Marketing Strategies in the Pet Food Industry

This assignment requires students to delve into the world of pet food marketing. It asks you to analyze the specific strategies used by the leading pet food corporations, examining how they influence consumer behavior and market share. The focus is on understanding the tactics employed, evaluating their effectiveness, and exploring the broader impact of these strategies within the competitive pet food industry.

Marketing Essentials

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is done by most of the companies today in order to increase the sales of their
product and services .In order to face the intense competition that is taking place in the market
the concept of marketing is used by most of the companies today. With concepts of marketing
the needs of customers can be analysed and in order to satisfy the needs of customers the
decisions will be taken in the organization (Hofmann, 2015. ). The strategies and plans are made
by companies in order to do conduct marketing of their product. The concepts of marketing
mainly includes needs, wants and demand. The needs are the basic requirements of humans such
as food, water and shelter etc. The wants are not permanent and changes regularly. The wants
change according the change in people and location. There will be demand for that nee or wants
of the customers is willing to pay for that needs or wants.
Nestle UK pet industry provide meat and cereal food for dogs and cats (Pet food
domination: The Big Four Corporations, 2017).A large pet population is being nourished by this
industry .This report will explain the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function
related to food products for dogs. The roles of HR departments, financial department etc will be
also be explained in this report. Further more ,a marketing plan will also be in this report. In
order to promote the services and food products that is being provided by this company for pets.
TASK-1
1. The key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function during the launch of food product
The important role is being played by the marketing department in promotion of their
business and mission of organization. All the material that is needed in order to present the
company is provided by this department. The practical application and the operations of
marketing are being focused by the marketing manager of this pet industry. By the marketing
managers of this company the entire activities of marketing are been take care. The activities of
marketing are being formulated, directed and coordinated by marketing manager in order to
attract more number of customers (Kakarot-Handtke, 2015) .The food product for dogs such as
biscuits, cereal and other items will be promoted by the marketing manager and strategies will be
made accordingly.
The key roles of marketing manager of this company are as follows-:
 Conducting of marketing research
1

The marketing research is been conducted by this company in order to find out the
requirements of pets regarding food items that is been given to them. By conducting marketing
research new marketing opportunities will be identified by them. With this the company will able
to manufacture product as per the requirements of dogs. The products that are been manufactured
by the rival organization will also be analysed by this company with the research that is been
done by marketing manager (Leonidou and Zeriti, 2013.). The efficient technique of marketing
can be used in comparison with competitors. The research can be done by making use of
questioners or analysing purchasing habits of companies.
 Developing strategies of marketing
The marketing management will develop the strategies of marketing for this pet industry.
In order to promote its product and service to more number of pets and animals the strategies
will be planned by the company. A competitive edge over rivals will also be maintained from
this and the sales of the company will also increase.
 Customer-relationship management
The function of championing customer-relationship management is also performed by
marketing manager of the company. The information about items of food that is preferred by pets
is collected from database. This information that is being gather from database is then shared
with other staff that are working in this industry in order to provide dogs with excellent services
regarding food items.
 Employees management
The marketing mangers handle and monitor the department of marketing and also within
this department they area also responsible for employees. The marketing staff assigns the duties
and target areas for departmental staff. The marketing manager of this company also evaluate the
performance of employees that are working in this industry.
2. The role and responsibility of HR department, finance department
The strategies and plans that are been made by marketing officer of this pet industry will
help to achieve the goals of business and also competitive advantage from rival company will
also be gained from this. The needs of pets will be understand by marketing officer by
conducting this research. The role of marketing officer is to keep the website of industry up to
date. The latest information about items of food that is been provided for the animals will also be
provided in the website of the company (Lockrey, 2015. ).
2

