The History Of Breakfast Cereals

Introduction:

Breakfast cereals have been always played a considerable role in the international market as healthy, hearty breakfast option especially for children. While cereals supported the consumption of whole grains and supplies certain vitamins, minerals, fibre, the overall composition of breakfast cereals sold in the international market today is more than what meets the eye. There are different motivations that compel consumers to try out or consume a particular product. In addition, motivation theory explains the state of people when they lack some basic biological requirement such as water or food. It is evident that once need is stimulated, the consumer wishes to satisfy it at the earliest. When need starts getting activated or intense, consumers seek to decrease or eliminate/ satisfy that need and this process leads to stress and tension. Consuming Breakfast cereal is one of the physiological needs which most of consumers seek to fulfil but also it can be rather difficult for some people to choose between varieties of brands cereals. Marketers try to develop their goods and services in order to satisfy consumers’ needs and decrease their tension. This essay will discuss the motives that might put the consumer into conflict to consume cereal through theories related to consumer behaviour.

The theory of cognitive dissonance explains that humans have a need for consistency in their normal lives, and a state of tension is created when beliefs or behaviours conflict with one another. (Michael et al 2007) These types of conflicts that arise when choosing between two alternatives could be resolved through a process of cognitive dissonance reduction, where consumers are motivated to decrease this inconsistency or dissonance and consequently, eliminate kind of unpleasant tension. It is often happened when consumer start to decide between two desirers, both of it include good taste and superior taste like breakfast cereal which is presented by Kelloggs company. Consumer at that point try to seek for quality that he want to gain and he start to think about the amount of value that can get; healthy which include the amount of vitamin c, source of iron and superior taste.

Motivational conflicts have three main sections two types of these conflicts will be applied; approach-approach and approach-avoidance.

First, approach-approach conflict; in this state a person should determine his mind and he must choose between two desirable alternatives. E.g.: A consumer might have to choose between a tastier breakfast choice such as baked beans/French toast and eggs, or a more healthier and nutritious breakfast cereal, which is less tasty. The conflict is between taste and health. By giving additional benefits and promotions and combining nutritional benefits with the products “Low Fat” “High protein” and so on can eliminate the conflict.

Second in an approach-avoidance conflict; consumers face both the positive and negative results and feelings on the purchase of a particular product. The consumer desires the taste and emotional satisfaction together with the snacks (approach) but at the same time he does not want to gain weight (avoidance). (Hawkins 2002) The indication of reduced calories on snack foods results into a considerable decrease in this conflict and enables the weight-sensitive customer to enjoy snacks and also have control on intake of calories. Most breakfast cereals are healthy as compared to other breakfast options like eggs. The consumer would rather prefer purchasing breakfast cereal but it is difficult to ascertain whether breakfast cereals satisfy him or not. Moreover, consumer have now begun to realize that breakfast cereals are extremely healthy and they do not account for weight gain as opposed to eggs that do confer satisfaction on consumption but also make the consumer gain weight. Some reports have stated that children who are fat are more likely to be obese adults and suffer from health problems. In this world around 22 million children who are under five years are already overweight. (FOMCA 2009) In addition, it’s found that breakfast cereal takes around five minuets for making, on the other hand; making eggs will take around fifteen to twenty minutes. The different between these types of food with regards to time taken to make has made the consumer to move from making eggs to having breakfast cereal. It has been observed that time element play a vital role for consumers who seek to save time and have a great tasting breakfast at the same time.

In Malaysia, according to the Ministry of Health, in 2007, 26.71% of the adult people were overweight, at the same time around 12.15% of them is obese. In general, breakfast cereals might create a conflict for many consumers among its brands keeping the ‘healthy eating option’ in mind. For example Kellogg’s (special K) was targeted at females segments who wanted to take the first step toward managing their weight and shape.(FOMCA 2009) Research in that field shows that many people who eat a sensible breakfast such as 99% fat free Special K, normally getting more to be in a healthy weight range than those people who skip breakfast all the time, However this product may not be fit for children because the contents is totally different than what cereals targeted at children would contain. More so, the taste and amount of proteins in the cereal are unsuitable for children’s growing needs. Hence, Kellogg’s company has resolved this problem by made other types of breakfast cereal which is fit only for children.

