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SECTION A
Students Name (as in NRIC/ Student Pass):

Low Zi Yin
Course:

Student ID No:

NRIC No. (Local)/ FIN No. (Student Pass

holder):

32344913

S9172874E

Course Commencement
Date:

Major (if any):

Bachelor in HR & Management 11-Oct-14

Study Mode:
Full-time

Contact No.:
Part-time

Module Title:

BA102 Principles of Marketing

90062169
Assignment No:

1/2

Due date for Submission:

Date of Submission:

17/10/14

17/10/14

Nature of Assignment:

Group Members (if any):

(Include full name and
student ID No.)

Email Address:

Icy_fountain@hotmail.com
Lecturers Name:

Veron
Total No. of pages
(including coversheet):

Individual
Group

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Table of Contents
1.0.
Brief Description................................................................................................................1
2.0.Environmental Factors.................................................................................................1
2.1.Macroenvironmental.................................................................................................2
2.1.1.Political......................................................................................................................2
2.1.2.Economic..................................................................................................................2
2.1.3.Social........................................................................................................................2
2.1.4.Technology................................................................................................................2
2.2.Micro environmental.................................................................................................3
2.2.1.SWOT Analysis.........................................................................................................3
3.Company Marketing Mix.................................................................................................4
3.1.Product.....................................................................................................................4
3.2.Price.........................................................................................................................4
3.3.Promotion.................................................................................................................4
3.4.Place.........................................................................................................................4
4.0.Marketing Issues..........................................................................................................4
5.0.Factors Affecting Consumer buying behavior..............................................................5
5.1.Cultural.....................................................................................................................5
5.2.Social........................................................................................................................5
5.3.Personal...................................................................................................................5
5.4.Psychological............................................................................................................5
6.Conclusion......................................................................................................................6
7.References......................................................................................................................6

1.0 Brief Description

Yakult is one of the most well-known brands of health drink. It was created by a Japanese
scientist Minoru Shirota. In his earlier days of his medical career, he was concerned about the
poor socio economic conditions in Japan. Therefore he decided to focus mainly on preventive
medicine and turned to the study of microorganism. In 1930, he became the first in the world
to succeed in biotechnologically strengthening and culturing a bacterial strain that could
withstand the gastric juice and bile to reach the intestines alive.
Yakult is a probiotic milk-like product made by fermenting a mixture of skimmed milk with a
special strain of the bacterium Lactobacillus casei strain is free of preservatives colorings and
stabilizers.
Yakult operates in 33 countries, across five continents. Brazil was the first country being
introduced to Yakult as large amount of Japanese immigrants in the country in 1966. Through
the continuing progress of Yakult Shirotas passion, creativity, and inexhaustible curiosity live
on till today, 1979 was the first year when Yakult was introduced in Singapore and the first
factory setup was in 1978 at Senoko Avenue.
Yakults primary market target consists of almost everyone who are health conscious and
want to lead a healthy lifestyle. The recommended use for children is 1 bottle per day and 1-2
bottles per day for adults. In Singapores culture, convenience, quick service and accessibility
is the most essential. Therefore Yakult can be purchased in many convenient stalls such as 7eleven, supermarkets and schools.

2.0 Environmental Factors

The economy is Singapore has been growing rapidly, affecting consumer purchasing power
and spending patterns. The marketing environment includes both macro and micro factors
and often they are able to affect business environment. Macro environmental factors would
include Political, Economic, social and technological. Micro will be focusing on the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats of an organization. SWOT analysis method will be use
in internal environment of Yakult analyzing through its strengths and weaknesses while the
external environment will be analyzed though its opportunities and threats.

2.1 Macro environmental

2.1.1 Political
The manufacture processes and materials used by Yakult are subjected to many federal
regulations. In Singapore, Yakult would need to have a HSA license. The business is also
governed by government and foreign rules. Being a MNC, the business is subjected mainly to
political stability. Example Singapore a multi-racial country where everyone is treated equally
ensures stability for the business to operate without disruption such as racial riot.
2.1.2 Economic
Interest rates, taxation changes, economic growth, inflation and exchange rates affect Yakult
business. However, Yakult is being manufactured in Singapore, thus it would not be affected
by interest and exchange rates. GST hike will affect the number of consumers, if GST
increased highly, businesses will tend to pass down the higher cost to the consumers
consumers lower purchasing power

2.1.3 Social
Singaporeans are now more health conscious and tend to spend more on healthier food
products that are beneficial for their own bodies and everyone in the family.
2.1.4 Technology
The machinery and production equipments used in Yakult factory have been accredited the
ISO9001 Certificate since 2003. With that, it eliminates uncertainty in the production
process. By following standard procedures, achieving good and consistent quality
helps increase production. Consumers can order Yakult online and the products will be
delivered to the customers house. Technology helps reduce costs and improve quality.

