Marketing Research Proposal: ABC Organic and Australian Market Entry

This research proposal focuses on how ABC Organic, a U.S.-based organic milk supplier, can market its products in the Australian market to expand its business and increase its market share. The proposal includes a literature review addressing the challenges the company faces in identifying the appropriate marketing approach for market expansion. It applies a research method to gather and present data effectively. The analysis indicates that the Australian market offers significant growth opportunities for organic milk, which is positive for ABC Organic. The literature review suggests using STP analysis (segmentation, targeting, and positioning) to divide the market and identify specific segments. Additionally, it proposes a marketing mix strategy (product, place, promotion, and price) to present a clear image of the business to customers. The research design employs descriptive analysis, and secondary data collection methods are used to gather reliable data for the conclusion. The proposal includes an executive summary, background information, research objectives, problem-solving approaches, market analysis, STP analysis, marketing mix, research design, data collection methods, and cost and time estimations with a Gantt chart.

ABC ORGANIC
Research Design and Analysis
8/31/2019

1. Executive Summary
The aim of this research proposal is to propose the solution related to how ABC Organic can
market its product in the Australian market with the motive to expand in the overseas market
and increase the market base. Along with the research aim the paper has also presented the
literature review in order to overcome the problem that the company is dealing with to
identify the marketing approach to expand in the market. The paper has also applied the
research method that supports the researcher in gathering data and presenting it appropriately.
From the analysis of the paper, it has been identified that Australian market is offering
increased growth opportunities to the business in the industry of Organic Milk, which also
offer a positive sign for ABC Organic to explore the market. In the literature review, the
researcher has suggested to adopt STP Analysis that is segmentation, targeting, and
positioning to divide the market into different groups in order to have definable segments.
Besides this, the researcher has also suggested to frame the marketing mix strategy to define
its product, place, promotion, and price strategy that can provide a clear image of the business
to the customers. In the end, the researcher has used descriptive analysis as the research
design and secondary method as the data collection method for gathering the reliable and true
data for presenting the conclusion.

Table of Contents
1. Executive Summary...............................................................................................................1
2. Research Background.............................................................................................................3
3. Research Objective.............................................................................................................3
4. Approach to the Problem...................................................................................................4
4.1 Market Analysis of Australian consumer product market for Organic Milk...................4
4.2 Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning...................................................................6
4.3 Marketing Mix...........................................................................................................10
5. Research Design...................................................................................................................12
6. Data Collection.....................................................................................................................13
7. Reporting..............................................................................................................................14
8. Cost and Time......................................................................................................................14
8.1 Gantt chart......................................................................................................................15
9. Project Personnel..................................................................................................................15
10. References..........................................................................................................................17

2. Research Background
ABC Organics is the biggest organic milk supplier in the United States market. The products
of the company are majorly sold in the grocery shops and supermarkets. ABC produce milk
in Ohio and also buy most of the organic milk that is around 90% from 850 dairy farms in the
25 states. The organic products of the company are certified by the USDA that is US
Department of Agriculture and advertised as free from hormones, genetically modified
organism, artificial chemicals, and antibiotics. To make use of the label ‘organic’ the product
of food should be free from artificial food activities like preservatives, flavouring MSG,
artificial sweeteners, and colouring. After exploring the United States market, the company is
eager to explore the overseas market and business opportunities. The company is planning to
market its organic milk product in the Australian market. It believes that the consumer market
in Australia for the organic milk is growing. However, it is little unsure to how to market its
products in the Australia which is an unfamiliar market. Hence, in order to identify the
market opportunities and the type of marketing efforts must be exerted to explore the market;
the company is planning to conduct the research. This paper is being presented by the
business development manager of a research company that is “Insights” to develop a research
proposal with the motive to solve the ABC Organic’s problem. In all the paper is focusing on
recommending the type of marketing efforts that must be exerted by the company to attract
maximum number of customers in the market. The paper is comprised of identifying the
research design and strategy that the researcher can use to conduct the study and methods of
data collection.
3. Research Objective
The research objective is to identify the market opportunities available in the Australian
consumer product market for introducing its organic milk. In addition to this, the company is

