DeFluris Fine Chocolate Strategic Management

  DeFluris Fine Chocolate Strategic Management

Competitive Overview

Introduction

The DeFluris Fine Chocolate Company was formed in the year 1985 in Vienna as a Bakery and a Chocolate manufacturing Company. It was then re-located to Martinsburg, West Virginia, where it focuses on the production of the Fine Chocolates. The Factory is owned by the family of Brenda and Carlie, who owns almost half of the Factories shares, the company products are purely made on employing ancient techniques (Rothaermel 2016). The Companies mainly sell to  Wholesales and retails, while some are also available from their well-developed online stores. The Company covers an area of twelve thousand square meters with a separate building, which once was the homestead f, Mc Cory, the Company has a series of development over the previous years, and the use of machines are applied to improve the output and the total sales. DeFluris Fine Chocolate Company uses pure and natural ingredients in the manufacturing of their chocolates. Mission Statements are what drives an organization to link its activity to the societal need and legitimize its existence. The mission statement of the Company also indicates the product and services it provides and the geographical location of the Company enabling the customers to access the factories’ products easily (Ansoff et al. 2018). An Example of DeFluris Chocolate Company includes; We make your Favorites; we make the finest Chocolates. The Company has operated for about three decades since its foundation in the year 1985. Revenue is the total income of business or Company from normal business activities. The DeFluriChocolate Company is successful as it has survived in the competitive environment of chocolates due to increased sales it makes through the years. The average revenue produced by the Factory in the last five years is around a hundred dollars per month; these are due to the increase in the number of sales of the Chocolate. It has also introduced the use of online marketing strategies to create their products more available to their customers, which has also increased the sales-boosting the profit margin of the Company.

Strength and weakness

The Strength of the DeFluris Fine Chocolate Company is the advantages that the Company enjoys over its competitors. Some of these features include; The Company has a reliable brand name. As one of the large and most well-known Chocolate company in the United States of America and also in the entire world at large, DeFluris has an exceedingly superior label. The Consumer around the Continent has associated the companies name with quality and more special products. The Strong brand name has also helped the Company to the market where the customers prefer superior products. These features have leads to an increase in sales, allowing the Factory to make more profits (Pratiwi et al. 2017). The Company also has some drawbacks preventing it from achieving the competitive advantage; these factors include; The Company also has limited product rage as it mainly focusses on the production of chocolates only, defining its capital. The profit margin of the Chocolates is very discouraging. It sells its product at a much cheaper price making the low-profit margin compared to the production expenses. The Company also lacks skilled human resources to market its products and also to help in the production of quality chocolates. Lastly, the Company faces an increase in the price of raw materials and the increased taxation by the government, lowering the profit and raising the production costs.

Opportunities and Threats

The opportunity which the Company Enjoys over its Competitors is that DeFluris Fine Chocolate Company is Globally available. The Company has several branches in the world which are centrally located by the mother factory in the United States. The Company also built a relationship with different retailers and wholesalers across the globe and hence increased the companies brand availabilities in the whole world. Another contributing factor that the Factory also applied the use of TechnologyTechnology to sells its products, i.e., selling products online hence has highly increased the sales and the income of the Company. The Company also has a robust capital foundation due to the increased sales and the application of TechnologyTechnology in production (Ginter et al. 2018). The Factory also has a strong and reliable professional and Company such as those that do testing and marketing profession, creating a strong belief and trust by the customers that the Company’s product is of quality and quantity. The Company’s products are also readily available in the market is abundant; this means that consumers can quickly get the chocolates at their need. The threats faced include;  there is a decrease in fine flavor cacao, which is one of the raw materials. The Company is likely to fall due to the huge capital required. Economic slowdown reducing demands and also increase competition lowering the companies sales.

Market Environment Analysis

Some factors that affect companies’ operation includes, the consumers are aware of other brands, the rapid improvement in the technological sector, industrial leaders put more reliance on the Companies data, and also there is increased growth in the emerging markets. These factors lower the Company’s profit and also help the Company to acquire new TechnologyTechnology to impro its productions. Data indicates that 77 percent of the people in the world are primarily aware of the different chocolate products. Hence, the Company needs to improve the quality offered for customers’ preferences. Research also shows that an approximate of 11.2 hardware’s are produced in 2018, and this is expected to rise to about 20 billion in the year 2020; these show the reliance of data analysis by the Company’s leadership. DeFluris company applies the use of technologies in production and on the marketing of its products. The use of TechnologyTechnology in production has helped the Factory to produce more chocolates of high quality preferred by its customers. Online marketing also creates the Company’s products more available in the market for the customers.

