Ice Filli Case Analysis
Executive Summary
Ice-Filli was established by the Soviet Government by the name of “Moshladokombinat N 8” in 1937 and it was the first large scale industrial manufacturer of ice cream. In the later decades it gained modernizations in equipment and technology.Ice-Filli was one of the few that survived the 11 year tenure of the fall of the Soviet Union when its major competitors who were also international like Unilever left the market when they saw how saturated and risky the market had become and the demand of ice cream had fallen drastically. Nestle and a few other foreign competitors who had already invested in local production plants managed to survive though. Ice cream had many substitutes in competition like Beer, Soda and chocolates and other domestic products. The differentiation came in advertising where Ice cream producers spent less than 1% on advertising while the beer market approx. 2% and the soft drink industry approx. 7%. In Russia there was the general idea that more ice cream was consumed in winters than in summers on the belief that it lasted longer in the cold weather and was more enjoyable. In Russia, Ice cream was an “on the go” thing and not an in-home special occasion thing like in the US market. The ice cream in Russia was consumed more on the basis of natural preservatives instead of fat levels which also meant it was less sweet like in the US and Canada. Most Russian firms in the 90s were 40 to 60 years behind the world’s technology level as per estimations from Alexander Kladiy, the chief production specialist of Ice-Filli. Being the market share leader in the ice cream market, Ice-Filli still only holds 5% of the market share as it is so competitive and huge with all the local and foreign brands.
The greatest threat was believed to have been generated by the regional producers. They were more flexible and had 30% of the domestic market share. Later on, the foreign brands also took over local and regional brands to stay in the
Ice-Filli was established by the Soviet Government by the name of “Moshladokombinat N 8” in 1937 and it was the first large scale industrial manufacturer of ice cream. In the later decades it gained modernizations in equipment and technology.Ice-Filli was one of the few that survived the 11 year tenure of the fall of the Soviet Union when its major competitors who were also international like Unilever left the market when they saw how saturated and risky the market had become and the demand of ice cream had fallen drastically. Nestle and a few other foreign competitors who had already invested in local production plants managed to survive though. Ice cream had many substitutes in competition like Beer, Soda and chocolates and other domestic products. The differentiation came in advertising where Ice cream producers spent less than 1% on advertising while the beer market approx. 2% and the soft drink industry approx. 7%. In Russia there was the general idea that more ice cream was consumed in winters than in summers on the belief that it lasted longer in the cold weather and was more enjoyable. In Russia, Ice cream was an “on the go” thing and not an in-home special occasion thing like in the US market. The ice cream in Russia was consumed more on the basis of natural preservatives instead of fat levels which also meant it was less sweet like in the US and Canada. Most Russian firms in the 90s were 40 to 60 years behind the world’s technology level as per estimations from Alexander Kladiy, the chief production specialist of Ice-Filli. Being the market share leader in the ice cream market, Ice-Filli still only holds 5% of the market share as it is so competitive and huge with all the local and foreign brands.
The greatest threat was believed to have been generated by the regional producers. They were more flexible and had 30% of the domestic market share. Later on, the foreign brands also took over local and regional brands to stay in the