Kudler Fine Foods: Marketing

Marketing

Kudler Fine Foods (Kudler) is interested in expanding its service offerings to add a catering service in addition to the in-store parties that it currently offers. This paper will review and explore Kudler's possibilities of expanding its services. This paper will also discuss examples of the different kinds of opportunities within Kudler's has marketing mix that include the product, price, place and promotions for its new catering services.

Kudler, founded by Kathy Kudler in 1998, is a one of a kind gourmet specialty food store that praises its quality food at low costs. The company has now expanded to three stores in three strategic locations, La Jolla, Del Mar, and Encinitas, California. In order to maintain a competitive advantage, Kudler recently decided to contract local organic food growers. Kudler now has decided to expand their catering services.

Market Research

Kudler surveyed approximately 70 customers on performance within the organization in 2008 and 2009. Topics included store hours, appeal of the store, food selection, value of produce, merchandise displays, and overall customer satisfaction. Kerin, Hartley, Berkowitz, and Rudelius indicated that, "marketing research is the process of defining a marketing problem and opportunity, systematically collecting and analyzing information, and recommending action."

Kudler should expand its survey groups to include newer marketing research such as market size, marketing trends, competitive opportunities, marketing studies, and benchmarking research. Market size can be important information when understanding Kudler's customer base in each demographic area. There are many opportunities for conducting surveys. Surveys can be located directly on the Kudler website and can be sent through regular mail, email, and fax. A larger outreach to conduct surveys will provide the most data for Kudler's research.

The use of secondary information from older survey results and the company's history shows that Kudler possibly has been promoting the wrong products. It's possible that Kudler has not been providing its customers with the products that they want or need. Studying the marketing trends will allow for the company to make the best decisions possible. Kudler will also have a better idea of the products that they should promote for both regular shopping needs and catering needs. Kudler's service study will also help Kudler to identify the needs and wants of its existing customer base and generate a new customer base.

Good market research can be difficult for Kudler because the company is a specialty company that does not currently have a lot of competition. It makes it difficult for tracking trends because of the limited customer base and stores that actually provide the kinds of goods and services that Kudler does.

Marketing Mix

In order for Kudler to have a successful catering business, Kudler must utilize the marketing mix to clearly understand the service they are marketing. "The marketing mix is the mixture of controllable market variables that the firm uses to pursue the sought level of sales in the target market. The marketing mix includes: Product, price, promotion, and place" (Kerin, Hartley, Berkowitz, & Rudelius, 2006).

Product

Kudler will need research results that include providing an environment for customers to taste test the products and then receive feedback on the products. Allowing customers to sample products before purchasing is a great way to get immediate information. Also, by allowing customers to sample products, is a great way to introduce new products. The service comes from the interaction from the employee and the presentation of the product. It is letting the customer get a sense of what to expect from Kudler's catering business. Another great way to determine products that are most popular is through the ERP system. Tracking purchasing will inform Kudler of the products and services that are doing the best and products that should be reconsidered. This information provides a primary source of information.

Price

Knowing Kudler's competition, overhead costs, and customer demands will help Kudler determine price for the company's products and services. Demand will be important because Kudler will need to understand the customer demand for products that will most likely be higher than its competition due to the specialty of the products. However, customers will pay for what they want and if it is quality products and services then customers will spend the extra the cash as long as Kudler continues to have a successful strategic plan.

In order to maintain a competitive advantage in the market, Kudler must understand it's the competition, its products and services, and prices. Kudler has been quite successful with its customer relations. Kudler will need to continue to focus on its customers' needs and cater around what that customer wants and what they are willing to pay for it. Kudler's prices will mostly be determined by the market, but Kudler must also establish a price that fits the customer's willingness to pay.

Promotion

Promotion is key to success within an organization when providing a new product and service. Word of mouth through Kudler's existing customer base will be helpful with the businesses start-up. Not only will satisfied customers return, they will also promote the product and service by expressing their like for the product and service. This is an inexpensive way to advertize. Utilizing the Internet is also an inexpensive way to promote products