Table of Contents
Executive Summary x
Company Description x

Strategic Focus and Plan x
Mission/Vision x
Goals x
Core competency and Sustainable Competitive Advantage x

Situation Analysis x
SWOT Analysis x
Industry Analysis x
Competitor Analysis x
Company Analysis x
Customer Analysis x

Market-Product Focus x
Marketing and Product Objectives x
Target Markets x
Points of Difference x
Positioning x

Marketing Program x
Product Strategy x
Price Strategy x
Promotion Strategy x
Place (Distribution) Strategy x

Financial Data and Projections x
Past Sales Revenue x
Five-Year Projections x

Organization x
Implementation x
Evaluation and Control x
Appendix x
References x

Executive Summary
The following consultancy report aims to provide an in-depth analysis of Bonbon Mania’s current situation and as a result a thorough recommendation to set Bonbon Mania on the path to augment brand identity and increase brand awareness. Given our strategic direction Bonbon Mania will be positioned as the leading provider of premium confectionaries for businesses and special event sectors.

Product & Service
Bonbon Mania offers a wide range of sweets and chocolates for businesses and individuals who wish to emphasize how special an occasion or event is. They offer unique gift packages that bring a touch of whimsy to any type of event. Additionally, they offer a personalized service consisting of presentation of candies that are displayed at events.

Target Market & Need Assessment
Bonbon Mania’s current target market is split in five segments; the general public, corporations, organizations, grocery stores and retailers. Based on our analysis and decision criteria, we have identified the target markets to be organizations and associations sorely. Being an organization or corporation the need arises to recognize employees or to simply launch events. As each event is unique and requires expert services, Bonbon Mania is in the perfect position to address those needs.

Recommendation at a glance
As a newly established business growing exponentially, Chantale Rouleau is questioning her next course of action. She anticipates growth but needs strategic direction to obtain those goals. Our recommendation is focused on marketing initiatives that will drive growth through sustainable actions. Such activities include translating the website, installing a company sign, sales promotions, a launch party and a loyalty program.
Company Description

Bonbon Mania was established in 2005 by Chantale Rouleau. Bonbon Mania is a company that specializes in the retail of candy, confectionery and chocolate as well as the bulk distribution of sweets and chocolates for corporate companies.
Bonbon Mania is a small-scale company that has been growing steadily since its launch eight years ago. The staff composition at Bonbon Mania is rather small, however the business functioning runs impeccably due to the great task distribution the company employs. The office of Bonbon Mania has recently moved to a new location in Boucherville. Additionally to the back-store that holds all of the inventory as well as the area kept for the custom-packaging and corporate arrangements, the new location now offers a store component; where clients can come see the wide variety of candy they offer and even purchase candy if interested

Bonbon Mania offers a wide range of sweets and chocolates for corporate companies and clients as well as individuals who wish to highlight a special occasion or event with some delicious sweets.
Aside from their products, Bonbon Mania offers a variety of services to their clients in order to satisfy any of their particular wishes when it come to throwing an event and wanting something sweet to be integrated within the event.
The Candy Bar is a very popular and trendy service; it is a service that entails of designing a custom candy bar that will fit accordingly to the theme, color and size of the client's event. It is a great personalized service and delivers great visual impact at these events.
The corporate gift is another service Bonbon Mania offers. Bonbon Mania's packages and gift baskets of sweets are designed to meet a variety of different occasions; they can even customize gift packages by putting their corporate clients' name and company logo on it.
Bonbon Mania also designs creations of candy for fundraising. They offer a service to create a transport box filled with candy for the purpose of fundraising. The fundraisers are allowed to select a variety of four different candies or chocolate to put into the box. Additionally, Bonbon Mania also offers a service that consists of installing mini kiosks to sell sweets at any event or fundraiser.
Finally, Bonbon Mania also offers a service to customize gift sets for birthdays and all holidays.

Strategic Focus and Plan

After a thorough interview with Bonbon Mania’s owner, Chantale Rouleau, it was simple to identify that Bonbon Mania is known to focus on a differentiation strategy; their customers are not price sensitive, the market is competitive and saturated. Bonbon Mania's customers like to have a wide variety in the flavors and colors of sweets and candy and value high quality products and services. Knowing this information can be a great advantage and opportunity for Bonbon Mania to differentiate itself.