Target Market Segment Profile

Demographic variables are mainly the person’s data showing information such as the income level, literacy leverage, and the social belies of an individual, this information is always used by the Company to evaluate its target market. Census shows that the City has a population of 213,600 in 2010; it also indicates that an approximate of 24 percent of the total population is composed of the youths who are the targeted market. These variables affect the Company’s operations in that the target population of the teens, who are the target market, is relatively lowered their fore reduce the sales lowering profit margin. This is variable that defines the feature of a place but not just the physical location; it provides the average income of individuals staying in the area (Ginter et al. 2018) The City is composed of the middle-upper and the high-class individuals getting approximate of 18 dollars after every twenty-one days. This environment is relatively favorable for the Company’s operations as many people are capable of purchasing the Factories products. Psychological variables are used when the customers buying behavior is much related to his or her lifestyle, emotions, and personalities. Things such as persons’ perceptions, learning, and attitude greatly influence a person’s purchasing power and like. For example, many people are learned in the states and hence are much aware of the side effect of Chocolate, reducing sales.

Recommended Strategies & Tactics

The Company should produce a higher quality product to compete in the world market and also to an employee with experience to offer their services. Products such as the Truffle chocolate brand, one of the Company’s stars, should be modified to attract more customers and maintain the market position. This product is mainly comprising of sugar, a small proportion of milk, and a pleasant aroma, the product was primarily made for family consumption. Distribution strategies are the methods that an organization can apply to carry out its distribution services (Moutinho & Vargas-Sanchez, 2018).  The Company should use the Exclusive distribution method; this involves the use of official distribution to increase the market positioning of its products and to increase a high brand image. Only a few or limited intermediaries should be used. This distribution method will help the Company direct control over marketing strategies used by intermediaries.  Price is the amount of money needed to acquire a product; there are various factors that the Company needs to consider when setting prices; these factors include cost involved in the production, profit margin expected, competitors’ prices, government regulations, and many more. The Company should use psychological pricing methods to increase its sales in the competitive market. This method involves setting odd numbers as customers will be perceived that the products are cheaper compared to other products in the market. Marker segmentation involves dividing the market into smaller groups of buyers with distinctly similar needs, behavior, or characteristics (David & David 2016). The City comprises of different people from various background and race. The Company should their fore come up with a favorable plan to cater to all the races. Targeting evaluating each market segment and decide on the market segment to venture in. Lastly, the Company should make a market positioning which is ranging of a product to occupy a clear distinctive, and desirable place relative to competing products in the mind of its consumers.

Promotion/Communication Plan

Promotion is the Coordination of the wholesalers initiated methods to set up channels of information to sell goods and services or to promote an idea. The following tape of promotion should be applied by the Company to increase its sales; Advertisement, which is a paid form of non-personal communication about the companies products or idea by an identified sponsor. The Company should apply an advertisement as it is capable of covering a large geographical area at the same time. Sale promotion, which is a promotional tool that stimulates consumers’ purchasing power using short term activities such as the free samples, will increase the sale of the companies product (Hill, 2017).  Sales promotions aim to convince the wholesalers and retailers and to sell the company chocolates, and it includes the provision of the buying allowances and the trade exhibitions; this will help the Company to maintain sales in all seasons. Lastly, the Company should apply personal selling to distributes its products. This person to person method of communication, the Company should use this method as it will help in information gathering and also conduct an after-sale survey.

Interactive Marketing

Website analysis and Internet Plan

The Company should apply the following knowledge of software to swifter its operations. They should sync their website regularly to make it firster to customers when making requests; they should also modernize their site as this helps to keep the customers informed. It should also make their side to load firster and use fewer data to be more affordable by many; managers should also check errors on the site regularly to pass the right information. It should also get rid of the junks to keep it clean; the site should also be structured in such a way that it can easily be accessible (Jorgensen, 2020).  The Company should also install passwords on the website to enhance security; it should check browser compatibility and also to reply to the customer’s feedback, this will help the Company to produce goods preferred by its customers.

References

Ansoff, H. I., Kipley, D., Lewis, A. O., Helm-Stevens, R., & Ansoff, R. (2018). Implanting strategic management. Springer.

Ansoff, H. I., Kipley, D., Lewis, A. O., Helm-Stevens, R., & Ansoff, R. (2019). Strategic dimensions of internationalization. In Implanting Strategic Management (pp. 311-336). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

David, F., & David, F. R. (2016). Strategic management: A competitive advantage approach, concepts, and cases. Pearson–Prentice Hall.

Ginter, P. M., Duncan, W. J., & Swayne, L. E. (2018). The strategic management of health care organizations. John Wiley & Sons.

Hill, T. (2017). Manufacturing strategy: the strategic management of the manufacturing function. Macmillan International Higher Education.

Jorgensen, S. E. (2020). A systems approach to the environmental analysis of pollution minimization. CRC Press.

Moutinho, L., & Vargas-Sanchez, A. (Eds.). (2018). Strategic Management in Tourism, CABI Tourism Texts. Cabi.

Pratiwi, A., Sutopo, W., Zakaria, R., & Rasli, A. M. (2017). Formulating strategy through QSPM based on SWOT framework: a case study spin-off company in Malaysia. Advanced Science Letters, 23(9), 8646-8651.

Rothaermel, F. T. (2016). Strategic management: concepts (Vol. 2). McGraw-Hill Education.