Marketing Strategy Report: Peppermint Pop Candy Company in Canada

This report provides a comprehensive marketing strategy and plan for Peppermint Pop, a hypothetical confectionery startup in Vancouver, Canada. It begins with an executive summary and delves into the current marketing situation, analyzing political, economic, social, and technological factors influencing the Canadian market. The report includes a SWOT analysis, identifying the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It outlines specific objectives and issues, followed by a detailed marketing strategy encompassing positioning, product, pricing, channel, and integrated marketing communication strategies. The analysis highlights the importance of understanding market conditions, consumer preferences, and competitive landscapes to ensure the startup's success in the confectionery industry. The report emphasizes the need for Peppermint Pop to adapt to the dynamic market environment and develop strategies to capitalize on opportunities while mitigating potential risks, ultimately aiming for a strong market presence and revenue generation.

Running head: MARKETING STARTEGY OF A CONFECTIONERY START UP
Marketing strategy and plan
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note:

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MARKETING STARTEGY OF A CONFECTIONERY START UP
Executive Summary:
The aim of the paper is to study the marketing of a start-up confectionery
manufacturer selling candies in Greater Vancouver, Canada. The company chosen is a
hypothetical company called Peppermint Pop. The firm manufactures candies with chocolate
exterior and minty interior with the elders and young people as its target customers. The
study would delve into the market conditions of Canada and finally into the marketing
startegies. The findings of the study show that the start-up-candy maker should position itself
as a candy maker catering to both young and old customers. The market of Canada is stable
and profitable.

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary:..................................................................................................................2
Current marketing situation:......................................................................................................2
Political:.................................................................................................................................2
Economic conditions:.............................................................................................................3
Social:.....................................................................................................................................4
Technology:............................................................................................................................5
SWOT Analysis:........................................................................................................................5
Strengths:................................................................................................................................5
Weakness:..............................................................................................................................6
Opportunities:.........................................................................................................................6
Threats:...................................................................................................................................6
Objectives and issues:................................................................................................................7
Objective 1:............................................................................................................................7
Objective 2:............................................................................................................................7
Issue 1:...................................................................................................................................7
Issue 2:...................................................................................................................................7
Target market:............................................................................................................................7
Marketing Strategy.....................................................................................................................8
1. Positioning and Value Proposition.....................................................................................8
2. Product Strategy.................................................................................................................9
3. Pricing Strategy..................................................................................................................9
3. Channel Strategy..............................................................................................................10
5. Integrated Marketing Communication Strategy...............................................................11
Conclusion................................................................................................................................11

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MARKETING STARTEGY OF A CONFECTIONERY START UP
Current marketing situation:
The current market position of Canada consists of various macro economical factors
like political and social. Peppermint Pop, the new start confectionary company should
conduct an analysis of the marketing environment of Canada to gain information about the
current market situation of the country. The business would come under the influence of
macro environmental factors like politics, economic conditions, social conditions and
technological conditions. The company would be required to form strategies to adapt to these
factors. An analysis of the market situations in Canada is as follows:
Political:
Canada is a political stable country, which follows the parliamentary system of
government. The nation is a part of the Commonwealth Group of countries and the Queen
Elizabeth II is the constitutional head of the country represented by Julie Payette. The laws of
the country are very strict and headed by the Supreme Court of Canada seated in Ottawa, the
national capital. The country has strong political ties with several countries in Asia, America,
Australia and Europe. This political stability, legal stability and foreign relations encourage
the growth of business ventures (business.financialpost.com, 2017). These factors can act as
drivers for Peppermint Pop in multiple ways. First, the company can obtain licenses from the
government bodies legally without being stuck due to corruption. Second, the stable
government of Canada makes strategic economic policies, which encourages expansion of
trade and business. Third, the government makes laws to promote start up ventures by
providing them facilities like financial help (ic.gc.ca, 2017). The firm company can use this
financial support the obtain the resources like raw materials and labour it would require to
start production of chocolate candies with peppermint cores.
Economic conditions:
The political stability, foreign relations with major nations in the world and strong
economic policies result in a stable economic situation in Canada. The market of Canada has
a rich network of banks and the other financial institutions, which would provide venture
capital to the confectionary company. The country provides skilled labour which the
confectionary company namely Peppermint Pop can use to operate and produce candies. The
market of Canada provides robust opportunities to firms to collaborate with each other to
execute business operations and bring bout open innovations. The confectionary maker

