Marketing Plan for Haigh's Chocolate Company

This report presents a marketing plan for Haigh's Chocolate Company to increase its brand awareness in the market. It includes a SWOT analysis of the company, competitive advantage and positioning, target market, and marketing mix strategies. The report also evaluates potential problems that the company may face while implementing the marketing plan.

2018
Haigh’s Chocolates
6/8/2018
Marketing Principles

MARKETING PRINCIPLES 1
Executive Summary
In order to survive in the market for longer time duration, it is very important to have an
effective marketing plan which involves various strategies that can support it in the success of
the company. This report is prepared in order to support Haigh's Chocolate Company to
increase its brand awareness in the market by preparing marketing plan as it is very important
for its future survival and giving strong competition to the competitors present in the market.
The report has involved SWOT Analysis of the company to know its position in the market
and has framed its marketing plan for the future. The presented marketing plan will definitely
help the company in increasing the awareness of the standard quality chocolates by adopting
marketing mix strategy.

MARKETING PRINCIPLES 2
Table of Contents
Executive Summary...................................................................................................................1
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Overview of Haigh’s Chocolates...........................................................................................3
SWOT Analysis of Haigh’s Chocolates.................................................................................3
Strength..............................................................................................................................3
Weaknesses........................................................................................................................4
Opportunities......................................................................................................................4
Threats................................................................................................................................4
Competitive advantage and Positioning and Marketing objective.........................................4
Target market.........................................................................................................................5
Marketing Mix of Haigh’s Chocolate....................................................................................6
Product...............................................................................................................................6
Price....................................................................................................................................7
Place...................................................................................................................................7
Promotion...........................................................................................................................8
Poster......................................................................................................................................8
Potential Problem Evaluation.................................................................................................9
Recognizing perfect need of the market.............................................................................9
Cultural Nuance.................................................................................................................9
Communicating Style.......................................................................................................10
Insufficient resources.......................................................................................................10
Increasing Competition....................................................................................................10
Target Audience...............................................................................................................10
The right price..................................................................................................................10
Place.................................................................................................................................10
Conclusion................................................................................................................................11
References................................................................................................................................13

MARKETING PRINCIPLES 3
Introduction
Marketing planning is said to be a discipline and systematic exercise use to frame strategies
of marketing (Australian Government, 2018). Haigh’s Chocolates is Australian based
business of chocolate who need to frame its marketing plan in order to avoid future
uncertainties, achieving objectives, along with this to get support in communicating and
coordinating among different departments. This report is being prepared in order to frame the
marketing plan for Haigh's chocolate business by analyzing or evaluating its performance in
the market with the help of SWOT Analysis. Besides this, it will foresee the potential
problems that business can face while implementing the marketing plan.
Overview of Haigh’s Chocolates
Haigh’s chocolate is an Australian family owned business of chocolate which is based in
South Australia (Haigh’s Chocolate, 2018). The business was established in 1915 by Alfred
E. Haigh. In four states Haigh’s has retail outlets. They are expert in single origin and
handmade chocolates all around the world. They are considered to be the oldest family-
owned business of chocolate in Australia and they are now considering to grow alertness
regionally and also in the whole world (Haigh’s Chocolate, 2018).
SWOT Analysis of Haigh’s Chocolates
Strength
The company’s strength is united with the tough brand along with this it is performing
effectively from 1912. The company has succeeded in establishing effective and tough brand
equity with the standard quality commodities. The company has its presence in the locations
such as New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. Besides this, it possesses huge
number of commodities to offer along with chocolates in huge quantity with luxurious

MARKETING PRINCIPLES 4
packages (Government of South Australia, 2018). The variety of commodities that company
offer is dark chocolates, milk chocolates as we as liquor chocolates. The big excursion of the
workshop for the people is to perceive for the chocolate making commodities.
Weaknesses
One of the weaknesses of the company is its incapability to expand the business operations
which results in low market share.
Opportunities
In the market, there are various opportunities available for the business that can help it in
increasing its revenue and market share. It can do enhancements and development in the gift
offers as today in every corporate firm offering chocolates in the form of reward is a trend.
Along with this, companies offer chocolates to their employees on various occasion and
festival. The company can start its online services or e-commerce business and offer
chocolates to the customers living at different locations.
Threats
The major threat for Haigh’s Chocolate is the strong position of the competitors and other
organizations in the market. It reacts to improve the health awareness among the target
markets. To preserve and manage the best quality in the consumable goods category is the
key challenge. The storing situation, along with whitening of the chocolate, also affects the
company’s brand image (MBA Skool, 2018).
Competitive advantage and Positioning and Marketing objective
The key and strong competitors of Haigh’s Chocolate Company are Cadbury Chocolates,
Mayfield, and Nestle. However, it is different from all these companies when compared.
Haigh’s Chocolate is the only manufacturer of chocolates that offers high and standard
quality of chocolates along with premium brand chocolates (Family Business Australia,

