Mlabbe MKT205_Project

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Southern New Hampshire University *

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Marketing

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Feb 20, 2024

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1 MKT 205 Project Melissa Labbe Southern New Hampshire University MKT 205: Applied Marketing Strategies Aaron Nielsen October 15, 2022

2 PRODUCT Gourmet truffles with fruit, herb, and flower extract infusions PERSONA Louis, 68 DEMOGRAPHICS Location: Louis, 68, lives in an upper-middle-class neighborhood in Elk Grove Village, IL, with his wife. Louis owns a five-bedroom colonial-style single-family home. The current average home value in the neighborhood is around 450-500k. Marital Status: Louis has been married for 42 years to Janet, his college sweetheart. Together they have five adult children aged 31-40, 3boys, two girls, and 1 set of boy/girl twins. In addition, they have eight grandchildren aged 1-13 years old. Occupation and Income: Recently retired (in the last year) after working for 25 years as a computer programmer, managing an IT department at a logistics company. He was making about 180k when he retired with a 401k valued at about 750,000, plus he has other retirement funds to draw from, making his total net worth, not including the home value, right at 1 million dollars. Education Level: Two college degrees, a bachelor's in Education and another bachelor's in computer programming, earned in his early 30s when he wanted a career change. PSYCHOGRAPHICS Hobbies and Interests: Louis loves trying new wines and has recently been branching out into bourbon. His sons' love to share their newest finds with him. Louis also enjoys traveling, especially to Europe, and like many baby boomers, Loius looks forward to experiencing new adventures with his wife now that the kids have all moved out of the house. (Coleman, et.al, 2006 ) Louis has always been fairly active and enjoys playing soccer in the backyard with his grandchildren. Louis also enjoys reading news articles online and one of his favorite websites is consumer reports. Wants and Preferences: Louis loves to snack, he is especially fond of dark chocolate, which has the added benefit of anti-oxidants that prevent heart disease and hypertension. He has begun adding supplements to his diet as he wants to "stay young" as long as he can. (Palmer, 2010) He

3 doesn't mind health foods and tries to purchase organic and preservative-free foods when he can, he and his wife are largely influenced by his adult children on this aspect. Personal and Professional Goals: Louis has recently retired, and is looking forward to more traveling with his wife Janet and also spending time with their adult children and growing number of grandchildren. He also volunteers at the local library teaching computer and email classes to other retirees. Shopping Habits and Preferences: Louis is pretty adept at ordering products online, he is an early adopter of amazon-shopping and remembers when they just sold books and cds, But, ultimately, he really prefers shopping in person at small local shops, despite how many times his wife drags him into Target. Lifestyle: Louis likes to consider him-self a young grandparent, who still leads his own fulfilling life with his wife. At this point in his life, he has had a successful career that he worked hard to get, and feels that it is time for he and his wife to start enjoying themselves, they feel secure in their income level and do not shy away from spoiling each other and the ones they love. PROMOTION FIRST MARKETING CHANNEL Description of first marketing channel: My first marketing communication channel will be in- person events, targeting wineries and local shops or high end speciality grocery stores, like, whole foods for example. Samples of the truffles will be available and coupon codes if consumers want to provide their email addresses. With booths at in-person events we can also promote the health benefits of dark chocolate and antioxidants from the fruit extracts. Why this channel is appropriate for this persona: Because our target market enjoys shopping in person, we feel it will be effective to showcase our product this way. The consumer will be able to see, taste and touch the product. It will also integrate our second market channel as well by collecting email addresses of the consumer. SECOND MARKETING CHANNEL Description of second marketing channel: Our second marketing channel will be email. By promoting our product at grocery stores, like Whole Foods, we can be advertised in their promotional emails as well. Most shoppers use their loyalty cards/accounts when shopping and we can collect data that way, since emails are typically provided when signing up at stores.

