Marketing Strategy and Plan for Seeka Australia: Analysis

This report provides a detailed marketing analysis and plan for Seeka Australia, focusing on its expansion into the European kiwifruit market. The report begins with an introduction to Seeka and its business, followed by a value analysis. It then delves into an analysis of uncontrollable forces using PESTL analysis and applies Porter's Five Forces to assess the industry's competitive landscape. The report further examines segmentation, targeting, and positioning strategies, and reviews Seeka's marketing mix, including product, place, price, and promotion. A competitor analysis is also included. The report concludes with recommendations for Seeka's European market entry, highlighting the importance of differentiation, understanding the market, and building brand awareness.

RUNNING HEAD: Marketing Strategy and Plan
Marketing Strategy and Plan
Seeka Australia

Seeka Australia - Marketing Strategy and Plan 1
Contents
Introduction..............................................................................................................................................2
Value Analysis.........................................................................................................................................2
Analysis of Uncontrollable Forces..........................................................................................................3
PESTL Analysis...................................................................................................................................3
Political............................................................................................................................................3
Economical......................................................................................................................................3
Social...............................................................................................................................................3
Technology......................................................................................................................................3
Legal................................................................................................................................................4
Porter Five Forces................................................................................................................................4
Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning................................................................................................4
Marketing Mix.........................................................................................................................................5
Place.....................................................................................................................................................5
Price.....................................................................................................................................................6
Promotion.............................................................................................................................................6
Analysing Competitors............................................................................................................................6
Conclusion...............................................................................................................................................7
References................................................................................................................................................8

Seeka Australia - Marketing Strategy and Plan 2
Introduction
Marketing Plan is defined as a comprehensive written document which identifies
specific goals and outlines marketing efforts to achieve that specific goal. It is part of overall
business plan. Important objectives of any marketing plan are effective communication of
proposed outlined marketing efforts to all stakeholders, verification of internal consistency
with proposed plan and helping in management’s decision making (Chernev, 2015). This
report discussed Seeka Australia in the aspect of marketing strategy and plan. Seeka was
established in 1980 and grown to one of the largest producer, grower, supplier and marketer
of kiwifruit in Australia and New Zealand. Seeka Australia Pty Limited is 100% owned
subsidiary of Seeka Limited. This company falls under consumer products industry and its
sub-industry category is agricultural producers. Australian agriculture industry has
competitive advantage due to its strong export focus (Seeka, 2015). The importance of
agriculture industry has increased in manifolds all around the world. Seeka has strong
domestic market presence and it is working on its expansion plan to enter untapped
international market as European market. In European market, quality produce of Seeka has
an opportunity to generate higher returns.
Value Analysis
Seeka Australia’s product portfolio includes Australian produce such as Apricots,
Cherries, European Pears, Nashi Pears and Plums. From Australian orchards, Seeka produce
Hayward kiwifruit. It also imports topical fruits like pineapple, banana and papaya from
Philippines and Ecuador. Its major service portfolio includes orchard leasing and
management, harvest and post-harvest services including packing and storing and integrated
marketing services. European market is a major producer and consumer for kiwifruit. In
European market, presence of major industry players made the market more competitive. The
major market players are Kiwi Fruit Garden Ltd., Zespri and Novagrim and many others.
There is huge scope of growth in European market as importance of kiwifruit got increased in
consumer health aspect and in turn it has increased market opportunity in a sustainable way.
Seeka has to design its value proposition in accordance with its consumer and market
dynamics. As the market is characterised with huge customer demand, Seeka has to plan

Seeka Australia - Marketing Strategy and Plan 3
detailed consumer orientation including how their products and services may serve market an
in better manner. Mentioned competitors have strong presence in the market as their learning
about the market is more extensive than Seeka. Sustainable competitive advantage, people,
management, leadership, technology and innovation aspect of Seeka will play an important in
reducing cost and exploring benefiting opportunities in European market. While entering into
the European market, Seeka has to create brand awareness in the niche market and has to
create consumer knowledge about their offerings to survive sustainably. The cost of
production and transportation has to be well planned to strategies its market operations in
Europe (Scrimgeour and Locke, 2015). As the European market is dominated by local
players, Seeka has to price its products accordingly to make an impactful entry into the
market. Also it has to maintain its quality as they offer “select excellence”. To strategize
future growth of Seeka in European market, it has to adopt market development strategy as it
is entering into new market with its existing product offerings. It has to use its strong
domestic national market brand image, recognition and specific product category to make this
strategy successful. To develop its market, Seeka needs to re-strategize its advertising
programs and position its brand into the market as valuable alternative to the consumers
(Nuttavuthisit and Thøgersen, 2017).
Analysis of Uncontrollable Forces
Business organisations operate in dynamic business environment and they need to be
adaptive with some uncontrollable forces. In this context various political, economic, social,
technological and legal aspects are discussed.
PESTL Analysis
Political - European kiwifruit industry is highly regulated and its export is accompanied by
phytosanitory certificate to ensure the kiwifruit is pest and disease free. In recent scenario,
imposed stipulations regarding country specific exports are not present in European market.
Economical - The economic situation is favourable as there is increasing expenditure on
kiwifruit per capita. This industry is experiencing huge price decline due to increased supply
from larger number of growers and industry de-regulations.
Social - There is considerable social impact of supplying kiwifruit as it impacts life of
consumers and growers. Inclusion of kiwifruit in healthy diet also increases the demand for
kiwifruit.

