Expansion of Tim Horton's to India: Market Analysis and Entry Strategy

This report analyzes Tim Horton's expansion to India, including target market, competitors, competitive advantage, and entry strategy. The recommended entry strategy is a joint venture with Reliance Industries.

[Date]
International Business
Tim Horton’s

International Business 1
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Expansion to India...........................................................................................................................2
Target Market..................................................................................................................................2
Competitors......................................................................................................................................2
Competitive advantage.................................................................................................................3
Entry strategy...................................................................................................................................3
Joint Venture with Reliance.........................................................................................................4
Recommendations and conclusion..................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
Tim Horton’s is a Canadian multinational fast food restaurant which is present across 9
countries. The restaurant chain is renowned for its sundry range of coffee and doughnuts. The
company was founded by hockey players Tim Horton and Jim Charade and is today Canada’s
largest quick service restaurant. Tim Horton’s was founded in 1964 and since then has created a
significant mark in the fast food industry. This report highlights upon the brand’s expansion to
the Indian Subcontinent which is a crucial aspect of the company’s geographical expansion in the
coming years.
Expansion to India
India is one of the largest countries of the Asian subcontinent. It has a mammoth population of
over 1.32billion with an average age of 29. India is a developing economy and hence a grand
market for Tim Horton’s expansion. India ranks 100 in the ease of doing business index released
by the World Bank (World Bank, 2018). India has been the expansion ground for various fast
food chains from across the globe. The country has already accepted Burger King which is the
owner of Tim Horton’s. The large population of the country will also provide the brand with a
relatively cheaper labor force.
India is predominantly a Hindu dominated market and hence a majority of general public is
vegetarian in their food choices. People of India do not have as high a disposable income as that
of people in Canada.
Target Market
Target market for Tim Horton’s includes youth between the ages of 15 to 35. College going
students can also be targeted by the brand by offering quick ready to eat snacks and coffee to go.
Office going crowd of the country can also benefit from the quick service of the brand. Families
with children can also create an optimistic target market for the brand owing to their assorted
variety of doughnuts offered.

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Competitors
There are various coffee shops in India which have already captured a large percentage of the
fast food market. Leading competitors that the brand would have to face upon entry in India
include:
1. McDonald’s
2. Café Coffee Day
3. Dunkin Doughnuts
4. M.O.D. (Mad Over Doughnuts).
5. Costa Coffee.
6. Recently entered Starbucks.
7. Coffee by Di Bella
These brands have already been accepted in India mostly spreading across the metropolitan cities
of the country including Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata, Jaipur and
Hyderabad. Therefore in order to differentiate from these competitors, it is imperative for the
brand to work towards gaining a competitive advantage against these firms. However, the only
advantage is that owing to the large population and the growing fast food culture, there is enough
market for many brands to sustain in the country.
Competitive advantage
In order to sustain in any given market, it is imperative that brands work towards establishing a
competitive advantage against their existing or potential competitors (Porter, 2011). This
competitive advantage can be in the form of unique offerings, differentiated promotions or
strategic pricing. Tim Horton’s has adopted a market penetration pricing strategy. This strategy
requires organizations to price their products relatively lower in order to gain a competitive
advantage (Armstrong et. al., 2015). This strategy adopted by Tim Horton’s is sure to help the
brand in gaining an advantage over its Indian Competitors.

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Entry strategy
Geographical expansion in International boundaries requires brands to carefully select an
appropriate entry strategy. An entry strategy creatively defines how a particular brand would
enter a new international market. The entry strategy recommended to Tim Horton’s to enter the
Indian market would be Joint Venture.
Joint ventures requires a brand that needs to enter to a new market to join hands with an existing
brand in the new location (Killing, 2013). This allows both the brands to carefully and creatively
work together. The existing brand has sufficient knowledge and the advantage of experience of
working in the same country for a long time. On the other hand, aligning with a new brand helps
the existing brand to expand its product line and develop its target market.
For Tim Horton’s to be truly successful in capturing the Indian market, it is crucial that the brand
initiates its outlets in metropolitan cities of the country. Mumbai, Capital New Delhi, Kolkata,
Pune, Bangalore, Jaipur and Hyderabad are lucrative locations for the brand to initiate its
expansion process. All these cities offer a huge target market for the brand and the demand for
fast food already exists.
It is also important the brand inaugurates outlets in commercial parts of the cities including but
not limited to malls, large office complexes, airports and city centers. This would attract more
attention and hence will lead to improved footfall.
Joint Venture with Reliance.
Reliance Industries is a leading group of industries in India founded by entrepreneur Dhirubhai
Ambani. The group of industries has businesses across different industries ranging across retail,
manufacturing, solar energy, telecommunications, life sciences and media. Tim Horton’s could
get into a joint venture with the reliance industries. This conjunction would have various
advantages for Tim Horton’s. The biggest advantage being the backing of a strong brand name
that is reliance industries. Association with such a strong brand automatically establishes trust in
the minds of people. Reliance industries also believes in market penetration pricing strategy
which is currently adopted by Tim Horton’s. Botht the brands are highly ethical companies and

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have been well known for their quality offerings and satisfied customers. Therefore, the similar
value set of both the brands would take the venture to a smooth conjecture.
Both the brands can also take advantage of each other’s promotional strategies. Upon joining
hands with Tim Horton’s Reliance industries would make consistent efforts of including the
brand in all its promotions. This is where the large reach of Reliance will be beneficial for Tim
Horton’s.
Recommendations and conclusion
In order for Tim Horton’s to expand into the Indian market, the following strategies would be
recommended:
1. Introduction of healthier option in the food menu including gluten free and vegan for
health conscious customers.
2. The food menu must be vegetarian dominated as the country has 80% Hindus who
practice vegetarianism by religion.
3. For delivery the brand must tie up with leading food delivery applications like Swiggy,
Zomato, Foodpanda and Uber Eats.
4. Creative innovation through join promotions with Reliance, Billboards and Television
Ads must be designed to seek attention of customers before entering the market.
5. Social media market must be used as a lucrative tool to reach out to customers. Social
media marketing refers to any kind of promotions conducted through social media
platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest (Tuten & Solomon, 2017).
Conclusion
Tim Horton’s is a leading fast food chain that is currently dominating the Canadian market.
Further geographical expansion is the need of the hour. For the same, India is a perfect market.
The country’s massive population, increasing youth, elevating fast food trends and enhanced
ease of doing business are major benefits for Tim Horton’s.
As a brand, Tim Horton’s must join hands with Reliance industries and focus upon
differentiating itself through price penetration strategy and innovative marketing strategies.

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Effective marketing tactics and strategic targeting by Time Horton’s would ensure successful
entry and large scale acceptance in the Indian market.

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References
Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M., & Brennan, R. (2015). Marketing: an introduction.
Pearson Education.
Killing, P. (2013). Strategies for joint venture success (RLE international business). Routledge.
United Kingdom.
Porter, M. E. (2011). Competitive advantage of nations: creating and sustaining superior
performance (Vol. 2). Simon and Schuster.
Tuten, T. L., & Solomon, M. R. (2017). Social media marketing. Sage. United Kingdom.
World Bank, (2018), ‘Ease of doing business index’, Accessed from
http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/india, retrieved on 17 April, 2018.