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4 Why this channel is appropriate for this persona: This channel is appropriate for my persona because Louis as well as most baby boomers checks email daily email either through work or a personal accounts and regularly check his email. We can use email to offer discounts on purchases or to highlight special events and holidays that many consumers like Louis may be looking for a special gift for some one they love. PRICE PRICING FACTOR: TARGET-MARKET PRICE SENSITIVITY Target-market price sensitivity: Target-market price sensitivity is used when the fact of whether or not the consumer can afford the product is taken into consideration. While this can be used in setting lower prices for less expensive products, in the case of or Enchanted Chocolate Bliss Truffles our persona Louis can afford a premium price and is willing to pay it for high quality products. Louis values luxury and prestige and will pay for that premium for both himself and also as gifts for friends and family. How pricing factor is used to determine pricing: For our target market, the affluent baby boomer, target-market price sensitivity is the the right approach. After thoroughly analyzing and researching the market, focusing on net worth and buying patterns, it is obvious that this market values sophistication and prestige. Our Enchanted Chocolate Bliss Truffles, with the fruit, herb and flower extract infusions, will be the perfect fit and this market will be willing to pay for this delicious and sophisticated treat. PRICING STRATEGY: PREMIUM General advantages and drawbacks of premium pricing strategy: The premium pricing strategy falls at the top right of the pricing quadrant, by having premium pricing the product will make a name for itself establishing a premium brand identity. This strategy also can produce premium profits. Despite these benefits, there are downfalls including higher production costs associated with having a premium hard to duplicate product. (Soomo, 2022) Specific advantages and drawbacks of premium pricing strategy: The advantages of premium pricing for my target person related the Enchanted Bliss Truffles is the prestige associated with a high-end, unique, gourmet product. Louis loves to spoil not only his wife and his adult children and but also himself. By establishing Chocolate Bliss's new product as a prestige brand, we can assure that Enchanted Bliss truffles will be in the forefront of the wealthy baby boomers mind when they are craving something decadent for themselves or those they love. The disadvantage could be that there are high costs with making and promoting such a unique and

5 quality product, for example sourcing the extracts and quality chocolate could become expensive. PLACE CHANGES IN THE MARKETPLACE Change in the marketplace: I would like to explore whether or not Covid-19 has continued to affect shopping habits of wealthy baby-boomers over 2 years into the pandemic. How the change addresses the distribution of products to my persona: While some baby- boomers are pivoting to more online shopping, overall the majority of baby-boomers shopping habits haven't changed much. "Typically, older generations tend to be laggards in the adoption of new technologies. This has been the case with boomers and e-commerce, specifically on categories such as groceries or fashion. Despite current increases in adoption of online grocery shopping due to the outbreak, only 22% of boomers are shopping less in-store and just 8% are shopping more frequently online." ( Covid-19 is affecting everyone's shopping behavior differently, 2022) DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL Potential distribution channel and why it is appropriate for my product and persona: For my chosen persona wealthy baby-boomer, Louis, the best distribution channel for my product would be retail. Louis enjoys shopping in small local speciality shops for gifts for family and friends, he also enjoys treating himself. By utilizing retail for the Enchanted Bliss Truffles, we will be out in the open for holiday shopping and many consumer will see our brand and product. Our chosen market and persona is is still primarily doing the majority of their shopping in person, even in the ongoing pandemic. Having our product in retail locations will be convenient and will also provide instant gratification of the purchase. No waiting for an online shipment and the uncertainty of depending on it arriving in time for a special event or holiday. PRODUCT How product should be marketed in relation to meeting the needs and wants of my persona: Enchanted Bliss Chocolate Truffles with fruit, herb, and flower extract infusions should be marketed in person in small specialty shops as well at upscale locations such as wine vineyards. This marketing strategy meets the need of my persona Louis because he more apt to shop in person in the small local shops of his upscale community. Shopping in person is more comfortable for Louis as he likes to see what he is getting before he buys it. He is always on the look out for gifts for his wife, who he loves spoiling. When Louis is traveling with his wife they