2.2 Micro environmental

2.2.1 SWOT Analysis
Strength
-Awards

Weakness
Recognition

(ISO9001 - Old Brand Image (old school)

Certified,HACCP)

- Limited Storing Condition

- Beneficial for the body

- Well-known worldwide
- Brand Awareness
- Credible Reputation
- Quality consistent
- Broad channel of distribution
Opportunity

Threats

-Increase in health awareness

-Increasing

-Increase in Disposable Income

development(R&D)

research

- Brand Expansion(Manufacture a low - Competing Brands (Vitagen,Meiji)

sugar Yakult)
- Increase the variety of products
- Working with hotels to include Yakult as
breakfast drink
- Using Yakult Cartoon for advertise(to
attract attention of young kids)
- Wider target market

3. Company Marketing Mix

Marketing mix consist of 4Ps, Product, Price, Promotion and Place.

and

3.1 Product
A combination of goods-and-services the company offers to the target market. The Yakult
products target the mass market, as the product is beneficial to all. They have 2 different
ranges of products, mainly the normal Yakult and the ace-lite Yakult.Yakult offers unique
service such as free home delivery services which they hired Yakult lady to do the job.
3.2 Price
Price range of Yakult are from $2.60-$3.10, they are a little more expensive comparing to the
competitors brand. There is a great number of close substitutes available in the market
therefore the demand of the good is generally elastic, there are alternatives brands of
probiotic drink which are cheaper. Addition- if Yakult had been a Habit forming product then
the rise in its price would not induce much change in demand therefore is less elastic, if the
price of Yakult rises, people will switch their consumption to Vitagen so the demand for Yakult
is elastic.
3.4 Promotion
Yakult uses television advertisement, explaining the benefits of the products to attract
customers. To prevent misinterpretation of the product, Yakult also offers supermarket
sampling, school workshops to let consumers sample the products and educate them the
functions of probiotics.
3.5 Place
Yakult, the antibiotic drink is sold in 33 countries worldwide, including Singapore. In
Singapore, they can be readily found in refrigerated areas in convenience stores such as 711, Cheers as well as major supermarkets such as NTUC, Cold Storage. Currently, Preschools are working with Yakult to let students cultivate the habit of drinking Yakult from
young.

4.0 Marketing Issues

Yakult has not been active in promoting their product on advertising platforms unlike Vitagen
which uses Felicia Chin as their Brand ambassador. As such, Yakult is unable to compete
effectively with their competitors due to the lack of use of social media to reach out to the
younger generations.
Shelf locations play a part in brand-age positioning. Yakult are always placed at the bottom of
the shelf which is not easily seen to customers unless they are looking for the product. Yakult
also does not provide free gifts to consumers unless their competitors.

5.0 Factors Affecting Consumer buying behavior

5.1Cultural
Over the years, there is a rise in F&B outlets selling Probiotics product-yoghurt ice-cream (llao
llao, Yami Yoghurt). These products are easily bought and they are served in cups which
provide convenience. The consumers can also choose to add toppings to their yogurt. It is
also in the Singaporean culture to have desserts after their meals with their friends. Being a
warm country throughout the year, Singaporeans love to enjoy cold treats to cool themselves
down, so Yakult can work on inventing yoghurt ice-cream so as to improve sales profit.
5.2 Social
The company should also look into making use of Social media such as facebook and twitter
and blogs etc. It helps to reach out to their audiences, promote the brand and is a cheap form
of advertising.
5.3 Personal
Being introduced to Yakult since Primary school through factory visits ensure Singaporean to
be familiar with the drink and are well educated on how Yakult can aid our digestion system.
Based on the chart, there is a large population between ages 24-59. This group tends to be
more health conscious and if they are willing to spend, it will benefit everyone in their family.
5.4 Psychological
Yakult should collaborate with athletes to motivate consumers. Recently they became a
sponsor of FINA SWIMMING WORLD CUP 2014.Yakult can use their health benefits to
spread the messages across how good their products are. Yakult can launch special
campaigns to change the beliefs and attitudes of consumers.

6.0 Conclusion
Probiotics in Yakult help replenish the body system supply with good bacteria and it is agefriendly. Yakult need to assess and evaluate their internal business/corporate
environment and external environment which is subdivided into micro and macro which
helps to add value to satisfied consumers and retain consumers. In the SWOT analysis,
we can see that they have more strengths compared to weaknesses. Their strengths
include being a strong leading brand among the other health drinks and their credible
reputation. Yakult has a wide channel of distribution, the most notable being the home
delivery services where they engaged Yakult Lady, to bring the benefits of their
probiotic products conveniently available to all people.
Being an established brand, they have not changed much of their packaging which is still very
old-school yet there is limited storing condition to store Yakult. Some opportunities which
Yakult can venture into will be the invention of a low-sugar and collagen drinks so as to
capture a bigger market by targeting the health conscious consumers, as well as cater to the
elderly as aging population is rising in Singapore. They also can look into working with hotels
to include Yakult as breakfast drink, use Yakult Cartoon for advertising to attract attention of
young kids and they can also invented Yakult ice-cream which is trending in the market now.
Yakult has various marketing issues which needs to be improved, some of which includes
adding a Brand ambassador, change the position of Yakult on supermarket shelves, put some
advertising banner or pop out icon leaflets, pamphlets on the shelves so that consumers will
be able to notice it from far. As for the potential market towards teenagers, Yakult can sponsor
bloggers to help them do free advertising. An effective way to understand consumers
perception will be conducting surveys and welcoming feedbacks. This allows consumers to
give opinions, suggestions or improvements. It also makes them feel that their suggestions
are important and valued.
Word Count: 1605

7.0 References
http://yakult.com.sg/
http://economicsconcepts.com/factors_determining_price_elasticity_of_demand.htm
http://managementstudyguide.com/what-is-consumer-behaviour.htm
http://www.brighthubpm.com/project-planning/100507-performing-a-pest-analysis-walkingthrough-an-example/
http://www.marketing91.com/factors-affecting-consumer-buying-behavior/
http://www.singstat.gov.sg/statistics/browse_by_theme/population.html