Overview of Hershey

Discuss about the Sustainable Market Position And The Perceptual Positioning Of “Hershey”.

Sustainable management is a business form of managing people and provides quality practice to the stakeholders to manage the sustainability in this globalised world. This is a relative term that may change in form of the company’s situation, perception, condition and experience in the market, but in case of achieving business goals in long-term viability, the sustainable situation is needed. The organisation can take care of three main sections of people, planet and profit. The whole thing of the sustainable market and fair trade products are influenced by the need of people and their policy to sell to people. The concern matter for the organisation is to sell their products and the make a sustainable ground for them so that business goals can be achieved.  In case of organisation sustainability, managers ensure the environmental regulation in the company, sustainable policies and initiatives and building awareness programmes for the organisation, so that people relate their problem with the initiative and deliver a moral support to the company.

In this paper, the chosen company is Hershey and the entire situation of business sustainability will be evaluated by the aspect of the company. This is the largest chocolate manufacturing company in the world, headquarter is in the United States (Thehersheycompany.com 2018). The products of the company have been sold more than 60 countries. The increment in revenue is also noticed in 2014 where a sum increase of US$7.420 billion revenue has been generated by the company. Hershey is one of the members of World Cocoa Foundation and that influences high in term of employees’ motivation to deliver quality chocolate in every time. 15,000 employees are associated with the company and through the manufacturing plants; it is easier for the employee to deliver quality products along with that. In case of companies’ sustainability, quality and development is the most concerning factor for their perceptual mapping and that will increase their position as well.

Hershey is the pure cocoa involving products’ company that develops their process and marketing by the use of their field in cocoa. They have stated some good marketing strategies so that a proactive business analysis can be extracted. The pricing, distribution, advertisement all these processes help the company to sustain in this competitive market (Welford 2013). The product, price, promotion and place are the concern aspects of this marketing strategy and through this strategy, a good recognition can get in the market.

Hershey is one of the most popular brands that offer quality chocolates to their customer. These products are available in form of different shape and sizes. The quality is same in every size and people trust over this brand and that can assume the revenue generation of last three or four years statistics of the company. Innovative products are the USP of the company and through the promotional strategy they attract customers to them and that signifies their marketing strategy as well. The conical shape of Hershey kisses and innovative style of packing is the key deliverable that added extra attraction for people. The hand-rolled packing is one of those that deliver the innovativeness in the market (Thehersheycompany.com 2018). Iconic brands accumulation is there and that help to control the product sustainable condition of the company. In case of kids, the quality of the chocolate is very good, they produce this kind of chocolate those are delicious as well as healthy for the growing kids. Continuous innovation helps the marketing mix for years. Product variations like chocolate, candy, mint & gum, Nuts and caramel and some other varies if products are available in this business process. In case of every product sections; there are varieties of components as well as the Chocolate section has York, Kit Kat, Hershey, Kisses, Take5, Almond joy & Mounds, Reese’s and Brookside (Kotabe and Helsen 2014). These products are the most sellable and significant products of the company. Other than this, there are lots of other products like licorice candy, dark cocoa, soft crèmes candy, hugs candy, candy bar, snack mix, filled bites candy all these are products also important in case of marketing. The company commit to the good food and deliver positive aspect for transparent and open customer policy (Walker and Jones 2012). The products are good from the company perspective thus it imprinted over the customers for their quality and unique product culture.

Marketing Strategies of Hershey

The company can sustain in the globalised market as the market strategy of the company is quite clear. They deliver quality products of chocolate and basically targets upper-middle-class urban people as the prices of products are little higher. The prices are ranges in between $10 to $50 and these are from different shapes and sizes of products (Thehersheycompany.com 2018). The company has invested their money in events, programmes, contact information cases, and in case of shareholders assimilation. People find the process innovative as the invested materials are related to their lives so they mentally attach to the company and wish to take some products from this (Kim, Kim and Kim 2014). This is the marketing policy to get attracted to the customers and price rate upgradation is the concerning aspect of the company and customers have no problem with that.

In grocery shops, drug stores, vending machines, wholesale shops, malls, hospitals, ant kind of departmental stores in the global basis, Hershey can be available in all the places. Online purchasing is also important in that case and through the online marketing, more people can engage with those products. Amazon, eBay, Big basket, and other regional companies of 60 other nations are the controlling the business for them. A huge amount of products are also available in those portals also (Thehersheycompany.com 2018). Hershey has a strong business distribution channels as well and through those channels, they can formulate their business.

This is one of the significant aspects of marketing as knowing people through different process s the concern matter for the company. Through Hershey is one of the largest companies in the world in the aspect of cocoa branding but the company still need promotion for the development of their market acceleration (Moradi, Aghaie and Hosseini 2015). There are some commercial promotions of their products that signify the kids’ growth and state that through these products kids can have a good time also. The traditional face of happiness and line vision to have good customer under their belt is the concerning aspect of the company. They use television advertisement, billboards, and magazine advertisements are the prime section of their business promotion and the company doing the same in every country after that. There are various promotional activities like 4D chocolate mysteries, trolley tours and own candy making process these are the promotional aspect that encourages the production of the company (Thehersheycompany.com 2018). In some events, they deliver their products at free for the promotional purposes. The process of free promotions is also trending Twitter and Facebook as a promotional strategy.

SWOT analysis helps the market orientation of Hershey and delivers the strengths, weaknesses, opportunity, and threat of the organisation so that market evaluation can be justified.

