Marketing analysis of Famous Amos (Singapore) Essay

Famous Amos was established in the year 1983 in Singapore. It is now under Kellog’s Company since it was bought over in year 2001. Famous Amos offers cookies with nine varieties of flavours. It products also includes muffins and brownies. They serve the consumer with its finest and freshly made cookies. They believe in making the chip for the future generation. Famous Amos Cookies are also recognised as the best chocolate chip cookies in the world. Their cookies also meet the needs and wants of the audience. Famous Amos is also widely distributed in the island. Famous Amos targets audience are mainly the cookies and chocolate lovers. However, they segment their products Geographically; around the world, Demographic; targeting kids, young adults and adults, Psychographic; interest in chocolate cookies, and Behavioral Segmentation; can be used in any occasion. Famous Amos strength is mostly on its superior quality product and its weakness is mainly on its marketing skills, which is promotion. This is because, they did not advertise as frequent to inform the consumer about its existence. Famous Amos opportunity is having international expansion and threats that it may face is the increase in aging population when its target audience are mostly young adults. Famous Amos competitor is Mrs. Field and Little Jerry’s Place. Mrs. Field is its major competitor as they are selling mostly the same and it is also known. However, Famous Amos still stays competitive by continuing to produce new products and packaging designs to strengthen their competitive positions. Company Profile of Famous AmosFamous Amos was found by Wally Amos. He was a veteran who worked as a talent agent with William Morris Agency. He started with sending home-baked chocolate cookies to celebrities mainly to attract them before opening a store in Los Angeles, California on 10 March 1975. By 1985, his sales had grown to more than $10 million. By then the people around the world could see how â€Å"famous† Famous Amos is. However, between 1985 to 1989, Famous Amos went through four different owners since inception. The President Baking Company bought the brand from the Shansby Group in 1992 before Keebler foods purchased the President Baking Company in 1998. Kellogg’s Company then bought over Keebler in 2001. Thus, Famous Amos is now part of Kellogg’s Company. It was only then Famous Amos came to Singapore. Famous Amos was first established in Singapore in the year 1983. It serves the cookies lovers varieties of cookies flavour to choose from. Famous Amos is categorized as one of the Food and Beverage industry and Bakery sector in Singapore which they specialised in cookies, muffins and brownies. With 13 stores located island wide, their minimum requirements of Corporate Structure for each store are one Service Provider and a Baker. These are number of employees who serve the customers at each branch of the stores. Famous Amos also then came out with a new way in reaching the market. They produce the packed Famous Amos Cookies that is convenient to be sold at Convenient Shop such as NTUC Fairprice and Cheers. These are for the convenience of the cookies to be reached (manufactured) around the world without having the physical stores at a country or region. Famous Amos does not have any specific mission and vision since it is now part of the Kellogg’s Company. However, they have a tag line, which states that Famous Amos is â€Å"Truly the Chip Made for the Next Generation†. This shows that they want to serve its original and the best cookies made from generation to generation. Overall, Famous Amos has gone through around the world. They served the people around the world with its finest and freshly made cookies. With these, Wally Amos is now known as the father of gourmet cookie industry. Marketing PhilosophyFamous Amos adopts the Product Concept. The product concept holds that consumers will favour those products that offer the most quality, performance, or innovative features. They focus on making superior  products and improving them over time. Thus, based on Famous Amos, we can see that it offer the most quality, which are their finest and freshly baked cookies. They bake their cookies at their each stores everyday to make sure that its cookies are always fresh. Famous Amos also produced the packets one without changing its concept in serving quality cookies. They make sure that the taste of their cookies stays the same. This is to make sure that their performances meet the standard of the consumers. Marketing OfferFamous Amos is a Profit Organization. It offers mainly Cookies. It serves the finest in freshly baked cookies. It satisfies the wants of its customer due to its freshness of products. They offer nine flavours such as â€Å"No Nut Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Chip Pecan†. Their product includes Cookies, Speciality