Haagen-Dazs is an ice cream brand established in 1961 in Bronx, New York. In 1983, the brand was bought by Pillsbury. However, in 2001, the brand was sold to General Mills. Since the establishment of the brand, it has been growing significantly spreading to other countries like Canada. For this reason, the management of Haagen-Dazs decided to spread its brand to the Australian market. In order for this to happen, a three-year market plan is required to find flaws the brand is likely to face and strengths that are likely to help the brand. Additionally, an evaluation of whether it will be strategic or not is needed. In this case, the plan establishes strengths and weakness of the brand together with strategies that are going to be used to market the brand to penetrate Australian market.
Analyzing Haagen-Dazs’s Financial Reports
According to findings and reports, demand for ice cream has recently increased significantly due to the rise of hot weather conditions around the global. This increases significantly revenues posted by Haagen-Dazs in the financial reports. Therefore, the current situation of the market conditions and Haagen-Dazs products are analyzed to establish whether it will be viable for Haagen-Dazs to expand its products to Australia or not.
To begin with, General Mills have resources to enter Australian. The significant increase in customer demand over the past few years due to global warming has resulted to an increase in revenues (Sargeant & Shang 2010). This means that Haagen-Dazs has the capital to utilize when expanding its product to Australia for the next three years without need for making profits. Secondly, the company has the required expertise to establish branches in Australia which will be extremely helpful when entering Australian market. Therefore, despite the global financial crisis-taking place, Haagen-Dazs is able to endure and generate capital for the expansion.
The demographics of Haagen-Dazs are another advantage that will make the expansion of the product to Australia successful. The product being first established in the United States has made it easy to market the brand across the other nations. In this case, the ice cream brand has become internationally recognized all over the world. Secondly, the brand has targeted the adults who are taking ice cream. In the past, ice cream products were presumed to be for children. Therefore, many ice cream companies have saturated the children market. Recently, Haagen-Dazs has found an untapped market of the adult population (Sargeant & Shang 2010). This has led to massive increase in sales. In Australia, there is no ice cream company targeting adults. For this reason, they are likely going to make an impact.
The company has the required technology to be used in marketing the brand. Globally, the world has experienced a tremendous growth in technology making different companies adapt to the market environment. In this situation, Haagen-Dazs is utilizing technology to market their products. For instance, they are establishing a market campaign in the internet for the potential customers to view products offered by Haagen-Dazs on-line. Politically, the ice cream brand is facing issues with certain countries but according to the Australian market, the brand will not face any political problems. This is similar to cultural issues of different countries. Certain cultures are not accepting the brand. However, in the Australian market, this will not be a problem (Sargeant & Shang 2010).
The management of Haagen-Dazs is noticing that their ice cream products are attracting the adults. Therefore, it will be better for the company to continue improving quality of their products to increase loyalty of adult consumers. Secondly, Haagen-Dazs is the leading company for super-premium ice cream products (Rachhod, Gurau & Marandi 2011). Haagen-Dazs has capitalized on this marketing to ensure that no other company tries to penetrate this market. As a result, they are gaining significant market share using the super-premium ice cream products. In this case, the management should utilize this product to penetrate the Australian product.
Finally, according to their competitors, Haagen-Dazs faces stiff competition. If they take a moment to relax, they will be overtaken by their competitors. On the other hand, when they are penetrating the Australian market, they should consider the competitors they are likely to face. For example, they should analyze what competitors are doing for purposes of creating a unique product in the Australian market. On the other hand, the management should consider using the financial reports of other ice cream companies to come up with a clear budget showing distribution of money during the next three years (Sargeant & Shang 2010). Moreover, using the financial reports they will be able to establish whether penetrating the Australian market will be a strategic move or not.
Market targeting
Market segmentation can be described as the process in which a company separates their consumers based on specific characteristics making them unique (Rachhod, Gurau & Marandi 2011). When penetrating Australian market, it will be of extreme importance for the management to segment their target market. This will create suitable conditions for the company to enter Australian market. Haagen-Dazs is focused on the adults. This category of cunsumers has high disposable income. There is a tendency of increase in the number of adult ice cream eaters in the market. Haagen-Dazs should target this market because other companies are concentrating on attracting children and teenagers. As a result, the market segment for children and teenagers is saturated leaving the adult segment untapped. For this reason, Haagen-Dazs should focuse on adult ice cream eaters.
