Marketing and Strategy †Organic Food Essay

One of the intimately significant forces in changing consumer needs that circulating(prenominal) marters stage ar the ever increasing environmental incommodes that people atomic number 18 decent informed of. Consumers atomic number 18 interested in how practiceds atomic number 18 produced,especi every(prenominal)y in the nourishment market where in that respect is the increasing expiration of labour development and ge unclutteric modification. This has gained a lot of impulsion in recent forms with the maturement of the thorough sector and ? fine dispense products. In 2004, the retail market for primitive products in the UK was worth an estimated ? 1. 213 billion, and 11% augment on 2003, ( earth familiaritys Organic Market hide, 2005).This nonion is backed up by Mintel, In most of the consumer query we carry out around a quarter of consumers argon concerned close to green matters, shapek out clear peck products or healthy casts of pabulums. That is a substantial proportion of the customer human foot of any regimen retailer and so cannot be ignored (UK retail briefing-Ho pulmonary tuberculosishold goods focus, 2006). genetically Modified & Organic Food A genetically modified (GM) regimen is a food product that has been developed by having specific genes inserted into it to gain a lov competent quality.The first GM food to defecate the shelves were GM tomatoes which appe atomic number 18d in 1996 in British supermarkets, hitherto, it was not until 1999 that the public scare hit. In a recent survey, one trio of people said they would never corrupt any food that had been genetically modified. This phone number is up by four portion in three long time, quite a significant amount (attitudes toward ethical foods UK- Mintel, 2006). This provides an prospect for marketers operating in the food sector, for casing a occupancy could promote itself as environmentally aware by claiming they tell on only non-GM produce.Thi s would give them the advantage of quiet worried consumers whilst providing them with the f number hand against firms who do sell GM foods. Another attain is that on that point are a boastfully proportion of middle and upper social class consumers who are generally aware near the issues cogitate to genetic modification and constitutional food. This perhaps opens opportunities to scathe products at the much expensive end of the market, as they are wantly to pay to a greater extent if the food meets their expectations.Organic food products are seemly increasingly popular due to the ever-increasing cognizance of health issues, media campaigns from the large supermarket handcuffs and endorsements from credit chefs. To meet these changes in consumer needs, all of the track downers supermarket chains cast off introduced total ranges in their stores. on that point is besides the fear in the UK for the future of the ? fast food games soothe children, (P. Tailor, http/ /www. learnmarketing. net/environment. htm) which provides a direct market outlook for healthier food products. If a firm specialises only in interchange organic fertiliser produce they would be able to advantage of these opportunities.A recent eccentric of this is innocent drinks, sell the innocent discoloration of ?smoothies. They began with a simple investing of ? 500, selling freshly made smoothies at a music festival and now mold a 30% slice of a market with a retail regard as of about ? 50m, (Market Researchers AC Nielsen, 2003). A difficulty is that these judicatures need to aim their products at the make up market.Traditionally it has been consumers in the middle and upper classes who construct been buying organic food, withal at that place is an encouraging widening of the collection? with everyplace half those in frown income groups now saying they buy near organic products (Soil Association Press Release, 2005).This implies that there could be an lu ck at essay to offer cheaper organic produce marketed towards the cut down end of the income scale. Even if the price is standardised to other organic goods, it could be publicise to show the direct benefits of the food to serve consumers justify spending more specie for organic produce. ? bazar betray Products uncontaminating shift is a relatively innovative, organized social stricklement that promotes equal standards for foreign labour, environmentalism and social policy in the areas related to the production of ?Fair Trade goods. This is other rapidly growing section of the food market that is providing a good opportunity for marketers, reporting a long ontogenesis of around 20% a year (FINE, 2005) and now standing at a market value of ? 660 million. The movement has in any case benefited from increasing media interest, which means that any wrong behaviour or employee exploitation could lead to a massive amount of unhealthful publicity. It is clear that to pro mote a good patsy image in straighta manners food market, an organisation should expression to be aware to medium portion out issues.The assertable opportunity here lies in the current range of light dish out products that are on the market. At the result the main products in attractive make out ranges are goods such as fruit, freak products, chocolate and coffee this means there could be a demand for products in other categories, homogeneous meat products or even fair trade drinks. This wider range of fair trade products could give a commercial enterprise a unique selling point, as well as providing them with a heavy ethical stance. Perhaps there would even be a chance to use the pres positive(predicate) groups or charities that are knotted with fair trade to the organisations advantage.Marketers could combine the selling of fair trade goods with holding events to raise cognizance of unfair trade issues. If they could gain the plunk for of charities such as Oxfam or trade networks like the European Fair Trade Association, there would be loots of opportunities to raise their brand knowingness, thus increasing sales. Local pay back Environmentally aware consumers are increasingly favouring local produce. Over 100 years ago nearly all the food we ate come from within 20 miles of our homes but now we would struggle to square off a handful of locally produced goods in our supermarkets (Inside forbidden ?East, January 2003).This may not expect as an taken for granted(predicate) environmental issue but the line of work lies within the carry-over that must take place to move food products around the UK and the world. A massive 25% of trucks on the UK roads are carrying food products this means that almost as much greenhouse gas is caused by moving food than by all power stations in the UK (Inside Out ? East, January 2003). Importing products from overseas also causes contaminant issues, a large proportion of honey sold in the UK comes fro m New Zealand and the same(p) is true for potatoes from Israel.Perhaps there is an opportunity for UK organisations to source their food products locally. A business doing this would be able to promote their policies in pollution reduction whilst also promoting an investment in local distantmers. This should aid massively in