A review of marketing strategies from the European chocolate industry

Ramli, Nur Suhaili Article A review of marketing strategies from the European chocolate industry Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research Provided in Cooperation with: Springer Nature Suggested Citation: Ramli, Nur Suhaili (2017) : A review of marketing strategies from the European chocolate industry, Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, ISSN 2251-7316, Springer, Heidelberg, Vol. 7, Iss. 10, pp. 1-17, https://doi.org/10.1186/s40497-017-0068-0 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/196990 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. 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If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ RESEARCH Open Access A review of marketing strategies from the European chocolate industry Nur Suhaili Ramli Correspondence: [email protected] University of York, The York Management School, Freboys Lane, YO105GD York, UK Abstract This paper reviews the main marketing strategies applied by the European chocolate industry. It focuses on the role of country-of-origin, product diversification and scenarios, and provides a historical overview of the industry. This is followed by a discussion of the association between a brand and country-of-origin, before scrutinising the chocolate industry. The analysis of this study uses evidence gathered from the consumer chocolate ranking, company annual reports, consultant statistics, corporate websites and the newspaper archives. The analysis compares the marketing strategies of case studies selected; namely, Ferrero Rocher, Cadbury, Lindt and Sprüngli and Godiva. Moreover, emphasis is placed on the similarities and differences of these brands and other chocolate brands outside Europe. The study’s existing literature and analysis suggests that historical context and business history play important roles over time. Keywords: Chocolate industry, Marketing strategies, Global brands, Qualitative research, Europe Background A brand and a country-of-origin have a positive correlation, as they influence consumers’brand evaluation, perceptions, purchasing behaviour and brand equity (Mohd Yasin et al. 2007). Therefore, they can offer brands another dimension to consider in their marketing strategies, and create competitive advantages in the industry. A number of studies emphasise the positive association of country-oforigin in marketing strategy for certain industries; for example, fashion and perfume (Bilkey and Nes 1982), luxury products and accessories (Godey et al. 2012; Aiello et al. 2009), cosmetics (Ramli 2015), automobile (Häubl 1996), chocolate (Camgöz and Ertem 2007; Ozretic-Dosen et al. 2007), and alcoholic beverages (Lopes 2007). These studies can provide a better understanding in creating a favourable brand image. In contrast, country-of-origin often leads to an unsuccessful association of product images and quality (Kabadayi and Lerman 2011; Lotz and Hu 2001). However, these positive and negative perceptions of brands and a particular industry or product may change over time due to innovation, technological advancements, personal lifestyle or the evolution of marketing strategies and techniques (Poh Chuin and Mohamad 2012), as well as changes in society and environment, founders philosophy, company mission and vision (Ramli 2017). Journal o f Globa l E ntre p reneurshi p Researc h © The Author(s). 2017 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. Ramli Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research (2017) 7:10 DOI 10.1186/s40497-017-0068-0 From a consumer perspective, marketing strategy is significant to promote the products, particularly the brand, and introduce its new extension. From the competitor perspective, marketing strategy apparently creates competitive advantage in both the local market and global industry. Therefore, marketing strategy (encompassing branding, marketing mix, and other strategies under this marketing strategy umbrella) is a mediator between the firm that introduces a brand or a product, the consumers, and their competitors (Olson and Mitchell 2000; Stewart 1997). Consequently, marketing strategy illustrates brand reliance, in order to position themselves in a particular market and industry, and target consumers. This paper reviews the marketing strategy from selected European chocolate brands as the key evidence for the European chocolate industry in positioning their brands outside Europe, and the extent of their role in the chocolate industry, which opens door to future marketing research. Many researches have observed the food industry as one with longevity, alongside the alcohol and beverages industry (Lehu 2004; Lopes 2002). Many of the top global brands in the food industry, such as ketchup, chocolates, instant noodles, tin-canned foods, taste enhancers, instant soups, pastries and bakeries, cereals, sauces, and cheeses, which are well known in today’s world, originate in diverse countries. The successes behind their brand names have gone through various timelines and have varying historical backgrounds. Furthermore, many global brands in the food industry, particularly