MARKETING PRINCIPLES 5
2014). It is focused towards maintaining the chocolate quality effectively. It is known as the
competitive advantage of Haigh’s Chocolate which helped it in sustaining in the market for
so long.
Moreover, the competitors of the company deal with the issues of growth which shows that
they need to accept the corporate behavior in order to survive in the market for longer time
duration. There is a requirement of attracting skilled employees because right type of skills in
the organization creates high growth level (Luther, 2011). Haigh's Chocolate keeps standard
quality and introduces a new variety of goods yearly that also manage the family's culture
successfully.
Target market
The enhancing standard of living and increasing income of the Australian people has resulted
in the formation of premium customer segment in the industry of chocolate and their
indulgence in purchasing the chocolates for particular and special occasions and for the
purpose of gifting. This reflects there are huge chances of the growth in the chocolate
industry at 2.6% rate (Townsend and Tiang, 2015). The innovations in the product by adding
new taste and flavor are a major concern for the success and to keep the customer loyalty
towards the brand. Haigh’s chocolates are performing all these activities effectively;
therefore, it is able to create high demand in the market by offering huge variations and great
taste and variety of packaging options.
The customers of Haigh's are couples, young generation, and adults who love to purchase
chocolates for consumption and gift. According to a research Australian love to have
chocolates on the yearly average of 6.7kg which makes confectionery the most demanded and
famous food item. 77% of the confectionery sales are due to the Chocolate in Australia. 47%
of the purchase is an impulse in confectionery. 50% of the buyer of chocolate falls under the

MARKETING PRINCIPLES 6
age group of 25-49 year. Women are considered to purchase more chocolates as compared to
men; however, they purchase it for their families and men buy from the age group of 35-49
purchase chocolates for their personal consumption.
Marketing Mix of Haigh’s Chocolate
Product
Haigh’s Chocolate Company is fundamentally focused towards positioning itself as one of
the most trusted chocolate making company of Australia which offers a high standard of
chocolates with premium quality to the young people and families (Haigh’s Chocolcate,
2016). The company offers handmade chocolates with effective packaging which makes it
best fit for gifting someone. It provides a wide range of chocolates and associated products by
considering major occasions, gift, and celebration purposes. The products that company offer
are made up of some techniques which were learned from Switzerland by Alfred who is the
founder of the company and this is the reason the products are of good and high quality and
thus it is functioning majorly in Australia with the owned reputation as an international
brand.
At Adelaide, Haighs operates various stores and at the tourist center placed at park side which
helps the company to introduce itself to various tourist and visitors as the maker of chocolate.
It also offers freshly made chocolate to the tourist who can take it as one of Australia's
specialty. Various high standard selling products of the company are packed by utilizing very
simple themes and utilize an environmentally friendly technique that is cellophane and
extremely degradable type of material for packaging different from the use of poly
polypropylene like other businesses of confectionery do. This also reflects that company
takes care of the society and environment by establishing tourist center at the Parkside and by
utilizing packaging which is eco-friendly and good for the company’s long-term survival.

MARKETING PRINCIPLES 7
Price
Haighs Chocolates offer high quality and standard chocolates and associated products which
are majorly targeted towards premium market segmentation. Therefore the prices of the
company’s offering are higher as compared to other competing products. The company has
adopted premium pricing strategy in order to keep their prices higher than the competitors in
the market because it is the tendency of the customers that they perceive high price product as
high quality product. The headquarters of the company general set and fix the prices of the
products depending on the variety of products company offers to the consumers comprising
liquor chocolates, milk variants, and dark chocolates. Along with this, it offers special gift
packages to the family customers for special occasions such as Christmas and charge prices
as per the demand and supply law. The company majorly targets teenagers and young couples
on special days such as Friendship’s day and Valentine’s Day by using special pricing
strategy, attractive offers and gift packing.
Place
Haighs Chocolate Company functions through 14 different locations in Sydney, Adelaide,
and Melbourne and works by a tough, strong and vertical supply chain. The company has its
head office in Adelaide along with various stores at different tourist center in order to
promote the sales of the company. The company has adopted a distribution channel strategy
in which it involves various wholesalers who help company in transferring the good in the
market and promoting the products. The company also manages its operations by stores
which are self-owned managed stores. It is noted that company offers 5% of the total
production to its wholesalers in order to supply products from specialist locations and
destinations to influence sales and visibility of the brand (Australian Institute of Company
Directors, 2010). The products of the company are majorly distributed to the consumers at
Victoria, South Wales, and South Australia. At various tourist centers company offer fresh

