Marketing Strategy For Jeff De Bruges

Buyer behaviour in relation to your chosen business

Marketing in modern days has drastically evolved and is a very important element of the business administration. It is not just an important part of the business development, as a matter of fact it is the business. Everything in a business is based upon marketing. It is resembled with a number of activities that are all linked with selling the products and services of a company. However, in this modern business world, there is a huge importance of effective marketing and every business is in high need for practising effective contemporary marketing. With the same, the design of the marketing plans is integral to the business organisations belonging from any sector. This report will highlight some of the key theories and principles of the practical marketing strategies and would evaluate critically the needs and requirements of clients with regard to the creation of value for the company named- Jeff De Bruges. It is going to present a case study for this company in context to its marketing environment and processes. It would analyse the buyer behaviour in relation to chocolate manufacturing business in order to assess their expectations from the very company and will also conduct micro and macro environmental analysis for Jeff De Bruges. Furthermore, it shall also review its competitive environment.

Buyer behaviour in relation to chocolate manufacturing business

Buyer or Consumer behaviour is a very important factor that requires to be taken into consideration during the process of developing a marketing strategy for any business or organisation. Jeff De Bruges was created in the year 1986 by Philippe Jambon. It is basically a French company and has its business extended on several parts of the world including Australia. It has a total of 284 number of shops in France and more than 30 in foreign countries. It is basically a Franchisee business (Azevedo & Silva, 2017). It targets medium income consumers and the high income consumers. It has a wide variety of products to offer to its customers and it also considers their activities, opinion and interests before launching any products in the market. With the same, it also targets the consumers who give gifts such as flowers and chocolates or chocolate bouquets when they are invited anywhere.

Social influence- It is to note that society and cultures plays a very crucial part in influencing the buying behaviour of the buyers. The purchase of chocolates by the consumers is based on several factors and all those factors have a detrimental impact on the buyers’ decision. It is well-known that chocolate is such an item that is used by all and is also very easily available to everyone. Chocolates are generally offered when there is any sort of occasion such as birthdays or Christmas and therefore a society where the occasions are important becomes the focal point of all the chocolate manufacturers. Moreover, the social trend of giving gifts to the relatives assist a lot in the sale of chocolates. There are many customers who are very sensitive towards several factors such as the shape of the chocolate, its consistency in the mouth, the way it feels while touching it, its melting etc. Also, the other factors such as the ethical consideration of the chocolate manufacturing company and corporate social responsibility influence the buying decision of the consumers of chocolates. For instance, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) of the company comprises of the legal compliance, environmental issue etc. Hence, it is very necessary that in the manufacturing of the chocolate, the company should follow the regulatory frameworks of the very industry (Hale, Borys & Adams, 2015). 

Microenvironment analysis: Publics, suppliers, and marketing

Psychological influence- Motivation, learning, attitude, health etc. also influences the buyer behaviour in relation to the businesses. Motivation is an essential element that influences the sales of the chocolates as if the demand of chocolate is high the consumers will go to purchase it (Ritter et al., 2015). Motivation for consumers of – Jeff De Bruges is only the special occasions on which they need sweets and the brand image that the company has formed in the mind of its consumers. Furthermore, health is the other psychological factor that influences the consumer behaviour as it is said by the doctor that excess chocolates are not good for health and the consumers in recent years are becoming increasingly health conscious. Lastly, learning is the other factor that influences the consumer buying behaviour of Jeff De Bruges. Here learning is associated with the perception regarding the use of a product. Therefore, it can be stated that if the customer likes the product then he surely buy it again.

It is to not that for analysing both the internal and the external environment of the company (the micro environment analysis) more relevantly, SWOT analysis tool has been used. It would help in the identification of the strengths and weaknesses of Jeff De Bruges as well as for assessing the present opportunities and challenges for it in the business environment (Bull et al., 2016).

Strengths- Jeff De Bruges has a very good brand image in Australia and it has many opportunities in this new emerging Australian business market. With the same, Jeff De Bruges also has a very strong promotional activities such as it gives exclusive gifts as one of the parts of their product promotional activities. Furthermore, founded in the year 1986, it has a very powerful historical background and this is one of its significant strengths to count in this context.

Weaknesses- Over the years, Jeff De Bruges have made re-launches often. Hence, most of the consumers have doubted on its consistency. Furthermore, it has weak television advertisements as well as weak presence on the different social media platforms, which is of most importance in present day. Due to this, it is comparatively less informational and less interactive and hence, lacks updates. With the same, the current positioning of Jeff De Bruges is not consistent as well and therefore, it is losing its roots.

Opportunities- It can make use of social media as it is growing rapidly and in today’s date it is not only the platform that is used by the young generation, instead the middle aged people and even many of the older generation have social media profiles of theirs. Also, it could take initiative for the increase of consumer engagement and could increase its nutritional awareness and online advertising. Lastly, it is also to state that Jeff De Bruges could capitalise on historic or organic brand positioning as well.

Competitive analysis: Likely competitors, offerings, and target audience

Threats- Like any other business organisation, Jeff De Bruges too has several threats and challenges that could influence its overall business in negative way. Also, with the growing number of businesses, competition for Jeff De Bruges might also get increased and it might get higher competition from the parts of its competitors. With the same, they could also steal the Australian market share. Furthermore, because of the economic downturn in Australia, the consumers here switch to the store bands more than the other thing (Shepherd & Page, 2015). Not only the Australian consumers but also every consumers all around the world have increasingly become health conscious. They tend to choose healthier products and options like non-dairy products.

Indirect competitors- The Chinese chocolatiers and the companies are not only target the upper class people but also the people who seek to but chocolates for Easter and Christmas are the indirect competitors of Jeff De Bruges. For example- Xiao Hui Chang and Canny Manufactory.