chocolate, already have an established presence or reputation in particular countries for geopolitical or historical reasons. For example, European colonisation and its legacies (Khera 2001), and during the Industrial Revolution, which smoothened the transportation and saved cost (Jensen 1993), and later, the massive expansion of international exports by America during and after the Second World War (Barkema and Vermeulen 1998; Bairoch and Kozul-Wright 1996). Therefore, the expansion from one product category into another is easier and, potentially, the synchronisation of branding activity across different national markets. However, due to these historical world events, businesses and brand expansion may be affected; thereby resulting in some brands surviving, growing old, and sometimes dying (Lehu 2004). Interestingly, those brands featured in this paper that continue to exist today, are in the food industry, particularly chocolates. Table 1 presents the product life in food and beverages by Prodimarques, a French brand association. According to Table 1, the food and drinks industry has existed for at least 200 years in one form or another. Therefore, when a brand is created, the competitors within the industry also grow, especially in the food and drinks industry. This, however, causes a problem to every brand in the industry; according to experts, brands may face an age problem if they are not well managed over time (Haig 2011; Berry 1992). This is because some brands grow old, some survive and remain young, and some die. As highlighted in Table 1, chocolate seems the most prominent to study, as pasta has a significant impact on ethnic identity and carries attributable culture factors (Laroche et al. 1998). Meanwhile, biscuits have complexity of ownership with dominant control and development, and management of brand was undertaken largely by firm owners and top-level managers (Low and Fullerton 1994). For example, National Biscuit’s first president was involved heavily in development; launching Uneeda Biscuits, the first national brand packaged cracker in 1899 (Cahn 1969). Although many firms in various industries that established big brand names were founded in the United States (US), according to Joachimsthaler and Aaker (1997), Ramli Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research (2017) 7:10 Page 2 of 17 many of the global brands in Europe were constructed without mass media; thereby drawing the interest of this study to examine the chocolate industry. Although pasta has strong associations with ethnic identity, chocolate and biscuits have no connection to any particular ethnic (Laroche et al. 1998). However, there is a study on Swiss identity smell of chocolate that more intense than non-Swiss participants, which demonstrates the Swiss social identity but does not claim to own the product (chocolate) (Coppin et al. 2016). This gap motivates this study to be conducted. The existing studies identified that chocolate does not have any association with identity like pasta; therefore there could possibly have other reasons that made the European chocolate brands globally positioned. Hence, the objective of this study is to examine and compare the marketing strategies among the European chocolate brands. In doing so, the specific aim for this study is to provide a better understanding of this phenomenon and explain the differences between chocolate and other food industry, which this industry relies heavily on branding and marketing knowledge. Table 1 Brand average ages by food and drinks industry Category Main brands’average age (in years) Dry foods and fresh products Pasta 100 Biscuits 100 Chocolate 95 Puddings 90 Delicatessen 80 Coffees 70 Ice creams 65 Baby foods 60 Cans 60 Yogurts 50 Rusks 45 Frozen foods 45 Butters 45 Drinks Cognacs 200 Liquors 170 Champagnes 170 Mineral waters 140 Wine-based aperitifs 100 Soft natural wines 100 Anise aperitifs 100 Rums 80 Beers 80 Syrups 50 Whiskies 45 Fruit juice 45 Source: Adopted and translated from Prodimarques, www.prodimarques.com Ramli Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research (2017) 7:10 Page 3 of 17 Brand can refer to the use of all elements of the marketing mix, such as product, price, promotion and place, resulting from a coherent organisational and marketing approach (De Chernatony and McDonald 1992). Consequently, managers play an important role as the ultimate masking device in creating a brand (Askegaard and Bengtsson 2005). As a brand associate with the marketing mix, a good-quality product is essential. However, price is not an issue as target consumers are willing to pay for the products they want. Promotion evolved over time based on changes in society and technology advancement, and place of product distribution is related to, either country-of-origin of the product or geographical markets strategy (internationalisation). This study follows Thakor and Lavack (2003), for a proposed concept of brand origin that the place, region, or country to which the brands are perceived to belong by its customers. Hence, the brands that follow this classification have a strong association with the place, in particular, the country in which it was created. Lampert