Quality – Kellogg’s Cup Pasta uses homemade pasta made of Indian wheat flour & fresh vegetable extracts. The Pasta flour is rich in quality. Kellogg’s Cup Pasta flavour’s range started with veg curry, chicken, prawn, and includes new releases of fruity, nutty, easy-digest, hot ‘ n’ chilly, peppery, cheesy.
Safety – Cups are sealed enough to protect the pasta inside. There is a maximum period of 3 months within the product needs to be sold. This ensures Kellogg’s Cup Pasta reaches its customer in a safe form always.
Packaging & Support – Damaged or Unsatisfied Kellogg’s Cup Pasta [Flavour Changes] can be exchanged from point of sale. Packaging is done using a strong plastic cup that is does not leak pasta contents. A thick aluminium foil is used to cover the pasta contents in Cup.
Pricing – Price decisions are based on the below factors,
Competitors: They are a main factor while fixing price of a product. So, if my customer’s price is 5£, my price will be 4. 50£ such that it’s relative to my competitors.
Volume Discounts & Wholesale Pricing: Rate discounts on wholesale purchase of Kellogg’s Cup Pasta
Perishability and managing demand/capacity: Marketer is to determine the capacity of the Kellogg’s Cup Pasta: should it meet peak demand, average demand, or somewhere in between? Pricing can be used to manage the timing of demand and align it with capacity levels.
Attracting new business: Selling new flavours of Kellogg’s Cup Pasta to existing customers (or) by attracting entirely new customers by making bundle offers on Kellogg’s products.
Place – ‘ Place’ is where actual marketing happens. Place is important to Kellogg’s as it helps to recognise Kellogg’s as a company. Kellogg’s identifies Place as a major factor as Cup Pastas are stored and made available to consumer from then on. Though a company manufactures a top-quality & best product, if there is place where it is made available to customer is not best, then marketing cannot be at its best. Kellogg’s decides for a Place with high foot traffic as it believes sales in such a place will earn high profits for the company. Kellogg’s adopts two distribution systems as defined below,
Manufacturers – Wholesalers – Retailers distribution system will be adopted where bulk orders are taken. Say, Colleges, Offices & Schools may order in bulk. In this system, Kellogg’s adopt low cost of transportation from manufacturing site through customers
Manufacturers – Retailers system will be adopted in general that product reaches to its customers through all its distribution channels.
Promotion
Kellogg’s promotes Cup Pasta to be the top commanding Ready-To-Cook pasta in pasta market. Kellogg’s marketing strategy will pursue to build awareness among its potential customers about Cup Pasta, and then expand its market by creating new customers while maintaining reliability with its existing customers. Kellogg’s tends to promote its Cup Pasta as the one with high proteins, best quality and unique taste but cost effective using below methods,
Advertising using TV media. This will be a real medium to communicate unswervingly with the consumer especially the children
Kellogg’s use website ads, banner ads and pamphlets.
Another intuitive way to capture customers will be 1-1 offer on any flavour of Pasta.
Bulk purchase from offices & colleges as well as from shops will be given a discount based on of orders.
Free Cups, Bowels, Water Bottles; Play things, Game CDs will be given for kids in the initial market expansion to capture customers.
Tie-Ups with other products, say, Pepsi 500ml free with 4 Kellogg’s Cup Pastas.
Physical Evidence is the material part of a product or service. Strictly speaking there are no physical attributes to a service, so a consumer tends to rely on material cues. To each pack of Kellogg’s Cup Pasta, a small brochure will be attached that contains the pictures, price & various flavours of Cup Pasta available. During festive occasions, Kellogg’s introduces scratch-card programmes for customers to increase its marketing sales.
Process: There are many service related processes involved in making marketing of Kellogg’s Cup Pasta effective. Kellogg’s has unique, separate process for handling customer complaints, process for identifying customer needs, requirements and feedback, processes for handling order from retailers, wholesalers.
People – Kellogg’s features the best practices for customer satisfaction comprise managers who are focused on continuous improvement in the process that create a satisfied customer.
The basic elements of the Cup Pasta that customers expect Kellogg’s will provide.
Basic support service, such as assistance or personnel training that make the Kellogg’s Cup Pasta more effective
A quick restoration process for fixing damaged Cup Pastas and those which do not satisfy customer.
Excellent service process in resolving wholesalers / retailers hitches and customer’s problems in meeting their requirements that make the Cup Pasta customized.
2. 6 Managing Budget: Kellogg’s Cup Pasta will perform budget related forecasts associated with sales, expense and related them to its marketing strategy.
Sales Forecast: The initial period of two months will be for to set Cup Pasta in market. By third month, Kellogg’s will be busy to expand its Cup Pasta market. Market Sales of Cup Pasta will progressively increase with expected profits achieved by the start of year two.