Direct competitors- The Chinese chocolatiers along with the chains, which sell chocolates in between 35 to 45 euros per 1 kilo. The La Maison du Chocolat, Venchi chocolate, Multizen and Sha Tin.

Future competitors- The small producers who have the potential to develop and grow further in the industry

PESTLE analysis

For the process of analysing the macro environment of a particular product, PESTLE analysis tool is very useful. It helps in identifying the six key forces that influence the decision making about the marketing of a particular product. They six forces are the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental.

• Australia hosts a stable business and political environment.
• The EFSA bro-biotic dossiers firms that have vested their interest in the functional health have adopted much more cautious approach and at the same time, have also focus on the advantages which have secured the EFSA approval (Christodoulidou et al., 2018).
• In Australian countries, compliance with the Australian legislation is increasingly becoming more costly.
• The negotiations of trade under the WTO (World Trade Organisation). Bilateral deals of trade (Baldwin, 2016).
• United Kingdom has signed up pledge of the Department of Health’s calorie reduction that aims at supporting and enabling the consumers in eating and drinking lesser amount of calories on a regular basis.

• The rate of unemployment in Australia is rising daily and it had reached about 8.4% in the year 2012 (Fountoulakis et al., 2012).
• It can be argued that the Australian economy is steady and based on a stable economic growth rate. In compare to this, the rates in the OECD nations such as US and UK are quiet low than Australia. Moreover, the GDP of Australia is also higher than other European companies like UK, France and Germany. From this above point of view it can be considered that Australia have less risk than other developed countries. As a result of that it boosts up the growth in GDP, rate of interests and the foreign exchange volume that paves the way for low inflation rate.

• Preoccupation with trying to lose weight
• There is a projected increase of one-person households.
• Strong rise is expected among the total number of children in between the age range of 5 to 9 years.
• It is also expected that the adults of family would still remain the largest population segment in Australia.
• Consumers are becoming very health conscious (Mai & Hoffmann, 2015)

• Online shopping has made the Australian market more competitive because the retail giants are able to communicate with the customers directly. As a matter of fact, it has immense impact on the business operations, supply chain management and workplace environment of the grocery and food retail companies.
• With the advent of the broadband internet facility the online retailing and shopping has become highly popular. It is to note that about 70% of the total Australian market are broadband users (Barry, 2018)
• Shortage of applied Resource & Development and knowledge exchange because the Australian Government has reduced funding.
• There are many issues that dominate the present Australian science and technology policy and they are- the concentration of R&D in the national research centres; the tensions among the university researchers on the subject of allocation of R&D funding resources; an effective communication among the industry, the government, and the university researchers; the increasing role which the very industry is playing in the support of national R&D; and lastly, the role which the country itself is playing in the collaboration of international science and technology. 

• Compliance with the Australian government regulations and sanctions
• As far as the Legal factors are concerned the Australian government enlisted a number of companies who are alleged to link with terrorist activities (Sorensen, 2015).
• The companies in Australia are required to make sure that they have checked all the credentials of their international or overseas buyers and their partners.
• Due to specific and transparent legal framework the labourers enjoys an increase in the minimum wage and at the same time the companies are compelled to follow the sustainable standards.

• Climate change adaptations. The changes in the weather and temperature influences the industry.
• Dearth of water resource is identified as a significant issue for the government. In fact, the quality of the water resources is also perturb the local communities (Sahin, Stewart & Porter, 2015). Therefore, water management has become a significant priority for the Australian government.
• Environmentally friendly paper packing and reduction of plastic packaging is being promoted by the Australian government.

1. Bargaining power of the buyers- There are a total of two categories of buyers for Jeff De Bruges and they are the retailer and the consumers. The retail buyers has the highest impact on this company (Pauwels & Neslin, 2015). Also, the buyers enjoys some extent of power in order to influence the companies to follow the consumer demands intensly.
2.  Bargaining power of the suppliers- The main commodities that Jeff De Bruges uses are milk, sugar and cocoa. A minor change in the price of any of these commodities would influence the main price of the very product as well as profitability of Jeff De Bruges. Hence, the bargaining power of the suppliers in this context is quite high. Also, the manufacturers of the confectionaries are facing cost pressures because the prices of cocoa is hitting their highest levels because of the decrease in its production.
3. Industry rivalry- There is a very stiff competition among the players within the chocolate manufacturing industry and all these major players have about 42% share of the global market and they all have very sound brands around the world (Afoakwa, 2016). The intense competition drove to competition in price and this would led Jeff De Bruges to operate in lower margins. Hence, Rivalry among the prevailing competitors has high effect.
4.  Threat of the substitute products- Obesity has become an issue for the Australians. As per the government report each year the obesity issue has been increased in a rapid manner. Therefore, the Australian consumers are very aware of healthy food products. Moreover, products like cereal bars and fruit bars also hampered the market of the chocolate industry. As a result of that health consciousness and the adding value in the products are the most important factors in Australia.
5. Threat of new entry- The Australian market is highly dominated by the big companies and those companies are highly aware of their competitors. Therefore, any new entry into the Australian market would face severe challenges due to the established companies and their immense brand value.

Conclusion

Hence, from the above report has assessed the demographic, economic, natural, technological, political, or cultural trends that will affect the business of Jeff De Bruges. It has also shed light on the consumer behaviour towards the product and that the social and the psychological factors influences their buying decision. It is also to state that from the above analysis that Australia is one of the most crucial markets for the Multi-national companies in the Asian Pacific region. It hosts a very stable business and political environment and at the same time, hosts an increasing economy. Furthermore, it has well educated, skilled as well as multi-lingual workforce. Furthermore, it is also to state that Australia has the right environment for the business of Jeff De Bruges and it is enabling it to drive technology and innovation.

References:

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