Illy Swot Analysis

Tangible Product: The product which is coffee is very fine. So the foundation of the brand which is the basic product is solid

Basic Brand: Illy brand is is a red background with white lettering. You will also find Illy in plain bold red lettering. I believe is to attract the attention of the people. This logo has been used since (1980). The core elements for Illy are a strong brand name, high quality, attractive packaging and design

The Augmented brand: Illy has added value to their brand by selling fresh beans in sealed cans, also giving the consumer the option to have it grind whether they want it bold, decaffeinated, caffeinated. they also have tablet which goes inside espresso machines sold in any illy location.  . The main factor is that along with high quality the brand is also associated with high price and hence is getting restricted to a niche market only

The Potential Brand: When consumers only rely their morning coffee on the Illy brand than Illy has made their mark, even though in many other key markets like Italy it has been a major success, but it still needs to win other important key market like Japan and China.

. There are in all six products that will be analysed here, premium coffee, coffee pods for machines, ready to drink canned coffee, Agrimontana, the confectionary products, Domori the chocolate business and Dammann Feres the tea brand.

Leader: Coffee

Try Harder: All the small brands come under this sector but mainly the pods of coffee business

Double or Quit: Coke has partner up with the Illy brand to make up a canned coffee business in which the coffee will be sold to the consumer.

Custodial: Is similar to the cash cow concept in BCG, this would be the chocolate business

Cash Generator: this is undoubtedly the premium coffee business

Phased withdrawal: this is a difficult one to point but it seems the confectionary business is the most likely candidate as it is not generating as much growth or profits as it should

Divest: Again a difficult one but once again the wine or confectionary products in the Illy portfolio

Key points Analysis 


"Illy has a strong brand and is associated with high quality and premium pricing 

The company has shown impressive growth despite recession

The key strategic partnerships like the one with Coca Cola company for canned coffee are proving to be the real winners

The group needs to focus its attention on the sister brands and needs to extend the well-established Illy brand image to these sister concerns

There is an urgent need to improve the sales and awareness of the sister companies

The company applies to its R&D, supply chain and marketing expertise to grow its coffee products like coffee pods and machines

There is a need to create a strategy for the developing economies especially the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) which will in future become key markets

The company needs to constantly re-invent the ways to sustain customer interest in its brand and its products, just like the Università del caffè."

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