Week 2.7—Pricing

The pricing is the most important aspect in the life of the product. Without it, the financial aspect of the company will have to suffer and then the product as well.

Toblerone has a well-established brand and therefore little to no promotion is organized regarding their products. However, the pricing is in direct relation with the quality of the product which means that the product is bound to be more expensive than the others. The company does not use price differentiation since there is no need for it. There are only a few products offered, all consisting on the same quality.

However, if the manufacturer makes a mistake and the product drops in quality, the price at the shelves will have to suffer as well as the quality of the brand.

Week 2.6 Services marketing

Today the service marketing means a lot and everyone is trying their best to make their products more approachable to their customers. Toblerone is no exception but since their product consists of chocolate bars there is not much services that can be offered to the customers. However, like any other company they provide customer service which may prove very helpful in different situations. The way it works is that if you, as a customer, have a complaint or an enquiry you have to fill in a form on the Toblerone’s website. (toblerone) The interesting part is that the form is categorized in different topics regarding your needs such as products, advertisement or security.

Even though the customer service is offered by Toblerone I think it should be of great value for them to create an exclusive service in which customers can get in direct contact with the employees. For example a chat box on the website that can direct them directly to one of the customer service employees would be of great value since the customer will feel than a greater interaction with the company.

The customer service of Toblerone is neither tangible nor perishable since there is not a physical service that the customer can get in contact with and the software itself does not get outdated. However, it presents variability since it presents different forms that address to different topics or problems the customer might have. Even though the service exists, it does not affect directly the product in any way since they are not linked.

On the other side, the quality of the service is very important since it can influence severely a customer perception about it. If a customer for example is satisfied that he solved the problem he was having, he will continue to buy the product since he had a good experience and Toblerone will create in an indirect way a long relationship with the customer.

If the product will be exported to a new country, the product will be advertised only to the upper middle and upper class since that is where the product’s best assets are. Also focusing on quality is important. For example, if the product were to be exported to Japan, it would be advertised as a high quality brand with a strong history behind, giving the fact that the Japanese people value the length of the brand in the market.

From the perspective of personnel, the chocolate bar is very much in relation with them because if the personel won’t be devoted to the work they are doing and passionate, the quality of the product is bound to drop, and with the drop in the quality, the same will happen to the sales. The personnel is the heart of the product and without them the product won’t be the same.  

Week 2.5 Review questions

Fort this week, a visit to several supermarkets in Netherlands was made in order to see how Toblerone is presented.  The stores visited were located in Eindhoven and the only one who had Toblerone was Jumbo. The pictures can be seen bellow.  The store is welcoming and makes a perfect atmosphere for shopping. Despite the impression of the supermarket, Toblerone, the product of interest was found in the sweets department on the bottom shelf.

The explanation for this matter is unclear since as it can be seen in the picture, the product sells, as well as in PLUS where Toblerone was sold out. However in Albert Heijn XL from Eindhoven Toblerone was situated as well on the bottom shelf, even though it was sold out. Maybe the reason of the product being sold out was the time the stores were visited since it was already late evening.

Looking at the other products, it can be observed that no own-label products are shown but the other well-known brands such as Twix or Mars have received a place on the mid shelves. For the same product, Snickers has 2 rows on the shelf but Toblerone has one for to variation of the product. However, the space offered for Toblerone seems to be bigger than the others.

Week 2.4 Distribution channels

Before we can start discussing this topic, a clear understanding of how Toblerone’s distribution channel looks like. Bellow, there is an illustration of its distribution channel:

Being a big company, Toblerone has to operate in most of the distribution functions. However, there are some distribution functions that are fulfilled through different channel members such as standardizing transactions or assorting in commercial functions through retailers.

Talking about retailers, they can heavily influence its reach to the customer and indirectly alter product image. For example, if a Mars chocolate bar is set on a mid-shelf and Toblerone on a bottom shelf, unless a person came specifically for Toblerone, would pick a Mars. Worse, another example that can be given is that a store does not have Toblerone and they only have Mars, a customer would not trouble going to another store just for a chocolate bar and it will settle for a Mars.

In conclusion, Toblerone has chosen for its product is a non-economic source of power for a channel leadership.

Week 2.3-Targeting and positioning

In order to find out about the Toblerone’s brand positioning, a number of tools will be required. The most efficient one is a questionnaire that looks as follows:

 Questionnaire for brand awareness

Name:

Mail:

1.    How often do you but chocolate bars?

a)    Whenever I want some

b)    Every day

c)    Every week

d)    Once in a while

e)    Never

2.    Name three most used by you chocolate brands

______

______

______

3.    What attributes according to you are important for the customer. Rate with values from 1(lowest) to 5?

a)    Quality

b)    Price

c)    Availability

d)    Taste/Flavor

4.    How frequently do you change your brands?

a)    Very frequently

b)    Sometimes

c)    Never

5.    How would you rate your buying experience of Toblerone?

a)    Very good

b)    Good

c)    Moderately Good

d)    Bad

e)    Very Bad

6.    What is the positioning of Toblerone in your mind?

a)    Value for money

b)    Superior quality

c)    Consistency

d)    Other______

7.    What criteria affect your buying decision of this product?

a)    Family pressures

b)    Cost of the product

c)    Quality of the product

d)    Taste of the product

8.    How did you come to know about Toblerone?

a)    Through stores

b)    Through website

c)    From family or friends

d)    Other_____

9.    How has been the experience with the usage of the product?

a)    Extremely satisfactory

b)    Satisfactory

c)    Unsatisfied

d)    Extremely unsatisfied

 After the questioner was made, an interview with three people was established. The first person was my mother, Carmen Pena, and after two of my friends Jochen Lammers and Yavar Husseinzade. The interview was based on the questions above and some were elaborated a bit in the discussion. After the data from the interview was collected, the perceptual map established can be seen bellow along with other 2 popular brands.