Cookies, Soft â€Å"N† Chewy Cookies and Cookies Cakes. It also includes a wide range of Muffins and Brownies. However, the core benefits that customer received is actually the exceptional taste of Famous Amos Cookies. SWOT AnalysisInternal Environment (Strengths & Weaknesses)Famous Amos brand is the ultimate strength for the company. Its brand â€Å"Famous Amos† shows it all about them being a â€Å"famous† cookie company. To add with it, Famous Amos received an International Brand Recognition, which is widely recommended and recognised. Famous Amos also has the reputation for its homemade cookies. It has a unique taste that would always attract buyers and especially chocolate cookies lover. Being a product company that is Halal Certified is also strength as it does not limit its product to only non-Muslim but to Muslim people too. Its product that is well distributed in Singapore is also a strength to Famous Amos as it reached its target audience easily. Its packed cookies are also convenient that people can purchase almost everywhere. Famous Amos also provides delivery service that makes it easier and convenience for the customer who bought it online. Its Research and Development (R&D) department also make sure that they always improve on its products and packaging design so that they remain competitive company.  Famous Amos also provides training for its employee to provide good services to the customer. Famous Amos does not need experience bakers and only required a minimal space for its store to operate. Therefore, it is cost effective for Famous Amos and act as a strength to the company. Famous Amos main weakness is in its marketing and promoting as it does not advertise its product as frequent that would inform consumer about its new product or its new stores. These will not create a want for consumer to consume its products as advertisement usually attracts the public and advertisement help to reach the public geographically. It also shows that the public are lack of information about its products. External Environment (Opportunities & Threats)Famous Amos operates stores world wide and it has successfully grow in every market it operates. This shows that Famous Amos has the opportunities in its international expansion. It is the best way in expanding its market. Famous Amos also has the opportunity to develop new strategic ways to increase their profitability. They may ask customer for suggestions or they can give suggestions and ask customer to give opinion. For example, Famous Amos can ask consumers for suggestion if they might want to produce other food products besides cookies to be sold in its stores. However, reports have shown that there is more aging population in Singapore. This will thus be a threat to Famous Amos Cookies as their target audience are mostly kids, young adults and adults. Cookies are also considered bad for health, especially when it contains a lot of sugar. This can also be a threat to the company as government has been encouraging the public to have a healthy lifestyle. Consumers will then avoid consuming something that they might consider unhealthy for them. Target Customer SegmentsFamous Amos basically targets those Cookies and Chocolate Lovers. These are their main customer they are targeting at. However, to be specific, Famous Amos segments their products through marketing segmentation. They are Geographic, Demographic, Psychographic and  Behavioural Segmentation. Famous Amos segments their product geographically generally to attract Cookies Lovers around the world such as the one in Melbourne Shopping Centre in Australia. In Singapore, Famous Amos scattered its stores island wide and it is usually at places that is at convenient to the consumers. For example, they have a store in Compasspoint located in Sengkang which caters the needs for the North-East people and Tampines for the convenient of the East people. Demographic Segmentation segment markets by age, gender, income, education, occupation, religion and race, ethnic background and family life-cycle or size. Famous Amos segments their products within most of these parameters such as the age, income and family size. Age is actually concerning anyone above 3 years old but specifically teenagers and adults of both genders. Their price is relatively affordable for consumers to buy it. They also provide packaging for immediate consumptions and as well as larger family size packs. This means that they do cater to these markets segments to attract buyers with large family size. Psychographic Segmentation consists of social class, lifestyle and personality. Famous Amos mostly segments its market through lifestyle. Lifestyle is a person’s pattern of living as expressed in his or her activities, interests and opinions. When a person bought the Cookies, this may show their interest in consuming the chocolate cookies. Lastly, Famous Amos segments their products through