Ethel’s Chocolate Lounges Claudette Harrington Professor Kelly MKT100078VA012*1118*001 (Principles of Marketing) Fall 2011 Date (put in date of submission) 1. Describe the type of consumer buying decision that best describes the choice to indulge at Ethel’s. The type of consumer buying decision that best describes the choice to indulge at Ethel’s Chocolate Lounge is limited decision making. This type of decision making requires low level involvement (although higher than routine decisions) because the consumer expends only moderate effort in looking for information or in considering other alternatives. Also limited decision making happens when the consumer has previous product experience but they might be unfamiliar with Ethel’s brands.
This can be observed by the fact that the firm is using dated equipment in the production of the chocolate; this causes a significant cost due to the cleaning of the equipment before and after shifts. The next issue is once again in production. Rogers’ needs to develop a stronger forecasting ability since it seems have issues with out-of-stock. The next issues come from marketing of Rogers’ Chocolate. Currently there are not enough consumers who aware to Rogers’ Chocolate outside of British Colombia, and those that are generally tend to be tourists who have visited an area where Rogers’ Chocolate has a store.
Third, items normally offered as loss leaders are often large or fragile, making it difficult for the customers to buy in bulk so as to avoid repeat visits to Wal-Mart and lastly, in some instances, loss leaders are displayed on the floor or left dirty, scratched, or broken so potential customers are enticed to buy the model that is a “step up”. All in all, loss leaders serve to build customer relationships. For example, Wal-Mart will slash prices on hot toys such as “Bratz and Hot Wheels” for the
Despite these developments, Hotel Chocolat is not interested in offering department store concessions or own-label goods and wants to keep the number of its high street shops to the minimum in order to retain its premium brand image and uniqueness as well as keeping full control over staff training and storing conditions of its products. Its emphasis continues to be on high-quality ingredients, exquisite chocolate and meaningful engagement with customers. Although concerned about plagiarism, the company’s founder, Mr Angus Thirlwell, does not see the major chocolate brands as competitors; it is the high end sellers who offer packaged confectionary gifts that are a real threat. Yet, the Hotel Chocolat’s strength is its innovative approach and the company’s founder believes that it will keep them one step ahead of the
The “Less Sugar” Marketing Campaign In this case, there is an ethical dilemma regarding this cereal company’s marketing strategy. The brand manager is not only expected to falsely advertise the company’s products that affect the health of children, but will also receive a monetary incentive if sales are successful. By examining the facts of this situation, one can see that this cereal manufacturer is acting unethically. In order to increase the sales of three of its lowest selling cereals by 20% and earn a bonus, the company has decided to make it known to the customer that these cereals now contain 75% less sugar. While the product does contain less sugar, it has only managed to do so by using a synthetic carbohydrate substitute.
Companies also face competition at the product level. For example, Hershey’s chocolate competes with Trident gum, as the organization try to produce a variety of different products. At the budget level, different products can serve as substitutes for each other
One main reason was that socks were regarded as an unexciting category by the retailers and there was high price sensitivity, which led to limited opportunities for product differentiation. Also, the industry saw an increase in demand for tube socks, which the consumers felt were more flexible. The Issue in the Case - In order to attain higher margins, CU wanted to venture
| Company Analysis of Mega Food | MGT 6671 | | | | There are several ethical issues to take into consideration when formulating a recommendation on whether to relocate the chocolate candy facility to the country of Frostburg. For example, the labor laws in the country of Frostburg are not well developed. This could possibly mean workers are not paid minimum wage, exposed to chemicals, or dangerous machinery. From an ethical perspective, we must ask ourselves: Is Mega Food comfortable putting employees at risk? Not only do poorly treated workers typically make poor-quality goods, but U.S. companies that aren’t careful about sweatshops could face the costly job of reputation repair if a watchdog group links their brands to workplace abuses (Viedermann, 2007).
Also the low switching cost and consumer awareness of shopping around to find the best bargains increased competition around stores to capture customers. Corporate stakes were high for Wal-Mart, this can be seen in its earlier years (Ben Franklin stores) where they were losing
The Russian ice cream industry had high economies of scale and new competitors faced high initial costs for the production facilities. Product differentiation was also high, and the brand names were well established. Despite these high barriers to entry, threat of entrants was high (especially from regional producers). After the financial crisis in 1998 and the subsequent decrease of imported ice cream, the market offered good opportunities for new domestic entrants. Luckily this was countered by Gorbachev’s anti-alcohol campaign when he assigned alcohol factories to ice cream production.