International Marketing Strategy: Mars' UK and US Analysis

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Mars' international marketing strategy, focusing on the Pedigree brand within the UK and US markets. It begins with an executive summary and an introduction outlining the report's objectives. The environmental analysis employs PESTEL and BCG matrix frameworks to assess political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors influencing Mars' operations in both countries. Industry analysis utilizes Porter's Five Forces to evaluate competitive dynamics. The report then examines Mars' marketing strategy, including STP (Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning) and the 7Ps marketing mix. SWOT analysis is conducted to assess the brand's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Positioning maps are included to illustrate Mars' competitive landscape. The report concludes with recommendations and a conclusion summarizing the findings, supported by a comprehensive list of references.

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Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The purpose of the research paper is to discuss and critically evaluate the main marketing
activities of the chosen brand and evaluate the main marketing activities of the brand when it is
operating in a certain country along with another international market. The paper will start with a
basic introduction and discuss various sup parts of the report. The paper will also conduct the
SWOT Analysis t-o critically evaluate where the brand stands in both the market putting more
focus in the brand resources and capabilities. It will also provide the 7P Marketing mix in order
to find out the promotional activities of the product and retention activities keeping in mind the
customer acquisition. The two countries which are chosen for the case study brand are UK and
USA. At the end of the paper it will conclude with a conclusion and recommendation. The
industry rivalry of Mars Company are mainly Nestle, Hershey, Kraft, Mondelez, Ferrara Candy
Company and Ferrero.

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Environmental Analysis in the two countries (Macro Analysis).....................................................4
Industry Analysis in the two countries (Micro Analysis)................................................................7
Marketing Strategy Analysis: STP..................................................................................................8
Fig 1. Represents the Position Map of Mars among its competitors.............................................10
Source : Self Made.........................................................................................................................10
Recommendation...........................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
The aim of the research paper is to discuss the key factors which are influencing the pet
care sector. For the environmental analysis of the two countries it will conduct the PESTEL
Analysis or the BCG matrix. In order to conduct the micro analysis of the two countries, the
paper will conduct the Porter’s 5 Forces. Mars pet care organization is a global leader in pet care.
The organization is known for helping out more than millions and millions of pets which
includes all types of domestic animals and vaccination to the other types of wild animals
(Pirsich, Hardenberg and Theuvsen 2017). It also provides the best category of food products to
the pet animals all over the world. The food quality which the company provides is known to the
best quality found in the market. The food is of best quality that provides the maximum amount
of nutrition to the pets (Cox, Lepine and Ward 2017).
The company also takes acre about the pet health and safety standards. They create the
food accordingly which makes the pets fall in love with the food products. The organization is
headquartered in Brussels which is in Belgium. The organization is known to have more than
45000 associates and currently operating in more than 50 countries (Duarte 2019). Few of the top
food products which are manufactured by the company mainly include the Pedigree, Royal
Canin, Banfield, Nutro, Sheba and many more. The food product which is chosen for the
research paper is Pedigree which is loved by most of the pet animals.
Environmental Analysis in the two countries (Macro Analysis)
Political Factors

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According to the author Duarte (2019) it is very important for the Government to increase
the rate of employment so that the people can easily pay their tax. Mars employs more than 4000
people in their 9 factories which are operating in more than 10 offices all around UK. However
the Government has imposed a 9% tax rate increase to the company due to the rise of the obese
and fat in the pet. It was due to the increase in the level of carbohydrate i0n the food product.
This increased the level and chances of diseases in the pet animals. However in USA the
organization did not face all these factors regarding the use of Pedigree as a whole. The
organization is smoothly performing there. It does not have to face any kind of increase in the tax
rates.
Economic Factors
An economic factor mainly includes the average disposable income of the people in the
place. It us found out that the average income of the people living in UK is around USD 27,029 a
year. This is very much less when it is compared to the market and average income of people
living in the US. Therefore it can be clearly stated that the market of USA will be much
beneficial to Mars because there the people have more money to spare and can be spent on things
which are premium. The people there will buy better food products such as Pedigree and Royal
Canin.
Social Factors
The Social factors manly include the age of the people in which they are operating in.
The demographics of UK shows that most of the people over there is middle or the young adults.
Whereas on the other hand the demographics of USA if taken in account is known to consist of

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mostly the ageing people who are unwilling to have a pet. It can be recommended that the market
of UK is mostly suitable for the company. It will create a negative impact for the company as
because mostly the young age people and teen love to have a pet. Buying more pets will help
increase the value of good food provided by Mars.
Technological factor
The Technological factors of the company mainly include is the present era where there
is a huge influence of social media. According to the author Asaro (2019) it has been admitted
that most of the marketing representative of the company makes use the social media sites to
increase the demand of the food products. Whereas on the other hand the marketing team is
mostly inacti0ve in the US. The marketi0ng team of UK has a You Tube channel which provides
various types of videos regarding the food products to the viewers which is impacting the
product in positive way.
Environmental Factors
The company should also stay sustainable as because these days the consumers in the
products are of much concerned with the ecological impacts on the world. According to the
author Asaro (2019) Mars USA was the first company to take care about the farmers to grow
more cocoa and improve their livelihood. This program was launched just after the increase in
the sales of Pedigree. Whereas the company did not make much acre so that it can sustain the
market of UK.
Legal Factors

