DATA4700 Digital Marketing and Competitive Advantage Report 3 Sample
Your Task
• You have been engaged as a consultant to advise Cherry Ripe, the iconic Australian chocolate brand. Cherry Ripe are looking for your advice on how to enhance their digital marketing approaches, especially given that a new generation of young adult consumers in Australia are increasingly likely to be ordering their groceries online instead of browsing the shelves of supermarkets. This is a timely opportunity for Cherry Ripe to consider how to be top of mind amongst this target segment, when compared to other treats that these young adults might also be thinking about.
• The first step in your consulting services to Cherry Ripe is to visit the brand’s website and
also to understand a bit about its history:
o Website: https://www.cadbury.com.au/brand/cadbury-cherry-ripe
o History: https://australianfoodtimeline.com.au/cherry-ripe-bar/
• The digital transformation opportunities that Cherry Ripe choose to pursue could very well establish a competitive advantage for them within this retail chocolate space. Cherry Ripe are looking to you to provide expertise on how they formulate and implement their ongoing digital transformation, to set themselves up for success into the future.
Assessment Description
• An individual report of 1,500 words, +/- 10%
• Analysis of a live case study
• Based on the case study, make recommendations on customer segmentation, targeting and product positioning; using the marketing mix to engage with the target segment; pricing tactics; marketing costs; customer relationship management and acquisition; and A/B testing and multivariate testing to pursue.
• Learning outcomes: LO1, LO4, LO5
Assessment Instructions
Your report should have the following headings and address the topics below:
1. Introduction: A brief summary of the situation in the case study and what you, as a consultant, have been tasked with doing for your client
2. Data: An indication of:
- What data you are able to obtain through public searching about Cherry Ripe
- What further data you would like to receive from Cherry Ripe directly
- What additional data you will have to collect for your consulting work
3. STP: Your recommendations on:
- How to approach segmenting the market
- Which segment you wish to target
- How to position Cherry Ripe for that target segment
4. Marketing mix: After you have positioned Cherry Ripe, indicate:
- What your proposed product or service should be (e.g., should it remain as is, or do you have suggestions on how to change it to pursue a stronger competitive advantage?)
- How you will promote the product or service to the market (e.g., using your digital assets)
- The place that customers should access the product or service (e.g., digital channels of distribution)
- Pricing strategy for the product or service (e.g., tactics to use; understanding value to the customer)
5. Marketing costs: What fixed, variable and marginal costs are most relevant to this case study?
6. Customer relationships: Your recommendations on:
- What Cherry Ripe should do with customer relationship management
- What Cherry Ripe can do to acquire new customers
7. A/B testing and Multivariate testing: State what A/B testing and multivariate testing you would like to conduct, and why
8. Conclusion: Summarise the most important recommendations you are proposing that Cherry
Ripe should address first, and what metrics Cherry Ripe should look at to understand whether
your advice has produced beneficial outcomes
9. Statement of Intent: You will write a short statement of intent which addresses: (1) who your
target audience is for the report and (2) what techniques you have used to connect with that audience and improve the readability of your report for that audience.
Solutions
1. Introduction
Cherry Ripe is an iconic Australian chocolate brand. The chocolate bars of Cherry Ripe was introduced in 1924 (Australianfoodtimeline.com, 2022). The company is seeking opportunities to improve its digital marketing approaches. University Assignment Help, The organisation is looking to improve its digital marketing approaches after the realisation that the young customers of Australia prefer to order groceries online than buy from supermarket stores. Apart from this, another key objective of this digital transformation that the brand wants to undertake is to gain a competitive advantage in the retail place of chocolate. The present report provides consultation regarding digital transformation by making recommendations related to STP (segmentation, targeting, and positioning), marketing mix, marketing costs, pricing tactics, CRM, acquisition, A/B testing and multivariate testing.
2. Data
Public searching can help in gaining much important information regarding Cherry Ripe. This includes the history, the competitors, the stores, the mission, vision and objectives of the company. Apart from this, public searching about the company also helps in understanding whether the company has faced any public controversies or not (Lüdeke?Freund, 2020). Public searching is not adequate in providing information regarding the internal strength of the organisation. The data and information regarding internal strengths and resources can only be obtained through the company directly. The additional data that needs to be collected related to the consultation work is the target market, the current pricing strategy, the current channels of advertisements and the current framework of customer acquisition.
3. STP
Segmentation of market
In order to segment the market, Cherry Ripe can undertake a firmographic approach where the customers are divided by different aspects such as age, gender, and income level. It is essential for the firm to conduct an appropriate market segmentation to gain highly competitive benefits (Korpi, 2020).
Targeted Segment
The segment which will be targeted by Cherry Ripe is the young adult customers in Australia such as the age group of 18-26 years. This age group is mainly selected as the number of young adult customers in the Australian market is rapidly increasing who prefer online shopping for groceries rather than going to supermarkets. By using this trend, Cherry Ripe can develop its space in retail chocolate. Moreover, this age group also prefers quality products, and this chocolate brand is able to offer quality chocolate products to its customers and helps to facilitate customer satisfaction.
