Selling Australian Truffles

Transcription

1 Selling Australian Truffles Marketing Issue prepared for Australian Truffle Grower s Association August 2011 AGM By: Simon McCall

2 Truffes or consequences - lessons from other industries - don t shoot the messenger - don t kid yourselves!

3 Important questions to address - why are you here? - what are your truffle growing expectations? - are they being met? - where will you (and the truffle industry) be in 5/7 years time?

4 Growing or selling? Why are you growing truffles? - retirement/hobby - to use land I own - cool/trendy thing to do - I like them! - enjoy doing it -OR to make (serious) money

5 What are you selling? - Australian truffles or Tasmanian, Western Australian, Victorian, NSW or truffles - specific species (black,black perigord, French,black diamond,etc.) - locally branded

6 Product Attributes - Australian - Environmentally pure/pristine - Great taste/flavour - unique taste/flavour - fresh/ not imported - counter seasonal - contemporary/ novel food ( gift)

7 Routes to market -Farm gate - Farmers market - local delis/specialist food retailer - restaurants - local/state co-operative - national co-operative - wholesalers/ brokers (food service/ international buyers)

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9 The Evolving Roles Of Food 1960s 2000s Tailored Good Fun Fast Fuel Food-a-ceutical Fashion Accessory Social Occasion Family Feed

10 Is The Spatula Mightier Than The Trowel? % Favourite TV Shows Home Improvement Cooking

11 A Perennial Need % Interested in finding New Foods to Eat At Home FF Restaurants

12 Leisure More Home & Food Based % Nett Leisure, Perceived More time/less time than a year ago More Meals At Home Cooking Watch TV Out To Eat Less

13 Popular Opinions Dominate Sources of information for Food & Nutrition % Main Meal preparers (2011) Rely on Most Ever Recipe Books Friends Magazines 9 32 TV/ Radio 8 32 Internet Parents Newspapers 6 27 Partner 9 22 Doctor 6 17 Advertising 3 16 Prof. Organisations 5 16 Dietician Naturopaths etc

14 Making The Time For Food Fun % Clearly Agree Main Meal Preparers I Really Enjoy Cooking Not Enough Time to Cook

15 Men Are Slowly Getting More Involved % Main Meal Preparers Male Female

16 Shopping Channels For Fresh Food % Total Population (2011) Where usually buy fresh food Supermarket Specialist store / Market Somewhere else Bread Meat Fruit & Vegetables Fish

17 Quantum Market Research (Aust) Pty Ltd Level 10 Como Tower, 644 Chapel Street, South Yarra Vic 3141 Australia t / f / e research@qmr.com.au / w

18 Key marketing challenges - building customer awareness - customer education - maximising propensity to trial - buying/tasting opportunities

19 Promotion: what to say/ how to say it - need to determine selling proposition: Australian pure/ clean environment product quality (taste/texture etc.) - channels of communication - message tone

20 Promoting customer awareness - specialist magazines (cooking, in-flight, etc.) - celebrity chefs - (TV) cooking shows - internet forum - local community press - in-store promotions/ fine food fairs - restaurant menus (truffle focus)

21 Customer eduation - what is a truffle? (not a chocolate!) - how can I use truffles? (recipes) - are they easy to use? - what truffle products are there? - quality of Australian truffles? - where can I buy truffles? - how do I know it s the genuine article?

22 Importance of packaging Role of packaging is: - to protect the product - to catch and hold attention - to inform about the product - to generate the desired product/brand image - examples: Maggie Beer pate,king Island cheese,wine labels

23 The issue of truffle oil -awareness of real vs. artificial - response to the information -how to handle this - who represents authority?

24 Madame Truffles-case study - Pop-up shop in South Melbourne - Local press coverage - Enthusiastic operators - On-line blog,recipes,product information - Customer relationships - telling a great truffle story

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27 Madame Truffles shop front

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30 Success of Madame Truffles - Approx. 15kgs. product sold - truffles from W.A.,Tas,Vic.,W.a. - about 5,000 web hits - 50% first time triallists - men and women,young and old - great enthusiasm and curiosity from customers - telling a truffle story - good media coverage

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