Australian Superfood Company – business overview

International expansion is one of the most effective ways to increase business possibilities. Even though expanding in international markets could be fruitful for an organisation it might turn to be extremely unviable if business and industry analysis is not done effectively. Most of the small and medium scale organisations operating in the Australian market have taken to international expansion to generate sales and revenue and to reach consumers from unexplored land. The Australian Superfood Co. is one of the emerging organisations that has emphasised on bringing native bush foods to the Australian market that consumers are still not exposed to, and the organisation is planning to expand to the Indonesian market (Willer et al., 2018). Hence, the present study provides an opportunity to discuss certain key aspects related to business and consumer profiles which would help the company to develop business strategies accordingly to compete in the Indonesian market. 

The Australian Superfood Company was launched by Hayley Blieden in the year 2015 based out of Victoria with a focus of bringing nutrient rich wild food those which have been growing in Australia for over 60,000 years. The main focus of the organisation was to provide the knowledge of the indigenous culture of the country and to display extremely powerful native superfoods to the modern civilisation through a gamut of nutritional products.  The company emphasises on extracting these bush foods and working on them completely organically to create superfoods that are of high nutritional value. Within these four years the organisation has been able to generate significant amount of interest among people in Australia which has fueled the interest to expand the business with the same concept in the foreign markets (Austsuperfoodscomau, 2019).

The mission of the organisation is to create awareness and accessibility of Australian superfoods through which the organisation aims to create a demand for the same. The organisation wants to respect the indigenous practices of the country and to reach people with the essence of old age practice. The organisation has complete commitment towards the indigenous community in the country and wants to constantly enhance the experience of consumers through effective dissemination of knowledge along with food. It has collaborated with indigenous communities to preserve the rich resources to let them grow to ensure health and wellbeing for common people.

Australian Superfood is a cloud based organisation but operates with strength of over 50 people Involved in different functions of the business. It mainly does home delivery and overseas distribution with the help of third party and personal distribution team (MacGregor, Petersen and Parker, 2018).

Product and services offered

The products sold by the organisation have their roots in the bush foods of Australia. The extract of the native wild foods are taken to create raw bars, granolas, powdered fruits flavors, crunches et cetera. They also sell extracts of the different native foods like Davidson Plum, lemon Myrtle et cetera. These nutritious foods are extracted from the forest and are sold in different states which have already been discussed. The foods extracted mainly include wild fruits and nuts, seeds and et cetera. The organisation has four different categories of products which are granolas, herbs and spices, native fruit powders and extracts. The organisation received Gold Medal in the 2017 Australian food award. The organisation is also planning to bring in new products in the form of mixtures which would help to expand the product mix of the company (Austsuperfoodscomau, 2019). 

Australian Superfoods Co. has been effective in maintaining a good run in the domestic market. The organisation is just four years old and within this period of time it has been able to generate interest and create awareness in the market. The domestic superfoods industry of Australia was involved in research for a long time that took time for organisations to settle in this industry. The first organisation to significantly settle in the superfoods industry was Australian Functional Ingredients owned by Vic Cherikoff which started its work in the year 1984. Since then number of organisations have come in the market which interested people to a large extent. Since the indigenous range of foods have been embraced by the consumers in the Australian market it has become a new trend. Hence, it could be said that there is a significant commercial opportunity related to this industry in Australia (Loyer, 2016). Superfoods market is considered a part of the organic food industry and accounts for 15% of the organic food industry. As per the latest Australian Organic Market report the organic industry is AU$2.4 billion. Hence, it could be said that the interest of the consumers on organic food has increased. In the last few years more than 25% people in Australia have embraced superfood products and are likely to increase by another 5% by the end of 2025. Hence, it could be said that there is a significant opportunity for the organisation Australian Superfoods Co. to expand its market as well (Loyer, 2016).

The Global Organic Food industry is also on the move. The American market accounts for 44% of the overall production and sales in this industry which are followed by countries like Australia, UK and Germany. The global organic food market stood at USD $110.25 billion in the year 2016 and grew by around 15% as projected by in the year 2017. It is expected to reach a magic figure of USD $ 263 billion by the end of 2022. In this the superfood industry has contributed around 3 to 5% globally and is expected to contribute more than 10% by the end of 2025 (Loyer, 2016). It is extremely important to note that most of the organisations working all across the world in this industry have focused on exploring the unexplored markets to reach and educate consumers from all across the world. As stated in a report the Asian market is still less exposed to the Superfood concept and in the total revenue the Asian market only contributed by 2% which is a small amount as compared to Europe and Oceania (Smith, 2013). 

