Soft Drink Industry Essays - Ice Cream Parlors, Ice Cream

Soft Drink Industry Executive Summary The word 'Saturation' does not exist in the dictionary of the U.A.E. Year by year, new products and their competing items have entered into the field and have successfully created a slot for themselves. This phenomenon is greatly supported by the open down policy of the local government to the people coming from other lands for settlement and tourism. Ice creams are a product that has not seen their prime in the U.A.E. It's potential is tapped in a meager form. Not that the commodity is in short supply. There is ample ice-cream available even at the moment. But, there is great scope of habitualizing the inhabitants of this place to consume more of the product, by exploiting the U.A.E. climate to its best potential. This statement vindicates the statistics that while an average person in Australia consumes 36.87 pints of ice cream, and in the United States 30.04 pints, the consumption in U.A.E. is only 6 pints per capita. Thus, even if the consumption is increased by 6 times for a person here, we will still be comparable to Australia and will need more effort to become world leader in consumption. This indicates the amount of vacuum existing in the U.A.E for the growth in the Ice-cream consumption. The bottom line is a 'Difference'. Up until now the ice creams that are being sold in the U.A.E. are mostly the conventional stuff and it will bring a sea change in the minds of consumers about ice creams if they are given something different at affordable prices and at accessible locations. One such company that can meet all these interests is Ben & Jerry's. We are a group of investors now planning to open Ben & Jerry's ice cream parlor. The food and beverage industry has been in a boom. Therefore we plan to make our mark in the industry as the premium ice cream and yoghurt parlor in the country. U.A.E has a multi-cultural environment thus providing a good market for Ben&Jerry's.. Ben&Jerry's is the 'difference' which can fit in the slot to help bring up the per capita consumption of the country. Most of their ice creams are made from fresh fruits, which hardly any other maker has attempted. Introduction & Background The company Ben & Jerry's had its humble beginning more than 70 years ago, when its founders started manufacturing ice cream with a hand - cranked machine. Today, it offers the widest range of ice creams and frozen deserts in packs, including cups, bulks, and cones. The brand enjoys its reputation for successful innovation and development of flavors and its new offerings are eagerly awaited every summer. Current Market Situation The Marketing Environment- The United Arab Emirates has an ice cream market of Dh140 million, yet it has one of the lowest consumption (6.00 per capita/ pints) of ice-cream when compared to Australia which consumes 36.87 per capita / pints and USA 30.04 pints. The ice-cream parlors Baskin Robbins enjoys having a monopoly followed by Haagen-Dazsas and Breslers. There are other non-famous parlors in some shopping centers and malls. Considering that there is two major franchises in the U.A.E market there is a high scope in entering the ice-cream industry. As for the external environment, it is divided in the following manner. Competitive Environment- There is high degree of competition in the foodstuff industry. In the ice-cream industry, the market share is evenly distributed with Nestle being the market leader, followed by Walls and then by Kwality. Recenlty Hag n' Das has also come up with major marketing schemes and are aggressively marketing their ice creams. They have a parlor opened at Al Diyafah Street in Deira. There is no official study to the exact market share. The prices in the parlors are about 10% higher to that of franchises in London and Canada. The other competitors in the family line are Igloo, Unikai, Kimo Cadbury, Mamma- Mia, and also those previously mentioned. Hags n' Das, Cadbury's, Baskin Robbins and have an importation, the rest are local manufacturers. Below mentioned is the approximate market share. Estimates provided by Kwality and Unikai year 1996 Overall market growth 20% on yearly basis Social and Cultural environment- We intend to target our products