Asia Pasific Journal of Management and Education (APJME)

Vol.5 No.1, pp.94-107 , March, 2022

E-ISSN: 2655-2035
Https://www.ejournal.aibpm.org/index.php/APJME

Marketing Strategies in Peninsular Malaysia: Case

Study of Gardenia Barkeries Sdn. Bhd.

Muhammad Fikri¹, Muhammad Aliff Aidil², Muhammad Amir³, Nadiah

Nadzhri4, Shailendra Singh Sengar5
Universiti Sains Malaysia,1,2,3,4
11800 Gelugor, Penang, Malaysia
IMS Engineering College
National Highway 24, Near Dasna, Adhyatmik Nagar, India,5
Correspondent Email: [email protected]

ARTICLE INFORMATION
ABSTRACT
Publication information
Research article This study was conducted in order to
investigate the marketing strategies of
HOW TO CITE Gardenia Bakeries in Malaysia.
Gardenia is a very well-known name by
Fikri, M., et al. (2022). Marketing the majority of Malaysians. Therefore,
strategies in Peninsular Malaysia: Case the researchers choose this firm as the
study of Gardenia Barkeries Sdn. Bhd. best topic for this case study. Gardenia
Asia Pasific Journal of Management has 4 production plants, 3 in Shah Alam
and Education, 5(1),94-107 and 1 in Puchong, Malaysia. Gardenia's
marketing strategies make the
DOI:https://doi.org/10.32535/apjme.v company have a large market share in
4i3.1430 Malaysia despite having many
competitors. This study was conducted
Copyright@ 2022 owned by Author(s). using data collection which is gathered
Published by APJME from journals and websites. The
researchers also distributed a survey
for this study with 80 respondents
This is an open-access article. taking part in the online survey. The
License: result shows that the customers are
Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike satisfied with the product's packaging
(CC BY-NC-SA) and the price.

Received: 17th May 2021 Keywords: Consumers, Gardenia,

Accepted: 17th November 2021 Marketing, Malaysia
Published: 20th March 2022
Asia Pasific Journal of Management and Education (APJME)
Vol.5 No.1, pp.94-107 , March, 2022
E-ISSN: 2655-2035
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INTRODUCTION

International Executive Service Corporation (IESC) dispatched an American called

Horatio Sye Slocumm to East Malaysia in 1969 to build a bakery. Slocumm joined
the company with 35 years of baking expertise with one of America's largest bakery
chains. Gardenia is the name given to a flower that blooms in the springtime. After
45 years of struggle, Gardenia was born successfully. Mohd Sedali (2017) said
that Gardenia Bakeries began as a modest business in Singapore. In Singapore,
there is only one in-store bakery and they had built a commercial bakery in Pandan
Loop. Fortunately, due to their great demand and market share in March 1983, a
commercial bakery opened in Pandan Loop with a capacity of 2000 loaves per
hour. Originally built on the notion of a central bakery distributing a range of items
primarily to retail bakeries, the company shifted its focus to making a white
sandwich bread that was supplied to all retail outlets including supermarkets and
general merchandise stores. On the creation of a white sandwich bread that was
given to all retail locations, including supermarkets and general merchandise
stores. Launched against established competitors, but with a superior product
(softer-textured, tastier-flavored, and enriched bread) and a more contemporary
approach. Gardenia has creative packaging and strong marketing (promotion,
retail, and distribution). As everyone knows that nowadays bread grew in popularity
over time. Within two years, it had become the most popular packaged bread brand
in Singapore due to its benefits of being baked fresh, utilising the finest ingredients,
and delivered fresh. In June 1993, a second bakery was opened in Singapore, with
an 8,000-loaf-per-hour manufacturing capacity (Hasri & Azmi, 2016).

