Haribo: keeping competitive in the candy industry

Résumé du document

When we target the European audience, particularly the French one can commonly relate to them through a Haribo. Well the questions that now boil down is about knowing and tasting a Haribo sweet. A hypothesis is drawn with respect to the French in particular who are well versed with the taste of at least one Haribo sweet. It could be the 'fraise Tagada' or the 'dragibus' and so on. The famous colorful gum and jelly sweets of Haribo have a unique taste and texture and are made in funny designs just to attract children.

In 2002, the confectionery industry produced 212 000 tones of sweets which amounted to an increase of 18% over the last ten years. While the supply increased, demand was also on the rise as the consumption approached 223 000 tones which amounted to an increase of 21% during the same period.

Haribo, a familial company, has been successful in conquering the confectionery and candy market. Inspite of owning several world famous products, innovation is the strategy of Haribo. It is through this innovative strategy that Haribo has been successful in maintaining its competitive edge. It is an observable factor that competition is on the rise and is also very harsh in the candy industry. Keeping this thought in mind, Haribo has witnessed it struggle in this industry and especially the fact of coping with new entrants such as Lutty, Chupa Chups or Ferrero…
Haribo as a company started on a niche segment and has developed itself since then. However, this niche segment has been transcribed into growth and has reached its stage as a profitable segment. Thus, the company Haribo has had to face the threat of new entrants.

A thought to contemplate on is how Haribo succeeded in retaining its position as a leader in the competitive candy market especially with emerging and highly vibrant new players.

In the following study, we will try to answer this question. To begin with, we will deal with the history of the Company (Haribo ). Thereafter, we will study the present and external analysis of the company prior to drawing up and inferring the internal analysis of the company.
In this study, we will focus on the French market (as our target audience) as it is they who represent the second largest market of Haribo.

Extraits

[...] To accommodate this, there are few intermediates. Bargaining power of buyers : o Distributors are reserving more and more selling space for their own brands products. Therefore, it is harder for others brands to stay visible in the niche market zone. o There is a great variety of candies and brands. Therefore, it is easier for distributors to impose their conditions. On the other hand, Haribo has 'star candies' such as Dragibus or Fraise Tagada that cannot be expelled from the candies section as they constitute the essentials for Haribo's growth. [...]

[...] In this segmentation, every Haribo sweet has the same key factors for obtaining success, they possess the same net value, the same competitors, the same market, the same technologies, the same costs, a sole value chain and have strong collusions and additionally seem to address the same target. Although if observed more carefully, we might consider that all Haribo sweets do not have the same target. Indeed, some target the children while some target the adults and some others target the family as a whole. This means that Haribo does have some different SBUs. Consequently, Haribo's first SBU is the children. [...]

[...] Above all, Haribo is associated with quality. For many successive years, Haribo products have received the Gold Award(Gütezeichenband) from the CMA (The Central Marketing Organization for German Agricultural Industries). This means that the products have passed all the tests performed by the CMA, and have achieved the highest score for three consecutive years. In addition, many consumers recognize that Haribo products have a unique taste and a particular know how which cannot be imitated. The range of Haribo products is also wide as many sweets exist and are very different from the others (GoldBears, Rotella with liquorice, HappyCherries, assortments like StarMix or Tangfastics,etc). [...]

[...] Haribo is today the leader in the confectionery market. First of all, Haribo's success is due to the fact that its marketing strategy is the alliance of always new products and those with blameless quality, which participates in retaining the high quality image of the group. Indeed, Haribo offers a wide range of products and the brand is famous for its capacity to innovate and to be the leader: Haribo is always the first to initiate tendencies on the confectionery market, and its rivals just follow the group's strategies. [...]

[...] Haribo wants to improve the quality of its products. Therefore, Haribo is listening carefully to the demands of the customers and its new trends. To promote its high quality products, the company is taking part in confectionery exhibitions. It is the best way for Haribo to showcase its new products and to understand the reaction of people. Consequently, one can say that Haribo's strategy to be successful is to ' on the innovation of its products. The quality improvement of its products is undoubtedly the best. [...]