2. The Company-General Mills
• 5 operating groups-
– Consumer Foods
• Largest group
• Sales=2.2 billion dollars
• Operating profits=210.5 million dollars(53% of company
sales and operating profits)
– Restaurants
– Fashion
– Speciality Retailing
3. Yoplait USA
• General Mills acquired rights from
Sodima(French Diary Co-operative)
– Sodima licenses its technology around the world
• General Mills sells Yoplait Yogurt Original Style
in 5 flavours
• Annual sales 10 million dollars
4. • Yoplait had 30 days shelf life-production could
not build up inventory
• Yoplait hence required co-ordination with
distribution
5. • 3 styles prevalent
– Sundae style (53% of yogurt volume)
• Thick Consistency
• Eg Dannon- fruit at the bottom of the cup
– Swiss style (37% of yogurt volume)
• Thick Consistency
• Fruit mixed and blended throughout the yogurt
– Plain style(9 % of yogurt volume)
• Thick consistency
6. Yoplait Original Style
• All natural, fruit mix throughout
• French Style
• Unique packaging- reverse cone, plastic
package, wax paper cup, smooth texture,less
tart
7. Market
• Fragmented, regional
• No national distribution brand
• Private labels take up 26% of national volume
• Category development varied across regions
– Highest in Southern California- 252 PCI
– Lowest in Virginia 40 PCI
8. Brand Parent Company % coverage in USA Positioning Strategy
Yoplait General Mills 60% All natural premium quality,
creamy French yogurt
Dannon Beatrice Foods 66% Nutrition/value reassurance
Breyers Kraft 54% Superior tasting, natural
Light and lively Kraft 48% Good taste, Natural
reassurance
Borden Borden USA 45% Good taste, all natural-
American yogurt
Knudsen Knudsen and Co 14% Nutrition, taste,leadership
Colombo Colombo USA 21% Production,reassurance,all
natural
Yogurt Johanna NA Superior taste, French
Recipe natural
9. Customer attitudes and usage
• Yogurt market is in its maturity stage
• Market has stopped growing
1977 1978 1979
Have eaten 28% 32% 32%
yogurt in past
four weeks
Expect to eat 32 36 38
yogurt in next
four weeks
10. Reasons for use 1977 1978 1979
Like taste 51% 57% 54%
Nutritious 21 17 21
Non fattening/ 20 14 13
dierary
Eat for 12 5 4
lunch/meal
Have eaten 1977 1978 1979
yogurt
Lunchtime 62% 56% 51%
Evening snack 32% 30% 36%
Between meals 31 34 34
Dessert 18 14 14
With Dinner 12 14 12
11. Unaided Brand Awareness-1979
US Midwest West
Yoplait 12% 28% 13% total in
west+midwest=41%
Dannon 47% 68% 2% total in
west+midwest=70%
Light n Lively 13% 11% 0%
Knudsen 6% 0% 28%
Breyers 8% 3% 1%
Brand eaten most often
US Midwest West
Yoplait 4% 8% 6%
Dannon 41% 51% 0%
Light n Lively 3% 1% 0%
Knudsen 5% 0% 21%
Breyers 3% 1% 1%
Lucerne 3% 2% 8%
12. Yoplait Dannon
Overall quality 17% 31%
Overall taste 17% 35$
Fruit flavour 17% 37%
Texture 14% 28%
Amount of fruit 13% 23%
Overall appearance 16% 27%
Appeal to entire family 8% 21%
Container 11% 18%
Value 10% 18%
13. Demographic Analysis of Yoplait
• Educated, female, young(18-34 years), or old
(63+ years)
• In metros, concerned about weight and diet
• Children usage declined, family usage declined
• Children used it as between meal and after
school snack(56%) and as an evening
snack(46%)
14. Results of Yogurt Motivation Study
• Yogurt moved from meal to snack
– High calories
– Not filling
– Treat and not staple by health and diet conscious
– Flavor improvement might increase sales in children
– Price could play a role in purchase behaviour
• New competition in snack role
– Competition from more shelf-stable items,easy to
keep, cheaper
15. • Total yogurt consumption low
– Volume accounted by new users did not make up
for lost volume from traditional users
• Long term yogurt volume expected to corode
substancially
• Yogurt perceived as high quality, premium
priced brand, people didn’t like the thin
texture
16. Custard Style
• Focus group research indicated that key
appeal of the concept was its custard like
texture. Concept conveyed
smooth,creamy,thick,rich tasting yogurt.
17. Concept test
• Product formulation
– Low fat vs Full fat
• Positioning
– Dessert vs Snack
• Package
– Vercon vs Traditional
• Size
– 4 oz vs 6 oz
18. • Result-
– Desert/full fat/traditional/4 oz
• Profit margin- 50.3
– Snack/full fat/Vercon/6 oz
• High profit margin- 60.4
– Improve prototype
• More fruit
• Colour
• Flavour
• Natural
19. • Creative Group Interviews
– Indicated non users would be difficult to convert
– Non users felt product was bitter, sour,tangy
– Custard Style sounded “less yogurty”
21. • We recommend the BASES test because of the following reasons:
– It had proved successful and accurate in predicting the sales numbers of their
previous products.
– The test was cost effective and delivered results in short span.
– It could also give an estimate of the marketing expenditure because of its dynamic
structure.
• Due to lack of any marketplace exposure in the BASES test we suggest a “mini
market” test as a follow up measure to complement the findings of the BASES test. The
test has the advantage of utilizing less investments and providing results in a short time.
It also estimates the extent of the cannibalization.
• We recommend the company to position the product as a snack option since the
customer perception is invariably shifting towards the indulgence snack item. Also the
concept fulfillment test gave favorable results for the following combination: fat
based/Vercon cup/ 6oz. We believe the company should launch the product in both the
package options so that it may attract the customers looking for a dessert.
• There is no need for any price modification for the new product, as the cost structure
associated with the new variety is expected to be the same