unsure about to market the product therefore, the paper is also focused towards suggesting
ways to market organic product in the Australian market.
4. Approach to the Problem
This section of the proposal is supporting ABC Organic to solve its issues that is how to
market its product in the Australian Organic Milk market.
4.1 Market Analysis of Australian consumer product market for Organic Milk
The organic milk market of Australia seems to set to continue its rate of growth from the year
2018 to 2028. In the latest study of Fact.MR, it has been estimated that the global sales of the
organic milk in the 2018 has an increase of around 440,000 litres in comparison to last year
(Lucio, 2018). The organic milk demand is anticipated to stay strong in the European
developed nations but, along with this, there is increasing demand in the Indian, Chinese, and
United States market too (Australian Organic, 2018). As per the reports, there specified three
markets are likely to provide increased growth opportunities to the dairy companies in the
coming years. The reports of Fact.MR, identifies that the market of organic milk is the
consolidated setting, with limited number of players covering the high share of revenue. The
big players in the market are concentrating on the product line extensions in order to fulfil the
increasing demand. The tier II and tier III suppliers are also concentrating to get involved in
the joint ventures for increasing their global footprint and exploit on the developing
opportunities in the new markets (Wan, 2018).
The increasing awareness in the industry from the last decade has paved the way for
increasing commercial opportunities for the companies. But, it must be noticed that in spite of
the limited demand in the global market for the organic milk the product is consumed by
specific customers, majorly by those who have higher income (Lucio, 2018). As per the
reports of Department of Health, partially skimmed organic milk is considered to be generally

a better choice for the babies because it is nutritious and can be easily digested and in fact
studies display that the sales are anticipated to increase because of its high calcium and
protein content. Partially skimmed organic milk is anticipated to increase growth at a
comparatively faster rate. In the market of milk it has been observed that businesses are
adopting clean labels with the detailed ingredients comprising vitamins, fat percentage. But,
on the other hand, Fact.MR revealed that there is increasing grief among small scale farmers
on severer regulations in developing markets (Lucio, 2018). The recent research conducted
on the market revealed that the modern trade rests the biggest channel of distribution for
organic milk at global level. Modern trade is comprised of hypermarkets and supermarkets
that are involved in the selling of FMCG products, along with the range of organic products
that fulfil the increasing demand for the organic milk at world level. This is lead to the
increasing business revenue (KPMG, 2018).
The Australian market of organic milk reflects the increasing growth opportunities for the
business to expand in the industry to increase their revenue and customer base. The analysis
represents that ABC Organic can expand its business operations in the Australian market
however in order to market its products it has to follow the following strategies and steps for
successfully enticing target audience.

Source [(KPMG, 2018)]
4.2 Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning
4.2.1 Segmentation
According to Menzly and Ozbas, (2010), Segmentation, targeting, and positioning is also
called as STP analysis that is used by almost every business available in the market for
defining a specific segment that needs to be targeted and positioning itself in that market as
the most reliable and differentiated business. Market segmentation is the procedure of
dividing the market with the potential customers into different segments or groups depending
on diverse characteristics. The segments defined are comprised of customers who will
possibly respond in the similar way as expected to the marketing efforts of the business and
the customers who will have similar traits like locations, interests, or needs. According to the
analysis presented above by Insights Research Company, the segmentation strategy can help
the marketer of ABC Organic in simplifying the process of personalizing their campaigns of
marketing. By setting the target market of their company into segmented group, in place of
targeting every possible customer individually, marketers can become more efficient with

