Barker's Marketing Plan Report: US and Canada Market Entry Strategy

This report presents a marketing plan for Barker's, a New Zealand-based company specializing in jams, jellies, and other food products, aiming to enter the North American market (primarily the US and Canada). The report begins with an executive summary, table of contents, and an introduction to Barker's, highlighting its history, current market presence in Australia and Asia, and its expansion goals. It includes a market analysis of the North American food preservation market, focusing on key competitors like Smuckers, Hershey, and Del Monte, and examines industry trends, consumer preferences, and market share dynamics. The report analyzes competitor marketing strategies, including their approaches to pricing, distribution, and promotion. The core of the report is Barker's marketing plan, which details customer need analysis, product strategies, branding, and pricing strategies tailored for the North American market, taking into account the competitive landscape and consumer preferences. The report concludes with a summary of key findings and recommendations for Barker's market entry strategy.

RUNNING HEAD: MARKETING PLAN
0
Marketing Strategy and Plan
Report
Student Name
3/31/2019

Marketing Plan
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Executive Summary
Marketing Plan includes the different activities that are to be performed in near future
by the businesses to achieve its objectives. In this report marketing plan of Barkers is framed for
entering into the new market as an expansion strategy of the company. The plan highlights the
marketing strategies to be followed that includes pricing of the product, product innovation,
customer need analysis, branding and promotional techniques that can be used by the Barkers
in the North American market. The report consist of market analysis that covers the demand
and choice of people in US market and the industry growth in the market whereas competitors
analysis includes the market share of the competitors, their marketing strategies and product
offerings to the target market. On that basis Barkers marketing plan is framed keeping in mind
the success and failures of the competitors who tried to enter in the same industry in the same
market. Furthermore report is followed with a brief conclusion of the topic.

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................1
Introduction.....................................................................................................................................3
Market Analysis...............................................................................................................................3
Competitor Marketing Strategies....................................................................................................4
Marketing Plan.................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion........................................................................................................................................8
References.......................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Barker’s of Geraldine is based in New Zealand and manufactures jams, jellies, dessert
sauces, chutneys, syrups and condiments. The company was founded in 1969 by Michael Barker
parents as a cottage industry to make wines by using organic ingredients from their farm. They
expanded their business to different countries and captured Australian and Asian market and
completed 50 years in this sector (Barker's, 2019). In order to launch in Australian market
company invested $4 million in its manufacturing plant and successfully captured the market
with different range and varieties of products. The company was expanded and had total
revenue of $50 million and increased in sale of food syrups by 30% in the year 2013 (Wood,
2013).
As the company already has presence in Australian and Asian market, they are planning
to expand their business in North American market mainly in USA and Canada. Some of the
competitors of Baker’s in American market are Hershey, Smuckers, Del Monte Foods and Kraft
fruit and preserves. These companies are doing well in food preservation products and have
different varieties of product according to the demand of customers. At present company
positioned itself as exciting flavors maker who made nearly 50 products varying from jams,
sauces and chutneys for the consumer market. At present Baker’s is focusing on growth of its
special ingredients that includes sauces, fruit based fillings, and condiments to target the
bakeries, caterers and restaurants, out of that 20 percent of the products are export to
Australia and the Pacific (Herald, 2019).
This report consists of the marketing plan to enter in these markets with a proper
strategy that help in competing with the existing firm in same industry in these markets. The
marketing plan includes customer analysis, market analysis, knowing company capabilities and
then selecting an option to take entry in the market.
Market Analysis
In North American market some of the brands such as Smuckers, Hershey, Kraft and Del
Monte are the biggest competitor for Baker’s (Lawn, 2019). Smuckers is an American based
company offers varieties of syrups, fruit spreads, sauces and more throughout the world for
more than 100 years (Smuckers, 2019). Others competitors are also doing well in the market, it
is analyzed that food preserves US market has potential and chances of growth in near future.
The global fruit jam, jelly and preserves market is supposed to grow by 3.5% during the
period of 2018-2023. The industry is pushed by the nearness of food supplement items,
preferences for instant eatables, changing lifestyles and food preferences because of

