Marketing strategies of the mass-market chocolate industry Essay

This report is an evaluation of the marketing strategies used in the mass-market chocolate confection industry in the United Kingdom (UK). The four brands this report studies in particular be Cadbury, Galaxy, Kit quat, and Maltesers. The UK mass-marker chocolate confectionary market is the biggest in the European Union and sales are to a great extent reliant on a solid marketing strategy. Using the four brands mentioned above this report investigated the following, segmentation, targeting and aligning, consumer vendee behaviour, promotion, pricing, product, and placement, social media strategies, and communication strategy.Fin in ally, this report gives critiques on the effectiveness of the marketing strategy for the four selected brands and recommendations on how they world power improve. Of the four brands studied, unless Galaxy uses demographic segmentation by focusing on women but all four use behavioural segmentation by focusing on benefits sought from eating chocolate. Cadbury targets notional individuals, galaxy targets the indulgent types, Kit Kat targets tired employees, and Maltesers targets those in search of guilt free chocolate.Cadbury positions itself as a creative brand, galaxy as a treat, Kit Kat as a wound bar, and Maltesers as the lighter way to enjoy chocolate Chocolate is an impulse good and need credit rating is usually stimulated upon seeing the packaging, where as information search is usually omitted or happens very quickly. When it comes to evaluating alternatives consumers, positioning and brand personality come into play. Finally, the choice to buy or not to buy happens very quickly.Cadbury was the only brand found stay in contact with consumers post-purchase by sharing recipes that one could make with Cadbury products. for each one of the four brands use adverts, sales promotion, sponsorship, and social media to increase brand awareness. However, no promotional material gives information about pricing because retail outle ts set their own prices. Most mass-market chocolate bars are slightly the same price and can be found near tills at retail supermarket outlets as sanitary as off-license stores across the nation.All four brands are connected to their consumers via social networks, with the exception of Galaxy and Maltesers who do not have twitter accounts. Each brand uses social networks to reinforce their positioning strategy. Cadbury uses it to encourage creativity and audience participation, Galaxy uses it to remind women of the irresistibility of chocolate, Kit Kat uses it to remind its fans to take a break, and Maltesers uses it to commemorate is 75th birthday.This report concludes by recommending that Cadbury should identify a clear branding message because currently its adverts are always open to interpretation. Galaxy should stay in touch with customers post-purchase with recipes for irresistible chocolate desserts. Kit Kat should continue having a strong focus for all communication mate rial and Maltesers should communicate its original message, a lighter way to enjoy chocolate, more explicitly.