money, resources, and time if they will target customers in the individual level. Growing the
similar customers together will allow the marketer of the company to target definite
audiences in the cost effective way. In addition to this, segmenting the market can help
company in reducing the risk of an ineffective or unsuccessful campaign of marketing.
According to Harrison and Kjellberg (2010), the time the marketer of the company will
divide the market depending on the key characteristics and personalize their policies on the
basis of that information; there can be high success chance in comparison to when they create
a generic campaign and try to execute it in every segment. Marketers of ABC Organic can
make use of segmentation for prioritizing their audience. For instance, the segmentation of
the company reflects that there are some customers that will definitely purchase the milk of
the company such as high income people, diet conscious, health conscious, and parents for
their babies. The marketers of the company can properly allocate their resources as well as
attention over them. According to Wedel and Kamakura (2012), the segmentation is done on
the basis of four categories that is geographic segmentation, behavioural segmentation,
psychographic segmentation, and demographic segmentation.
ABC Organic can divide its market on the basis of above specified categories of market
segmentation. Under demographic segmentation, the company will segment on the basis of
age, income, gender, etc. Under geographic segmentation, the company can divide the market
depending on target audience location. Besides this, for segmenting the market under
behavioural segmentation, the marketer of the company can divide the market depending on
the behaviour, decision making pattern, and usage as the variable (Track Maven, 2019).
Further, under psychographic segmentation, the marketers can use the variables like people
lifestyle, their interest, activities, opinions, etc. By this, the company will get a clear segment
that will be targeted through its marketing efforts in the Australian organic milk market. In

addition to this, the clear segment will help in overcoming all the confusions of the managers
as well as customers who are availing the product of the company.
4.2.2 Target Market (Targeting)
According to the Sani and Allahverdizadeh (2012), a Target market is said to be a group of
possible customers that is targeted by the company to vend its services and products. This
group is comprised of specific consumers to whom the business directs its efforts of
marketing. A target market is the single portion of the entire market that is selected to serve
with the product. Customers who in combination make the target market have common
characteristics comprising demographics, incomes, geography, and purchasing power.
Recognizing the target audience is a significant step for every business in the marketing plan
development. By not clarifying the target market, the business can lose high amount and time
(Klimchuk and Krasovec, 2013). One part of the success of selling the service or product
likes to whom it will be appealed and who will purchase it. That is why a business invests lot
of money as well as time to determine and monitor its target market. This is because every
service and product is created for every consumer, who is careful about their money. Target
market is usually characterized in terms of lifestyle, income, age, and location (Ward, 2019).
Determining a precise target market enable a business to connect and reach with the
consumer through marketing efforts.
On the other side, Mirgani (2017), stated that testing the target market often occurs well
before releasing of the product. At the testing phase, a business may utilize the limited
product rollouts and focus groups, enabling the product manager to get a feel for which
features of the product are the stoutest. After releasing the product, the company could
continue monitoring the demographics of the target market by the customer surveys, tracking
of the sales and different activities that enable the business to understand the demand of the
customer. This reflects that determining the target market is very important for ABC Organic

because it represents the different between selling the service and sitting on the side when the
rival increases its revenue. The target market of ABC Organic in the Australian organic milk
market will be parents, health conscious customers, high income people, and consumers of
organic products. This target will be the primary market of the company and besides this the
company can also focus on other segments of the market such as old age people, hospitals,
etc. These segments will help the company in gaining the increased customer base as well as
increased market coverage by offering its quality organic milk in the Australian market at
reasonable prices.
4.2.3 Positioning
According to Levens, (2010), Positioning referred as the position covered by the service or
product in the specific market and in the eyes of the customer. A positive and good position
of the business helps in making its services or product unique and let customer feel it as the
distinct benefit provider. A good positioning in the market helps product in gaining a Unique
selling Proposition. In a market, mixed-up with number of brands and products providing
same type of benefits, a positive and effective positioning of the product helps in standing out
from the crowd which also allows it to charge higher price. A good position of the product in
the market enables a product and its organization to come out easily from the bad times
(Harrison-Walker, 2011). If the ABC Organic will successfully gain a good position in the
market it will be able to flexibly distribute and advertise its products. ABC Organic can gain
the leading position in the market by offering its quality organic milk that it offers in the
United States. The company can use its excellent distribution network for the Australian
market to easily and quickly supply its organic milk to the customers of Australian market. In
order to gain the leading position in the market the ABC Organic has to compete strongly
with the existing players in the market that are A2 Milk Company, Bellamy’s Organic,
Canberra Milk, etc. The differentiating features that need to be developed by ABC Organic

