Confectionery Industry In The UK Contributes A Major Amount Of Revenue To The Country’s Economy

Chapter 1: Introduction

Confectionery industry in the UK contributes a major amount of revenue to the country’s economy. Repeated case studies have revealed that the confectionery industry is ever growing and the demand for creativity and innovation in the products in increasingly demanded by the consumers in the UK market. Alongside, the growth in the confectionery industry has also resulted in the stiff competition among the players in the market with many global competitors like Cadbury and Nestle. The growth of more focused and niche market targeting companies have also grown tremendously in the UK, which includes companies like Thorntons, Ferroro UK ltd, etc. The stiff competition in the market and the increased penetration of the big players into various market segments has further disturbed the position of companies like Thorntons. This report is focused on the analysis of the marketing strategies for Thorntons Plc and provides valuable suggestions for future expansion and strategies to gain competitive advantage in the UK chocolate market. The report aims to achieve the following objectives

• To effectively segment the target market for Thorntons and identify those segment(s) here the company can effectively develop its business.
• To identify the importance of buyer behaviour and establish that the effective deployment of buyer behaviour would help the company understand its target market in detail so as to gain market share.
• Provide recommendation for an appropriate short-term promotional campaign in the UK for increasing the awareness on the company’s products in the target market.
• Devise a sales or promotion campaign for the company in order to increase its sales through focusing on establishing the brand of Thorntons in the market as a strong competitor.
• Present a critical analysis of the advertising strategy mentioned in the case study for Thorntons and device a new advertising strategy that would include a creative media based plan in order to increase the awareness among the customers in the target market
• Also device a critical structure for the direct marketing plans in order to reach the over 50 years segment of customers in the UK market.

Chapter Overview

Chapter 1: Introduction

This is the current chapter that introduces the reader to the objectives of the report and the flow of the report text.

Chapter 2: Market Segmentation and buyer behaviour

This chapter first presents an analysis on the market segmentation and identifies those segments that the company should target upon for further market expansion. This is then followed by the overview of the buyer behaviour and the use of buyer behaviour by the company in order to gain competitive advantage in its target market.

Chapter 3: Advertising and Promotion

This chapter first presents a discussion on a short-term promotional campaign for the company in order to increase the awareness of the products in the existing target market. This is then followed by a detailed overview of the advertising plan incorporating creative plans in the media based advertising in order to promote the products of the company. This is then followed by a critical analysis on the direct marketing strategy for over 50 years segment of customers in the UK in order to effectively reach that segment of the market so as to increase the sales as well as the market share.

Chapter 4: Conclusion

The objectives of the chapter are reviewed against the research and analysis conducted in the previous chapters and then a conclusion is derived based on the results of the analysis.

Chapter 2: Market Segmentation and Buyer Behaviour

2.1: Market Segmentation

From the case study of the company it is evident that the major segments in the Chocolate market include

• Count lines
• Moulded Bars
• Boxed Chocolates
• Seasonal Products and
• Bagged Self lines

It is also evident that the company under debate i.e. Thorntons Plc specialize in the manufacture and sale of Boxed continental chocolates in the UK and global market. Hence the market segment that the company primarily operates is under the sub sector of the Boxed chocolates in the Chocolates industry of the UK. A further segmentation of the Boxed Chocolates market in the UK based on the price and quality is presented below