Marketing Mix Plan for Baskin Robbins free essay sample

Baskin Robbins Introduction Nearly three-quarters of a century ago, two brothers-in-law shared a dream to create an innovative ice cream store that would be a neighborhood gathering place for families. Burton Burt Baskin and  Irvine Irv Robbins  had a mutual love of old-fashioned ice cream and the desire to provide customers a variety of flavors made with ingredients of the highest quality in a fun, inviting atmosphere. They started out in separate ventures at the advice of Irv’s father. In 1945, Irv opened Snowbird Ice Cream in Glendale, California. His store featured 21 flavors and emphasized high-quality ice cream sold in a fun, personalized atmosphere. A year later, Burt opened Burtons Ice Cream Shop in Pasadena, CA. By 1948, they had six stores between them. This concept eventually grew into Baskin-Robbins. As the number of stores grew, Burt and Irv recognized that to maintain the high standards they set in the beginning, each store would require a manager who had an ownership interest in its overall operation. We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing Mix Plan for Baskin Robbins or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Even though they didnt realize it at the time, the two founders had pioneered the concept of franchising in the ice cream industry. It wasn’t until 1953 that the ice cream chain dropped the separate identities of Snowbird and Burtons and became Baskin-Robbins. A local advertising agency, Carson/Roberts, advised a uniform identity and image under the name Baskin-Robbins 31 Ice Cream. Their recommendations included the 31 ® logo to represent a flavor for every day of the month, Cherry (pink) and Chocolate (brown) polka dots to be reminiscent of clowns, carnivals and fun and lastly, the use of cartoons to bring their flavors alive with personality to graphically highlight the name and delicious ingredients. With this over-arching branding, Baskin-Robbins iconic pink spoons were created with the belief that people should be able to try any of their many flavors without cost. In 1954, Baskin-Robbins put their product on the line against their competitors at the Los Angeles County Fair. That year they won their first Gold Medal and set the pattern for county and state fair participation, earning Gold Medals for Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream every year since that first contest. Marketing Mix PRODUCT Baskin Robbins has never used artificial flavorings; its extensive RD efforts have focused on developing a wide range of flavors by using natural ingredient. As a result, BR’s products smell distinctly different from other products, which has helped BR to differentiate its products from lower-quality ones (which typically use oil/fat and artificial flavorings) and consistently increase customer satisfaction. In addition, BR has introduced new products with fewer calories by using fruits to reflect recent trend. In addition to flavors produced by BR in US, there has been a large number of flavors produced by BR-Korea and sold out in different countries US, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Malaysia and China. In this way, Baskin Robbins was able to satisfy the changes needed by the customers and developed new products to maintain its leadership in the ice cream market. As a result, its products have been continuously satisfying not only the domestic customers but also foreign customers. Baskin Robbins has made efforts to establish a world-class food safety system to improve the quality of its products and gain consumer confidence and preference for BR’s taste and brand. Since the beginning, BR has been offering chairs and tables for the customers who wish to enjoy their ice creams at the store. Baskin Robbins main aim is to serve the customers entertainment and enjoying of their ice creams and not just the best flavors of the ice creams. In Egypt BR has been working hard on serving customers at the best level to satisfy their needs and wants and build a strong relationship with their customers. The Packaging and design of the ice cream products have been up to date and it has its own outlook that customers have liked from the beginning and it is not similar to any other ice cream brand. BR has been quite successful in producing and serving large amounts of customers with different flavors and tastes of products all at one time, It puts a gr8 effort in providing the maximum variety possible for the customers wants and demands to be fulfilled. PRICE A product is only worth what customers are ready to pay for it. The price also needs to be competitive but not necessary to be the cheapest. It needs to include profit, as it is the only marketing mix element that generates revenue every other element represents costs. Prices change overtime and can be influenced by the inflation of the economy or by the changes in the prices of the competitor’s products. Baskin Robbins in Egypt can be offering discounts as a source of attraction to the customers and to maintain their position in comparison to their competitor’s. There are no any payment periods as long as the money is paid cash at the same time, but in case there is a large number of ordered made from any of the branches, credit terms can also be offered for the satisfaction of the customers. Baskin Robbins tries to charge and choose the affordable prices of their customers and at the same time the prices that could achieve for them the required profit. So eventually both stakeholders are served beneficially. PLACE The place where customers buy a product and the distributing of the product to that place must be convenient and appropriate to the customer. The product must be available at the right time at the right place in the right quantity, while keeping storage, inventory and distribution costs to an acceptable level. Baskin-Robbins  is a global chain of  ice cream from the merging of their respective ice cream parlors, in  Glendale, California. It claims to be the worlds largest ice cream franchise,[1]  with more than 5,800 locations, 2,800 of which are located in the United States. Baskin-Robbins sells ice cream in over 30 countries, including  Nepal,  Canada,  Japan,  Mexico, the  Dominican Republic,  Colombia,  Bahrain, the  United Kingdom,  Russia,  Egypt,  Saudi Arabia,  United Arab Emirates,  Australia,he  Philippines,  Thailand, Indonesia,  Malaysia,  China, South Korea,  India,  Ecuador,  Pakistan,  Panama. In Egypt Compared to the other countries the channels of distributions are fewer; BR in Egypt is working on more expansion of locations for the serving and delivering of their products more easily and effectively to the customers. Transportation and delivery is efficient and the inventory is available for Baskin Robbins continuous production. PROMOTION Promotion is the way a company communicates what it does and what it can offer to customers. The most familiar ways of promotion is advertisement of product this can be through magazines, media, sales promotion and special offers. Promotion must gain attention, by appealing, tell a consistent message and overall give the customer a reason to choose the company’s product over any other competitor’s product. Promotion does not mean communicating to your customers only. It is important to ensure that the internal stakeholders are aware of the values and attributes of the product. This means communicating to staff/ employees very well so that they can be acknowledged and share this with customers later. Baskin Robbins used advertisements as a source of promotion regardless to that it was well known even at the start. But for customers to get to know more about it and as result profits and sales would increase.