Positioning
In order to position Cherry Ripe for the target segment, a “quality-based positioning strategy” needs to be taken into consideration. It can be quite beneficial for Cherry Ripe to use cutting-edge technology at a premium cost structure before its competitors to gain effective benefits (Iyer et al., 2019). This type of approach will be actually beneficial to attract the target market by delivering quality products at a standard cost that can be affordable for each one. From the below figure, a clear overview of the brand position of Cadbury Australia is gained which is the manufacturer of Cherry Ripe.
.png)
Figure 1: Brand positioning
(Source: Self-developed)
4. Marketing mix
Propped product or service
The product based on which Cherry Ripe prefers to attract its customers is the “Personalized TOBLERONE Swiss Milk Chocolate Bar 360g” (Cadbury, 2023). From the below figure, a clear overview of the ingredients of the chocolate bar is gained.
.png)
Figure 2: TOBLERONE Swiss Milk Chocolate Bar
(Source: Cadbury, 2023)
However, the products must not be kept as it is as in order to pursue a stronger competitive advantage, the brand can add nutritional aspects within it. For instance, by lowering the fat level and enhancing the percentage of “flavonoid-filled cocoa beans”, it can be possible to attract young adult customers including health-conscious ones.
Promotion of the product
In order to promote the developed products in the market, Cherry Rope can use advertising campaigns on social media platforms to make a strong connection with target customers. This promotional strategy is suitable to facilitate young adults' awareness about the healthy aspect of "Swiss Milk Chocolate Bar” which is essential to gain customer attention and enhance the sales percentage. Its existing “one-of-a-kind” promotional method will be quite effective to influence product sales successfully (Sinha & Verma, 2020). Apart from that, JB HiFi technology can be used by this brand as well in order to incorporate personalized with the developed product and ensure a better online experience (Dhingra, 2021).
.png)
Figure 3: Digital transformation track record of corporate Australia
(Source: Forth & Mohr, 2021)
In order to deal with the Covid-19 situation, digital transformation is mostly adopted by most Australian companies. As per the above figure, 33% of Australian corporations were able to gain success in digital transformation whereas 47% were able to create some value (Forth & Mohr, 2021). In this regard, it can be stated that digital transformation is essential for Cherry Ripe as well with the help of advanced technologies to reach the target customers easily.
Place to access the product
The digital channel through which customers can be able to access the newly developed product of Cherry Ripe is its website mainly. This channel is mainly selected in order to provide a seamless purchase experience to them while ordering the item as the website is easy-to-access and it is also accessible through mobiles. It will also be helpful to maintain product authenticity and the customers can easily purchase the bar chocolate without facing any scams at the time of the transaction (Bakhtieva, 2020).
Pricing Strategy
A competitive pricing strategy can be taken under consideration for the developed product of Cherry Ripe as through this, it can be possible to lead the competitive edge rather than competitors. In order to use this strategy, the brand must select the price points based on competitor pricing in the market or niche (Taleizadeh & Sadeghi, 2019). In order to understand the value of customers, it will be essential to keep a strong focus on “willingness to pay” for the particular product and set the price strategy
5. Marketing Costs
.png)
Figure 4: Fixed Costs and Variable Costs
(Source: Ito & Zhang, 2020)
Fixed costs are considered to be costs that remain the same even when the market fluctuates. However, the variable costs are considered to be costs that respond to changes in the market or fluctuations in the production level. Marginal cost is considered to be the cost that is derived from the change in the total production cost (Ito & Zhang, 2020). The most important costs for the marketing operations of Cherry Ripe include expenses of the sales force, digital campaigns related to advertising, sales promotions, and costs of distribution. The sales force expense is determined before initiating the marketing campaign, and thus, it is a fixed cost. Any cost that alters depending on the production or the volume of sales is regarded to be a variable cost. Thus, advertising, sales promotions and distribution costs are variable costs.
6. Customer Relationships
It is important for the organisation to improve its CRM. However, the tactics that can only be implemented in Cherry Ripe need to be suggested. One of the key goals of Cherry Ripe is to gain a competitive advantage, and a competitive advantage can only be gained when customers are acquired. Focusing on the product line is a significant tactic to improve the acquisition of customers (Juanamasta et al., 2019). Offering personalised or customised products contributes to the acquisition of customers. Thus, it would help in the improvement of customer relationships and the acquisition of customers. However, it is important to hear from customers regarding the product and to implement the recommendations of customers in product improvement. Thus, using digital platforms for two-way communications can lead to the effective acquisition of customers.