In 1986, Gardenia Bakeries (KL) Sdn. Bhd. rolled out its first loaf of bread. In just
four years, it had risen to the top of the bread market, with a brand recall rate of 99
percent and a top-of-mind recall rate of 80 percent. Gardenia, based in Shah Alam,
Selangor, produces baked goods. Lot 3 Jalan Pelabur 23/1 is where the
organization is based. This private corporation was established in 1985. The
organization's income is anticipated to be $198 million each year and about 2,500
people work at Gardenia. Gardenia employs somewhat more people than the usual
firm in Shah Alam, with a median number of workers ranging from 30 to 495.
Gardenia currently manufactures a range of baked goods to meet consumer
demand, leveraging its brand power. Gardenia's product line has grown and
changed throughout time, improving with each passing year. Gardenia has
achieved incredible development and supremacy with a unique type of bread-
making, leveraging its brand power and receiving a fantastic response from
Malaysians. Flour, water, salt, and yeast are the primary ingredients of bread.
Biochemical and chemical-physical changes occur throughout the baking process,
affecting many ingredients (Goesaert, et al., 2005). Every single loaf of Gardenia
bread is made using the traditional sponge and dough process. This method of
bread-making allows the dough to grow spontaneously, resulting in a delicious
taste, texture, and flavor. The Original Classic, Gardenia's trademark bread is a
soft and tasty sandwich bread that is a Malaysian favorite. Four slices of Original
Classic have as much calcium as a glass of milk, and the flagship bread has
enhanced throughout time with vitamin and mineral fortification. Gardenia
Breakthru bread is a ground-breaking low glycemic index and low glycemic load
bread created in partnership with a notable dietitian and a panel of local university
experts. It possesses prebiotic qualities and is rich in protein and fiber. Not only
that, the bread has a low carbohydrate and calorie content. The addition of Beta
Asia Pasific Journal of Management and Education (APJME)
Vol.5 No.1, pp.94-107 , March, 2022
E-ISSN: 2655-2035
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Glucan lowers cholesterol levels. The Breakthru bread has even cleared a rigorous
Glycemic Index trial protocol conducted in Washington DC, and acquired the
coveted mark of approval from the Glycemic Research Institute (GRI) as a diabetic-
friendly and diet-friendly meal. One of the marketing strategies that Gardenia uses
in Malaysia is the promotion mix. According to Hedynata and Radianto (2015),
Promotion is an activity aimed at influencing consumers so that they can recognize
the products that the company has put on the market and are then interested in
purchasing the products. Promotion is used to boost demand for a company's
products or services. The promotional campaign goal is to educate, target
audiences to persuade or remind them about the products. According to Rust and
Verhoef (2005), customer centricity highlights the idea that organizations should
recognize that consumers are unique and therefore only market to those
customers who will benefit from the marketing effort. Next, promotional goals
include increasing public awareness, encouraging customers to try out new
products, information provision, keeping long-term customers and others (Gitman,
2018).

Gardenia has utilized a variety of marketing techniques to advertise its products.

According to Hackley (2005, pp.5) Advertising, as a type of representation, alters
non-advertising culture's signals and meanings, generating new representations in
opposition to advertised brands. With Social Media Marketing, companies
can introduce their products and services more easily at a lower cost through online
media, their market reach is also getting wider (Harjanti, 2021). Gardenia likes to
employ radio commercials, television, and newspapers among the different
alternative media. Radio is the most popular medium for reminding existing
Gardenia clients about their goods, whilst television is typically used to sell new
products. Television advertising has the benefits of broad reach, strong emotional
impact on viewers, message repetition, flexibility, and prestige. That is all the
reason why Gardenia chooses television to advertise their products. Gardenia, for
example, advertises on Malaysia TV3 that their product is the number one brand
in Malaysia for the family target market. Newspapers are an efficient technique for
Gardenia to count down to the release of a new product since they may reach a
specific target market. In brief, significant advertisements for Gardenia bread have
cemented Gardenia phrases in popular culture, such as "so good you can even eat
it on its own”.

