Tyler Pet Foods currently sells a frozen dog food product in a few stores in the southwestern U.S. This dog food is considerably better quality than the major companies?offerings. Because it was created as a food for dog breeders, it is made to very high standards. The food is made from uncooked meat and is frozen to preserve freshness. The product is successful in its current market because of the demanding nature of its customers despite being more costly than mass market pet food. The product is known to give dogs a smoother, glossy coat. In the dog food market, this product is very unique.
The dog food market is enormous ?a $5.6 Billion dollar market. However, this is a mass market, and the receptiveness of this market to a very different type of dog food is not at all clear. It appears that most people buy their dog food rather oblivious to its real quality or who actually manufacturers, or even what it actually is. Therefore, most dog food is simple, low quality food made by faceless conglomerates. Positioning within this market will require some careful consideration of the market dynamics.
The competition is a set of massive corporations with well established distribution mechanisms. These companies have a global reach and are well entrenched. Their economies of scale allow them to have low operating costs as well a low unit costs for their products. Their products are heavily advertised. Grocery stores trust them to maintain reliable demand through their large scale advertising budgets. Advertising budgets, particularily for product launches, run into the millions of dollars.
Show Circuit Frozen Dog Dinner is a new product, at least to the consumer market. It is new on several fronts. Tyler pet foods as a manufacturer is unknown to the cons ...