Case Analysis

br Kingsford and reviving the entire industry

PRICING INCREASES- In most cases , the increase of pricing would be ill-advised , but when examining the pricing trends of charcoal for grilling in terms of Kingsford as compared to its competitors , both brand name and private brand , shows that a price increase is virtually demanded by the pace that the industry itself is keeping with price increases . The following shows the price increase percentages for Kingsford as compared to its competition

PRICE INCREASES FOR CHARCOAL BRANDS , 1999-2000

BRAND UNIT PRICING `00 UNIT PRICING `99

CHANGE

Kingsford 4 .11 4 .03 2 .0

Royal Oak 3 .71 3 .59 3 .5

Private Label 2 .85 2 .62 8 .5

Even taking into account the fact that Kingsford is the higher priced alternative , the increases in pricing by competitors have in fact almost doubled those of Kingsford in the case of Royal Oak and quadrupled in the case of Private Label . The point to be made is that price increases can in fact be more substantial and still remain transparent to the buyer , especially given the very real possibility of new customers coming forward if overall promotion of charcoal grilling takes place

Plan Development

The plan that Kingsford will need to undertake in to solve the problems that it is facing at the current time , as well as the rationale and expected outcomes for each plan , are represented in the following chart for ease of illustration and reference

Plan development-Kingsford Charcoal

ACTION RATIONALE EXPECTED OUTCOME

Promotion of charcoal grilling overall , with a subtle acknowledgement that Kingsford is the sponsor of the messages . This should be done in print media , radio , television and online . Evidence shows an absence of promotion of the attributes of charcoal grilling . A renaissance of interest in charcoal grilling , with a subconscious association...