MARKETING PRINCIPLES 8
and good quality of the chocolates to the tourist and they can purchase those products and can
take along with them to their home places as Australia's specialty (Emmanuel, 2008).
Therefore, the distribution of the products involves highly integrated model used majorly by
Haighs where there is the very limited role of the distributors hence it operates with vertically
integrated model and accepts the process of distribution on its own. Moreover, the company
can advertise its offerings in other various markets by using online media in order to have an
influence on the market share and rivalry with the competitors such as Cadbury and Nestle.
Promotion
Haighs Chocolate Company interacts with its stakeholders and consumers by being a
sustainable enterprise and focused towards the society and environment. It has adopted the
strategy of representing itself as the company which offer eco-friendly products and promote
itself with the help of social media platforms. It has highlighted its efforts towards using
sustainability and eco-friendly material for the packaging of the products and its messages of
promotion comprising advertisements (Prosser, 2018). For the promotion of the product and
sustainable image, company use social media and make its efforts to create a responsible
corporate citizen image. Besides this, Haighs make use of retail stores to promote its offering
and tourist center to make the brand familiar in the eyes of the visitors. Moreover, some part
of the company's production is also offered to the wholesalers who give their efforts to
promote the product and brand through stores at a niche or special market.

MARKETING PRINCIPLES 9
Poster
Potential Problem Evaluation
Marketing is comprised of various operations that need proper research and planning before
any other promotions, public relations or advertising activities. While promoting or
marketing the product Haigh's Chocolates might face some of the challenges or potential
issues such as:
Recognizing perfect need of the market
One of the keys to success for the business is providing services and products which are
demanded by the customers in the market. The issues that customers have should be resolved
by the service or product that company offer in the market (Olenski, 2014). The solution
needs to the most operative method that its advantages are not so hard to communicate. It is
very difficult for companies like Haigh's Chocolates to recognize the needs of a huge number
of people available in the market.
Cultural Nuance
Customers are inclined to buy the products by the messages of marketing transferred by
media, comprising print media like magazines. Mostly humor is utilized in the commercial
messages in order to get the attention of the customer. However, what is perceived as funny

MARKETING PRINCIPLES 10
in one culture can be considered as insulting or confusing in another culture. Therefore,
Haigh's Chocolates need to create effective advertising that can help in accurately translating
the message of promotion from one language to another language. This needs a thorough
understanding of the customs, religions, culture, and morals that dominate in that particular
location of the business. The things that motivate or influence customers differ from one
country to another (Hill, 2018).
Communicating Style
Executives of the business from various countries or locations can face various obstacles to
effective communication due to differences in the language. The classic pace of business
discussions can be different (Tischler, 2018).
Insufficient resources
In order to create quality content, there is need of skills and time. Lack of sufficient time is
debatably one of the main obstacles to marketing a product. Another is lack of appropriate
budget to promote the product in the market can result in losing a major part of the target
market (Unger, 2018).
Increasing Competition
Haigh’s Chocolates Company deals with high competition in the market from companies like
Cadbury and Nestle. Both of this company perform extremely well in promoting their product
which is a barrier for the company as it has to work a lot on the research and development to
identify the best possible promotional campaigns (Product Hub, 2015).
Target Audience
It is very important to know about the target market for the production company is aiming
towards before planning any marketing activity (Kolowich, 2018).

