Zenith Pet Food Case PaperZenith Pet Foods, Inc. is a large distributor of show-grade dog food. The company distributes only within the United States. Its plan is to introduce the product in the Boston area. Zenith dog food is a high-grade, frozen dog food made of quality, organic ingredients. The target market has been show-dog kennels in the past, but the entity has recently turned its attention to the dog as a household pet. The product promises to produce a shinier, healthier coat on the consuming animal. Zenith needs freezer space to sell its products, and the plan is to distribute through supermarkets, where the majority of the dog food is sold based on Zenith’s market studies.
The company faces a very large amount of competition within the dog-food market. Some of those competitors include Dog Chow distributed by Nestle Purina Pet Care, which sells 23 percent of dry dog foods in the supermarkets, Kal Kan Pedigree distributed by MasterFoods USA, selling 18 percent of wet dog food, and Kibbles ‘N Bits distrusted by Del Monte Foods, which sells 69 percent of semi-moist dog foods in the supermarkets. Although competition exists in the market, there are no competitors that distribute dog food in a frozen, all-fresh form in the freezer aisle of the grocery store. There is a threat of new entrants into the market or product substitutions, but because Zenith will be a pioneer in the field of frozen dog foods, only time and succession would be able to determine what companies would invest money into creating a replication. The supplier leverage exists, because they have the excitement of introducing a new product. It is assumed that the buyer will be excited about a new product, especially the one that is sold in a unique and improved way. The buyer has most of the leverage of a new product. The distributer can do tests and surveys to estimate how the buyer population would react to a new product, but Zenith’s fate comes down to whether or not frozen dog food designed to improve the animal’s coat would be something that the consumers would continue to buy.
Zenith has an adequate financial situation, assuming that it is granted funding for the implementation of the product. The organization realizes that some of the larger competitions will be spending millions of dollars in advertising alone, and they are only planning on spending $400,000 to $600,000 to introduce the product. The company also realizes that its product will be higher grade than those of the competitors, and therefore it would likely to appeal to pet owners who consider their dog to be a member of the family. These pet owners will be able to associate with the guilt factor involved with owning a pet. For example, they tend to treat the dog as if it had human characteristics.
The marketing strategy for Zenith is clear. It is planning on spending most of the budget on running ads on television. It has developed a commercial that it feels will influence the guilt factor. A child brings his dog into th grocery store with him to look for the dog’s favorite food. The marketing team would also like to play up the fact that Zenith dog food will be located in the freezer aisle “right next to the human food”. There will also be ads placed in newspapers and a magazine accompanied with a coupon to initiate first time sales. The team sees the coupon as an important aspect to introducing a new product and getting the consumer to switch brands. Advertising will also be directed to the supermarkets. Since the store allows Zenith to sell dog food in its freezers, the company is aware that this could cost Zenith about $30,000 for the space.
Figure 1. SWOT Analysis for Zenith Pet Foods, Inc.
Strengths
Show Circuit is made out of quality organic ingredients.
The ingredients are also frozen fresh.
The results are a shinier coat on the consuming dog.
Show Circuit has already been tested on show dogs.
Boston is a large metropolitan area,