are quality and price. These features will support ABC Organic to stand out from the crowd
and gain the competitive advantage in the Australian market. This will also support the
company in giving strong competition to the rivals in the market.
4.3 Marketing Mix
Marketing Mix is said to be a strategy that is used by the business for formulating a
product/service offering for the target audience. The strategy of marketing mix is established
by using the marketing’s 4Ps that are product, promotion, price, and place. The market mix
term is introduced by Neil Bordon (The Economic Times, 2019). This term has been
suggested to this strategy because it recommends how company’s marketer mixes different
important elements that are product, place, promotion, and price to make offer right and
relevant offering to the audience. The key objective of the strategy of marketing mix is to
produce right product at right and reasonable price with the effective promotional strategies.
This strategy is the most famous topics of marketing in the field of business. However,
according to Mintz and Currim, (2013), there are some other elements too that are considered
to be the part of marketing mix that are process, people, and physical evidence. According to
the researcher these elements also help business in framing its strategies however, are
presently not being considered in the briefing of the study. The four elements that can be used
by ABC Organic to market its organic milk in the Australian market are:
Product – Product is considered to be the most important part of the offering. This is the key
element of marketing mix because they help customer in making their preference. Product is
anything that holds some useful value and could be utilized by the consumer to attain the goal
(Lamey, Deleersnyder and Dekimpe, 2012). A marketer of the business has to determine their
product carefully in regards to its USP, competition, features, value, etc. The products that
will be offered in the Australian market are organic milk by ABC Organic to the target
audience. In order to offer right product, the company has conducted the market analysis,

from which it has been identified that Australia is ranked at 6th position in terms in demand of
organic milk. This offers the opportunity to the company to expand operations in this market
and increase the market base.
Price – Price is another vital element of the marketing mix strategy for the business. This is
considered to be the value or amount that is received in the exchange of the service sell by the
business to its customer (Gordon, 2012). This is what the client pays in return of the product
utility. Pricing is majorly defined in terms of cost of the service or product and the value
customer is ready to pay for the product. If the product is priced high then the customer will
not be attracted towards it and if the price will be low then the business has to suffer from
losses. So, it is important for the business to plan the correct strategy of pricing in order to
have perfect marketing mix. In case of ABC Organic, the marketers of the company will have
to set reasonable prices for its product in order to survive in the most competitive market that
is Australia. Hence, to survive and sustain in the Australian market, the company will adopt
the competitive pricing strategy under which it will price its organic milk as per the market
condition, customer paying capacity, demand, and the prices charged by the competitors.
With the help of this strategy, the company could cover the market of Australia with the
motive to increase its market base.
Place – Place is also known as distribution. According to Mantere, (2013), if the business is
making product at right price then it is not enough it also has to select the right place to
distribute it. The target market will not come to the business to purchase the product until
price and quality is not unbeatable. Besides this, the products have to be located at the right
place such that customers can purchase it easily. If ABC Organic will not place its organic
milk at different supermarkets and dairy stores of Australia then it will not be able to sell its
product and can eventually fail. Therefore, in order to succeed in the market and give strong
competition to the competitors it has to place the product near to the location of the target

audience such that they can easily purchase it and consume it. On the other hand, according
to Schmidt, Kolodinsky and Conte, (2011), place is also a distribution strategy that is adopted
by the business to distribute the product to the end user. Considering the case study of ABC
Organic, the company holds the strongest distribution network in 25 states with more than
850 dairy. This reflects that company holds the power to effectively distribute its product to
the target audience.
Promotion – According to Manzur, Olavarrieta and Uribe, (2011), promotion is also called as
Communication of the product. It is the 4th marketing mix element which talks about the
communication that is done by the business with the customer regarding the service or
product offered by it. Some of the general promotional elements used by the business for
marketing its services and products are digital media, print media, and television. In order to
promote the ABC’s organic milk the marketer of the company could make use of different
promotional elements such as advertising, digital marketing, personal selling, public relation,
etc. Under advertising, the company could promote the organic milk through television
advertisement, print media, radio, hoardings, etc. Besides this, under the digital marketing,
the company could promote the business through email, social media platforms, and instant
messages. In addition to this, for the personal selling the company can hire sales
representatives who will personally visit different supermarkets and other retail stores for the
promotion of the product. In the end, the use of public relation will be done through press
release to gain the attraction of customer as well as competitor for the strong rivalry.
5. Research Design
The research designs that are generally used by the researcher are exploratory, descriptive,
and casual research design. In order to conduct this study, the business development manager
of Insight Research Company has used descriptive research design because it has allowed in

