Retail Audit: Farm House Cookies

Adina Ismail

Contents
Brand's Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 2
Marketing Mix........................................................................................................................................ 2
Product ............................................................................................................................................... 2
SKUs and Variants ......................................................................................................................... 2
Packaging ....................................................................................................................................... 2
Price ................................................................................................................................................... 3
Placement (POP/POS) ....................................................................................................................... 3
Trade Offers and Promotion .............................................................................................................. 3
Retailers feedback ................................................................................................................................. 4
Customers feedback .............................................................................................................................. 4
Competitors............................................................................................................................................ 5
Most Running Brand.............................................................................................................................. 5
Analysis of Outlet Type .......................................................................................................................... 5
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................. 5

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Brand's Introduction
Farm House Cookies were re-launched in the year 2011 with new strategies
and different positioning, under the umbrella brand of EBM i.e. Peek
Freans. The brand portrays itself as one which offers premium and farm
fresh cookies made with pure ingredients and an irresistible taste. Farm
House Cookies offer higher quality for higher price, with respect to the local
biscuits. Also, according to the Assistant Brand Manager, the brand targets a
niche market consisting of people belonging to SEC A and A+, specifically
those who are looking for cookies, which are pure and rich in ingredients and
yet available at a relatively affordable price; this target market knows how to
speak English and they are exposed to imported quality cookies already. The
brand wants its customers to go through a whole new experience, filled with overwhelming pleasure
and nature's scent of freshness.

Marketing Mix
Product

EBM has definitely broken the clutter and has opened a new field to play on, in the biscuit industry.
There is no other brand in the local market, other than Farm House Cookies, which offers biscuits
with such positioning. The product is an innovation in the local market. Moreover, the brand wants
to cater two main problems of the imported biscuits: Availability and quality (in terms of freshness)
of the product.

SKUs and Variants

As far as the SKUs of the product are concerned, there are two SKUs: Family pack, which has 9
biscuits and a Half roll which consists of 5 biscuits. Also, there are three variants of the brand:
Chocolate chip cookies, coconut cookies and short bread cookies.
According to the retailers, the most running variants in the market are short bread cookies and
chocolate chip cookies; hence, coconut was absent in most of the retail outlets, especially in HFS B.
The reason lies in the fact that HFS B stores do not really have a huge inventory of the product. On
average only 2 pcs are sold per week, because there are just a few specific customers for Farm House
Cookies, as the target market is niche.

Packaging

The packaging of the Farm House Cookies, reflects that it is a premium biscuit, made to compete
imported cookies. The cookies are placed in a tray of three portions in the case of family pack or two
portions in the case of a half roll, with 3 biscuits layered on top of each other, wrapped in a silver
pack, which is in turn is carried in a rectangular box. The content on the packet explains the flavors
and ingredients of the brand with a tagline Exquisitely baked to perfection. This packaging reveals
class and sophistication, which the brand promises to the customers.
Also, a similar kind of packaging was observed in the case of competitors (Carrefour Chocolate Chip
Cookies). However, there were others which were packed in a tin container.

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Price
The price of the product not just varies with different SKUs, but also with the variants. Following is
the price of the product, without any discount.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Coconut Cookies
Short Bread Cookies
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Coconut Cookies
Short Bread Cookies

Half Roll
Family Pack

PKR 50
PKR 75
PKR 80

According to the market visits being done, a discount was offered to the customers only at IMTs. The
half roll at Metro costs PKR 44, while at Hyperstar it costs PKR 40.5. Other than that, no discount
was observed in any of the outlet types.
As far as the competitors price points are concerned, they are relatively
higher than Farm House Cookies. The following comparison is just
for one variant i.e. Chocolate Chip Cookies, since there were no
competitors in the case of Coconut and Butter Cookies. Carrefours
200 gm. pack costs PKR 359 at the IMTs, while Cantuccinis 200
gm. is for PKR 320. The family pack of Farm House cookies weighs
approximately 125 gm., which costs PKR 75; hence 200 gm. would
cost PKR 120, which is very low from the competitors price.
In my opinion, the price that is set for this brand is suitable. Firstly, this
brand of biscuits is different from the mass marketed biscuits; hence,
the price cannot be brought to that level. Also, the quality that the brand
is offering is high. The cookies are filling, irresistibly fresh, bigger in size
and are packed with sophistication in a tray, which provides convenience; thus, the price is
appropriate.

