Kudler Fine Foods has shown the upscale of products not is important that customers see the product as such. If the product is not marketing the upscale quality of the décor sales can decline for store locations. Importance of Competitive Intelligence Competitive intelligence is an area within the company that may pose a challenge. Competitive intelligence is imported to Kudler Fine Foods to help show what will keep the company successful. It doesn’t appear that there is many other upscale specialty food stores in the areas, Kudler would have to look in other regions.
If the company wants to be successful, the store must decide what market the product will thrive in, what the competition is and how to market the product given the retailer’s available resources (Marketing considerations for small-scale specialty food producers, 2007). With Kudler Fine Foods’ emphasis on gourmet items, they have created a niche market for their products. Niche marketing allows companies to target a very specific audience and to give them exactly what they want or need (Levinson & Lautenslager, 2005). By conducting market research, Kudler Fine Foods can narrow in on the wants and needs of its customers. Market research is not something a company should do on its own.
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.
In a monopolistic competitive market profit is important. When a firm first enters a monopolistic market they can act like a monopoly until others join in the market which will lead to competition for lower prices. Kudler Fine Foods will compete with other fine foods for lowest prices on their goods; however, they have to make a profit in order to stay in business. In the short-run Kudler will have more profit, but in the long-run the profit will decrease to other competitors in the
Just as the other marketing mix components there are questions that must be answered in order to determine pricing for a product. One question is what Kudler’s price should be in comparison to its competitors. Kudler Fine Foods has to decide whether they should be lower, higher, provide more bang for the buck or offer exclusive services at expensive prices. The standard that Kudler Fine Foods has for its other promotions is for them to be self-funding. I think it is essential that the catering service also have that standard.
Whole Foods Market, one of Kudler Fine Foods biggest competitor, has over 43 locations in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. As these current consumer demands continue to grow the trends will also help support Kudler’s mission of providing the finest epicurean products. With the increased competition from not only stores like Whole Foods Market, Kudler has to remain competitive with other entities that are able to offer similar product quality at affordable prices. Knowing what the competition is doing and forecasting their efforts will help Kudler remain competitive and two steps ahead of the competition by identifying trends, events, and other issues that may have an impact on the industry. Kudler should invest a significant amount of research on identifying the strengths and weaknesses of Whole Foods Market and how they can capitalize on those weaknesses.
There is currently one major competitor in the specialty foods business is the chain Whole Foods. The foot print of Whole Foods is so large and has a larger market share than Kudler, they would be able to cut into Kudler’s competitive advantage of being the only specialty food store within their operating locations. There are more super chains such as Wal-Mart are starting to carry organic foods at their notoriously low prices. Wal-Mart is not only starting to offer organic items, but they are saving money by doing it. “By distributing locally, [Wal-Mart] said it saved 112,000 gallons of diesel and total freight expense of more than $1.4 million” (Hoffman, 2008, p. 1).
“Market analytics allow companies to identify their best and worst customers and, consequently, to pay special attention to those deemed to be the most valuable. Looked at another way, analytics enable firms to understand how poorly they can treat individual or groups of customers before those people stop doing business with them. Unless you are in the top echelon of customers -- those with the highest lifetime value, say--you may pay higher prices, get fewer special offers, or receive less service than other consumers.” (Davenport, et al, 2007) Another concern that may arise as a result of Kudler Fine Foods frequent shopper program is the tendency for retailers to ignore the
Other aspects of product are economic- customer value, functional- service at the point of sales, before sales and after the sales and the psychological aspect of the product like image of the product. Kudler Fine Foods is a gourmet ingredients shop and offers in-store parties and now going in to catering business. It is managed by Kathy Kudler. So customers know that it is going to be gourmet food experience because she notices some of the people at the catering places are regular customers at her stores. KFF should research the market to find the needs of the customers.
Currently, Kudler Fine Foods is growing, and they have developed a good niche in the specialized gourmet grocery industry. Another strength of the company is the vision and mission statement is being implemented successfully, and they follow the differentiated strategy closely. The company also offers a wide selection of the finest products from all over the world. A weakness for Kudler Fine Foods is that they have not been in the industry for a long period, and no continuity because of the short period of time in the industry, so this is why the company needs to continue to scan the industry for best practices. Kudler Fine Foods also have various opportunities.