Dunkin' Donuts

Introduction

Dunkin’ Donuts launched its business operations more than 55 years ago, as evident from the following statement: “The history of Dunkin’ Donuts circles back more than 55 years when Bill Rosenberg founded the company in 1950 and opened the first store in  Quincy, Massachusetts” (Dunkin’ Donuts, 2011, p.30). This company has been providing its customers with the best quality productions for more than 55 years. It also important to note that “Dunkin’ Donuts is the number 1 retailer of hot and iced coffee in America, selling 2.7 million cups a day, and nearly 1 billion cups a year. Dunkin’ Donuts is also the largest coffee and baked goods chain in the world and sells more donuts, coffee, bagels, and muffins than any other quick- service restaurant in America” (Dunkin’ Donuts, 2011, p.31).

Analysis of Successful Marketing Strategies Used

The ability of Dunkin’ Donuts to successfully market its products is evident from sound marketing strategies employed. The company’s management’s strategies and decisions on handling issues on marketing are very critical in pursuing success. Precisely, the company has to make choices after carefully examining the internal and external factors, which the management assumes to have significant influence on the business. In reality, the extent to which the management understands and harmonizes the interplay between internal and external factors in the company influences the successful marketing strategy that they would adopt. In addition, for the company to compete effectively, there are specific strategies that the management applies during the pursuit. Particularly, the internal factors have a crucial role in establishing the best way, in which the company would carry out their global strategy. As part of its marketing expansion strategy “the company has begun an aggressive national expansion plan that will ultimately triple Dunkin’ Donuts to 15,000 stores throughout the country by 2020” (Dunkin’ Donuts, 2011, p.31). To this end, it is of great importance to formulate and adopt expansion strategies so that the company can command a larger market for the volumes of products. Concerning the rationale for using the strategy, expansion is important especially when the primary market is already saturated and that not many people continue purchasing the company’s products. At such time, the company reorganized its intended markets by exploring new opportunities in other parts of the country, and the “initial cities targeted for Dunkin’ Donuts’ national expansion include Atlanta, Nashville, Indianapolis, Dallas, Austin, Phoenix, and Las Vegas” (“Dunkin’ Donuts”, 2011, p.31).

Through expansion to the key global markets, the company becomes able to learn the business environment in these countries, thereby able to shift their market strategy to suit the status in the country. Furthermore, the expansion strategy that the business adopts can make it gain competitive edge among its competitors, thus enhancing growth and integration. In this regard, the company launched a newly designed-prototype restaurant in 2005, as part of its expansion strategy “the new restaurant prototype features advanced equipment to meet the demands of today’s busy customers seeking fast, fresh, affordable, high quality food and beverage choices quicker and better than ever before, resulting in an improved overall in-store and drive through experience” (Dunkin’ Donuts, 2011, p.31). Moreover, standardization is the other strategy that the company peruses in developing its products, which can be supported by the fact that “using the most stringent standards in the coffee industry, Dunkin’ Donuts selects only the finest, high-quality beans to make its espresso blend. At the same time, Dunkin’ Donuts is working to aid the farmers who grow those beans” (Dunkin’ Donuts, 2011, p.30). In fact, the company is compelled to adapt to the local needs so that people could identify with such products. The rationale of using the strategy is that it increases the product’s preferences, thus making the company to benefit from the economies of scale. As a result, during the product’s standardization, the company may customize some of the superficial ingredients.

Another important strategy to be employed by the company is value addition. The company concentrates on activities aimed at adding value to their products, as the fundamental strategy in enhancing the quality. Therefore, in an attempt to facilitate this objective “Dunkin’

Donuts wanted to make a more meaningful promise to deliver on the value proposition consumers expect, and then some: a promise to offer fresh food, fast, and to offer more choices, served quickly, in a quality way” (Dunkin’ Donuts, 2011, p.30). The rationale for using this strategy is that it enables the company to gain from the high volume of trade resulting from customer preference. In addition, there would be leverage on the skills and the country’s strength. It is important to note that areas with people having high skills and relatively low wages for the workforce is more attractive to value addition, because this would make the products more competitive in the market.

Finally, it is also important for the company to adopt the marketing mix and market positioning strategy to maintain its business success. In most business operations, carrying out an analysis of the marketing mix and establishing the market positioning of the company is very significant. As a result of these marketing strategies, “in 2006, Dunkin’ Donuts unveiled a new advertising campaign that revolutionizes the brand’s position by focusing on how Dunkin’ Donuts keeps busy Americans fueled and on the go” (Dunkin’ Donuts, 2011, p.31).This helps in determining the marketing program and strategy that the company should develop and adopt.

Summing up, despite the assumed scarcity of good ideas, a uniform, systematic, and strategic approach has enabled the Dunkin’ Donuts to explore the available ideas of different people in various American cities to successfully market its products. This helps in increasing Dunkin’ Donuts’ successful marketing ability that is maintained in every year, by focusing on the best ideology and marketing strategies. Consequently, this increases internal focus in the company in developing a brand that would sell across country and even in the international market.