International Marketing Assignment Sample
Introduction
Economic globalization and technological emergence has widened the scope of market expansion throughout the globe to utilize the production surplus through business efficiency for growing opportunities of positive profit margin and bigger share of market. International marketing involves cross border transactions of products and services to avail it for the global population and gain brand recognition with high revenue generation. In this report, the details of international marketing strategies of The Raw Chocolate company in Australia for the product chocolate Bar will be elaborated briefly.
Background
The Raw Chocolate Company is the United Kingdom (UK) based chocolate company which was established in 2006 by Linus Grope with a lot of experiments in raw cocoa and came up with completely vegan and organic chocolate. The company has less than 100 employees and annual revenue is around $14 million through the manufacturing of pure chocolate bars, raw chocolate berries and bagged supreme foods (The Raw Chocolate Company, 2022). The company has offered six exclusive silky smooth chocolate bars in two different sizes where raw chocolate Mulberries, Goji berries and Raisins have gained market confidence over the world.
Market overview
The Australian market is quite promising for The Raw Chocolate Company where it would be able to garner a positive market opportunity and the marketing environment is discussed through Porter five forces for actualizing the business objectives in a definite manner. Australia is well known for its chocolate and confectionary industry which is worth more than $3 billion and tends to grow in the upcoming future which influences the market expansion of the Raw Chocolate Company in Australia (Gearon et al., 2021).
Porter’s five forces
Power of supplier
Power of suppliers for the raw chocolate in Australia is high where raw materials Cocoa have to be resourced from Australia along with other countries and it will take time to effectively coordinate and integrate the supply chain network. The Cocoa beans and other ingredients are grinder for a smooth absorption in mouth and in case of the Raw Chocolate it needs to be negotiated closely for a better and continued supply for a long term sustainable source of high quality ingredients. The global value chain is largely disrupted due to the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and needs to be redeveloped with possible ways and policies for aligning business structure according to partner’s capability and performance (Neilson et al., 2018).
Bargaining power of buyer
Bargaining power of the buyer is low and market transactions depend on the quality of the product and the health benefit of the chocolate bar. Customers are well habituated to buy chocolate products at market price where the product quality and health awareness will attract the buyer to this raw chocolate bar product. Moreover, the health consciousness and sustainability practices are well developed in the Raw Chocolate manufacturing and other business processes which have a positive influence in public minds to garner positive market response (Siddique and Bakar, 2021).
Competitive rivalry
It needs to be mentioned that the Australian chocolate market is highly competitive where big players such as KitKat, Cadbury, Snickers, Cherry Rips are having a good market share as well as consumer confidence in those products. The Raw Chocolate has to compete with those big players for gaining a fair share of the market in Australia and gain a positive profit margin with consumer loyalty and trust. Nearly 11 million people of Australia consumes chocolate bar daily as a supplementary food habit with nutrition consciousness and raw chocolate has to face competitive business rivalry from the existing players (Mena et al., 2020).
Figure 1: Porter five forces analysis
(Source: Mena et al., 2020)
Threats of substitutes
Threat of substitutes is considered high for the Raw Chocolate Company where switching cost is quite nominal and often people alter the product brand for a change in taste and smoothness. The substitute’s products are not as qualified and smooth the offered quality of the company which are completely vegan and organic accompanying the sustainability practices in manufacturing as well as in overall business operation. It has to penetrate the product in the market compromising the Australian culture and lifestyle for increasing brand reputation and trust over the product and cut the threats of substitutes gradually with enhanced public perceptions.
Threat of new entrants
The threat of new entry is considered low for the Raw Chocolate Company where it has already earned the global recognition through its award winning formula for manufacturing organic and vegan chocolate with the source of renewable energy. New entrants have to establish a different manufacturing procedure for the product having differences with the other products where it is both cost and time effective to gain market influence through competitiveness.
International STP
Segmentation
The chocolate market is segmented on the basis of type, category, competitional landscape, region and distribution channel where the Raw chocolate is looking to expand the market for the chocolate bar product. The company has six types of silky smooth chocolate bars to introduce in the Australian market in different flavours along with white, dark and milk chocolate where in the category it chose only chocolate bars to gain the market confidence and earn the positive revenue. In addition to that, it is further segmented by product types into soft lines, countlines, moulded chocolate and others to reach the public with specific desire to taste the Chocolate with personal choice, preferences and interest (Lee et al., 2021). The distribution channel basis market segmentation includes the departmental stores, foodcourt, retailer, convenience stores, supermarket, hyper market , online and other physical stores or kiosks. Specifically, the regional market segmentation also referred to the distribution of product throughout the corners of the country in different states with popularized product content to gain market confidence through the country. The segmentation on product ingredients was also considered for the market where it introduced the vegan and organic chocolate for both the vegetarian and non-vegetarian person as well as climate consciousness of the people.