generating the clear understanding regarding the research topic. This research design has
supported the researcher in analysing the findings of the studies conducted by different
authors related to the current research topic (Fraenkel, Wallen and Hyun, 2011). In addition
to this, the type of information that has been gathered through this method is descriptive
which in detail explains the different marketing strategies that can be adopted by ABC
Organic to introduce its products.
6. Data Collection
Data collection is the procedure used in the research for gathering information related to the
research topic in the organized way. There are generally two types of data collection method
used by the researcher that is primary method and secondary method. Under primary method
the researcher collect fresh data from the research participants in order to answer the research
question or problem (Chan, Fung and Chien, 2013). The methods that are used to collect
primary data are survey, interview, group discussion, and case study. On the other side, the
use of secondary method is done to extract the data presented in the previous studies by
different authors or researcher (Johnston, 2017). The secondary data is collected from
journals, articles, books, articles, etc. In order to conduct this study, the business development
manager of Insight research company has used secondary method of data collection under
which the findings and analysis of different researchers has been presented. Conducting
secondary data analysis has supported the researcher in recognizing the views and thought
process of different researcher related to strategies to be adopted for the promotion of the
business in the Australian market. As discuss about, the Australian market is offering
increased growth opportunities for the businesses dealing in the production and delivering of
organic milk. Through the secondary research the business development manager is able to
recommend ABC Organic to conduct the STP Analysis of the market that is segmentation,

targeting, and positioning of the business. Besides this, the paper has also recommended to
present the marketing mix strategies to define its product, price, promotion, and place
strategy for the Australian market.
7. Reporting
This segment of the dissertation is presenting the research proposal under which the
researcher has specified in brief regarding the research background, aim and review of the
literature related to the research topic that is “How ABC Organic can market its product in
the Australian market”. This segment of the study can be used by the university professor to
check the sequence and manner of presenting the paper. In addition to this, the final
dissertation will be presented in the end of the year which will present the detailed analysis
and findings of the research topic and also the conclusion that will be made. In the end, the
report will be presented to the university professor under which the researcher is pursuing his
degree.
8. Cost and Time
This section of the study is discussing regarding the time and cost that is consumed in
conducting this research. The time taken to present the introduction section comprised of
research background is one month of the researcher and the cost that is invested is $50. The
second part of the research is literature review that has presented the detailed description and
data related to the research topic. This section has helped in providing the solution related to
the issue that ABC Organic was facing to expand its business in the Australian market. This
section of the study has consumed three months to get complete. This is because the
researcher has to go through different secondary data sources for collecting the data. The cost
invested in this section was around $500. Further, the research methodology section of the

study discussed regarding the strategies researcher used to conduct the research. The time
consumed to present this section was around 2 months and cost was $400.
Activities Time Cost
Research background and
objective
1 Month $50
Identifying data for
presenting literature review
Presenting literature
review
3 Months $500
Research Methodology 2 months $400
8.1 Gantt chart
Research Activities Time taken to complete the research proposal (In Months)
1 2 3 4 5
Identification of Research topic
Gathering data for literature review
Presenting Literature Review
Applying Research methods
9. Project Personnel
It was an individual study that is conducted by Mr. Avian who is a university student and
perusing his Master’s Degree. The responsibility that was assigned to him was to frame a
research proposal for the research topic “Marketing business in the Australian Organic Milk
Market – The Case Study of ABC Organic”. The time taken by the researcher to finish this
research proposal is five months.

