Marketing homework

Amid the steady increase of fresh mandarin consumption (from 1.39 pounds per capita in 1991 to 4.17 pounds in 2012) (USDA/ERS 2013), Florida's share in mandarin production has decreased. California has overtaken Florida to become the major US domestic mandarin producer (USDA/NASS 2013). The major differences between mandarin production in California and Florida are the varieties grown and their fruit characteristics. 'Clementine' mandarins, which are widely grown in California, are juicy, sweet, generally seedless (the number of seed per fruit is less than six), and easy to peel (University of California–Riverside 2004). Two popular brands of California mandarins are Cuties® and Halos®, which are fruits from 'Clementine', 'W. Murcott' (also known as 'Nadorcott' or 'Afourer'), or 'Tango' mandarins. The Florida mandarin cultivar 'Murcott' (which is distinctly different from 'W. Murcott') often is referred to as Honey Tangerine. 'Murcott' fruit are juicy and flavorful but are more seedy (contain up to 24 seeds per fruit), and difficult to peel than are the 'Clementine' or 'W. Murcott' madarins (Futch and Jackson 2003). Despite a shift in consumer preferences toward the 'Clementine' mandarin, Florida growers do not produce 'Clementine' because this cultivar is not well adapted to the subtropical climate of Florida (Dou and Gmitter 2007).

In response to the increasing market share of 'Clementine' (Norberg 2007), the Florida fresh citrus industry began researching new cultivars that are well-adapted to the Florida environment to compete against the California 'Clementine' in the consumer market. In 2009, the University of Florida introduced a new mandarin hybrid cultivar called 'Sugar Belle' (LB8-9), which is a cross between the 'Clementine' mandarin and the 'Minneola' tangelo (Gmitter et al. 2010). The 'Sugar Belle' is sweet, juicy, and fairly easy to peel. While the fruit is quite high in sugar, it has substantial acidity to balance the high sugar content (Dou and Gmitter 2007). Citrus producers have reduced the number of seeds or even eliminated seeds entirely in 'Sugar Belle' fruit by applying plant growth regulators and by growing the trees in solid blocks with minimum cross-pollination (Gmitter et al. 2010).

To determine the market potential of the new cultivar, we conducted focus group discussions with experimental auctions with consumers. I have attached one excel file here. It includes two spreadsheets:

 

AEB4342_Homework2_S2018.xlsx

 1) the sensory rating of the two types of Sugar Belles (SB1 and SB2),Clementine, and Murcott (Florida's honey tangerine).

2 ) the average bids submitted by focus group participants for exchanging the 5-pound Florida's honey tangerine with SB1, SB2, and Clementine of equal weights.

Please note the "experimental auction"was set up so that each participant received a bag of Florida's honey tangerine. They were asked to bid with their monies to exchange for SB1, SB2, or Clementine. There were 9 rounds of bidding. They can only touch and observe those fruits in the first three rounds, and they can peel those fruits in the next three rounds, and they can only taste the fruits in the last three rounds.  

 

Question:

To market 'Sugar Belle' mandarins effectively against the main competitors,

1) Select on one of the sugar belles (we did it earlier in the semester)

2) Select a target segment of the market (what type of consumers you would like to target? and why)

3) Develop a product positioning map and a marketing message to marketing the sugar belle of your choice 

4) What would be an effective pricing strategy for the sugar belle?