Gardenia additionally promotes its products on social media platforms such as

YouTube, Facebook Fan Pages, Corporate Blogs, and their official website. In the
digital age, the adoption of new media platforms for communicating in
organizational communication is critical because it improves the rapid distribution
of information between an organization and its strategic public (Igben & Ilaya
2021). Most individuals nowadays own a smartphone, tablet, laptop, desktop, and
other devices. By merely touching on their smartphone, they may readily access
various social media over the Internet. Therefore, Gardenia uses YouTube to
promote its existing and new items through videos. Consumers will learn more
about Gardenia items because of this, which may pique their interest in buying or
acquiring the products. Furthermore, they had also set up a Facebook Fan Page
for its fans. It aids Gardenia in promoting its brand and increasing its web presence.
This is because when a person "Likes" or comments on the post, the action or
information is instantly broadcast to the user's Facebook feed. Thus, helps the
brand spread to the user's friends. Gardenia also created a corporate blog to
Asia Pasific Journal of Management and Education (APJME)
Vol.5 No.1, pp.94-107 , March, 2022
E-ISSN: 2655-2035
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market its products. A corporate blog is a blog that is published and utilized by an
organization, business, or other entity to achieve its organizational objectives.

The aspect of the promotional mix is sales promotion as Gedenk, Neslin, and
Ailawadi, (2010) stated that the marketing programs of businesses, sales
promotions play a significant role. Gardenia promoted their products through sales
promotions as well. Gardenia ran a promotion in October 2003 where customers
were needed to gather four empty packaging of Gardenia original classics white
bread to receive one freeload. Finally, this campaign was quite effective in raising
public awareness, which resulted in a huge rise in Gardenia sales. Harris (1993)
stated that public relations actions meant to promote marketing objectives such as
creating awareness, informing and educating target audiences, gaining
knowledge, building trust, offering consumers a reason to buy, and inspiring
consumer acceptance are all examples of marketing public relations. Gardenia had
participated in a philanthropic function with zeal. Gardenia donated bread to flood
victims in Kuala Terengganu in December 2013 and provides free Twigils to kids
on special occasions. Gardenia gets a reputation and becomes more well-known
because of this. Another example is Gardenia, which has been welcoming visitors
since 1991 to share their experience, objectives, and progress with consumers.
Gardenia currently welcomes over 26,000 tourists each year and offers them a free
personal tour of the Gardenia bread plant. During the factory tour, visitors will
receive various tastes of bread for free. Every day, Gardenia provides fresh bread
to approximately 45 charity organizations, including old people's homes,
orphanages, and centers for the disabled. These institutions have been on
Gardenia's distribution list since 1991. Gardenia is also beneficial in the battle
against Malaysia's obesity crisis. It collaborates closely with the National Diabetes
Institute (NADI) on the "Fight Against Diabetes" campaign, which raises public
awareness about diabetes prevention and control.

Gardenia can produce 700 million pieces of bread, cakes, buns hence making it
the largest wholesale bakery in Southeast Asia (QAF Limited, 2015). Demand for
Gardenia has increased dramatically and as a result of this, they have small
warehouses open all over the country. Day after day fresh bread is being made
and stored in the main warehouse in Shah Alam. Then, in the early morning, the
bread will be delivered to a small warehouse. This small warehouse will store bread
in the early morning and will be delivered to the store in the afternoon or evening.
From small shops, all bread will be delivered to the store by truck. This is an indirect
sale to the customer where the bread goes to a small warehouse before they go
to the customer. However, there is a direct delivery truck where the bread will be
directly delivered to the store from Gardenia to nearby stores and shops. Gardenia
delivers fresh toast daily directly to the store or shop to over 23,000 stores.

Intensive distribution is a form of marketing strategy where a company tries to sell

its products in many branches. Virtually, the customer will be able to find the
product wherever he goes. Soft drinks are some examples where intensive
distribution followed. Under an intensive distribution strategy, all possible branches
can be used by the company to distribute products. It creates product brand
awareness as well as increases sales. There are various advantages of intensive
distribution. First, it increases the supply of products which increases the chances
of more sales. More sales mean more revenue for the company. Another
advantage is that the company can analyze the source of sales, whether a product
Asia Pasific Journal of Management and Education (APJME)
Vol.5 No.1, pp.94-107 , March, 2022
E-ISSN: 2655-2035
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is more in demand from local vendors or hypermarket-type stores. With this data,
the company can further plan its promotional efforts to increase sales and increase
product presence. Looking at the data, a company can also analyze the causes of
its failure in increasing its sales in several locations. In that case either it can reduce
distribution or increase marketing efforts to build brand awareness.

