Rising Competition

Breath mints have reached the maturity stage of the product life cycle. This means our company faces more competition than ever. In response to the saturated market, we must decide whether re-branding and redesigning our packaging is a way we would like to attract new consumers to our product, increase consumption and, therefore, increase our market share of the breath mint market. It is important our company understands the risks and benefits of changing our packaging, that has remained the same for over forty years. In addition, we must understand how our consumers will react to a packaging change, as well as how we want to advertise any packaging change we commit to; this will be best done through exploratory research methods.

Market Research

Ever since our introduction in 1969, the market for breath mints has steadily increased. According to packagedfacts.com, in 2003 sixty two percent of households used breath mints. In 2003, Tic Tac was the preferred choice of breath mints, but since then other mints have increased competition. Lifesavers were on Amazon's top list of best selling breath mints in 2014. One possible solution to become the best selling brand of breath mints is to redesign our packaging. This comes with obvious benefits and risks. First, in our consumer base's decision-making process, recognition is the most important thing. American society cultivates a world obsessed on looking and feeling good, and many people feel the need for fresh breath to feel good. Consumers also go through an information search when making any purchasing decision. Because breath mints are a convenience good, consumers of breath mints do very little information search. They grab what is affordable, recognizable and nearby. Once the consumer evaluates the alternatives, it is our goal to be in the consumer's evoked set. The major risk of changing