Marketing

Haagen Dazs: Success from a Chinese perspective

Haagen dazs is a premium ice cream served in a delectable environment. Haagen Dazs entered china in mid 1990’s. entering china and positioning the product five times higher than in US looks like a recipe of disaster. China is a country where dairy was not common in their diet and their definition of deserts constitutes fruits. Selling ice cream in such a market that too priced extremely high was a challenge for General Mills.

The target audience for Haagen Dazs are people from 20 to 35 years educated professionals unlike most ice cream brands which target children. The main reason behind this was that this age group is zealous and is willing to satisfy their needs by paying more. China is a country where people have a desire and thrust to own luxury brands from west and show the off( Just like Indians do). By doing this they try to demonstrate their increasing economic status. Let’s look at the marketing mix applied and adopted by haagen dazs

PLACE

Since Chinese dairy was low at quality, Haagen Dazs imported all its ingredients from US and Europe. Adding whole lot of transportation and import duty. The market research conducted revealed that in winters people do not prefer ice creams and the demand goes drastically down. Chinese culture is very much different from the west. Chinese prefer experience of purchasing ice cream within retail environment unlike Europeans who prefer ice cream at home in a cozy environment.

PRICE

Chinese are very miser. However Haagen Dazs was able to attract customers as more price indicate better quality. So similar are Indians! We want high quality products. We are price conscious. However my pals, price is not a guarantee of good quality.