Introduction to Marketing

This document provides an introduction to marketing and discusses the value proposition, SWOT analysis, target market, and positioning of Clif Bar & Company. It also includes recommendations for improving the company's performance.

Introduction to marketing 0
Introduction To Marketing
Clif Bars& Company
Student’s Name
5/26/2019

Introduction to marketing 1
Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Value proposition.......................................................................................................................3
SWOT Analysis.........................................................................................................................4
Justification................................................................................................................................8
Target Market and Positioning...................................................................................................8
The competitive position of Clif Bar & Company...................................................................10
Recommendations....................................................................................................................12
Conclusion................................................................................................................................13
References................................................................................................................................14

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Introduction
Clif Bar & Company is an American company formed in the year 1992 by Gary
Erickson and Lisa Thomas. The company is privately held and is based in Emeryville,
California. In the year 1990, Erikson got the idea to produce Clif Bar by having the energy
bars at a long 175-mile ride. He analyzed that the energy bars were not able to satisfy his
hunger and lead to dissatisfaction. This idea created Clif Bar and currently, the company is
serving organic food and drinks with the mission of creating a healthier and sustainable
world.
The company creates a unique workplace by providing amenities and designs with the
programs that benefit the employees. It involves the culture where diversity is embraced and
equal respect and opportunities are provided to all the employees of the company. It provides
the representation to the disables. The company provides organic, energizing ingredients like
oats, almonds, and dates that activate the body and helps in keeping it healthier. The
company creates a sustainable food system.
The company aims to leave a positive impact upon the environment and ensures zero
waste and clean energy to contribute towards the sustainable environment. Clif Bar&
company is committed to implementing change and effectively contributes towards the
community. The company targets women, children and produces sports drinks with the
motive of providing energy to the consumers and fosters a healthy lifestyle. The company
considers the employee as their main asset and designs various attractive programs to create a
positive working culture and personal growth of employees. The further paragraphs will
cover the value proposition of the company, internal analysis, its target market, and
positioning. It will also include recommendations to improve the current performance of the
company.

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Value proposition
The value proposition describes the innovation in the product or the service that the
company promises to deliver to attract the customers. Clif Bar & company delivers value in
the form of delivering organic and healthier food to its customers. It provides the energy bars
that satisfy hunger and provides satisfaction to the customers (Osterwalder et al, 2014).
It is analyzed that growing trends towards healthy lives increases the demand for the
products delivered by Clif Bar & company. The company attracts the customers by providing
high-quality organic products that provide high energy to the customers and make them
healthier. It produces energizing ingredients like almonds, dates, and oats to satisfy the health
needs of the target market and charge premium prices for their high-quality organic products.
The company delivers value by delivering the products that are free from chemical and helps
the consumer in improving their heaths and energizes the bodies. This market strategy helps
in targeting the consumers that are health conscious and aims to live healthy lives. The
company also produces sports drinks and fruit juices that are 100 % organic and better it
tastes. It does not add any flavours and provides pure products to its customers (Hatum,
2013).
It delivers value by adding nutrition, taste and organic material to the products. It
satisfies the needs of healthier customers and delivers the snacks for the customers who skip
the meals. The energy bars are rich in nutrients and greater in taste to satisfy the hunger of the
customers and provide value for the money paid by them. It inspires the people to eat organic
food that helps in reducing the pesticides from the body and will promote healthier lives of
the customers. It focuses on sustaining a healthy food system that provides healthier lives and
provides a wide range of choices and flavours in the product lines (New Hope, 2019).

