Marketing of Bellamy Organic Australian Food Manufacturing Firm

Question: Discuss about the Marketing of Bellamy Organic. Answer: Introduction: The assignment seeks to explore an organisation and its international marketing approach. Bellamy, the Australian pioneer in organic baby food manufacturing and marketing forms the centre of the study. The paper is divided into four sections followed by a conclusion. The first section gives a brief overview of the company and its operations. The second section is the SWOT analysis of Bellamy while the third section is an analysis of its market. The fourth section recommends a country that the company should enter paying attention to the marketing mix. The chosen country is India and it finds mention throughout the paper to make the study more logical and lucid. Overview of Bellamy: Bellamy is an Australian organic food manufacturing and marketing firm wholly owned by Bellamy Australia which was founded as Tasmanian Pure Food Limited. The company was one of the pioneers of organic baby food and is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. The revenue of the company was over 40 billion Australian dollars. Products: Bellamy manufactures and markets organic food for children which is made from natural ingredients like rice, oats and other naturally available food source. The company aims to make product which are free from chemicals and are easy to digest giving children wholesome nutrition. The baby products are available in three variants-0-6 months, 6-12 months and more than 3 years. The food items include porridge made from rice, ready to serve baby food, milk rusk and cereals. Bellamy also provides guidance to new parents on parenthood which add to the customer benefits (Bellamy's Organic 2017). Current marketing situation and processes: The current market position of Bellamy is very strong owing to the goodwill of being a pioneer in its segment and offering products certified by National Association for Sustainable Agriculture Australia(NASAA). The company markets its products as premium Australian organic baby food range and holds nearly 95% of the market. As per a leading daily, the Australian infant food manufacturers are expanding into new markets like Asia. Bellamy has a great market share in Asia as well (Song, Wang and Cavusgil 2015). The main marketing strategy of Bellamy in foreign markets like Asia is catering to the baby care concerns of mothers with high quality organic infant food. The company sells non formula based baby food in Singapore and has experienced increase in sales by 200 percent. The failure of Chinese baby food companies to provide organic food has caused death of six babies. Bellamy used this market opportunity to enter Chinese market with its high quality baby food products. Another important process of Bellamy remains its power to create products suiting Chinese tastes like red dates. The wide promotion processes of the company make products available both to the Australian and foreign customers. The company also promotes and sells products online through Alibaba and its won official website (Akerman and Akerman 2017). Product life cycle: The products of Bellamy Organic are in the matured stage of their life cycle. They are well known to customers and enjoy great market position. They are premium products which have allowed the company to expand into the profitable and emerging markets of Asia like China and Singapore. SWOT analysis Strengths Weakness 1. High quality premium products. 2. The products are packed with macronutrients like protein and carbohydrates and micronutrients like vitamins and minerals. They provide wholesome growth infants. 3. The products are organic and free from any chemicals and animal enzymes. 4. Caters to the high income parents who seek quality baby food for their children. 5. The company can cater to the requirements of new markets like China and Singapore. 6. The products can also be ordered online which allows the company to cater to a global consumer base. 1. Very high priced products cannot be affordable by all. 2. Faces strict supervision from government bodies 3. Faces stiff competition from Nestle which is the largest food manufacturer. 4. Has poor physical presence and shipping products from Australia often takes a lot of time. Opportunities Threats 1. Has great scope to explore new markets like India. 2. Enjoys certification from EU which allows it to operate in the developed European markets with high income customers. 3. Carries out innovation and introducing new products. 4. Can expand its product line to compete with competitors like Nestle. For example, manufacturing organic chocolate bars, ice creams and so on. 1. Powerful competitors like Hienz and Nestle. 2. Threats from baby food manufacturers like Amul in India which also manufacturers organic infant food (Amul.com 2017). 3. Complicated legal and government policies governing baby food manufacturers. Analysis Customer market: Bellamy is a premium infant food product and infants are its primary customers. The company manufactures high quality food products which has earned it a high market position in Australia. It seeks to expand its customer market into new host countries like India. The parents and doctors are the secondary customers of the company (Yiannakis, Girard and MacDonald 2014). Current segmentation: The current market segmentation of Bellamy is the new born babies, babies with a year old and infants older than that. The financially market segmentation of the company shows that it caters to the upper class of the society who can afford premium baby food. Recommendations of entering a suitable country-India: The company must offer high quality baby food products in India. The reason for this is that India herself has a huge cattle population which can provide with high quality milk as raw materials. Bellamy should price its products a bit lower than Australia because India already has competitors like Nestle and Amul. These companies provide high quality organic baby food which are affordable. Hence, in order to compete with these rivals Bellamy should adopt appropriate pricing strategies in India (Trebbin 2014). Bellamy should set its own chain to distribution to promote and distribute its products. India has big retail chains like Spencer which cater to the financially strong customers. The country has a wide range of retail shops which provide deep market penetration. The country has also experienced a digital boom and has emerged as one of the biggest online market for ecommerce companies. Bellamy should use these three modes, retail chains, retail shops and digital platforms to promote and sell its products (Venkatesh, Rathi and Patwa 2015). The company should work towards sustainable development of the suppliers like cow owners to create a stronger social image (Zhang, Jiang and Li 2014). Conclusion: The paper shows that international expansion is based on the capacity of a company to understand the market requirements and adapt its strategies accordingly. Bellamy was able to cater to the demands in the Chinese market which helped it to replace even the local companies. The company should enter India with its products which will give it a stronger hold that is enjoyed by Nestle and Hienz. References: Akerman, P. and Akerman, P. 2017. Firms feasting on Asian demand. [online] Theaustralian.com.au. 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