Marketing in Hospitality & Tourism

HT1022- Class: DHT1

Assignment 1

Group members:

Nguyen Tan Thanh 0903/4854

Cao Minh Nguyet 0805/3417

Nguyen Thi Hong Loan 0806/3549

Main Body ---------------------------------------------------------2

• Market segmentation----------------------------------- 2

• Evaluating and selecting market segments------- 3

• Positioning strategies----------------------------------- 4

Conclusion----------------------------------------------------------5

References---------------------------------------------------------- 6
Introduction

Nowadays, people concern more about their health and nutrient foods. However,

everyone has less time to care about themselves because of the dynamic society and

competitive work. Therefore, the products that could help people to save time and

maintain their health, would be the potential products. These are the main ideas for us

to develop our product: probiotic milk ,”the word “probiotics” literally means “for life” and

refers to living microorganisms that, when consumed in sufficient numbers, exert health

benefits beyond basic nutrition”(Food and Agriculture Organization-FAO of America)

.We choose Vietnamese market to sell our product. This product is not new in the world

but it has just been sold in Viet Nam from April 11, 2008 by Yakult. To succeed in

launching our products into Vietnamese market, we start to research target marketing

and plan suitable strategies.

The are many reasons that we think Vietnamese market is a potential and suitable for

our new product, new setting company. Firstly, Vietnam has a high population (about 86

million) with high density, specially in big cities like Ho Chi Minh City and Ha Noi capital.

Secondly, there is currently only one competitor in probiotic milk and it has just

launched for 1 years. Thirdly, Vietnamese lifestyle, income has improved quickly in

recent years therefore their demand for drink is higher, not just skim or full cream milk.

Lastly, Vietnamese has not been familiar with probiotic milk either Yakult, this is also a

challenge for us.

Market segmentation

After researching market, we decide to segment Vietnamese market by three kinds of

geographic segmentation

1. City size: we divide into three small groups:

• More than three million population cities(Ho Chi Minh and Ha Noi)

• From one million to three million population cities (Hai Phong , Da Nang)

• Other cities.

2. Age: consumer preferences change with age such as

• Under 11 years old : this group chooses our product by product’s taste

and reference from parents.

following social trend: trying new products, popular in Vietnam, then

become potential buyers by product’s attributes.

• From 20-34 years old: these are our main buyers who know its

convenience, quality and effects

• From 34-49 years old: this group may not use our product much

• From 50 years old: these may become potential buyers.

3. Gender: female and male. This segment is important because majority of milk

users in Vietnam is female, their main purposes are for maintaining body and

diet.

Evaluating and selecting market segments

After segmenting the market, we evaluate our segmentations and consider our

resources. As a new company, we have limited distribution channels and capital, so we

focus in distributing in biggest city, and highest density city first: Ho Chi Minh City.

There is another advantage that the surrounding cities of Ho Chi Minh city also have

high population.

Our main competitor, Yakult, uses undifferentiated marketing in Vietnamese market.

They only use one kind of pack of five plastic bottles for their product. Therefore, for

gaining advantages we decide to use focus-differentiated marketing strategies first

because of our limited resources then differentiated marketing strategies in long term.

At the beginning, we select segmentation of people from 20 to 34 years old, focusing

on female. According to the surveys, we found that female prefers maintaining body,

healthy product with attractive product designs. Thus, we design our bottle in an
attractive way with more information describing probiotics’ effects not just a simple

plastic bottle. In the long term, we provide more tastes and different designs for younger

groups of the market : under 11 year old group and from 12 to 19 year old group.

Positioning strategies

We use two positioning strategies to compete with our competitors.We use product

attribute differentiation strategy to compete with indirect competitors like other normal

milk and other drinks. We emphasis on our probiotic milk attributes1

• Providing “friendly” bacteria that reduce effects of lactose intolerance and

constipation. They boost immunity and prevent food allergies. They play a role

in the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

• They are cheap and convenient

• They help in losing weight and burning fat with preserving lean muscle mass.

We use image differentiation strategy to compete with Yakult. We build a friendly,

Vietnamese image to Vietnamese by establishing the fund to support the poor and

Vietnamese soccer team, the national sport, by the number of sales. We want to show

that buying our products is similar as helping Vietnamese society.

1
Tools for Innovation, Issue 2,Volume 2, Fall 2004,Dairy Foods &DMI
Conclusion

Probiotic milk market is a dynamic and challenge market, specially in Vietnam, because

we need to increase consumer perception to probiotic drink to increase sales. For

surviving and developing in this market, we choose differentiation strategies and focus

in building strong image in the consumers to compete with current and future

competitors.
References:

1. Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism, Fourth edition, Philip Kotler, John

T.Bowen, James C.Makens

2. Tools for Innovation Articles, Issue 2,Volume 2, Fall 2004,Dairy Foods &DMI.

3.Dairy science and food technology, http://www.dairyscience.info/probiotics.htm

4.Informations of launching time of Yakult in Vietnam

http://www.yakult.co.jp/english/news/200806-01.html

5.Population of Vietnamese cities

http://www.pso.hochiminhcity.gov.vn/an_pham/thanh_pho_ho_chi_minh_25_na

m/B01.htm

Word count:813 ( excluded footnote and references)