Ben and Jerry's Entering into the Japanese Market
Ben & Jerry 's Homemade, Inc. produces super premium ice cream, frozen yogurt, and ice cream novelties in rich and original flavors. The company sells its unique offerings in grocery stores, restaurants, and franchised ice cream shops, and it holds about one-third of the market for its products. This global company began with only a $12,000 investment to open Ben & Jerry’s Homemade ice cream scoop shop in a renovated gas station in downtown Burlington, Vermont, on May 5th, 1978. From one small shop in downtown Burlington, the company had grown to include a chain of nearly 100 franchised shops, and a line of products sold in stores across the country.
As one of the leading superpremium ice cream (greater richness and density than other kinds of ice-cream and is therefore sold at a relatively high price) manufactures, Ben & Jerry’s has to continually expand and develop to compete with other leading brands. The United States is one of the largest exporting nations as well. The United States sells products to other countries because no country can produce all of the products the people want. In 1994, Ben & Jerry’s starting considering advancing into the Japan ice cream market, the second largest ice cream market in the world with sales of approximately $4.5 billion. According to the survey conducted by “What Japan Thinks,” nearly 2 out of 5 Japanese eat ice cream every week. However, Japan is a great distance from the United States and it would be complicated to distribute the items to Japan. Japan’s barriers to imports from foreign countries were high and Ben & Jerry’s were entering the Japanese ice cream market 10 years after it’s competitors, such as Haagen-Dazs.
According to the survey by “What Japan Thinks,” the biggest factor in ice cream purchase is by flavor and taste. The Japanese consumers demand high-quality products with different flavors. The demands of the Japanese coincide directly with the product mission statement of Ben & Jerry’s which is “to
As one of the leading superpremium ice cream (greater richness and density than other kinds of ice-cream and is therefore sold at a relatively high price) manufactures, Ben & Jerry’s has to continually expand and develop to compete with other leading brands. The United States is one of the largest exporting nations as well. The United States sells products to other countries because no country can produce all of the products the people want. In 1994, Ben & Jerry’s starting considering advancing into the Japan ice cream market, the second largest ice cream market in the world with sales of approximately $4.5 billion. According to the survey conducted by “What Japan Thinks,” nearly 2 out of 5 Japanese eat ice cream every week. However, Japan is a great distance from the United States and it would be complicated to distribute the items to Japan. Japan’s barriers to imports from foreign countries were high and Ben & Jerry’s were entering the Japanese ice cream market 10 years after it’s competitors, such as Haagen-Dazs.
According to the survey by “What Japan Thinks,” the biggest factor in ice cream purchase is by flavor and taste. The Japanese consumers demand high-quality products with different flavors. The demands of the Japanese coincide directly with the product mission statement of Ben & Jerry’s which is “to