Behavioural Segmentations which segment markets through occasions, benefits sought, user status, usage rate and loyalty status. However, in Famous Amos case, they markets through occasions and target the gift giving market. They provide special promotions and labels for special occasion. For example, they provide hampers and gifts that customer can give at any occasion. Famous Amos also offer benefit sought to the customer from its appealing gift designs. Their gift tins, hampers and products have since to become a gift to be treasured by the person who receives it and a pleasure for the one who gives it. This is the benefits sought a customer may receive. Needs and DemandsTherefore, Famous Amos target audience needs are basically to eat or to have a snack. However, the consumer wants Famous Amos Cookies to satisfy their need. Thus, when the consumer finds a need and has the purchasing power, they will then demand for high quality Famous Amos Cookies. Competitor AnalysisFamous Amos competitors are Mrs. Field and Little Jerry’s Place. Mrs. Field is Famous Amos major competitor as it sells exactly the same as Famous Amos which is cookies, brownies and muffins. Mrs. Field are also its competitor as Mrs. Field is also well-known food and beverages products. Little Jerry’s Place is also a competitor to Famous Amos as it sell cookies and muffins too. Mrs. Field products are slightly the same as Famous Amos as they provide a range of products from cookies, nibblers, cookie cakes, brownies to muffins with a wide range of flavours. In Little Jerry’s Place, they sell only cookies but claim to offer slightly more varieties than Famous Amos and they differ by the taste as Little Jerry’s Place contains more milk, thus the rich milky taste. Mrs. Field prices are considerably the same as Famous Amos whereas Little Jerry’s Place cookies prices are cheaper as compared to Famous Amos. This is a way for Little Jerry’s Place to attract customer, which is to provide good products with low price. Mrs. Field has 8 stores located mainly around the town area and at Singapore Changi Airport. Little Jerry’s Place have 3 stores, located in West Mall, Square 2 and Ang Mo Kio Hub. This shows that Famous Amos has the advantage over its competitors for its distribution area. Mrs. Field offers 10 percent discounts vouchers and season’s offer through its website. Thus, those internets savvy might have the chance to get  discount if they came across the website. Mrs. Field also have Students Special promotion, which is free flow of drinks when dining-in before 6 in the afternoon. Little Jerry’s Place also have a current promotion. They offer one free Muffin if the customer buy four of its Muffin. Both Mrs. Field and Little Jerry’s Place promotions are to attract more customers to buy their products. However, in this case, Mrs. Field has an advantage over Little Jerry’s Place as they target the students which can be the main consumers of cookies industry. Famous Amos is definitely the market leader as it is widely known and recognised around the world. Mrs. Field main strength over Famous Amos is the promotion. Mrs. Field promotions are always up to date as compared to Famous Amos. Mrs. Field shop is also attractive. However, another factor besides being a known brand, Famous Amos has an irresistible aroma that other shops like Mrs. Field and Little Jerry’s Place does not have. Little Jerry’s Place weakness to Famous Amos is its new entry to the market. It is still unknown and does not have any official websites for the consumers to check out their details. Thus, Famous Amos has advantages over Little Jerry’s Place due to Little Jerry’s Place weakness. With these, Little Jerry’s Place could not challenge the Famous Amos high quality, freshly baked and irresistible taste of its chocolate chip cookies. Famous Amos continues to provide its customer with the delicious sweet treats. They make sure that they always meet the standard of its customer by their performance in providing the finest in freshly baked cookies. They also continuously rolls-out new products and packaging design to strengthen their competitive position. Marketing Strategies (4Ps)ProductFamous Amos is classified as a Convenient Product. Convenient Products are products that are purchased frequently and immediately, sold at a lower price, mass advertising and many purchase locations. Thus, based on Famous Amos Singapore, Famous Amos is actually purchased frequently and immediately since it has many purchase locations. It can found mostly in shopping centres that are convenient to the markets. It has 13 stores located around Singapore such as in Cineleisure Orchard,  Tampines Mall and Marina Square. Famous Amos offers wide varieties of flavour for just its Cookies. This is to cater to different markets. For example, Double Chocolate Chip with Pecan targets those who really love chocolate as they offer twice the amount of chocolate