and Jaffe (1998) highlight that the country image can be viewed as an asset when it has a positive association and, conversely, as a liability when associated with negative elements. For example, French and Italian brands such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Dior, Hermes, Armani, Versace Prada, dominated the fashion industry for a long period because of their luxury status, sophisticated design, and qualityimages.Ontheotherhand,theyhavelesspositiveassociationwithautomobile and high technology products; unlike those produced in Germany and Japan. However, this contradiction has not decreased the perceived product attractiveness (Morgan et al. 2002) because consumers associate certain geographies with the best products. Moreover, competing products from outside these countries are perceived as less authentic (Deshpandé 2010). Consequently, country-of-origin plays important role for a brand; specifically, in positioning its product in different geographical markets. Therefore, this paper examines the marketing strategies of the European chocolate industry in positioning their brands outside Europe. The marketing strategies study of the European chocolate industry in positioning their brands outside Europe covers a long period. However, this paper examines the overview of marketing strategies of European chocolate industry in the present that may differ from other brands outside Europe. This industry is significant because, in Europe, it is larger than other regions worldwide and its heritage can be traced back as far as the 17th century (Fold 2001). Therefore, this industry considers a mature food category in the present, with significant differences in national preferences, such as national income, which clearly affects the market; for example, a producer found that chocolate consumption varies dramatically across major markets in developed countries (Yip and Coundouriotis 1991). In contrast, El Rey, an old company that processes some of the best cacao beans worldwide, has struggled to thrive outside its home market. This is because it is based in Venezuela, and consumers have been conditioned to believe that great chocolate comes from Europe, not Latin America (Deshpandé 2010). Figure 1 illustrates the share of global chocolate market in 2011 by region, as evidenced in the literature. The share of the global chocolate market relies on its production and high manufacturing economies of scale, which encourages global market expansion, standardised products, and centralised production (Yip and Coundouriotis 1991). Figure 1 evidenced that Europe comprises the largest market share in the chocolate industry: 44% for both Western and Eastern Europe; whilst the other market share includes North America Ramli Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research (2017) 7:10 Page 4 of 17 with 20%, followed by Asia with 17%, Latin America for 13%, Middle East and Africa with 4%, and the smallest market share is Australasia with 2%. Figure 1 summarises that the chocolate industry is dominated by Europe, despite the largest and finest cacao productions being located in Latin America and Africa. Therefore, this is an interesting evidence to retrospect the marketing strategies of the European chocolate industry in positioning its global brands. The study of marketing strategies of the chocolate industry is significant because it explains how Europe, as a non-cacao producer, can hold the largest chocolate market share in the industry. In order to scrutinise the investigation for this industry, Table 2 presents the details of the European chocolate brands featured in this study. Many chocolate firms are growing through merger and acquisitions, or by expansion into new markets outside Europe, such as Japan and Latin America (Yip and Coundouriotis 1991). According to Dand (1997), more than 200 takeovers occurred in the chocolate industry between 1970 and 1990, and about 50% of global market is presently supplied by 17 companies; whereby a global scale is the rapid centralisation among chocolate producers. As a result of the shift towards centralisation, the trend in marketing strategies of the chocolate industry is in product differentiation, such as taste, serving sizes, packaging, advertising, and the development of ‘health’products (Fold 2001). Moreover, in the recent study, the rise and impact of fair trade as the unique business model among chocolate companies offering an alternative to conventional international trade (Doherty and Tranchell 2005). This trend for sustainability as part of business strategy not only invades the chocolate Fig. 1 Share of the global chocolate market in 2011 by region. Source: Statista Table 2 European chocolate brands for case studies Brand Country of Origin Year Creation Founder Ferrero Rocher Italy 1946 Pietro Ferrero Cadbury Great Britain 1824 John Cadbury Lindt & Sprüngli Switzerland 1845 David Sprüngli-Schwarz Godiva Belgium 1926 Joseph Draps Sources: Multiple companies’sources such as companies’official website, Annual Report Ramli Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research (2017) 7:10 Page 5 of 17 industry, but others, such as the beverage industry; in particular, coffee (Linton 2005) like Cafédirect (Davies et al. 2010), in cosmetics industry the trend of global brands concerning on sustainability emerged (Ramli 2015), tourism and hotel industry (Bader 2005), and few other industries (Samy et al. 2010) in various countries (Schoenherr 2012). Similarly, many brands rely on advertising for worldwide promotion, either through printed ads, electronic ads, or traditional word-of-mouth (Trusov et al. 2008). This prompted the firms to make huge financial investments in order to promote their brands; for instance, to meet the management’s selling target. However, Bogart and Lehman (1973) argue that advertising can never be the sole explanation of why a brand is at the forefront of a customer’s mind. Therefore, the marketing strategies of a firm on advertising can vary to convince as a successful global brand. This is supported by Joachimsthaler and Aaker (1997) through example such as The Body Shop and Hugo Boss, which remain well-known global brands without mass media. This paper reviews whether the European chocolate brands position themselves globally either with or without mass media. Theoretical framework This study uses semiotics theory to examine the European chocolate brands in the global market. This theory is appropriate for this study because it offers to the study of signs and their meaning (Alden et al. 1999; Mick, 1986). According to McCraken (1993), a process of positioning framework on the use of verbal, thematic and visual signs in advertising to associate the brand with global, foreign, or local consumers’ culture refer to meaning transfer. Theoretically, using advertisements can relate to this theory where it serves as a sign to communicate meanings associated with the brand (Alden et al. 1999). For example, using advertisements will communicate brand positioning where (Schmitt, Simonson and Marcus 1995) linked professionalism with property investment industry and high-tech attribute to the electronics industry. Coupling this theory with the basic marketing mix and the resource-based view, it will give the vibrancy of the review for the European chocolate industry (McCarthy 1964; Wernerfelt 1984). First, this study uses the basic marketing mix consists of product, price, distribution and promotion. It compares the four European chocolate brands strategy in term of their product, price, distribution, and promotion. Second, this study uses the resource based view to examine each four chocolate brands resources such as human resources, tangible, and intangible resources. It investigates each resource exploited by the brands in case study. Third, the semiotics theory enriches each case study to provide a better understanding on brand position in the global market. In doing so, it is hoped that the review of European chocolate industry will be compared, and differences between the case studies will be predicted. In addition, the evaluation of the European chocolate brands to position their brands is not solely relies on their marketing strategies but also other significant factors such as the use of quality ingredients, supply chains, marketplace, product attribute information, and many others (McCarthy and Norris 1999). However, the motivation of this paper is to draw an overview from the company’s marketing perspective, which is hope to contribute links with other perspectives such as from consumer’s lens, and other Ramli Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research (2017) 7:10 Page 6 of 17 factors in the industry. Indeed, marketing is a broad area in management, and this paper points out the significant area in marketing that relevant to further research in the future, particularly in product, price, distribution and promotion. Methods This study analyses four chocolate brands from four different countries in Europe. The selection of these brands is based on country-of-origin that represents the brand in Europe. According to Yin (2013), there are four basic research designs and positions for case study. First, a case study will be selected either a single or multiple case. This is important due to the nature of study and research questions (Yin 2013). As a reminder, the research questions for this study are as follows; 1) Why did the marketing strategies differ among the European chocolate brands than other chocolate brands in positioning their brand globally? 2) How did the marketing strategies differ among the European chocolate brands than other chocolate brands in positioning their brand globally? Following this stance, this study uses a multiple case study method because it aims to compare the European chocolate brands and understand their strategy outside Europe. Second, the dimension concern in case study design is to decide on a single-holistic unit of analysis or the use of multiple embedded unit of analysis (Yin 2013). This study uses only a single unit of analysis that is marketing strategy, and therefore made it a holistic study. The comparison between four European chocolate brands in this paper is mainly focuses on their marketing strategies, which the combinations of marketing mix, resource based view, and semiotic theory, are appropriate to use for the investigation. The