7. A/B testing and Multivariate Testing
A/B testing is important for the digital transformation of a brand. A/B testing helps in understanding which webpage or app of a brand works the best (Kohavi et al., 2020). As Cherry Ripe is looking forward to a digital transformation, A/B testing is significantly important for the organisation in implementing the right webpage for the organisation.
The processes of A/B testing and multivariate testing for Cherry Ripe-
.png)
Table 1: A/B Testing and Multivariate Testing
(Source: Created by the researcher)
The goal of multivariate testing is kind of similar to A/B testing, and this also helps a brand understand what digital presentation of the brand is likely to work for the consumers and help the brand with a successful digital transformation. The difference between A/B testing and multivariate testing is just this in the former, only one variable is tested, and multiple multivariate variables are tested in the latter (Dugard et al., 2022). However, both tests are important.
8. Conclusion
The key recommendations have been provided in the areas of STP, marketing mix, customer relationships, and other areas of marketing. A firmographic approach has been recommended for segmentation. The target customers are young adults. The recommended positioning strategy is a quality-based strategy. The enhancement of digital marketing has been the key goal, and thus the recommended metrics for evaluation are website visits, traffic through channels, exit rate, inbound links to the website and others.
9. Statement of Intent
The target audience for the report is the marketing management team of Cherry Ripe. The consultation provided in the present report is required for the management team of Cherry Ripe to lead the digital transformation of the brand. However, the authenticity of the methods of the information is equally important for catering to the technical level and information needs of the target audience, which is the management team of Cherry Ripe. Thus, the consultation report has indicated the methods that have been taken for processes such as A/B testing, multivariate testing and others. The processes regarding where data has been collected are outlined in the report in order to provide a clear idea to the target audience regarding how the data was collected for the report. The metrics and methods used in the present report are associated with marketing so that it caters to the need of the target audience that belongs to the field of marketing.
Reference list
Australianfoodtimeline.com, (2022). Cherry Ripe Bar. Retrieved from: https://australianfoodtimeline.com.au/cherry-ripe-bar/. [Retrieved on: 30 January 2023].
Bakhtieva, E. (2020). Customer Loyalty and Characteristics of Digital Channels Among B2B Companies. Institutions and Economies, 27-52. Retrieved from: http://adum.um.edu.my/index.php/ijie/article/view/26888, [Retrieved on: 30 January 2023].
Cadbury (2023). About us. Retrieved from: https://www.cadbury.com.au/personalised-toblerone-swiss-milk-chocolate-bar-360g [Retrieved on 30th January, 2023]
Dhingra., S, (2021). Driving success for Australian retail with digitalization. Retrieved from: https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-asia/australia/driving-success-australian-retail-digitalisation [Retrieved on 30th January, 2023]
Dugard, P., Todman, J. & Staines, H., 2022. Approaching multivariate analysis: A practical introduction. Taylor & Francis. Retrieved from: https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=5hh1EAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Dugard,+P.,+Todman,+J.+%26+Staines,+H.,+2022.+Approaching+
multivariate+analysis:+A+practical+introduction.+Taylor+%26+Francis.&ots=IrSgiUKviM&sig=yHsAoQDSQAsMheZ8cUyfA0COlaI
[Retrieved on 30th January, 2023]
Forth., P & Mohr., S, (2021). The Success Formula for Australian Companies to Digitally Transform. Retrieved from:https://www.bcg.com/publications/2021/digital-transformation-in-australia[Retrieved on 30th January, 2023]
Ito, K. & Zhang, S., 2020. Do Consumers Distinguish Fixed Cost from Variable Cost?“Schmeduling” in Two-Part Tariffs in Energy (No. w26853). National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved from: https://www.nber.org/papers/w26853, [Retrieved on: 30 January 2023].
Iyer, P., Davari, A., Zolfagharian, M., & Paswan, A. (2019). Market orientation, positioning strategy and brand performance. Industrial Marketing Management, 81, 16-29. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019850118303018 [Retrieved on: 30 January 2023].
Korpi, N., (2020). Creating a Market Segmentation Framework for a Case Company. Retrieved from: https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/347832/Korpi%20Niklas%20FINAL%20Checked%20SH..pdf?sequence=2, [Retrieved on: 30 January 2023].
Lüdeke?Freund, F., 2020. Sustainable entrepreneurship, innovation, and business models: Integrative framework and propositions for future research. Business Strategy and the Environment, 29(2), pp.665-681. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026840122200127X, [Retrieved on: 30 January 2023].
Sinha, S. K., & Verma, P. (2020). Impact of sales promotion's benefits on perceived value: does product category moderate the results?. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 52, 101887. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0969698917307567, [Retrieved on: 30 January 2023].
Taleizadeh, A. A., & Sadeghi, R. (2019). Pricing strategies in the competitive reverse supply chains with traditional and e-channels: A game theoretic approach. International Journal of Production Economics, 215, 48-60. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S092552731830255X, [Retrieved on: 30 January 2023].
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