Product, Sales and Marketing Orientation at Kelloggs - Assignment Example

Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Question 1 2 Product, Sales and Marketing Orientation at Kellogg’s 2 Types of needs, wants and demands for Kellogg’s Customers 2 Question 2 3 Purpose of Market Research at Kellogg’s 3 Qualitative versus Quantitative Research 3 Primary and Secondary Data Sources for Kellogg’s 4 Question 3 4 Target Marketing Strategy 4 Basis for Market Segmentation (Special K Protein Milk Bar Chocolate) 5 Purposes, Requirements and Advantages of Customer Segmentation 6 References 7 Question 1 Product, Sales and Marketing Orientation at Kellogg’s The product strategy at Kellogg’s is largely based out of innovation in the product line. Kellogg’s also bases its products strategy by having a global focus for the new product so that it can be sold across multiple markets around the world. The product strategy also involves using extensive research to find out the changing needs and preferences of the consumers so as do analyse their exact demand and accordingly deliver a product that tends to remove the gap between the expectations of the customers. The sales strategy is directly based on forecasting and predicting the future demand and supply for a particular product. Extensive research encompassing both primary and secondary research is used to forecast the demand for a particular product. The forecast is used to derive the sales strategy. This type of sales strategy helps in generating a realistic demand for the product and also enables better achievement of the sales targets. The market orientation of Kellogg’s is towards creating more value in the brand and establishes the brand as a formidable entity in the market. It also adopts a brand based product strategy that allows it to target multiple consumer segments (Wayle’s State University, n.d.) Types of needs, wants and demands for Kellogg’s Customers The demands as well as needs and wants for Kellogg’s consumers are constantly changing. This is mainly because the customer preferences in food habits are known to be highly influenced by external factors at a rapid rate that makes it essential to ensure constant relationship with consumers to generate competitive advantage. Question 2 Purpose of Market Research at Kellogg’s Market research is a very important tool for marketers to understand the needs and wants as well as the gaps in the consumer markets. In case of Kellogg’s this assumes even more significance considering the fact that the product category is such that the demands of the consumers are changing rapidly. Also there is a huge competition in the market that makes it necessary to conduct market research. Market research can help the company understand the actual demands of the consumers as well as gaps in the product offering so as to formulate a product offering the fills the gaps in customer expectations that is the key element to success (Nykiel, 2003, p.18). Qualitative versus Quantitative Research Qualitative research involves analysing data without using number while qualitative research involves use of numbers to undertake statistical analysis of the data. The questions used in a qualitative research are probing in nature while those of quantitative are not probing in nature. The sample size in a qualitative research is also smaller as compared to quantitative research where the sample size is larger. Qualitative researches are also less prone to replicate that is the findings cannot be generalised while the case is the reverse in case of quantitative research analysis methods. Finally while qualitative research methods can be termed as exploratory in nature while quantitative research methods are more of a casual or descriptive form (McDaniel & Gates, 1998, p.99). Primary and Secondary Data Sources for Kellogg’s The primary data sources for Kellogg’s includes the aspect of customer surveys that can be carried out on the existing as well as prospective customers of the organization or its products. In addition to this the company can also find sources for secondary research from data released by various government organizations such as the census data. Also data sources for secondary research can also be found from various journals as well as books or research articles that are published by authenticated sources. Finally, last but not the least the company can also tie up with a third party agent that can provide data from the actual market. Question 3 Target Marketing Strategy Figure 1: 4 Steps in Target Marketing The figure above shows the 4 steps of developing a target marketing strategy. The process begins with a market research. This would largely be an exploratory research involving both primary as well as secondary research. This would help generate considerable background information about the aspect of targeting the market segment. This step would be followed with a primary research that would help analyse customer tastes and preferences and also identify the gaps in the customer expectations. This would set the stage for the next stage that involves profiling the customers and segmenting the market so as to have a customer base that can help in better acceptability of the product based on the needs and wants. Finally the last step would involve promoting the product in the market using integrated marketing communications strategy so as to help generate competitive advantage for the organization. Basis for Market Segmentation (Special K Protein Milk Bar Chocolate) The segmentation strategy for Special K Protein Milk Bar chocolate can be done on the following basis namely income based segmentation (price), demographic based segmentation (Grant, 2005, p.118) location based segmentation and finally need based segmentation (Stevens, 2006, p.32). One specific customer profile that can be targeted for this product involves kids aged up to 10 years of age. This segment assumes considerable importance as chocolate is perceived to be a highly rated product for this segment. Moreover, the aspect of added proteins would also make this product attractive to their parents as they would find nutritional value for their children that are very important for this particular age group. Purposes, Requirements and Advantages of Customer Segmentation The three purposes of segmentation include the fact that it is the basis for the process of targeting the customers. In addition to this other purposes include better relationship with consumers and generating the basis for innovation in the product line (Ulwick, 2005, p.63). Requirements for segmentation include access to information about the consumer preferences, product features and a good budgetary support for market research. Advantages of segmentation includes better positioning, improved brand equity, better and lasting relationship with customers and finally greater acceptance of the product in the target market and better ability to leverage the market opportunities (Forsyth, 2007, p.23). References Forsyth, P. (2007). Demystifying Marketing: A Guide to the Fundamentals for Engineers. IET. Grant, R.M. (2005). Contemporary strategy analysis. Wiley-Blackwell. Nykiel, R.A. (2003). Marketing your business: a guide to developing a strategic marketing plan. Routledge. McDaniel, C.D. & Gates, R.H. (1998). Marketing research essentials. Taylor & Francis. Stevens, R.E. (2006). Market opportunity analysis: text and cases. Routledge. Ulwick, A.W. (2005). What customers want. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Wayle’s State University. (No date). Kellogg’s Marketing Strategy and Marketing Plans. [Ppt]. Available at: http://sbaweb.wayne.edu/~ssasser/pp29.ppt. [Accessed on February 9, 2012]. Read More