Third, Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict; this type of conflict occurs once customer faces two undesirable choices. For example, an option of either spending more money on an old car once its breaks down or deciding to buy a new one. Marketers usually address an avoidance-avoidance conflict with some messages that emphasize unexpected benefits of choosing only one option E.g Emphasising special credit schemes to ease and comfort the pain of car payments. (Michael et al 2007)

Many people think that it is simple to choose their breakfast based on their knowledge but actually the thing is not easier as they imagine. According to perception theory consumers are aware that breakfast cereal was not a part of consumer eating options in the past and that consumer did not care much about whether he was having a good break fast or otherwise. However today, for the consumer on the go, eating break fast cereal is an easier, healthier and quicker option as compared to break fast options in the past that took time to prepare.

Consumers get influenced by different signals that their sensory organs convey them about a product or brand. By looking at this figure, it is observed that sensory stimuli like sight, sound, smell, taste and texture each of these elements have an impact on consumers’ mind and body but people can not see it.

Sensory system; external stimuli, or sensory inputs, could be received through many channels. For example consumers might see a billboard, feel the softness, hear the sound of jingle or even taste a new flavour of cereals. These are all inputs that can be sensed by five senses of a human body. They represent raw data that forms the basis for a perceptual procedure. As it’s mentioned before; perceptual process begins with sight and taste signals that the consumers receive from different channels. This paves a way for purchase of breakfast cereals. The next stage is exposure. Consumers are exposed to knowledge through scenes (advertisements, billboards) and this gets transformed into a purchase decision. This would attract consumer attention towards breakfast cereal and make consumers wonder about the reason behind choosing that product; whether it is health or taste .the next step is called attention in this stage consumer gathers information; weighs advantages and disadvantages tries to convince him/her self to purchase breakfast cereal or otherwise. This reflects on his/her interpretation and purchase decisions. Sensory systems theory for breakfast cereal is going to include two types of sense; vision and taste.

Vision

Marketers have tried most of the time to satisfy consumers’ needs throughout using advertising, store design and packaging. In case of breakfast cereal consumer may find him self attract to many types of cereal not because he like it but because the colour its give him a feeling of appetite such as blue, red and yellow an example for that Kellogg’s company has used red and white in order to promote their product Kellogg’s Special K so once female go for the shopping any time automatically will choose the one with red and white even without looking at name because they already know that red and white colour is related to healthy. That behaviour has created a kind of motives. As it is a known fact that females are much quicker in noticing colours especially once the thing is related to healthier food like breakfast cereal.

Taste

The taste preference differs from one consumer to another; taste of breakfast cereal is completely different among people such as children will not prefer the taste of cereals that do not contain sweet taste because in their minds image of sweet food is strong and positive. So they would love to have cereals that are sweet in taste. However, break fast cereal purchase for children is influenced parents. So it is important to convince the parents about the health benefits of the cereal and the promising taste for their children. Children get easily influenced by the taste and become loyal to the break fast cereal that tastes good. Taste becomes the driving force to make children loyal to breakfast cereal. For example chocolate or fruity flavours would be preferred by children. More so, if children consume such breakfast cereal, they are happy to eat that breakfast and their parents would love to give them breakfast cereals that are readily and easily eaten by their children and also take care of their health.

From above figure, the two senses which were pointed in perceptual process tend toward exposure which appears once a stimulus comes its way, influencing someone’s sensory receptors. Resulting to the attention that reflects to the extent to which processing activity is dedicated to specific stimulus. The last parts are called interpretation and reflect the meaning which is allocated to sensory stimuli. Thus, marketers need to develop the right kind of stimuli while targeting different consumers.

Recommendations:

Marketers like Kellogg’s need to develop better marketing mix for promoting the cereal to women, children or the consumer on the go. This can be done by creating correct stimuli depending upon the triggers of different individuals. Considering the socio economic status of consumers would also play an important role while developing new products. For consumers that simply have to feed themselves, any fancy packaging or even selling the product with the USP of ‘healthy break fast’ may not hold true. Instead simply capitalising on greater quantity in a lower price may work. On the other hand, consumers with greater health awareness, low calorific cereals may be welcomed. Association of strong product qualities on packaging would influence purchase without leaving consumers in any conflict.

Conclusion:

Marketers should not treat breakfast cereal as a low involvement product because considering the life style changes that today’s consumer is faced with, break fast cereals are looked upon as a healthier and quicker alternative as compared to any other break fast option. More so, catering to the health needs of today’s well informed consumer is essential to make one’s brand a success. Competition from other products like health drinks and nutritional bars and cookies can be tackled by pronouncing the fact that break fast cereal are coupled with milk which is the best source of calcium for all ages and that it is preservative free.