Cautages — Cat Sausages
The cat food market is a slowly changing market with the most popular product options limited to wet and dry food. The suggested new product is named Cautages and is promoted as sausages for cats that look like regular sausages but are made from high-quality organic ingredients ideally suited for cats. The purpose of this presentation is to introduce a marketing strategy for the new product, explaining its advantages.
Cat Food Market
Cat food market is a slowly changing market segmented by product type into dry cat food, wet cat food, veterinary diet, snacks, liquid food, and organic products (Cat food market — Growth, trends and forecast (2020–2025), n.d.). Wet and dry food are the most popular buying options, with the disparity in sales being less noticeable compared to dog food (Cat food market — Growth, trends and forecast (2020–2025), n.d.). The research by Schleicher et al. (2019) claims that many pet owners feed their pets home-prepared foods, table scraps, and raw meat-based diets.
According to Schleicher et al. (2019), the major factors influencing food purchase decisions are food characteristics, food recommendation sources, and the relationship between pet and owner. Food characteristics, such as price, ingredients, and quality, have been identified by several studies as important considerations for pet food purchases (Schleicher et al., 2019). It appears that most consumers prefer lower-priced food but value natural and organic ingredients. Relationship between a consumer and pet is an increasingly important factor in pet food purchase behavior (Schleicher et al., 2019). Overall, the cat food market is open for new products and provides a number of niches to enter.
New product: Cautages — Cat Sausages
The new product is called Cautages and is promoted as sausages for cats made from healthy organic ingredients and meat.
It is targeted at cat owners who: care about their pets’ health and eating habits, make conscious pet food purchase decisions, are tired of standard pet food options, and would like their pets to eat food that looks more like human food.
Product Objectives
By offering a new revolutionary cat food option, the product aims to establish a new market niche. Targeted at current as well as new consumers, it plans to increase brand audience by attracting new customers and winning customers from competitors. With the help of a promotion campaign, it also intends to help increase overall brand recognition.
According to the SWOT model (The essential guide to marketing strategy, n.d.), the product’s strength is its unique selling point, and its weakness is the limited knowledge of its potential success. The opportunities are connected with the current state of the market and its openness to innovations. The threats are linked with high competition on the market.
Product Position
The product’s position is based on addressing several customer needs: high quality, low price, innovation, and problem solution. It is a high-quality product made from healthy organic ingredients and containing meat and poultry. Pricing is competitive, the packaging is convenient, and the product can be stored longer than traditional wet cat food. It provides an innovative option for people who are tired of standard cat food and are willing to try something new. It is also targeted at people who feed their cats table scraps by offering a compromise between commercial and home food. Cat sausages also help to solve the problem of cats begging for human food.
Pricing, Packaging, Promotion, Placement
The suggested pricing strategy is to offer the product at a competitive price within the range of medium-priced wet cat food options.
The product packaging is 100 g sausages sold both in a pack of six and as a single serve in pet shops and hypermarkets.
The promotional campaign for the product should include TV and internet advertising targeted at the general audience of cat owners. It should promote the product as an innovation that revolutionizes the cat food industry, attract attention, and create a recognizable brand and product image.
Conclusion
Cautages is a new product that aims to create a new market niche by offering an innovative cat food option. Intended to enter an established, slowly changing market, it has the potential to achieve success. Its unique selling points include convenient packaging and the solution to a common cat problem that can attract both existing and new customers. The development of an effective promotional campaign is the most crucial step to introducing the new product into the market.
References
Cat food market — Growth, trends and forecast (2020–2025). (n.d.). Mordor Intelligence.
Schleicher, M., Cash, S., & Freeman, L. (2019). Determinants of pet food purchasing decisions. The Canadian Veterinary Journal, 60(6), 644–650.
The essential guide to marketing strategy. (n.d.). Hurree.