Fast Food Company’s Segmentation and Product Positioning
Introduction
People are getting busier as time goes on, having less time to prepare homemade food for lunch and or eat while at restaurants. Thus, they opt to buy packed ready-to-eat foods from fast food distribution centers. Even though there is an immense competition arising from the large number of businesses targeting this lucrative industry, initiating a company within this industry has magnificent chances of success. In this paper, a fictious company producing and distributing fast foods is discussed in terms of the company’s background, market segmentation, and product positioning.
Company Background
The fictious company is based in Texas. The main products are beef and chicken burgers with additions such as fruits and vegetables. The CEO, whose main obligation is acting as the visionary leader for the company, especially in guiding it in its endeavors to expand into the foreign markets, heads the company. The company views the employees as the most important resources it has for fostering its achievements of visions, goals, missions, and objectives. Consequently, the company’s endeavor is to make sure that all the employees consider the company as the best place to work among all other fast-food companies. The mission of the company is to be the paramount means of delivering outstanding service and quality in the fast-food industry in terms of speed, value for the consumers’ money, cleanness, and dietary values. This happens in a manner that prompts all first-time customers to consider another experience with the company in the future while also giving them a chance to come back.
Although the place of establishment of the company in Texas, the company will have branches across several states in America coupled with the exploration of opportunities for expanding to foreign nations such as India and China. These two foreign markets are found essential since they have a number of traits that may help the company establish a reliable market share. India and China have a high population of people. The rationale behind using this trait as an essential factor to consider when seeking to exploit this market is based on the argument that the larger the population of the target market, the higher the units sold to that market (Simon, 2007, p.125). Nevertheless, a high population does not imply that the target population has the buying capacity of a company’s products. However, for the case of India and China, the two are emerging economies. This implies that consumers’ spending is on the hike. Additionally, for the consumers to spend more, it means that the economy is growing at a rapid pace so that all citizens are getting busier. Hence, they have a limited time for preparing take away foods to their workplaces. This opportunity forms another rationale for focusing on India and China as foreign markets for placing the company products.
Market plan
After determining the products to be offered to the market, it is crucial to develop a marketing plan for the company. Marketing plans encompass a “comprehensive blueprint, which outlines an organization’s overall marketing efforts” (Yelkur, 2000, p.107). The process of marketing is realized through the marketing mix. Ideally, marketing plans clearly spell all the strategies related to the performance of the targeted markets. This means that investors can use them to evaluate their investment decisions in a company. Arguably, at the inception of any business, financial statements are not available since the firm may not have practically traded. Therefore, the only way that entrepreneurs seeking value for their hard-earned money it to base the levels of risks that are likely to be encountered through financing a new company on the appropriateness and attractiveness of the marketing plans. Based on this rationale, the target audiences of the company’s marketing plan are the interested investors who would make the idea of building the company a reality. The main need of this audience is to earn incomes out of their decision to investment in the company. Consequently, the main concern is the extent of the profitability of the company. Apparently, the success of a company is dependent on the manner in which it segments its market, as well as how it positions its products.
Market segmentation and target segment
Market segmentation forms the basis for determining the target segment coupled with engineering the mechanisms of positioning the products of a company. It refers to “aggregating of prospective buyers into groups that have common needs and will respond similarly to a marketing action” (Gordon, 1999, p.54). The segment needs to be homogeneous, distinct, and reactive in a similar way to marketing actions. For the fictious company, segmentation is done based on age and geographical location. The rationale for this segmentation is articulated to the fact that people have different preferences based on their culture and demographic factors such as age. Due to the concerns of obesity associated with fast foods among the adolescents (Daily Caller, 2010, Para.3), age is an important segmentation criterion since fast foods meant for this segment have other dietary inclusions such as fruits and vegetables. Based on age, the market target for the products is adolescents and young people. The rationale for the choice of this target group is based on the findings that these are the groups, which consume large volumes of fast foods (Washi, Maha & Ageib, 2010, p.306). Based on geographical location, the target market is the American people and Chinese people falling in the above specified target market segmented on the age basis. The rationale for this is that Americans are accustomed to beef burgers while Chinese prefer chicken to beef.
SWOT analysis
Any business encounters a myriad of challenges and opportunities in its operations. To determine how the management needs to respond to such situations, it is critical that SWOT analysis of a firm be conducted. In the acronym, S refers to the strengths, W stands for weakness, O for opportunities, and T refers to threats. The utmost goal of any business seeking to deal proactively with dynamics of the business environment is to capitalize on opportunities and strengths while directing its strategic plans to minimization of the impacts of the firm’s weaknesses and threats (Simon, 2007, p.124). For the case of the fictious company, it operates in an industry dominated by large consumption of fast foods. One of the strengths of the company is that it targets the group that consumes fast foods most. Additionally, this group of people hardly develops rigid product loyalties since it keeps on trying new tastes. Therefore, the selection of the target segment is one of the most vital strengths of the company. Furthermore, the employees of the company are committed to quality and cleanness in the outlets’ premises. This goes far in aiding to attract new and the existing consumers. However, the company has a weakness in the sense that the products offered are not 100 percent organic. This means that concerns of problems associated with fasts foods such as obesity and chronic illness such as high blood pressure and diabetes would still plague the company. The introduction of the healthier foods such as vegetables and fruits as part of the fast foods packages acts as an immense opportunity for the company. Amid this opportunity, the company has a major threat since it is anticipated to face immense competition from other fast foods outlets such as McDonald who have also shifted towards offering healthier foods such as hamburgers containing minimal calories levels.
Product positioning
In the derivation of a marketing plan, product positioning is critical. It encompasses “the art of matching one’s marketing with the desires, feelings, and beliefs of the particular type of customer that you know you can service better than anybody else” (Yelkur, 2000, p.109). In this perspective, since the company offers fast foods with central consideration of dietary concerns among the target segment, the customers will feel that their feelings and worries about excessive weight associated with challenges such obesity are taken care of. This makes the products of the company well positioned in the market.
Conclusion/Justification for the market plan
Across the globe, there has been an immense growth of the consumption of fast foods. One of the reasons behind this enormous growth is attributed to the increase in the number of people having access to media adverts depicting the consumption of fast foods as an indication of status (Washi, Maha & Ageib, 2010, p.312). Fast foods also provide immense convenience to their consumers since they do not have to spend time cooking or eating at the restaurants. Amid the health concerns due to consumption of fast foods, the industry will continue to be profitable particularly when the current products are redesigned to become healthier (Schlosser, 2007, p.93). Since the products offered by the fictious company are healthier, the market plan is viable.
Reference List
Daily Caller. (2010). Fast-food restaurants target children as main audience. Web.
Gordon, I. (1999). Relationship Marketing: New Strategies, Techniques and Technologies to Win the Customers You Want and Keep Them Forever. New York: John Wiley and Sons Publishers.
Schlosser, E. (2007). Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Simon, H. (2007). Rational decision making in business organizations. American Economic Review, 3(4), 123-129.
Washi, A., Maha, B., & Ageib, S. (2010). Poor diet quality and food habits are related to impaired nutritional status in 13- to 18-year-old adolescents in Jeddah. Nutrition Research, 30(8), 305-327.
Yelkur, R. (2000). Customer satisfaction and service marketing mix. Journal of professional services marketing, 21(1), 105-115.