• Hershey is the largest chocolate manufacturer, founded in 1849 and has a huge esteem and recognition in all over the world. 44.2% of market share is persisted in case of Hershey and that is highest recorded market share for a company like this (Thehersheycompany.com 2018).
• The distribution policy of the company is innovative and almost 60 countries they have formulated their business. The market share of the company is high and the reason behind that is the distribution channel.
• The innovative chocolate brand is another option for this company. The innovation is reflected in their products and packaging (Voss, Gammoh and Fang 2012). The packaging process is innovative for the company and that attracts people in an effective way.
• Partnership and licensing is another aspect that company should rely on. In the USA, Hershey partnership with Nestle for the distribution for KitKat is a significant step for the company to earn more revenue (Kotler 2012).
• The product portfolio of the company is also huge. There are more than 50 product variants and in each section of variants, some other products are available there. In the type of chocolate and chocolate-related products, the company is increasing their line of productivity as well.
• Hershey uses to complete billion dollar sales in every year and that is the reason the huge increase in revenue in 2017 has been noticed (Wright, Chew & Hines, 2012). 7.5 billion dollars accumulated in this year and that signifies their market acceleration.
• Hershey is highly acclaimed in all over the globe. The company stands in 249^th place in Forbes category and in case of the best employee, the company is in 269^th place, which is a remarkable aspect of the company.

Companies	Market Share
Hershey	44.2%
Mars	30%
Lindt/ Ghirardelli	9.2%
Nestle	5%
All other	13%

• In case of brand equity, Hershey is ranked as 94^th most valued brands in the world. The brand valuation of the company is $7 billion and the company spends almost 530 million dollars in a year for the marketing and advertisement. This is a crucial aspect for the organisation to maintain their brand equity as well.
• The company provides enough involvement for the education of children. They have own schools and they take the imitative to learn them the basic knowledge. In Ghana, the company provide the best nutrition for children and that is the concerning aspect of the company.

• The direct purchase method is not used by the organisation and that is the most concerning factor of the company. Cocoa is not directly purchased by the company; however fair trade practices are expected from the organisation as well.
• There are some small and medium enterprising companies that cut the market share of the company (Kizil et al., 2013). Those are mainly from the regional aspect and their involvement fragmented the company revenue as well.
• The expansion of the company is limited. Implementation of fast moving consumer goods policy (FMCG) is limited in those 60 countries.
• There is a huge chance of fake products. The products of Hershey are easy to duplicate and in that case, the parental company is suffering from that case.

• Diversification is the business culture is important for the organisation. In that case, snack segmentation or introduction of the innovative cakes of pudding may highlight the brand culture of the company.
• People love the quality delivers by the organisation, that is the reason they need to expand more than 60 companies and they have that potential to reach that. The scope of expansion is there and according to the population of countries, they need to segment their business (Hesselbarth and Schaltegger 2014). In India, the very low footprint is persisted and they need to make some more innovative process to get more customer involvement with their company.
• The distribution network needs to be wide and that distribution can make the right pull in the market (Cantonnet, Aldasoro and Cilleruelo 2015). The chocolate dealing network needs to be proper and that is the reason more opportunity will come in the way of Hershey.

• There is some high competition have been noticed from the organisation and the reason behind the situation is different companies and their promotional strategies. There are companies like Mars, M&M, and Cadbury, whose have strong brand engagement with customers.
• Distribution costs, labour cost, fuel cost all these things are increasing and that is the reason strong competition is persisted in the organisation (Eggebrecht et al., 2014).
• Stopping consumption of sugar and sugar-based products are identifying the health awareness concept of Hershey. The health awareness process is the concern matter of this and through this health awareness; other companies are expanding their business.
• Cocoa is the main raw material of the organisation and they need huge consumption for their products. In most of the cases, the major cost of cocoa varies and that is the concern threat for the company.

From the perceptual mapping, it can be easily understood that Hershey place is much higher than other companies. There are some other companies as well and through this competitive analysis, Hershey is much higher in price and quality. The top two competitors are MARS and Nestle. In between Hershey, the range of products are available and through the varieties of product more financial gain acclaimed by the Hershey. The product development has come as the company has taken some innovative policy that encourages more business engagement in people (Chhabra 2015). The customers are also loyal and their existing behaviour is the concern reason for the organisation. The technological promotion of the market is the main concern for the organisation and through this process; Hershey is higher than other companies. Most of the companies are doing decreasing their price for better market engagement like Mars and this is one such company, who cut down the rate of their products for better market engagement but the quality offers by the  Hershey is the best among them.

Quality and Innovative Products of Hershey

The marketing principle of the Hershey is consumer moderation and active lifestyle process. This is considered as general marketing principle and through the advertisement, they promote their brand. The cultural value of the company is high and they try to avoid social stereotype process also. The laws and practices are accepted by the company and they indulge eating habit for children. The variety of high-quality foods are the main USP of their product. In case of an advertisement, use of children and their parents’ involvement is the concerning aspect for safe and honest approval of the organisation (Thehersheycompany.com 2018). Online and digital advertisement along with the iconic products and their development is the concerning aspect of business and accumulation of physical and environmental safety is the concerning aspect that is beneficial for the organisation growth (Bogueva et al., 2017). The principles also reflect the positive role models and relationship with customers. Treat and snack diet maintenance is another principle that they align with the company so that fair trade will be production.

Conclusion

Therefore, it is concluded that Hershey is one of the biggest food corporations and the sustainable management of the company is the concerning aspect of their business. Wide network distribution and the establishment of an innovative process is the concern idea that helps more business engagement with customers. The marketing mix of the company signifies the positional aspect of the company and that impacted the overall management and to get the good position in the market.

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