Cowgirl Chocolates Essay

1. What ar some of the diminutive strengths and weaknesses of Cowgirl Chocolates that check all over the success of this sm on the whole moving in? Can the weaknesses be overcome by the strengths of the pipeline? Some of the critical strengths of Cowgirl Chocolates that determine the success of this small care complicate ingathering differentiation, quality, flexible return policy, and personalization. Cowgirl Chocolates is truly modern creation since it meets the needs of a specific market of zesty and cocoa fans by combining both cayenne, a spice, and umber, a sweetener.The business also is cognize for using premium ing ceriseients in all of the coffees it twistings. The business non only offers a flexible return policy, which stimulates customers a lavish refund guarantee if they end up disliking the mettlesome truffles but also facilitates struggle buys for customers interested in the spicy chocolates. The keep company also commits personal notes in the w eathervane site supposes in fellowship to form customer satisfaction. Some of the critical weaknesses of Cowgirl Chocolates take having a high fruition cost, not having a tailored mission disputation for this specific business, and lacking focus.Cowgirl Chocolates has to pay a lot of m matchlessy for the incase, ingredients, and travel expenses to obtain the intense caramel dessert sauce. The business also is unfocused because of weak distribution, at that place is no intersection definition or market research, and the target market is thence dispersed due to not having a properly defined consumer base. Yes, the weaknesses can be overcome by the strengths of the business if the business spends time focusing on the weaknesses listed in order to build a to a greater extent(prenominal) successful small business. 2. Using the full product view, describe the heated up and spicy chocolate truffle offered by Cowgirl Chocolates? ground on this product view do you think this product will be readily accepted by consumers? why or why not? The hot and spicy chocolate truffle offered by Cowgirl Chocolates were offered in several flavors such as plain chocolate, mint, chromatic, fluxing lime tequila, and espresso. The plain chocolate, mint, and o concatenation truffles were captive in gold wrappers, the lime tequila truffles were wrapped in green wrappers, and the espresso truffles were wrapped in red wrappers in order for the customer to recognize that this truffle was duplicate spicy and hot.Personally, I guess the box of the truffles is not in full understand fit because red does denote something hot, while the other flavors wrappers gullt fully translate to existence hot and spicy. The truffles were also available in endow boxes, drawstring muslin bags, a payable tin, and also in a bendable bag if the customer chose to secure the truffles on the Cowgirl Chocolates website. Personally, I do not hope that consumers will readily accept this pr oduct because the general market of consumers will much than probable purchase sweet, milky chocolates over hot and spicy chocolates.The purchase of Cowgirl Chocolates fully depends on whether the consumer kindreds the taste alternatively than personable occupyaging and different experience. 3. What market do you think the hot and spicy truffles is competing inthe hot and spicy provender market, the chocolate sugarcoat market, the endowment niche market, or other? Personally, I believe the hot and spicy truffles are competing in the chocolate candy market because when one thinks of the hold Cowgirl Chocolates the word chocolate comes to mind rather than hot and spicy. The hot and spicy food market is strongly associated with spices, sauces, Mexican foods, and Spanish influenced foods.Cowgirl Chocolates then seems more correspondingly to be successful in the chocolate candy market rather than the hot and spicy food market due to the odd packaging of the truffles, the bra nd name given over to the product, and the premium ingredients and price. 4. What is your assess ment of Marilyns promotional efforts? In order for Marilyn to increase the sale of her chocolates, should she use a push or pull communication schema? Personally, I believe that Marilyn has been precise effective with her promotional efforts in order to create customer demand.Through the use of her award-winning cognizance for packaging at various cheat shows, advertising in her local newspaper, the Soviet Awards recognition of her unique and tasty products, and charge and involvement with Seattle Chocolates have thus far-off helped bring some cognizance for her product. In order for Marilyn to increase the sale of her chocolates, she should use a pull communication strategy because the more publicity she is able to construct for product and creative packaging, the greater sense she will thus be able to gain for her business.5. As you examine founder 2, you will note that Co wgirl Chocolates offers several gift packages (1/4 pound, 1/2 pound, 1 lb., gift bucket, gift basket, nothing fancy) that range in suggested retail prices from $8. 95 to $59. 95. stipulation these price and packaging alternatives what type of product (convenience, shopping, or intensity level) is Cowgirl Chocolates? Based on this categorisation would the buyer purpose more likely to be a routine, trammel or complex decision? Explain your reasoning. habituated these price and packaging alternatives I believe Cowgirl Chocolates are specialty products because they are more expensive and thus for the most get out exclusively distributed in either specialty stores or gift stores.By classifying Cowgirl Chocolates as specialty products, buyer decision would more likely be a limited decision because it requires putting though in the shopping process and therefore the decision whether to purchase or not purchase the product the product takes place in a store environment where the show ing of the products is thus very important to whether or not the customer will thus end up purchasing the product. 6. The suggested retail price and wholesale prices of Cowgirl Chocolates products are displayed in Exhibit 2 along with the product and packaging costs.Based on this information, dissertate the congeneric merits of using a cost-based, demand-based, or arguing based pricing method. The relative merits of using a cost-based, demand-based, or competition based pricing method embroil recognizing the that the retail prices are pretty some(prenominal) double the wholesale price. Thus, the combined packaging costs and the imported chocolate dispatch these high-quality products very costly even forrader markups on the products are made at both the wholesale and retail level.Similarly, when one compares the price of for example, the half pound tin, that seems very expensive when compared to a 24 pack of Lindor Chocolate Truffles which costs $12. 00 a bag. 7. get to a tab le consisting of the generic merchandising mix strategies. Based on what you have it off about Cowgirl Chocolates, what marketing mix project would you recommend to Marilyn and why? Based on what I know about Cowgirl Chocolates, I would recommend gift purchases to Marilyn because gift purchases are strongly influenced by both situational and fly-by-night conditions, which thus allow for numerous opportunities to purchase Cowgirl Chocolates.Furthermore, these chocolates are very clutch to give to a male consumer because research shows that men like hot and spicy foods more so than women. Cowgirl Chocolates would also be a good small gift to psyche hosting a party or a dinner since a lot of consumers work out around for a small gift in order to say convey you to the hostess.? 8. For a small business like Cowgirl Chocolates, what benefits and/or potential problems does a website offer? For a small business like Cowgirl Chocolates, a website offers both benefits and potential pro blems.The benefits entangle providing Marilyn the opportunity to build an online customer database and a database with customers who are thus repeat customers. other benefit accommodates the business Cowgirl Chocolates to gain online awareness by being features on the appropriate online portals like chocolate candies and unique gift products. The potential problems include the possibility of gross sales increasing online and Marilyn thus must conformation out a way to execute the increasing demand which might include having to pay additive costs in both packaging and shipping and additional labor costs in order to prepare the packages.