Gardenia selects convenience stores such as 7 Eleven, TF mart, and Speed mart
to distribute their products. This is because convenience stores have many chain
stores in Malaysia. This convenience store is also the store of choice for the
community in Malaysia. Most customers will also choose a convenience store like
this to buy the latest food products from various food brands. Gardenia which
markets its products here also pays attention to customers to choose their bread
products, especially new products released.

Gardenia selects hypermarkets and Supermarkets such as Lotus, Aeon, TF Mart,

and others to distribute the products. This is because these two market stores are
well known and have a chain of hypermarkets in Malaysia. Hypermarkets are also
known as major shopping malls in the community. Most people will visit
supermarkets to buy various food items and other necessities. This results in
customers only having to choose one place to shop and not having to spend time
and energy to visit various other stores. This makes the hypermarket a top choice
and has many customers from various places. The choice of hypermarkets will also
further increase sales as there are many customers there. The latest products will
also usually be more advertised in stores and will attract customers. This can help
the new products reach every state in Malaysia.

Gardenia’s product will also be on online store websites such as Lazada and
Shopee. E-Commerce platforms continue to grow in Malaysia and another
developing countries (Escursell, Llorach-Massana & Roncero. 2021). Moreover,
online shopping has increased due to the global pandemic of Covid-19 (Kim,
2020). with the online store, customers do not have to go to the store to buy goods.
so this will encourage customers to buy the product at home. The online store will
be equipped with all things about Gardenia products such as packaging photos,
references of product ingredients, flavors, and much more related to the product.
Therefore, customers can find out about product information in the online store.
Moreover, by using this method, Gardenia products will be wider to reach beyond
the geographical area.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Gardenia’s competitor also boosts Gardenia to always refine its marketing

strategies. Gardenia faces emerging competition in Malaysia’s market. the sales
value of manufactured bread, cakes, and other bakery products in Malaysia had
increased from RM2.61 billion in 2018 to RM3.03 billion in 2019 (Shaari, Perumal
& Abdul Murad, 2021). Competition is described by a structural logic in the
business-to-business literature, where organizations compete for the same
consumer or aim (MacDonald & Ryall, 2004). The presence of one or more
competitors will affect the price of the product because all the firms will attempt to
gain the largest market share. Marketing effort divided by total marketing effort
equals market share. The relationship is derived from the assumptions, which
replace marketing effort with the consequent "attraction” (Friedman, 1958). For
Asia Pasific Journal of Management and Education (APJME)
Vol.5 No.1, pp.94-107 , March, 2022
E-ISSN: 2655-2035
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instance, Gardenia’s competitors in Malaysia such as brands Mighty White,

Massimo, and High 5. There is a huge number of companies producing similar
products which mainly is bread but the famous one are those four company in
Malaysia.

In order to get the largest market share, the company should pay attention to
putting the best price tag on its product. Price is one of the most dynamic parts of
the marketing mix, influencing a company’s profitability and cost-effectiveness
directly and in the short term (Simon, Bilstein & Luby 2008). Therefore, price is
critical for a buyer to decide. It also has a significant impact on a company's market
share and profitability. It can also be used to strengthen client relationships and
increase consumer value (Kotler & Armstrong, 2011). As for Gardenia's pricing
strategy to identify appropriate pricing levels to be practiced by the company,
competition-based pricing uses as important information rivals' price levels (Liozu &
Hinterhuber, 2012).

Packaging also plays an important role in marketing strategy to attract consumers'

attention to buy the products. Just like according to Simms and Trott (2010),
Packaging is critical to product performance, particularly in the fast-moving
consumer products market, and has a considerable impact on consumer purchasing
decisions. According to Hellström and Saghir (2007) state that in fact, packaging
performs three key communication functions: conveying information, such as
substance, destination, and handling methods, promoting the product, and
improving consumer communication. Given the importance of packaging for
perishable items, for example, packaging informs consumers about allergies,
nutritional preferences, and even discounts, and also the freshness of a perishable
product can be read out from the information provided in the packaging (Heising,
Dekker, Bartels, & Van Boekel, 2014). Gardenia has included all the important
information on its product’s packaging and keeps it simple such as the price, the
ingredient, the expired date, manufactured date, and so on gain people's trust for
their product.

