MARKETING PLAN

Marketing Plan

Marketing Plan

Part I: Market Analysis

The frozen food market segment is a highly developed, highly competitive market and is expected to continue to grow over the next several years. A recent economic recession has led to lower-priced frozen entrees over the past five years. Consumers have developed a purchasing pattern that could be critical to the marketing of Buy the Slice Pizza. Buyers appear to be drawn to convenient, low-priced frozen entrees over more expensive, low-preparation products. One of the fastest growing niches within the frozen food market segment is the snacks and mini-entrees niche. Items such as hamburgers, fries, chicken, small hotdogs, and pizza are rapidly being sold as single-serving items.

The frozen pizza market category accounted for approximately £1.9 billion in retail sales in 2000. Several new niches are appearing within the frozen pizza category, which could affect the success of Buy the Slice Pizza. Most gourmet-frozen pizzas are high in sodium, high in cholesterol, and high in fat. Because it is in the introductory growth stage, the frozen pizza market has the potential to be highly profitable.

Low-calorie, healthy pizza was first introduced in the early 1980s when Jenos introduced a line of low-calorie frozen pizza. Unfortunately, the pizza never made it onto the market because Pillsbury bought out Jenos shortly after the product was developed. The market for low-calorie frozen pizza escalated in the late 1980s when Weight Watchers introduced a line of low-calorie French-bread pizzas. On the negative side, many consumers perceive that by increasing the health benefits of foods, many manufacturers must sacrifice the quality of a product's taste. A delightful-tasting, low-calorie frozen pizza would be a profitable entry in this niche.

Part II: Target Market

Target Market Analysis

In order to determine the target market for Buy the Slice Pizza, we circulated a sociocultural characteristics survey among a group of adults in the York area. From our survey, we concluded that the members of the surveyed generation typically speak English, are married, have children, have graduated from high school, are Christian, and belong to large families with three or more children. According to a recent study, health foods appeal to an older and/or more upscale audience. The 40-plus markets have been described as a mounting segment of the population looking for healthy, low-calorie foods. The 40-plus markets are growing an opportunistic market to tap into for premium food products. These facts parallel the information that we collected from our sociocultural questionnaire found in the appendix of this marketing plan, and are useful in our Buy the Slice Pizza launch, as they will prompt us to target a market of 40-plus individuals. Our questionnaire helped us to determine the culture and subculture, demographics, social class, and groups that influence our potential consumers.

Furthermore, the company circulated another survey/questionnaire, which inquired about the purchasing behaviors of adults in the York area, specifically the pizza purchasing behaviors. From the results of our survey, we inferred that older generations--meaning 45 and older--do not view pizza as a healthy ...