Marketing Strategy Report: Heineken Radler Analysis in Australia

This report critically evaluates the marketing mix of Heineken, specifically focusing on its Radler product in the Australian market. The analysis begins with an executive summary and background information on Heineken, followed by a situational analysis that examines the macro-environmental factors (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal) and micro-environmental factors (suppliers, competitors, and customers) impacting Heineken's operations. A SWOT analysis is conducted to identify the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The report then delves into Heineken's target market and positioning strategies, followed by a detailed analysis of the marketing mix elements: product, price, place, and promotion. The report concludes with recommendations for improving the marketing mix and a discussion of the findings, providing a comprehensive overview of Heineken's marketing efforts in Australia. The report is a student submission to Desklib, a platform offering AI-powered study tools and resources.

Running head: MARKETING
Marketing
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Author Note

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Executive summary:
The report is prepared to critical evaluate the marketing mix of Heineken for making some
recommendations on the improvement of certain key variables. For the evaluation of such
variables, situational analysis and SWOT analysis has been performed that helps in outlining
the factors that impact the performance of business and identifying its strength and weakness.
Later part of report depicts the analysis of positioning and target market of the company
along with analyzing the elements of marketing mix of the company. In addition to this,
recommendation is made on how the company can make improvement to their key variables
of marketing mix.

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Table of Contents
Background to the company.......................................................................................................2
Situational analysis:...................................................................................................................2
SWOT analysis:.........................................................................................................................2
Target market and positioning:..................................................................................................2
Marketing mix analysis:.............................................................................................................2
Recommendations:.....................................................................................................................2
Discussion:.................................................................................................................................2
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................2
Reference list:.............................................................................................................................4

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Background to the company:
Heineken is a brewing company of Dutch that was founded in the year 1864 and has a
worldwide presence which makes it the most international brewer of the world and is
regarded as the proud, responsible and independent global brewer. Predominantly, Heineken
is a single product business operating in the alcohol industry. The report is prepared to
perform the analysis on the operations of Heineken in Australia by focusing on one of its
product “Radler” which is a mix of lower alcohol beer and lemon juice
(theheinekencompany.com 2019). The idea of launching this particular product was to create
a laid back retail brand and engaging experience that took cues from the Aussies boys in the
beach hut for driving consumers into store and purchase.
Situational analysis:
The market position of beers of Heineken has a dominant position in country such as
Australia. The analysis of the macro environmental factors impacting the operation of the
company in Australia has been done by PESTEL. The factors are described below:
Political- Political factors act as a constraint in the growth and development of the
beer industry as the players face significant tax disadvantages due to rebates and unfair
exercise. The excise structure of the country has some unusual feature and beer are taxed at
the higher rate compared to other countries (Purves et al., 2017).
Economical- The change in the income level of the consumers largely impact the
consumption of beer and it has been found that the industry is a significant contributor to the
economic development in the form of offering employments.
Social- Australia has a huge potential for growth because of the trend of opening
breweries and providing distinct taste and color. The growth potential for the brewers such as

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Heineken lies in the fact that the Australians are increasingly opting for brands and premium
beer with lower level of alcohol. This has provided the company with an opportunity to
launch the product and gaining market share.
Technological- The production of beer is significantly impacted by the technical
expertise and technological know how. The acceptance and the appeal of some particular
packaging of the beer is boosted due to the advancement in the packaging technology. It is so
because packaging impacts the taste and development of beer (Sluyterman & Bouwens,
2015).
Environmental- Beer are being perceived by Australian in a different way and
consumers are looking for more variety and choice. In addition to this, consumers have
become increasingly acquainted about the production and origin of alcohol and they tend to
purchase better quality of drink that assures of quality (Rudd et al., 2016). Therefore, the
environment in which the beer is manufactured is crucial along with the impacts that it
creates on the surrounding.
Legal- Legal forms the most important factor influencing the consumption of
alcoholic drinks in every country. The consumption of beer is legal regulations in relation to
the public and personal health as it concerns about the evaluation of the healthfulness to the
consumers. Producers of beer are restricted by passing regulations by the governments and
the emergence of the brewers is also restricted by change in the social norms (Grossberg,
2016).
The microenvironment factors impacting the product of Heineken in Australia include
suppliers, competitors and customers.
Suppliers- Operations of Heineken is impacted by the differentiation and
identification of right service provider and the development of local market is done by