Gardenia also uses the great color combination for its product packaging as stated
by Singh (2006), color is an excellent source of information, with estimates ranging
from 62 to 90 percent of people's assessments and evaluations being based just on
color. The impact of color contrast on customers' attentive behaviors was
investigated, and it was discovered that simultaneous color contrast had a
substantial impact on consumers' attentive behaviors, perceptions of product quality,
aesthetic attractiveness, and purchase intention (Bix, Seo, & Sundar, 2013).
Gardenia’s product packaging is known for the combination of white, blue, and red.
This follows the suggestion by Crowley (1993) that designers can utilize more
stimulating colors like red and blue to entice customers to make impulse purchases.
Celebration, passion, strength, energy, love, excitement, and ambition are
associated with the red color. Mohebbi (2014) says that youth, sterility, light,
reverence, truth, and purity are associated with the white color. Depression, serenity,
trust, confidence, reliability, wealth royalty, truthfulness, and creativity are all
associated with the blue color.

RESEARCH METHOD
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To perform a study of Gardenia’s brand from the public perspective to know the
effectiveness of its marketing, there are a few ways of collecting data. To
comprehend the study's premise, the researchers looked at a variety of papers,
websites, and journals. The researchers also distributed a survey for this study with
the information that have been gathered. The findings and conclusion are based
on marketing strategy. The researchers collect the data from consumer
perspectives about Gardenia through the survey online using the Google Form.
The results show the position of the Gardenia brand in Malaysia through
consumers' eyes. The questionnaires were distributed to 80 respondents using the
Google Form link, the link available in WhatsApp and Telegram to approach the
consumers. Using this strategy, Gardenia consumers were able to provide
information about the company's reputation in the Malaysian market.

The online survey used is the primary data for the study, the major part of the
discussion is using data that the researchers collected using that method. There
are two parts to the online survey with each table are listed down. In the first part,
the respondents were asked about their demographics. The second part comes
with 8 questions to know about consumers’ opinions about Gardenia’s product.
The online survey was open o all consumers from different backgrounds. The
consumers are mainly from Malaysia even though the researchers did not specify
the nationality and the majority of respondents are among the youth. This is the
only method to collect the primary data from the consumers.

The secondary data were sourced from various websites, journals, and papers.
The researchers also collected the information from Gardenia Malaysia’s and
Singapore’s websites to collect relevant data about the company. The researchers
cited the Gardenia Singapore website to know more about this company's
background because this company is originated from that country. From these
various resources, the researchers gathered various information about Gardenia’s
marketing strategies in Malaysia.

RESULTS

This data is an important section of a company's marketing plan. The survey

identifies their needs, consumer behavior and specifies how the product satisfies
their needs to portray the effectiveness of Gardenia Bakeries’ marketing in
Malaysia. The researchers have targeted 80 respondents for the questionnaire.
The questionnaire was divided into two parts which are demographics and
consumer behavior.

Table 1. Summary of respondents’ demographics (N=100)

Response Frequency Percentage (%)
Gender
Male 26 32.5
Female 54 67.5
Age
Below 17 years old 1 1.3
18-24 years old 74 92.5
25-34 years old 5 6.3
Above 35 years old 0 0
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Ethnicity
Malay 77 96.3
Chinese 1 1.2
Indian 1 1.2
Others 1 1.2
Nationality
Citizens 80 100
Not a citizen 0 0
Permanent Resident 0 0
Occupation
Working 8 10
Not Working 5 6.3
Student 67 83.8
Average Income
RM500 and below 62 77.5
RM600 – RM1,500 8 10
RM1,600 – RM2,500 8 10
RM2,600 and above 2 2.5

The demographic profiles of the respondents are summarized in Table 1. the

survey was conducted online to 80 respondents. Based on the table, there are 54
out of 80 respondents of female with 67.5% which means females made up more
than half of the respondents. Male responders accounted for 32.5 percent of the
total. The overall number of respondents mostly are female. This could be due to
women's preference for carbohydrate-rich, stomach-satiating foods like bread. It
can be assumed that all of the respondents were Malaysian citizens based on the
data in the table above. This is due to the fact that the surveys were only conducted
in Malaysia. The majority of those who responded were students and most
respondents are aged around 18-24 years old with a percentage of 92.5%. None
of the 80 people who took part in the survey were over the age of 35. For the group
of 25-34 years old, there are 5 respondents with 6.3% while only 2 respondents of
a group of below 17 years old with the percentage of 1.3%. It can be concluded
that Gardenia has reached their target market because Gardenia segments their
consumer into teenagers, adults, and senior citizens (Hasri & Azmi, 2016). The
researchers distribute this questionnaire to the respondents to get more
information about consumer behavior about Gardenia products.

