Milano Pizza is a newly developed startup company focusing on gaining market share in the gourmet food industry.Specifically, the company is creating gourmet/organic pizza, but with a twist.The customer can purchase a variety of fiber-rich diet pizzas.While these pizzas are similar to some offered on the market currently by such companies as Pizzeria Uno, one of the biggest differences is the packaging approach.One of the limitations to Pizzeria Uno is that it has to be refrigerated in the store, which limits the units that can be sold since the refrigeration units can only hold so many boxes of pizza.And stores are not going to stock more than they figure they can sell in a week.Milano Pizza uses a new self-cooling box that can be stored in the aile, on the shelf, or in the wearhouse on a skid until needed.And, it has a shelf life of six months.As the company progresses forward with this product, there are several marketing issues that have not been resolved.

They have hired you as a marketing consultant to assist them in this endeavor.Your task is to assist them in this decision-making process.Please respond to the following decision points for the company:

a: Segment the market for this category of product based on your assumptions.Identify for this product a specific target consumer segments they should focus on.In your description of the target segments, you also need to address where you believe this group of individuals would most likely purchase this type of product.

b: After calculating the cost of goods sold, the company has determined that the cost per 16 ounce pizza is approximately $2.97.The company desires a 40 percent contribution margin on each package sold.They also know that most wholesalers in this industry use a 32% mark-up and many retailers maintain a 25% mark-up as well.Following this channel and based solely on the calculations, what will be the price that the normal retailer will charge for the product?Reflecting on the psychological aspects of pricing and specific pricing tactics theories, what would your final price recommendation be?Support your answer.How would the price vary based on a price elasticity of 0.3?