6 love to sample exquisite treats and bring them home for their friends and family to try, so by marketing in upscale locations Chocolate Bliss will reach their target market. How bringing this product to the marketplace helps support and build the Chocolate Bliss brand: By expanding their market offerings into a speciality category such as luxury gourmet chocolates the Chocolate Bliss brand will continue to draw the attention of chocolate connoisseurs who look to Chocolate Bliss to fill their need for delicious gourmet treats. By introducing their truffles into stores that cater the higher income shoppers Chocolate Bliss will set themselves apart from their major competitors in the market, such as Ghirardelli, which can be found in many big box stores such as Walmart, Target and also drugstores. This gourmet division of Chocolate Bliss will set them apart from the "common" chocolate producer and needs to be marketed as such. EVALUATION How to evaluate the effectiveness of the marketing plan: In order to evaluate how effective the Chocolate Bliss marketing plan is, we will want to use the SWOT analysis, as well as the quantitative and qualitative data collected. Two quantitative data collection tools I could use to evaluate the marketing plan: The first quantitative data collection tool that Chocolate Bliss could use is quantitative surveys. Using surveys will help to gather a large amount of information in a short period of time. The type of data gathered could vary based on the questions being asked in the survey. For example, if we were wanting to focus on giving our truffles as holiday gifts, we could tailor the questions accordingly. This quantitative survey will be comprised of mainly yes or no answers and a rating scale system, this will be helpful in processing the data efficiently. The survey will also collect demographic info that will be used to determine if our marketing plan is reaching our chosen target market. Because of the concern of the Covid-19 pandemic, we would conduct this survey via email, using the email addresses collected at time of sale via customer loyalty cards, or by including a link to a survey on our product boxes. The second quantitative date collect method that I feel would be useful is experiments, specifically, blind taste tests. At the in-person marketing events, Chocolate Bliss could set up taste tests where the consumers can sample and compare our product, the gourmet Enchanted Bliss truffles, with our competitors products. We can use the data that is collected this way to measure how Chocolate Bliss stands in regards to our competition in the marketplace. Two qualitative data collection tools I could use to evaluate the marketing plan:

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7 Focus groups would be the first qualitative data collection tool we could use. By using focus groups of 8-10 people, lead by a moderator. The people chosen for the focus groups would be current and potential customers, and they would discuss how they feel about the Chocolate Bliss brand. By listening to consumers ideas and recommendations, we can look at how we are impacting the market and where there is room for improvement. The second qualitative data collection tool would be longitudinal studies. Studying and analyzing variables over a period of time, such as a few months up to a few years, will help Chocolate Bliss understand buying trends and forecasting sales.

8 REFERENCES Boomers Consume Snacks 20% More Often Than Millennials. (2016). Nutraceuticals World , 19 (3), 16. Coleman, L., Hladikova, M. & Savelyeva, M. The baby boomer market. J Target Meas Anal Mark 14 , 191–209 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jt.5740181 Covid-19 is affecting everyone's shopping behavior differently . COVID-19 is affecting everyone's shopping behavior differently. (n.d.). Retrieved October 1, 2022, from https://www.contentserv.com/blog/covid-19-is-affecting-everyones-shopping-behavior- differently New Strategist Publications, I. (2012). Older Americans : A Changing Market: Vol. 7th ed . New Strategist Publications, Inc. Palmer, S. (2010). Antioxidant Appeal — Boomers Turn to Supplements and Foods to Fight Aging and Disease. Today's Dietitian , 12 (4), 9. Tanner, J., & Raymond, M. A. (2020). Applied marketing strategies. Soomo Learning.

9 U.S. Census Bureau quickfacts: United States . (n.d.). Retrieved September 5, 2022, from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/US Williams, K. C., & Page, R. A. (2011). Marketing to the generations. Journal of behavioral studies in business , 3 (1), 37-53.

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