A review of the company’s market segmentation, target customers and market positioning will follow, which will consequently lead onto the concluding suggested plans of market penetration, from distribution to pricing tactics. The purpose of this analysis is to explore the opportunities for O! Live Factor in the UK olive tapered market in the prospect of the launch of their product, as well as the threats it will have to face in the process. O! Vie Factor will have to exceed first time round in order to gain a portion of the market, by not only establishing but also maintaining a stable position in customers’ choices. 3 II. Method Dunham data organized in a workbook of graphs and tables was examined, which provided with the bulk of the numerical data featuring in this document. The figures used to assemble these tables are the figures relative to the performance on the UK market between September 2008 and August 2010, of a number of products, namely nine-teen, of the same type as the one in question, hence all different brands of olive tapelines.
The list of products taken into consideration for the purpose of this analysis: Ablaze Green Olive Tapered EGG Niccole Olive Oil spread 5006 Creaminess Olive Spread 5006 Creeps Black Olive Tapered 1006 Creeps Green Olive Tapered 1006 La Manson Mille Savers Bulk Levelheaded EGG La Manson Mille Savers Hot Oliver Dependable EGG Pone Master With Tom Olive Paste+ Basil 2006 Pone Olive Spread Classic 1006 Pone Olive Spread For Fish + Poultry EGG Pone Olive Spread For Meat 1006 Pone Olive Spread For Salad 1006 Own Label Organic Olive Spread 5006 Own Label Enriched Olive Spread 2506 Own Label premium Greek Olive Spread 2506 Own Label premium* Green Olive Tapered EGG Own Label Olive Light Spread 5006 Own Label Olive Spread 1 Keg Own Label Olive Spread 5006 Subsequently, with respect to the information regarding the company profile, background and range of products promoted by O! Live Factor, the company’s own website was adequately resourceful, despite the lack of direction on the company history and records.
Guidance as concerns the industry overview, taking into consideration both the Greek, home, and the I-J, host, markets, was found in the e- journal collection, through indexing services such as KeyNote, a collection of full market reports, and Remuneration, the Global Market Information Database which insists of an integrated online information system, which offer information in the form of international reports on countries, companies, markets and consumers. Additional research for this product was completed with the help of Journals and textbooks, such as the Harvard Business School Edition Cases and Readings in “Global Marketing Management”. 4 Ill. Phase I Report The objective of Phase I was to first of all, provide a detailed overview of O! Live Factor as a company, followed by an insight on the product to be launched on the UK market, the olive tapered range sold under the company name. Finally, an in-depth analysis of the industry we will be looking to enter was then conducted, with particular attention to the current situation and trends shaping the Greek market. A. Company Background O! Vie Factor offers a range of finer quality foods and a collection of affordable beauty products for the body and skin, all of which are conceived taking full advantage of the properties of the olive as an active natural ingredient. The values behind the brand give the company an exceptional position on the market: O! Live Factor seeks to offer all organic, superior quality foods and pure, effective yet affordable beauty products ND cosmetically. Its products are realized with in mind a new holistic philosophy of well-being: learning to look after the body and skin not only cosmetically, but also from the inside, through a balanced healthy diet.
The company proposes a wide range of beauty products which include cleansing lotions, handmade soaps, skin creams with recovering as well as initiating virtues, body milks and oils and hair products. The food range includes extra virgin olive oils, marinated olives and olive tapelines, organic pasta sauces, desserts and cookies. The main feature that distinguishes O! Vie Factor’s products from most of its competitors’ is the authenticity of the ingredients that constitute them. The brand exhibits products all of which are prepared from scratch, exploiting the nutritional values of the olive tree as a basis for its genuine formulas and recipes.
The efficacy of the natural ingredients is preserved through a unique and necessarily slow extraction method accomplished naturally. As a result, O! Live Factor products contain proven natural ingredients, “traditionally handpicked” in order to retain the highest possible nutritional properties. 5 The concept of nature as a luxurious treat for the body is the essence of O! Live Factor’s marketing strategy. O! Live Factor in fact launched itself on the market proposing a return to simplicity and, as announced on their website, promises to “preserve the natural goodness of authentic Greek produce”. O! Live Factor embraces an integrated approach to beauty: “the beauty from within”.