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urbanization and the increasing demand of versatile flavored food materials. Other reasons
behind the growing market are decreasing price of raw material and ingredients and less
regulations by the government on processed food industry. The companies have opportunity
to develop innovative product with new flavors of untraditional fruits and organic products and
offer it to customers to penetrate the market (Williams, 2019).
The market strategy used in this industry includes offering wide range of products types
and flavors. The jam product in this industry covers more than 50% of the US market share
followed by jelly and the flavored preferred are strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, apricot,
grapes, blueberry and many more with organic or homemade touch. All these products are
distributed in the US market with hypermarkets or supermarkets presence in the areas. The
competition in North America and Europe is more as most of the companies whether big or
large are operating in the limited market. These markets are saturated due to the presence of
many small and local players. The different ways to enter in these markets for growth are new
innovative product launch, unique flavored, organic food items and mainly through mergers
and acquisitions with the small and local players in the market (Williams, 2019).
Market analysis of North America showed that US households preferred mostly
strawberry flavors in jellies and jams followed by grapes. Top brands that are involved in selling
of these preserves foods include Smuckers and Welch’s. In market most of the preferred flavors
are strawberry and grapes because of its excess availability in the stores and likely the customer
preferences are influenced by the advertising or marketing strategies for these products. The
Best sellers in the food preserves during the year 2018 in US market was Smucker’s seedless
strawberry jam, no added sugar jams, Smuckers concord grape jelly, squeeze strawberry fruit
spread and many more in this category (AmazonUS, 2019). From the market analysis of the
North America most of the people prefer jams and jellies in a specific flavor that was offered by
the main leaders in this industry. In the US, preserves represent the 44% of the total sales in the
overall spread classification. Out of that jams make up of 22% of sales, jelly sales was 21% and
food spreads were 17% of sales. Annual retail sales of jams, jellies and preserves in the market
account for approximately $632 million (Sevier, 2019).
Competitor Marketing Strategies
The main competitor for the Baker’s in this industry in North American market is
Smuckers. The company shifted its focus on the consumers who are spending more time in
online shopping this is done for the growth of business and reverberate with shoppers.
Smuckers changed its distributing strategy and make it to more specific business units and
outsourced its advertising to one ad holding company. The competitors in this market are
changing and making strategies that are being transformed by data, technology and changing

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consumer expectations. These changes are useful in success of the businesses in the food
preservation segment (Bruell, 2019).
The approaches followed by the rivals have failed because of changing shopping habits
of the consumers, at present consumers wants fresh and natural options over processed foods
and market expects the increase in organic sales. Smuckers offer different flavors with wide
range to the customers at affordable prices and with easy excess to the products both online
and offline. Currently company shifts its focus to online retail and increased the investment in
advertising from $500 million to $580 million (Gasparro, 2019). The company is trying to change
its marketing strategy according to the changing taste of the consumers and making it more
customizable with unique packaging and creative design to attract the kids and adults of
different ages.
The competitors in the market primarily targets adults under age group of 21-30 and
concerned about their health and secondary target the kids. As people who are professionals
and students are the target of the companies for sales of their products like jellies, jams and
sauces. Health conscious customers preferred low sugar concentrated product and company
target these people also. As per the demand of customers companies are changing and opting
different promotion strategies to reach the target market like public relation, social media
platforms, in -store promo concepts and teaser mailer. These strategies made the competitors
of Baker’s successful in the North American Market (Fleisher & Bensoussan, 2015).
Marketing Plan
The low cost, low risk marketing plan for Barker’s for entering into the North America
market is framed keeping in mind the outcome of above market analysis and competitor
strategies analysis that provides an insight of the challenges and opportunities of the market
which will prove to be beneficial for the success of Barker’s in new market. Marketing plan for
Barker‘s give a framework for the target customers, the pricing strategy to be followed, product
development, customer needs and demands in present scenario in the market and the
promotion strategies to be used (Kennedy, 2011).
1. Customer Need Analysis: As mentioned earlier the need and demand of US people is
organic products with different flavors and the most preferred flavors are grape and
strawberry. The customers prefer more jellies and jams in these products. The company
should target the urban middle class population of North America; market segment for
the Barker’s will be US and Canada households. The best segment that can be targeted
because most of the food preserves consumption is by the people in these regions.
Today, the most urbanized region in the world includes North America with 82% of the
population is living in urban areas in 2018 (UN, 2018). In the entire targeted segment