The role of HR departments in this industry is as follows-:
The most valuable resources that is employees are been managed by human resource department.
The following are the responsibility of HR in this industry and they are as follows-:
Recruitment and training – The primary responsibilities of HRM is to recruit and train new
candidates .The advertising of open positions, interviewing and hiring the new talents etc are
been done by HR of this team. The training materials such as handbooks are also been published
by the HR in order to give training to the new candidates that are being hired by the company.
Record-keeping- For the business the HR office is in charge of keeping records. In this company
the records of income, expenses and purchases etc are been maintained by the company. The
records of employees such as their individual tax forums are also been maintained by the human
resource department (Menon and Edison, 2015).
Employee relations- The relationship between employees are also managed by HR manager.
In case if there is any conflict or fight between employees or employer this conflict is solved by
HR of this interindustry make sure that healthy relationship are maintained at workplace.
The financial department of this company will oversee the investment and long-term
strategies for this industry is being developed by them .The financial reports are also being
prepared by them. The reviewing of financial reports, monitoring accounts and also activity
reports are being prepared but the financial department of this industry. The ways to improve
profitability and opportunities of business such as expansion, merger etc are also been
investigated by the financial managers. The data analysis is also performed by financial manager
and on maximizing profit the ideas to senior manger is also given by them. The main
responsibilities of financial manager is to monitor the finance of the company. About the special
tax laws and regulation that may have an effect this industry the financial mangers must be aware
about it (Rundh, 2013).
TASK-2
3. The marketing plan for pet industry
Executive summary – With sit excellence in its product safety, quality and value nestle is
been serving food products for pets in UK and across the globe. This company mainly focuses
on the health and nutrition for pets. The new trend and ideas are been explored by this company
in order to make lives of dogs and cats better. . In order to keep dogs happy and healthy this
company proved balanced nutrition. With ingredients such as omega-rich nutrition accented with
3

avocado , rice that is packed with carbohydrates etc healthy fiesta is made up of. The marketing
plan will be made in which the sources of product will be tested .Keeping this in mind the
advertisement of the product will be done. The goals of this marketing plan is to introduce the
show circuit dog food sale (Schmidt, Spann and Zeithammer, 2014) .The quality of this product
is finest and is made from the best ingredient that can be stored refrigerator .It is a new products
and many of the manufactures are not aware about this product . For the customers it will rightly
available.
Introduction – Nestle is well-know industry in UK. The pet animals' food product are being
provided by this company. The items of food for animals such as cat or dog is manufactured by it
in UK.
Objective
 To launch a new product that is show circuit dog food sale
 To increase the number of sales in the coming next year for this company.
 To provide good nutrition food items for pet animals such as dogs and cats .
Pestle analysis of the company - The demographics, economy, society , technology etc can
affect the micro-environment of this company. They are as follows-:
PEST of the company
Political – In a society the laws, government agencies and pressure groups etc influence and
limit various organization. In these subgroups as these hispancies are in UK so there is no
limitation .If there is any chance in the policy of government then this company need to also
make that changes in its policies. Under the pet food category cat food enjoys the political
polices. A number of industry codes are followed in pet industry and also this industry is highly
regulated. The manufacture of pet food is governed by 50 pieces of legislation. In a similar ways
to humans the pet food is also manufactured .So, the laws that govern human food is also
applicable to pet food. It is duty of the company to make sure that food product are safe for dogs
and cats. It need to be applicable to FFDCS and PFMA. In the UK the pet products are subjected
to legislation. The safety and quality of products is ensured through it. The items of pet food in
which there is meat need to be undertaken veterinary inspection .This inspection is done in order
to ensure that it qualified for consumption of pet (Sherry and Canon, 2014. ).
Economic – From the year from 2004 to 2009, there have been rise in population of cats.
4

