MARKETING PLAN

Marketing Plan

Marketing Plan

Executive Summary

This marketing plan discusses various marketing aspects of launching a new product. The product that is discussed in this plan is chocolates. First of all this plan discusses the some statistics, conditions and trends that are going on currently in the chocolate industry. After discussing the situation analysis, the analysis of the strength, weakness, threats and opportunities are listed down in the plan. The most interesting part of the paper is a discussion about marketing strategies that the firm would be using. In the end, the plan shows some control and evaluation strategies and ends up with a brief conclusion. The discussion and elaboration that is shown in the plan suggests that this plan is devised after undertaking proper research and is ready to move towards the phase of implementation.

Current Market Situation

As the organization is based on UK, the product would firstly be launched in United Kingdom and then it would be launched in the world market. It is imperative to first analyze the local market situation and then shed lights on the trends that are going on around the globe.

Market Overview

During the next five years, the market is expected to experience stable growth rates. By 2008, the market is forecast to reach a value of $6.44 billion, a CAGR of 4.1% in the 2003-2008 periods, lower than the European market. The UK market's weak growth is highlighted by its decreasing share of the European market; from its 28.9% share in 2003, the market is forecast to account for 27.4% by 2008, a 1.5 percentage point decrease compared to France's growth of 0.4 percentage points during this timeframe (Albright 2007, 137).

International Trends

Worldwide the chocolate industry is stable and expected to grow. Although, in last few years, the industry did not show, as much growth as it was supposed to do. According to researchers and analysts the main reason behind this is the worldwide condition of economic recession. Another factor that is prevalent in the industry around the globe is continuous development and innovation (Zackowitz 2004, 69). Different organizations have given chocolate products that are completely innovative and new. Another factor that has become the reason of various alterations in the industry and that have impeded the growth is changing social trends. Nowadays, people are becoming more health conscious, and they care about their health and fitness. Due to the presence of sugar and cocoa people began to avoid chocolate consumption. There are organizations that have devised products to address this issue (Rinzler 2007, 84). For instance, Dove Vitalize Dark Chocolate “complements rich dark chocolate with healthful ingredients like energy-releasing B vitamins, plus the natural goodness of cocoa flavonoids, which may help support cardiovascular health and plant sterols which have been shown to reduce cholesterol (Zackowitz 2004, 69).” The chocolate bars were introduced in the US in early 2008 by Mars Snack food US. Besides that many other products were also launched by different brands.

SWOT Analysis of the Organization Strengths

Strengths

New and innovative product

Affordability

Simple and sound ...