Consumer behavior remains to be an important factor in any market and the development of a brand. Among the existing variety of such popular food brands like Heinz, Nutella, or Velveeta, the idea to introduce the Australian brand Capilano honey seems to be a difficult and challenging task. The honey industry is not very popular in all American regions; still, small honey chains are in demand (Vanhamme, Hingley, and Lindgreen 338). The choice of this company can be explained. On the one hand, Capilano may be considered as a brand in trouble in the chosen marketplace because of the cultural, lingual, and poor consumer interest barriers. On the other hand, Capilano is a developing brand that has already gained fame in its native country, Australia, and can achieve good results in the USA with time. Therefore, the following consumer behavior based reasons should be mentioned:
- Awareness: Consumers should be aware of the peculiarities of honey and its variety to meet their needs: honey can be used as a marinade, sweetener, etc. (Batt and Liu 290). As soon as they have enough knowledge about this product, they would be eager to buy it and pay attention to the quality.
- Motivation: People can be motivated to pay more attention to the Capilano’s production as high-quality honey may be defined as a need for people to improve their health and enjoy a natural product (Onkvisit and Shaw 222).
- Attitude: Capilano has already gained a good reputation in Australia. The company offers its customers a “hive to home” experience and a number of benefits associated with quality and trust (“Capilano Story: Hive to Home, par. 1). The Americans can consider this popularity and want to try the products.
- Attention to personality: This reason touches upon different aspects of a person like cultural differences that may inspire a customer to make a choice or reject a product, individualism that can be a good motivating issue, or a human desire to discover and try something new.
STP Analysis on the Brand
An STP analysis is an opportunity to understand the essence of segmentation as the process of dividing the chosen market and brand into several groups regarding its geographic, demographic, behavioral, and psychographic criteria. As for the demographic segment, it is possible to say that honey industry may be interesting to all age groups of people from middle and lower classes because prices on this product are not too high, and it turns out to be a good and cheaper in its use replacement for sugar. It is possible for Capilano to attract more attention of the rich consumers explaining a high quality of the offered production and a true worth of honey as a means to improve health and choose a healthier lifestyle. The identification of a lifestyle concept is a part of a psychographic segment of the analysis. Capilano is the brand that may be interesting to people, who appreciate the worth of natural product and consider the idea of cultural diversity as a chance to experiment and benefit with some new practices. Ethnicity remains to be a crucial factor for people to use honey in the household (Batt and Liu 291). Finally, such personality trait like the need for uniqueness can be applied to the chosen brand. Some people are eager to use simple things that make them different from the rest. It is a good chance for Capilano to offer its American consumers the option of using a natural product without any chemical or other constituents.
The analysis of the Capilano’s segments shows that the following aspects are troublesome for the company:
- Not all Americans are aware of the company’s products and are ready to make their choice;
- Capilano does not focus on advertising so that the consumers are not sure to learn about the product;
- Capilano can but does not find it necessary to explain the worth of natural products for people and pay more attention to the quality of the products it offers.
Brand’s Position in the Market
The position of Capilano in the market is of double nature. The company has already made an attempt to export its products to about 30 countries (“Our Products: International” par. 1), still, not many people know a lot about the worth and quality of Capilano’s production. The current honeybee colonies in the USA undergo considerable challenges (Engelsdorp, Caron, Hayes, and Pettis 116), and it is possible and desirable for the Americans to use import products. Though cultural and geographic issues may become a challenge for the company, consumers’ needs for quality, taste, and trust can be used as a means to succeed and develop sales in different regions. Many people want to try new and interesting products. The Americans like to experiment, and the Australians consider the quality and trust the most. Capilano may overcome the troubles it faces today in the USA and continue developing good international relations.
Works Sited
Batt, Peter, J. and Aijun Liu. “Consumer Behavior towards Honey Products in Western Australia.” British Food Journal 114.2 (2012): 285-297.
“Capilano Story: Hive to Home.” Capilano. n.d. Web.
Engelsdorp, Dennis, Caron, Dewey, Hayes, Jerry, and Jeffery Pettis. “A National Survey of Managed Honey Bee 2010-11 Winter Colony Losses in the USA: Results from the Bee Informed Partnership.” Journal of Apicultural Research 51.1 (2012): 115-124.
Onkvisit, Sak and John Shaw. International Marketing: Strategy and Theory. New York, NY: Routledge, 2009. Print.
“Our Products: International.” Capilano. n.d. Web.
Vanhamme, Joelle, Hingley, Martin, K., and Adam Lindgreen. The Crisis of Food Brands: Sustaining Safe, Innovative and Competitive Food Supply. Surrey, England: Gower Publishing, 2012. Print.