Marketing Report: Analysis of Hershey's Kisses Target Market

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Hershey's Kisses marketing strategy. It begins with an introduction to the company and the Kisses brand, followed by an exploration of market segmentation criteria, particularly focusing on the health-conscious consumer segment. The report then delves into market research, examining the Australian chocolate market and identifying key players and target audiences. It outlines demographic, behavioral, and psychological segmentation strategies, along with a detailed consumer profile. The report further discusses consumer attitudes towards the product, marketing and distribution options, and positioning strategies. It concludes with a comprehensive segmentation and implementation plan, including recommendations for promoting the benefits of dark chocolate, repackaging, and enhancing promotional programs. The report references various academic sources to support its findings and recommendations.

RUNNING HEAD: Marketing 0
HERSHEY’S kISSES
Marketing

Marketing 1
Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................1
Criteria useful in market segmentation......................................................................................1
Market research..........................................................................................................................1
Identification and description of market....................................................................................2
Target segments to meet marketing objectives..........................................................................2
Consumer profile of target market.............................................................................................2
Consumer attitude towards product...........................................................................................3
Marketing and distribution options............................................................................................3
Positioning strategies.................................................................................................................4
The whole segmentation and implementation plan....................................................................4
References..................................................................................................................................5

Marketing 2
Introduction
The Hershey Company is one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world. Kisses
chocolate is a brand of Hershey. It has unique taste and ability to satisfy health conscious
people. The Hershey was founded in 1894 by Milton Hershey. This report identifies the
segment market of Hershey’s kisses. The research is made on the market. Further it identifies
and describes the market. Further three target segments are selected to meet market
objectives. The report describes the consumer profile of the target market. The consumer
attitude is outlined to the chocolates being offered. The marketing and distribution options are
developed. The positioning strategies are developed and the best one is chosen to fit in the
marketing requirements. Finally the whole segmentation and implementation plan is
submitted.
Criteria useful in market segmentation
The criteria useful for market segmentation is segmentation bases and target market segment.
 The market segmentation is the method of dividing market into sub set of consumers
on the basis of needs and characteristics. The market is segmented on the basis of
geographic, demographic, psychographic and sociocultural (Baalbaki & Malhotra,
2015).
 Health conscious is the most suitable segment to be targeted by Hershey’s Kisses. The
decision is made on the basis of identification criteria which require the marketers to
identify and measure some significant characteristics.
Market research
The chocolate market of Australia is expected to grow in the coming years. The demand for
confectionary products is increasing number of players in the chocolate industry. The
chocolate market is segmented on the basis of types of chocolate such as milk chocolate, dark
chocolate, white chocolate and more. The consumption of chocolates is on the rise in
Australia (Ramli, 2017). The chocolate manufacturing companies face changing preference
of consumers in the past five years. The awareness of health benefits about consuming a
chocolate drives the chocolate market in Australia.

Marketing 3
Identification and description of market
The major players in Australian chocolate market are Mars Inc, Nestle, Ferrero Group, Shirin
Asal company etc. The key target audience in Australia are chocolate manufacturers,
chocolate suppliers, research organisations, industry associations and market research firms.
The chocolate market of Australia is segmented on the basis of market which includes type
and category of market, age group, end user, distribution channel and region (Park, Ungson &
Cosgrove, 2015). The chocolate companies in Australia have diversified their range and
introduced healthy options in chocolates to change perception of people towards chocolates.
The manufacturers have predicted demand of milk, white and dark chocolates in the future.
Target segments to meet marketing objectives
The target segments to meet marketing objectives are:
Demographic: The demographic segment includes age and life cycle, gender and income. The
buyers of Kisses come from the age of 2 to 50. Kisses chocolate is meant for males as well as
females. It includes both genders. The chocolates are reasonable and affordable.
Behavioral: The behavioural segments include the occasions, benefits and usage rate. The
chocolates have changed the scenario from having it casual to occasional. People like to gift
Hershey’s Kisses on occasions. There are regular users of Hershey’s kisses (Cross, Belich &
Rudelius, 2015).
Psychological segment: The psychological segment comprises the attitude towards product
and life style of consumers. The products of Kisses are segmented on the basis of varieties
like milk chocolate, milk chocolate with almond, mint truffle, cherry cordial and more.
Consumer profile of target market
The consumer profile can be understood in terms of demographics. The consumers of
Hershey’s Kisses are of generally high income and older age. The consumers like to
purchase Kisses chocolates during larger pantry stocking trips. The educated people come
under the demographics of Kisses Chocolates. The educated people are known to the health
benefits of chocolates. The Kisses chocolates are equally famous in kids and youngsters. The
males and females both are targeted by the company. People prefer to gift chocolate on
occasions. The usage rate is increasing among the higher income group (Chawla & Sondhi,
2016).

