Ho Chi Minh City convenient snack market is a broad yet competitive market that has more than 50 brands and over a thousand of produces available. Although Poca is a completely new brand launched in 2005, it has achieved 17% of market share up to now and in the top three of snack suppliers in Vietnam.
However, as more and more firms and products from both internal and external marketplace keep constantly entering this market, Poca needs superior innovative marketing and branding strategies for the next twelve months to gain customers’ awareness and augment its competitive in current marketplace.With the high invested in capital, strong distribution channel and high technology, Poca has enough ability to become the strongest snack brand in Vietnam. Moreover, there are some opportunities in Vietnam such as cheap cost of labor, developing economy; Poca can combine those with its Strengths to achieve goals. However, the threats of new foreign competitors and Vietnamese negative paradigm about snack may affect much on Poca total sales. Setting the product objectives will orient clearly the development of Poca brand.
The company distinctly states the corporation, marketing and financial objectives as the guidelines to the business. The major objective for Poca in the next twelve months is to gain the market share up to 30% in general snack market, and 60% in potato snack market particularly.Poca’s products are suitable a wide range of social class from low income upward. However, Poca target market is teenagers and young adults, which have a high proportion in Vietnam population. The company has its own potencies of a wide range of distribution in both urban and rural areas, various flavors along with eye-catching and hot color designs.
Poca focuses on developing its product flavors, nutrition ingredients and packages’ designs in the intention to deliver the premium quality products combining with better services available such as 24/7 hot line information. Moreover, Poca will I implement Line extension strategy to develop its brand in Ho Chi Minh City market in specific and Vietnam market in general.For the pricing strategy, Poca employs various pricing approach such as cost-based pricing, competition-based pricing, as well as offer new prices for new products, offer special discount and allowance pricing, and utilize pricing mix strategy to promote the products. In the place strategies, Poca has chosen Corporate Conventional marketing channel. Although this is a traditional way to follow, it is familiar and helps products easily accepted and consumed.
That is why the company also selected Intensive distribution. To facilitate Poca brand name communicating noticeably to its target market, the company makes an enforcement on promotional strategy, which consist of various means of advertising (mass media, internet, etc.), sales promotion (sample, games, patronage rewards, etc.), and public relation (special events, charity, etc.
).Those marketing mix planned above will be employed in the period of October 2008 to September 2009 under the control program and supervisor of Poca’s marketing specialists. The budget for the plan can be up to1.863.
000.000 VND. With this marketing plan, in twelve months, Poca believe to gain further customers’ awareness and goodwill about the brand as well as increase the sales and profits for the company.Pepsi Co, established about 100 years ago, is the owner of the Poca brand and one of the largest companies in the world, having a significant variety of carbonated, non-carbonated beverages, salty sweet and gain-based snack and other food which are available in more than 200 countries.
PepsiCo Vietnam was established in 1991 (IBC) under the form of a joint-venture company, and became owned wholly by foreign businessmen in 2000, with a great many investments and supports from PepsiCo Global.Along with the success of Lay’s snack brand name all over the world, PepsiCo is on the way to build a new snack brand, Poca, with a view to becoming popularly recognized in not only Vietnam but also overseas markets in the long run. Although Poca brand has been established in Vietnam nearly for four years, it is ranking now in the top three leading snack companies (The Market Newspaper 2008). Until now, Poca has 20 flavors with various package sizes from 10 to 60g. (See Appendix 1 for product information).
As being a comparatively new entrant with recently launched products, Poca has to compete with a great number of big and long-standing well-known opponents, such as Oishi, Pringles, Kinh Do ... In order to compete more efficiently and gain more market shares, Poca has created this marketing plan as a recommendation for the company strategy.
