Godiva Consumer Profilling

Godiva Consumer Profilling

Company                : Godiva (chocolate brand)

Target consumer

Godiva Chocolatier is known for its luxurious chocolates and packaging. According to different sources, Godiva has been targeting on women and men (but mainly woman) age between 30 and 62 with the rationale that as people age, their income gets higher so as their budget for luxurious goods (Camila, 2012; Valdex & Edwards, n.d.). In addition, Godiva target households are those from middle class. Hence, we would like to set our primary audience accordingly as people age 30 and above from middle class with monthly income of HKD10,000 to 15,000. While this will be our primary audience, our secondary audience will be teenagers. As for psychographic, we are looking for people who appreciate and enjoy the finer things in life or in the other words, people that is eager to get the cream of the crop.

Our specific goal is to increase sales during Chinese New Year which can further boost Godiva profitability. To have better understanding on our target consumer, we have conducted a small scale survey where we recruited twenty-three HK people (18 females and 5 males) age over 30. Half of participants are university graduates and 78% of them come from middle class with monthly income of at least HKD10,000 (see Appendix A). We have also observed that women are more likely to be the decision maker in purchasing gift on behalf of the family during festive season. As a result, we would like to focus on female when we create both marketing and advertising strategy.

Consumers’ view of Godiva or luxurious chocolate brands

Motivation to purchase product

In Asian culture, presenting gift especially while visiting family and friends during festive periods is a tradition. Chinese New Year itself is the peak period of giving food and beverage gifts (Flander Investment and Trade, 2016). Based on our survey, the top two reasons for people to purchase Godiva or other similar luxurious chocolate were also as a gift (73%) and festive seasons (9%) (see Appendix A number 5). These results supported our marketing objective to increase sales during Chinese New year.

Meanings that target consumers attach to the product

As mentioned above, consumers viewed Godiva and other similar luxurious chocolate as one of the valuable gifts to wish and or share happiness with others. Besides, Godiva is known as high quality chocolate with elegant packaging. Hence consumers might also have the idea that Godiva chocolates could somehow reflect one’s social status.

Target consumer’s general brand attitude

Hong Kong consumer endorses a strong positive perception towards European products (Flander Investment and Trade, 2016). European countries are regarded as supplier of fresh, quality and safe products. Godiva chocolatier is based in Brussels, Belgium. Hence, predictably, most of our respondents could easily link Godiva with some positive words, such as ‘high end’ and ‘delicious’, and most importantly, ‘luxurious’, in which over 80% of our respondents related Godiva with (see Appendix A number 7). Furthermore, ‘expensive’ was also mentioned by almost two-third of respondents.

Chocolate brands that target consumers usually purchase

Flander Investment and Trade in their report (2016, page 6) stated that “in Hong Kong Ferrero Asia led value sales of chocolate confectionery with a 32% share in 2015.” It was then further explained that it was because Ferrero Rocher had a strong brand recognition by consumers from both Mainland of China and Hong Kong. Apart from Ferrero Rocher, local consumers are also familiar with other international brands such as Godiva, Hersheys, Mars, Meiji, Toblerone, Cadbury, etc.

However, our survey showed that over half of the participants picked Godiva as their top preference in chocolate (see Appendix A number 8). Besides Godiva, Kit Kat was also chosen by nearly half of respondents while few participants further mentioned Ferrero Rocher and Toblerone.

Values that target consumers endorse

Hong Kong market in general emphasizes on food safety and pursues healthy lifestyle therefore demands for organic and safe food products are high (Flander Investment and Trade, 2016). Less sweet chocolate is preferred by local consumers. To add on, Hong Kong government has continuously promote less sugar intake too. Last but not least, the artisanal label which means a product that is made in a traditional way without involving any machine is also viewed as very attractive (Flander Investment and Trade, 2016). In short, the concept of ‘healthier chocolate’ is upheld by the consumers in Hong Kong.

How we can influence target consumers

Types of media that target consumer uses as well as the frequency and content they would like to view

In 2015, Go-globe claimed that 64% of Hong Kong population had an active account with any social media. In addition, the most common language used in social media was Cantonese (36%), followed by English (29%), Taiwan traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese. Furthermore, Statista (2015) added that the most popular social platform was Facebook with 50% penetration rate followed by Whatsapp, Wechat, Instagram and others.

Through our questionnaire (see Appendix A number 10-12), we also discovered Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Snapchat and Google as the most commonly used media. Additionally, half of our participants stated that they utilize those particular media for around 1 to 3 hours a day, while another 43% use it for more than 3 hours. In terms of the type of content our target audience would like to view, 87% mentioned news then friend’s and relative’s update (74%), short video or movie (48%), celebrity’s update (40%) and advertisement (35%).  

Key opinion leaders that might influence purchase decision

Godiva mainly posts fancy, appetizing photos of chocolate, which depicts the company’s classy image. The company seldom picks a celebrity to be featured in the advertisement, since there is only a few of them with foreign model or local chef (see Appendix B). In 2013, Godiva collaborated with model-turned-actress Angelababy in the 2013 Brussels tour. The tour was made as part of a documentary and later was posted to its Youtube channel in 2014. This might be a good strategy of Godiva to deliver the brand message through its ambassador, Angelababy whose lifestyle and appearance can be considered fine and luxurious.