Market targeting can be described as a strategy when a company aims at marketing its products to certain of customers to penetrate the market (Rachhod, Gurau & Marandi 2011). When using marketing segmentation, the company identifies customers while in case of targeting; the company creates strategies to market their products to this segment of consumers. Haagen-Dazs is trying to target adult ice cream eaters of Australia (Rachhod, Gurau & Marandi 2011). They should consider improving quality of their super-premium products for the adult market. This is where they should create unique ice cream products to attract adults in Australia. Secondly, they should consider creating ice cream products that promote health. Adults are known to be health sensitive. For this reason, if they can enjoy an ice cream that will not interfere with their health, they are likely to buy it. Finally, this strategy targeting adults is excellent since they have disposable income at their hands. As a result, they will incarease sales.
Market positioning is a strategy used by companies to associate themselves with the targeted consumers. In this case, companies try to create a position in the market where they are the only ones who can be able to fulfill the needs of their targeted customers. Haagen-Dazs should try to create a market position in Australia to associate with their targeted consumers. In this situation, they should have a statement that clearly identifies the company with its consumers (Rachhod, Gurau & Marandi 2011). For this reason, the statement should involve all characteristics associated with targeted consumers to promote the product. In this case, an excellent market position statement for Haagen-Dazs would be ‘Have a refreshing taste with class and no health effects ice cream to enjoy with your friends and family at Haagen-Dazs.’
This is where different advertisers use their products to penetrate the market. In this case, marketers make decisions based on how their consumers are going to use their product, to penetrate the market. Therefore, Haagen-Dazs management will likely create a classic design for their products to suit their target consumer. This is because adult consumer like product with a mature feeling for them. This way the adults will be able to associate with the product. Secondly, they can use their product as a healthy product to attract adult ice cream eaters who are cautions of their health. In this case, they will be able to penetrate the adult market in Australia. Additionally, Haagen-Dazs should create a variety of products ensuring all adults have been targeted. Finally, they should use the super-premium product to attract their consumers.
Marketers use price as a strategy to market their products. This depends on the other marketing mix strategies inclusive of other factors. Based on Haagen-Dazs situation, the management should try to use a pricing strategy to penetrate the Australian market. Since they are targeting high value customers, adults, they should place their prices higher to show value for their products. In this case, they will show their Australian consumers that their products are of high value. Secondly, they should consider the prices of their competitors (Ellickson & Misra 2007). For example, if their competitors do not have high value products, Haagen-Dazs has the advantage of setting the prices. However, if there are competitors offering the same products, they should set their prices lower to attract customers. Finally, after they have established loyal customer within three years, they should raise their prices strategically.
Promotion can be described as the process in which a company employs different strategies to communicate with their consumers. In this case, various strategies should be used by Haagen-Dazs to reach their targeted consumers. The first promotional strategy is the use of internet. This is because many adult consumers use internet every day while they are working. As a result, they will have an opportunity to view products offered by Haagen-Dazs. Secondly, they should use advertisements on the newsprint and the media. This is because majority of adult read newspapers. For this reason, Haagen-Dazs will communicate to them. This will result Haagen-Dazs penetrating the adult community.
This is the location where retail outlets for the product will be situated. Marketers find a strategy location for their products for purposes of reaching their target consumers (Leeflang 2011). In this case, management of Haagen-Dazs should locate a place where there is a high flow of adults. For example, they should locate their retail outlets in areas saturated with offices. This is because adults are found in offices where they work. Therefore, areas saturate with office have a flow of adults. For this reason, they will attract many consumers penetrating the market.
A budget must be created to show how finances are going to be utilized according to the plan. In this situation, this is a three-year budget estimating how Haagen-Dazs is going to spend money marketing its product in the Australian market. Additionally, an implementation and control program has been established. According to the recent financial reports, marketing takes more than eighty percent of revenues generated by ice cream products all over the world. According to the audited financial reports by KPMG, an average of four million dollars in revenue is generated every year by Haagen-Dazs (KPMG 2006). 80%t of four million is three point two million dollars. Subdividing this amount into three sections representing the continents where Haagen-Dazs operates will get approximately one point one million dollars. Therefore, one point one million dollars is the amount Haagen-Dazs will use to penetrate into the Australian market during the first year of business. This money will be subdivided into different strategies based on the amount of work and expenses to be used. However, this money is subjected to increase or reduction depending on external and internal factors.