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This was followed by the opening of a Burtons tore. Years later in 1953, when both the founders Burton Basking and Irvine Robbins joined the identities of both their stores to form the Basking Robbins name which flowed through the franchise stores (Basking Robbins, 2015). Basking Robbins came to I-JAY in the year 1979 through the partnership with Gaillardia Ice Cream Co. The first store in AAU was set up in Stats. Currently, Basking Robbins has a leading market share of 21% in AAU with 3 Million scoops sold every year and 40,000 scoops being sold every day.
Basking Robbins has gained a high podium and maintained it in its 5th year in AJAX. Middle East as a whole is a big market for Basking Robbins and has 650 stores in the region (Gaillardia Brothers Group, 2013). Basking Robbins provide 4 diverse range of products for I-JAY which covers many aspects of the dessert food criteria. The first range of products is its ice cream which is available in 30 different flavors which includes basic flavors like vanilla & chocolate to special flavors like chocolate chip cookie dough, mint chocolate chip and Tiramisu.
The indulge range of products feature ice cream scoops with garnish and signature sundaes. The elaborate range of products feature custom cakes and chef special cakes and finally the refresh range of products provide four varieties of thick shakes (Basking Robbins, 2015). Market Description I-JAY has been developing exponentially and currently it has one of the most advanced dairy sectors in the Middle East with many processing plants for ice creams and other locally owned processing and d trading companies which are in the ice cream sector.
The companies which are locally established include International Foodstuffs (OFFICIO) which produces Mother Dairy Ice Cream, Pure Ice Creams Company and the United Kappa Dairies (UNCHAIN International). The distribution and sales of Ice Cream in I-JAY happens through Ice Cream parlors and major grocery stores like Careful, Spinney, etc. The global ice cream companies that have their franchise operations going on in I-JAY include Basking Robbins, Dairy Queen, Hagen-Dads, and Cold Stone Creamery (International markets Bureau, 2012).
Customers are observed to indulge in impulse purchases of Ice Cream which accounted for 52% of total ice cream purchases and the rest was divided among dessert stores, parlors and grocery stores. The second leading source of sales was take-home ice creams which had a contribution of 18% in the total market share. Looking at the impulse based ice cream purchases, it can be safely said that increasing the number of ice cream parlors in mall areas, recreational parks and schools would be beneficial for Basking Robbins. The 40% market sales of the ice cream market relies on the people of age group of 18-34 years.
The segment of teenagers and pre-teens account for 35% of the market and the 25% market sector is of the people aged 35 and above which shows a spike in the middle aged group grading ice cream (International markets Bureau, 2012). The products provided by Basking Robbins from all ranges are given to people of all ages. A high amount of ice cream is consumed by families and teenagers and the contribution of working individuals is minimal. There is also a growing attraction to frozen yoghurt which is diverting some customers from traditional ice cream products (SISAL Middle East, 2015).
Market Opportunities The existing market segments can be observed for innovating and creating more marketing opportunities. The consumer segmentation shows that the consumers of Basking Robbins belong to the age-group 18-34. Trying to know the customer’s demands would let us gain an insight regarding possible marketing opportunities. Analysis of market sample provides an opportunity to the company for introducing a low priced range of ice creams which would make Basking Robbins accessible and would expand the market segments of Basking Robbins. There is also a scope for a new product in Basking Robbins.
After secondary research, it has been derived that the reason why many people in the higher age group could not eat ice cream due to diabetes and would another factor is that girls rarely eat ice cream due to sugar intent which has an impact on their weight. This is a concrete reason for introducing sugar free ice creams in the I-JAY market. Also due to the fact that majority of the population is urban in nature and would adhere to healthier options if available. Application of Marketing Mix The marketing mix of Basking Robbins can be created by analyzing the ups of Marketing which are Product, Price, Place and Promotion.
Analyzing these aspects will lead too well-defined marketing mix. Product Basking Robbins provides products like Ice Creams which are available in single scoops, take-home boxes and Sundaes. Basking Robbins also provides custom cakes and chef specialty cakes and thick shakes. There is a vast range of flavors available in every Basking Robbins store. The products provided by Basking Robbins are aesthetically pleasing and has a wide range of utility regarding eating and bulk orders. The downside regarding the products is that it is not durable for a long time.
There is a possibility of innovating within flavors and the content of the ice cream to expand the market segment and include more population into the customer base of Basking Robbins market. Price The prices of Basking Robbins are higher than other ice creams so the company has applied both psychological pricing and promotional pricing techniques. Regarding psychological pricing, the prices are not rounded up and kept close to the next ringing. The price range between kids, value and double scoop are close so it doesn’t feel like an option is much pricier which makes it reasonable.
There are a lot of people who still do not find Basking Robbins Ice Cream affordable on a regular basis. The company can concentrate on this factor and develop a product which is affordable to a wider audience. Place I-JAY has Basking Robbins stores in 165 locations in AAU which makes Basking Robbins Ice cream convenient to approach and accessible. All of these stores are placed possibly near malls and major public areas to boost sales. All of these stores are open every day of the year (Duncan, 2014). Promotion Around Ramadan, Basking Robbins introduced Mini-Treats for people who are attending Fifths during the festival.
Basking Robbins has planned a major promotion event for the year 2020. Basking Robbins is going to offer free ice cream to people who visit the Basking Robbins store between 1 and 3 PM (Chalked Times, 2013). Analysis of Market Research Before the analysis it is critical to not that the sample size is 100 and the target of the survey are the people who were having ice cream at an outlet of an Ice Cream parlor of any brand. The age group of the sample has been denoted through the chart which depicts that the highest amount of people were in the age group 18-35 years.
The lowest number of people belonged to the age group of 50 and above and this can be explained by reasoning that old people have health problems like diabetes and dental problems and would avoid eating Ice Cream. After analyzing the results of the survey it was also found that more than forty people agreed and strongly agreed on the brand conscious factor while 1 5 were neutral and commented that factors like taste and price matters. The frequency of people eating Ice Cream denotes that people of AAU often eat ice cream and at least once in a fortnight if taken an average of the data.
Most people tend to purchase at publicly accessible areas where they can have easy access to ice cream in the heat. These factors amount to the consensus that majority of the ice cream purchases are impulse buys and the purchases from the nonviolence stores are the ones amounting to the purchase of take-home packs. When asked about the favorite flavor of Ice Cream, majority of the people voted for flavors like chocolate fudge, strawberry sorbet, and caramel chocolate while there were a few people who preferred their own different favorites.
This made it impossible to track a huge trend of other than the classic flavors. This makes it clear that the statement “Every flavor may not be liked by everyone, but every flavor will be some one’s favorite”, a true statement. Regarding the question of how often people ad Basking Robbins Ice Cream, the number of people who eat it every day reduced to zero but the rest of the data showed uniformity regarding the general ice cream eating population. The satisfaction level of the people who had tried Basking Robbins was very high and for some, it was a favorite Ice Cream.
The people with a low level of satisfaction has complaints regarding prices of the ice cream. Many people suggested that there was a scope of improvement regarding the inclusion of certain flavors and items other than ice cream. People around certain branches reported that there was a scope of improvement in the service factor. Many people also agreed to the notion that there should be more flavors and some flavors can be eliminated but as the data regarding those flavors was very volatile a strong opinion regarding this factor could not be determined.