THE COMPANY’S
BACKGROUND
Mars nutrition is a company that is famous of producing chocolates and candies. Mars nutrition products are highly consumed by everyone whether you are male, female, children or adult. It owns a lot of well known products such as (Snickers, Skittles, M&M’s, Dove, Twix...Etc.). With almost 100 years of chocolate making history, the company managed to use 100% cocoa butter in almost its entire product, furthermore Mars Nutrition Company operates in more than 65 countries.
M&M's are colorful button-shaped candies produced by Forrest Mars,
Incorporated. M&M's originated from the United States in 1941. It produces a variety of
flavored confections ,including milk chocolate, dark chocolate, mint-flavored
chocolate, peanuts, almonds,
and peanut butter. M&M’s are now sold in over 100
countries. At 1954, a very important
year in the history of the company marks the day where M&Ms Peanut
Chocolate Candies were presented, the M&Ms Brand characters and the famous
slogan "The milk chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hand"
were both trademarked. Forrest Mars got the idea and the recipe for M&Ms
chocolate during the Spanish Civil War. Mars saw soldiers eating pieces of
chocolate covered with a hard sugary outside layer to prevent the candy from
melting in the hot sun. M&Ms first starts to sell in the United States,
while the World War 2 was taking place. The government used this candy as a
snack to the solders, because it was a candy that could last in almost any
climate.
The letters M&M stands for the
first initials of the last names for the creators of the candy - Forrest Mars
Sr. and R. Bruce Murrie.
M&Ms have stores all over world,
mostly Europe and the United states. The three biggest are located in U.S.A,
namely;
1.
M&MS
world Las Vegas.
2.
M&MS
world Orlando.
3.
M&MS
world New York (opened recently)
M&M ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
STRATEGIC
MARKETING
M&M’s have also focused
on the unique recipe for their chocolate. Having the right level of sweetness encourages
snacking. The more successful the recipe is, the more consumers will eat. Using
celebrity endorsers is something that has helped them over the years with
advertising. The Spoke candies have also played a huge role in advertising and
have helped expand the business for them.
The spokes candies appeal to the sentimental history of the candy.
GENERAL
MARKET
1. GEOGRAPHIC
2. Demographic is one of the most essential part of
marketing strategies, it involves covering and dominating a large number
of socioeconomic market that focus on gender, age group, sex, level of
income, normally if a company have a good marketing coverage, it have many
opportunities of involving in large scale selling, M&M's would be recognize all around the
world because of the effort and planning strategy they dedicate in
executing and perfecting they company’s coverage in the environment, M&M's product would be sold all around the
world. However the company devotes it time, money,
resource and effort to offer many varieties of product improvements to satisfy
the customers and consumer’s desired satisfaction and expectation all over the
world.
3. Psychographic target market show that the
product can be obtained by any one and those who loves chocolate/candies.
In coverage a company most always be aware
of product improvements and as well as consumers’ expectations, in other to
keep the perfect relationship with the customers and consumers as well.
SPECIFIC
TARGET MARKET
In the beginning, Forrest
decided he needed to know who was buying his product, who was not, and
why. Sophisticated marketers like Kraft
Foods, Procter and Gamble had long prepared studies like the ones he used, but
no one in the candy industry had approached marketing in such a specific
manner.The results showed that
M&M’s festive colors and bite-sized pieces had a special appeal to
kids. In studies, children chose
M&M’s over every other chocolate candy they were offered. The problem was that children weren’t in
control of the family purchases.M&M’s early target audience was children and, in
turn, getting the children’s parents to buy the candy.Children are still a huge
part of M&M’s target audience.
Children are the main reason behind such products as M&M’s minis in
collectable plastic containers that can be opened and closed. But it was WWII that changed the demographics
for candy eaters. Before the war, candy was child’s play. But after the war, men and women bought as
much candy as children, and candy eating came out of the closetM&M’s decided to reflect
this change. At this time, other studies came out that documented food
cravings, especially chocolate cravings among women.In every country where it is
eaten, chocolate is the food craved most often.
Its appeal is particularly strong for premenopausal women. One of the largest studies on food
preferences ever undertaken, found that 97 percent of college-age women have
specific food cravings, and they crave chocolate more than anything else.Women are M&M’s primary
target audience. In fact, M&M’s has combined its previous target market
with this new one of college-aged women.
By aiming its advertisements at women, M&M’s gained both single
women who just crave chocolate and mothers. The change from solely targeting
children to targeting adult women is evident when looking at where M&M’s
has placed its new advertising. These same women are likely
to have children and share their candy with their children as well. The great thing about the M&M’s spokes
candies is that although they might be in a situation that appeals to the adult
women, they are still fun characters that children love and find funny.