Mission/Vision
Bonbon Mania's mission is to be specialized in the field of confectionery in offering a wide range of quality products and personalized services.
Bonbon Mania's vision is to have an accessible location, where people can find a range of exclusive high quality sweets and chocolate with equally exceptional customer service.
Goals
Bonbon Mania's quantitative goal is to increase net profit by 25 percent in 2015 and 2016, and 12% continuous growth from 2017.
In terms of the qualitative goal, Bonbon Mania wants to expand their business by shipping to the rest of Canada in 2016. It would be riskier to open new stores in other provinces. Therefore, it is less risky and less costly to ship first to create brand awareness and build customer relationship. In the long run, it may be favourable to open new store in other provinces when the company becomes known to the other markets.

Core Competency and Sustainable Competitive Advantage

Bonbon Mania's core competencies consists of the variety and high quality of their sweets and chocolates as well as their extremely customized services that allow customers to have a multitude of choices in terms of personalizing according to their own taste and needs.
Human resources are also an important segment for Bonbon Mania. Although Bonbon Mania only has six employees, all six of them work extremely well with each other and form an energetic team with full and extensive knowledge concerning their products and services.
Bonbon Mania was really able to capture the wide market they appeal to with a personalized and tailored service that ha never really been seen before. Creating custom candy bars and packaging for corporate events has really become a trend. The initiative and creativity Bonbon Mania has adopted is really what has given them a great competitive advantage. The dedicated and intensive teams of designers, managers and loyal employees have all contributed to Bonbon Mania’s outstanding success.
Examining these core competencies, it is noticed that none of them are a sustainable competitive advantages due to high possibility to imitate by the competitors.
(Exhibit 7) consequently, Bonbon Mania needs to have other sustainable competitive advantages in order to sustain their growth.

Situation Analysis

S.W.O.T Analysis

Strengths
Bonbon Mania offers a wide variety of candy and chocolate that cannot necessarily be found in confectionary retail stores in the Montreal area. The products are known for their high quality, vibrant colors and customizability. In fact, the diversity in product allows for this company to provide confectionary preparations for all themes, events and occasions. Their core competency being customization, their main strength lies in targeting any type of customer, business or organization. They also have specific candies and chocolates for holidays such as Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day, etc. The store is located in Boucherville, right off of a high-traffic highway. Therefore, the store location is ideal, as it is easily accessible not only to regular consumers, but to business consumers as well. Bonbon Mania’s website equally consists of a strength, as it is easily found through search engines and is highly detailed in terms of product offerings, services, location and hours of operation. Most importantly, this company offers customization services. The staff will personally visit different consumers to plan and prepare confectionary arrangements. If consumers not know what they want in terms of arrangements, the highly experienced staff will easily come up with a plan in terms of the theme that is required. They even rent out vases, bowls and decorations to complement their offerings. It is especially important to note that consumers must sign up to the website to be able to place orders. This allows the company to build a strong client database, which would help strengthen the marketing strategy.

Weaknesses
One of Bonbon Mania’s main weaknesses lies in the fact that the website is solely in French. If the company wants to target a wide variety of business consumers and event planners in Montreal, it needs to consider the English-speaking consumers as well. Many of their current business clients speak English and are perfectly bilingual. If they do not provide English instructions on their website, they limit themselves from reaching a broader clientele. Bonbon Mania’s current marketing strategy is very weak. The products are marketed through websites such as Tuango, which is an ineffective method to reach targeted customers and build brand loyalty. Another major weakness lies within the fact that the company purchases merchandise from its main competitor, Ludik, which does not allow the company to truly grow and overpower competition. Finally, in the long run, the owner should open at least one additional Bonbon Mania store in Montreal; this would increase brand awareness as well as increase the client base.

Opportunities
Canadian consumers appear to like snack foods and eat them almost every day. Snack foods have been one of the fastest growing product categories in the domestic market in recent years and candies fall right into that food category.1 Global confectionery sales are expected to grow, annually, by 3% until 2014.2 Candy is also known to be one of the most recession-resistant industries.3 This creates a large opportunity for Bonbon Mania; as consumers will continue to purchase and enjoy candy and/or chocolates on a regular basis, especially through impulse purchase behaviors. Another opportunity is the fact that there are not many competitors in Montreal that provide the same customizable services and wide variety as the company at hand.