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most of the people are working professional or students that had maximum
consumption level and working class people are always price conscious and spend on
the products which are worth to value. In food preserve segment customers are mainly
frequent buyers of the product because they consume it on monthly or weekly basis
that will increase the demand of the product in the target market.
2. Product Strategies: Barker’s positioned itself as the exciting flavors makers or believes
in innovation or product development with organic taste and provides range of varieties
in its product line in New Zealand. Offering wide range of products to customers is the
strategy of Baker’s, fruit syrups, chutney & jellies, jam, curds and Marmalade, savoury
sauces, ready to drink spritzers are some of the varieties offered by the company and
same will be offered in the North American market but mainly in strawberry and grapes
flavor because of the market demand and the people of US lessen the consumption of
Marmalade so the company would focus on offering jams and jellies to the target
market with some product innovations to make it differ from other competitors in the
market. However, the key strengths of Barker’s are its experience or brand loyalty,
different products, manufacturing units, more varieties of flavors and the innovation in
products that help in the company to compete in the new market (Barker's, 2019).
3. Branding: The brand is the name or logo that helps the customers in differentiating the
product from others in the market. (Ferrell & Hartline, 2008). In North American market
product will be launched with same brand name but the focus will be on packaging of
product. Baker’s attempt to introduce an innovative form of packaging which no
competitor has even come up in the market that makes the product different from
others and give a unique selling proposition to the company. The package of bottle
should be attractive and colorful to get the attention of the customers in the
supermarkets and will be available in many flavors than the competitors. Size and
quantity of the product is standard as per the market demand and if needed small
quantity jams and jellies can be launched.
4. Pricing: Barker’s has selling its product in New Zealand at reasonable prices and to
capture the market of North America, same pricing strategy can be used as its
competitor are selling in between $4.25 to $6.99 for 18oz and 32oz respectively
(SmuckersOnline, 2019). Price determination will impact on the profit margins of the
company and directly affect the demand and supply chain of the product. To enter in
new market company has to follow the pricing strategy as per their competitors and
keeping in mind the company’s goals. Currently Baker’s offer their products in range
from $4.02 to $6.00 for different quantity (Barkers, 2019). The pricing strategy of

