Planet Organic Marketing Report

through primary search we wish to study the market strategy for orbiter innate grumpyly in the use of interviews, motionnaires and in chisel in visits. Having ar spewd an interview with the Store Manager of the westward woodlet branch, we hope to ask hesitancys that we feel could contribute towards our final marketing report. Through the use of the questionnaire this lead give us particular help with feel into the demographics of our chosen retail merchant. We as well expect to carry out secondary research with the help of satellite extreme fertilizers newssheet, the Internet and the major planet native website.We will analyses newspapers much(prenominal)(prenominal) as The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian in which will enable us to view training on its retail competitors as vigorous as familiar articles on innate gardening. I nurturing ten bear on AT writing tons report we alma to nave regular tinct Walt a spokesperson representing satellite positive. This will help us gain cardinal an informative insight into the marketing techniques and environment. To anchor our culture on the small/macro environment we will reach a SOOT abridgment deep down our report, which noblelights the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of satellite positive. 2. Micro Environmental 2. 1 Company major planet positives essential ethos also extends to our beliefs slightly health and how complementary therapies and remedies can prevent and bring virtually illness. Nourishing our families with good wholesome home cooking combined with a complementary approach to well universe is the foundation for a healthy, life-sustaining life now and for generations to come. Renee Elliott 2000 Planet organic is a unique supermarket sacred to radical and other ethically sourced products.They turn in 4 break ins spread crossways some of the some affluent beas of London and micturate a wide-ranging address arrest of fundamental consu mers looking for essentially chemical-free , pertly or minimally processed fargon. Their mission is to raise awargonness of British farming and positive goods while fighting against genetically modified feeds. Renee Elliott a occasion American wine Journalist opened her foremost Planet Organic barge in in 1995 in Noting Hill, with each restaurant containing a de mugated sit down bea where customers can barter for nutrients from the deli counter, offering a picking of fresh Organic Produce.The shelves in all four stores ar adjust according to Meat, Dairy Products, Confectionery and Health and Beauty. When walking into a Planet Organic Store you have immediately stepped into what is set out to be like a market stall of fresh fruit and vegetables. The betray is very(prenominal) appealing to the eye with its color coordination and neatly stacked shelves. The scent of the fresh deli counter grades obtain in Planet Organic thoroughly gratifying instead of the hustle an d bustle that you may hear when failping in other supermarkets such as Testes and Kingsbury.This is why Planet Organic come to to have such a loyal sensory faculty of customer value, they want to make your feed grazeping experience enjoyable and relaxing. More and more population atomic number 18 choosing to arches and look into eating complete food because they want to know what they be eating, the reassurance that the environment has not been harmed in the process of which their food has been produced This year Planet Organic are celebrating 1 5 years since they opened as the first native and inborn supermarket in the I-J.Planet Organic became the first Soil Association certified ingrained supermarket in the I-J when they first started in 1995, they were also the first to have an ingrained British meat and fish counter within a supermarket. I en society were also ten TLS London retailer to chill start ongoing trend of replacing plastic bags with biodegradable bags , this has been picked up on with galore(postnominal) other considerable retailers such as Waitress, Testes and Kingsbury. Planet Organic now have their own website (www. Planetarium. Com) in which consumers can purchase products online and have them home delivered.This is useful to their loyal consumers, as unlike many supermarkets such as Waitress and mark and Spencer, accessibility is limited imputable to such a limited amount of stores. The website entices customers with gift ideas and gives positionual information in Renees descry (The company director of Planet Organic). In this blob she introduces ewe and innovative recipes such as Soaked Cinnamon and Apricot Porridge and Parmesan cook Asparagus, she also directly objectives mothers with young children, for practice session what to put in their packed lunch or meals that both with child(p) ups and children will enjoy.This blob is updated or so weekly and is full of informative and current news that makes an entertai ning read. Planet Organic also send out a monthly newsletter with enlarge of latest products, environmental and health issues and Planet Organic News. They do this to asseverate that close relationship that is indispensable amid a retailer and its consumers thus creating brand loyalty. Planet Organic is not Just a foods supermarket We believe the body can usually heal itself, not with medicines that very much Just suppress or mask symptoms, but with raw(a) remedies that fight the body in the healing process (Renee Elliott).They particularly specialize in herbal remedies, vitamins and minerals as well as providing consumers with totalally produced cosmetics such as make up and body lotions. 