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should use this partnership facility and enter into joint venture with other firms. This would
help it to share resources with them in the initial stage and help it to tide over shortages of
resources (Gilpin, 2016). A very important factor which manufacturing companies have to
consider while operating in the market is availability of raw materials. The basic raw
materials to make candy are wheat flour, sugar, peppermint, cocoa and milk. Canada
produces huge quantities of wheat and milk but does not produce the other raw materials.
Peppermint Pop can acquire wheat and milk from the local market by setting up its own
supply chain. However, the firm has either to import the other ingredients or acquire them
from the local wholesalers but have to high prices. The candy firm in its initial stage should
consider acquiring these raw materials from the wholesalers at higher rates but eventually
shift towards forming its own international supply chain to import these materials directly
(McDonald & Eisenhardt, 2017).
The above analysis shows that the Canadian economic conditions are favourable for
start-ups like candy firms. However, it must be pointed out that the stability of Canada’s
market also attracts big manufacturers like Nestle. Thus, the immense market opportunities in
Canada like availability of capital and resources have led to entry of multinational companies,
which tend to restrict the entry and sustenance of small ventures (Safiullin et al., 2014). Thus,
Peppermint Pop has to form aggressive marketing, financing and manufacturing strategies to
enter and sustain the Canadian market. The market of Canada is highly developed but is
under severe debts of about $12.9 billion. This means that the country may face economic
instabilities in the future resulting from the huge demand between demand and supply of
funds. This shows that Peppermint Pop should also consider expanding its business into other
countries like the United States to diversify the business risks it may face in Canada, its home
country due to the economic slowdown (Dai et al., 2014). This analysis of the economic
aspects of Canada’s market shows that it offers both challenges and opportunities to the
newly entering firms. One can infer from the discussion that Peppermint Pop should form
strategies to take advantage of the market opportunities and counteract the threats.

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MARKETING STARTEGY OF A CONFECTIONERY START UP
Social:
The social factors in an economy play very important roles behind the success of business
ventures which make it important for start-ups to analyse these factors. The graph below
shows the increase in the GDP per capita in Canada. This means that the people of Canada
have disposable income in their hands to buy luxurious goods like premium chocolates.
Figure 1. Graph showing GDP per capita of Canada
(Source: tradingeconomics.com, 2017)
The health benefits of chocolate to the consumers are numerous. Chocolate can
release stress and help students to concentrate in their studies. The adults use chocolate to
counteract the stress they encounter due to professional competition. Chocolate lowers stress
and consequently lowers the heart rate, thus minimising the chances of cardiac problems. The
ingredient is a source of simple sugar and help the diabetes patients maintain steady suger
level in their bodies (telegraph.co.uk, 2017). This analysis of the benefit of chocolate on the
people makes it the most sought after flavoured adored both adults and children. Peppermint,
the other important ingredient in the candies has medical use as a pain reliever especially on
case digestion troubles. The leaves of the plant are in high demand all across as flavouring
agents in food items and beverages (medicalnewstoday.com, 2017) One can infer from the
analysis that, Peppermint Pop would be able to obtain a huge consumer base in Canada for its
chocolate candy products with peppermint cores due to demand for food items containing
these ingredients.

