Scenario Summary Chocoberry evaluated all the ideas and decided to proceed with a new retail chocolate product.

The product development team at Chocoberry has the responsibility of drafting a business plan for the option of marketing chocolate products with basic health claims for the United States' retail consumer market.

These products are being developed by the technical departments as bar goods, such as one ounce or larger molded slabs of chocolate in dark, milk, inclusion-containing (nuts, fruit, etc.) products Decisions must be made relative to retail outlet types; numbers to be serviced; intermediary channels (including the possibility of refrigerate distribution to retain healthful qualities); sales methods, such as brokers or the use of other candy companies to complement their lines; warehouse locations and control; units of delivery, shelf units; where in the retail outlet does it belong: health food department, check out area, candy shelf; costs of distribution; and so forth.

Your Role/Assignment You are a consultant who has been engaged by CB to create and evaluate their alternatives and provide a report. The following are some areas your report should address:

You should detail at least three possible distribution options for Chocoberry's new venture. Describe and provide flow diagrams for the alternative patterns.

This includes the advantages and disadvantages for Chocoberry for the first year of the new chocolate product mix to reach the target markets identified to date.

Select and justify the best for Chocoberry at this time using known data.

Activity For this assignment, you will generate a Microsoft Word report that details your analysis of the Chocoberry situation. Your report should be approximately 750-1000 words in length and will be worth 100 points.

2 Key Players Key Players - Image Title/Role/Character Script - Text & Audio Terry Hersch VP New Product Development Thanks for joining me today.

Our team has to develop a distribution plan for getting these new products to market. Your expertise is critical to developing that plan, so what is your thinking on this?

I've asked the consultant to participate and help us pull it all together. Candy Marshall VP Marketing Our target consumers are adults who wish to indulge in chocolate, but who have been concerned with the health aspects, such as calories, fat, dental and so forth.

The new chocolate products would claim lower calories, high antioxidants, and other similar benefits for adults We have many options to reach the target consumers, such as health food stores, on-line mail order, specialty candy stores, natural food stores, candy sections in mainstream supermarkets, and so on.

Bill Ferrell Director of Distribution Because Chocoberry has never previously offered retail chocolate products for consumers, we are probably not in a position to gain universal distribution, like the mainstream packaged candy makers. There are also many logistical considerations to all of this.