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It consists of CLIF, LUNA and CLIF kid brands and is committed to using the
sustainably sourced ingredients to make the right choices and deliver the food that is good
and tasty. The company attentively listens to the athletes, foodies and the people whom they
meet at the event to fulfil the natural demands and meets the changing trends through
innovations in the products and the services. The company creates the value for the products
by increasing the operational efficiency and providing the best after sale services to attract the
customers and increase the market share (Mangalindan, 2014).
The company charges the premium prices from the customers because of its highly
nutritious and organic food. It provides different flavours using sustainably sourced
ingredients and delivers quality food. The price of the product is directly linked to the value
the product holds in the minds of the consumers. It is analyzed that Clif Bar & company
enjoys a positive brand image in the minds of consumers and enables to charge a high price
for its quality food products. The company makes continuous innovations in the tastes and
made the products that are full of nutrients to satisfy the needs of the health-conscious
customers and charge high price from the niche market. Easy availability of the products and
wide choices in the product lines helps the company to deliver value to the customers and
charge a price for the products. The attractive packaging and after sale services also adds
value to the product. The increasing demand for the healthy and the nutritious products
allows the company to charge price and increase the market share. The strong brand image
majorly contributes to charging the price for the products and persuading the buying behavior
of the consumers (The Feed Graph, 2019).
SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis is the model used by the companies to analyze the competitive
position and helps in analyzing the strengths and the weakness of the company and also the

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opportunities and threats that lie in the external environment. It helps the company is
developing effective strategic plans by combining the internal strengths and the opportunities
that lie in the external environment.
Strengths
The company enjoys a positive brand image as a green company that produces
healthy products and focuses on sustaining a healthy system. It covers 30% market share
from the nutrition bars and covers the large market share. The products of the company are
USDA certified. The company partners with the other companies to increase brand awareness
and has introduced a recycling program to focus on the green goals of the company (James,
M. 2013).
The company provides the diversified range of products and has a wide expansion to
the 19 countries. It charges the premium prices for its high-quality organic products and
fulfils the demand of increasing customers. The company is driven by five aspirations that
help in committing towards zero waste. The company also retains potential employees who
are committed towards the goals of the company by providing amenities and creating a
positive working culture (Haigh & Hoffman, 2011).
Weakness
Lack of awareness for the snack bars served by the company creates a challenging
opportunity and the negative perceptions of the customers towards the candies and the snack
bars create difficulty in attracting the potential market. Negative publicity regarding the
scandals and company disputes hampers the brand image of the company and reduces the
market share. The brand is more expensive to its customers and is subject to liability if the
products caused harm to the consumers. Unequal promotions create a lack of awareness about

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the snack bars served by the company and in turn affect the profitability of the company
(Greene, 2012).
Opportunities
The increasing shift towards a healthy lifestyle provides the opportunity to the
company to blur the line between the snacks and the meal and increase the market share
through delivering snack bars to the customers. The increasing generations of baby boomers
have created the opportunity for the company to introduce more options in the snack bar
because the baby boomers prefer snacks over meals. They choose to buy organic products
and live healthier lives. The increasing awareness about the use of organic products to
decrease the dietary exposures provides the opportunity to the company to increase its
potential market (Reviewstocksvalue, 2019).
The increasing concern towards the environment also provides the opportunity to the
company to sustain the positive brand image because the company focuses on sustaining the
environment by ensuring zero wastage and developing recycling program that effectively
uses the resources and attracts the customers (Sirsat, 2019).
Threats
The shortage of organic ingredients is considered as the major threat for the company
because the company develops the value through its use of organic ingredients. It becomes
difficult for the company for a consistent supply of organic materials. Establishment of the
other competitive brands and the entry of the new companies create a threat for the company
to survive at the competitive market and charge premium prices for the products. The
supplier plays a major role in the business. If the raw material supplied is not reliable it can

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cause harm to the health of the consumers and can create negative publicity of the brand
(Watson, 2018).
The low investment of the government over the research over the agricultural
products affects the performance of the company and affects its sales. The increasing demand
for organic ingredients leads to an increase in the price of the ingredients and affects the
costing of the company. The perception of the customers towards natural and unprocessed
food leads to a decrease in the sales of the company (Digital initiative, 2016).
Strengths
 Enjoys a positive brand image as a
green company.
 It covers 30% market share from
nutrition bars.
 The company offers a diversified
range of products and all the USDA
certified.
 Inbuilt positive working culture and
collectively works towards
marinating the sustainable system.
 Charges premium prices for its high-
quality organic products and serves in
19 countries.
Weakness
 Lack of awareness about the snack
bars served by the company.
 Negative perceptions of consumers
regarding candies and snack bars.
 More expensive brand in comparison
to its competitors.
 Negative publicity due to disputes
and scandals in the company.
 The company is subject to liability.
 Unequal promotions create a lack of
awareness for the snack bars.
Opportunities
 Increasing awareness of health creates
the opportunity to expand its market
share.
 Increase in the generation of baby
boomers creates the opportunity for
snack bars because they prefer snacks
over meals.
 Increasing awareness for environment
Threats
 Shortage in the availability of supply
of organic materials.
 Increase in the competitive brands
and the entry of new entrants.
 Low investment in agriculture
industries by the government.
 Increasing demand for organic
Positive Negative
Internal External