Based in Greece, the company supplies the notorious Hondo Centre, beauty centre which has for the past 20 years controlled the Hellenic beauty market (Gastritis, 2003), and cosmetics shops, s well as supermarket chains. Amid the products offered in the O! Live Factor food range, it was decided that the most appropriate for initiation overseas is the company’s own olive tapelines range, with the aim to gain a stable portion of the tapelines market in the I-J. Olive tapered is a spread or paste traditionally consisting of purrDe or finely chopped olives as a base ingredient, aromatic spices and olive oil, to which anything from anchovies to feta cheese can be added to taste. It is typically served as an appetizer on crackers, crossing or crusty bread, or as a dip.
It can also be used as a spread in sandwiches, as a healthy option to mayonnaise or butter, as a salad or pasta condiment or even in cooking, in both meat and fish dishes. The O! Live Factor olive tapered range includes: the organic green olive tapered and organic black Kalmia olive tapered with feta cheese and spinach. All ingredients used to conceive both of these products are certified organic, cultivated with traditional environment-friendly and energy-saving methods, sourced and processed avoiding the use of any chemical substances, synthetic 6 additives and preservatives. The first, a simpler traditional version of the recipe which would appeal to the least knowledgeable consumers in regards to this type of product, a “sampler”.
A unique combination of Greek green olives in real lemon and orange Juice, with a hint of oregano and garlic to season, would be ideal as a dip, salad dressing or sandwich spread: a healthy and tasty option to butter and mayonnaise. The second product would be launched in the I-J market as a more sophisticated version, aimed to attract the tapered connoisseurs among the consumers. Advertised on the company catalogue as “the distinctive taste of Greece”, his recipe is prepared with black Kalmia olives, feta cheese, spinach, Extra Virgin olive oil, orange Juice, garlic, cayenne and mint. O! Live Factor suggests it be served as a pasta or rice dressing, on pizza or as an enriching ingredient in fish dishes.
In order to gain a better understanding of the opportunities the UK market has to offer for a new product to Join its already existing olive tapered range, and to somewhat forecast how successful the launch is expected to be, an insight on the situation on the home market is necessary, with particular attention to customers’ response to O! Vie Factor’s main features: a healthy lifestyle and environmentalism packaging. As detailed above, O! Live Factor is a Greek company which already supplies the well-known Hondo beauty centre, along with cosmetic shops and supermarket chains in Greece. Increasingly difficult for the Greeks to maintain the healthy “Mediterranean style” diet this country, among others, is so renowned for. As a result of this, Western eating habits have substituted the once balanced and varied diet, which has evidently had an impact on the obese and overweight population percentages in Greece, as shown in Figure 1 below. 7
Figure 1 : Obese and Overweight Population 2005-2009. The table shows that between 2005 and 2009 both the obese and overweight population in Greece have grown steadily every year, a trend that is forecasted to persist unless customers implement a healthier, natural diet. Many consumers in Greece, despite having acknowledged the fact that their health is suffering as a result of their lifestyle, are not in a position to dedicate more time to develop proper healthier eating habits. In Greece, the production of organic products is low and prices are a lot higher than those from the conventional range; however, nutritionally icier products are gradually gaining popularity among Greek consumers.
Moreover, although many manufacturers are targeting the Greek public with new products containing nutrients and ingredients that promise to keep weight levels down and grant health benefits, most consumers are still oblivious to the specific properties some health-oriented ingredients offer. Therefore, it is evident that a more educated consumer would be more likely to purchase products offering virtues they fully comprehend. In the meantime, Greek consumers will continue either with their eely acquired fast-food habits, or with a healthy more traditional option, opting for fresh fruit and vegetables, fish and meat, as they have been educated on the long- term benefits they offer.
Furthermore, regarding the echo-friendly trends characteristic population, data on Remuneration 2010 claims that Greece stands as one of the most environmentally aware European countries. Thus, for O! Live Factor like most brands wanting to appeal to a mainly Greek public, it is of utmost importance to promise that all cosmetically be dermatological tested, not on animals, and do not include banned elements. In addition, packaging with O! Live Factor is always conceived with opportunities for risibility or respectability in mind, always 8 selecting natural sustainable materials, such as glass, in preference, in order to meet customer requests as far as environmental protection is concerned. O! Vie Factor supplies the Hondo Center, the leading Greek retailer of cosmetics and toiletries and enlisted among the largest known cosmetic chains and distribution networks in Europe. Hondo Center operates a chain of specialty shops throughout the country, and O! Live Factor being one of its many famous suppliers, amongst which Clique, Christian Dior and Lanaöme, gives the company a great image of authenticity and class yet at an affordable price, due to the Hondo Centers being so well-known for its reasonably priced high quality products. Consequently, O! Live Factor has achieved the image it so proudly promotes on its website also thanks to the help of Hondo Center, major known beauty centre in Greece.