Superfoods industry in Australia and globally

Consumers are the mainstay of every business. It is essential that organisations focus on understanding the needs and wants of the consumers which would help to address their needs effectively. All the successful businesses all across the world have succeeded by addressing the needs and wants of the consumers (Paull, 2013). The food industry is a huge industry and has different sub branches. The superfood industry is one of the sub branches of the food industry. In the last decade or so there are many consumers all across the world who have preferred to go organic and consume only organic food to stay healthy and improve their well being. As per the statistics the awareness about organic and superfoods has increased by around 60% in the global market and by 80% in Australia. It cannot be denied that the Australian market has been exposed to a new industry with rising awareness (Higgins-Desbiolles et al., 2016). Consumers who are mostly health conscious and ethical in nature tend to use these kinds of services. For instance, people who want to make contribution in the phenomenon of climate change want to consume products developed by Australian Superfoods. Consumers who are elevated in terms of income and want to take better lifestyle decisions choose these products. Apart from that sportspersons who look to keep themselves fit and running make this choice (Terry-Armstrong, 2014). Hence, it could be said that people from the age of group of 18 to 65 choose these products because they are suitable for their health and also contributes to the environment effectively. As per general consumer report there are people outside Australia especially in Asia who look to buy superfoods just to show their status that satisfies their personal need of promoting their status. The case study organisations target the consumers who are concerned about health and wellbeing and also look to keep themselves fit and running (Booth and Whelan, 2014). Apart from that, it is also important to note that athletes and ethical consumers are also targeted based on their lifestyle and income.  The organisation wants to disseminate the information of the legacy of the bush foods of Australia while selling it and hence, it wants to educate consumers about their importance and efficacy in terms of maintaining health so, they also want the consumers to be interested to know and the consumer segments are also divided accordingly. Overall it could be said that the organisation is mainly dividing its customer segment based on attributes like income, lifestyle choices, status oriented people and demographically different which is mainly based on age (Willer, Lernoud and Kemper, 2018). 

Conclusion

Industry and consumer analysis is extremely important for an organisation to implement before it decides on an expansion strategy. Especially to understand a market like Indonesia it is important for the organisation Australian Superfoods to analyse its market environment. Hence, implementing the industry, consumer and business profile helps the organisation to implement suitable strategy for the organisation. From the present analysis it is clear that the superfoods industry is on the move and is likely to improve in the coming future (Willer and Lernoud, 2017). Hence the organisation has excellent opportunity to achieve its global objectives successfully. Overall it could be concluded that the present study has been able to effectively discuss the key aspects of the study which has helped to address the objectives framed. 

References

Austsuperfoodscomau. 2019. The Australian Superfood Co. [Online]. [29 March 2019]. Available from: https://austsuperfoods.com.au/

Booth, S. and Whelan, J., 2014. Hungry for change: the food banking industry in Australia. British Food Journal, 116(9), pp.1392-1404.

Higgins-Desbiolles, F., Vilkinas, T., Wijesinghe, G., Akbar, S. and Gifford, S., 2016. Indigenous foods benefiting indigenous Australians. CAUTHE 2016: The Changing Landscape of Tourism and Hospitality: The Impact of Emerging Markets and Emerging Destinations, p.527.

Loyer, J., 2016, May. Communicating superfoods: a case study of Maca packaging. In Food and Communication: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2015 (pp. 236-246). Oxford Symposium.

Loyer, J., 2016. The social lives of superfoods (Doctoral dissertation).

MacGregor, C., Petersen, A. and Parker, C., 2018. Promoting a healthier, younger you: the media marketing of anti-ageing superfoods. Journal of Consumer Culture, p.1469540518773825.

Paull, J., 2013. A history of the organic agriculture movement in Australia. In Organics in the global food chain (pp. 37-61). Connor Court Publishing.

Smith, S., 2013. Superfoods Index. Simon and Schuster.

Terry-Armstrong, N., 2014. Food for thought: Eating is big business. Busidate, 22(2), p.5.

Willer, H. and Lernoud, J., 2017. The world of organic agriculture. Statistics and emerging trends 2017 (pp. 1-336). Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL and IFOAM-Organics International.

Willer, H., Lernoud, J. and Kemper, L., 2018. The world of organic agriculture 2018: Summary. In The World of Organic Agriculture. Statistics and Emerging Trends 2018 (pp. 22-31). Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL and IFOAM-Organics International.

Willer, H., Lernoud, J., Huber, B. and Sahota, A., 2018, February. The world of organic agriculture.