Masons Beans Market Analysis

However, the main competition in the UK market appears to be from a company called Masons Beans. They, like the Cool Beans Company, specialise in gourmet beans. Initially they were called Proper Beans, but have since rebranded. Masons Beans are available to buy in Fortum and Mason and the unit price is set at the level of £3.95 per 330g pot. While the Masons Beans products were only launched one year ago, it has already had great success and publicity. The product has been shortlisted as the Most Exciting New Brand & People’s Choice at Virgin Foodpreneur 2014 (Masons Beans, 2015). They are being stocked by Selfridges where they are currently doing tastings to enhance publicity (Masons Beans, 2015). Masons Beans have a wide variety of flavours, including Kentish cider, pork sausage and apple, ham hock, potato and thyme, English mustard and sundried tomato (see Figure 12). These flavours are specifically targeting English tastes, and a company such as Cool Beans, which currently only offers three flavours with no real cultural …show more content…
The suppliers in the UK market enjoy strong market position, which allows for decreasing manufacturing costs as well as benefiting from economies of scale. The high competition decreases the bargaining power of suppliers who remain focused on securing their share in the value chain. In the food industry, new product categories are constantly emerging (Bord Bia, 2009). In addition, the power of suppliers is limited due to the expanding power of buyers, who face much less switching costs. Research has shown that there has been a significant growth of discount grocers in the market, which affects heavily the role and market share of established retailers in the UK (KPMG,