Situation Analysis on Dr. Tim’s Dog Food

Internal:
What’s going on inside the company?
-Momentum dog food created and directly distributed for mushers

What are the company’s goals and objectives?
* Increased distribution to retail stores, the Internet, and global distribution

What boundaries have the company set?
* Not many boundaries, other than concern for brand identity, and not wearing the company resources too thin

What is my company good at?
* Dr. Tim’s dog food has a focus of being “all-natural, veterinary standard” kibble * Direct link to those Dr. Tim wishes to sell to

Are there any constrains?
* Yes, again keep the brand identity intact, and do not spread resources too thin

External:
What’s happening outside the company?
* There are lots of dry dog food kibble choices out there already for the consumer * Many pet lovers
* Room for expansion and specialty dog food

The 5 C’s For Dr. Tim’s Dog Food:

Company:
-Specializing in dog kibble for mushers (Momentum), those who use sled dogs, dog racers etc. -Consumers have trust in the brand because a veterinarian, who is very involved in the dog mushing industry, created it. Future plans include, expansion into the global and Internet market, a product mixes (introduction of feline and other types of dog food).

Competitors:
When it comes to the competitors of Dr. Tim`s pet food there is really not much that can come close to how they put everything together for dogs and cats. When it comes to something as special as your best friend or the cat that always greets you at the door when you get home from work there is nothing that is too good for them. Most of the other brands use only the 3 or 4 types of ingredients, things like by-product meal, dried beef pulp, dried egg products when they should be using the real thing. Real eggs and beef with not putting things in the food like the by-product which is not good for their digestion and could lead to bigger problems later in life. If you want your pet to live life to the fullest you should always feed them a food that is made to give the pet the most out of everything’s he or she does.

Customers:
-Since Dr. Tim’s dog food was being produced in a small area that wasn’t able to exactly reach a maximum amount of people, the customers mainly consisted of sled-dog owners who want the best possible formula for dogs to be able to carry their full deed throughout the race. Dr. Tim’s did want to expand to more populated areas, but if they were to do so they could potentially lose their image as a high quality, certified veterinarian brand. Hunt decided to expand his brand by putting his products up for availability on the internet, with his original formula being available were also other formulas such as: Pursuit, a formula designed for companion canines that exhibited a moderate-to-vigorous activity level, Kinesis, a formula that was developed for canines with a medium-to-low activity level (including puppies). On this site that he offered, customers could buy their food and do in-depth research on the ingredients that is in each formula. Though Dr. Tim’s wanted their product to be readily available to most of everybody, they focused more on getting their product to sled-dog owners in areas where sled-dog-races were a common thing

Climate:
The only thing that climate really effect’s is distribution. In the case study they talk a lot about sled dog teams. Consumers with sled dogs like the choice of Dr. Tim’s dog food because its better for their dog’s health and their health matters because they make up the team. This means that Dr. Tim’s food goes out to consumers that live out in colder weather conditions. Dr. Tim’s should make sure that their food is shipped in proper tempters while its being shipped out to consumers in these cooler conditions.

PESTE Analysis:

Political/Legal:
-Costs to export to Alaska
-Costs to mail/deliver consumer purchases via the Internet
-Government regulations to export dog food to other countries
-CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) regulates dog food imports and exports
-Pet Food Association of Canada (PFAC)
-Specific guidelines by the “Working Group on the Labeling and Advertising of Pet Food in Canada”

Economical:
Dr. Tim’s dog food is organic and a healthier choice for people’s dogs. Because of this, the food is more expensive than regular dog food you would find at a super store like Wal-Mart. Let’s do some math for a second; we are going to use Purina dog food as an example. On Wal-Mart’s Canadian website we found out that for a 2kg bag of dry Purina dog food for adult dogs was $5.88. If you look at petflow.com, Dr. Tim’s Kinesis All Life Stages dog food is $10.99 for a 5 pound bag. We have to convert the kg to pounds to have an accurate comparison of price. Keep in mind that 1kg is equal to
2.2lbs.