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focusing on the local supplier base (Westjohn et al., 2015). In addition to this process of
operations is impacted because of better cooperation between suppliers and company.
Competitors- Heineken operates in a competitive environment and faces competition
from other companies. Some of the competitors of Heineken includes MillerCoors,
SabMiller, The Boston Company, Estrella Galicia, Mahou Sanmiguel and Orchard Pig.
Customers- The operations of Heineken is influenced by the new market drive and
has recognized the trend around the health conscious consumers and providing them with the
choice that complements their lifestyle. In addition to this, the production of the beer is
impacted by increasing consciousness of the consumers toward health and they are opting for
a low carb and low calorie drink (Magnusson & Westjohn, 2019).
SWOT analysis:
Strength- Heineken has various strengths as it is the leading company in the industry.
Some of the strength include strong portfolio of its brand, developed go to market strategies
for its product and presence in premium segment. Some other strength includes sales and
marketing capabilities and innovation programme and owns various strategic malteries.
Weakness- There exist gaps in the range of products offered by the company and
lacks technological investment along with poor investment in research and development.
Compared to its competitors, company is spending lot more on the training and development
of employees (Stack et al., 2016).
Opportunities- The digital commerce initiatives and B2B and B2C e commerce
platforms have created new opportunities for the company. One of the key elements of
focusing on the consumers is taking and exploring the advantage of digital opportunities. In

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addition to this, the economic position of the country would also provide the opportunities to
diversify into the new product ranges and revenue categories.
Threats- One of the threats could be to the existing physical infrastructure because of
the changing buying behavior of the consumer trough the online channel. There is no regular
supply of innovative products and the profitability has the possibility of being hampered by
the rising price of raw materials.
Target market and positioning:
The target market of Heineken in Australia is the small group of individuals by
feeding their desires for individualism, diversity and achievements. The core target market of
the brewer is the men aged eighteen to thirty four years old having high disposable income.
Development of the new product offers the opportunities for recruiting more female drinkers
into the brand. Heineken has positioned itself as the most international premium beer of the
world and has built the image of aspirational and confident understanding for creativity,
openness and innovative thinking. The products of Heineken is positioned in understanding
the needs of the customers and their finesse by applying the marketing and branding that is
unparalleled (Vorster et al., 2019).
With the products of Heineken, people are often reminded of its leading position and
popularity. The positioning statement that has been used by the organization since 2011 is
“Open your world” and this was used as the communication platform of the brand and this
highlighted the consumers’ attractive image such as charming, admirable, resourceful,
cosmopolitan, refined and adventurous individuals who is well known how to be behave in a
particular situation (theheinekencompany.com 2019). With the positioning statement, the
brand started putting stronger emphasis on the services and products around it. The change in

Heavy
Budget
Light
Premium
Victoria Bitter Carlton crown
Foster’s special bitter
Heineken
Miller Coors
The Boston Company
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the positioning statement was brought in light of growing popularity of beer and this was
mainly communicated through the benefits of the products.
Heineken in Australia has a reputation of delivering impactful and innovative
campaign to the market. The launching of Heineken 3 has encouraged trail and awareness in
a responsible manner by providing engaging experiences and delivering through the product
innovation. This aligns with the organization’s global commitment to encourage consumers
and promote moderate drinking to enjoy the products of Heineken responsibly.
Positioning map of Heineken:
Source: created by author
Marketing mix analysis:
The marketing mix of Heineken can be analyzed by discussing each of the variables
mentioned below:

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Product- Hahn Radler was launched in Australia is a product which comprise of fifty
percent of beer and fifty percent of lemon. The version of the beer has been adapted so that it
suits the taste of Australians in a better way and the characteristics and taste of the product is
in line with the current consumers. Radler is a bit more flavored and is low alcohol and is
targeted to the young adults who are of a sweeter option. The taste of this product is
extremely refreshing and is light in color with mild aroma of lemon. Moreover, the product is
available nationally in bottles and the launch is supported by marketing campaign that
comprise of social and digital point of sale, public relations and outdoor (Fan et al., 2015).
The quality of the product is perceivably influenced by the packaging of the product.
Price- Heineken has placed its premium beer in the range of medium to higher price
class against its competitors. Different pricing strategies id adopted by the company in
different countries. In the states of international website, the products of the company is
placed exclusively at the higher price. The phase of beer in the product life cycle also
determine the pricing strategy adopted by Heineken. In the country such as Australia, where
the product has been introduced recently, a higher price is chosen as the product is still
innovative (Palmatier & Sridhar, 2017). In a nutshell, it is ascertained that the beers of
Heineken is placed as premium and is positioned in the class of premium price.
Place- The strategy of company is designed in a way that helps them in winning the
market place by focusing on the long term sustainability of the business and continuing the
delivering shareholder value and growth. There are two marketing channels through which
Heineken sell its product that is through the online websites and wholesalers. An Omni
channel distribution channel is followed as it integrates with then offline and online stores so
that consumers can easily access the products (Wang et al., 2016). However, there is a need
on part of the company to improve its placing its strategy by advertising and opening the page
on the social media as it helps in generating more sells. The online website should be easier

