Organic Chocolate Candy Bars Why

Organic Chocolate Candy Bars

Why should one pursue a small niche market when it is possible to have a large market? Yet, this seems to be the path taken by currently available organic chocolate candy bars. Everyday is a new product with a goal to make the organic chocolate candy bar a ubiquitous consumer product. Its approach is simple. It will mimic the flavors of popular non-organic chocolate candy bars, but at a much lower price point than organic options. Further, it will pursue equal footing with leading non-organic brands in channels where most candy is purchased rather than relying primarily on niche naturals' stores.

The market for organic chocolate candy bars is currently only a drop in the bucket compared to the market for non-organic candy bars. Everyday is a new organic chocolate bar that will transform this market dynamic. This paper presents the Everyday product, price, place and promotion that will give this product a huge competitive advantage over both non-organic and organic candy bars. It also discusses in detail the integrated marketing communications plan to achieve positive consumer awareness as well as the customer relationship management (CRM) technologies to help improve and track progress.

Channels of Distribution

As mentioned previously, ubiquity in supermarkets, drug stores, and mass merchandisers such as Wal-Mart are critical to Everday's success because large-scale distribution will be used to compensate for low margins. Grocery stores, where 85% of all candy is purchased, are the real prize (Nielsen takes the mask off candy sales, 2007). According to Zind (2003), the supermarket has several characteristics that make it the perfect distribution channel for Everday. First, the average consumer visits a grocery store more than any other type of store and, therefore, present ample opportunities to get consumers to make an impulse purchase. Further, supermarkets encourage "better-best" pricing options more than other channels, and Everyday can more easily invoke consumer comparisons with popular non-organic brands as well as organic brands. This comparison is welcome because we believe that consumers will find Everyday a better option than only slightly cheaper non-organic options and a greater value than more expensive organic brands. Everyday will follow Arcor USA's efforts to successfully promote its Whisper Chocolate Bon Bons in supermarkets. Arcor teamed with supermarkets on couponing, floor promotional signage, and product sampling couple and use local media spots to advertise the promotion (Zind, 2003).

Everyday will also be sold in naturals supermarkets, but this will not be the focus of Everday's distribution channel as is the case with organic chocolate bar competitors. First, the naturals market is crowded. It has more than 2,000 chocolate items vs. conventional supermarkets that offer about 350 items (Tirone, 2007). The 20 top-selling natural chocolate items represent only 26% of naturals supermarkets' chocolate sales vs. The top 20 items in conventional supermarkets representing more than half of their natural chocolate sales (Tirone, 2007). The contribution of new items is also more favorable in conventional supermarkets. In 2006, 75 new natural chocolate items became available, contributing 27% to total natural chocolate sales in conventional stores (Tirone, 2007). During the same time, 300 new items were launched in the naturals channel, but contributed only 5% to total chocolate sales (Tirone, 2007).

Everyday will also maintain its own Web site for online distribution. Already, one competitor, M&M/Mars is exploring this channel to increase its sales as well as profit margins. Online, consumers can personalize their own labels or foil overwraps which enable manufacturers to charge far more money for their candy (Moran, 2008). "What they have done is drawn the focus away from the chocolate and drawn attention to the product. For manufacturers and retailers, it's important to understand the difference between what you make and what people buy. & #8230;M&M is selling ego enhancement." (Moran, 2008). Therefore, Everyday will leverage the Web to discover new ways to enhance its own products.

Customer Relationship Management

Everyday realizes the importance of CRM which is essential to "the establishment, maintenance and optimization of long-term mutually valuable relationships between consumers and organizations (Introduction to customer relationship management (CRM)). According to this source, long-term customer relationships are the true drivers for delivering value to customers and profits to customers. The same source also states that the core of CRM is the recruitment, retention and extension of products, services, solutions or experiences to customers.