Cadbury– The leader of the market segment due to its marketing strategy

Cadbury– The leader of the market segment due to it’s marketing strategy..!

Cadbury has a power house lineup of products. In fact, several of our readers will be surprised when they read the different varieties and markets where Cadbury is present. A company might have 1 or 2 cash cows, but Cadbury has several with the lions share of the market. Some in the chocolate business are Dairy Milk, Bournville, Five Star, Perk, Cadbury Eclairs. In the biscuits segment is the premium Oreo. In beverages there is Bournvita that again is one of the leaders in milk additives. Halls as a mouth freshener as well as a remedy during cold is used across India. Thus, with such a strong line of products, Cadbury is bound to lead the chocolate industry. Due to its products, Cadbury is the leading name of chocolates across the world and has presence in all 7 continents.

How do Cadbury segments its market..?

The segmentation of Cadbury products is based on mix of demographics, behavioural & psychographic factors; like on the basis of Income & occasions. You will find people of all age groups and demography enjoying Cadbury products. Cadbury’s product offerings are mostly based on the production capacity, pricing of the various packs, packaging designs, and storage facilities at the outlets, occasional & situational demands, celebrity endorsements and many other factors.

Although Cadbury has targeted people from all age groups but it has distinguished its product offerings to specific class of consumer groups. For example, Cadbury Temptation and Bournville are meant for higher end consumer groups who are willing to pay more & Cadbury Silk is targeted to the people who can’t resist chocolates.

Considering all the above factors, Cadbury has targeted different segments within the market as:

Break segment -

This segment describes products, which are normally consumed as a short break and often with tea or coffee. For example, Cadbury Perk.

Impulse Segment -

These products are most often purchased on impulse while consumers are walking buy or shopping for other household goods. They are strategically placed at eye-level or near the checkout counter so that consumers can make an unplanned purchase. For example Cadbury Dairy Milk, Cadbury Silk, etc.

Take home segment -

This segment describes products that are normally purchased in supermarkets, taken home and consumed at a later stage due to its sheer quantity, for example Bournvita.

Part of this segment is called the gift segment, where the consumers will take home a box of chocolates in the form of a gift for someone else, for example the Cadbury Celebrations box.

Why they are leaders of their segment..?

The smartest tactic that Cadbury has done over the years with products like dairy milk and celebrations is that these chocolates are positioned for gifting. In fact the recent Bournville, has a complete focus on the gifting position. Due to this smart strategy Cadbury has safely differentiated itself from majority of its competitors. It has positioned itself as a symbol of good times & a spontaneous brand that is carefree, meant for special as well as real moments in life.

Marketing strategy of Cadbury

Promotions – Indians love sweets. From Bengalis to Punjabis to South Indians, each of us wants sweets. Youngsters love sweet, and old people want a nibble from time to time. Thus it is no surprise, that a smart marketer like Cadbury has a tag line “Kuch meetha ho jaye” which means that lets have something sweet. It is no surprise that people always have some Cadbury’s stocked at home. Or they gift a Cadbury dairy milk or Cadbury Celebration box to their loved ones.

The promotion of Cadbury for each of its products is different. For Bournville, Cadbury has kept the position that you don’t buy a Bournville, you earn it. For Cadbury celebrations, the positioning is of gifting. Cadbury celebration has a major commercial customer base, where the chocolate is brought in bulk and given to employees, clients or vendors. Eclairs has a low cost position, Bournvita has a strong health positioning, Perk has a youngster position, so on and so forth.

Competitive advantage – Distribution and brand equity are two major competitive advantage for Cadbury. Cadbury is making its product available from pops & moms store to high-end departmental stores, which is only possible due to its extensive distribution channel creating competitive edge over others. The main competitive advantage of Cadbury comes from its ability to market its products through altering the theme & functionality of the products on continuous basis. Also smartly designing its promotion & communications to handle the controversies & educate customers more about the confectionaries had helped the company to spread positive word of mouth resulting from negative marketing.

Placement and distribution – The distribution of Cadbury is fantastic and widespread. It is present strongly in all urban areas as well as A, B and C category towns. The rural marketing of Cadbury is known to be weak but that is because demand there is also weak. Cadbury follows the same mantra of FMCG marketing that is ‘breaking the bulk’. The Cadbury chocolate Bournville is manufactured in England. Recently there was an advertisement, which promoted that Cadbury buys only the best cocoa beans from Ghana for its chocolates. These chocolates are then distributed across the world. Cadbury is present in 200 or more countries. Once the chocolate reaches in bulk, it is broken down as follows.

Company >> C&F agent >> Distributors >> Retailers >> Consumers

As you can see, due to the channel, the distribution costs of Cadbury are high. But based on the demand in the market, the costs were going to be high anyways. That is something that has to be taken into consideration during the distribution of products. In the end, Cadbury has a very strong presence in the market, and you can be rest assured, that if you want to have a Cadbury, it will be within 2 minutes reach from you in any of the local retail shops.

 Thank You!!