10. References
Australian Organic (2018) Market Report [Online]. Available from
https://austorganic.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/AustOrganicMarketReport2018_spreads
_digital.pdf [Accessed 31 August 2019]
Chan, Z.C., Fung, Y.L. and Chien, W.T. (2013) Bracketing in phenomenology: Only
undertaken in the data collection and analysis process. The qualitative report, 18(30), pp.1-9.
Fraenkel, J.R., Wallen, N.E. and Hyun, H.H. (2011) How to design and evaluate research in
education 1st ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages.
Gordon, R. (2012) Re-thinking and re-tooling the social marketing mix. Australasian
Marketing Journal (AMJ), 20(2), pp.122-126.
Harrison, D. and Kjellberg, H. (2010) Segmenting a market in the making: Industrial market
segmentation as construction. Industrial Marketing Management, 39(5), pp.784-792.
Harrison-Walker, L.J. (2011) Strategic positioning of nations as brands. Journal of
International Business Research, 10(2), p.135.
Johnston, M.P. (2017) Secondary data analysis: A method of which the time has come.
Qualitative and quantitative methods in libraries, 3(3), pp.619-626.
Klimchuk, M.R., and Krasovec, S.A. (2013) Packaging Design: Successful Product Branding
From Concept to Shelf 2nd ed. U.K: John Wiley & Sons.
KPMG (2018) Global Organic Milk Production Market Report [Online]. Available from
https://home.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/au/pdf/2018/global-organic-milk-production-market-
report.pdf [Accessed 31 August 2019]

Lamey, L., Deleersnyder, B., and Dekimpe, M.G. (2012) The effect of business-cycle
fluctuations on private-label share: what has marketing conduct got to do with it?. Journal of
Marketing, 76(1), pp.1-19.
Levens, M. (2010) Marketing: Defined, explained, applied 1st ed. U.K: Pearson.
Lucio, R. (2018) Australia’s organic milk market continues to grow [Online]. Available from
https://insidefmcg.com.au/2018/10/18/australias-organic-milk-market-continues-to-grow/
[Accessed 31 August 2019]
Mantere, S. (2013) What is organizational strategy? A language‐based view. Journal of
Management Studies, 50(8), pp.1408-1426.
Manzur, E., Olavarrieta, S., and Uribe, R. (2011) Store brand and national brand promotion
attitudes antecedents. Journal of Business Research, 64(3), pp.286-291.
Menzly, L. and Ozbas, O. (2010) Market segmentation and cross‐predictability of returns.
The Journal of Finance, 65(4), pp.1555-1580.
Mintz, O. and Currim, I.S. (2013) What drives managerial use of marketing and financial
metrics and does metric use affect performance of marketing-mix activities?. Journal of
Marketing, 77(2), pp.17-40.
Mirgani, S. (2017) Target Markets - International Terrorism Meets Global Capitalism in the
Mall 2nd ed. U.S: Verlag.
Sani, A.A. and Allahverdizadeh, M. (2012) Target and Kaizen costing. World academy of
science, engineering and Technology, 6(2), pp.40-46.
Schmidt, M.C., Kolodinsky, J.M., and Conte, F.C. (2011) Increasing farm income and local
food access: A case study of a collaborative aggregation, marketing, and distribution strategy

that links farmers to markets. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community
Development, 1(4), pp.157-175.
The Economic Times (2019) Definition of 'Marketing Mix' [Online]. Available from
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/marketing-mix [Accessed 31 August 2019]
Track Maven (2019) Market Segmentation [Online]. Available from
https://trackmaven.com/marketing-dictionary/market-segmentation/ [Accessed 31 August
2019]
Wan, L. (2018) Higher-Value Organic Segments Targeted by Australian Dairy Farms group
to Offset Conventional Marketing price declines [Online]. Available from
https://www.foodnavigator-asia.com/Article/2018/04/09/Higher-value-organic-segments-
targeted-by-Australian-Dairy-Farms-Group-to-offset-conventional-market-price-declines
[Accessed 31 August 2019]
Ward, S. (2019) Target Marketing and Market Segmentation [Online]. Available from
https://www.thebalancesmb.com/target-marketing-2948355 [Accessed 31 August 2019]
Wedel, M., and Kamakura, W.A. (2012) Market Segmentation: Conceptual and
Methodological Foundations 2nd ed. Germany: Springer Science & Business Media.