The majority of Malaysian respondents (96.3%) were Malay, while Chinese and
Indians accounted for 1.2% both. There is only one person who is not Malaysian,
Chinese, or Indian, namely Idahan. Idahan is an indigenous ethnic group found in
Sabah and lives around the Lahad Datu district on the east coast of Sabah,
Malaysia (Wikiwand, 2021). This may be because the Chinese and Indians are
most likely to prefer to buy bread and pastries from other brands. Usually, if the
people of Sarawak and Sabah return from the Peninsula, they will bring a large
supply of Gardenia brand bread as handicrafts or for themselves (Kedung, 2020).
The reason is that the people of Sabah and Sarawak find it difficult to get Gardenia
bread in their place. The researchers can conclude that the Malays are regular
consumers of Gardenia products.
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Based on the data above, the majority of the responders are students with no
income who buy Gardenia items regularly. Because the majority of the
respondents are students, 83.8% of them have no income. However, 10% of
respondents have income or are now employed, while 6.3% are not working. Only
2 of the respondents reported having earned more than RM2,600 per month. As a
result, the consumer sector in this survey is primarily made up of young adults who
rely on allowances or unearned money to get by. Gardenia items are also
reasonably priced, allowing these young adults and teenagers to select to enjoy
Gardenia's products. Apart from its popularity among Malaysians, this shows that
more consumers are choosing Gardenia products.

Table 2. Gardenia Bakeries’ Marketing in Malaysia

Response Frequency Percentage (%)
Do you familiar with Gardenia Sdn.
Bhd. Products?
Yes 80 100
No 0 0
How do you know about Gardenia?
Family 41 51.2
Friends 6 7.5
Social Media 18 22.5
Television 15 18.8
Newspaper 0 0
How often did you purchase
Gardenia bread?
Very Often 31 38.8
Often 34 42.5
Rarely 15 18.8
Never 0 0
Where do you often buy Gardenia
products?
Grocery Store 65 81.3
Supermarket 15 18.8
Online Shopping 0 0
Which products that you always
purchase?
Bread 77 96.3
Spread 2 2.5
Muffin Cake 1 1.2
Do you like Gardenia products? If
no, why?
Yes 80 100
No 0 0
What do you think about
Gardenia's product price?
Expensive 5 6.3
Cheap 5 6.3
Affordable 70 87.5
What do you think about the
Gardenia product's packaging?
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Good 73 91.3
Not Good 0 0
Need Improvement 7 8.8

Table 2 shows the results of the survey on Gardenia Bakeries’ Marketing in

Malaysia. 100% of consumers are familiar with Gardenia products. Gardenia
products were acknowledged by 100% of the 80 consumers that responded to the
survey. This demonstrates that Gardenia's customers have remained loyal to the
brand and continue to purchase the company's products regularly, demonstrating
that Gardenia has a good relationship with the customers. That means Gardenia’s
products are famous among Malaysian citizens and most people are using their
products. Furthermore, Gardenia has always been at the forefront of providing
fresh, delicious, and nutritional food for customers.

Based on consumer perceptions of the Gardenia product, most respondents know

about Gardenia is from family and there is 51.2%. The least respondents are from
friends which are 6 respondents (7.5%). Options of social media and television
have 18 respondents (22.5%) and 15 respondents (18.8%) respectively. This is
because the majority of the respondents are youth. Thus, most consumers are
aware of Gardenia products from family and also social media. Moreover,
nowadays people often use social media platforms to find information because it
is easier and faster especially when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world.