In the residential property values the economic plunged as the effects of steep decline. During
2007 and 2008 the number of consumers who purchase house at inflated rates were not able to
maintain mortgages. Many financial services became bankrupt and economic recession was there
due to this. In UK there was a rise in unemployment and millions of people also lost their home.
In the UK this lead to significant issues of pet abandonment. In 2008 the number of abandoned
pets were high. The population of cat was impacted due to this and during this period , the rate of
growth of cat food sales was also slow. In the cat food market the rends towards premiumisation
were apparent. In order to feed their cats and dogs the owners of cat prefer single serve pouches.
As this single use disposable style was convenient so it became popular. Also it can be stored
and served easily. With value for money the consumers are becoming more conscious .Many
new gourmet recipes are being introduced by many manufactures in order to add value to their
mid range brands.
Socio-culture- In the feeling of loneliness people keep pets and they are also considered as an
essential part of their family. The bond between cats or dogs and the owners is strong and
leaving their pets alone for long period they have a sense of guilt. As per the research that is
been done by PFMA 31% of people keep the pets for love and also for companionship. In the cat
and dog food sector the increasing rise of humanization promotes sales. The organic and natural
health items of food is been chosen by the owner of caring pet. The large portions of cat food
market is presented by premium and super premium food. There is a rise in weight of pets due to
over-eating and under-exercising of people.
Technology – By the innovation in technology the market is driven. The new product
development is impacted by economic recession and it has also brought challenges and
opportunities. The impact of economic downturns is less on pet food industry. As the customers
do not cut the budget for their pets in case of economic circumstances. The respond to this trend
is been given by cat manufactures by adding value to clients and in the cost base more benefits
is also given. In order to establish loyalty of brand cutting process is not a good idea. The more
value to mid-ranges products are being added by manufacturers .This is done to maintain sales
of these food products. However, the large portions of the cat food market is being proved by
premium ad super premium food products (Dawson, Hirt and Scanlan, 2016).
SWOT analysis
Strength
5

This new product that is been introduced for dogs will be supplied exclusively in UK. The show
circuit is a dog food which is of high quality and it contains ingredient such as cereals and fresh
meat etc. The dogs coats can be improved from this and thus making dogs beautiful and healthy.
For years the professional owners of dogs have sued this product for years. The owners of dogs
who consider issues of beauty ad health for their dogs will definitely use this product for their
dogs.
Weaknesses
In comparison with other products of dogs the prices of this product is high and also it is new
product that will be launched in the market. In the market the company need to create a brand
awareness regarding this product (Gerlemann and Carr, 2014). With regard to product placement
and distribution the froze packaging from represent complexities for the company. The only
distributor that is available is the supermarket.
Opportunities
In the UK the company have the opportunity to expand its business among organic dog food.
There would be rise in the number of consumers who are ready to pay high prices for the food
products for dogs. In the supermarket of UK show circuit will be the first fog food that will be
available in frozen food section.
Threats
From the other pet food companies of UK this company will face threats. In order to compete
with other companies such as Mars Inc etc the company will struggle. In order to convince
distributors to provide their freeze stores the difficulties will be faced by the company (Dawson,
Hirt and Scanlan, 2016.).
Segmentation, Targeting and positioning
Market segmentation – On the basis of age and status that is married and unmarried the
segmentation of market will be done. And the income of the owners will also be considered for
this products that is being launched for dogs.
Target market – This will target both married and unmarried people and the age group of 21 to
54 years people will be targeted and the target market group will also have the income more than
$25,000.This target group is being selected as the married couples and the single people treat
their dogs has their family members.
6

Positioning of market – The positioning in the market will be done as the show circuit dog food
that is available at affordable process. The strategies of advertising will be made and also
through these strategies this dog food will be justified as a unique product. For special interest
the ads will be carried out in TV, sports etc. The company nestle can also make use of social
website such as Facebook, twitter or blog etc in order to do promotion of their new products that
is launched for dogs and cat.
Promotional strategy – In order to do promotion of this the company can make use of its website
where all the information regarding this product can be given. The company can use also show
the ad of dog and cat food product that can be shown in TV. The promotional strategy such as
10% off or 20% off can also be used by company at starting so that to make the owners of cat
and dogs about this launch of new products in the market (Bharadwaj, 2015.).
CONCLUSION
Thus summing up the above report it can be concluded that the concept of marketing can
be used by the companies in order to find out the neds of customers and their pets. The roles of
marketing officer is to conduct research in order to analyse the product of food that are being
manufactured by rival companies. The marketing officer can also evaluate the performance of
employees in order to see that where they are doing their task properly or not. Various strategies
of marketing is also made by marketing office. In this company HR will receive and hire right
candidates and also resolve conflict that is there in team. The marketing plan is being mane in
order to launch an new product for cats and dogs in the market and it will target the people of
age-group of 21-80 years and various promotional strategies are also been made for this. The
competition is being faced by Mars company that also sell food items for pet dogs in UK.
7

