Impossible Foods is a US-based company that provides customers with vegetarian products that taste similar to meat but are healthier both for the person eating them and the Earth. Exclusively plant-based, their products are prepared using less than half of the greenhouse emissions, water, and land when compared to similar meat-based productions. The company regards meat as a significant symbol of the American culture, and its primary goal is to provide customers with the same item that is less environmentally harmful.
As it concerns internal situation analysis, the company’s accessibility both through restaurants and retail shops, uniqueness, healthy lifestyle, and sustainability appeal, as well as eco-conscious approach are strengths. However, the weaknesses of the company are the lack of an established reputation as a trustworthy vegetarian brand and a narrow target market that is hard to expand. From an external perspective, the company faces threats like competition from similar brands, fluctuating price of supplies, and a possibility of a vegetarian trend to decline over time, resulting in less interest in the products. However, the opportunities for the business are to expand internationally, attract customers of other segments, and spread awareness about the environment, fulfilling the mission statement.
Selected Target Market Profile
The target market has been identified using differentiated segmentation strategies from the demographic, psychological, and sociocultural perspectives. The targeted customers of Impossible Foods are 18-35-year-old representatives of the Millennial Generation, with college or upper education and professional occupation. Given Impossible Foods’ pricing, the income of the potential customer is middle to high. The target market is also characterized as psychologically motivated to take care of the environment while staying loyal to the traditions. As the company’s products are relatively unique, potential consumers have high-risk, novelty-seeking personalities. In regards to social and cultural background, the business targets middle to upper-class single or young married Americans.
Description of Target Market Decision Making Process
The Impossible Foods target market decision-making process is unique for its need recognition, pre-purchase search, and alternatives’ evaluation. Firstly, the target market representatives acknowledge the desire for a vegetarian meal. However, they also note that meat is an irreplaceable ingredient in many culturally iconic meals. The gap between the actual state of hunger and the desired state of having an authentic, yet meatless dish widens, provoking the customer to move to the next step of seeking an alternative (Da Costa Birchal et al., 2018).
During the pre-purchase search, they seek information from various resources. Given the social media presence of Impossible Foods and its goods going viral, the customers are likely to consider its products. When evaluating alternatives, the customers have to make an attribute-based choice that involves both internal and external evaluation. Externally, there are a lot of vegetarian brands to choose from, fulfilling social and functional values. Still, target customers want an original meat dish alternative that tastes the same, making it also emotionally worthy (Da Costa Birchal et al., 2018). Given that criteria into account, a customer makes a compensatory buying decision in favor of Impossible Foods’ products.
Personal & Social Influences on Buying Behavior
Since a vegetarian diet has become a trend in recent years, social acceptability and personality play an essential role in supporting sustainable buying behavior. According to Rosenfeld (2019), in the American context, the vegetarian diet interconnects with a personal choice and society at large. Societal influences, like eco-mindful friends, can affect one’s buying behavior in favor of healthier and environmentally-friendly lifestyle choices (Rosenfeld, 2019). If people consume Impossible Foods products, it is socially visible through their use of social media. By increasing eco-friendly and meatless buying behavior, people seek the approval of their acquaintances and determine their social circle (Rosenfeld, 2019). A personal choice is also a part of the particular decision to purchase sustainable goods. Most people are internally motivated to buy meatless food due to functionality, health reasons, and novelty-seeking.
Psychological Influences on Buying Behavior
What makes customers attracted to particularly Impossible Foods’ products is the psychological influence on buying behavior. Psychologically, people are prone to eating meat in the framework of the evolutionary approach to consumer behavior. As humans have been evolutionary conditioned to perceive animal flesh as the ultimate source of nutrients, people still seek it even when equally dietary products are available. On the contrary, as people become more knowledgeable on the topic of animal abuse and environmental issues, many sustainability-conscious customers “evolve in the process of vegetarianism by consuming only vegetables” (Da Costa Birchal et al., 2018, p. 7). Many meat-free products, however, lack either the visual or the flavor representation of meat, failing to attract vegetarian consumers psychologically (Milichovskýand and Mráček, 2020). Impossible Foods, in its turn, provides vegetarians with an opportunity to enjoy the meat taste with no effect on animals. Unlike many brands, Impossible Foods does not psychologically pressure its customers to feel ashamed by wanting meat but capitalizes on that evolutionary desire.
Marketing Strategy Recommendations
It is recommended for Impossible Foods to increase novelty in advertising messages, broaden the marketing reach by incorporating various media and emphasize the socio-cultural appeal. Firstly, the increase of modernity in the advertising messages will help the company to re-establish a unique position in the market. It will also support the differentiation of the business among the competitors in the vegetarian food market. As it concerns integrating more media in the advertisement, like enhancing the company’s TV and newspaper presence, it will attract more segments of the market that might have been overlooked. Lastly, the emphasis on the socio-cultural appeal will change the company from a meat-free production to an alternative to animal-based food that is a perfect middle ground between the desired taste and socially accepted sustainability.
Reference List
Da Costa Birchal, R. A. M., Moura, L. R. C., Vasconcelos, F. C. W. and Cunha, N. R. D. S. (2018) ‘The value perceived and the sacrifice perceived by vegetarian food consumers’, Revista Pensamento Contemporâneo Em Administração, 12(1), pp.1-17.
Milichovský, F. and Mráček, P. (2020) ‘Customers’ behaviour during purchasing vegetarian products in global retail environment’, The 19th International Scientific Conference Globalization and its Socio-Economic Consequences 2019 – Sustainability in the Global-Knowledge Economy. University of Zilina, Rajecke Teplice, Slovak Republic, 9-10 October. SHS Web of Conferences, pp. 1-17.
Rosenfeld, D. L. (2019) ‘United States: experiences as a vegan in the United States: the effect of diet, identity, and morality on social relations’, in Backer, D. C., Dare, J. and Costello, L. (eds.) To eat or not to eat meat: how vegetarian dietary choices influence our social lives. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group Inc, pp. 177-184.