Kingsford Charcoal Case
Kingsford Charcoal Case
Alex Lau
Marketing Management
Professor Wright
3/26/2013
Introduction Grilling is engraved in American culture as well as a highly seasonal activity. Kingsford Charcoal is in the business of selling charcoal for grills. Even though Kingsford increased its market share in 2000, their forecast indicates they will not reach the initial revenue mark. With the charcoal market’s growth slowing, and the gas grill market gaining market share, Kingsford needs to revise its strategy, and their marketing mix to meet original expectations for itself and Clorox. The following report will identity the issues Kingsford faces in the market place and recommend actions to take to resolve these problems. First we will examine Kingsford’s core competencies, as well as internal strengths and weaknesses. Then we will have to identity threats and opportunities as well as external forces, buyer behaviors, and our target market. The report will closely examine the internal and external environment, along with the marketing mix, as well as future opportunities that are presented to Kingsford. Recommendation I would highly recommend Kingsford Charcoal to increase additional media spending to capture more charcoal market share. They should also continue with promotional spending. Kingsford should not increase the prices of their products on the other hand even though it has a superior product when compared to its’ competitors, since it was due to the increase of prices by their competitors that drove more market share toward Kingsford. Raising prices is a great way to earn short term profits, but it is not sustainable in the long term. It will simply drive customers away to make purchases with Kingsford’s competitors. Another glaring issue is the competition of the gas grill market, in which they have invested a large amount of money in media advertising, whereas the charcoal messages are none existent in the media unless Kingsford rolled out
Alex Lau
Marketing Management
Professor Wright
3/26/2013
Introduction Grilling is engraved in American culture as well as a highly seasonal activity. Kingsford Charcoal is in the business of selling charcoal for grills. Even though Kingsford increased its market share in 2000, their forecast indicates they will not reach the initial revenue mark. With the charcoal market’s growth slowing, and the gas grill market gaining market share, Kingsford needs to revise its strategy, and their marketing mix to meet original expectations for itself and Clorox. The following report will identity the issues Kingsford faces in the market place and recommend actions to take to resolve these problems. First we will examine Kingsford’s core competencies, as well as internal strengths and weaknesses. Then we will have to identity threats and opportunities as well as external forces, buyer behaviors, and our target market. The report will closely examine the internal and external environment, along with the marketing mix, as well as future opportunities that are presented to Kingsford. Recommendation I would highly recommend Kingsford Charcoal to increase additional media spending to capture more charcoal market share. They should also continue with promotional spending. Kingsford should not increase the prices of their products on the other hand even though it has a superior product when compared to its’ competitors, since it was due to the increase of prices by their competitors that drove more market share toward Kingsford. Raising prices is a great way to earn short term profits, but it is not sustainable in the long term. It will simply drive customers away to make purchases with Kingsford’s competitors. Another glaring issue is the competition of the gas grill market, in which they have invested a large amount of money in media advertising, whereas the charcoal messages are none existent in the media unless Kingsford rolled out