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provides the opportunity for
sustaining the positive brand image.
material leads to an increase in the
price of the raw material.
 The increasing preference for natural
and unprocessed food affects the sale
of the company (Au-Young, 2019).
Justification
From the above discussion, it is justified that the company must focus on effective
strategic planning to overcome the threats and reduce the weakness of the company. It must
develop effective promotion strategies to make the people aware of the snack bars and
increase market share. It must use competitive pricing strategy to reduce the threat of a
decrease in sales due to the high cost of the products. From the above discussion, it is
observed that the company enjoys a positive brand image and satisfies the changing needs of
the customer by delivering innovative products and services. It must use its strengths to grab
the opportunities that lie in the external environment and increase the market share. It must
offer wide product lines and with different flavours to attract the baby boomers and expand
the market share.
Target Market and Positioning
The concept of market segmentation consists of dividing the consumers into similar
groups based on the age, personality, income or the behavior of the consumers. The
segmentation of the market helps the company in analyzing its target market and grows the
potential of the company by delivering the best experience to the target market. It allows the
company to understand the needs of the target audience and deliver the best product. The
segmentation of Clif Bar & company customers is done on the basis of demographic,
psychographic, geographic and behavioral segmentation (Fernan, 2016).

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Demographic segmentation
Clif Bar & company targets the customers from the age group 18-44 and also
produces goods for the children and teens from the age group 5-17. The company charges the
premium prices due to the use of high-quality organic ingredients which in turn leads to the
target of the high-income consumers. The company majorly targets females who require high
nutrition food and targets white collar workers because they are the people who are health
conscious and do not have the time to create meals (Namie & Warne, 2017). The company
has developed nutritional snack bars to blur the line between meals and snacks and targets the
white collar workers. It targets the group who are educated and health conscious. It has
designed a LUNA bar that has less than 200 calories and is glutton free to target the women’s
who wants to add carbs and proteins to their diets (Bragg et al, 2013).
Geographic segmentation
The target audience of the company is located all over the United States and mainly
the west coast region of the USA. Here the population is more educated and health conscious
(Moore, 2014).
Psychographic segmentation
The company targets consumers who aim to live a healthy lifestyle and prefers
convenience. It targets the baby boomer generation who prefers snack over meals and wants
to have energetic nutritional food to work and live healthy lives (Wordpress.com, 2017).
These consumers want to remain fit and prefer to eat organic food to decrease the exposure of
dietary pesticides and live a healthy life. It targets adventurous consumers who spend much
of their outside and don’t have the time to cook the meals. The energy bars help the

Introduction to marketing 10
consumers to live in the temperatures and have the energy to complete their trips (Martin &
Schouten, 2014).
Behavioural segmentation
The company targets the consumers based upon the benefits the consumers perceived
from the product. The consumers feel that eating the organic product will benefit them in
living healthy lives and will add nutrition’s in their bodies. The women want to add carbs and
proteins in their diets and they perceive energy bars as the best product to add nutrients in
their diets (Contemporary Marketing, 2017). The white-collar workers sought the benefit of
ready snacks that energizes them to work and live a healthy life. They perceive the benefit
from the snack bars produced by Clif Bar & company. The adventurous and the health
conscious customers perceive the products that provide the benefit of having the organic
product that provides energy and nutrition (Wordpress.com, 2017).
The competitive position of Clif Bar & Company
The competitive position of the company is analyzed through the use of the porters
five force model and the SWOT analysis of the Clif Bar & company. The intensity of
competition faced by the company is high due to the overflow of the energy bars industries.
The company enjoys a significant position by maintaining loyal customers and fuelling
people by proving wholesome nutritional products. The threat of new entrants is high because
of the increasing awareness of healthy lifestyles. The new entrants provide the products at the
lower prices which in turn create the threat of shifting of the customers and the company
faces the risk of reduction in the sales (CGMA, 2014).
Due to the increasing competition faced by the firm the customers enjoys high
bargaining power because the switching cost is low and the consumers get attracted towards