chips than a normal favour such as Chocolate Chip with Pecan. Its cookies include the brand name, Famous Amos, quality level which they are known as the world’s best chocolate chip cookies and providing appealing gifts designs. It is nicely package even for own consumptions as it has its own packaging (Appendices: Pictures). PricingFamous Amos uses the Market-Skimming under the New Pricing Strategies. Market-Skimming states that company set a high price for a new product to â€Å"skim† revenues layer by layer from the market and make fewer, but more profitable sales. It is used when a product’s and image support the high price. Its costs of smaller volume could not be so high that they cancel the advantage of charging more. Market-Skimming strategies also make sure that competitors are not able to enter the market easily and undercut the high price. Famous Amos adopts these pricing strategies as it is a product of value. Their product and image thus supports the high price they are selling. The consumers are willing to pay as high as $4.20 for only 100 grams of Famous Amos Cookies that they purchased at the available stores. Competitors are also unable to enter the market easily and undercut the high price. This is due to its known brand and quality of its Cookies around the world for ages. DistributionFamous Amos has a Direct Marketing Channel. Direct Marketing Channel is a marketing channel that has no intermediaries. Famous Amos is a direct marketing channel as the cookies are baked freshly at its own stores that are located island wide in Singapore. This shows that it does not went through a number of intermediaries. However, the packed Famous Amos Cookies went through a number of  intermediaries. It has the Intensive Distribution as it aimed at having a product available in every outlet in where consumers might want it. This is to cater and meet those beyond reached of the cookies. PromotionsFamous Amos does not do any mass advertising for its product. However, Famous Amos has done a rapport with its consumers when they won the international acclaim as the world’s best chocolate chip cookies. It is so unique that it spun the birth of an entire new industry. Its cookies are special with a crisp, nutty and richly flavoured at just the right size. This is the public relations that the brand has done over the years. Famous Amos had also made contributing in helping the needy people by partnering with Community Chest in March 2006 (Appendix: Famous Amos Public Relations). This is to promote their cookies to the public. Famous Amos Website is also a public relation as it is a form of reaching and communicating with its audience through internet. Famous Amos provides Sales Promotion on its Cookies in Gift Tins, Gift Sets and Cookies in Gift Boxes. These are all the premium items that Famous Amos offers at lower prices as an incentive to buy their cookies. Strengths & Weakness of Marketing StrategiesFamous Amos products are definitely strength to the organization. Its product is well-known to the public due to its quality of cookies that always meet the standard of the consumers. It is strength as it can be a perfect choice for midmorning snacks or at any time of the day. It is so handy that it can also be brought for picnics or birthday parties. The same goes for the Packed Famous Amos Cookies. Packed Famous Amos Cookies that is usually manufactured to the convenient chop is strength too as it can easily reached its target audience. This is because convenient shops can be found easily and mostly everywhere. Thus consumers can purchase Famous at their convenient. Being well-located throughout the island is also strength for the organization because having stores island wide shows that consumers can easily purchase the products wherever they are. Famous Amos brand name is known that its pricing strategies are strength to them too. Competitors will be unable to challenge its cookies due to the product quality n well-known brand. Competitors have to make sure that their products are better than Famous Amos Cookies to compete with them. The original cookie that is being sold at the stores is strength as they do not have to go through a lot of intermediaries. These thus save the cost of the organization and eventually save cost for the customer. This is because each intermediary that the organization went through, they will usually tax the products and it will then increase the selling price. Famous Amos weakness is mainly on its promotion. It does not have mass advertising that will subsequently inform its consumer about their existence or that they are still there to offer them the delicious sweet treats, their Cookies. They also do not have any con-current sales promotions that usually attract the consumer attention. This will eventually go back to its product. Its irresistible aroma produced at its stores will be the only factor that shows Famous Amos is