obtaining local market share but it may not be possible to source many food products in certain areas, however, any seek to cast down the massive pollution caused by transport would offer a strong selling point.It is important to note for firms sounding to take advantage of the increasing consumer awareness that there can be problems. Shops charge on only selling Organic, Fair trade and local produce are generally small in surface and very specialist. If they are seen to have a very successful idea it is highly likely that the major supermarket chains impart depict and imitate it with their greater resources.This would be very serious competition and s hould be administered if a business is considering in solely selling goods to the environmentally aware consumers. There is also the chance of certain barriers to come out into these specialist markets one of these is the established competitor.Organisations like the Co-op have already been long supporters of fair trade. Another likely problem is the increased scrutiny that a business will face when ? announcing themselves to be environmentally aware. If a business declares to be environmentally aware and is then seen to be doing damage, it would most likely cause significant financial damage. How can Marketing help in ethical terms? The most obvious way in which marketers can help in ethical terms is by increasing consumer awareness in the issues that are troubling the food market to twenty-four hour period.A way to do this would be to make believe simple promotion campaigns where the benefits of organic food or local produce are shown clearly to the consumer. An example of th is could be Sainsburys TV advertising campaign fronted by Jamie Oliver showing the re-launched ? Taste the Difference range. They have removed all artificial flavours or colourings, stopped apply hydrogenated fats and only using free-range eggs and UK-sourced meat, (The Guardian, October 2006) combined with the think Jamie Oliver has to health awareness and has lead to a very effective campaign.Another way that marketers can help consumers is to make sure that the case of a product follows environmental awareness and ethical issues. Firstly the packaging of a product should be useful and reduced to a minimum, in circumstance there should be ? reminder to reprocess on all products that have useful packaging. Secondly the labelling of products needs to display the relevant health and environmental selective information clearly. Tesco have implemented the traffic light ashes to show the qualities of a product at a quick glance.Customers can see by the colour of the light whethe r or not the product is considered healthy, which is determined by the fat, calorie and salt content. Likewise it could be possible to put small sections of information on fair trade products to show the benefits to the producers that fair trade has. If there was a greater knowledge by the add up consumer it powerfulness lead fair trade food products to become standard, opposed to the current niche that they are filling, providing social benefits like reducing the global poverty gap.It is also important for the labelling and packaging on a product to not be mislead. If a food product clearly meets organic food standards then it should be designate as organic likewise anything that is not produced locally or is not organic should be labelled correctly. Recently there have been reports of Supermarkets putting pressure on organic food watchdogs to cut down standards so they can fully exploit the industry, (The Guardian, October 2006).It has been declared there are lots of loopholes in the regulations and in practice these are creation heavily exploited and that Organics is increasingly becoming industrialised and the consumer will one day wake up and see this hooey is not what they think it is, (L. Woodward, former judgment of The Soil Association). It is clear that marketers need to watch fair and honest to ensure that the supermarkets are unable to lobby together and reduce the standards.Perhaps a stance could be taken by one of the supermarket chains to actually support the stricter guidelines, even if it might close the exploitative opportunities. A possible way to encourage people hike to buy organic or fair trade products would be to offer promotions involved with the purchase of these goods. Supermarkets could easily offer their customers a larger number of store rejoin points when the sale takes place, or even try to focus BOGOF deals and price reductions to these product ranges.I would recommend that promotions where the customer gets one fair t rade product for half price when two organic products are purchased should be implemented. Linking the product ranges might help encapsulate most of the organic aware consumers into buy fair trade products or locally sourced goods and vice versa. A new excogitation that has been introduced to counter the issue of transportation pollution is food miles the basis of this revolves around a label on food products stating how far the product had to be transported to reach the supermarket.Marketers could use this function to show customers that products are alter heavier to pollution. It would also aid in educating consumers into eyesight which products should be purchased at seasonal clock to minimise transport. If you were looking to purchase strawberries in the winter they would have travelled a long distance to reach the UK, perhaps highlighting this fact would teach some consumers to eat more ? seasonally. The new more socially aware consumer is presenting braggy opportunit ies to the major food retailers due to the growing markets in organic food.These opportunities can encounter with what would be considered ethically considerable, especially the issue with organic food appealing to the higher(prenominal) end of the market thus leading to the possibility of keeping prices high. Of course it is shell for environment and consumers if the prices are kept lower on organic food so everyone can eat healthier. Perhaps the supermarkets should consider lowering their margins on organic food and making it back on more price inelastic goods such as alcohol or cigarettes.It is clear however that organisations should be careful in deciding which opportunities to take advantage of as their actions could possibly have negative repercussions like consumer cynicism, leading to consumer cynicism. Although if marketers are able to promote these ethical issues and increase public awareness whilst withal maintaining profit growth, the potential benefits for everyone are great. Bibliography ?Soil Association (2005) Organic Market Report 2005 ?Soil Association (2005) Soil Association Press Release?FINE (2005) Fair Trade in Europe 2005 Facts and Figures on Fair Trade in 25 European countries ? Mintel (2006) UK retail briefing firm goods focus ? Mintel (2006) Attitudes toward ethical foods in the UK ?P. Tailor, Learnmarketing. net/environment. htm ?AC Nielsen (2003) Market Research ?BBC. co. uk/insideout/ tocopherol/series2/local_produce_organic_healthy_eating. shtml ? Laville. S & Vidal. J (2006) Supermarkets accused over organic foods, The Guardian, October 5th.