Marketing Strategies of New Zealand Natural Ice Cream

Executive Summary

The following essay is a brief study of marketing strategies and their evaluation by studying the strategies of New Zealand Natural Ice Cream. In this regard, the essay starts with a brief introduction about the company followed by an identification of the possible implications on the marketing strategies due to existing market environment using various strategic marketing tools. Further, the essay discusses the role of metrics indicators for evaluating marketing strategies of the company and recommending some of them for New Zealand Natural. This is followed by studying the complexities in developing the marketing strategies and a discussion of standards of practices followed by them to ensure professionalism.

Introduction

New Zealand Natural is an Auckland, New Zealand based company of premium ice creams with its presence in the global market through their franchise network. The company is a major international franchisor of products such ice cream, smoothie, frozen yoghurt, and mini parlors and juice parlors in the shopping centres of Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, and others. In 1984, the company started its business in as a small creamery at Christchurch New Zealand and became successful as because of the idea of not adding any artificial flavors and colors. Rael Polivnick, the founder of the company, met the owner on a flight in 1985 and seeing the potential he bought the rights to open the very first New Zealand Natural Store at the famous Bondi Beach in Sidney ("History - New Zealand Natural", 2017). The company has won the Export Award at the SIAL D'Or Award and the Westpac New Zealand Franchise Awards in France. The Gold Pure Vanilla ice cream product of the company won best in Category award in 2010 at the 14th New Zealand Ice Cream Awards. According to the given scenario, it has been observed that temperature of person, place, and the products affect the buying behaviour of the consumers and companies have to form their marketing strategies accordingly("Awards - New Zealand Natural", 2017). In this regard, the following essay has been attempted to identify the possible implications of the factors given in the research on the marketing strategies of the New Zealand Natural using some strategic tools. The role of metrics indicators in managing the marketing strategies of the company has been studied while identifying some of the suitable metrics for New Zealand Natural. Further, the essay also reflects the complexities of developing the marketing strategies and their differentiation on the basis of the organization size. The essay also identifies the professional standards of the practices that are followed within the organization. Therefore, the thesis statement of the essay can be stated as "Whether the marketing strategies developed by considering the role of temperatures of people, place, and products affect the buying behaviour of the consumer or not."

Possible Implication on Marketing Strategy

The possible implications for the marketing strategies of the New Zealand Natural can be identified using various strategic tools that are given below:

Ansoff’s Product-Market Growth Matrix

The Ansoff matrix was introduced by Igor Ansoff. It is a vital tool in strategic planning as it helps the organizations in identifying their growth through the strategy of diversification and intensification that help in achieving growth by specific amendments in the existing business strategy of the company (Mhurchu et al., 2016). As per Ansoff model, there are four different possible strategies which are – Market penetration strategy, Product development strategy, Market development strategy, and Diversification

Market Penetration Strategy: In this strategy, existing products are used to achieve growth in existing market. New Zealand Natural’s market penetration strategy is to achieve growth of customer base in the market by setting up more number of stores and parlors in the market as well as places such as airports, hospitals, schools, highways etc. with entire range of products, through intensive distribution in order to reach every potential and existing consumer.

Market Development Strategy: In this strategy, business is created by developing fresh markets while continuing in existing products. New Zealand Natural is trying to capture unexplored and new sectors without developing new products (Mhurchu et al., 2016). In this regard, New Zealand Natural has started to shift its focus to new and potential markets such as rural areas and small towns, the market of sugar-free products for health conscious and diabetic people.

Product Development Strategy: In this strategy, new products are developed for the customer base already existing. New Zealand Natural has made vast use of this strategy in capitalization by consistently introducing new products.

Diversification Strategy: Diversification strategies are vital for future growth opportunities of a company. Diversification is successful for the launching of a new product in the new market and helps in providing growth opportunities for the future. Since diversification involves the stepping of the company into a market with unknown parameters, it is observed as a high-risk strategy. New Zealand Natural has felt the need of increasing its presence in various markets and have introduced many new strategies to cover the entire market.

BCG matrix

BCG Matrix application on a brand helps in identifying the products which act as organization’s revenue source (Cakir &Balagtas, 2014). Further, it also helps in finding out those products which have negligible chances of growth in future to stand in constantly changing trends of the industry. The BCG matrix for New Zealand Natural is given below:

Cash Cows: The products that have high market share and sold in a fully developed industry where future growth is not expected are known as Cash cows. Cash cows are used by the companies make revenues while being benefited by the products’ profitability as the low investment are needed for these products.

