Power Bar Case Study

1) Conduct a thorough analysis of this category’s customers, competitors, market, and environment from the perspective of Power Bar. What are the key strategic questions? What additional information would you like to obtain? How would you obtain it? What are the threats and opportunities? a. How is the market segmented? Under a broad classification, the consumers of these products fall under two heads, the sportspersons and the mainstream customers. The first category can range from professional athletes to people who occasionally participate in sports events but who train regularly following a strict regimen. Functional attributes are paramount for these consumers. They tend to supplement other nutrition products like protein powders and creatine with the energy bars.
What are the key customer motivations and unmet needs? The non-serious (mainstream) consumers vary from people who work out occasionally to keep in shape or as a recreational activity, to the people who eat these products because they are easy to consume and are healthier than junk food. Energy bars contain several vitamins and nutrients and might help with weight loss.
But the attention of the marketers is firmly focused on the second category of users, the mainstream. (Frost & Sullivan, 2004)
What are the similarities and differences among the segments? The energy and nutrition bars are rich sources of energy and balanced nutrition. Though the compositions vary slightly between different brands, energy bars are generally a combination of protein, carbohydrates, fat, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. The protein source in these bars is usually soy or milk. The ingredients in each of the bars depend on the energy needs of the target consumer. Each of the manufacturers has different brands for specific activities.
There is a tendency to club all the bars in the sports nutrition market into the energy bar category. Energy bars should be distinguished from other kinds of