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the low priced organic products. It becomes difficult for the Clif Bar to hold the sales of the
company and maintain the existing market share (Apte & Sheth, 2017).
The bargaining power of the suppliers is low because the company uses the same
strategy to take the raw material across the different production countries and the strategy
with the suppliers will not change which in turn decreases the bargaining power of the
suppliers (Apte & Sheth, 2017).
Lastly, the intensity of competitive rivalry is high because of the availability of large
energy bars industries. The main competitors of the brand include PowerBar Inc. and Balance
Bar Co. The PowerBar was the first company to make the energy and mainly targets the
athletes and other runners to provide high carbohydrate energy bars and distributes in the
supermarkets. The other competitor of the company is the Balance Bar. This company
provides the dietary bars to satisfy the health needs and the tastes of the customers (Shelton &
Tracy, 2016).
Apart from the high intensity of competition the company currently enjoys a strong position
in the market because it is able to deliver high-quality organic products by focusing and
researching the best quality raw materials and establishing good relations with the suppliers
and farmers. The company is able to position itself as a strong sustainable brand that delivers
quality food to health-conscious customers. The company is able to develop a positive brand
image by effectively contributing to the community and inspiring the adventurous people to
have energy and go ahead in life. The company fosters to create long term relationships with
its local customers and increase its target market (Rosenbloom, 2018).
The company’s current position is effective but increase in the awareness towards the
healthy lifestyle creates the need to blur the line between the meals and the snack bars which
in turn creates the emerging need to increase the awareness regarding the innovations in the

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snack bars and attracting the millenials to become the loyal customer’s for the snack bars.
The increasing market share and charging of the premium prices reflect that the current
position in the market is effective and creates wide opportunities for the business to expand
its market share (Hayes, Contento & Weekly, 2018).
Recommendations
The Ansoff matrix describes the potential of growth of the company and describes the
strategies to be adapted to increase the market share. In consideration of the above
discussions, the company must focus on adopting the market development strategy and the
product development strategy. In the market development strategy, the company must target
the swing generation because the adults are getting health conscious and are actively
involving in sports activities. This, in turn, creates the opportunity for the company to
develop the new products that satisfy the tastes and the nutritional value of the older
generations. The growing generation of the millenials shift the older generations to the
retiring age and provides them more time to concentrate on their health and participate in
adventurous activities. This shift in the lifestyle creates the merging need for the company to
expand the product line in the snack bars and increase the existing market share (Mind Tools,
2019).
The shift towards the sustainable system provides the opportunity to the company to
target the new customers that are getting health conscious and aims to decrease the exposure
of the dietary pesticides. Through the use of the Ansoff matrix, the company can design the
strategic policy that satisfies the needs of the existing customers and attracts the new
customers for increasing the potential of the company (Mind Tools, 2019).

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Conclusion
From the above discussion, it is critical to note that Clif Bar & company enjoys a
strong competitive position and charges premium prices for its high-quality products. The
company is able to maintain a sustainable system and effectively contributes to the
community. It delivers a wide range of products and is expanded to 19 countries. The brand is
strongly perceived as the health-conscious brand that provides high-quality organic products
to promote healthy lives.
It is analyzed that increasing awareness towards the healthy lives and increase in the
baby boomers generation provides the opportunity to the company to blur the line between
meals and snack bars and expand its market through adding varieties in the snack bars. It is
scrutinized that the company has a 30% market share for the snack bars and all the products
are USDA certified. The entry of new firms and increasing competition creates a threat to
maintaining the sales of the company. The non-availability of the organic ingredients and
high pricing due to increasing competition creates a threat for the company.
From the above paragraphs, it is concluded that the company targets the age group of
18-44 and both the males and females. The company targets the adventurous and white-collar
employees who prefer ready snack bars over meals. It covers all the market in the United
States and targets consumers who prefer healthy lifestyles and are educated. The income
group is high because of high-quality organic ingredients and the consumers perceive the
brand as a benefit sought to provide healthy lifestyles and reduce the dietary exposures of
pesticides.

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