Threats
The confectionery industry is highly dependent on foreign supply for two of its primary ingredients: sugar and cocoa. Unfortunately, these commodities are subject to rapidly changing prices, which, in turn, can seriously affect the industry's sales volumes and profit margins. This means that a sharp increase in the international price of raw sugarcane or cocoa beans could easily lead to increased production costs and higher consumer prices.4 A downturn in production volumes usually follows. This would be a major threat to the industry.
Another threat would consist of the fact that there are a large number of miscellaneous retailers that sell confectionery products to clients across Canada. A consumer could simply buy candy and chocolate from individually specialized retailers and make their own arrangements at a lower cost.
A direct threat to Bonbon Mania would be competitors that offer similar products and services such as Ludik Candy.
Growing health awareness among consumers could also be a major restraint for the confectionary market. Confectionary mainly includes products made with sugar, which has a high amount of calories and is considered to be reason for obesity and diabetes.5
Industry Analysis
The competition in the confectionery industry is aggressive in Canada. In Quebec, there are many competitors such as, Ludik, Christophe Morel, Lindt, Godiva...etc. However, Ludik is the only one considered to be Bonbon Mania’s main competitor since they offer the same products and services.
Bonbon Mania focuses on corporate customers, who are not price sensitive and value the overall quality of the products and the service. This customer segment cares about their image, and want to provide their customers and the people who attend their events with the best possible products and service.

Taking a more in depth view and an overall better understanding of the confectionery industry, we will examine Porter's Fiver Forces in order to determine the competitive intensity and therefore the attractiveness of this industry.

1. Power of buyers: Retailers are starting to offer a greater variety of products, which is increasingly enticing to consumers. Consequently, retailers' strategies become to try to differentiate themselves from competitors in a unique way due to such high consumer demands. This ultimately leads to high switching cost, which therefore establishes that buying power is low.

2. Power of suppliers: There are many suppliers in the confectionary industry (Ludik, Miss Arachew, Tootsie Impex, and Cristophe Morel) Because there is such a large number of suppliers, the bargaining power of supplier is low due to high intensity in the market. This in turn leads to price elasticity for retailers, since the suppliers all offer similar products.

3. Threat of new entrants: Although opening a candy store isn’t a large investment, it is difficult to differentiate and position a new candy store at the moment, since the market is very saturated. The threat of entry from private labels, mainly from the large supermarkets, who use their infrastructure and brand names to offer a similar, cheaper alternative to the existing brand names. Subsequently there is a moderate likelihood of new entrants.

4. Threat of Substitutes: Most confectionery products are purchased by the corporate clients and by individual consumers.
Corporate client substitutes are varied and may include wine, flowers or certain gift items of similar value. The threat of substitutes for the corporate segment is high.
Individual consumer substitutes may include flavorful snacks, fresh fruit, and similar items. Increasing awareness of healthy dietary lifestyles may influence the consumer's decision to switch to a more health conscious alternative. The threat of substitutes for individual consumers is moderate.

5. Competition Rivalry: The Canadian confectionery market is fairly concentrated. It has a presence of large players, which intensifies rivalry, as it is hard to compete with them. Switching costs for consumers is low due the threat from private labels, which offer cheaper alternative to branded products. Product differentiation is low since most of the retailers offer the same products. Some retailers compete based on their service offering, such as customization, which demonstrates a strong degree of rivalry in this market.

Competitor Analysis
Competition could come in many forms for this company. In terms of direct competition, Ludik Candy sells a wide variety of quality candy and chocolate as well as offers some of the same customization services as Bonbon Mania. Other competitors include online confectionery manufacturers such as Bonbons Connexion and retail stores such as Sucre Bleu, Jolee-Noix and Laura Secord. However, these competitors sell candy and chocolate without the added value of customization services and personal arrangements. Therefore, although they are competitively priced, they cannot directly compete with such a company.