Targeting
Chocolate is considerably popular for all age groups and genders where children and women are the bulk buyer of the product and are the main targeting for the chocolate bar in Australia. Children and young adults of age group 18-35 are the primary target of the company to gain influence in the market operation through its vegan and organic chocolate product. The targeting strategies are based on the market consumption of chocolate bars as it helps the people to keep in accord with the evolving taste and ingredient of the product. The Raw Chocolate Company revolutionized the product with the ingredients of purely vegan and certified organic products with ethical sourcing and sustainability practice for targeting (Camilleri, 2018). The vegan people as well as women, kids, children, and non-vegan young adults are being targeted for the international marketing expansion of the chocolate bar product for the Raw chocolate company in Australia. The product is also made of refined sugar free ingredients which may have potential to gain confidence from sugar-phobic people of Australia.
Positioning
Market positioning is one of the crucial aspects of any product to gain a high reputation in the market which influences the market sale and revenue generation with impact on the overall business process. The product Chocolate bar of the Raw Chocolate company has been positioned itself through its bold caption of vegan, organic and refined sugar free product which may garner a positive market reputation in the Australian market (Beck and Ladwig, 2021). It offers the chance of intaking organic and vegan products for health and nutritional benefit to the individual along with that the practice of sustainability also positively influences the responsible citizen of Australia. The products are manufactured with renewable energy and packaged with biodegradable products which are gaining market confidence amid growing concerns of global warming and other climate change effects across the globe. The company also concentrated on the quality of the product with ethical sourcing of Cocoa beans and naming the chocolate as raw which is broadcasted to gain public confidence and market reputation for the brand (Fayvishenko, 2018).
Action programme (marketing strategies)
Global market expansion is highly related with the marketing strategies of the company to expose the product in the market with all possible directions to gain the consumer confidence as well as high market share for fulfilling the business objectives in foreign market. The product, place and price are the important things to consider the marketing strategies to get benefited from the market transactions with gaining positive responses with increased trust, loyalty and repeated market transactions.
Product
The chosen product is the chocolate bar which is available in six types by The Raw Chocolate Company and these are not hated above 42 degrees to retain the goodness of the product to eat natural and clean. The rawness in the product is the core competence of the product in the market competition to help the product in gaining public confidence with its uniqueness. Apart from that, these products of the company have achieved great taste awards with a variety of flavour to earn public attention while purchasing the chocolate products where the Cocoa beans have been sun dried and not heat treated to keep the product close to its natural state. It is the product line of the brand to be introduced in the Australian market which has already managed to achieve huge appreciation around the world and will be perfect to expand the market in Australia. The product will be introduced as an extension of the existing brand to gain market sustenance with approved customer confidence over the product. In a specific note, the product needs to be adapted according to the local food habits and taste quotient for the long term sustainability with the closeness of local culture and tradition as per product development shown in Ansoff Matrix (Schawel, C. and Billing, F., 2018.).
Place
The retail and online distribution channel will be chosen for a wide scale market distribution of the product where the improved availability of the product in supermarkets, departmental stores and convenience stores through the engagement of intermediaries for market development. The intermediaries are distributor, wholesaler and agents who are involved in product placing where the online channel will comprise the warehouse store and inventory to quickly deliver the product as per consumer request (Melacini et al., 2018). The use of Omni-channel distribution will regularize the market operation of the product in the Australian market for easy and quick accessibility upon the customer request to maintain balance between market demand and cash flow operation with transparency and accountability (Hao and Tan, 2019). The use of distribution channels are not different from the home country where the applications will be narrowed down in the starting phase and gradually optimize the usability of all types of distribution channels which are accompanied in the home country to outreach the consumer.
