Ethel's Chocolate Lounge: following coffee into café style retailing

This report on Ethel's Chocolate Lounge forms part of Datamonitor's case studies series, which explores business practices across a variety of disciplines and business sectors. Each case study provides a concise evaluation of a company that stands out in some area of its strategic operations.

Report Highlights

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WHAT IS THIS REPORT ABOUT? 3
Who is the target reader? 3
SUMMARY 7
Key findings 7
CASE STUDY 8
Ethel's offers Mars opportunity to create a novel selling arena for premium chocolate 8
Slow growth in mainstream chocolate prompts new focus on innovation 8
Premium chocolate has good potential for growth 8
Mars and Hershey build up premium chocolate portfolios to enhance growth potential 8
Mars predicts coffee shop will be an appealing format for premium chocolate 9
Strong growth in coffee shops 9
Ethel's emulates coffee shop style in order to grasp high growth of the format 9
Starbucks poses a threat to Ethel's, but the sale of premium chocolates presents Mars with good differentiation 10
Mars can minimize setbacks to selling chocolate in the coffee shop setting by emphasizing its novelty 11
Mars promotes Ethel's chocolates as an everyday luxury and employs workable strategies to help it avoid the mid-marketing trap 11
Ethel's tagline and affordable portion sizes encourage repeat visits 11
Mars promotes Ethel's luxury qualities to avoid pitfalls of mid-marketing 12
Ethel's target audience is in line with Mars' overall strategy, while the format could aid the development of its other products 13
Ethel's is marketed mainly to women 13
Format will allow Mars to get feedback from all its customers 13
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 15
Research methodology 15
Secondary sources 15
RELATED RESEARCH 16
Datamonitor reports 16
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Figure 1: Ethel's Chocolate Lounge layout is designed like a coffee shop 10
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