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Bharadwaj, S., 2015. Developing new marketing strategy theory: addressing the limitations of a
singular focus on firm financial performance. AMS review. 5(3-4). pp.98-102.
Chan, H. K., He, H. and Wang, W. Y., 2012. Green marketing and its impact on supply chain
management in industrial markets. Industrial Marketing Management. 41(4). pp.557-562.
Dawson, A., Hirt, M. and Scanlan, J., 2016. The economic essentials of digital
strategy. McKinsey Quarterly.
Dawson, A., Hirt, M. and Scanlan, J., 2016. The IAB Establishment Panel—methodological
essentials and data quality. Journal for Labour Market Research. 47(1-2). pp.27-41.
Garrigos-Simon, F. J., Lapiedra Alcami, R. and Barbera Ribera, T., 2012. Social networks and
Web 3.0: their impact on the management and marketing of organizations. Management
Decision. 50(10). pp.1880-1890.
Gerlemann, G.D. and Carr, S.N., 2014. Impact of ractopamine hydrochloride on growth,
efficiency, and carcass traits of finishing pigs in a three-phase marketing
strategy. Journal of animal science. 92(3). pp.1200-1207.
Hofmann, A., 2015. Compensation and Benefits: Essentials of Base Salary. Handbook of Human
Resources Management, pp.1-15.
Huotari, K. and Hamari, J., 2012, October. Defining gamification: a service marketing
perspective. In Proceeding of the 16th International Academic MindTrek Conference (pp. 17-
22). ACM.
Kakarot-Handtke, E., 2015. Essentials of Constructive Heterodoxy: Money, Credit,
Interest. Browser Download This Paper.
Leonidou, L.C. and Zeriti, A., 2013. Resources and capabilities as drivers of hotel environmental
marketing strategy: Implications for competitive advantage and performance. Tourism
Management. 35. pp.94-110.
Lockrey, S., 2015. A review of life cycle based ecological marketing strategy for new product
development in the organizational environment. Journal of Cleaner Production. 95. pp.1-
15.
8

Menon, A. and Edison, S.W., 2015. Effective Marketing Strategy-Making: Antecedents and
Consequences. In Proceedings of the 1997 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual
Conference (pp. 224-224). Springer, Cham.
Rundh, B., 2013. Linking packaging to marketing: how packaging is influencing the marketing
strategy. British Food Journal. 115(11). pp.1547-1563.
Satit, R. P. and et.al., 2012. The relationship between marketing mix and customer decision-
making over travel agents: An empirical study. International Journal of Academic Research in
Business and Social Sciences. 2(6). pp.522.
Schmidt, K.M., Spann, M. and Zeithammer, R., 2014. Pay what you want as a marketing strategy
in monopolistic and competitive markets. Management Science. 61(6). pp.1217-1236.
Sherry, C.S. and Canon, C.L., 2014. An Introduction to “Business Essentials”. Journal of the
American College of Radiology. 11(2). pp.110-111.References
Sozinova, A. A. and Fokina, O. V., 2015. Special aspects of studying the internet as a marketing
communication channel of the service industry. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences. 6(4).
p.139.
Online
Pet food domination: The Big Four Corporations. 2017. [Online] Available through:
<https://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/articles/pet-food-domination-the-big-four-
corporations.php>.
9