Marketing вЂ" Kudler Fine Foods

Executive Summary

This report reviews Kudler Fine Foods interest in expanding its services by adding a catering service in addition to the in-store parties that it currently offers. Because of the company’s interest to expand into catering, its market research and the kinds of opportunities Kudler has in its marketing mix (the 4 P’s) will be examined. The company currently has two market researches that don’t give enough information needed to help consider opening a catering business. The four P’s consists of product, price, place and promotions. These four controlling factors are tools that Kudler can use to market and take action for high-margin items and services.

Kudler’s use of technology is very limited in their use. The company has problems with their information technology, “which involves a computer and a communication system to satisfy an organization’s needs for data storage, processing and access. Current information about products, competitors, and customers is almost always accessed and analyzed by computer.” (Kerin, Hartley, Berkowitz, & Rudelius, 2006, p222) Thus, the company needs to make changes in their information technology.

In order for Kudler to be successful in their new catering services, issues in their marketing program needs to be addressed.

Table of Contents

Introduction 4

Relative Value of Market Research 4

Kudler’s Marketing Mix вЂ" The 4 P’s 5

Product 5

Price 6

Place 6

Promotion 7

Kudler’s Use of Technology 8

Impact Using Local Organic Growers 8

Conclusion 8

References 10

Introduction

This report reviews Kudler Fine Foods interest in expanding its services by adding a catering service in addition to the in-store parties that it currently offers. Because of the company’s interest to expand into catering, its market research and the kinds of opportunities Kudler has in its marketing mix (the 4 P’s) will be examined. In addition, how Kudler’s use of technology will be affected by its target market and how its use of local organic growers will affect its catering services will both be analyzed. For the company to be successful in its new endeavors, a solid sales and marketing plan needs to be in place to accomplish the organization’s objectives of “new customer focused programs, leveraging customer information to support sales growth of existing customers, initiate targeted activities to recruit high-profit new customers, and support operational cost-cutting efforts taking place company-wide” (University of Phoenix, 2004).

Relative Value of Market Research

Kudler currently possesses two pieces of market research. They are survey results for 2006 and 2007 in which they ask a total of nine questions using the Likert scale. A Likert scale is a type of survey where “the respondent indicates the extent to which he or she agrees or disagrees with a statement” (Kerin, Hartley, Berkowitz, & Rudelius, 2006, p219). The questionnaire focused specifically on the stores hours, dÐ"©cor, selection of products, pricing, displays, customer service knowledge and courtesies, and overall satisfaction of the shopping experience. There are a few things that the survey revealed. First, most of the respondents felt the store atmosphere and dÐ"©cor was appealing. Secondly, there was a good selection of products and good value for their money. Lastly, most of the customers were overall satisfied with the store. Because of the improved responses from 2006 to 2007, Kudler may have a reputation as a store that provides a great selection of products at reasonable prices. Unfortunately, the questionnaire isn’t an effective marketing tool to help establish a good marketing plan to for a new catering service. The surveys didn’t provide the demographics of the respondents, ask open ended questions for personalized answers or opinions of current or new services that could or would be provided.

Kudler’s Marketing Mix вЂ" The 4 P’s

Kudler’s decision to consider adding a catering service starts with identifying a specific group of potential customers that they can focus their marketing program on, also called their target market. One of Kudlers’ goals is to “increase the consumption of high-margin items among existing customers and to build awareness, trial, and regular shopping among new customers” (Phoenix, 2004). To market and take action for these high-margin items and services, Kudler will be using a combination of four tools or factors, called the four Ps, which are the elements of a marketing mix. These controllable factors are product, price, place, and promotion.

Product

Product is “a good, service, or idea to satisfy the consumer’s needs” (Kerin, Hartley, Berkowitz, & Rudelius, 2006, p14). Kudler realizes their target market for the catering business will be high-income consumers. They tend to enjoy more specialty food items and beverages than the average consumer, thus an increase for the high-margin items. During the cooking class socials that Kudler offers, there is an opportunity for Kudler to get feedback on what types of products these customers are interested in. This gathering can be used as a focus group to determine their opinions about the products, how they’re used, and special needs that some products might not cover (Kerin, Hartley, Berkowitz, & Rudelius, 2006, p216). Consumers that attend social functions, like the cooking classes, tend to entertain at home as well. This will show customers that their input matters to the company and will build customer loyalty and help with word-of-mouth advertising.

Price

Price is “what is exchanged for the product” (Kerin, Hartley, Berkowitz, & Rudelius, 2006, p14). According to Kudler’s sales plan,