2. 2 Suppliers The company shell outs over 27 divergent products within each category. Books, Vitamins, supplements, natural remedies, body, face commission and make up are only a small part of the companys success. They sell innate free mountain range eggs and constitutional meat (a ll animals are vegetarian). Planet Organic only sells natural, free range radical products. The vexation was the first to be part of the Soil Association Organic carnation in the I-J.The soil Association is a almsgiving, which campaigns for planet chummy food and farming. They believe that the connection betwixt food, soil and health of people is very important, which is also very important within Planet Organic. Planet Organic are forever introducing new products into the market, by promoting conventional farming, home grown products and raising awareness rough health. By sourcing organic fertilizer food from sustainable producers this reduces the environmental feign of consumption of items brought through its stores.Planet Organic have a British policy on buy meat and British first for fruit and vegetables. Suppliers come from local areas in London and Planet Organic is always trying to promote local callinges. Planet Organic sources and sells seasonal produce, which in that respectfore minimizes transport and thus the impact on the environment in which helps to reduce the carbon footprint. Planet Organic principal(prenominal)tain regular contact with tenet suppliers Ana attend trace snows to Tina ten Test new products I nee are committed to British farmers, bakers, producers and manufacturers and continue to of importtain high standards.Planet Organic is also part of Fair- merc business dealise, which is an organized social group that helps people in developing countries to earn a respectable wage and living. Fair- take also ensures that better prices are obtained, decent working conditions, local sustainability and uninfected terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. Companies are required to behave sustainable prices, which must(prenominal) never fall below the market price. Fair-Trade helps to part with the injustice of trade which in the sat has been unjust and discriminated against the poorest and weakest prod ucers.Fair-Trade enables the workers to improve their state of af decents and have more control of their lives. 2. 3 Intermediaries The intermediaries, also know are wholesalers, the middlemen or distributors, are what fill out the gap between the localize of production and the point of sale. They can help overcome the lack of compatibility between the suppliers and the end customers ( be Planet Organic) by reducing the get along of contacts between the two. This would also help in reducing the costs of the distribution and selling.The organization must decide whether to involve an intermediary, this can be determined by its sizing or also whether they trust the resources and skills of the produces to successfully meet the needs of the consumer. well-nigh often the intermediaries add value to an organization in different ways, first off to the marketing side as long as they are rough-and-ready to the producers goods and the distribution channel, as they most likely know their target market. waying sure that the goods are rail lineed appropriately so that the economic and life-style needs match the shoppers, for planet organic being natural, healthy, environmental friendly products.Planet Organic uses intermediaries for the mass of their products. Around 60% meaning 40% of their products are delivered directly from the suppliers. They use 4 major consolidators, The Health Store and The steer of Life are cooperate wholesalers for natural and organic products. They are two of the leading health Food wholesalers in the I-J. The Health Store is found in Nottingham and has been trading over 76 years throughout the I-J, Ireland and Europe. A Dutch company called the Royal Weakens NV that is based in the Netherlands owns the company channelise of Life. They distribute food products throughout North America and Europe.Planet organic uses their Newcastle branch. another(prenominal) 2 intermediaries used by Planet Organic are Marigold and moderate Organic. Marigold health foods are only based in the UK and distribute their products within a 60-mile radius from their warehouse in Kings cross using keep vehicles. 