PURCHASE
BEHAVIOR
SERVICE/PRODUCT CONCEPT
BRAND NAME
M&M's one of the most popular candy in the united states and around the world, it was discovered during the Spanish civil war by Forrest Mars Sr. and R. Bruce Murrie .The name M&M’s refers to the first letter from the last name of the creators (Mars and Murrie) The candy shells, each of which has the letter "m" printed on one side.
PRODUCT
M&Ms comes in a variety of candy types, colors, sizes and that’s just the candy itself! M&MS also has 30 licenses to promote other products such as sweatshirts, M&Ms dispensers and plush dolls of the Spokes candies (M&M’s website). Recently, M&Ms has allowed customers to customize their own bags of M&Ms by visiting the website and picking out their preferred colors and even personalized inscriptions. What M&Ms is perhaps best known for is having their candies seasonally appropriate several times a year. Pastel colors for Easter, red and green for Christmas and orange and black for Halloween are just a few of the color types offered for different times of the year. This does not include the special promotions offered during other times of the year which have included in the past: tie-dyed colors and black and white.
POSITIONING AND COMPETITIVE DIFFEREMTIATION
We now observe regulations more stringent for food. Laws were passed to prohibit distributors of chocolates in some schools.With current trends, due to the awareness of the importance of good food, welfare, etc. the market for safe, quality is growing. Since 2005, the increase is constant every year since 1999, an average increase of 9.5% was recorded in a context where the whole food market progressed to 3.6% per year. This doesn’t seem to bode well for the sale of M&M’s, which is not related to a healthy product for your health. However, the brand can take comfort from the figures of consumption of chocolate: the EU has the most consumers of chocolate, in the second we find United States. The gourmet market remains fairly large for the brand to continue to sell. Today, it is expected an increase of 12% of single person households. This is important, in that single people still tend to snack and eat chocolate, rather than preparing a meal. Studies show that over 37% of the population snack between main meals, and it is mainly young people. Also, 13% eat chocolate when they are away from home. M&M’s is positioned on a highly competed: the sweets in general and that of chocolate confectionery in particular. The direct competitors of M&M’s chocolate candies are shaped ball: Smarties, Maltesers, Kitkat Ball. Indirect competitors are chocolate confectionery, such as Ferrero products broken down into differebt forms (Kinder, Chocobons) and sugar confectionery.
M&M’s has the differentiation from its competitors to enter the market for chocolate confectionery. This differentiation involves taking a position on the political product, price, distribution and promotion (marketing mix).This consistent set has enabled the brand to stand out from its competitors.
SERVICES PROVIDED
M&M has been creating many categories of serving its royal customers in the best way they can around the globe, it offers some great customer care value to serve its customers in an integrated marketing strategy to satisfy each and every one, M&M offers:
International order:
M&M creates an international order to satisfy each and every M&M lovers around the world in respective of where you may be, If you wish to ship product outside the continental U.S.,call Customer Service at 1.866.290.6854, and a representative will gladly assist you with the available destinations and corresponding shipping and handling charges.
Availability:
M&M Company makes every effort to provide the costumer with the real-time status of the products availability prior to ordering. However, if the costumers have had a greater demand than expected, and cannot fulfil your order, the company will inform you via e-mail and provide you with an estimated ship date.
PLACE
M&M’s company only considers two types
of channels. One is through the internet where shop owners and even customers
can purchase any M&M’s product that they desire all the way through the
internet either internationally or locally. M&M’s company will grantee to
their customers that their online purchase will be safely delivered to the
address that the customer had provided to the company. The second type is only
offered to shop owners where they order the product from the manufacturer. The
manufacturers will take action and supply the product to the shop owner from
the warehouse directly to the shop address.
COVERAGE
Coverage is one of the most essential part
of marketing strategies, it involves covering and dominating a large number of
sells in some certain location around the world, normally if a company have a
good marketing coverage, it have many opportunities of involving in large scale
selling, M&M today is almost recognize all around the globe because of the
effort and planning strategy they dedicate in executing and perfecting they
company’s coverage in the environment,
M&M product are now sold in over 100 countries in the world, in 2008
M&M was awarded as the most admired chocolate in Europe and south America
because of the perfect marketing coverage, today even in Malaysia M&M have
created a beneficial relationship within the country by offering a duty free
shipping of M&M product in support of the award winning Airport KLIA in 31,
august 2007.
However M&M company devote it time,
money, resource and effort to offer many varieties of product improvements to
satisfy the customers and consumers desired satisfaction and expectation all
over the world, in coverage a company most always be aware of product
improvements and as well as consumers’ expectations, in other to keep the
perfect relationship with the customers and consumers as well.