Placement (POP/POS)
Generally, farmhouse cookies were placed with all the other local biscuits in one shelf. At IMTs, it
was noted that the placement was not only done variant wise, but also according to the target market.
Farm House Chocolate Chip Cookies were arranged beside imported chocolate chip cookies, namely,
Cantuccini and Carrefour at Hyperstar. Moreover, there was no extra effort being done by the
company at POS to sell or promote the product.

Trade Offers and Promotion

Considering the fact that the market visits were confined to specific areas and that there was some
lack of cooperation from the retailers, the trade offers cannot be specified as such. However,
according to the Assistant Brand Manager, the main target market for Farm House Cookies lives in
the premium areas such as Defense and Clifton; hence, most of the trade offers are given to those
retailers only. Also, the discounted price of the product in IMTs indicates that there might be some
trade offer.

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As far as the marketing of the product is concerned in the B to C setting, there are a few things to
notify. Firstly, the brand was launched in October 2010, with a TVC, which was a major success, as
the retailers revealed that Farm House Cookies were sold a lot when the TVC was being aired, but
then there was a major decline in the sales of the product. Moreover, the Assistant Brand Manager
disclosed that in the initial phase the brand was widely available as it was in the introductory stage,
but then out of research it was determined that since the target market is very limited, the product
should be available at only those outlets where the mass marketed biscuits are not sold that much
comparatively, or where the retail customers are as such that they are aware of the imported quality
biscuits. Thus, among all the 14 portfolios of EBM, Farm House cookies have the lowest allotted
budget; hence, starting an all new campaign would be difficult for the company. At this stage, the
company assures availability in the stores, where their target market is expected to visit.

Retailers feedback
The retailers faced multiple issues. One of the retailer complained that the product is unable to be
sold in the market; it often gets expired. This might be because of the niche target market of Farm
House Cookies. Also, an interview with the retailer revealed that the distributor has informed him
that the product is going to be eliminated soon from the market; however, the Assistant Brand
Manager identified the false alarm by mentioning that the availability is restricted to only those areas
where the target market exists; the brand will continue to serve its customers.

Customers feedback
According to a survey conducted (http://goo.gl/forms/KGKAqZiFVN), 23% people said that Farm
House Cookies cannot be compared with the imported cookies, in terms of quality standards and
taste. Also, Chocolate chip cookies remain favorite for 53.84 % people, while Coconut and Short
Bread were liked by 26.9% and 19% respectively.
The survey also disclosed that only 38.46% people think that the price for the Farm House cookies is
set right.

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Competitors
Farm House Cookies do not have any competitors in the local market, as EBM is the only company
which manufactures cookies for premium class. However, at HFS A, LMTs and IMTs, imported
cookies were placed next to Farm House cookies. The advantage that Farm House cookies have on
the imported cookies is that they are relatively lower in price. Secondly, no competitor is present in
the case of Coconut Cookies, while there are brands which can give a competition to Short Bread
Cookies and Chocolate Chip Cookies. For instance: at Hyperstar Carrefour was available in
somewhat same packaging but with a higher price.

Most Running Brand

In HFS A stores, the retailer told us that mostly Farm House cookies are sold as compared to
imported cookies, however, at LMTs and IMTs it was evident that imported cookies are sold more
than Farm House Cookies.

Analysis of Outlet Type

1) IMTs: At IMTs Farm house cookies were given a proper
space and placement along with imported cookies and
similar variants. They were present in a much greater
amount.
2) LMTs: The Cookies were placed in the biscuit section at the
upper shelf. At some stores they were present in a huge quantity,
but in most of them they were either out of stock (because they
were sold) or some variants were missing.
3) HFS A: Not all the HFS As contained Farm House cookies.
Generally, most of the retailers were not happy with the brand,
with an exception of one retailer only.
4) HFS B: There were very few HFS Bs which carried Farm House Cookies, they had similar
complain as of HFS A.
5) HFC C: The kiryanas did not contain any biscuit.

Conclusion
As mentioned by the Assistant Brand Manager, Peek Freans Farm House Cookies are currently in a
stable position. They had a down fall one year ago but now they are settled. However, I believe that
Farm House cookies can make a good share in the market if they expand their distribution network
to HFS As. A lot of HFS As have potential customers for Farm House Cookies. Although the target
market is niche, but still the brand should run its social media campaign to spread the awareness of
the product.

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