60% of their product lines are organic. Lingering Organic is based in New Covent Garden, London and specializes in the distribution of organic Truly Ana vegetables oral communication started In ten early Buss endorseing local UK Tarts however they have now growers throughout Europe and the rest of the world.Planet Organic also has an online shopping and delivery service. Goods to their consumers bought from the website are distributed from their Westbound grove branch. They have their own van for fresh items delivered only to certain areas within London. All other orders such as non-fresh items or for delivery outside the UK are sent generally through Parcel Force and are carbon neutral. All of their distributors from the store use echo-friendly packaging. The cardboard boxes used for packaging are 100% post-consumer recy cled and are do within the I-J, even the printed ink is made from vegetables.They use gum paper made from starch as tape, the bubble wrap is biodegradable, which is an organic material that will quickly brake down in landfill and be absorbed back into the soil harmlessly. For their fragile items instead of Styrofoam they use grow corn, which are completely comfortable. Parcel Force is part of the Royal ring armour Group, and for over 14 years there acquit delivery operate have been covering 27 million addresses in the I-J. 2. 4 Customers We conducted a customer survey at planet organics Westbound grove branch.The main research objective of this study was to finger out what type of customers shop at lane organic and why. To collect primary data a questionnaire asked customers about the main purposes of their visit. The questionnaire was made up of 15 closed questions with a pre-set list of possible executes and was conducted inside the store itself. The customers who particip ated in the survey sinless the questionnaire in our presence. We used a convenient sampling approach and a total of 36 questionnaires were collected during a two hour age slot. We determined the size of the sample by the resources availability and the limited timescale.Due to the Westbound grove branch being the largest of the 4 planet organic stores, made it important to approach customers shopping in different sections and aisles of the store including customers academic term down and having lunch. This is so that we did not to concentrate on 1 particular type of customer who might only be shopping for 1 specific type of product. It goes without saying that the pull up stakess shown in course 1 and 2 are a clear majority. Many customers, when asked if they shopped online with planet organic, were surprised to find out that they had a website with home delivery.This also goes to how that in figure 3 only 5% heard about planet organic online, the 31% form word of mouth and the majority with 61% saw the store when passing by. The 19% of male customers were loosely with families one man verbalize Im only here because my wife gave me the shopping list, shes crazy for organic. However there were a hardly a(prenominal) men that were vegetarians or had special dietary needs. accede 1 enroll 2 Hogue s Hogue 4 The leads show in figure 4 that the majority of customers lived locally with 58% and secondly worked locally with 17%.The 8% who were Just visiting, did so, along with another customer who lived around the area. The least amount of customers were tourists with only 6%, on the other hand the few tourists had specifically sort after organic products, whether planet organic had been suggested to them or searching themselves on the internet. Moving on to figure 5 and 6 below, we can point out that most customers walk (with 69%) to the store taking them generally 5 minuets or less (with 47%), where as only 3% use their private vehicles or motorbikes.This result proves to us that they are highly likely besides live locally as seen once again in figure 4. Customs locomotion the longest accounted for 19% though no customers travel time odd fish longer than 30 minuets. Figure 5 Figure 6 Results in figure 7 below show that planet organic attracts a large range of their customers between the ages of 25 and 44, Just over 60%, with 28% aged(a) between 25 and 34 and 33% aged between 35 and 44. The minority of customers are aged between 18-24, versatile reasons for this were delinquent to student life and funds, not being aware of the benefits with organic food, visiting or happen to pass by.The customers aged 65 or over stated mainly that their reason for shopping there scarcely because planet organic was the closest supermarket to them. Notice in figure number 8 the majority of shoppers with 36% are in pm or later mainly out-of-pocket to finishing work. Before 1 tend with 11%, again before work, 17% of customers shop at different ti mes, 14% between 1 lam and pm and 22% that shop between pm and pm. Figure 7 Figure 8 Planet organic clearly appears to have loyal customers acting on the information given figure 9, customers shopping one a week with 36% and those who shop more than once a week with 25%.Very few were there as a one off with only 3%. It is obvious in figure 10 that when asked whether they visited other planet organic stores round London and if so where, the question was no with 67%, they keep to their local Westbound grove branch in Backwater. However 25% had been to the branch in by Darlington place Camden, 5% to planet organic in Isolation and least with 3% Mussels Hill. Looking at figure 11 the majority with 33% of planet organics customers shop at Marks and Spences, they more or less have quasi(prenominal) price ranges, prime(a) food and Marks and Spences hold a variety of free range and organic foods.Minority of customers with 6% said they shopped at Tests. Customers second and third main supe rmarket choices were Kingsbury with 19% and Waitress with 22% , e believe this is mainly due to the fact that Kingsbury and Tests are conveniently close to planet organic, within the like area. Hogue Y Hogue Figure 11 Seeing as Planet Organic hold a wide range of organic, gluten free, dairy farm farm free, wheat free, vegan and vegetarian products, the question was asked whether they were vegetarian or vegan. 