Expense Forecast: Kellogg’s need to budget its expenses starting from end of second month until end of sixth month to promote Cup Pasta and then lower. Once target sales are reached, expenses are maintained to a level. There is an increase in market sales during the vacation times & holiday seasons, when the weather gets pleasant and people are out-of-routine and they tend to eat out less. Once they get back to normal life again, the marketing costs will increase again.
2. 7 Organization & Implementation: Being the senior marketing manager, I’m primarily responsible for marketing activities as well as for graphic design work, and creativity. I organise various activities that each done at right time and on track with the standards & objectives. Implementation is the crucial association between the creation of marketing strategies and the realization of best performance at Kellogg. My role is most significant in decision-making process wherein important decisions on implementing the marketing strategy are to taken after analysing the existing market situations to achieve defined objectives & standards. Special implementation challenges emerge for the marketing manager because of the below critical issues.
Critical Issues: Kellogg’s Cup Pasta is now in dicey stage as a niche product in market. Its critical issues are:
Endure expansion at steady level, not for the purpose of expansion but it is wise to grow financially.
Linger to build Kellogg’s awareness in Cup Pasta market that drives customers to existing retail shops whilst easing pains in marketing for future markets.
2. 8`Controls: At Kellogg’s, there is a separate marketing control process to monitor Cup Pasta market whether plans proceed as they are expected to and adjust where needed to be on track. Sales Analysis is technique used by Kellogg’s to control its marketing. As a marketing manager of Kellogg’s Cup Pasta, I perform sales analysis once in every quarter of a year to check if we are on track. For e. g, London is divided into four zones – North LN, South LN, East LN, West LN. Kellogg’s sets up a standard to achieve overall sales of at least 60% – 70% in each zone per year.
Overall Sales Analysis produces 33% for the first quarter, 48. 5% for the second, 64% for the third quarter and 86% at end of first year and that has been to the standard set by the controls. This ensures marketing has been in track
2. 9 Managing Risks: Possible risks in marketing Kellogg’s Cup Pasta are as follows,
Functional Risk where it does not accomplish to anticipations.
Physical Risk where there is hazard to the physical fitness or health of customer
Financial Risk when customer feels it is not worth for money.
Social Risk where there is humiliation from people
Psychological Risk where mental health of customer gets sick
Time-Risk when its failure ends in a cost related to find another product that meets customer needs.
Kellogg’s fear below risks as its worst,
When Kellogg realise Cup Pasta business cannot support its own from market results.
When there is a need to satisfy rational assets to conceal dangers.
Marketing Risk Opportunism: Kellogg’s realises launching a customer-seller rapport in its Cup Pasta market builds rigidity between maintenance and adapting to new market technologies. However establishing Vertical coordination will create stronger bonds between customer & seller for Kellogg’s Cup Pasta market to create high profits and attain positioning. Retailers & Wholesalers tend to get more vulnerable to snag in future market deals due to devoted resources and divesting related expertise/awareness.
Risk Reduction Strategies: Kellogg’s Cup Pasta customers are encouraged to decrease the risk associated in buying choices. The observed risk at Kellogg are,
Ambiguous decision outcome due to potential risks associated with Kellogg’s Cup Pasta purchase.
The extent of impacts while making the bad decision.
Research highlights the importance of perceived risk and the purchase type in shaping the structure of the decision-making unit. In confronting “ risky” purchase decision, how to wholesalers & retailers of Kellogg’s Cup Pasta behave. As the risk associated with a purchase decision increase for retailers & wholesalers, the following will occur,
Expansion in purchase centres of Kellogg’s Cup Pasta and negotiation with organizational members of high rank and power.
Active information search where multiple information bases will be referred to help important purchase decisions for Kellogg’s Cup Pasta as the decision process unfolds, personal information sources become more important.
Wholesalers & Retailers with good track record with Kellogg will be preferred. Choosing known suppliers reduce risk related with acquisitions.
When introducing new flavours of Kellogg’s Cup Pasta or entering new markets, or approaching new customers, the marketing strategist should evaluate the impact of alternative strategies on perceived risk.
Testing: While many businesses do not attempt market testing, Kellogg’s believes market testing will help Kellogg to expand its information base with valued facts about customers, retailer, wholesalers, marketing drivers and market potential. Main testing problems Kellogg handle for its Cup Pasta market is: Volume of market testing to be done and testing type. Being a High-risk niche product, Kellogg reduces its’ volume of market testing if it’s in critical position as its competitors also launch their products at same time.
CONCLUSION:
In a business organization, only when marketing is at its best, sales will increase leading to high profits for the company. A good Marketing Manager will change even Company’s weakness into a profit earning Opportunity for his Company. Being a senior marketing manager, I understand in depth my Company’s strength & weakness and the unforeseen critical issues as we are in a niche market.
“ Making High Profits out of Low Investment is Marketing.”