Critical Analysis of French Cookie Market

The cookie market in France is characterized by various types of cookies with different ingredients and flavors. Large players dominate the market, requiring new entrants to invest in production capacity to compete. The major retailers in supermarkets and hypermarkets have significant distribution power. Michel and Augustin should target consumer segments that emphasize eating breakfast, young age groups who are big consumers of chocolate and cookies, those willing to pay a premium price for quality products, and consumers attracted to discounts and hidden gifts.

Essay: A critical analysis of the key characteristics of the cookie market in France, and
identification of which consumer segment(s) Michel and Augustin should target
The cookie market in France consists of the biscuits that contain butter, chocolate, eggs; cream,
wafers or they may be plain. This shows that the cookies in the market of France are available in
many varieties. The consumers have many tastes, and this is the reason why the market of France
is flooded with the different ingredients and flavors in the cookies. The French cookie market is
dominated by the large players who have relatively more market share and more market power.
This shows that the new players who are planning to enter the market of France needs
considerable investment to build their production capacity so that they can earn high returns to
scale on the production of the cookies, increase their volume of production and make their cost
structures competitive enough to enter the market, compete with the large players and establish
themselves in the market. The major retailers who are located in the supermarkets and the
hypermarkets of France carry the power of distribution of the cookies. This shows that the best
channel of distribution of the cookies is through the retail channel because there were similar
brands of cookies in the retail market of France and the replacement could be done only by the
retailers without incurring any heavy costs. The presence of international players dominated the
market of cookies in France, and they also led the market. This shows that there is tough
competition in the market for obtaining the space in the retail shelf and for grabbing the attention
of the consumers because both domestic and the international players are well-established in
France, and they have positioned their product strongly.
The company should target that segment which places emphasis on eating breakfast in the
morning. There are people who prefer brunch but, the health conscious people are aware of the
fact that breakfast is a must to have the meal and it is the most important meal of the day ( Sun‐
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Waterhouse, 2011). So, they should be targeted. Then, the segment related to the young age
group should be targeted to the children and the teenagers. These are the greatest chocolate and
cookie lovers and their average consumption per day is very high as compared to people in the
other age-groups (Humbert, 2003). Then, the segment that is willing to pay a premium price for
the cookies should be targeted. This is because the company will give quality products, they will
be unique too as there is intense competition in the market, the company will make investments
for making the consumers aware of their product. So, for getting quality, uniqueness, and
advertisements, the consumers have to pay a premium price (Anselmsson, 2014). The segment of
the consumers who are attracted and prefer the discount coupons and the hidden gifts inside the
packs of cookies should be targeted. The promotional activities of the company should involve
the offering of the gifts and the coupons because the children love gifts and the teenagers also
like discounts (Bezawada, 2013). So, if they will be targeted, then the company will be
successful in promoting its product in the correct manner.
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References:
Anselmsson, J., Vestman Bondesson, N. and Johansson, U., 2014. Brand image and customers'
willingness to pay a price premium for food brands.Journal of Product & Brand
Management, 23(2), pp.90-102.
Bezawada, R. and Pauwels, K., 2013. What is special about marketing organic products? How
organic assortment, price, and promotions drive retailer performance. Journal of
Marketing, 77(1), pp.31-51.
Humbert, B., 2003. Screening France. French Politics, Culture & Society,21(2), pp.81-94.
Sun‐Waterhouse, D., 2011. The development of fruit‐based functional foods targeting the health
and wellness market: a review. International Journal of Food Science & Technology, 46(5),
pp.899-920.
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