Sample Case Study 2: Ice Cream Manufacturer

Question

Our client is an ice cream manufacturer. They are the European market leader with a share
of 31% of the ice cream market. Management is concerned because its sales are more
seasonal than those of competitors, even though overall profits are excellent. It is
important to note that 90% of production costs are fixed.

Recommended Approach

Develop a MECE (Mutually Exclusive and Collectively Exhaustive) framework that is able to
address all of the facets of the problem you should be addressing. Jumping right into
solving the problem without framework will lead to incomplete and unstructured analysis.
Take your time to develop this framework upfront – even if you have to ask your
interviewer for a minute to think..

Sample Dialog

How would you go about approaching this problem?

I would like to approach this problem using a three part framework that looks at both the
internal and external factors affecting the client:

Company
• Product mix (characteristics, seasonality, how perishable it is, etc.)
• Operations (Is the manufacturing capacity used continuously or seasonally
throughout the year? Can we use the capacity to produce less seasonal
products than ice creams?)

Customer
• Segments, trends, and characteristics in terms of seasonality

Competitors
• How do competitors differ in their operations, sales, and customer base?

Good approach. Where do you want to start?

Let’s talk about the operations first. The demand for ice cream is by nature seasonal. Does
the client currently produce ice cream continuously or seasonally throughout the year?

There are peaks in production to match demand. Why do you ask?

1
Considering that 90% of the current costs are fixed, it might be less expensive to smooth
production over the year. The capacity would not need to be as high since there would
not be peaks anymore, therefore the fixed costs would be reduced. However, this would
involve storage of ice cream during the months of low demand.

This is an interesting thought. However, our ice cream is too perishable to be stored
for more than 2 weeks.

Maybe we could modify our products by adding preservatives and stabilizers.

Not a bad idea. However, regulations prevent us from doing this.

Ok. It seems that production of our ice cream will remain seasonal then. To maximize the
use of capacity and reduce our fixed costs burden, could the plants be used to
manufacture other types of products during non-peaks periods?

This would be a possibility, but we have not explored it in details. What else would
you need to know?

We discussed the possibility to reduce the seasonality of operations. Now, I would like to
talk about reducing the seasonality of sales. Who are our current customers?

Who do you think they might be?

As a customer, I can buy ice cream at supermarkets, ice cream stores/chains, restaurants.
Do we sell to all of these channels?

Yes, they are all our customers. Which do you think has the most seasonal demand?

Ice cream stores would definitely be the most seasonal. Supermarkets would be less
seasonal because people still eat ice cream at home during winter watching TV, even
though they buy less than during summer. Finally, I would say that restaurants are the
least seasonal because they always have ice creams on their menu and add it with apple
pies, chocolate tarts, etc. Does it seem reasonable?

It makes sense.

How do we split our sales to these channels? And how does it compare to our
competitors?

Let me give you the following data. We miss some client information here. Could you
please calculate what’s left for me?

2
Table 1: Market Share by Channel

CHANNEL MARKET CLIENT MARKET SHARE CONTRIBUTION TO ITS

SPLIT OF THIS CHANNEL OVERALL MARKET SHARE

Retail / 40% 40% 16%

Supermarket

Restaurants 30% ? ?

Ice Cream Stores 30% 40% 12%

You mentioned initially that the total market share of the client is 31%. Since retail/
supermarket and ice cream stores contribute to 16% and 12%, restaurants must
contribute to (31-(16+12)=) 3%. Therefore, the client’s market share on restaurants must
be 10%. (30%/3%=10%)

Based on everything we discussed, what would you recommend the client do to

address its seasonality concern?

Firstly, I would recommend targeting more strongly the restaurants, as their demand is
less seasonal and the client is relatively weakly positioned there compared to competitors.
Secondly, I would recommend looking at products we could manufacture in the current
plants during non-peak times of the year, so as to optimize the use of the fixed cost
capacities.