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Baker’s include its product cost, packaging and delivering cost if any, that makes the
product more affordable as the company has its own manufacturing units that help in
reducing the cost if produced in bulk quantity and also the cost of raw material is
somehow low for them because they have their farms and gardens to get the fruits and
raw materials.
5. Promotion: Mainly to enter in the new market it is essential for a brand to create its
awareness amongst the customer in the new target market for that promotion is done
to generate sale in new market, and create brand loyalty (Kerr & Patti, 2015). Barkers
can create awareness among the people using different ways of promoting such as
direct marketing, social media marketing, Public relation and advertising.
In concept of social media marketing, increasing digital era changed the way the
business use marketing activities and now businesses use technology and digital
marketing to create awareness of their brands in the mind of customers (Felix,
Rauschnabel, & Hinsch, 2017). The use of digital service is more in the targeted market
so Barkers can invest in digital platform and create the ad for targeting the US
households, Students and adults. As the target customer for the Barkers is young
generation we can target them using the social media platform like Facebook and
YouTube. Through Facebook campaign Barkers can update the customers about their
flavors, products and new arrivals in the market. Using a Facebook page monthly
campaign can be generated to increase the reach of customers and it is easy way to get
the customers feedback to know their needs. Promotion can be done through YouTube,
as many of people have keen interest in watching web series and using the platform for
different purposes showing add on YouTube or short videos like the story that connect
the customers with the brand. This is used to promote the product on social media.
Public Relation is the way of creating awareness in market through press
releases and to be in the heading of newspapers for good works that will help in
developing the positive brand image in customer’s perception. The cost of maintaining
public relation is low in contrast to other ways and the reach is more considered to
others (Austin & Pinkleton , 2015). In North American market, it is not easy for Baker’s
to compete with Smuckers in the market as it has been completed its 100 years in that
market that will dive an edge to the competitor so Smuckers public relation is strong in
the market. Positioning of Baker’s product can be done by explaining the health benefits
to the customers, holding on press conference for releasing the product in new market,
explaining the benefits of consuming sugar free product and bringing awareness about

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nutritional values. These are some strategies for using the public relation promotional
way of creating awareness.
Advertising is the way to connect with the customers especially in the new
market; most of the companies prefer to advertise their products through different
communication medium. Different modes include print media, TV channels, point of sale
and billboards (Clark, Wang, & Bohlmann, 2015). Barkers can advertise through Point of
sale by using different stickers and posters which can be displayed in the supermarkets
and hypermarkets or in different stores in different areas. Billboards are used by Barkers
in front of schools, shopping malls and most traffic areas where billboards get noticed
that bring the awareness in mind of the customers about the brand and its product in
the market. Bake’s has to spend more amount in advertising because of its competitor
strategy of advertising more in the market, for competing to that aspect Barkers has to
focus on implementing effective advertising strategy that leads to more numbers of
sales.
Barkers is very renowned company in the New Zealand and has good reputation
in the market, so company has good presence and brand loyalty in the home market but
to develop same in new market Barkers has to promote its product in proper way. Some
plans to promote the products include newspaper advertising for the first 6 months until
the image is built. In starting giving discount vouchers, conducting competitions in
schools and providing gifts to the winners in order to highlight the product is an
encouraging promotional strategy. Commercial ads can be shown on TV channels for 30-
40 seconds to make the customer aware about new brand. Placing billboards is also be
done. It is important to spend huge amount in promotion during launching time and for
few starting months to now the response of customer and to get the good market
share.

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Conclusion
Barker’s of Geraldine a renowned company based in New Zealand that deals in food
preserves products that includes jams, chutneys and jellies of different flavors and in wide
ranges. The company has presence in Asian and Australian market and planning to expand its
business in North American Market for that company is looking for low cost marketing plan
with low risk to enter into the new market. From the above analysis it can be concluded that
there is scope of expansion in this market and Barkers can penetrate or target the America and
Canada in this region. The marketing plan of the company to enter in North American market is
presented above and shows the strategies to be used to enter into the market. These strategies
are formed on the basis of market analysis of the US and Canada and on the basis of competitor
analysis in these markets. In this competitive era, company has to compete with Smuckers
which is a leading player in this segment in the North American market. The promotion, pricing
and positioning strategies for Barkers is laid down in order to be successfully launched in these
markets and to make the customer aware about the new brand and the product offering of
Barkers. Pricing of the product in the new market will be the same as it is in New Zealand and
Barkers has to spend more amount in promotion of jams, jellies, sauces and chutneys in the
new market and as per the demand of the customers and on the basis of their responses
changes can be made if required. It is summarized that Barkers can enter in the new market
with this marketing plan and will be successful in capturing the market and establishing a good
brand image because of its strengths that includes more flavors, varieties and its experience in
the sector.

