Snickers Target Market Target Market -- the Essay

SNICKERS

Target market

Target market -- the Asian-American market for Snickers

The chocolate bar 'Snickers' is an American candy icon. Snickers' combination of salty and sweet flavors is what makes the candy so desirable. "Peanuts are also a key part of a marketing pitch that touts an energy boost…It's almost like a de facto energy bar, like a PowerBar…It's a candy bar, but the peanut element is important" (Williams 2012). It is, as its advertising campaign proclaims, 'satisfying' as well as sugary. Snickers is seeking to enhance its marketing to Asian-Americans and positioning the product in distribution channels accessed by this demographic is essential.

Candy is a 'fun' purchase, rather than one which is deliberately sought out and researched like a durable good. Convenience stores, supermarkets, and other locations where people make impulse buys are the most common venues for purchasing candy, meaning that other types of distribution (such as direct mail or using salespersons directly targeting the consumer) are less valuable than retail shelf space. Snickers must craft an eye-catching presence in stores trafficked by the target market -- the need to have a presence in stores with heavy foot traffic is particularly important. Exclusive relationships with retailers when selling candy bars is very uncommon, although it is not unusual to have specific agreements with certain stores which will specifically promote the bar.

When marketing to Asian-Americans, focusing on stores popular with the demographic or regions of the country where the target demographic is heavily concentrated is a critical component of the distribution strategy.Offering key stores special promotional incentives if they showcased the product (such as discounts on merchandise) would be one way to gain traction. Marketing to luxury retailers like Costco might be one unique channel more exclusive to the more affluent, highly-educated target market although buying candy in 'bulk' is a relatively rare event. Other possible retail channels might be partnering with ice cream or fast food stores popular amongst the demographic like the yogurt chain Pink Berry, to create exclusive Snickers-trademark 'sundae' flavors.

Food companies often seek to emphasize flavor profiles as well as buying habits characteristic of the demographic when positioning the product. Kit-Kat has been extremely effective in doing so with its release of limited edition flavors. When marketing in Japan itself, Nestle had a great deal of success introducing new Kit-Kat flavors like "wasabi and green tea" (How did Kit-Kat become the king of candy in Japan, 2012, Eatocracy). In Asia, the salty-sweet combination is less popular than it is than the United States; hence the need for a different flavor profile than….....