   

2.2 Segmenting markets

Toblerone is gathering more and more admirers every day with similar traits. This fact is happening due to a very important factor called segmentation. Segmentation has helped a lot of companies select who are they targeting their products to, to which groups of people.

Toblerone has made use of this factor and it has implemented multivariable segmentation focusing on behavioristic and demographic variables. To be more specific, regarding behavioristic variables, they are making use of brand loyalty. Toblerone is one of the oldest chocolate bar companies with a rich history. Because it appeals to such a large group of people who are loyal to the brand, Toblerone is taking advantage of this. For example, in November 2016 Toblerone has changed the weight of their chocolate bars by making more space between the triangles which annoyed a lot of their fans (BBC). This change has brought at some point more attention to Toblerone than the actual elections in the United States which has brought Toblerone a lot of free exposure. If the fans weren’t so loyal to the brand, the change would have been a minor one and not so many people would care about it.

On the other hand, regarding demographic variables, Toblerone is targeting all the group ages and upper middle and upper class people. This type of segmentation has brought Toblerone a title of luxury chocolate bar, Toblerone stating that they have the aim of producing a chocolate of a high quality.

Regarding the positioning strategy, quality positioning is what Toblerone is currently using. (smallbusiness.com) Because of their patented product of the first chocolate bar that used honey and almonds and their reputation in the past, Toblerone is still striving to achieve that value. Toblerone has remained true to their original recipe and that is why it is so valued nowadays.

The basic conditions for effective segmentation are measurable in terms of purchasing power and profiles, actionable which means that it has to be able to serve and attract the segments, accessible which means that it has to be easily reached and served, substantial which relates to the product being large or profitable enough to serve and finally differential which refers to the product being distinguishable.

Looking at the basic conditions for effective segmentation it can be observed that Toblerone’s products covers all the aspects. For example, the conditions are met when a customer buys a Toblerone chocolate bar from the airport. In this way, it can be seen that the product is actionable, serves the need of the customer of having something sweet for the family or for himself, accessible because it can be picked on his way from any duty free shop at the airport, and differential due to its unique formula. On the other side, the product is substantial since it can be found almost anywhere in the world and measurable since it is known by whom is bought usually due to observing patterns in what class of people usually buy the product.

Review Questions 2.1

Week 2.1- Marketing Research

Toblerone needs to adapt and find he actual trends and behaviours of their customers. And for that, they can choose a data form one of the data collection brands.

First, The Nielsen retail panel includes continuous data about household’s purchases. Households include demographic variables, geographic variables and product ownership variables. Mondelez can buy data about the geographic variables. This will help Mondelez see if other regions are more responsive than the others and it will be able to adapt Toblerone to that specific market. (nielsen)

Another brand that deals with this matter is GFK. GFK is a brand that collects data about trends and customer behavior from all over the world.The best data that GFK could generate is the POS(Point of Sales) that can help Toblerone see where their products are sold, to what retailers, when and at what price. Again, this will help them generate a better strategy in order to sell their products more efficiently. If different regions of the world perceive Toblerone differently, like for example a luxury product, they will shift toward a cheaper one or it will have more success. This is why, a POs is needed, to see how the customers perceive the chocolate bar. (GFK)

In order to make a research for Toblerone, a questioner can be done, which will look as follows:

1.Do you like Toblerone?

__Very much

__So and So

__Not really

__Not at all

2. How many times do you buy Toblerone?

__Once a day

__2-3 times a week

__Once a week

__On special occasions

3. Where do you buy Toblerone from?

__ A local store

__ A supermarket

4. What do you like about Toblerone?

5. What you don’t like about Toblerone?

6. Rate from 1 to 5 (1 being the lowest) the following aspects.

     a.Taste_                              d.The brand__

     b. Sweetness_                    e. Packaging/ shape__

     c. Price_                              f. Ingredients/ flavours__

7.Do you prefer other brands of chocolate bars? If yes which?

8. If the answer to the question above was yes, what do you like about that specific brand? If you answered no, what points of improvement you have for Toblerone?

9.Is there anything that you feel Toblerone is lacking?

10. Do you think that the preset choices available in chocolate bars are costly? If yes, what will be an ideal price range?

11. Would you prefer to switch to chocolates of another brand if it is cheaper than your preferred brand without any change in quality and taste?

12. Do continue eating chocolates of a company if it has some controversy in market or do you lose trust?

The downside of a questioneer is that the research is made on a sample of the total population which does not represent the total population.

Bibliography

GFK. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.gfk.com: http://www.gfk.com/

nielsen. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.nielsen.com: http://www.nielsen.com/ssa/en/solutions/measurement/retail-measurement.html