Marketing 4
Consumer attitude towards product
The attitude of consumers is affected by the psychographic, demographic and geographic
factors. The consumers are sensitive towards various factors of chocolates like shape,
consistency in mouth, melting and touch (Livingston & Graff, 2018). According to some of
consumers excess of chocolates is not good for health so the company focuses on the healthy
option of chocolates such as dark and milk chocolates. According to a survey conducted by
company, customers have good perception about products of Kisses. According to them
chocolates are tasty, healthy and provides variety of options. The attitude of consumers
towards Hershey chocolates is favourable which makes company to enhance variety of
products and as a result it increases sales of company.
Marketing and distribution options
There are various options for the marketing and distribution of Kisses chocolates:
Wholesaler and distributors: The company has to deliver products at one central location to
the wholesaler or distributor. The wholesalers and distributors deliver the products to the
various stores. The distributors have more indulgence in the sales.
Self-distribution: the company can sell and distribute products by itself. In the self-
distribution process there is no need of middlemen such as agents, distributors and
wholesalers. It is helpful in saving cost of company (Huerta-Muñoz, Ríos-Mercado & Ruiz,
2017).
Samples: It is the standard approach adopted for the marketing options. The company can
offer free sample of chocolates to passers-by. Offering free samples can have impact on
consumers. If he likes the taste then he can purchase products with good impact. It is a good
way to reach customers.
Personalisation: Chocolates are easy to manipulate. A minor change in molds can bring
personalise theme to be ordered for occasions. The company can make available orders with
personalise images or messages. It is a good option for marketing which can be adopted by
the company.

Marketing 5
Positioning strategies
Hershey Kisses holds the top position in the chocolate industry. An effective positioning can
build up the image of company. The company can position itself by differentiation and
proposition. The company can differentiate it’s product quality by creating a better position in
the mind of consumers (Brindle & Layton, 2017). Different and innovative flavours can be
introduced by the company. It can be helpful in increasing effectiveness of product. The
strategies helpful for differentiation is print advertising, personal selling and public relation
etc. proposition are the benefits which are delivered by the company to customers. The value
proposition increases customer satisfaction by different tastes and flavours. The quality and
benefits provided by company helps to position.
The whole segmentation and implementation plan
The segmentation means identification of buyers within a market which shares similar buying
behaviour in terms of needs. The whole segmentation aims to match group of purchasers
having similar needs and behaviour (Craft & Hassan, 2015). The adults are held for the
largest sale of Kisses chocolates. The increased interest of customers in healthy food
segmenting market includes:
 Promoting benefits of having dark chocolates
 Changing mind-set of consumers that is chocolate being an unhealthy snack.
 Enhance potential sales through promotional programs.
 Repack chocolates so that it is appealing to customers and tagged as low calorie.
The implementation plan of Kisses chocolate includes up gradation and standardisation of
company’s business process. The plan further includes fine tune delivery to suppliers. The
plan enables efficient customer driven process which will be capable of managing and
updating customer needs. The order cycle time should be reduced to boost inventory
accuracy. The plan aims to reduce inventory costs and better implementation of business
strategy (Jia, Wang & Xiong, 2017).

Marketing 6
References
Baalbaki, I. B., & Malhotra, N. K. (2015). 11.4 Macro/Environmental/Ethics/Quality-of-Life
Marketing: Health Public Policy, and International Market Segmentation.
In Proceedings of the 1995 World Marketing Congress (pp. 48-48). Springer, Cham.
Brindle, M., & Layton, R. (2017). The power of positioning and scale. In Social
Entrepreneurship for Development (pp. 37-59). Routledge.
Chawla, D., & Sondhi, N. (2016). Attitude and Consumption Patterns of the Indian Chocolate
Consumer: An Exploratory Study. Global Business Review, 17(6), 1412-1426.
Craft, S. H., & Hassan, S. S. (2015). Global consumer market segmentation strategy
decisions and managerial assessment of performance. In Revolution in Marketing:
Market Driving Changes (pp. 26-30). Springer, Cham.
Cross, J. C., Belich, T. J., & Rudelius, W. (2015). How marketing managers use market
segmentation: An exploratory study. In Proceedings of the 1990 Academy of
Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 531-536). Springer, Cham.
Huerta-Muñoz, D. L., Ríos-Mercado, R. Z., & Ruiz, R. (2017). An iterated greedy heuristic
for a market segmentation problem with multiple attributes. European Journal of
Operational Research, 261(1), 75-87.
Jia, C., Wang, Y., & Xiong, W. (2017). Market segmentation and differential reactions of
local and foreign investors to analyst recommendations. The Review of Financial
Studies, 30(9), 2972-3008.
Livingston, C. E., & Graff, R. B. (2018). Further evaluation of the use of preference
categories to identify novel reinforcers: A systematic replication. Behavioral
Interventions, 33(2), 173-184.
Park, S. H., Ungson, G. R., & Cosgrove, A. (2015). Positioning Firms for Profitable Growth.
In Scaling the Tail: Managing Profitable Growth in Emerging Markets (pp. 51-66).
Palgrave Pivot, New York.
Ramli, N. S. (2017). A review of marketing strategies from the European chocolate
industry. Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, 7(1), 10.