Task One 1

James Henry Whittaker initially sold his own line of chocolates door-to-door in Christchurch.

Gradually the Whittaker’s started selling their chocolates in and across New Zealand at a large scale. They provide the best quality cocoa from Ghana and Madagascar. The Whittaker’s manufacture their own chocolate from bean to bar. They even use cocoa butter instead of palm oil which provides the consumer with a healthier chocolate range. The company manufactures dark chocolates keeping in mind the lactose intolerant or vegan.

For its company, it is regarded as a passionate producer of chocolates and maintains its goodwill by providing the best quality they can.

Further for the society, the Whittaker’s also have inhabited policies for its CSR i.e. its corporate social responsibilities. Five hundred limited edition real chocolate ‘web blocks’ were created for use as prizes, with one being auctioned on Trade Me to raise funds for the Red Cross Christchurch Earthquake Appeal.

Task Two

A2.

It is very important for Whittaker’s to set their marketing objectives. The market objectives would act like a guide map or a plan which would be focussing on its aims and objectives to be achieved. Further only setting of marketing objectives is not the only thing but to monitor, control them is equally important as the right implementation of the activities is very important to reach those marketing objectives.

Well, Whittaker’s should be focussing majorly upon the activities which would increase its goodwill, brand name further enhancing its sales. These might include an emphasis on the taste, quality, packaging and advertising.

Task Three

A3.

SWOT analysis – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats.

Strengths:

• Whittaker’s is the only New Zealand chocolate manufacturer that controls the whole manufacturing process from bean to bar.
• Use of the best quality ingredients. Cocoa is sourced from Ghana and Madagascar from farmers who are committed to ethical production.
• Whittaker’s does not contain milk solids so can be consumed by those who are lactose intolerant or vegan.
• Uses only cocoa butter, not palm oil this helps in maintain health of its customers.
• They are committed to quality and are passionate chocolate makers.
• Did not compromise with the size of its bars as what Cadbury did.

Weakness:

• Exports only in some countries, so it does not capture a big market when the world market comes in question.

Opportunities:

• Whittaker’s can improve its sales by improving its name by an active advertising and globalizing its product to a larger market as it never compromises with its quality and quantity.

Threats:

• There is always a competition from the other competitors in the market.
• The people are now becoming more aware about their health. So it forms a bit of a threat as chocolates are not recommended to those who are on diet.
• The varieties, tastes provided by other brands might as well form a threat to the Whittaker’s.

PESTE Analysis – Political, Economical, Social and Technological.

Political: there shall be no political influences on Whittaker’s as it is a genuine producer and maintains its quality.

Economical: other brands tend to focus upon their prices and the quantities they provide. This shall affect the sale of Whittaker’s as it does not compromise with its price or with its quantity. But then it also does not compromise with its quality which might not let the economic factors much affect its sales.

Social: the company believes in fair trade and also focuses upon it’s CSR (corporate social responsibility). Five hundred limited edition real chocolate ‘web blocks’ were created for use as prizes, with one being auctioned on Trade Me to raise funds for the Red Cross Christchurch Earthquake Appeal.

Technological: the company is using its own batch roasting, blending and molding techniques so as to give it a personal touch.

Task Four

A4.

1) Consumer purchasing santé bars – well, according to me, Whittaker’s should also focus on the individual tastes and preferences. Taking a consumer for granted shall not come out to be beneficial on the long run. Every customer is an asset to a company. What Whittaker’s should be focusing upon is –

1. tastes and preferences
2. quality
3. quantity (gms.)
4. prices

2) Supermarkets – well, taking supermarkets in consideration, price does not turn out to be a major affecting factor. Whittaker’s in this case shall focus upon providing quality, better packaging, and tastes. The other factor shall be the having the chocolates set on the side aisles of the cash counters. It increases the sales because of temptation.

3) KFC introducing bars in their meals – well, here, quality, quantity, tastes does not affect much. Of course, there is n affect but majorly Whittaker’s shall focus upon the price that would encourage and impress KFC that they actually introduce their santé bars in their meals.

Task Five

A5.

According to the tasks one, two and three, at both consumer and business to business levels, Whittaker’s seem to be Stars, referring to the BCG matrix, out of the cash cows, stars, question marks and dogs. Well it is not a dog at all. Since it has placed itself in the market, formed a brand name in the market, this is not the stage where it is investing more and receiving less. But it is a star, according to me, as it is investing high but also receiving a high market star response with 31% of the market share of New Zealand (Academy, 2011). To become a cash cow where the investment is less n output is the maximum, Whittaker’s need to develop marketing strategies so as to achieve its marketing objectives. These strategies may be like, providing better services. Well better won’t work. So to provide the best service they can. As their grandfather initially provided a door to door service for chocolates, further they shall adopt policies to complete their corporate social responsibilities. This would improve their market reputation and goodwill. Other than these strategies, it should improve its advertising and packaging. This lays down a product label and brand name.

Well the quality is already high and the quantity too is satisfactory, but they can cut down their prices to gain more market share. Other than these implications, Whittaker’s should conduct market surveys to know the tastes and preferences to introduce more varieties and flavours of their chocolates.

Adopting these policies would be a major step towards becoming a cash cows or a leading manufacturer in the industry of chocolates.

Task Six

A6.

Well, Whittaker’s to improve their sales and bag a higher market share in the market, has to be more open to the market. This implies that, it should pay more focus on the needs, wants or rather desires of the consumers. This would be the answer for the question “what do the consumers want?”. This can be done through interactions with the public. The techniques that the company can involve in are, consumer redressal lines, surveys, interviews etc. this would help the company to receive a feedback about their chocolates and further will let the company know about the tastes and preferences of the public. Further these surveys can also get the information about the comparisons between their chocolate and other brand’s chocolates (Williams, 2012). This would in turn help Whittaker’s to take measures to improve their chocolate in whatever way the consumer would like it to be.

Task Seven

A7.

Whittaker’s market a range of 250g block, slab, Santé bar and chunk in superstore In the moulded Block Chocolate market, Whittaker’s has made a quantum jump in sale and trade sales for the brand name at the end of May 2009 were $17 million with growth of 62.7% near enough sales at the end of May 2010 to $27.6m. This is a market so as to barely grew 12.2% (Aztec Molded Block Market MAT).

Many people consider chocolate as a once in a while product, so they prefer it to be perfect. Well, the main competitor of Whittaker’s turn out to be Cadbury’s.

Cadbury shrunk its blocks by 20%, from 250g-200g. They also added the controversial ingredient, palm oil.

Following outrage from chocolate lovers, Cadbury ditched the palm oil, but kept its blocks at 200g. As a result, in 2010 the company lost its spot as the country’s most-trusted brand name to Whittaker’s (Whittaker’s).

But to completely emerge out to be the leader in the industry, Whittaker’s should be more focused on the preferences of the consumers, providing them with the best quality at reduced prices and also in several varieties of flavour. Further getting to the consumers is also a major task. This can be done through better advertising and packaging.

Task Eight

A8.

Whittaker’s have been taking measures to cope up with the obesity problems of the people or rather its customers. Well Whittaker’s have switched to the cocoa butter and moved away from using the palm oil in their chocolates. As palm oil is a type of a vegetable fat and can increase the weight of its consumers. this has formed a major factor affecting the sales of the chocolate as most chocolate consumers would prefer Whittaker’s as the rest other chocolate manufacturers stick to the use of Palm oil which is high in fat content.

This way it has majorly dealt with the issue of obesity.