Company Analysis
Bonbon Mania will capitalize on their strength and marketing strategies to achieve their goals.
Bonbon Mania's strength is the ability to provide a wide variety of products that are of great quality; they provide clients with outstanding customization and great customer service from its talented and dedicated personnel.
Bonbon's Mania is currently using a few advertising methods in order to reach their target market. They use Tuango, the Google search engine and they also use sponsorships to promote good will. They also depend on word-of-mouth to help them with the awareness of Bonbon Mania.

Customer Analysis
Bonbon Mania serves clients of all ages and in many different segments. Their target customers consist of corporate clients for reward purposes, event planners and various organizations such as charity funds. Additionally, their customers could simply be the general public. However, the company decides to mainly focus on corporations and organizations, as these two allow for higher reach and potential growth. The customization services and elaborate arrangements apply to such segments in which the company will enhance brand awareness and visibility. The company will also build long lasting loyal and high-paying relationships, which will allow for higher profitability.

Market Product Focus

Marketing and Product Objectives
Chantale Rouleau is constantly looking at ways to improve the company. One of her objectives is to increase clientele and sales. Recently, Bonbon Mania had moved its store to the border of highway 20 in Boucherville with the intention to increase visibility and have a better access to Montreal corporate. With the new location, Ms. Rouleau is expecting an increase in sales to Montreal corporate and achieving positive net profit in 2014. The second objective is to create exclusivity and uniqueness in the next 2 years. In order to differentiate itself, Bonbon Mania is trying to negotiate with suppliers in hopes of getting an exclusive right to sell certain candies. Moreover, Ms. Rouleau is planning to develop a new commercial brand name and package candies under this brand.

Target Market
In order to gain the greatest results from the marketing efforts with a limited budget, Bonbon Mania targets to two market segments which are corporate and organizations. There will be a preference to event organizers in the corporate segment. Firstly, the reason for choosing a focus is limited resource is available to allocate; having a focus will produce a better result from marketing compared to spreading the resources equally to both segments. Additionally, their ability to pay higher prices and their organized work structure are other reasons why Bonbon Mania wants to build a long-term relationship with them. In addition to these, due to the fact that event organizers have expertise and experience in presenting things in fanciful ways, they will be able to present Bonbon Mania’s products in an attractive light, which in turn, becomes another marketing tool for Bonbon Mania. Moreover, Bonbon Mania would be able to further their presentation skills with the collaborations.

Point of Difference
As previously mentioned, Bonbon Mania’s main competitor is Ludik Candy. Although Ludik Candy offers similar products and services, there are still a few points of difference that Bonbon Mania can differentiate itself. Firstly, Bonbon Mania’s new location, which is comparatively closer to downtown Montreal, is an advantage; it will be easier to reach Montreal corporate companies. This allows the company to have lower transportation costs, which in turn can lead to better prices for customers. However, Bonbon Mania needs to be aware that this advantage is not fully sustainable; at any time, Ludik Candy could move its location. Bonbon Mania should try to gain awareness and build a solid reputation before this potentially occurs. Secondly, Bonbon Mania provides outstanding personalized services and a talented work force. Personalized services are a competitive advantage as it is still rare in the confectionary industry. The personalized service is valuable, and its special presentation expertise combined with competent salespeople makes for a great service offering.

Positioning
Unlike general candy distributors which only import and distribute candies. Bonbon Mania has positioned itself as a quality candy distributor, which charges a premium price by providing a personalized service to customers with a wide range of well presented, fresh, colorful, candies. The two main factors influencing Bonbon Mania’s performance is customer loyalty and convenience. Currently, Bonbon Mania has higher loyalty, but lower convenience than its competitor Ludik Candy demonstrated on the positioning map. (Exhibit 2) Bonbon Mania hopes to provide higher convenience with its new store and transportation system in the near future.

Marketing Program

Product Strategy
Bonbon Mania’s product offering consists of a variety of confectioneries, different types of chocolates and a few party accessories. The wide and colorful selection of candy at Bonbon Mania is of top quality and is always fresh.
Not only does Bonbon Mania offer candy for everyone’s taste, they also offer personalized services for any event you may wish to cater.
These personalized services begin with a first meeting with Bonbon Mania, where their staff and “designers” extract the vision and the essence of the event in order to reflect it through the unique packaging and tailored candy bars.
One of the benefits of having Bonbon Mania cater one of your events is the extreme personalization they offer. They strive to represent the theme of the event and reflect it trough the candy and the arrangements they create. No one event is ever the same; each event is customized in its own way. Bonbon Mania takes great pride in being original and is continuously on the lookout for new trends they could apply with their packaging, arrangements and candy bars. Bonbon Mania’s unique bundling of products and service is really what differentiates them for competitors.
Bonbon Mania currently does not offer their own custom packaging for their candies; they simply keep the candy in the respective wrappers they are in when they receive them from their suppliers.
Custom Bonbon Mania wrappers however, may be an option in the future when the company will have really matured and gained more awareness with corporate companies and clients. It will be an additional way to reinforce the brand as well.

