The Kitchen Aid brand forms part of the Whirlpool Corporation who are an American manufacturer of appliances based in Michigan in the United States. KitchenAid Australia are a wholesale subsidiary to this group. Background to business scenario: The KitchenAid stand mixer constantly receives excellent reviews from professional chefs and home cooks from around the world. KitchenAid has been making stand mixers since 1919. Canstar Blue (an Australian product comparison entity) awarded KitchenAid with five star ratings in 2019 for performance, ease of cleaning as well as additional functions and design. According to Maggie Overholt

1 , although the number of mixers that KitchenAid offers within their range is significant, there are mainly four models that most people will choose. These being the Classic, the Artisan, the Pro 600 and the Professional 6500 series.The KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer albeit one of the smaller models in their range frequently receives positive reviews and comments about the speed and power this stand mixer has in comparison to other brands and is viewed as best overall mixer in the KitchenAid series

2 . The best product if you are on a budget would be the KitchenAid Classic model. The best mixer for Professionals would be the Pro 600 series according to Business Insider

3 During 2020, as a result of the global pandemic, KitchenAid have experienced a surge in sales as more people are staying at home and are cooking more than usual. You, as a management accountant, have been engaged by the Sales Manager of KitchenAid Australia to review the current pricing strategy of three of their more popular products within their stand mixer range based on current Australian prices:

1. 4.8L Artisan Stand Mixer

2. 4.3L Classic Stand Mixer

3. 6.9L Pro Line Series Bowl Lift stand mixer As a minimum KitchenAid sets a profit margin of 25 per cent on all products

Explain the following :-

An analysis of the target costs of the three KitchenAid stand mixer products being reviewed, given the target profit margin and using the current pricing information you can obtain. Please include links to your sources as an appendix to your report.

Provide recommendations regarding how to achieve and/or maintain the target profit margins. Consider supply chain opportunities to improve costs and provide industry related research to support your recommendations.

Explain how value chain analysis could help KitchenAid Australia to identify value-added and nonvalue-added activities (provide examples) to find opportunities to improve costs.

Provide recommendations regarding the current prices of each product comparing cost-based and market-based pricing strategies and providing at least one advantage and one disadvantage of each pricing method. Please include your calculations and research supporting your market-based strategies as an appendix to your report.

Recommend a final price for each product, whether it should be kept the same, increase or decrease, to the Sales Manager of KitchenAid Australia.

Complete the assignment coversheet and attach it to your submission.

Use the additional materials provided and your own research to complete the required sections of the report