First in Show Pet Foods, Inc. Swot Analysis

The Smackey Dog Food, Inc. is a family owned business. It was started by three sisters, Sarah, Kim and Jillian, in the kitchen of their home. They lived in a suburban area of Chicago, Illinois. Their business is making all natural dog food. After using their own dogs and the neighbor’s dogs as test subjects, it was discovered by local vets, pet stores and grocery stores. These local places began to distribute the dog food. The demand for their food began to increase and they moved their business to a larger facility and hired additional workers. As compared to competitors, Smackey Dog Food, Inc., began to rise

As this was Keller’s first audit on a dog Foods company, additional research was conducted to gain insight on some the most common risks that occur in the dog Foods industry. The audit team also went to visit the client prior to the audit to gain a clear understanding on how their business works. The audit team consisted of the audit manager Pete, and two audit staffers Maureen and Ben.

Smackey Dog Foods, Inc. is a small, private company which specializes in manufacturing and selling natural dog foods. Their new boutique division, Best Boy Gourmet has grown significantly due to recent product demand. The company started small and is operated by sisters Sarah, Kim, and Jillian. Sarah serves as the President and General Manager. Kim is the Production Operation Manager overseeing the inventory, production, and shipment of the dog food with the help of her assistant, Henry. Jillian is in charge of Sales with a team of 12 salesmen in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. The business is based out of their hometown of Chicago.

Tough times call for tough measures. Wal-Mart has started moving from higher priced national branded goods to cheaper alternatives. Wal-Mart has even went to the extent of producing its own in-house brands such as Great Value, Ol' Roy, Sam's Choice, No Boundaries, Equate, EverStart, Mainstays, and many others. Ol' Roy, a hard dog food, has become the United States' most popular brand of dog food since its creation in 1983. Ol' Roy sales are about 20% higher than any other brand of dog food. Great Value food products where launched in 1993 and have become just as good if not better than the national branded food stuffs. Great Value products are typically sold at a much lower price due to not having any marketing expenses. "Combined, the improved product quality and the price advantage over the national brands bode well for current economic times" (Canning 20-26).

SNHU Pet Supply has designed a SWOT analysis to aid them in the best direction of marketing strategies for Pet’s Choice. To take advantages of all the opportunites available, SNHU Pet Supply can refer to this analysis in order to use their strengths for the best of the company and find the best opportunities in the market. The company could use this information from the SWOT analysis on Pet’s Choice products to develop marketing strategies and activities. The company can play on its strengths in order to promote this product so that it is beneficial for the company and the consumers. We will design the product to show the strengths the company has to offer, such as making the packaging stick out and resemble what we stand for. These multi-flavored

After hearing Marketing Momentum Unimited’s proposal, Breeder’s Own Pet Foods was presented with the problem of: Should Breeder’s Own Pet Foods go with the advertisings firm’s proposal, if so, which one?

The first disappointment she encounters is the quality of the dog foods. Hodgman expected to open packages filled with real meat, as advertisers relentlessly remind buyers of a dog’s love for real meat. The Gaines burger could neither be described as poor beef, rich beef or even beef at all. It couldn’t be fried and did not have that “real beef smell”. Ann describes it as being very malleable, “something you could make at home if you had a Play-DOH Fun Factory.” (107). The Kal Kan pedigree meals were also amiss. Ann’s words to describe these are lumpy, purple, stringy and veiny.

The company needs to evaluate who comprises its target market. Is the market the entire dog food market? The 10 percent that is currently purchasing frozen food or the 15% that would purchase if it were more convenient to do so? Currently consumers do not associate dog food with frozen food; but even if they did, the product may still not appeal to the average consumer due to time requirements for its preparation and thawing.

MLF is losing market share due to proliferation of unsuccessful brands such as _Beef Dogs_, _Lean 'n Lite_ and _Burns_. Having too many brands has spread corporate resources thin and has underutilized the Maple Leaf brand name leading to lack of a national identity of their hot dog segment, productivity problems and rising costs, both operational and production.

The over-arching problem that Breeder’s Own Pet Foods has is which marketing-strategy would best serve as a vehicle for entry into the dog food retail business. Additionally, it has to select the most prominent geographic location (s) for distribution of its product. Another root problem component is how to get the supermarkets to stock and distribute this dog food since it is in the frozen category and may not appeal to traditional dog food buyers because they don’t readily associate dog food with frozen goods.

Positioned to be perceived by buyer as the only dog food that they would want to purchase for a dog that is considered part of the family

Eating dog food may not be seen as the easiest thing to stomach because the smell, texture and by-products found within the mixture are thought of as awful and revolting. In Ann Hodgman’s “No Wonder They Call Me a Bitch”, although the title may suggest otherwise, different types of dog food are discussed. In this essay, Hodgman aims to inform her readers about the inequality in different types of dog food, as well as to entertain and amuse. Hodgman is writing to a broad audience, one of dog lovers and owners, as well as those that may be curious as to what is really in dog food, or more generally the packaging and processing of mass-produced food of any kind. Language, description and humor are

|Weaknesses: •   Lack of availability in all stores •   Lack of appeal to consumers due to thawing time / freezer space (convenience) •   Lack of appeal to supermarkets due freezer location •   Lack of brand equity in retail market •   Premium price | Threats: •   Store Location - Consumer must be educated to find product in different area of store •   Saturated market – sales top 14 million in 2011.   Dog food is also heavily advertised, so the challenge is to entice the consumer to buy Breeder’s Mix. •   Competition - 5 major brand name dog food companies dominate market with 75% of US dog food sales •   Challenge to get supermarkets to give up valuable freezer space for dog food |Evaluation of AlternativesBreeder’s Own Pet Foods product development strategy should be evaluated.   Currently only 1 out of 10 dog owners regularly buy frozen or refrigerated dog food and ¾ of those surveyed expressed no interest in purchasing frozen dog food (Kerin and Peterson, 2013).   This indicates that there is a limited market for dog owners who would be interested in a product such as Breeder’s Mix. Research does suggest however that frozen dog food dollar volume is increasing annually indicating there is a strong opportunity for Breeder’s Own to be the first to tap into the frozen dog food market in the Boston area.   Breeder’s Own Dog Foods needs a strong marketing campaign to convince consumers their brand is superior to

After careful review of each of the elements in launching this product, the following analysis can be determined. Zenith has to answer a specific series of questions in order to decide if their product of Show Circuit dog food will be a viable product. The market was in fact correctly segmented, although Zenith needs to see the shopping behavior of those willing to spend more on pet food. Marketing in a supermarket could inhibit the potential growth of the product. Because the market is already segmented and offered such a variety of dog foods, Zenith will have to market the product correctly and focus in on the benefits to be successful. Show Circuit needs to seek a position of a higher quality product in a different, more convenient location. It is important to play up how the location is a benefit rather than a detriment. This goes along with the sales program being successful. Show

Conventional marketing has appealed to consumers based on the idea that the pet food is enjoyed by the animal. Our product marketing will instead appeal to the parental instinct in pet owners, emphasizing health characteristics such as omega-3, senior pet health supplements, and calcium enrichment. Our preliminary research leads us to believe that consumers feel lost in determining which foods are safe, and which are potentially dangerous for their pets. Our campaign will attempt to create a memorable campaign to classify the relative health and safety qualities of a particular product in a simple way.