The company will without doubt be looking to establish itself on the I-J market preferably maintaining the same pure and high-rank yet inexpensive reputation. 9 IV. Phase II Report The purpose of Phase Ill of this review is to examine the opportunities and threats presented by the market we will be looking to enter, the I-J market. In fact, this phase elaborates data regarding market size, market trends and competition concerning the olive tapered market in the I-J. The continuous popularity of ranges such as the “Count On Us” products supplied by Unique and launched by Marks and Spencer, which include low-fat dairy desserts aiming to provide indulgent products yet maintaining a balanced healthy diet, proves that the desire for healthy eating is high amongst the English population.
Due to one of the potential occasions olive tapered might be consumed, as a healthy option snack, consumer trends related to the purchase of snack products are also of interest to our research. There is, in particular, a rising demand for healthier snack alternatives, such as yoghurt and small packages of cheese, which is clearly positive from our prospective, seen as O! Live Factor aims to position itself in that very market, with its newly launched olive tapelines. In order to make an educated decision on the strategic steps to follow for a successful launch on the I-J olive tapered market, n in-depth situation analysis of the trends and fluctuations shaping this market is necessary. Market Size As explored above, the uses of olive tapered are many.
Therefore, the research of data concerning its consumption trends is somewhat complicated and touches a number of markets, depending on the user, due to the number of labels this product would appear to match – rarely does the tapered market constitute a study alone, so it generally appears to be identified as a dip, a spread, sauce or paste. For the purpose of this section of this study, we will define tapered as a dip, its primary use. 10 The dips market in the UK has been experiencing a steady growth in size in the past 5 years, as shown in the graph beside (Figure 2). We have thus primary element of proof that it is the best time to attracting more and more consumers over time. Figure 2: Dips market size in the I-J.
Market Trends An analysis of the changes shaping the market we wish to enter is crucial because it is often useful to shed some light on new opportunities and threats characteristic the market. The olive tapered market presents significant fluctuations which are represented unambiguously in the graph below (Figure 3). The data used to construct his chart is the data relative to the key players on the I-J olive tapered market to date, brands such as Creeps and Deco’s own for example. 110 Sales Value 70 Sales Volume Average Price 50 20 September 2008 August 2010 Figure 3: Sales value, sales volume and average price of selected olive tapered brands on the UK market. 11 unfortunately experienced an extraordinary decrease in sales volume and value, accompanied by only a slight decrease in average price.
A more meticulous analysis of the graph draws our attention to two events which shaped the olive tapered market in the I-J between 2008 and 2010. First, at the end of 2008, we notice the highest peak in sales volume and value, with a corresponding major decrease in price as an apparent cause. Second, all through 2009, a fall in sales volume and value, not accompanied this time by a terribly exceptional rise in price, which leads us to believe that other events, such as for example the financial crisis taking an effect on buyers’ behavior, played a part in that particular instance. Right after that dubious performance, the sales volume of olive tapelines peaked over two-fold at the start of 2010, accompanied by a remarkable rise in sales value also.
Nevertheless, the bigger picture suggests that the olive tapered market in the UK experienced indeed an approximate 75% fall in sales value, due to the equally as rapid fall in sales volume and the moderate price fall, starting the end of 2008 which went all the way up to the start of 2010, where performance picked up slowly yet steadily. This last section of our graph, relative to 2010 performance, gives therefore a slightly more optimistic view about the future for the olive tapered market in the I-J. According to the research, amongst the main competitors in the industry are RE Mar & Co. Ltd and Milliner Bestowed I-J Ltd. The former, an independently owned group involved in the import and distribution of foods, distributed brands such as Bernoulli olive products and Gaga Greek foods. The latter, a market leader worldwide, in all food groupings in which it operates, distributed food brands such as Flora spreads and Amoral dressings.
These two companies do not constitute a threat to entering the olive tapered market Just as yet, but certainly do intimidate new entrants through their strategy of rapid innovation and development of new products which immediately appear to be successful due to their reputation and collection of loyal customers. 12 After a brief forecast of what the face of competition might look like in time, it is necessary to examine the olive tapered market more concretely. The graph below (Figure 4) clearly represents O! Live Factor’s current rivalry on the I-J market taking into consideration eight variables: sales value and volume, distribution, customer penetration, customers, price, frequency of purchase and loyalty. Creeps Green Olive Tapered (egg) appears to hold the greatest part of market share, possibly due to