28% stated vegetarian, 8% vegan and 58% said neither.The remain 6%, who stated other, had special dietary needs such as lactose or wheat intolerant. This lead to a question concentrating on what type of products they regularly bought from planet organic. The most popular products bought, shown in Geiger 13, with 47% were general groceries including beverages, home and household products. The least poplar products with only 6% of customers mainly bought bakery, 8% came for the fruit and vegetables, 11% for health and body care products, 22% for lunch/dinner or food on the go .Also with 6% were customers who came and bought a selection of everything. Figure 12 Figure 13 peerless of the most participationing questions in our opinion is the main reason why people purchase organic food. Precisely 50% of planet organics customers motives for buy organic food are that they understood it is much healthier for them. They leveled that organic produce will not be full of man-made chemicals and that organic meat for example did not contain antibiotics or hormones.They also believed that organic fruit and vegetables had not been harmed by fungicides or pesticides. Organic foods are mostly kept the equivalent from the time they are grown until the time they are displayed in the store. Nothing is added and foods are not processed, as a result of this, for 22% of the customers this was the reason they thought organic food tasted better and believed that buying organic meant buying tonicity. Other customers at 9% shopped at planet organic because buying organic re duce meant being environmentally friendly.They knew that organic animals were treated better than conventional animals. There were 8% of customers who mainly needed dietary product such as gluten free, dairy free or wheat free products. The remaining 11% of customer didnt specify a reason for shopping at planet organic other than the store being the closest to them and for convenience. As seen earlier in figure 45 this category co in sides with customers that were age 60 or over. Figure 14 Overall planet organics customers were very sociable and welcoming. They liked to express their views.We also asked a 1 5th question, which entailed occupation, however instead of formulating the question into a closed question we collected each individual answer through a box question. Out of all 36 customers that participated in out questionnaire neither of them had the same occupation as another. They ranged Trot mold artists, Dustless consultants, pr collocates, grapnel gleaner, lecturers, si te managers and antique dealers to unemployed, retired and entertainment or fashion industry workers. The male customers seemed to have creative occupations such as architects.Where as the women who shopped in the diddle of the day said they were unemployed or charity workers, this could mean they were house wives or had no necessitate making money. 2. 5 Competitors Planet Organic believes in ethical and sustainable farming, therefore the natural and wholesome food company has a highly competitive and explosive business field. We mainly believe that the give away competitors for Planet Organic are actually the larger leading supermarkets who have recently expanded their companies and opened their market field to consumers who appreciate organic products.Recent statistics have confirmed that large Supermarkets are responding to their customer requests ND are making efforts to both stock organic and locally-grown produce which allows consumers to be green shoppers, choosing from loca lly grown, ethically sourced goods. The Telegraph, 15th October 2007. The organic food market is rapidly increasing therefore the competition between supermarkets is rising dramatically. The increase of product availability and the expansion of purchaser interest in premium foods have fuelled sales.Figures illustrate that fruit and vegetables comprise to be the largest sector of organic foods and the main entry point to the market. From 2002 to 2008 organic dairy products have more than doubled in retail ales and Minute predicts that the market is set to grow by over 54%, from 2007-2012. (Minute Report, 1st February 2008. ) leash of the major UK retail chains Waitress, Kingsbury and Marks and Spencer are all examples of supermarkets that are direct competitors for Planet Organic.All three supermarket chains have been awarded ratings of grade B by the National Consumer Council (NC) for their stocking of environmentally friendly foods and goods. Waitress has made fantastic efforts over the past years to increase their organic range and their business sales are dramatically increasing due to their quality of fresh produce. Moreover, Waitresss main target audience is middle-class consumers, which conflicts with Planet Organic as they both aim to appeal to a alike(p) target market.Waitress offers white trade products to consumers in order to ensure that workers in less real countries get a fair wage and are treated in a fair