Target Segment
This report aims to provide an effective marketing plan for Organic Solutions, sweet potato flour; which is going to be launched in the market by eminent food company Nestle from Australia (www.nestle.com, 2018). Sweet potato flour is used as one of the main ingredients for preparing numerous food items like cookies, wafers, noodles and bread. In this report, after performing a detail market analysis and describing product details, the market position will be decided as compared to its competitors. Followed by a marketing mix, promotional activities will be framed. As it has been observed that consumers tend to prefer food items made from sweet potato flour to deal with several health issues, Nestle has decided to launch that particular product by using the market fact as a growth opportunity. In order to explore the potential the company needs a specific marketing strategy, which will be elaborated in this paper.
As obesity related health issues have become global, consumers tend to spend on foods with nutrition value to keep themselves away from health hazards. As per the study of Kidane et al. (2013), sweet potato is one of the majorly grown crops across the world and consumption of products made from this has increased as it is enriched in fibre, vitamin C, A, E and iron as well. It has been considered as good source of protein, carbs and being a part of regular diet, it has capability to reduce the issues of cholesterol and obesity. It has been understood that recognising the dynamic consumer preferences the brand Organic Solutions, sweet potato flour, which is made from the dry roots of sweet potato, is going to be launched as a healthier substitute for wheat flour while making baked food items (Trejo-González, Loyo-González and Munguía-Mazariegos 2014).
The major reasons behind the decision of launching sweet potato flour is the market demand from both the health conscious consumers and food manufactures. Sweet potato flour is used as raw material in food manufacturer companies who offer variety of snacks and meals made from this flour. On the other hand, another growth factor is consumers’ awareness about healthy food alternatives. As a result, the demand of this product is increasing gradually in the international market and accordingly manufacturer companies are focusing more into developing culinary dishes using sweet potato flour instead of wheat flour (Singh, Riar and Saxena 2013). Nestle has pointed out the growth opportunity wisely by choosing to launch this product considering its longer shelf life and capability of replacing expensive wheat flour across the baked food industry.
As discussed while performing the industry analysis that a transformation has been noticed in the consumer behaviour regarding the type of food they are preferring these days. Opting for healthy foods does not always mean eating boiled vegetables. Choosing healthy raw ingredients can make even cookies and cakes nutritious (Onabanjo 2014). Recognising the market trend, Nestle has targeted people who wants a healthy lifestyle and people who are already suffering yet do not want to miss out delicacies, which are made out of flour. People, who are strictly into bodybuilding or sports industry, can opt for healthy alternatives as promised by Nestle (Whelan and Wright 2013). Several variables of segmentation are as follows.
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Geographic |
Demographic |
Psychographic |
Behavioural |
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§ Although the company originated in Switzerland, it has expanded territory across the globe. For this particular product, initially, Nestle is going to target unban people of Australia who are likely to have more junk foods and need foods which offer health benefits along with taste. The company will further proceed with this project in some other geographic territory if they receive good response from Australian market. |
§ According to Brownie and Coutts (2013), older people who are suffering from cholesterol, obesity and other health hazards can opt for sweet potato flour from Nestle. § Children can start a good habit of consuming healthy foods to avoid future risks. § Women tend to lose bone density from the age of 30. Choosing a healthy diet by consuming Sweet potato flour is going to helpful. § All the age group can make of a part of their regular diet, as it is high in fibre, energy and nutrients. |
§ Health awareness has increased worldwide. § Irrespective of age groups, people are interested to enrol themselves at health clubs. § Trying new and tasty food items with health benefits is central interest of chosen market. |
§ Considering the health benefits, longer shelf life and lower price consumers are preferring to include sweet potato flour into their baked recipes. § Phycology of leading a healthy lifestyle is the main driver behind the change in consumer behaviour. |
Adjustment on Packaging for Female Segment
In order to support the information about the recent shift that has been identified in consumer behaviour, several studies on food industry can be taken into account. According to data shared by (Rong-Da Liang 2014), realising the environmental and health sustainability issues consumers are heading towards adopting organic food ingredients and items made out of that.
According to Velten et al. (2014), while identifying the potential of target market to buy healthy substitute of wheat flour, it has been measured that unhealthy lifestyle choices contribute a larger proportion as far as Australia’s health burden is concerned. Over 60% of adults and around 20% of children have been reported to be overweight by doctors’ clinics across the nation. Therefore, opportunity for growth has been found considering the mass interest.
The market segmentation can be defined as profitable not only based on the current issues but also considering a sustainable social concern (Malysheva et al. 2016). The profitability will remain regarding the product as it has the potential to promote health as various studies have confirmed the health burden around Australia and across the world.
Consumers can easily access the product, as Nestle is a well-established business organisation, trusted enough for food items. The company have extensive distributer channel across the nation, which will satisfy the demand of the market.
It is differentiable from the existing segment as it deals with several health benefits, which may not be possible for other wheat sellers to offer (Peng et al. 2013).
As per the study of Yadav et al. (2014), a marketing mix helps to understand the segmentation better, yet to say briefly, the need of leading a healthy a sustainable life is appealing enough to launch affordable yet beneficial sweet potato flour within the food industry.