significance of following this case study research design is it may offer a robust framework for data collection and increase the explanatory power, and generalisability of the data collection process (Yin 2013). As this paper is a broad overview study, a holistic multiple-case study is the most suitable, and having more than two cases will produce an even stronger effect (Yin 2013). This paper adopts a comparative-qualitative approach, and uses a holistic design because only one unit of analysis involve (Yin 2013) that is marketing strategies. The data collection for this study relies heavily on digital archive and secondary sources. This study uses a triangulation of multiple sources because qualitative research is often affected by the qualitative researcher’s perspectives, and it is desirable to reduce bias and increase truthfulness (Denzin 1978). This means that with data collected through different methods and sources, the researcher can corroborate findings across data-sets and thus reduce the impact of potential biases (Bowen 2009). First, all chocolate brands in Europe are gathered from various sources, such as marketing websites, business magazines, related books and journals. Then, these brands are cross-checked with Ranker ranking, a social consumer web platform, to identify the most familiar and favourable chocolate brands worldwide. The measurement of marketing strategies in this paper are product diversification and branding, geographical markets, and also the marketing mix, including product, price, promotion and place (distribution). The data collection is derived from various sources, such as the company annual reports between 2005 and 2011, analysis of the global Ramli Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research (2017) 7:10 Page 7 of 17 chocolate market shares from Statista and Euromonitor International, the company official corporate websites, and newspapers historical archive. Result and discussion The analysis of the European chocolate brands in positioning their themselves outside Europe started with the familiarity and favourable votes by customers; in particular, a specific group of chocolate lover. Table 3 illustrates the top ten chocolate brands voted by consumers online, based on familiarity and their favourable brands. Using the number of votes gathered from a social consumer web platform, Lindt and Sprüngli was voted the most familiar and favourable chocolate brand among the consumers, with 75.5%, followed by Cadbury with 73.6%, and Ferrero Rocher with 70.6%. Godiva comes after Ghirardelli Chocolate Company, Dove Chocolate, and Nestle, with 68.7%. In this study, Nestle is not listed in case studies, as there are other top brands that represent Switzerland; namely, Lindt and Sprüngli. Ghirardelli Chocolate Company and Dove Chocolate are also not listed in this study because the country-of-origin is not in Europe; Ghirardelli Chocolate Company was founded by an Italian-born Domingo Ghirardelli and created in San Francisco in 1852 (Ghirardelli Corporate Website 2016), while Dove Chocolate was created in Chicago by a Greek immigrant Leo Stefanos (Leib 1985). Consequently, Ferrero Rocher, Cadbury, Lindt and Sprüngli and Godiva qualify to progress to the analysis stage. In response to the familiarity and favourable brands by consumers, the marketing strategy of chocolate company is significant to examine. According to Yip and Coundouriotis (1991), the global transferable marketing is mixed by the chocolate producers, which evolved across marketing areas such as products, brand names and packaging, extend channel of distribution, and communication and advertising through multi-country media. Figure 2 illustrates the relationship between resources, capabilities and competitive advantage used to analyse the marketing strategies in this study. Figure 2 reveals the relationship between resources, capabilities and competitive advantages that adopted from Grant (1991) to analyse the European chocolate brands selected. From a resource-based view (RBV), all four chocolate brands have strong resource elements; namely, tangible, intangible, and human resources. Subsequently, Table 3 Top ten chocolate brands voted by online consumer Brand Number of votes/Overall In percent Ferrero Rocher 65/92 70.6% Cadbury 201/273 73.6% Lindt & Sprüngli 241/319 75.5% Godiva 145/211 68.7% Ghirardelli Chocolate Company 160/225 71.1% Dove Chocolate 148/210 70.5% Nestle 161/234 68.8% The Hershey Company 203/307 66.1% Mars 138/211 65.4% Kinder 80/133 60.1% Source: Number of votes derived from Ranker ranking Ramli Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research (2017) 7:10 Page 8 of 17 Acknowledgements This is a self-funded research. The author would like to thank the reviewers for the constructive comments and illustrative suggestions. Funding This research has not been funded by other party. This research is a self-funded. Competing interest With the submission of this manuscript I would like to confirm that the above mentioned manuscript has not been published elsewhere, accepted for publication elsewhere or under editorial review for publication elsewhere. 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