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and more ecofriendly. In addition to this, it should be ensured by the company that personal
selling strategy is adopted to sell the products to larger retailers (Evans, 2016). There should
be company operated retail stores as this would help in saving the cost to company.
Promotion- Promotion forms one of the elements of the marketing strategy of
Heineken and the company spends its considerable amount of revenue on the promotional
activities. The promotional activities of Heineken consist of public relations, advertising
campaign and sales promotion. In addition to this, it also involves social networking, viral
marketing, personal selling and direct marketing. The focus of company in promoting their
product during different cultural events such as music, sports and film lies in the category of
public relations (Bezerra et al., 2015). Promotion of the product is also done during the
commercial breaks by showing on the billboards in the stadium. All such promotion
strategies is adopted to reach out to the potential customers. However, the company operates
in a local way when it comes to selling the products.
Physical evidence- The products of Heineken can be easily identified as they are sold
in distinct color packaging and the company provides special shelves for selling off the
producers to their customers. This provide great assistance to the customers in locating the
products in the shelves in the busy retail stores. In addition to this, the online website of the
company enable the customers to view the products in the firm of high quality images by
viewing them in different angles. The effectiveness of the physical evidence of the product is
measured in terms of its packaging and labelling. It is essential for the company to collect
considerable amount of feedback on the various attributes of the physical evidence of the
product for any further improvement (Madsen, 2019). Customer should be provided with the
shopper friendly environment by setting up their own stores and thereby encouraging them to
buy their products.

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Process- The process of operations of the company is designed to ensure that the
products are available at their retail stores. The production process should be so designed that
the orders are received instantly after the stocks are replenished. Moreover, there is an online
delivery process adopted by the company where the computer system is used to process the
received orders and the inventory is shipped to the provider of service delivery. Furthermore,
there is an active engagement of company in researching about the market opportunities for
understanding the needs and demands of their customers. The needs of the customers is also
understood through the post on social media pages, helpline centers and with the help of
feedback that is collected at the store. However, there is a need to improve the process and
the overall delivery system by enhancing its effectiveness and efficiency and this can be done
by using the centralized computerized system. They should be involved in constantly looking
for the ways for improving and innovating the process in terms of cost and efficiency (Japutra
et al., 2016). This would help the company to charge lower price of the products as the cost
associated with it reduced due to increased efficiency.
People-People forms the heart of Heineken and the strength of the organization lies in
trust, strength and diversity. One of the strategies of the organization is to develop and
engage the people for the development and driving growth. The two most critical
differentiators in the rapidly changing world is the culture and people (Alon et al., 2016).
With the change in time, the demand placed on the leader are also changing and the
development of leaders remains the priority of the culture and business of Heineken. Driving
functional excellence and building strategic capabilities is becoming the part of how the
business is done as the company operates in a fast moving and competitive environment.
However, the capacity of the company to achieve its targeted returns is jeopardized by the
failure of company in retaining, attracting and developing the talented and diversified leaders.

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Therefore, it is required by the company to develop appropriate strategies by making people
undergo training, purchasing people and customer service for delivering the value.
Recommendations:
The basic purpose of the marketing mix adopted by any organization is to incorporate
the desired elements that helps in attracting the desired profiles of targeted customers. From
the analysis of the variables of marketing mix of Heineken, it has been found that the
company lacks on some elements of process, people and price. The internal process and the
collaboration between various elements should be improved by the adoption of different
approaches. It has also been found that the company is not efficient in managing its people as
it fails to develop and retail the talented resources. It is therefore required by Heineken to
make investment in the training and development of employees so that skillful and talented
resources are well managed which in turn helps in attracting and making the customers.
Furthermore, the process of risk management should be able to adequately handle the risks
and threats to the system and managing them on a systematic and continuous basis. The
products of Heineken is premium priced which means that the products sold to the Australian
customers at this stage is charged at higher price. Although, at this stage of innovation, higher
price is charged and for attracting larger customer base, the price should be set in a range that
captures larger base and thereby contributing to the growth and profitability.