Seeka Australia - Marketing Strategy and Plan 4
Technology - Technological innovation is impactful as market is competitive and it is
necessary to grow more kiwifruit with less land and use of labour.
Legal - To maintain industry reputation and quality standards, adaptive legal framework has
been adopted. It impacts the business operations and context competition (Mowat, 2014).
Porter Five Forces
Industry potential and profitability can be determined through five forces model. Threat of
new entrant is low as in European market there are established local players which are
dominating this market such as Kiwi Fruit Garden Ltd., Ziel Company, WG Mora Freres SA,
Zespri, Enza, Novagrim, SAS Blue Whale, Sperchios Kiwi, Intermediazioni Ortofrutticole
Trestini, Sunnykiwi Co. Ltd., Nergi, Bruno Elio SRL and Kiwi Arta. Bargaining power of
buyer is high as kiwifruit is a niche market product. As buyer power is high, Seeka has to
adopt differentiation strategy to survive in European market. Bargaining power of supplier is
low as there are many suppliers present in the market. To grow in such market, Seeka must
produce and supply quality products. Threat of substitution is high as consumers can easy
shift to another related fruits, in such case Seeka has to plan for consumer education and
awareness programs regarding unique nutrition value of kiwifruit. Degree of rivalry is very
high as kiwifruits have very small portion of supermarket shelves space. This competition is
increasing with time as kiwifruit is fighting to gain increased shelves space in grocery stores.
Also, Seeka needs to compete with other industry players for the same. Seeka must
strategically plan out their business with differentiation strategy, educating target consumer
groups, and satisfying consumers with unique value proposition (Huggins and Izushi, 2015).
Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning
Overall European market can be segmented as institutional customers for business to
business and individual consumers for business to consumers’ aspect. For b2b segment,
Seeka should target luxury hotels, food processing industries, cafes, wholesalers and retailers
which are organised; and for b2c segment the target would be health conscious consumers.
As, European market is populated with established players, Seeka has to plan strategically
about their positioning strategy. To get into the mind of customers, they need to plan and
implement kiwifruit positioning in a modern prospective. In this aspect, collaborative
marketing program can be an important strategic choice as this strategy adopted by Seeka

Seeka Australia - Marketing Strategy and Plan 5
earlier in its domestic market such as Australia and New Zealand. The brand introduction of
Seeka has to be aligned with company’s core competencies and business strategies to create a
sustainable impact in the market aligned with its domestic scope of business. Regarding
branding process in European market, Seeka must focus on parameters like safety standards,
quality standards and customer relationship. In this, market availability of the same products
from competitors makes this market more competitive. To grow and survive in this market
they should focus on niche marketing and focused marketing programs to create customer
knowledge about brand Seeka (Gengler and Mulvey, 2017).
While in market, other competitors are focused on costing of the kiwifruits, strategy for
Seeka would be quality kiwifruits and diversified verity of kiwifruits. More ranges of offering
from Seeka will provide customers a wide range of choice and to be connected with Seeka as
prime choice of kiwifruits brand. In a cost competitive market, Seeka can engage its business
operations through creating more customer value. Seeka had produced 32.3 million trays of
kiwifruit in past year and also produced 1,791 tonnes of European pears. Seeka is now
focused with their rebranding program in their domestic market so they can optimise their
market opportunities in European market alongside (Seeka Annual Report, 2016).
Marketing Mix
Attractiveness of Kiwifruit Industry in Europe is increasing, Seeka with their entry
into the market needs to prepare and meet the market requirements through designing and
implementing changed marketing mix which is predominantly focused with target market.
Product - Seeka has desired product line width such as only green, shallow, gold, and
organic but they do not have reasonable depth of their product line. Seeka Management
should focus on increasing the product line depth through introducing new products like
canned kiwifruit and kiwifruit juice. It would help Seeka in getting much longer shelf life and
display of Seeka brand would be more. It will help in brand recognition in long term. This
company has narrow brand recognition level in external market space; they should focus on
building brand community in both b2b and b2c context.
Place - In a highly competitive market, Seeka must revamp their distribution strategy with
much more focused orientation towards technology. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
technology can be helpful in this aspect as it can provide information regarding when and
where products are moving. It would be also helpful in handling returning products more

