To the Marketing Manager :: Business and Management Studies

To the Marketing ManagerIntroductionThe pet food grocery store has experienced steady growth for years and disdain a slight decline in pet ownership, pet food sales nourishincreased. This is especially true for cat food sales, which reflectsthe fact that cats argon outpacing dogs slowly but steady.As the slide is going towards pets being treated as a part of thefamily, they deserve food that is equal in the room to human dishes.These and other factors are the foundation of our report on enteringthe promising cat food market.MainThe current cat food market is dominated by 2 multinational players,namely Mars (Masterfoods) with a share of 40% of the market and Nestl(Friskies UK) with 41 %. (Mintel, 2002). As these firms haveestablished their place on a solid basis, it is recommended toavoid direct competition with these brands. Therefore a strategy basedon pure specialisation seems to be the outflank way to enter the market,therefore introducing a niche product.We would suggest en tering with a highly-specialised, super-premiumproduct for the cat food market, as cats are generally grumpy eatersand their owners are willing to spend a great amount of money in orderto satisfy their pets needs. (Keynote, 2003)Recent statistics have revealed that the trend is going towardsfocusing on health issues and functionality. The product shouldinclude a certain amount of vitamins and minerals, as well as specialmedical ingredients to inflect the cats immune system. Furthermorethe product should contain purely of ingrained ingredients. (PFMA)Concerning the product design, theres recently the trend ofhumanisation pull down when it comes to the recipe. Culinary choicesshould be made available to the consumer, such(prenominal) as pasta and ricedishes and consideration should be taken to suit dissimilarexpectations of pet owners liveness in different countries, thus havinga different attitude due to their culture.Additionally different age types should be targeted separate ly, asyoung kittens have different needs and desires than older cats.Kittens may need less food, resulting in smaller portions, whereas oldcats need special nutrition to stay healthy and live longer. Thisshould be a further element of our specialisation process. (Mars,2003)Great emphasis has been placed on the convenience of the productpackage and design, for example single serve trays have proven to bewidely accepted amongst pet owners, as they are easy to store and canprovide the right amount for one meal. Re-sealable package, such asfoil sachets, are also very popular, as they provide the owner withcontrol and keeps the freshness of the food.In order to underline the natural and organic ingredients of the