A competitor analysis plays a vital role in management where the strengths and weaknesses of competitors can be evaluated. This tool then helps identify the major or powerful competitors and understand their business plus sales strategies. It also has several other strategies like understanding the nitty-gritty of the competition of your interest, exploring your and other companies’ uniqueness, identifying the shortcomings, and improving along those lines. Here, we’ll know Bakery Competitor Analysis.
Bakery Competitor Analysis
For any enterprise to thrive, it is important to be very well aware of the existing competition in the market. This is to say that only when you can understand the competitive landscape can you plan out strategies that will place you above the rest in the business field.
The first step of conducting a Competitor Analysis is Identification. Only after we identify the potential competitors can we understand one’s position in the market. Here, in this article, we have identified four major bakery chains of the States for this purpose –
- Grupo Bimbo/Bimbo bakeries USA
The Grupo Bimbo is considered to be the largest baking company in the world. Starting from a small bakery specializing in baked goods, it has grown into a transnational company establishing its foot globally. They have acquired several other companies apart from their OG Wonder Bread, Thomas, Sara Lee, etc.
- Kellogg’s Company
Kellogg’s is perhaps the most renowned cereal and flaky wheat company worldwide. Most of their baked or cereal-based food is under their brand today. But, starting with their Kellogg’s Cornflakes, they have expanded their belt into a diverse range of cereals.
- Nestle
Standing high at the topmost brand worldwide, Nestle has been deemed the largest food brand with its ubiquitous presence in snacks, cereals, baby food, pet food, and whatnot. It is also behind some great treats of chocolate chip cookies to Haagen Daz ice creams.
- PepsiCo
It would be safe to say that Pepsi Co has penetrated every corner of the world. Its products are not unknown to any household. Of course, its most famous product is Pepsi. Still, many other products have been developed since its soda grew into popularity. Today, they produce many baked items, including Frito Lay potato chips, Doritos, Quacker’s granola bars, oatmeal, and many more.
Some parameters that can be taken into account to analyze them are:
- Brand Awareness
It is but an obvious fact that the customer buys only what is known to them. Therefore, the greater the brand’s awareness, the greater its sale and, finally, the dominance in the market. Usually, when a new brand comes up, it becomes difficult to challenge the well-known brand.
According to a recent report of Brand Finance (2019), Nestle stood as the most valuable food brand with a brand value of $19,644 million in the given context. Kellogg’s bagged the fourth position with $6703 million. At the same time, PepsiCo’s Lays was at $4699 million. Grupo Bimbo, however, did not find its place in the top 10.
- Capabilities and Organisational Culture
It is about evaluating the business capabilities relevant to the industry that you are working in. Additionally, with a more growing consciousness about climate change and global warming, some ethical considerations should also be considered.
The CEO of Grupo Bimbo has been awarded the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) award for his innovative efforts towards reducing the environmental footprint of Grupo Bimbo. They announced to use 100% renewable electric power by 2025. The rest of the three chains have been notoriously using cheap plastic rather unsustainably. However, all three of them have now vowed to cut down unnecessary usage of plastic at its source.
- Financials
The financial resources of a brand play a significant part in its standing on the market. Therefore, the more finance that it can utilize, the more the company will grow. These four bakery and beverage companies have a great number of investments in their hands.
For instance, the revenue of Kellogg’s increased to $3.27 billion against the analysts’ prediction of $3.21 billion.
- Distribution
The distribution strategy of a competitor plays an important role in deciding its hold on the global market. A competitor that proves its presence globally is much more powerful than the one that is present locally. For example, Nestle, Kellogg’s, and PepsiCo have penetrated almost every nook and corner of the world. You visit any supermarket in a developed country or visit any shop in the lanes of a market; you will surely find baked products from these brands.
- Employer’s Review
These brands have a variety of workplace factors that impact the efficient functioning of these globally renowned names. There are various platforms where the employers can rate their respective employees ranging from career opportunities, compensation and benefits, work-life balance, senior management, culture and values, recommendations to friends and families, positive business outlook, etc.
SWOT Analysis
Finally, SWOT (Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) Analysis is another such tool that can be a pivot in computing a competitor analysis. While doing so, several parameters can be looked into.
| STRENGTHS | WEAKNESSES | OPPORTUNITIES | THREATS |
| Delivery time and limit | High price | Online delivery of products | Excessive competition |
| Quality of the items | No options for scaled payment | Apps for feedbacks and suggestions | Costly state regulations |
| Strength of Workforce | No options for subscription | Large and wide target | Limited accountability |
| Level of exposure | Poor customer reach | Provision for online advertisement |
Conclusion
Hence, these are some of the factors along which the bakeries or any other company should assess their competitive environment and take all the necessary steps towards creating healthy and creative advantages in the market. They should provide strong reasons to the customers as to why they should select their company over others.
Choices for the customers are many, thanks to globalization. The competitors should therefore strive to be the best of the bests and pay serious heed to strategies like competitive Analysis to understand the market.