About
Ülker is the leading Turkish
food manufacturer which specializes mainly on snacks like biscuits, cookies,
crackers, chocolates and has the 64%
market share of the chocolate sector as leading firm in Turkey. Its 5,400
products in 41 different categories and 300 sub brands are exported
internationally to different countries. Ülker launched its first product, the
petit-beurre biscuit, in a very competitive environment with very old and well established brands ruling the market.
However, Ülker chose to follow a dissimilar path from the first day by using
different marketing strategies that eventually lead it to prosper in a very
short time.
In 1944, Ülker decided to sell the petit-beurre biscuits also in Anatolia whereas its competitors where mainly canalized to the market in Istanbul. This strategy provided a competitive advantage for Ülker as it was able to introduce its products to a different market which was very broad and free to dominate. By this way, Ülker became very known in all over Turkey in a short time.
For the next 30 years, Ülker decided to focus on only one kind
of product -the biscuits- rather than diversifying its goods. So, all of the
effort was centered on having various types of biscuits which were tasting
better and in higher quality.
After the 30-year biscuit mission, Ülker decided to apply a
diversification strategy for the first time by producing chocolates. This time,
a new and very effective plan of action was developed.
The packages of the Ülker chocolates contained the price of the
product whereas the other brands’ products had their prices written on the
market shelves that they were standing on. By meeting the customer expectations
and without compromising its quality, it was selling at the lowest price and
thus, it was differentiated from its competitors. This adherence to the price
despite the inflammatory period created the perception that chocolate is a
consumable product by everyone. Chocolate was no longer an expensive snack in
Turkey.
Going Abroad
Today, Ülker’s products are shipped to the USA and more than 85
countries in the Balkans, Europe and Africa. Ülker has become a well-known
brand all around the world with its exports and production facilities in 6
different countries. It started to export its products abroad for the first
time by selling its chocolate to the Middle East. In the same year, it
established a R&D department to keep pace with other international food
companies. Each year, Ülker became more
and more known around the world and this lead the global brands want to
establish strategic partnerships with it.
In 2003, Ülker and the Swiss baby-food manufacturer Hero agreed on a partnership. Hero allowed another brand name to appear beside its own for the first time. Ülker-Hero products were started to be marketed both domestically and internationally.
In 2007, Ülker bought Godiva, the luxury Belgian chocolatier for
850 million dollars. It was the main step of Ülker’s globalization strategy. Also,
Ülker decided to turn the 93 years old brand’s stores into cafes which are
serving drinks, chocolates, ice creams and other desserts in Istanbul, London
and Newyork.
In 2014, Ülker bought United Biscuits- the 6th greatest biscuit manufacturer in the World with its 14 production facilities; 11 in Europe, and others in Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and India. This acquisition for 3 billion dollars lead Ülker to become the 3rd largest biscuit brand.
The
Hybrid Products
After the acquisition of and the partnerships
with several international brands, Ülker decided to create hybrid products by
applying either Ülker’s successful recipes in abroad or the formulas of foreign
tastes in Turkey.
England is the country where biscuits are consumed the most and McVitie’s is the leading brand of this market. Ülker’s chocolate biscuit balls, Albeni Tane Tane, is adapted into the the UK market and is now sold as McVitie’s Digestives Nibbles. The Digestive Nibbles is produced in Turkey by taking Ülker’s unique recipe as an inspiration and sold with a different name and in a different market.
McVitie’s Biskrem, the cookies with cacao
filling, is another hybrid product of Ülker.
Ülker
Krispi Tırtıklı is cooked under the roof of Ülker and infact inspired by United
Biscuit’s famous product, the Jacob’s Crinklys.
Changing
Brand Name
Although
this article has been adreessing mainly to the Ülker chocolates and biscuits,
in years Ülker has started to take part in different markets with brands in
different categories such as the Ülker İçim Milk, Ülker Bizim Margarin/Sunflower
Oil/Corn Oil, Ülker Yıldız Chewing
Gum, Ülker Bebe Baby Biscuits,
Ülker Turkish Coffee, etc. After
having a very wide portfolio of brands, Ülker decided to make a change in its
image by changing its former name “Ülker” into “Ülker Biscuits”. The idea behind this move was to remind
everyone that Ülker is the master of the biscuits- its first product. The
company wanted to focus most of its energy and advertisement expenses into one
area and build a long term image in the minds of consumers. The rival brands
who realized this strategy reviewed their brand portfolio to narrow it a bit.
References:
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