ASSORTMENT
M&M’s company is one of the most famous
chocolate companies in the world. The company did a great job by introducing
their product to the customers .nowadays everyone knows what is M&M’s
because of their perfection in their product coverage. M&M’s managed to
provide their product in just about everywhere .M&M’s are found in shops
(grocery shops), supermarkets (jusco, carfore and tesco) ,petrol stations
(PETRONAS and shell ) and amusement parks(genting highland, sunway lagoon and
park Dickson ).basically wherever the costumer go ,they will surrounded with
M&M’s product.
LOGISTICS:
Logistics is a little similar to
transportation. It involves the physical distribution of the goods like
deliveries and the flow of the goods. M&MS don’t often do home deliveries,
but in some countries they attend to online deliveries. When a customer orders
online, they deliver it strait to their homes. It is a way in which they expand
their sales and customer relations.
They make the deliveries through the little
company trucks with the M&M logos on them. The delivery person appears in
uniform designed for the M&Ms Company.
INVENTORY
inventory is
primarily about specifying the size and placement of stocked goods at hand that
are available for a company, company like M&M have many different branches
over 100 countries in the world, some certain branch’s may require at different
locations within a facility or within multiple locations of a supply network to
protect the regular and planned course of production against the random
disturbance of running out of materials or goods. Every company has common
reasons of keeping it inventory in stock due to:
Time: Time is
very essential in supply chain towards a company production, from suppliers to
every user and stage involved that is required to maintain a certain inventory
for lead time. M&M company is conscious of that, that is why is always
ahead of its competitors in the chocolate world.
Uncertainty: inventories are kept and maintain to meet
some uncertainty and business casualties in other to meet demand and supply and
also product movement.
Economies of scale: ideal condition of one unit at a time at a place where
user needs it, when he needs it, principle tends to incur lots of costs in
terms of logistics. So bulk buying, movement and storing brings in economies of
scale, thus inventory.
TRANSPOTRATION:
In any marketing business, transportation
is essential so as to make circulation of the product easier. Especially from
the factories to the stores.
M&M is an internationally consumed
product, so customers even order online. The factories are located in so many
countries, but some places with very little amount of resources will have to
depend on other locations to make the production and transport it to them. So
in this case, M&M’s will have to make use of all means of transportation.
So they will have to own larger trucks and shipping systems. So in order to
reduce the cost of production, they will have to make good maintenance of their
vehicles and other transport materials.
PRICE
PAYMENT PERIOD:
M&M’s company consider only two types of payments; one of it is cash payment for immediate selling such as cash or credit cards and the other is online payment to cover one of M&M’s features which is customized M&M’s where customers are required to pay online in order to get their customized M&M’s .
ALLOWANCES:
Allowances play a vital role in the marketing of various products. But in the case of M&M’s, they don’t undergo this stage.
CREDIT TERMS:
This is a payment agreement that is usually negotiated between the buyer and the seller. But in this case, credit terms do not apply in the marketing process of this product.
DISCOUNT:
discounts are created so that you can drive sales on products or groups of products to your customers who meet certain specified conditions, M&M incorporated create many varieties of product promotions, but less of discount, this is because of the standard marketing rate for the product, normally discount and other promotions are made because you may have a product in your inventory that has not been selling as planned. You can create a discount for that product and promote it to customers who you think may need that product. M&M Corporation have not encountered any of these unanticipated situations for pass recent years. That is why it provide promotion and very less of discount rate in the market because of the product progress and improvement in the market place.
And further more M&M always stay on top in the world of chocolate factories producing due to the dedications and commitments to its customer in term of producing superior customer value expectations towards it product, M&M incorporation always believe in product improvements and delivering more than customers expectation in the marketing sector.
LIST PRICE:
M&M’s produces a variety of products or flavors, each flavor has a unique taste, and the prices of these products are listed below:
ALLOWANCES:
Allowances play a vital role in the marketing of various products. But in the case of M&M’s, they don’t undergo this stage.
CREDIT TERMS:
This is a payment agreement that is usually negotiated between the buyer and the seller. But in this case, credit terms do not apply in the marketing process of this product.
DISCOUNT:
discounts are created so that you can drive sales on products or groups of products to your customers who meet certain specified conditions, M&M incorporated create many varieties of product promotions, but less of discount, this is because of the standard marketing rate for the product, normally discount and other promotions are made because you may have a product in your inventory that has not been selling as planned. You can create a discount for that product and promote it to customers who you think may need that product. M&M Corporation have not encountered any of these unanticipated situations for pass recent years. That is why it provide promotion and very less of discount rate in the market because of the product progress and improvement in the market place.
