Executive Summary
Jolly Ranchers is a confectionary firm in the United States that operates in a highly competitive industry. In this study, the researcher looked at the marketing mix elements of this company, the market penetration approach it should use, and brand analysis and recommendations. The paper looked at SWOT analysis for the organization. The study shows that Jolly Ranchers has the potential to increase its market share, but only if it follows the recommendations given in this paper.
Product
Jolly Rancher offers a variety of products, which include sweets, candy, fruit chews, gummies, jelly beans, gelatin desserts, lollipops, sodas, and gums (Leavitt 23). However, the brand is particularly known for its hard candy, which is the main product category. The company appreciates the fact that the market has various types of candies targeting different segments of the market. It has used differentiation as a way of making its products unique on the market. The firm produces sweet/sour hard candy, a flavor that was developed after extensive market research. The product’s primary target consumers are young adults aged between 18 to 29 years.
It has developed a wide product line to ensure that it can meet the needs of children, the middle-aged members of the society, and the elderly. Its ice cream primarily targets adolescents and young children. Jolly Rancher’s chocolate is popular among women of varying ages, including young girls. Having a broad product line enables this organization to have a wide market. It makes it easy to compete favorably against substitute products on the market (Baker 21). In each line of products, the firm has different tastes and flavors. For instance, the gummies and lollipops come in different tastes, with each targeting different segments of the market. It is important to note that the company has been committed to continuous innovation to ensure that these products meet health and safety standards, and they do not pose any health-related threats to regular users.
Price
Pricing is one of the most important marketing mix elements that management units of a firm should be careful about because of the psychological factors on the market. When products are priced highly, customers tend to consider them to be of a high value even they are not. However, it may not be an alternative for a shopper keen on selecting price-friendly products. On the other hand, products with low prices are considered to be of poor quality even if that is not the case (Leavitt 28). Jolly Ranchers uses premium pricing for its products on the market as a means of emphasizing the high quality it offers to its customers. Jolly Rancher’s 3 lb candy assortments go for $ 8.98 at Wal-Mart. Starburst Original Fruit offers the same product at $ 8.23 while Life Savers offer the product at $ 6.98. When pricing its products at a premium, this firm has ensured that its products are not the most expensive on the market. Werther’s Original offer the same product at $ 9.48, which is significantly above that offered by Jolly Ranchers
Distribution Channels
According to Tavana, one of the most important activities in the supply chain management is to ensure that products are delivered to the final consumers in time and the right quality and quantity (16). Jolly Rancher’s products are consumed all over the United States. It means that once they are manufactured at the company’s production plant, it must be made available to customers in the national market. It uses intermediaries (wholesalers and retailers) to link itself (the producer) with the consumers. The nature of the products of this firm makes it almost impossible for it to sell directly to the final consumers. Wal-Mart is one of the leading distributors of the firm’s products. The products are also available at Costco, the Kroger, and the Home Depot. A significant amount of these products are also sold at Amazon.com and many other online retailers in the country such as JD.com, Best Buy, and the Gap among others. Jolly Ranchers has large trucks that it uses to deliver the products to the wholesalers and retailers all over the country. In an effort to ensure that it cuts its costs of warehousing, the company has been manufacturing products based on market demands.
Point of Sale Merchandising
Point of sale merchandising is an effective strategy that enables a firm to increase the sale of its products in a store, especially those that are not moving as fast as would be expected. Jolly Ranchers often uses point of sale merchandising to promote sales of its products, especially when it is introducing a new product. Shelf-management is the most common strategy used by this organization. Under this strategy, the firm hires sales representatives to promote the sales of these products in popular supermarkets across the country.
Promotion
Jolly Ranchers is a popular brand on the market because of its promotional campaign activities. The firm spends a significant amount of financial resources to strengthen its brand in the national market. In the past, mass media was the most effective platform that enabled it to reach its customers with promotional messages. However, the company is shifting from mass to social media. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are currently the most popular platforms that it uses to reach out to its targeted customers. The advertisements are meant to strengthen the brand and to inform customers of the regular improvements of the products of the entity.