manner. Likewise, Planet Organic proposes the idea of selling fair trade products, which increases the competitiveness between the two businesses. In addition, Waitress is know as the best chain retailer when it comes to trading practices, sourcing from I-J farmers and committing to smaller appliers allowing them to stock the largest range of organic fresh produce.Yet, sources confirm that consumers find that the fresh produce at Waitress is exceedingly cheaper than Planet Organic, which means that many customers would repeat to Waitress over Planet Organic itself. However, sources did corroborate that Planet Organic do stock a high percentage of products that are not viable to find elsewhere, but the question is can we do without most of those if needs be? Urban Path- Planet Organic Reviews, 2nd January 2008. Furthermore, Kingsbury is another K retail canal Tanat Is a Key competitor Tort Planet organic, as It offers ten most suitable range of organic products for their target market.Kingsbury organic range primarily focuses on goods such as fruit, vegetables, dairy products and meat. It has been shown that food safety scares have promoted consumers to seek greater guarantee about the value and quality of the meat they buy. Therefore, with Kingsbury stocking organic meats, profits and loyalty with customers will increase as the consumers know they are receiving produce that is fresh, making organic stores such as Planet Organic observe them as being great competitors.Kingsbury has been voted the number one organic food retailer in the UK by a panel of consumers therefore this highlights the success that the organic products have had upon the other retail stores. Kingsbury sales have significantly been increasing due to the growing popularity of its organic and premium food ranges, and Mr. King (Chief executive) implies that Kingsbury strong quality food offer has helped it take customers away from rivals such as Tests and Sad. The telegraph, twentieth June 2007. Moreover, this entails that Planet Organic has suffered a loss of profit due to key permeated chains increasing their produce of organic foods. A further example is Marks and Spencer and how they have improved there value of organic food with sales rising 48% this year, with their organic range doubling in size to almost 500 products. M&S, like Planet Organic focus on targeting the middle class audience, by producing organic food that meets the higher food standards.M&S believe strongly in sustainable farming and free range products therefore, since 2009 their entire fresh whole ducks, geese and majority of turkeys came from free range products because of response to customer requests. Similarly, Planet Organic offers the same free range assistance which again can cause competition between the companies. However, especially since the recession consumers have believed Planet Organic is too pricey for a regular food shop and therefore flip to M&S as there organic produce is cheaper and inactive satisfies the consumers.Overall, the rising sales of organic products in larger supermarkets puts smaller food stores I. E. Planet Organic in danger, as the smaller suppliers have to mean of new ways in which they can attract there target audience to come to there shops instead of committing to the argue supermarkets. Due to the fact that all of the above UK retail chains offer a similar supplies as Planet Organic they are all seen as a psychical threat to the company. 2. 6 Publics Publics are groups that have an inte rest or could potentially have an impact on Planet Organics abilities to achieve their goals and objectives.The general publics are one of the groups that can have a great impact on a Planet Organic. Whether the qualifying is positive or negative, a change in the general publics attitude can cause change within Planet Organics reputation and profitability. Another group of people ho can have an impact on Planet Organic are their employees these are people who are employed within the company, this can range from its sales associates to the farmers. Companies that could affect Planet Organic are Fair trade, Ere sign and Organic Standards.We also found six main groups, which have a great impact on Planet organics adjectives Ana products * Soil Association * greens Providers Directory * I-J Organic Directory * Organic Food * Cycle Lifestyle * Fair Trade I nose SIX companies Include Planet Organic support all of these companies by stocking and promoting their goods thin their store. Pl anet Organic also provides leaflets and details about these organizations for its consumers to find more information on, they work closely together in order to create public interest.The above companies main concerns of health implications are similar to Renee Elitists, which is great publicity for Planet Organic being linked with them and vice versa. Organizations such as Soil Association is not funded by the government as it is a charity based company relying on donations and support from members as the public in order to continue to carry out their work. The Food Ethic Council also retirees over 80% of organic food sold within the I-J, aiming to inform the public about the many benefits of organic food and farming, they also have a similar mission statement to that of Planet Organic.