And further more M&M always stay on top in the world of chocolate factories producing due to the dedications and commitments to its customer in term of producing superior customer value expectations towards it product, M&M incorporation always believe in product improvements and delivering more than customers expectation in the marketing sector.
LIST PRICE:
M&M’s produces a variety of products or flavors, each flavor has a unique taste, and the prices of these products are listed below:
PROMOTION
Advertising:
Advertising consider a very important
element in marketing, where companies tries to promote their product .M&M's
may be an old brand, but it is not afraid to try new things, the company is
using a lot of effective ways to attract their target which is the costumers,
it’s using a variety of advertising to encourage people to buy their product.
Types of advertisement that M&M’s uses are listed below:
- Balloons
- Clings
- Pieces
hanging on mobiles
- Pins
- Booklets
- Standees
- Clothing
- Posters
- Brochures
- Danglers
- Paper
- Shell
sheets
- TV commercials
SWOT
ANALYSIS
SWOT stands for strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It’s a simple, yet effective way of
evaluating organizations which not only makes sure you aware of your current
surroundings but also helps you shape how you want your business or organization
to be.
M&M’s are hard shell
coated chocolates that are highly recognizable and know worldwide. They are
owned by The Mars Company and date back to 1948.
- Strengths
Worldwide
reputation, meaning the world recognizes them and trusts the brand.
Part
of The Mars Company, giving them back-up from other chocolates they make such
as Galaxy.
Their
marketing and advertising image is individual with sweets as characters.
Affordable
chocolate that pretty much anyone can afford, making the sweets easily
accessible.
Lots
of varieties of colors, appealing to a lot of people and any occasion.
Personalization
of M&M’s, making gift ideas and for weddings, birthdays etc.
- Weaknesses
Although M&M’s are the number one chocolate sellers,
their adverts and marketing take cost a lot of money in comparison to other
Mars products.
- Opportunities
Having
a worldwide market means that any new product they undertake will be instantly
warmed to.
The
M&M shops worldwide are not only shops but tourist attractions, increasing
sales all the time ultimately widening their consumer market which will be
ready for any new products.
They
have over 30 licenses to create other products such as t-shirts, mugs, soft
toys and figurines.
Advancements
in technology- building up on their characters, developing more products.
- Threats
Lots
of competition everywhere from othe r confectionary and chocolate makers.
Their
main competitors ‘Hershey’s’ are always creating new chocolate bars.
Evidently, M&M’s are a
huge company who must have gone through some SWOT analyses in their experience
of building up their business. Weaknesses of them is something which I
struggled on, as obviously they can’t have too many weaknesses as they wouldn’t
be the great success that they are. The major threat to them, like any company,
is their competition. Making sure that they come above bigger and better than
their competition is something which businesses thrive upon. Finding customers
that would rather go to their company than their competitors is vitally
important. Their advertising strategy of using their sweets turned into
characters is something that I have picked up on a lot, and something which I
believe makes them stand out from the rest of the chocolate and confectionary
world. Although it costs an awful lot more money than other chocolates in the
Mars Company, which I have stated as a weakness, it’s an idea that has
definitely worked in getting them recognition.
RECOMMENDATION
AND CONCLUSION
M&M is a company that
produce chocolate, founded by Forrest mars and Bruce Murrie in 1941 in united
states, and the company’s name was found through their names (M was for
Forrest E. Mars Sr, and the other M was for Bruce Murrie) Forrest Mars, Sr. founder of the
Mars Company, got the idea for the confection in the 1930s during the Spanish Civil
War when he saw soldiers eating chocolate
pellets with a hard shell of tempered chocolate surrounding the inside,
preventing the candies from melting, so forrest and Bruce bring the idea of
providing M&M to enable the soldiers to be able to eat the chocolate and
shallow as well.
Another
factor to consider is expanding into more international products. At this point in time, they do have a
considerable presence in international markets such as Hong Kong and Japan, but
are missing some key global players such as mainland China, Taiwan and the
Pacific Islands. Potential expansion to
Eastern Europe and Middle East should be considered by M&M’s and Master Foods,
but should not expand until further market research is done. By increasing the Asian presence they will be
able to reach a large demographic given the region’s large population and
interest in American products.
Another
future prediction for M&M’s Brand is following the market need for social
needs and wants. The market is currently
moving towards more gourmet and specialty chocolates for both consumption and
gift-giving. M&M’s is currently not
active in this market, therefore potential diversification to provide customers
with specialty products will keep them in line with market trends. Current diet trends such as the South Beach
Diet and Atkins is leading to a growth of consumer’s requests for sugar-free
and low carb candy options. This could
prove to be a big market for M&M’s if they decide to enter this growing
market segment.
