Montreaux Chocolate USA

1. Discuss the key challenges and marketing issues Andrea Torres must address at this time. There are many challenges and marketing issues that are standing ahead of Torres that she must address. Andrea Torres has four options to choose from: 1) perform further product testing, 2) launch in selected test market, 3) stage a regional rollout, or 4) launch nationally. Along with that, she also needs to decide how to market the product, weather if they should use Montreaux brand name or use Apollo since they already have reputation in the US market. Torres also needs to decide if they should market the product as healthy chocolate or by its taste. Another decision is how to package the product. There were many options displays. Timing is issue as well. Torres must decide if they should go ahead and produce the product or conduct more tasting. I believe that Torres should go ahead and produce a product now.

If Torres waits around to conduct more tests, there will be many competitors in the market who will be coming up with same product. Torres should launch the product nationally since Apollo is a very well know brand with great reputation in the United States as well as Apollo brand name for the product which means they won’t have to advertise as much and educate consumers about new brand. Instead, Torre should heavily invest in advertising the product as healthy chocolate with a great taste. The research has shown that consumers are very health focused and looking for products that are healthy as well as tasty. 2. Evaluate the achievability of the company objectives for Montreaux. The company objectives for Montreaux are to be a National distribution of the new Montreaux product line, $115 million in annual sales, and be in top 25 in revenue. The research indicates that the US chocolate market is expected to grow almost 2% annually through 2015, which means the demand for chocolate is increasing and bringing new product in the market can be very profitable.

The consumers in United States are becoming more and more conscious of their fitness and health. By introducing product that has healthier dark chocolate with top three fruit flavors can help increase the demand of the product which could increase their revenue. Apollo has been very successful at introducing new products and achieving company objectives. Apollo and Montreaux partnership, they should not have issue reaching their goals. In 2011, Apollo reported $54.4 billion in revenue, which indicated they know how to promote and where to place their product. They should not have any issues of achieving their revenue of $115 million and being in the top 25. #3.Considering attitudes, usage and motivation of consumers regarding chocolate, are new products viable?

By looking at the consumer attitudes and usage, the new products are very viable. The research shows that consumers between ages of 45-64, have the highest level of per capita chocolate consumption, which indicates these consumers know what they want and they have money to spend for it. Since there are the people who are connected to social environment, they are very health and fitness conscious. This new product of dark chocolate and fruit can be very popular with these consumers. The research indicates that 40% of adults preferred mini and snack size due to health and wellness issues. By looking at the research, this product is viable as long as they follow what consumers are asking for.