Price
Pricing is the most significant part of developing marketing strategy for market expansion in foreign markets which has to be coordinated and collaborated according to local market standards to incline the business process with consumer satisfaction and purchasing power parity. Low pricing strategy is subjected to gain consumer confidence and increased business transactions of the chocolate bar products in the foreign market. Integration of the supply chain helps the company to reduce the market price of the product compared to the business rival in the market. The use of emerging technology also cut down the losses in the supply chain through real time monitoring and coordination with improved product lifecycle management and helped to keep the price low with innovative practices (Ungerman et al., 2018). Seasonal price reduction festival offers and free delivery above the shopping of £50 are carried away as pricing strategies of the company in home country which also need to be incorporated in the Australian market for increased sales.
Marketing communications plan
Marketing communication is the useful process to enhance the product awareness in the population through useful media interaction and interventions in social and public affairs and garner positive responses for stimulating the purchasing behaviour of the consumer.
| State the name of the Brand
The Raw Chocolate Company |
| Why are we communicating?
The communications are aiming to build awareness, create interest, motivate purchasing behaviour, promotion of brand and product and increment of selling. |
| Who are we talking to?
The children, young adults aged 18-35 and the sugar phobic people |
| What do you want consumers to think and feel a result of communication?
Think about the sustainability practice for climate consciousness as well as veganism and ethical procurement where the feeling of confidence in the product for health and nutritional benefit with the taste of raw chocolate |
| What are the key benefits or value of the offering?
Organic chocolate close to natural taste, low pricing and discount offer |
| What do we want our customers to do?
Eat the chocolate daily and gain the healthy supplementary from raw chocolate |
Table 1: Creative brief for Communication agency
(Source: Self-created)
The combination of both digital and traditional communication will be helpful for the communication strategy of the company in the foreign market to gain the public correspondence for the product with increased market share and business transaction. The traditional method of advertising through the media, Television, newspaper, leaflet, and pamphlet and billboard will garner a wide spectrum of public awareness with the marketing message and subliminal advertising method. In order to influence the customer psychology for the purchasing decisions the effective strategy is to differentiate, reinforce, inform and persuade the target customer for growing product sales as well as growth of market (Ahmed, N., 2021).
On the other hand, the use of digital communication with the marketing communication mix through advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, public relations will be undertaken as the communication plan to fulfil the business objective in foreign markets (Bacik et al., 2018). The interactive and Omni-channel communication with the use of social media and digital marketing for online selling are better appreciated throughout the globe for increased traffic in e-commerce platforms (Soedarsono et al., 2020). The communication strategy will be the same as the home country to interact with the customers and coordinate the consumer feedback in product development and marketing has positive potential to boost the foreign market operation through market competitiveness. The cultural issues of language barrier, masculinity, power distance, avoidance of uncertainty are important in marketing communication to collaborate the market trend and purchasing behaviour of the population. The public interaction through recruiting the local employee will be helpful for the company to coordinate the public preference and satisfaction through business transactions and help improvise the marketing communication for business prosperity.
Strategic planning, implementation and control
Strategic planning as well as implementation and control are effectively driving the business prospectus of the company on foreign markets which outline the plans to co-operate the business mission, vision and objectives in near future. It helps to formulate the roadmap for future progress with initiative and innovation to proceed with the regulated plan to achieve the goals suitably and reflect in business outcome with high rate of success. The Ansoff matrix framework is useful for The Raw Chocolate Company for strategic planning of business structure and change management for gaining positive public response with profit margin and flourishing the organizational stand and reputation in the foreign market. The strategy of market development in the foreign market and product development are without risk in doing business progress in the foreign market. On the contrary, the product diversification will be full of risk where the company has to introduce the old product of the existing market in the foreign soil to avoid the risk of product diversification. The organizational leadership has to acknowledge the marketing environment of Australia to accommodate strategic planning of the business structure as well as market communication to coordinate the market offer with the business operation for a positive market influence.
The incorporation of emerging technology of industry 4.0 will be helpful for effective monitoring and control and implement the strategic planning of business objectives in the Australian market through real time communication and integration of business processes. It will make the organization responsive and reflective to the market trend and consumer behaviour with data driven decision making and increment effort of the customer (Masaev et al., 2020). On a brief note, effective planning in accordance with human capital alignment will effectively help to implement the strategic planning in organizational external and internal environments with improved motivation, skill and attitude to gain the business goal altogether. The leadership engagement with the employee will influence the organizational decision making as well as strategic planning to gain the business objectives, thwarting the risk early with active steps and resource management. Employee motivation is one of the prime factors to implement the strategic planning in the organizational context to improve the business environment in foreign market. The recognition, and reward as well as empathy toward the employee help the leadership to gain trust, liability and development prospectus of the employee to strategically align the employee with the business process.