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References
AmazonUS. (2019, April 9). Best sellers in jams, jellies & Preserves. Retrieved from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Grocery-Gourmet-Food-Jams-Jellies-Preserves/
zgbs/grocery/6493999011
Austin, E. W., & Pinkleton , B. E. (2015). Strategic Public Relations Management: Planning
and Managing Effective Communication Campaigns. New York: Routledge.
Barker's. (2019, April 9). About us. Retrieved from Barkers nz:
https://www.barkers.co.nz/about-barkers/
Barkers. (2019, April 9). Strawberry Jam. Retrieved from Barkers.com:
https://www.barkers.com.au/shop/jams/strawberry-jam/
Bruell, A. (2019, April 9). Smucker Revamps Marketing Strategy to Keep Up With Changes,
Spur Growth. Retrieved from Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/articles/j-m-
smucker-revamps-marketing-strategy-to-keep-up-with-changes-spur-growth-1540842776
Clark, C. S., Wang, H. M., & Bohlmann, J. D. (2015). The interplay of innovation, brand, and
marketing mix variables in line extensions. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science,
558-573.
Felix, R., Rauschnabel, P. A., & Hinsch, C. (2017). Elements of strategic social media
marketing: A holistic framework. Journal of Business Research, 118-126.
Ferrell, O. C., & Hartline, M. D. (2008). Marketing Startegy. Australia: Thomson South
Western .
Fleisher, C. S., & Bensoussan, B. E. (2015). Business and Competitive Analysis. New Jersey:
Pearson Eduction.
Gasparro, A. (2019, April 9). Food Makers Are in Spotlight After Kraft’s Dismal Results.
Retrieved from Wall street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/articles/food-makers-are-in-
spotlight-after-krafts-dismal-results-11551194478
Herald. (2019, April 9). Sales strategy. Retrieved from NZ Herald:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10599516
Kennedy, D. S. (2011). The Ultimate Marketing Plan: Target Your Audience! Get Out Your
Message! Build Your Brand! New York: Adams Media.

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Kerr, G., & Patti, C. (2015). Strategic IMC: From abstract concept to marketing management
tool. Journal of Marketing Communications, 317-339.
Lawn, O. (2019, April 9). Global Fruit Jam, Jelly, and Preserves Market Size 2018-19 By
Players Ferrero, Conagra Brands, Hershey, Nestle. Retrieved from Industry Report:
http://industryreports24.com/72828/global-fruit-jam-jelly-and-preserves-market-size-2018-
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Sevier, J. (2019, April 9). Most eaten flavors of jams, jellies and preserves in the U.S.
Retrieved from Statista: https://www.statista.com/statistics/280744/us-households-most-
eaten-flavors-of-jams-jellies-and-preserves-trend/
Smuckers. (2019, April 9). About us: Make life more fruitful. Retrieved from Smuckers
Product: https://www.smuckers.com/products/fruit-spreads
SmuckersOnline. (2019, April 9). Smucker's Fruit Spreads. Retrieved from Smuckers Online
Store: https://onlinestore.smucker.com/display_category.cfm?
cat_id=140&pc=52&prbrand=1
UN. (2018, May 16). 68% of the world population projected to live in urban areas by 2050,
says UN. Retrieved from United Nations:
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urbanization-prospects.html
Williams, C. (2019, April 9). Fruit Jam, Jelly, And Preserves Market Analysis And Prediction By
Leading Manufacturers, Its Application And Types With Region By 2023. Retrieved from Flat
and Today: http://flatlandtoday.com/2019/04/09/fruit-jam-jelly-and-preserves-market-
analysis-and-prediction-by-leading-manufacturers-its-application-and-types-with-region-by-
2023/
Wood, A. (2013, August 27). Barker's invests $4 million to aid Australian move. Retrieved
from stuff.co.nz: http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/9091778/Barkers-invests-4-
million-to-aid-Australian-move