Saxonville Sausage Company: Case Study
1. Describe the overall, current market situation with Saxonville
All 3 major categories of Saxonville products- brats, breakfast, and Vivio Italian, are largely seasonal, gender-dominated, with higher than average Suggested Retail Prices (SRP).
-Product Segmentation- 70% Bratwurst, 20% Breakfast sausage, 5% Vivio, and 5% other
-Target- Mainly Female head of house, with Bratwurst targeting men through women head of house
-Positioning-Bratwurst-mainly outdoor BBQ and grilling, between May and September majority of sales. Breakfast Links-special occasions or weekends. Vivio-piggyback the Italian(family) theme.
-Sales-Bratwurst for the past 2 years have been non existent, with little potential growth in the near future. Breakfast sausage has actually seen a decline over the past few years(ranked 6 of 8 for national brands). Vivio has actually seen an increase in sales with 9% and 15% over the last 2 years-(only present in 16% of the nation largest supermarkets)
2. Describe and evaluate Saxonville’s Research Design and Methodology
Ann developed a 4-step process, which started with a qualitative approach with target consumers to understand behavior and needs. They were small groups 4-6 people to understand basic benefits of italian sausage. She then narrowed it down to just over 100 women for the initial focus groups. After the focus groups Banks narrowed down six distinct themes for positioning, with family connection, clever cooking, confidence, appreciation, quick and easy, and tradition. Next, her team made a “brand ladder”, which would help determine what value the target customers held most dear. She narrowed down the final 2 finalists(family connection and clever cooking). The last stage Ann went through was finding qualitative numbers associated with the two finalists.
Ann Banks initially focused on qualitative data to help develop an understanding of what the market is and who they wanted to target. She then used that data and found quantitative
All 3 major categories of Saxonville products- brats, breakfast, and Vivio Italian, are largely seasonal, gender-dominated, with higher than average Suggested Retail Prices (SRP).
-Product Segmentation- 70% Bratwurst, 20% Breakfast sausage, 5% Vivio, and 5% other
-Target- Mainly Female head of house, with Bratwurst targeting men through women head of house
-Positioning-Bratwurst-mainly outdoor BBQ and grilling, between May and September majority of sales. Breakfast Links-special occasions or weekends. Vivio-piggyback the Italian(family) theme.
-Sales-Bratwurst for the past 2 years have been non existent, with little potential growth in the near future. Breakfast sausage has actually seen a decline over the past few years(ranked 6 of 8 for national brands). Vivio has actually seen an increase in sales with 9% and 15% over the last 2 years-(only present in 16% of the nation largest supermarkets)
2. Describe and evaluate Saxonville’s Research Design and Methodology
Ann developed a 4-step process, which started with a qualitative approach with target consumers to understand behavior and needs. They were small groups 4-6 people to understand basic benefits of italian sausage. She then narrowed it down to just over 100 women for the initial focus groups. After the focus groups Banks narrowed down six distinct themes for positioning, with family connection, clever cooking, confidence, appreciation, quick and easy, and tradition. Next, her team made a “brand ladder”, which would help determine what value the target customers held most dear. She narrowed down the final 2 finalists(family connection and clever cooking). The last stage Ann went through was finding qualitative numbers associated with the two finalists.
Ann Banks initially focused on qualitative data to help develop an understanding of what the market is and who they wanted to target. She then used that data and found quantitative