Step+1+-+Know+Yourself+&+Know+Your+Market



**Current nature of the organization?** The company was founded in 1888, in Sebastopol, California, as the Hunt Bros. Fruit Packing Co. by Joseph and William Hunt. This small canning operation grew rapidly, focused on canning the products of California's booming fruit and vegetable industries. The new management decided to focus the company on canned tomato products, particularly prepared tomato sauce. Besides canned tomato sauce, the Hunt's brand appears on tomato paste, diced, whole, stewed, and crushed tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, ketchup, and barbecue sauce etc. ConAgra, maker of second-place Hunt’s ketchup, has achieved a 16 percent market share whereas the Heinz brand rules the ketchup market and has achieved a 60 percent share (Gidman). According to a research, people with household incomes greater than US$ 100,000 are more likely to use Heinz, while Hunt's is the most often-used ketchup brand in households with incomes less than US$ 20,000 ([|Gidman]). **What is your Company’s Mission Statement?** ConAgra Foods is dedicated to making the food people love and doing so in an environmentally responsible way. Through collaboration and innovation, the commitment to protecting the environment is deeply rooted in the company values. They recognize that sustainability is intricately linked to the company’s long-term success and that the overall performance is measured not only by financial metrics, but also by the impact on the environment. The company’s approach to nutrition and health is practical, realistic, and focused on three broad areas: portion and calorie control, dietary variety, and heart health. In last year, 80% of their new product introductions that consumers can enjoy strategically fit within these three focus areas of nutrition and health (Hunts.com). **Who is the Target Market?** In terms of geographic location, of course, every household in North America is Hunt’s target market since ketchup is consumed by 93% of the population. Moreover, the global tomato ketchup consumption is also growing at a rapid pace due to changing food habits of the people in developing nations. The global market is, however, highly fragmented with a high share taken up by the local generic companies. Thus, the company will aim not only to promote their market share in North America and Europe, but also to penetrate the local market in developing countries. The company also aims at those people who are interested in a better taste of ketchup, conscious of their health, and looking for affordable prices. **Example of a Target Market?** The U.S, Canada, Europe, and developing countries such as Africa, China, ** __Demographics__ ** - Age: All age  - Gender: both males and females  - Income: since our products are set to an affordable price, the income of our customers can be anything from average and above. - Geographic location: Canada, US, Europe, but mainly developing countries. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**What is the marketing mix?** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">The marketing mix is a business tool used in marketing products. The marketing mix is often crucial when determining a product or brand's unique selling point (the unique quality that differentiates a product from its competitors), and is often synonymous with the 'four Ps': 'price', 'product', 'promotion', and 'place' (businesscoaching.com).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">** __The 4 Ps’__ ** <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">** Product/Service **  <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">The company will provide healthier and higher quality of ketchup by substituting unhealthy and artificial ingredients with healthy and natural ingredients while making it taste better. The company can also change recipes little different depending on each country’s local needs and tastes since ketchup is used on a variety of foods from pasta (Holland and Venezuela) to cabbage rolls (Japan) and meatballs and fishballs (Sweden). E.g. curry flavoured ketchups in India, chipotle flavoured ketchups in Mexico. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">** Place ** <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">This refers to how an organization will distribute the product or service they are offering to the end user. The organization must distribute the product to the user at the right place at the right time. <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">To distribute the product to the user at the right place at the right time, an intensive distribution strategy seems to be most suitable for Hunt's ketchup. Intensive distribution is a distribution strategy that places product wares at many retailers or retailers and distributors in various places. This technique is suitable for products or goods of daily necessity that has demand and high levels of consumption. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">** Price ** <span style="background-color: white; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Hunt’s ketchup utilizes a mix of Geographical Pricing and Penetration Pricing. Geographical Pricing is evident because there are variations in the price of the company’s goods in different parts of the world. Since the primary objective of Hunt’s ketchup is to gain the global market share by penetrating the local market in developing countries, the price will be set lower depending on the countries’ state of the economy. Moreover, for North America and Europe where Heinz ketchup is dominating the market, the approach of penetration pricing is used in order to attract customers and gain market share. The price will be raised later once this market share is gained (marketingteacher.com). <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">** Promotion **  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Hunt’s ketchup is an exclusive food sponsor for Six Flags, Inc., which put Hunt’s ketchup front and centre on every theme-park fast food platter to enhance brand loyalty and reach out to consumers beyond traditional media. The Hunt’s brand also offers "taste guarantee certificates" to consumers: anyone not satisfied with the brand’s new, thicker ketchup can opt for a full cash refund or swap the certificates for a US$ 20 discount on other ConAgra product purchases ( <span style="font-family: 'times new roman',serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">[|Gidman] <span style="font-family: 'times new roman',times,serif; font-size: 120%;">).