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Canadians people love chocolate and often exchange them as gifts during festivals.
This would allow the candy company to expand its product line into manufacturing of bars of
chocolate to cater to a wider Canadian consumer base. However, people often blame
chocolate for causing dental problems and stomach acidity (abcnews.go.com, 2017).
Peppermint Pop should form strategies like introducing other variants like caramel to attract
people to do not consume chocolate products.
Technology:
The level of technological development in a market has strong influences on its
industries. Confectionery is a premium product and the finish, taste, texture and packaging
have strong influences on the consumer decision-making process. Advanced technology is
used to make sophisticated high quality confectionery and candies (Ford, Mortara &
Minshall, 2015). Technology has made it possible for the business firms to receive orders
online. Thus, Peppermint Pop should adopt advanced online order receiving system to receive
orders, which would allow it to mass-produce the confectionery products. Canada is
advanced technologically which provide the new candy manufacturing company use
advanced technology to make high quality confectionary products like candy. However,
Peppermint Pop should be aware of data thefts. This analysis shows that the company should
use the online space to conduct business but secure its data against online frauds (Potdar et
al., 2015).
SWOT Analysis:
A SWOT analysis of Peppermint is as follows:
Strengths:
1. Peppermint Pop is a chocolate and mint candy manufacturing company in Canada. The
social analysis shows that the people in Canada love chocolate both for its flavour and its
health benefits. This can prove as strength and the company can flourish in the market.
2. The company is Canadian by origin and hence is aware about the Canadian market
conditions. This would help it to make more aggressive and market oriented strategies
according to the market conditions of the country.

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MARKETING STARTEGY OF A CONFECTIONERY START UP
Weakness:
1. The firm is new and dependent on the venture capital provided by the banks and other big
organisations. This limits its power to acquire resources and market its products.
2. The economic analysis of the market of Canada shows that it already has presence
multinational confectionary companies like Nestle. These companies have stronger financial,
technological and resource base. The limited resources of Peppermint Pop cannot challenge
these big companies.
3. Limited financial resources impair the capability of Peppermint Pop to promote its
products. This results in limited awareness about the product in the market, which results in
average sales and revenue for the company (Kagiri & Wainaina, 2017).
Opportunities:
1. The limited resources of Peppermint inhibit it from acquiring huge amount of resources to
facilitate mass production. The firm in its initial stage can enter into joint venture with other
firms. This would give it opportunities to accede to resources of others and it can use the
combined resources to increase its productivity and earn more revenue.
2. The firm can counteract the challenge from multinational players like Nestle by
manufacturing low priced candies having local flavour. This would enable it to cater to a
huge customer count and earn higher revenue, which would promote towards its business
growth (De Clercq, Lim & Oh, 2013).
3. The firm is new and its limited resources leave little opportunity to expand into markets.
The firm can gradually strengthen its hold over the local market in Vancouver and Canada. It
can use this huge revenue to expand into profitable markets like the US.
Threats:
1. Peppermint Pop receive threats from health conscious people and medical professionals.
This is because chocolate is known to be detrimental for oral health.
2. The biggest threat Peppermint Pop would face as a new company is from the multinational
companies making confectionary. It would also face challenges from the local confectionary
manufacturers in Vancouver, which sell similar low priced candies.

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MARKETING STARTEGY OF A CONFECTIONERY START UP
Objectives and issues:
The above discussion presents the following objectives of Peppermint Pop:
Objective 1:
The objective of Peppermint Pop is to cater to a huge consumer and earn high revenue
in the market of Vancouver in the initial stage and then Canada as it grows. The firm would
aim to offer high quality candies to the people and form a loyal customer base, which would
yield it more revenue.
Objective 2:
The second objective of the firm at a later would be to expand its business and give
stiff competition to multinational companies like Nestle. This would give it higher
competitive advantage and revenue generation capability in the market.
The above discussion point out the following issues:
Issue 1:
Peppermint Pop being start-up company has limited financial resources to function in
the market. This limited financial resource limits the credibility of the firm to take loans from
financial institutions.
Issue 2:
The firm is new in the market and has no supply chain of its own. This results in high
expenditure to acquire raw materials which further adds to the cost of production. This forces
the firm to raise the price of its candies whereas the larger confectionary manufacturers offer
the similar products at lower prices. Peppermint Pop as a result loses its customers to the
bigger companies which erodes its profitability.
Target market:
Peppermint Pop would sell chocolate candies with mint cores to its target markets
comprising of adults and students. The chocolate candies would provide these two
customers energy and help them to counter stress. The children would eat the candies, which
would provide them with energy to study for longer hours and perform well academically.
The elders would chew the candies and derive energy from them. They would as a result be
able to gain more energy and perform multiple tasks at office that would lead t their
professional growth.