Seeka Australia - Marketing Strategy and Plan 6
efficiently. Focus on supply chain of Seeka would be helpful in success in European market.
Seeka operates its own Supply Chain Company and for intermediary supply they have also
partnered with Woolsworth. But partnering with such retailer can increase profit margin but it
will impact Seeka as brand as Woolsworth is also supplying other kiwifruits brands along
with Seeka. In present context, Seeka should consider the fact of increasing their supply
scope through partnering with more local supermarkets in European market. It would
mitigate the risk of distribution structure.
Price - Ability to maintain lower internal cost will help Seeka to price low its products.
Automation in internal processes will decrease labour cost and focus on paying higher rates
to growers will maintain continuous supply of kiwifruits. With partnership with local
supermarket, Seeka can plan out various different pricing strategies aligned with bundling,
discounts and sales promotions.
Promotion - Seeka has very strong promotional aspect as it deals with renowned
supermarkets and b2b context it has an image of safe and reliable company. This company is
lacking in its online presence, now it has to focus on its online presence strategy. It can
introduce mobile app for its b2b and b2c customer group as it will improve customer
interaction. It will lead to more brand recognition. It can also focus on brick and mortar
promotional activities and these can impact awareness of kiwifruit to larger customer group.
Specific marketing message should be developed in order to make a place in the customer’s
mind (Barrett and Weinstein, 2015).
Overall, Seeka has to reinvent its marketing mix for its European market and should
strategize its marketing strategies more concerned with b2c target market. It should create a
strong business position in retail market prospect. As European kiwifruit market is growing,
Seeka must take this opportunity of ideal market entry into Europe market. Internal cost
effectiveness; strong distribution channel partnering and use of innovative technologies will
guide them in designing their marketing mix more market oriented.
Analysing Competitors
In European market, industry players are focused with cost leadership strategy and
strategically enjoying more market share. Seeka as new entrant in the market should adopt
differentiation strategy to counter established market players like Zespri which is a global

Seeka Australia - Marketing Strategy and Plan 7
leader, Enza, Sunnykiwi, Nergi, Novagrim and many more. The local market knowledge will
play the substantial difference creator in European kiwifruit market. Seeka needs to establish
its brand image as quality provider in the market as well as cost effective to customers.
Strategic development of supply chain can put Seeka at upper position to counter intensified
competition. Product innovations also impact the competitors by influencing customers in
their purchase decision making. Seeka must profile its related competitors on the basis of
products offered, pricing tags, target customers, resources strengths and marketing strategies
(Jones and Mowatt, 2016).
Conclusion
Estimated 1.5 Billion USD Kiwifruit market is attractive business opportunity. It can
be concluded that Seeka as an established market player in Australia and New Zealand should
explore European market to grow its present business in international market. Seeka can stay
ahead of competition in chosen market as they have strong experience in producing, growing,
supplying and marketing kiwifruits (Seeka, 2016). It should focus to increase accessibility,
creating more connectivity with customers, designing its pricing strategies to fit in chosen
target segments, increased importance on online channel and must engage in brand awareness
programs in new market. These activities will help Seeka to hold a strong position in
European market.

Seeka Australia - Marketing Strategy and Plan 8
References
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Chernev, A. (2015). The Marketing Plan Handbook (4th ed.). Cerebellum Press.
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willingness-to-pay and means-end brand differentiators. Journal of Brand
Management, 24(3), 230-249.
Huggins, R., & Izushi, H. (2015). The Competitive Advantage of Nations: origins and
journey. Competitiveness Review, 25(5), 458-470.
Jones, G., & Mowatt, S. (2016). National image as a competitive disadvantage: the case of
the New Zealand organic food industry. Business History, 58(8), 1262-1288.
Mowat, A. D. (2014, August). Market oriented assessment of the environmental impact of the
New Zealand kiwifruit value chain. In XXIX International Horticultural Congress on
Horticulture: Sustaining Lives, Livelihoods and Landscapes (IHC2014): 1112 (pp.
439-446).
Nuttavuthisit, K., & Thøgersen, J. (2017). The importance of consumer trust for the
emergence of a market for green products: The case of organic food. Journal of
Business Ethics, 140(2), 323-337.
Scrimgeour, F. G., & Locke, S. M. (2015). Review of Kiwifruit New Zealand.
Seeka (2017). Corporate Profile 2015. Retrieved 15 September 2017, from
http://www.seeka.co.nz/vdb/document/140
Seeka (2017). Annual Report 2016 Retrieved 15 September 2017, from
http://www.seeka.co.nz/vdb/document/182