Sales Promotion
The firm has been using various sales promotion strategies to increase its rate of stock turnover. The increased display is one of the strategies that this firm has been using. It sponsors various television and radio programs that target teens. Other than increasing the awareness of the brand and its products, the company also uses other sales promotion strategies such as prizes and rebates to attract more customers to its products.
Jolly Ranchers’ Focus
According to Leavitt, the United States has over 100 companies that offer a wide variety of candies to the locals (38). Jolly Ranchers is one of the leading companies in the confectionery industry. However, it is not among the top five leading companies in this industry. As such, its focus has always been to increase awareness of the brand as a means of increasing sales. The firm uses various promotional strategies to ensure that its brand gains popularity. Although the company has registered impressive growth in the local market, it has avoided attempts to globalize its operations. It is interested in exploiting local market opportunities.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
- One of the leading producers of candies in the United States market
- A strong brand that has been able to convince customers that it offers premium products
- A unique ability to attract customers of different demographical factors (age, gender, and social class).
Weaknesses
- A wide range of product line that limits the company’s focus to a specific market
- The brand is not the most valuable in the industry as there exist other superior brands
- The inability of the company to explore regional market which can help increase the revenue flow
Opportunities
- Emerging technologies have improved production, transport, sales, and marketing activities within the industry.
- The increasing popularity of candies in the United States means that the size of the market is expanding.
- The increasing population in the United States offers firms in this industry to expand their market share.
Threats
- Stiff competition on the market limits the firm’s capacity to enjoy significant market growth in the country
- The existence of numerous substitutes means that sometimes clients may opt not to purchase products offered by this company.
Market Penetration
The confectionery industry is one of the most competitive and most developed in the United States (Neubert and Lesniak 48). Candies are very popular, especially among children and young adults. The popularity of these products has attracted many companies into the industry. Jolly Ranchers finds itself in a position where it has to fight for survival on the market. Market penetration is the best strategy that this company should focus on given that it has chosen to concentrate in the United States market. As Baker observes, a firm must appreciate that the dynamics on the market crates instances where a firm constantly loses a small segment of its market share (53). The loss is caused by people who emigrate, change their tastes, or stop using the products for various reasons. The only way of protecting the market share is to constantly acquire new ones as efforts are made to minimize the loss of the current clients. Jolly Ranchers must find effective strategies for increasing its pool of loyal customers.
Brand Analysis and Recommendations
Jolly Ranchers is one of the leading brands in the confectionery industry. Its candies are very popular among children and young adults in the United States. However, it is worth noting that the brand is not the strongest on the market. Other stronger brands exist that enjoy a bigger market share than Jolly Ranchers. The marketing team has its work defined, based on the above analysis. The team should strengthen the brand of these products on the market to help it in increasing its market share. The following recommendations should be considered by this firm as it seeks to gain dominance in this competitive industry.
Recommendation 1: Use of Social Media to Promote Brand and Products
The analysis shows that Jolly Ranchers has very strong competitors on the market, and as such, it will need effective strategies to gain dominance. Tavana says that one of the best ways of strengthening a brand is to advertise (81). For a long time, the company has been using mass media to advertise its products. However, that may need to change when the trends on the market keep changing. The firm will need to spend more resources on social media marketing than that used in mass media. Kim and Mauborgne say that majority of the teenagers and over 97% of the young adults in the United States visit different social media platforms every day (35). Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are the most popular channels among the target group. The firm will need to find ways of developing promotional campaigns on these platforms to reach out to these customers.