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MARKETING STARTEGY OF A CONFECTIONERY START UP
Marketing Strategy
According to Armstrong, Delia & Giardina, (2016) the global presence of Peppermint
Pop has been one of the major factors that leads to the success of the business organization.
The different marketing strategies of the company have been the key force to the success of
the mentioned mint company in the market.
1. Positioning and Value Proposition
A value Proposition tells the prospects the reasons behind why do they do business with
the company rather than any competitors in the market (da Silva Lopes, 2016). It helps the
organization to get an idea of the benefits of the products and services of the particular
organization. The main determinants of the value proposition includes
 The market segmentation of the peppermint company
 The best target market where the company can set its foot
 Who are the major competitors of the following company
 What are the major competitive advantages of the company
 How can the value proposition of the company change the positioning statement
of the same company
The mentioned company has been in the market for quite a few some times now and it
now aims to enter the Vancouver market and establish them efficiently in Canada (Calvo,
Stanton & Lévy, 2016). The unbeatable marketing strategy and the focused approach is the
way to a great marketing strategy. The consumer market in Vancouver has been segmented
by the company on different ways namely;
a. Demography
b. Geography
c. Behavioristic
d. Psychographic
The target segment of the market is mainly the adults and the teenagers who have been
targeted just because the market research conducted by the organization has revealed that
almost 60% of the users of the particular product fall under this category. The main part of
the product is the unique design and the attractive flavor which will surely give other
products in the same category a run for their money. The mission of the company is to

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surpass all the competitions in the market and become the leading producer of dual flavored
chocolates in Vancouver.
The brand positioning statement of the company will be;
Peppermint Pop is the one and only chocolate in Vancouver that offers a double delight
for all the chocolate lovers of the city.
2. Product Strategy
The product strategy of any business organizations is among the four key P’s of
marketing. The better the product, the better is the response of the customers and the better is
the profit earned from such business. The main product of the company is a new chocolate
with a dual flavour (Aichner, 2014). The product launch should be made in a perfect way to
make sure that there is enough scope for it to be successful in the Vancouver market. The
presence of a varied range of competitors will make life tough for the new chocolate but once
it is properly launched and reaches the potential customers, it is estimated to be one of the
best products in the market. The unique flavor of the chocolate will be an added advantage
for the product as such a mixed flavor is totally new to the Vancouver market. The
management of the chocolate company has decided to sell its new chocolate in some of the
largest retail stores of Canada which is certainly the most ideal location for the product to get
spotted and increase its brand awareness among the teenagers and adults who have a liking
for chocolates (Calvo, Stanton & Lévy, 2016).
3. Pricing Strategy
Price is one of the main determinants of marketing mix. A competitive price which best
suits the price range of the target range of customers has been fixed by Peppermint Pop to
ensure the high product positioning of the chocolate in a few month’s time. Pricing affects all
the other marketing mix elements like products, channel strategies and the promotional
activities undertaken to increase the brand awareness of the product (Burkhalter, 2015). The
price is determined to increase the profits which will ensure the rise in the quality of the
existing chocolate. The detailed marketing research conducted by the management team of
Peppermint Pop has helped them to get the exact figures and statistics behind the price range
of the competitors which is used to determine the price of the new range of chocolate that is
going to be launched in Vancouver.