Pricing Strategy
The current pricing strategies at Bonbon mania are fairly simple. Candy bought in bulk online or in store varies in price depending on the desired weight of the candy.
For corporate clients who wish to have personalized products and services for a specific event, a meeting with Bonbon Mania is imperative in order to identify the specific needs and requirements to then establish a price for the entire “package”.
Bonbon Mania’s typical customer isn’t very price sensitive, what matters most is the quality, freshness and presentation of the product. Corporate clients, being a major part of the client base, are generally prepared to pay a premium for the product/service is they can be assured that quality and presentation will be outstanding. They want to be assured that the product/service at their events will be nothing but the best.
Payment methods are fairly straightforward, orders placed in store must be paid for on the spot, online orders must also be paid for immediately; corporate clients however have 30 days to complete the payments. Bonbon Mania accepts Visa, MasterCard, Debit, cash and cheques.

Promotion Strategy
Bonbon Mania currently does not offer a wide variety of promotions. The company greatly relies on their website for publicity, they believe that their website is a great instrument for people to have look at the vast candy selection they offer, also to see some of their past creations for various events, and even to purchase candy in bulk if they are interested. Bonbon Mania also advertises on Google search engine in order to optimize and to enhance their visibility to web users Bonbon Mania occasionally has promotions and deals on Tuango, which is a website that delivers local offers and deals to its members. Additionally, Bonbon Mania gets exposure trough sponsorships with corporate companies.
Bonbon Mania relies greatly on word-of-mouth, hoping that people will recommend them and help them gain more awareness.
Although they do make some promotional efforts, Bonbon Mania should really diversify and increase their promotion strategies. This would be beneficial to the company because they need to grow the overall client awareness in regards to Bonbon Mania. The name “Bonbon Mania” needs to be recognized and know by everybody, therefore changing and diversifying their promotional strategies will be the best way to achieve these goals.

Place (Distribution Strategy)
Bonbon Mania is located in Boucherville. The way Bonbon Mania operates is simply that all the operations of the business happen in the one office in Boucherville. As a client walking into Bonbon Mania, you enter the store where you can observe a variety of candy displayed in vibrant and fun ways. Of course what clients do not see is the back store, where all the inventories of candies are located. The back store also serves as an atelier, where the candy creations and personalized packaging are produced and put together.
Any client wishing to purchase sweets from Bonbon Mania can do so in person, at the store in Boucherville or they can place orders online, which is convenient for many people. The only advantage of buying in store is that you have a talented sales team that can help and assist you with your choices.
Bonbon Mania orders their entire product line trough a variety of suppliers. The candy is delivered from the suppliers to Bonbon Mania through different transport companies such as Nationex and Transport Interfast.
With such a large variety of candy, Bonbon Mania keeps track of inventories through their website in order to always be on top of things and track sales with absolute certainty.

Financial Data & Projections

Analysis of past performances
When looking at past performances, one can see that Bonbon Mania is still in it's expansion phase. The revenues are growing, the costs are reduced with the increase in production, but the company still have difficulties reaching a positive net profit at the end of the year. The growth has been exponential since the start of the company with revenues increasing every year. Last year only, the company doubled their revenues while maintaining the cost at the lowest point which proves a good management, but leaves place for improvement since the numbers are growing, but the net profit is still negative.