Consumers’ purchasing behaviour is essential to understand while performing market research before launching some new product as it determines profitability and sales. There are few steps, which are followed before purchasing food items and accordingly a company plan for something new to satisfy the demand.
- Consumers’ interest or their issues with existing food items are needed to recognise in the first place to find out the opportunity of emerging brand. In this case, obesity, cholesterol and lack of vitamins and minerals in daily diet can be recognised as major issues, which are driving the consumers towards choosing a healthy alternative that is capable of making tasty culinary dishes too.
- Information must be widely available about the product to make the brand and its utility recognisable for the target market. Effective marketing strategy is required to make the product popular among them, which will directly influence its sale.
- The sweet potato flour by Organic Solutions is a perfect healthy alternative for wheat flour and customers tend to trust the brand Nestle regarding food products.
- The product has longer shelf life, versatile use to make culinary dishes and affordable to purchase.
- Nestle must care about the quality of the delivered product as customer satisfaction decides their purchasing decision until next time (Sonnenberg et al. 2013).
Therefore, it has been understood from the above discussion, in order to compete with the existing food companies and their healthy offerings, the market position of organic solutions can be decided on the basis of applying effective promotional strategies and efficient operational strategies to control distribution channels. Organic Solutions can be segmented into human and animal feed and further can be used for making several baked food products. Both the direct and indirect sales will be organised keeping the mission of making Australia healthier. Stakeholders of indirect sales are supermarket and both the physical and virtual retail stores across the nation. The priority of Nestle would be generating brand awareness and capture a minimum proportion of market share within next one decade.
Nestle requires a strategic approach while setting the marketing objective for the emerging brand. There are four important components named as 4p’s of marketing, are needed to be revised before framing promotional strategies.
Sweet potato roots are dried after peeling then a milling session makes them ready as flour. It is used as an alternative of regular wheat flour and it has capability to add natural sweetness, flavour and colour as well while producing baked delicacies or packed food products. It is highly enriched with several nutrients, which makes it consumers’ choice over other existing flour brands (Senanayake et al. 2013).
Background Information on Sweet Potato Flour Market
Being a well-established company; Nestle has adequate number of distribution channels to satisfy the market demand and keep the price affordable for every age and economic group. Longer shelf life does the justice over price and it has made the product noticeable among expensive yet no so healthy food products.
The company has chosen Australia initially to launch the product, keeping the health burden of the nation in mind. As described in Martin et al. (2013), Consumers are looking for fitness clubs, taking initiative to obtain healthy lifestyles across the nation. Considering this sudden dynamism among consumers, Nestlé’s has immense potential for Sweet potato flour under the brand name of Organic Solutions in the Australian market. Retail stores both physical and virtual, super markets and direct stores of Nestle have been decided as initial place from where consumers can avail the product.
Nestle has already market recognition which will help them to earn the trust of the customers. Advertisement in print and digital media is traditional and worth spending for. However, considering the trend and changing business atmosphere organising social media campaigns will be smart as it saves huge monetary resources. Strategic approach and activities will shape the brand image well.
- Nestle can collaborate with eminent doctors’ clinic or ask for their recommendation in order to support the healthy factors strongly related to their brand of sweet potato flour. Those recommendations can be used on packaging or in advertisements to convey its nutrition value (Raheem, Vishnu and Ahmed 2014).
- According to Rutsaert et al. (2013), Creating pages over social networking channels and uploading promotional posts can be helpful to present the product in front of the audiences. Social media works as a tool to measure customer satisfaction and market acceptance as feedbacks are received directly through those channels.
- Initially as an opening offer, Nestle can provide small handbook of recipes that can be cooked using the flour.
- In order to attract the interest of sports and fitness enthusiasts, the company can opt for celebrity endorsement. Selecting a popular sportsperson would be a wise decision to promote the brand.
- A business with sustainable social purpose is likely to sustain in the market too. Therefore, from the very first day of launching, company can announce its mission to make a healthier Australia in near future, which will be appealing enough in front of the target market.
Compliance of marketing strategies is a strong recommendation. Considering the market competition with the other flour brand and wheat flour brands, it can be recommended that strategies must be integrated with Australian’s health issues and social sustainability to increase its potential for sales. Sports persons and patients of diabetes can be prescribed foods made from sweet potato flour. Unique selling point of the product would be its capability of mitigating the ongoing health issues among Australian population.
Conclusion
A detail evaluation of the market continually suggests that health burdens of Australia is the central issue, which can be solved moderately by launching the product. Potential growth opportunity is extremely high if the principles of marketing are followed properly. However, it can be argued that most of the people do not take interest in healthy food alternatives as they prefers taste over their health. In this case, strategic ways must be adopted to increase the product awareness to fight against social health hazards. Monitoring the market with a centralized social media handle and digital channels will add professional edge in operational activities. Moreover, effective pricing strategy, longer shelf life, good quality and trustworthy image of Nestle will help to attain a competitive advantage against existing expensive wheat flour and sweet potato flour brand.
References
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