Who Is Wrigley's Buying Gum Market?

Wrigley’s is one the leading chewing gum maker in the US and holds about 50% market share. Even though Wrigley’s planned to introduce pellet gum, Eclipse, in 1996 but held back the launch due to financial constraints. Adams a competitor and maker of Dentyne used this opportunity and Dentyne quickly became the third best-selling gum in the US. Eclipse the odor removing gum had a good start but missed its sales forecast by 24% even though they spent more money on its launch than any on other brand. The board is looking for a way to revive the brand and have employed Paul Chibe as the new Senior-Marketing officer.
Below is the OTSW analysis:
Opportunities:
∗ Polar Ice as the main product: Polar Ice the mint flavor that was recently introduced

Threat
∗ Intense competition: There is an intense competition in the market with all brands coming up with new products. The first two Eclipse flavors -Spearmint and Peppermint- did not perform well to their expectations and failed in most category during the blind test against Dentyne’s flavors.
∗ Declining market for chewing gums: The chewing gum market being a slow growing market poses a threat for Wrigley’s. The competition from mint industry, specially the brand Altoids poses as the biggest obstacle for Wrigley’s to grow its sales.
∗ Wrong distribution channel and Pre-pricing policy: The placement of product and distribution to mass stores was not a correct strategy. Data shows that the velocity of Single pack was more in food store and convenience stores as more consumers but their gums from these store and not mass stores. Also, the pre-pricing policy would result in decreasing margin for the retailers and convenience and food store would not like to suffer the loss forcing the company to sell most of the quantity through mass stores.