Stars: The products with high market share and growth potential in the future are termed as stars in BCG matrix. The dynamics of the industry support growth when the industry itself is in development phase (Cakir &Balagtas, 2014). Companies observe these products as potential cash cows considering the prospects of growth.

Question Marks: The products that are expected to see future growth in market share are termed as question marks. These are named as the question mark because these products can either successfully become a star, or may become the constant source of loss. If the issues are managed properly, the products get enough room for growth in the market resulting in growth potential for the company. However, incorrect management of the issues can have negative effects on the product’s market share growth.

Dogs: The products with low market share and limited chances of growth in business for the organization are termed as dogs. The lower chance of success act as an indicator of careful decision-making by the management for investing in the product since much benefit is not offered by those.

SWOT’s S&W

SWOT’s S&W helps in analysing strengths and weaknesses of the company in the existing business environment in order to make suitable strategies such that strengths can be utilized for making profits while weaknesses can be worked out to prevent from losses.

Strengths: These are the business areas in which the company excels and can potentially bring in profits. New Zealand Natural Ice Cream has the competitive advantage of great brand value in the market because of its quality products (Ryan, 2016). The products have been proven best in the industry by winning several awards every year. The products are accompanied by an image of being premium and for health conscious people. Products have been franchised to different countries using different approaches while maintaining the same standard of the brand. Attractive product packaging is also considered as one of their major strengths.

Weaknesses: These are the business areas which adds to the negative growth of the organization. New Zealand Natural Ice Cream also has certain weak business areas which should be mitigated in order to enjoy continuous growth in the market. These business areas include lacking distribution system for the retailers, issued in succession, and inconsistent manufacturing.

SWOT’s O&T

SWOT’s O&T helps in analysing the opportunities and threats for the companies in the existing business environment which may affect the business in future in order to amend the future business goals as per the analysis so that future growth is ensured.

Opportunities: These are those potential aspects of the business which seems to be helping the company in future. New Zealand Natural Ice Cream has the opportunity of launching the products in any price range as they are already perceived as the premium quality provider of products (Solomon, 2014).

Threats: These are those potential aspects of the business which seems to be impacting the business negatively in future. Threats to New Zealand Natural Ice Cream in sustaining the business include strong competition in the market and inefficient distribution system which is preventing the reach of the products to the potential customer.

Now, on the basis of the four strategic tools and the given scenario, three major implications have been observed as outcomes that can affect the marketing strategy of the business which is given below:

Varying Prices of Goods and Services: Climate change laws may indirectly affect even those companies which do not pollute the environment as these laws may directly affect their customers or suppliers (Hallbäck& Gabrielsson, 2013). A wide range of variations in prices is possible due to factors such as higher transportation costs or increased electric rates.

Varying Weather Patterns: Climate change is influential in varying the weather patterns worldwide. This will make it difficult for the company to predict the temperature of the people for packaging the products accordingly. As product packaging is one of the major areas where New Zealand Naturals put significant focus to give an attractive feeling, this kind of unpredictability about moods of the people can affect the sales of the products.

Varying Demand for Goods The varying prices and weather patterns are expected to bring in the varying demand for the products (Cui& Choudhry, 2015). For instance, if global temperatures rise, demand for the products to be needed in cold weather might significantly decline which would a great setback for the company as there is a whole of the variety of products for cold weather conditions.

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REFERENCES

Mhurchu, C. N., Mackenzie, T., & Vandevijvere, S. (2016).Protecting New Zealand children from exposure to the marketing of unhealthy foods and drinks: a comparison of three nutrient profiling systems to classify foods. NZ Med J, 129(1441), 41-53.

Çakır, M., & Balagtas, J. V. (2014). Consumer response to package downsizing: Evidence from the Chicago Ice Cream Market. Journal of Retailing, 90(1), 1-12.

Ryan, D. (2016). Understanding digital marketing: marketing strategies for engaging the digital generation.Kogan Page Publishers.

Solomon, M. R. (2014). Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being (Vol. 10). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Hallbäck, J., & Gabrielsson, P. (2013).Entrepreneurial marketing strategies during the growth of international new ventures originating in small and open economies. International Business Review, 22(6), 1008-1020.

Cui, G., & Choudhury, P. (2015).Effective strategies for ethnic segmentation and marketing.In Proceedings of the 1998 Multicultural Marketing Conference (pp. 354-358).Springer, Cham.