Purina
$5.88=2kgs
$5.88/2kgs=$2.48
$2.48=1kg
$2.48/2.2lbs= $1.33
So for 1lb of Purina dog food it cost $1.33.
Dr. Tim’s
$10.99=5lbs
$10.99/5lbs=$2.19
So for 1lb of Dr. Tim’s dog food it costs $2.19

Economical Continued:
-After looking at the math we can see that Dr. Tim’s dog food is more expensive than the normal food you get at a superstore. Dr. Tim’s has to target consumers that are willing to spend that kind of money for their pet’s health. The best target groups for Dr. Tim’s are people with dogs that are considered to be more like a family member then a pet, or people that rely on their dogs. Some examples of dogs that people would have to rely on are sled dogs, dogs that work with the police and fire fighters and Seeing Eye dogs. Dr. Tim’s would also have to keep in mind of this target group’s income. Out of 7,989,380 different incomes across Canada, 7,799,670 of those incomes are $10,000 and up per year. That Income has the highest number of incomes in Canada. Only 174, 930 of 7,989,380 incomes earn $250,000 a year. So Dr. Tim’s has to really explain why it’s a smart and important decision to spend that extra money to purchase healthier food for their dogs.

Socio-Cultural:
-Because of the fact that there are a lot of active dogs, and dogs that are active in sports, there are an increasing customer demand for dog food that is healthy and good for their dogs. For some sled teams, not only in Alaska, but also in Norway needed a specific formula to feed their dogs so that they could be up to their optimal potential, and not be slowed down by ingredients that are bad for them. Dr. Tim Hunt decided to make his own formula that met all of the needs for an active dog, and the realized the need for not only an active dog formula, but everything from an active to a regular pet. Since more and more consumers are starting to worry about what’s in their pets foods, Hunt realized that he had a really sizeable market. Because of Hunt’s experience, training and social connections, it would be hard to duplicate his formula and have people trust it.

Technological:
-Advances in interconnectivity is a vast help to Dr. Tim’s Internet sales, there could be further growth if one incorporated the use of social media as well (Twitter, Facebook, Linked In etc.) -Further more with the use of cell phones/smart phones, this can help make business run smoother by receiving text messages, and emails straight to your phone

Environmental:
-Climate change could lead to decline in the mushing industry further down the road, thus hindering further growth for Dr. Tim’s

SWOT Analysis:

Strengths:
-They concentrate on the health of dogs and what goes into their food -A veterinarian runs the company
-The formula was created with the help of a PhD-trained Canine nutritionist -The formula allows dogs to reach full potential in racing
-This formula provided the needs that other commercial brands were not meeting.

Weaknesses:
-Because it’s a premium brand that wants to keep that feeling of being high quality, it’s not available at an average store like Wal-Mart. Although this is also an advantage, it’s a disadvantage because it’s not easily accessible for everyone that wants to buy the healthy pet food. Being only able to buy the food off of a website is a little discouraging because of the fact that not everyone wants to wait that long for their pets food, or pay the extra cost for shipping

Opportunities:
– Hunt could expand current products in current markets following a marketing penetration strategy. He could develop the Dr. Tim’s website to reflect the interests of consumers based on we analytics data, emphasizing content that is popular with consumers. Also if he followed a market development strategy, he could research cities in the United States where Dr. Tim’s could continue to expand distribution through new high quality retail stores and high quality distribution centers. He could also expand internationally using a market development strategy based on information collected from Google Analytics.

After a product development strategy, he could develop new Dr. Tim’s products like dog or cat treats. Dr. Tim’s could use the AdWords Keyword Tool to figure out what customers are searching for most and then provide easy access to it on the website.

Threats:
-Possible threats include new entrants into the Dr. Tim’s market, (dog and cat food) as well as new entrants into his niche market, dog kibble made for dog mushers – If new regulations about exporting/importing pet food are made, this could hinder, or create higher costs for the company -Economic downturn could result in less future sales, new customers, they might be unwilling to pay for a better quality dog food – There are many other brands to compete with, Iams, Royal Canin, Pedigree, Hill’s Science Diet etc.

Sources

http://www.petflow.com/explorer/brand/dr-tims
http://www.walmart.ca/canada
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/famil106a-eng.htm http://www.inspection.gc.ca/animals/terrestrial-animals/imports/policies/pet-food/eng/1321129023397/1321129556426 http://www.inspection.gc.ca/animals/feeds/pet-food/eng/1299870750016/1320602183408