still alive. This will be its weakness as for those areas without the stores will then cause the consumer to forget about it. Even so, their products are still at advantage as its quality products are irresistible by most Chocolate Lovers. However, Famous Amos could not base on its products and do not make any changes to them. This is because they will soon be forgotten when a new brand arises. They have to make sure they did some activities to increase the relationship with the customer. Recommendations and SuggestionsFamous Amos promotion has always been its key weakness to its competitor such as Mrs. Field. Thus, they should improve its marketing, especially public relations. This is an important factor as they must communicate with the customer to show them that they are vulnerable to the company and they treasure them for consuming their products. Advertising  is equally important as advertisement helps in reminding customer about their existence. Distributing flyers or their pamphlet can also be done. Famous Amos may also like to offer financial benefits to its regular customer by having Frequency Programs. This will help its consumer to enjoy benefits that the company provide. They may also like to give out its pamphlet when they produce new products. This is also a form of promoting its products. Famous Amos may also want to wider their product varieties like providing Famous Amos may also like to make its place for the consumer to dine-in. This means that consumer can dine-in while enjoying the cookies and aroma of Famous Amos cookies. Famous Amos may also like to produce something new that target the older generation since Singapore is having more aging population. This also helps in widening its audience thus generate more profit. ConclusionFamous Amos is widely known in the world. However, it is always good for the company to improve any of its weakness, grab any chances, and be prepared in challenges that they will face and always be innovative that will strengthen their competitive position. In my findings, I found that Famous Amos is preferred as compared to its major competitor, Mrs. Field. This is so as when I consulted some people about cookies company in Singapore, some does not realise the existence of Mrs. Field. Even so, Famous Amos has to really improve on its marketing strategies to attract the consumers. It is because, Famous Amos has the opportunities in doing more than what they are doing currently. They should really inform the public about their new products if there is any. This is because, I did not know they produce a new product until I visited a Famous Amos store located in Tampines. There is a sign that shows that there is new Fudge Cake. When I asked one of the salesperson, they mentioned that it has been out for quite sometime. That is why it is important for Famous Amos to promote their products as to generate more profit to the company. However, one most important factor that Famous Amos has is its cookies fragrance. It  is strong and attract consumer to crave for their cookies. I also visited both Famous Amos competitor stores, Mrs. Field located in Changi Airport Terminal 3 and Little Jerry’s Place located in Ang Mo Kio Hub. Mrs. Field stores are so attractive. It has a good sense of attracting consumer by using bright metallic red as a theme to their store. Little Jerry’s Place does not really attract the public with its appearance. However, it use the strategy of promotion such as â€Å"Buy 4 get 1 free† to attract consumers to buy their product. Thus, I find that it is important for company to plan on its marketing strategies. This will help in their profit maximisation. I also realised that it is important for the company to be attractive in attracting the public attention. However, as a whole, I can say that Famous Amos has done a great job in its effectiveness of providing standard and superior quality products. Famous Amos has also stays competitive and innovative in managing its products. Websites Famous Amoshttp://www.famous-amos.com.sg/Main website of Famous Amoshttp://www.speakers.ca/amos_wally.aspxFounder of Famous Amoshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famous_amosHistory of Famous Amoshttp://www.sugarstand.com/sc/sc0073-famous-amos-cookies.htmhttp://www.instaoffice.com/famous-amos-chocolate-chip-chocolate-chip-cookie-cookies-famous-amos-food-keebler-snack-snack-food-s.keb98067.0.7.htmInformation on Packet Famous Amoshttp://www.ncss.org.sg/about_ncss/press_release_archives.aspPress Release of Famous AmosMrs. Fieldhttp://www.mrsfields.com.sg/index.htmlMain Website of Mrs. Fieldhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._FieldsHistory of Mrs. Fieldhttp://www.asiacase.com/ecatalog/NO_FILTERS/page-GLOBIZ-653127.htmlInformation of Mrs. Field (e.g. Industry)Little Jerry’s Placehttp://www.timelessfacade.com/2007/04/amk-hub.htmlhttp://www.soshiok.com/print/9256Information websites