Selling Australian Truffles Marketing Issue prepared for Australian Truffle Grower s Association August 2011 AGM By: Simon McCall
Truffes or consequences - lessons from other industries - don t shoot the messenger - don t kid yourselves!
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?
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
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
Product Attributes - Australian - Environmentally pure/pristine - Great taste/flavour - unique taste/flavour - fresh/ not imported - counter seasonal - contemporary/ novel food ( gift)
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)
The Evolving Roles Of Food 1960s 2000s Tailored Good Fun Fast Fuel Food-a-ceutical Fashion Accessory Social Occasion Family Feed
Is The Spatula Mightier Than The Trowel? % Favourite TV Shows Home Improvement Cooking
A Perennial Need % Interested in finding New... 60 50 Foods to Eat At Home 40 30 20 10 FF Restaurants 0 1992 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010
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
Popular Opinions Dominate Sources of information for Food & Nutrition % Main Meal preparers (2011) Rely on Most Ever Recipe Books 43 60 Friends 14 41 Magazines 9 32 TV/ Radio 8 32 Internet 13 32 Parents 13 29 Newspapers 6 27 Partner 9 22 Doctor 6 17 Advertising 3 16 Prof. Organisations 5 16 Dietician Naturopaths etc 3 6 14 11
Making The Time For Food Fun % Clearly Agree Main Meal Preparers 55 50 45 I Really Enjoy Cooking 40 35 30 25 Not Enough Time to Cook 20 15 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011
Men Are Slowly Getting More Involved % Main Meal Preparers Male Female
Shopping Channels For Fresh Food % Total Population (2011) Where usually buy fresh food Supermarket 71 53 56 25 Specialist store / Market Somewhere else 21 42 34 38 5 6 4 9 Bread Meat Fruit & Vegetables Fish
Quantum Market Research (Aust) Pty Ltd Level 10 Como Tower, 644 Chapel Street, South Yarra Vic 3141 Australia t 61 3 9289 9599 / f 61 3 9289 9595 / e research@qmr.com.au / w www.qmr.com.au
Key marketing challenges - building customer awareness - customer education - maximising propensity to trial - buying/tasting opportunities
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
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)
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?
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
The issue of truffle oil -awareness of real vs. artificial - response to the information -how to handle this - who represents authority?
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
Madame Truffles shop front
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