Facebook should be given priority when spending on social media marketing. This is specifically so because of its popularity as a social networking site among teenagers and young adults. It has the highest number of regular users of all the social media networks (Neubert and Lesniak 59). YouTube should be given the second priority. Many people often visit this site to share videos for the purpose of entertainment. Twitter should not be ignored because it also has a substantial following, especially among the working-class Americans (Mosca and Gallo 56). When promoting the brand and products using social media, mass media should not be ignored. Ideally, the amount of money spent on YouTube should be as much spent on television commercials. The radio programs that this firm is currently sponsoring will also strengthen its brand on the market.
Recommendation 2: Maintaining Customer Relationship
In the current competitive marketplace, Baker says that it is very easy to lose a customer to a competitor (62). It takes time and resources to create a pool of loyal customers. Therefore, it is important for the marketing manager at Jolly Ranchers to ensure that once these customers are created, they can be retained within the firm. That can only happen through improved customer relations. Currently, the customer relations manager and her team are primarily focused on addressing complaints and issues raised by customers. The department has been doing good work to ensure that issues raised by the clients are addressed within the shortest time possible with the aim of meeting the expectations of customers. However, Tavana warns that not all customers who are dissatisfied take time to register their complaints (27).
A significant number of such customers often prefer seeking alternatives without stating to the previous company the problems they encountered. It means that when using the current reactive approach to managing the customer relationship, it is possible that this firm may lose some of its loyal customers. It is, therefore, necessary to embrace proactive practices when managing the relationship. Such an approach should emphasize the need to engage customers whether they register complaints or not. Using emerging technologies, the firm should create a platform where it can get regular feedback from the customers. It will enable it to understand areas where it is performing well and issues that it should address. When a complaint is registered, the customer relations team should contact the relevant departments as soon as possible and ensure that corrective measures are taken. It should be of interest to this department to ensure that customers are always happy after making their purchases.
Recommendation 3: Constantly Improve Competence of the SalesForce
According to Kim and Mauborgne, employees are the most important resource that an organization can use to achieve its goals (36). New technologies keep bringing new machines that can replace a human resource, but these organizations still find it critical to have people operating these machines or doing other tasks that cannot be done by the machines. The sales representatives play a critical role not only in promoting the products but also the brand of the company on the market. They are the ambassadors of the brand, constantly engaging with the customers.
These employees need to be equipped with relevant skills that can enable them to deliver expected outcomes in the assignments given to them. Tastes and preferences are always changing on the market. The trends also change. Sales representatives need to understand these changes and to adjust accordingly. They should be taken through regular training to sharpen their skills. Every time a new trend emerges on the market, they should be equipped with the relevant knowledge. When this firm introduces a new product, the sales team must be informed of the changes so that they can be informative to the clients on the market (Mosca and Gallo 31). The strategy of empowering the employees will help in improving their performance on the market.
Conclusion
Jolly Ranchers is one of the major sweet brands in the United States. The company offers a wide range of products, from candies and gummies to jelly beans, gums, fruit chews, and lollipops among others. The analysis shows that although the firm’s current performance is satisfactory, it is necessary to find ways of managing market competition. The market has other dominant brands known widely to offer similar products. The organization will need to be innovative to improve its marketing mix. It will need to find ways of lowering its cost of production while at the same time increasing the value of its product. The study also suggests that the company needs to strengthen its brand on the market. Using social and mass media marketing, the marketing department should ensure that the brand is known to the targeted customer as one that offers superior value to other firms.
Works Cited
Baker, Michael. Marketing Strategy and Management. Macmillan Education, 2014.
Kim, Cham, and Renée Mauborgne. Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant. Harvard Business Review Press, 2015.
Leavitt, Loralee. Candy Experiments. Andrews McMeel Publishers, 2012.
Mosca, Fabrizio, and Rosalia Gallo. Global Marketing Strategies for the Promotion of Luxury Goods. Springer, 2016.
Neubert, Michael, and Myrna Lesniak. Global Market Strategies: How to Turn Your Company into a Successful International Enterprise. Campus Verlag GmbH, 2013.
Tavana, Madjid. Developing Business Strategies and Identifying Risk Factors in Modern Organizations. Business Science Reference, 2014.