DISCUSSION

Gardenia is famous because of its bread product in Malaysia, so the question

wants to see how often people would buy it. From the questionnaire above, it can
be seen that 31 out of 80 respondents with 38.8% buy Gardenia bread very often.
The percentage of consumers who often and rarely buy Gardenia bread is 42.5%
and 18.8% respectively. From the table above it can be concluded that all
respondents had bought Gardenia bread. That means consumers are often
purchased Gardenia bread and mostly among family members. Bread is one of the
people's food source choices during the enforcement of the PKP which aims to
prevent the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic in Malaysia. Many virtual citizens
expressed difficulty in finding a supply of Gardenia white bread, whether Gardenia
Original Classic, Classic Jumbo, let alone Bonanza White (Big Value) savings
pack. The reason for this is in line with Brader (2020) who states that it happened
due to high demand as consumers buy more than their daily needs.

Based on findings on how often respondents purchase Gardenia products. Most of

the respondents like to purchase Gardenia products at the grocery store because
65 out of 80 respondents (81.3%) chose this option. The second place where
consumers chose to buy Gardenia products was in the supermarket with a total
number of 15 respondents (18.8%), while none of the respondents above ever had
purchased Gardenia products using online shopping. From the data above, we can
say that most consumers prefer to buy Gardenia products at the grocery store
rather than using online shopping. This may be because the grocery store is closer
to the consumer’s residence and easier for the consumer as they don’t have to be
crowded in the supermarket just to get Gardenia’s product.
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Based on the results of the survey above, we found that 96.3% of the respondents
are mostly purchasing bread, and only 2 out of 80 respondents (2.5%) purchase
spread. The least option is muffin cake with only 1 respondent. It shows that
consumers are more likely to buy bread because Gardenia is better known for the
high quality and deliciousness of their bread. Besides, Gardenia has its song to
convince customers of their bread which is “So good...you can even eat it on its
own” (Gardenia Bakeries, 2021). All customers (100%) reported that they liked
Gardenia products because Gardenia provides consumers with affordable prices.
About 87.5% of respondents agreed with this statement and without reducing the
quality of the product. This means consumers are willing to pay the price offered
by Gardenia for every product they sell. Most importantly for Muslims is because
“all Gardenia products are certified Halal by JAKIM.” (Gardenia Bakeries, 2021).
From the data, the researchers can analyze that Gardenia is very well known by
all races in Malaysia because Gardenia is a popular brand.

Based on the data above, the table on how consumers think about Gardenia
product’s packaging shows that 91.3% of respondents agreed that the packaging
is good and none of the respondents think it’s not good. Secondly, 7 respondents
think that Gardenia product’s packaging needs improvement. Therefore, it can be
concluded that most consumers are satisfied with the packaging of Gardenia
products.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the data that have been collected were used in this study. Gardenia
also has to implement an effective marketing strategy in promotion, distribution,
and price to earn a big market share in Malaysia. The goal of this study is to
discover the determinants of the marketing of Gardenia Bakeries Sdn. Bhd.
Besides, the data analysis shows that customer satisfaction with Gardenia
products is good because most consumers are satisfied with the products offered
by Gardenia Bakeries such as products packaging and product price. Also,
consumers often purchased Gardenia products especially bread because
Gardenia is the largest bread production in Malaysia. So, the demand for gardenia
products is the highest demand for bread in Malaysia. Malaysians prefer to get
Gardenia products compared to other products because this product has gained
the trust of society. Other than that, Gardenia products that are better known will
be manufactured by small manufacturers in producing the product and sold at a
lower price. It is suggested that Gardenia should maintain and improved the quality
and marketing strategies to get more loyal customers in the future because
retaining existing users is simpler than attracting new ones.

The study has provided useful insights into customer behavior and advice for better
understanding and improving customer satisfaction. However, due to the Covid-19
pandemic, questionnaires were conducted using Google Forms online. It was
difficult to collect more responses since many people did not want to do the online
survey and were mostly not interested to do it. However, the purpose of this study
was fulfilled according to the analysis of responses from 80 Malaysian
respondents. As a result, future researchers interested in examining Gardenia
product information and identifying customer satisfaction characteristics will benefit
from the findings of this study.
Asia Pasific Journal of Management and Education (APJME)
Vol.5 No.1, pp.94-107 , March, 2022
E-ISSN: 2655-2035
Https://www.ejournal.aibpm.org/index.php/APJME

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