Simply Burgers is a fast food chain in Greece that focuses on fresh, high-quality ingredients. As the purchasing manager, the buyer's main goals are to supply the best products to satisfy customers. Recently, Simply Burgers realized it needs a better ketchup that matches its philosophy. The buyer has some demands for sellers, including on-time delivery, quality products, competitive pricing, and emergency response. While Simply Burgers has purchased from Heinz in the past, it is now considering a modified rebuy and looking for ways to increase efficiency and reduce costs from potential sellers.

1. PERSONAL SELLING
BUYER
ATHENA KOURNAVOU
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2. PERSONAL SELLING
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Simply Burgers
2.1: the buying firm
Simply burgers are a very well
known fast food chain in Greece, mostly working as a
delivery service. As purchasing manager in the company
my main goal is to supply the best of each product
needed so that the final result before it reaches our
customers is exactly what they have been looking for.
Let me give you some background information about
Simply Burgers
Our philosophy
The fresher the products the better the taste is our
main logo. All our employs try their best so that
consumers are fully satisfied so in every burger made all
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ingredients used are fresh and are combined at that
moment.
Our promise
All meat and poultry on our menu is and always will
be fresh, never ever frozen! We make all our sauces and
dressings to guarantee their high quality and absence of
additives and preservatives. Our salads are freshly cut
to ensure the maximum nutritional value. Everything on
our menu is made to order and we can prepare it
anyway you like it. Your service will be fast, friendly and
professional. Your satisfaction is guaranteed. If for any
reason you are not happy with our product, we will
replace it immediately. We are and will remain
dedicated to exceeding your expectations and
maintaining our high standards of quality and service.
2.2: buyer’s needs
Since as a company we are resellers we need the
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best of it’s ingredients that we use to produce the
burgers, salads and desserts. Recently we realized that
we need a better ketchup because it is a basic
ingredient combined in most of our sauces and burgers.
Mainly what we need is a fresh and tasteful ketchup
that matches our philosophy and our promises to our
customers. Moreover we try to give our customers
approachable prices so the products that we buy must
be in a price worthy of what it provides us and not very
expensive.
2.3: buyer’s customer needs
Reseller is a buyer that purchases goods and sells
them to the consumer as they are bought. A good
example of a reselling company is the supermarkets,
buying goods which are sold to the consumers as they
were bought. Simply burgers is not a reselling company
so I will not address this part of the project.
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2.4 modified rebuy
As a buyer I am allowed to set goals for the
business’s interest. So when it comes to planning the
sales call I have some demands from my seller. As
purchasing manager of simply burgers I would like to
point out the following areas:
On time delivery
To spec of quality of products
Competitive pricing
Good emergency response
Buying decision of the company
Since Heinz has been supplying Simply Burgers in the
past, we are interested in changing our purchase this
time. So we are making a modified rebuy and as a
customer to Heinz company our needs are to find
solutions and more information to increase efficiency
and reduce costs.
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2.5
Table 1 Brand Shares of Chained Fast Food 2007-2010
Global Brand
% value Owner 2007 2008 2009 2010
Simply AVK Restaurants
Burgers SA 0.8 1.4 2.4 2.4
Source: Euromonitor International from official statistics, trade associations,
trade press, company research, trade interviews, trade sources
COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE: buyer
Fast casual dining in Greece comprises brands from
different areas and the leader in value share is Simply
Burgers, from burger fast food. The brand encompassed
the new, rising trend of real burgers in Greece, coupled
with a home-delivery service that comprises a strong
percentage of its overall sales. The second player in fast
casual dining in 2010 is Pita Pan, a souvlaki operator
from other fast food. The company made its menu and
ambience more premium since 2007, aiming to
distinguish itself from the rest of the operators in the
area and target higher income groups. The MeGusto
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brand by Goody's in bakery products fast food was
developed in retail and lodging locations. Independent
operations had a 25% value share of fast casual dining
in 2010.
Source: http://www.portal.euromonitor.com/Portal/Pages/Statistics/Statistics.aspx
2.6 Buyers options
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8. PERSONAL SELLING
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COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE: seller
In ketchup, developments also took place in line with
the health trend, with the Heinz brand introducing a
product with reduced salt and sugar to replace its old
“child-specific” product with similar characteristics.
Great emphasis is placed on highlighting natural
ingredients. In this context, in its advertisement for
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ketchup, Hellmann’s has been highlighting the gentle
and natural process of the sun drying the tomatoes to
make the final product, containing no preservatives.
Similar health-orientated claims have also been made
for the brand in mayonnaise, such that it is made from
free-range eggs.
The leading brands are facing strong competition,
and these brands need to make further investments in
advertising to strengthen the bond between the brand
and the consumer. In this vein major brands such as
Hellmann’s continue to invest on TV advertising and
promotional campaigns. Furthermore, Elais Unilever
Hellas has invested in the development of its brands’
communication by creating separate websites for each
one and by sponsoring major cookery shows on Greek
television.
Table 2 Sauces, Dressings and Condiments Brand
Shares 2007-2010
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% retail
value rsp Company 2007 2008 2009 2010
Pummar Elais Unilever 29.19 28.06 28.64 27.89
ó Hellas SA
Kyknos Kyknos Greek 11.21 11.05 10.93 11.37
Canning Co SA
Hellman Elais Unilever 0.47 6.20 5.91 5.86
n's Hellas SA
Heinz Elgeka SA 2.34 2.23 2.06 2.00
Rankings did not change in 2010, at least among the
top 10 companies in terms of value sales. Elais Unilever
Hellas SA continued to lead sauces, dressings and
condiments in 2010, followed by Kyknos Greek Canning
Co SA. Elais Unilever owns a number of brands which
are well known to consumers, such as Pummaró,
Hellmann’s and Knorr, and as advertised on the
company’s website, “these are products which are used
on almost a daily basis by most of the households in
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Greece”. As leading multinational brands, they are at
forefront of every innovation made in the category.
Nonetheless, Elais Unilever Hellas saw a decrease of
one percentage point in value share in 2010. This was
largely the result of the Pummaró brand losing ground
in tomato pastes and purées to rising rivals, the Kyknos
brand (which benefited from its Greek origin) and
private label lines. Knorr and Hellmann’s lines also lost
ground to rising smaller players and private label
products despite the former being well advertised and
promoted.
Kyknos Greek Canning Co SA and Alpha-Beta
Vassilopoulos saw the biggest increase in value share in
2010, both up by half a percentage point. Kyknos Greek
Canning Co SA benefited from being a domestic player
with a long presence in key categories such as tomato
pastes and purées and in cooking sauces as consumer
sentiment has been shifting in favour of local players
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and domestically-produced products. At the same time,
Alpha-Beta Vassilopoulos is the leading grocery retailer
and has the most advanced private label portfolio in
Greece; hence its continuing positive performance in the
category.
In line with the health and wellness trend, Elais
Unilever Hellas created a new line of Knorr stock cubes
containing 25% less salt. At the same time, the
packaging also states that the product contains no
preservatives, no artificial colourings and no added
flavour enhancers. The target group is consumers with
health concerns such as families with children and the
elderly.
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REFERENSES
MLA citation
1. Simply Burgers. WEB. 25 March 2012.
2. Castleberry/ Tanner. Buying Behaviour And The
Buying Process. 8th ed. McGraw. Print.
3. Castleberry/ Tanner. Planning The Sales Call. 8th ed.
McGraw. Print.
4. http://www.portal.euromonitor.com/Portal/Pages/St
atistics/Statistics.aspx
5. http://www.portal.euromonitor.com/Portal/Pages/Se
arch/CategoryTreePage.aspx
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