Periodic audit of organizational performance will effectively monitor the rate of progress as per the planning which assesses development of the organizational capability for market responsiveness. Moreover, the integration of business processes has the potential to enhance the cross functionally among the different processes which will effectively help the organization to optimize the resources as per necessary (Panda, 2021). The close supervision of leadership for business alignment and planning helped the management to coordinate the market development in the Australian market for the Raw Chocolate Company.
Conclusion
From the above discussions, it has been concluded that the market expansion strategy of The Raw Chocolate Company in the Australian market is fluently organized to gain business efficiency through brief analyzing the marketing environment before entering the foreign market. The Porter five forces model has helped to acknowledge the possibilities and obstacles in the foreign market where Ansoff matrix framework for product development along with market penetration is useful to gain positive market response in the Australian market. The strategic planning as in accordance with the segmentation, targeting, positioning along with product, place and price are effectively define the business objectives of the company through marketing communication mix for strategic implementation and effective control of business in foreign market.
References
Ahmed, N., 2021. Marketing Communication: Creation of Effective Strategy.
Bacik, R., Fedorko, R., Nastisin, L. and Gavurova, B., 2018. Factors of communication mix on social media and their role in forming customer experience and brand image. Management & Marketing, 13(3), pp.1108-1118.
Beck, V. and Ladwig, B., 2021. Ethical consumerism: veganism. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 12(1), p.e689.
Camilleri, M.A., 2018. Market segmentation, targeting and positioning. In Travel marketing, tourism economics and the airline product (pp. 69-83). Springer, Cham.
Gearon, E., Riesenberg, D., Backholer, K., Cameron, A.J., Sacks, G., Mhurchu, C.N. and Peeters, A., 2021. Energy-dense, nutrient-poor food and beverage sales in Australia: where and when products are sold, and how sales are changing over time. Public Health Nutrition, 24(2), pp.193-202.
Hao, L. and Tan, Y., 2019. Who wants consumers to be informed? Facilitating information disclosure in a distribution channel. Information Systems Research, 30(1), pp.34-49.
Lee, Y.M., Chung, S.J., Prescott, J. and Kim, K.O., 2021. Flavor profiling by consumers segmented according to product involvement and food neophobia. Foods, 10(3), p.598..
Masaev, S.N., Vingert, V.V., Bogdanov, A.V. and Salal, Y.K., 2020, November. A strategic planning of a digital copy (an enterprise) as a task of control a dynamic system. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 1679, No. 3, p. 032010). IOP Publishing.
Melacini, M., Perotti, S., Rasini, M. and Tappia, E., 2018. E-fulfilment and distribution in omni-channel retailing: a systematic literature review. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management.
Mena, B., Ashman, H., Dunshea, F.R., Hutchings, S., Ha, M. and Warner, R.D., 2020. Exploring meal and snacking behaviour of older adults in Australia and China. Foods, 9(4), p.426.
Neilson, J., Pritchard, B., Fold, N. and Dwiartama, A., 2018. Lead firms in the cocoa–chocolate global production network: an assessment of the deductive capabilities of GPN 2.0. Economic Geography, 94(4), pp.400-424.
Panda, D.K., 2021. Impact of organizational culture on strategic planning. Management Decision.
Schawel, C. and Billing, F., 2018. Ansoff-Matrix. In Top 100 Management Tools (pp. 31-33). Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden.
Siddique, M. and Bakar, A., 2021. A study on the consumer behavior of health food drinks sachet packs.
Soedarsono, D.K., Mohamad, B., Adamu, A.A. and Pradita, K.A., 2020. Managing Digital Marketing Communication of Coffee Shop Using Instagram. International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies, 14(5)…
The Raw Chocolate Company. 2022. The Raw Chocolate Co.. [online] Available at: <https://therawchocolatecompany.com/> [Accessed 25 March 2022]
Ungerman, O., Dedkova, J. and Gurinova, K., 2018. The impact of marketing innovation on the competitiveness of enterprises in the context of industry 4.0. Journal of competitiveness, 10(2), p.132.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Know more about UniqueSubmission’s other writing services:
