Consumer Behaviour Study of Cadburys Dairy Milk Chocolate Range - Research Paper Example

Consumer Behaviour Study of Cadburys Dairy Milk Chocolate Range Table of Content Introduction 3 2.Shopping and Purchase Environment 4 2 Segmentation and Targeting 4 2.1.1.Break Segment 4 2.1.2.Impulse Segment 4 2.1.3.Take-home Segment 5 3.Perception 6 4.Motivation and Values 7 5.Attitudes 9 6.Decision Making 10 6.1.Predetermined Decision 10 6.2.Point of Purchase Decision 11 7.Conclusion 11 8.Recommendations  11 1. Introduction Cadbury Dairy Milk is a chocolate brand manufactured by the company Cadbury, except in the U.S where it is manufactured by The Hershey Company. In the year 1905, it was first introduced in the United Kingdom and now comprises of a range of products. Each and every product under the Cadbury Dairy Milk label is prepared with exclusive milk chocolate. Dairy Milk was ranked as the top selling chocolate bar in the U.K, in the year 2014 (Cadbury, 2015). Cadbury initiated its first ever chocolate bar with a greater proportion of milk content than the previous chocolate bars in the year 1905 in England. The name, ‘Dairy Milk’ was finally proposed by a customer’s daughter, after George Cadbury Junior went through a lot of name suggestions like Highland Milk, Dairy Maid and Jersey. Cadbury Fruit and Nut was the extension of the Diary Milk product line in the year 1928 and in the same year it introduced its ad campaign “glass and a half” to signify the product’s high milk content, following which the Cadbury Whole Nut was manufactured in the year 1933. By this time, Cadbury became the leading brand in the U.K (Cadbury, 2015). It was in September 2012 when Cadbury first decided to come up with product innovation and restructured the shape of the bar to a more blunt edged shape in order to decrease its weight. In October 2013, Nestle succeeded in the pledge to break the trademark contract Cadbury had since 2007, for the characteristic purple colour wrapper which was originally introduced in the year 1914 to pay tribute to Queen Victoria (Cadbury, 2015). Cadbury Diary Milk product range includes flavours like “fruit and nut" comprising of a bar filled with almonds and raisins mixed with chocolate, caramel, ‘whole nut’ (with hazelnuts). Dairy Milk Ritz, was introduced in the U.K in 2014, along with which another product was also launched which was dairy milk with Lu Biscuits (Cadbury, 2015). 2. Shopping and Purchase Environment The shopping and purchasing environment is constructed for the consumers with respect to certain micro environmental factors. This influences a consumer to buy a product or to switch to another brand or company. Cadbury’s shopping and purchasing environment for its customers are subjective to the following factors (Ali, 2009). 2.1. Segmentation and Targeting One distinguished outline of customer segmentation that Cadbury employs is behavioural segmentation, which is based on definite purchaser decision-making procedures towards Cadbury’s products. On segmenting these customer bases, they are targeted by offering specific products to the consumers. The different segments are as follows (Ali, 2009). 2.1.1. Break Segment This segment constitutes of products consumed generally during tea or coffee breaks. This would be satisfied as a part of a meal and would be consumed as a substitute for desert. Some examples of Cadbury products under this segment are Cadbury Dairy Milk’s Bubbly, Dairy Milk range and are sold in small packaged quantity like 50 grams to 60 grams (Allen and Hill, 2006). 2.1.2. Impulse Segment Products that, consumers purchases on impulse while they are shopping for other household goods. These products are tactically placed at vision level or behind the checkout counter in shelves so that when consumers are waiting for their billings can impulsively buy these goods (Solomon, 2014). Promotional activities are also used strategically to enhance the sale of these products like chocolates or other confectionary items. Therefore, the Cadbury chocolate bars and block boxes can have unplanned buyers depending on how it is presented through packaging and promotions. Impulse segment product packaging is small and compact and is similar to that of break segment (Allen and Hill, 2006). 2.1.3. Take-home Segment This segment deals with products purchased in the supermarkets, taken back home and consumed at the leisure time due to its size and quantity. This segment is also called the gift segments, where a customer would gift these chocolates to a friend or family during birthdays or anniversaries. For example, Cadbury’s large Dairy Milk blocks or the Cadbury Celebrations box (Allen and Hill, 2006). Cadbury further has strategies to move the product based company to a service based company like opening up cafes named as “Cadbury Cocoa House” (Cadbury, 2015). These cafes would have Cadbury based products where the main ingredient of the menu would be chocolate, which can be enjoyed by consumers with tea or coffee (Bamber, 2008). Cadbury would therefore have a competitive edge over rivals like Starbucks. These chocolate cafes are first proposed to be launched in London and then on success it would expand worldwide (Allentuck, 2007). The main target consumers of Cadbury for years were children and youngsters and it was limiting the customer base and the market of the company. For this reason, Cadbury came up with the marketing plan in India as “kuch meetha ho jaye” to make Dairy Milk a substitute to sweets and so that all group become its customers (Cadbury, 2015). In India, it was considered that chocolates were only meant for children and that older age group consumers were more inclined towards sweet. Therefore, the campaign helped Cadbury to increase its target customer base (Allentuck, 2007). The main purpose of Cadbury’s dairy milk is to reach out to the audience by presenting them their mirror image (Bamber, 2008). Relating to small happiness and joyful moments in our day to day life which is cherished by having a bite of Cadbury’s Dairy milk and adding an emotional touch, it had won the heart of Indian consumers (Anderson and Kerr, 2008). The Cadbury Dairy Milk was successful in positioning itself as a replacement to sweets in order to relate to the traditions and values of the Indian consumer market. It has also positioned itself as a mode of gift in birthdays, marriages and also tied up with Facebook for online gifting options (Anderson and Kerr, 2008). 3. Perception The purchasing decisions of Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolates are made primarily by children or teenagers. Cadbury has developed itself into such a brand that consumers tends to symbolize a chocolate bar as Cadbury (Andrews and Teller, 2007). We do not need any occasion to buy a Cadbury Diary Milk bar as it is available at a regular basis and during festivities the sale of the product increases to higher levels. The consumer preference for the brand is high and Cadbury enjoys a large base of loyal customers (Solomon, 2014). Brands have a big role in influencing consumer behaviour in a number of ways. Cadbury as a brand signifies reassurance and initiates customers to build their trust on it and establish a repeat purchase (Baker and Saren, 2010). Cadbury Diary Milk as a brand also reflects individual value system and we associate our society and lifestyle with it. Therefore, the company uses promotional strategies to relate the brand with every moments of our lives be it, enjoying a cricket match with friends, marriage or festivities, Cadbury is an integral part of every happy moments occurring in a consumer’s daily life (Baker and Saren, 2010). In July 2007, Cadbury Dairy Milk had carried out a Real Chocolate, Real Feelings Scientific Study based on 1000 consumers and found out that on a given day, individual who had consumed Cadbury chocolates on that day were much happier than the others who did not have it. The study also denoted that individuals who eat Cadbury Dairy Milk on a regular basis are found out to be emotionally happy all throughout (Johnson and Gustafsson, 2010). The brand tries to continuously manage and enhance customer experience with its Dairy Milk chocolates. Cadbury tries to communicate with its customers through social media like Facebook where they promote their products and drive new campaigns which in turn help them to communicate and increase their loyal customer base (Johnson and Gustafsson, 2010). The company builds up a bond with its customers like friendship and not only pushes its product but also shares information like history of chocolate, worldwide chocolate news, new techniques of chocolate consumption. Choosing “Fan of the Month” and putting up their photo on the Cadbury fan page in Facebook is another medium to connect to the customers. In order to integrally associate with its consumers, Cadbury tries new marketing communication strategies like clicking a photo of the happiest moment while consuming Dairy Milk and sharing it with Cadbury where the winner would get featured in its promotional posters (Naciff, 2007). Initiating these campaigns, the brands build a connection, by acquiring new customers and satisfying the existing ones. Through this way, the awareness of the customer increases and they become faithful to the brand (Naciff, 2007). 4. Motivation and Values In daily lives, consumers are consciously or unconsciously affected by brands. When we go to purchase a pair of sports shoes, we barely make a practical decision. There are wide ranges of branded and non branded options available in the market to choose from but for many customers a brand logo matters as it would communicate some value to the other people. The chocolate market extracts related conscious and unconscious feelings of trustworthiness, passion and eagerness. For many consumers, the term chocolate is replaced by Cadbury (Foxal, 2007). This consumer loyalty is significant because of the value of the confectionery market and because, in all markets a small group of customers constitutes to a large portion of sales. The customer loyalty is the most treasured attribute to a company as these are the people who would buy the product over and over again. Cadbury is a premium brand and charges a higher pricing than its competitors, but as it engages in high customer satisfaction by relating itself to the consumer’s motivation and values by providing quality products, the consumers are willing to pay the premium price (Gitomer, 2009). The most stable brands have linked itself with both physical and intangible properties over the time. The most successful brands like Cadbury provokes a sequence of emotional and inspirational relations and values in our minds that reflects way beyond the tangibility of the product (Gitomer, 2009). Cadbury has acknowledged these brand values and altered its advertising and promotional strategies to reflect these morals and ideals in different markets all over the world (Martin, 2010). It strategizes to increase brand awareness to the customers, increasing occasional and seasonal sales, educating prospective customers about new products or can emphasize on the positive emotional values of the brand by choosing campaigns like ‘Choose Cadbury’ (Cadbury, 2015). After identification of these brand values, it is very important to match these to the targeted markets. Because of this reason, it is significant to recognize probable market segments that have particular needs and to reflect the right brand values that would enhance the brand equity in the market (Martin, 2010). 5. Attitudes The chocolate confectionary market has numerous brands and faces extensive competition, hence it needs to highlight strategies to survive in the market and attract consumer attention. The promotional role is to keep a brand alive in the mind of the customer (Kuhnil, 2007). Advertising helps in brand recall, as in this competitive world consumers are subjected to numerous brand images and brand messages on a day to day basis (Hill and Alexander, 2006). Cadbury has developed marketing and promotional strategies to communicate its brand identity and brand values so that it achieves its consumers’ attention. In accordance to keep its products contemporary and ahead of competition, the advertising strategies and propagations need to be changed with time (Kuhnil, 2007). Cadbury is among the most successful brands in innovating and modifying its advertising messages and promotional strategies from one campaign to the other to characterize new brand values and a reason to its customers to be loyal and repeat their purchase (Kuhnil, 2007). It is very important to maintain healthy brand strength and brand equity in a highly competitive and impulse driven market. Advertising and promotional communication plays a significant role in securing these strengths. Cadbury implements different communication mix like internet, radio, television, cinema and print media to propagate its creative messages to its customers which are then also communicated through package designs, point of sales promotions, merchandising and public relations (Martin, 2010). Cadbury had introduced a new marketing strategy called ‘Choose Cadbury’ globally. This strategy was implemented after an extensive study on consumer perception and behaviour (Solomon, 2014). This promotional campaign proved that how a brand development is possible and how different messages can be propagated without camouflaging its established brand values and core strengths (Martin, 2010). The advertising campaigns in India for Cadbury have enhanced its brand value and strength to a very high degree. It has attached itself with the consumers’ traditional values and in every stage of happiness an Indian consumer associates itself with Cadbury, as it is considered auspicious to start every good moment with a bite of the chocolate. This advertising campaign was named as “Shubh Aarambh” means happy beginning and targeted a large segment of consumers from young to old. The communication mix used for this campaign was television commercials and hoardings, social media and print media (Martin, 2010). 6. Decision Making The global chocolate market does not have a dearth of competition for securing its position to the top. Most of these chocolate products have an extensive product line, depth and width. The buyer has a large platter of options to choose from and different buyers have different consumer need as it is very difficult to decide on which particular chocolate product to buy (Solomon, 2014). 6.1. Predetermined Decision It is the decision taken when the consumer has made up his mind on which particular chocolate brand to buy. Cadbury Dairy milk recall value and purchase decisions are based on how the company is able to motivate, inform, satisfy customer and retain its customer loyalty through advertising campaigns and promotional strategies to make their learn about the product. Factors like learning, lifestyle of customers, social class also affect the purchasing decision of the customers (Solomon, 2014). 6.2. Point of Purchase Decision It is when the consumer decides about the product on spot which depends on its packaging, visibility and price. Cadbury should initiate more visibility for Dairy Milk so that it attracts consumers and increase impulsive buying. Packaging is very important in terms of brand success of Dairy Milk (Solomon, 2014). The packaging of Diary Milk, its brand name and the Cadbury logo highlights the visibility of the brand and helps the brand to stand out of competition. Price is another attribute which is of high value. Therefore, Cadbury should come up with pricing strategies for Diary milk to attract more customers. These purchasing decisions are largely dependent on the buyer’s motivation and income level. As a result, Diary Milk should have different sizes and price slots of its line (Solomon, 2014). 7. Conclusion Cadbury has initiated to position its chocolates as a light snack as well as a chocolate for the purpose of gifting. There have been efforts to create high consumer perception and increased values through Dairy Milk’s product differentiation like flavours, packaging and advertising campaigns. The advertising efforts are basically to positively reinforce the brand as a status symbol with higher brand equity and value and also to promote itself as a gifting product as well as an impulsive consumption snack. By these strategies, it creates customer awareness and solves the dilemmas of customers’ purchasing decisions. 8. Recommendations  Cadbury can acquire larger market base by reducing its price and giving free gift like tattoos, small cars and promotional offers like buy two get one free. It can initiate in product innovation by giving new shapes and a different appeal to its Diary Milk bars. Cadbury should come up with new packaging ideas like changing the look, colour, logo of the product by giving it a new identity. Reference List Ali, S. S., 2009. Models in Consumer Buying Behavior. 3rd ed. New York: Harper Collins. Allen, R. and Hill, N., 2006. Customer Behaviour: A managerial Perspective. 6th ed. London: McGraw-Hill Education. Allentuck, A., 2007. 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