Current performance
When looking at the current fiscal year, it is difficult to evaluate how the company is doing since, as far as net profit goes, it is still negative because of the move. The numbers are good and would have actually brought a positive net income for the first time, but most of it went through the purchase of new assets as well as the move. Therefore, net profit still shows a deficit, but that can be explained by a clear increase in variables expenses ( salaries, rent, movement), paid by liabilities and equity. This is why, when looking at the balance sheet, we can see such a difference with the year 2012 where they were pretty much just using the assets instead of acquiring. On the bright side, the company once again doubled its revenues from 2012. On the income statement, we see why the move was needed. The smaller local limited the operations and the visibility of the company. Still, the changes in revenues show the business is getting known, clients retention is great and future can only be positive with the new store and website (Exhibit 4. & Exhibit 5).

The new Bonbon mania
Now that the move is completed, Bonbon Mania have to look forward. They have to concentrate on the retention of the current customers, build a new customer base and more importantly try to have their own brand. The first two years after the move should bring a new vibe to the company that will bring them the opportunity to breach new market and grow fast. We project an increase of two percent in the first year, that will increase 5 percent per year after for two years and then stabilize at 2 percent. After the first wave of acquisition of new customers, the company will then concentrate more on retaining the customers as well as having yearly contracts. The actual forecasted increase in 2014 is close to 2 percent in net profit. After this, our implementation would take one year to be completed, and will start to bring a return on investment the year after. None of what we are doing actually cost a lot? It won't affect the income statement or balance sheet that much since they are tools to build awareness. With the increase in sales and production, fixed cost impact is going to be reduced, resulting in an increase in net profit. A new location, a bigger storage, new target market as well as a new marketing campaign will bring Bonbon Mania's number to a whole new level ( Exhibit 6).

Organization
The current organizational structure consists of 6 personnel (Exhibit 8). With the anticipated growth we recommend a change to support each activity. Before the change takes into effect, involving the employees from each function in the planning steps is crucial. At this stage it is important to gather feedback to gain a deeper understanding of the daily operational processes and issues. Explain the need for this change and how it relates to each employees individual roles and how it will positively affect their jobs going forward. In Exhibit 9, the new structure demonstrates an addition of 5 employees. A new sales rep will be hired to handle all the client accounts, the marketing department will be split in 2 functions; web business development and strategic marketing. With the added volume the production department will also need an additional employee in the order assembly role as well as an accounts receivable as corporate accounts grow.

Implementation
Objective:
Augment brand identity and increase brand awareness
Strategy:
Position Bonbon Mania as the leading provider of premium confectionaries for businesses and special event sectors.
Tactics:
Place
Attending specific tradeshows catered to your audience such as Salon Marion-Nous whom is dedicated to weddings will bring awareness to Bonbon Mania. Additionally, this is a great location to build client relationships with potential customers. The wedding sector has great opportunities to expand your business. In Canada the wedding industry generates approximately $4-5 billion dollars a year with 1 in 5 couples hiring a wedding coordinator6. Not only can you reach brides but you can also reach the wedding coordinators simultaneously. With two bridal exhibitions in Quebec per year; August 31 and Sept 1st 2014 it would be beneficial to host a kiosk.
In choosing the best distribution channel, online sales prove to be the most profitable. By eliminating the middleman it can result in a substantial reduction in operating costs and dramatically improved margins7. Given this route you will have the ability to enhance customer value given the accessible data obtained online from sales and customer feedback. A value added such as providing a personalized service to each customer. The online store should also be used to create loyalty amongst your clients.
The company sign must be displayed in front of the store. Currently there are no signs to indicate the location of the store, therefore, it cannot attract any potential customers as well as guide those who wish to visit. Installing the sign and holding a launch event to support the new store and its grand opening could remedy this. To prepare for the launch, colorful balloons will be placed outside; radio commercials will be conducted to excite consumers to attend as well as media outlets. Social media will also be used to spread the word through twitter tweets and Pinterest. Pinterest is a pinboard-style photo-sharing website that will allow you and your customers to share images such as events that Bonbon Mania hosted and can also incorporate a viral video for your launch party. The video will have candies being sculpted in a structure similar to that of a gift. The message will be to attend the launch to reveal the gift. The 1st 20 visitors will receive an assortment of candies and a winner will be announced as the inheritor of a special prize.
Promotion
Search engine optimization has been key to your current success. To continue this stamina SEO and SEM (search engine marketing) will be used more aggressively. Improving the website’s visibility in search engines will consist of adding key words related specifically to parties, weddings, and special events.
Flyers will be mailed to organizations within and the surrounding Montreal area. The flyer the headline will address the specific needs of the client rather than being simply a business card. Getting interest from organizations is of upmost importance. The headline could be along the lines of “Indulge your employees or guests into a candy paradise”. Showcase your logo, a Google map on the back of the card with the location, and display images of recent work personalized for organizations. Email marketing to these organizations can also be used to get hard to reach clients.
Personal selling will also play a role to sell the fundraising candies. Approaching schools, churches, and associations directly with a sales representative to showcase the products can greatly influence the results of obtaining new clients. The rep can also build relationships and dedicate time to the clients’ needs and expectations.
As a sales promotion, for large orders above 1000$ Bonbon Mania can personalize company logos on certain item packaging. Many companies will choose to incorporate their logos on corporate gifts to give to their employees as a unique gift that can be remembered.
Price
Positioning as a premium product will result in a higher pricing strategy. The current pricing is aligned and therefore should be sustained to support the product experience. Competing based on price or rebates should be avoided as it gives the image of a lesser quality product. Your pricing supports the additional touch of personalization that is considered on each sale made.
Yield Management can be used to entice early purchases. The message is not a discount but rather an incentive to the organization. When purchased early, before a certain date, the client could receive free shipping or options to limited time only items.
Product
One of Bonbon Mania’s core competencies is the ability to customize candies. This strategy is supported by the services and products offered. Each candy can be tailored for any occasion either it be for a birthday party or for Halloween. The ability to customize with decorations such as baskets, martini glasses or ribbons continues to be a driving force.
Going forward Bonbon Mania should implement a loyalty program. The program would complement the pricing strategy currently on hand being that of a three tier-pricing group. The purpose of the loyalty program would be to identity clients of are VIPs in order to offer a specialized service with added bonuses for being a top tier client. The Website also will need to be translated to English to cater to the 16% English speaking population of which may be much higher in businesses operating in Montreal.
The retail store should be limited to selling lower priced candies that are neither customized nor personalized. The intent is to reach those clients who are more price sensitive and are only looking to cater to a smaller group.