MARKETING PRINCIPLES 11
The right price
Another main challenge the business can face while promoting the product is charging the
appropriate price. This is the aspect that can help in gaining the highest gross profits
depending on the margin of profit of every unit and total sales.
Place
The location or place that is selected to sell the products can break or make the product as
every channel of distribution offer variety of challenges (Edmunds, 2018).
Conclusion
From the above-specified marketing plan of Haigh's Chocolates, it has been identified that
manufacturers of the Haigh's focuses on offering maximum quality to the customers along
with standard and premium chocolates which make them quite famous in their market.
Haigh's Chocolate Company is a highly reliable brand of Australia because it manufactures
the chocolate taste in different varieties. The key operations of the company are that it is
known for offering family possessed a brand of chocolate associated with manufacturing and
retailing. The unique selling proposition of the company is manufacturing chocolates of
standard quality with the raw beans of cocoa and the product is categorized with the premium
quality along with this it focuses on the young people and its target market purchase
chocolates for their own utilization and for the purpose of presenting it as a gift. In the
market, there are big competitors present such as Cadbury chocolates and Nestle. All the
competitors of the company accumulate the anxieties in the marketing research, along with
the firm’s supply chain administration is performed with the viewpoint to make the greater
rivalries on the market. It has been assessed from the above analysis that Haigh's Chocolate is
a well-known simple producer of the chocolates who try to deliver satisfaction to the

MARKETING PRINCIPLES 12
customer by offering standard quality chocolates along with chocolates with a premium
brand.
This report has covered the analysis of the Haigh's Chocolate and its marketing plan has been
discussed. Along with this analysis of the products of chocolate in relation to its marketing
strategies followed by SWOT Analysis has been performed. Besides this, a report has
discussed the competitive advantage and positioning of the company's product has been
highlighted. The marketing strategies that have been discussed is marketing mix which
involves four different aspects of the business such as product, price, place, and promotion.
Moreover, in the end, a report has highlighted some of the potential issues and challenges that
Haigh’s Chocolate can face in implementing marketing plan and promoting the product in the
market.

MARKETING PRINCIPLES 13
References
Australian Government (2018) Why do I need a marketing plan? [online]. Available from
https://www.business.gov.au/info/plan-and-start/develop-your-business-plans/marketing/
why-do-i-need-a-marketing-plan [accessed 8 June 2018]
Australian Institute of Company Directors (2010) Annual review [online]. Available from
http://www.companydirectors.com.au/~/media/resources/about-us/annual-reports/annual-
reports-pdf/annualreview_0910.ashx [accessed 8 June 2018]
Edmunds, A.S. (2018) Challenges in Marketing Products [online]. Available from
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/challenges-marketing-products-74137.html [accessed 8 June
2018]
Emmanuel, O. (2008) Effects of tempering and fact crystallization behavior on
microstructure mechanical properties and appearance in dark chocolate systems. Journal of
food engineering, 89 (2008), 128-136.
Family Business Australia (2014) Haigh’s Fine Chocolates [online]. Available from
http://www.fambiz.org.au/haighs-fine-chocolates/ [accessed 8 June 2018]
Government of South Australia (2018) Haigh’s Chocolate [online]. Available from
https://statedevelopment.sa.gov.au/industry/manufacturing/manufacturing-case-studies/h
[accessed 8 June 2018]
Haigh’s Chocolate (2018) About us [online]. Available from
https://www.haighschocolates.com.au/chocolates [accessed 8 June 2018]

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Haigh’s Chocolate (2018) Our History [online]. Available from
https://www.haighschocolates.com.au/about-us/our-history/ [accessed 8 June 2018]
Haigh’s Chocolcate (2016) Australian Packaging Covenant Action Plan [online]. Available
from https://www.haighschocolates.com.au/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/
Packaging-Covenant.pdf [accessed 8 June 2018]
Hill, B. (2018) What Are Some Challenges That Firms Face for International Marketing?
[online]. Available from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/challenges-firms-face-international-
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Luther, W. (2011) The Marketing Plan: How to Prepare and Implement It. 4th edn. USA:
AMACOM.
MBA Skool (2018) Haigh's Chocolates SWOT Analysis, USP & Competitors [online].
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chocolates.html [accessed 8 June 2018]
Olenski, S. (2014) 6 Marketing Challenges And The Shortcuts To Solve Them [online].
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https://producthubbpma.org/2015/09/03/6-product-marketing-challenges/ [accessed 8 June
2018]

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Prosser, C. (2018) Haigh's Chocolates opens new factory, hopes to expand around Australia
[online]. Available from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-22/haighs-chocolate-bucking-
the-trend/9576738 [accessed 8 June 2018]
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Townsend, A., and Tiang, S. (2015) Targetting Chocolate [online]. Available from
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Unger, S. (2018) Ten Marketing Challenges that Can Make or Break Your Business [online].
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