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The legal actions of the Pedigree makes it sure that the company is packing the things in
a proper manner so that those are safe for the customers. The packaging is much expensive in
USA therefore the company can package its products in UK and export them to US. The
government might impose a high tax on Pedigree in order to get the import done.
Industry Analysis in the two countries (Micro Analysis)
The bargaining power of the suppliers in the market of US is competitively low than the
market of UK (Zicker, 2018). The company like Mars has an immense buying power. Therefore
in order to sustain in the market the company should dictate the quality and partiality of Pedigree
to the customer out there which will help to increase the sales. The bargaining power of the
customers is much high in US as because they have much higher income and do- not restrict to
sped money on a better product. Whereas on the other hand the customers of UK are mostly over
aged and old. They have a believe that it is the time for them to save money and not spend much
money. Due to this reason they buy inferior quality of food products rather than Pedigree. In this
case Mars will have to put products in every price shelf to increase the number of customers.
According to the author the threat of the new entrant is much low in US just because of the
dependence on the economies of scale. But the organization has to make the price of Pedigree a
bit low so that there is less entry of new entrant in the market.
Also the threat of the substitute products depends a lot on the business sectors as for some
it is much higher than the others. For the pet products most of the consumers in UK tend to
provide homemade food products to- the pet. This is cost and time intensive. But however the
market of USA is a positive sign for the Pedigree as because most the people stay outside their

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home, busy with their professional work (Harris, Allsop and Colyer Mars 2019). This is the
reason they choose Pedigree over homemade foods. The food processing market is subject to
intense competitive rivalry. The companies are preserving their market share through brand
loyalty and diversification. Pedigree has a good market in USA but not much in the UK. Overall
Mars holds a considerable position in the market of both the countries. It has a good position to
bargain with its competitors in the market.
Marketing Strategy Analysis: STP
Strength of Mars includes the strong geographic presence in the country of origin.
Therefore the strong grasp in the market is a strong point for the company where as in UK it does
not have that much strong grasp in the market (Zicker 2018). The product portfolio is much
popular as because it offers a wide range of products to the customers in USA but not in UK. The
customers in USA tend to buy more of Pedigree than any other food products. The weakness of
the product Pedigree was that it has to recall all its products in the year 2016 (Kritikos, Weidner
and Atkinson 2016). Mars had to recall few of the chocolate products in US. Such instances
might affect the customer’s image of the brand and the product its offers. Few of the
opportunities of the product Pedigree in the market of UK can be repackaging of the products in
an innovative way which can be easily fed by the customers. The confectionary industry in UK is
slowly increasing therefore it can be recommended that the company can take over the market so
that it can promote the Pedigree there. Few of the threats which are faced in UK is market is the
intense competition among the categories. There are huge amount of companies and homemade
food growing in the market which might negatively impact the company (Cox, Dobrozsi and

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Huette 2017). It is intended that in the coming days the company will bring more competitive
pricing strategies to capture the market.
As per the segmentation of the product Pedigree, it can be said that the company should
segment their food products according to the breed of the dogs which are available in the
geographical location. The target market of the food product should depend on the buying power
of the food product. The company can set their target market by targeting the middle aged people
with the premium quality of food offered by them and set the lower quality of the food who are
young and does not have much buying capacity or power. In terms of positioning the company
positioned itself as a cost leader in both the market of UK and US. The company has positioned
the Pedigree with a range of chocolate bars which can be produced in the same line with the
production of Pedigree. It might also be less expensive too (Zicker 2018).
High Quality of product
Low PriceHigh Price
Mars Company
Mondelez
International
Hershey
Ferrara Candy

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Fig 1. Represents the Position Map of Mars among its competitors in UK
Source: Self Made
High Quality of product
Low PriceHigh Price
Low Quality of product
Mondelez International
Mars Company
Ferrara Candy
Hershey

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Fig 2. Represents the Position Map of Mars among its competitors in USA
Source: Self Made
Regarding the customer acquisition and customer retention the company has a primary
goal of acquiring more customers and gain new customers in UK. Due to the less interruption of
the company in that geographical area, it should try to implement new methods in its Marketing
Mix which will help them to capture more customers. After the acquisition of the customers the
company should also make use of the marketing mix factors so that it can retain them. Customer
retention is something which is very important in the present business scenario (Karthikraj,
Borkar and Kannan 2018). For a business to sustain in the long run they should with proper
customer retention methods. It is very important for the hold back their loyal customers with
them for a longer period of time. The customer retention strategies should focus on better
customer service and good quality of products offered in the market of UK(Duarte 2019).
The promotional activities for the products of the company mainly includes in both the
online and offline in both the countries. But in UK the company mainly prefers to sell their
products in the registered outlets of the company. They also have their online website which is
not much effective in UK. But in the case of USA the company is known too sell their products
in shopping malls and registered outlets as well as on their online website.

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Recommendation
It can be recommended that the company should take care over the market of UK so as by
implementing new market oriented strategies.
Recommendation for UK
 LONG TERM - Mars should choose to operate with a joint venture company to increase
the channel in order to ensure the future check out choices in the country.
 MEDIUM TERM – For medium term the organization should implement various types of
strategies in order to gain competitive advantage from its competitors like Wringley
Company
 SHORT TERM – The short term goal or recommendation for the company can be like
increasing the budget on advertisement each month fo-r the next three months in UK.
Recommendation for USA
 LONG TERM - In USA market the company can expand its business into new
opportunities and make some public campaign in order to increase the brand and sub
brand awareness among the customers.
 MEDIUM TERM – Medium term goals can be like reducing the ongoing business
expenses.
 SHORT TERM - The organization should start using social media and marketing more
stronger