Evaluation and control
To complement the financial measures the implementation of a balanced scorecard, as a means of monitoring should be used. This strategy translates the vision of the company into long-term strategic objectives. Our financial projections are based on a quantitative goal to increase sales by 5 to 6 percent by 2015 which will be monitored quarterly. Cash flow and break-even will also be closely watched. To determine customer’s perception and satisfaction of the products and services sold, an online survey will be administered after each client event. Moreover, the internal business perspective must also be considered which represents unit cost, productivity, and quality. Sampling will be randomly conducted to adhere to the best standard possible. In conclusion, innovation through learning and development will continue to drive and create value therefore must be at the forefront of employee performance goals.

Appendix

Exhibit 1. Implementation Timeline

Exhibit 2. Positioning Map: Bonbon Mania

Exhibit 3. Cost of the Marketing Plan

Exhibit 4. Income Statement

Exhibit 5. Balance Sheet

Exhibit 6. Forecasted financial situation over 5 years

Exhibit 7. Evaluation of Core Competencies

Exhibit 8. Current Organizational Chart- 6 Employees

Exhibit 9. Future Expected Growth - Organizational Chart 11 Employees

References

[1] The Canadian snack food manufacturing industry. (2013, July 5). Retrieved from http://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/industry-markets-and-trade/statistics-and- market-information/by-

[2] Pathfinder report global packaged confectionery trends. (2011, May). Retrieved from http://www.ats-sea.agr.gc.ca/inter/5804-eng.htm

[3] The best industries for starting a business right now. (nd). Retrieved from http://www.inc.com/ss/best-industries-for-starting-a-business [4] Barrat, R. F. (2012). Confectionery industry. Retrieved from http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/confectionery-industry [5] Global sugar confectionery market - industry analysis, size, share, growth, trends and forecast 2012 - 2018. (2013, October 7). Retrieved from http://www.sbwire.com/press-releases/global-sugar-confectionery-market-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2012-2018-348836.htm [6] The wedding planners institute of Canada. (2013). Retrieved from wpic.ca

[7] Strickland, T. (1999). Strategic Management, Concepts and Cases. McGraw Hill
College Division: New York