly what they asked for, fast food.
Strategic planning is crucial at this stage and there are tools available to help any business perform the analysis needed to succeed. Kudler Fine Foods is an upscale food store specializing in foods and services that appeal to a niche market; gourmet chefs and gourmet chefs in training. The firm had good initial success with its first two stores, but its third store is suffering with lower than expected sales. The firm wishes to continue expansion and increase profitable growth. Before moving forward the company’s owner, Kathy Kudler, needs to understand her company fully and have accurate knowledge about the firm’s internal and external environment.
DQ 2 : "Panera Bread" Please respond to the following: Evaluate Panera Bread’s strategy and its effectiveness with executing the strategy within the competitive fast-casual restaurant marketplace. Discuss the pitfalls to this strategy and the potential impact to the performance of Panera Bread. Select one of Panera Bread’s competitors and discuss a disadvantage that Panera has with the competitor and how this disadvantage may be overcome. Week
In today’s business, it is more important than ever before for company to maintain customer’s loyalty due to the aggressive nature of the competition in the industry in general. Most companies invest heavily in research and development to combat this aggression and they are able to offer innovative product and services that differentiate them in the marketplace. Kudler Fine Food leverages BTM framework, to enable it to create a bridge between its business and technology. Kudler Fine Food’s business innovation includes the application of appropriate technologies to communicate it offering to its existing and potential customers. The technology innovation also enables Kudler Fine Foods to advertise its product line to the public so that they can know its products and services without necessarily visiting any of its store locations.
The company is world-renowned for its golden arches, and a varied menu that includes the Big Mac, McNuggets, and other well-known food items. The restaurants are operated by the company or by independent owners under franchise agreement. The company’s main competitors (in order of sales) are Starbucks, Wendy’s and Burger King, (McDonald’s, 2012). McDonald’s continues to build its brand and stay competitive through the use of marketing research. Specifically, the company strives to identify and understand customer desires in a constantly changing environment so that it meets those needs better than the competition, (The Times 100 Business Case Studies,
According to Pearce and Robinson (2011) by thoroughly developing and exploiting its expertise in a narrowly defined competitive arena, the company achieves superiority over competitors that try to master a greater number of product and market combinations. As stated in their Declaration of Interdependence: “Whole Foods Market is a dynamic leader in the quality food business. We are a mission-driven company that aims to set the standards of excellence for food retailers. We continually experiment and innovate in order to raise our retail standards”(Whole Foods Market, 2012). Through identified niche markets, WFM can leverage some of their customary strong points by recognizing innovated uses for current goods using market penetration.