Harris Farm Markets: Best Fresh Produce And Groceries In Australia (70 Characters)

Introduction to Harris Farm Markets

Harris Farm Markets is a grocery chain from Australia that started in 1971 from a single shop in Villawood, Sydney. They specialize in products like vegetables, fruits, delicatessen and other grocery products. They are considered as the biggest individual fruit and vegetables retailer in Australia, also promoting odd-shaped fruits in a separate section called ‘Imperfect Picks’. There is a surprising section of gourmet ingredients that is unavailable anywhere else. They are the first Australian fresh produce business that started operations in a supermarket style in Australia. More than 45 years later, the company is still family owned and operates with 26 stores across New South Wales and Sydney and is like a home to more than 1500 employees who all have a common objective – connect the people of Australia with good food (Harris Farm Markets 2017). The family-run concern from the beginning itself bought their goods from the Sydney Markets in Flemington. In spite of entering the market on a much later date than its competitors, the supermarket chain has prospered hugely. They have the highest customer rating for online delivery business among the major Australian supermarket chains (ProductReview.com.au 2017). More than 11 million customers shop at the supermarket chain every year.

As mentioned in the introduction part, Harris Farm Markets is family owned company and operates in the section of fresh groceries and delicatessen, having the scope of doing business all over Australia and even New Zealand. They believe they can accomplish this by fulfilling the following their marketing objectives. Harris Farm has an objective of being at the heart of the community and be the best loved grocery retailer. They also aim to improve their stock turns and optimize network efficiency, all the while making sure that their customers are offered the value-for-money products they have come to expect from the supermarket chain (Kapferer 2012). In mid-2015, the company started looking for a solution that would put together all their customer interaction channels into one system. Their goal is to take information and connect it into an internal CRM. The ultimate goal is to provide the customers with a shopping experience that they can trust based on its services, values and quality (Aaker and Joachimsthaler 2012).

Being not so popular among the younger generation, Harris Farm is the most preferred amongst the customers between the ages of 35-50. Harris Farm aims to gain the trust of more consumers, as that is an important concern for success. The targeted areas would be Australian and New Zealand metropolitan areas. Both males and females would be targeted, with people having low-medium income, or are blue and white collar workers. Those people would be targeted who are loyal to brands, hardworking, full of Australian values and are time poor consumers (Iglesias, Ind and Alfaro 2013).

Marketing Objectives of Harris Farm Markets

Well established competing supermarkets are already much ahead with the help of online website and smart phone application. What Harris Farm needs to do is differentiate them by means of what they do best – offer fresh and authentic produce. Harris Farm has taken up a lot of initiatives to meet the preferences of their consumers. They have included elimination of product or service duplication, upgrading of on-shelf availability of products and tactics to better the shopping experience for customers. The company also aimed to fix service concerns like reducing queue time for customers, checking for smooth trolleys and opening the entrances and applying those techniques at all the stores (Balmer 2012).

Harris Farm is a trusted and reliable brand in its segment of fresh produce in Australia. Their strategy for branding is the main element behind their success, as every element focused on getting the branding strategy implemented and well managed. Every strategy of Harris Farm is an outcome of the different analysis and research of the Australian retail market. These strategies are only developed after providing consideration to the philosophy of the Australian market.

Being a latecomer in the retail industry, Harris Farm has not touched upon a lot of branding strategies adopted by its competitors. However, they have been able to gather reputation established with its consumers, employees and suppliers. Their consumers have long related the chain with value for money and complete dependability. The company’s internal structure has always been focused on permanent employee relationships, excellent social responsibility programs and strong organizational routines, along with a shared sense that there is Harris Farm way of carrying out beneficial things (Brodie et al. 2013).

On a very basic level, the social structure is the surface of contemplations, mindsets and lead plans that are incorporated into human associations. In particular, associations are affected by client perspectives and practices that depend on upon such factors as the age structure of the people, and the method for work and unwinding. With a particular ultimate objective to meet the changing lifestyles of their customers, Harris Farm works unmistakable store formats found where the customers are most invaluable, has a central customer services gathering, commissions a month to month checking of sentiments and practices expansive research into what the customers suspect from them on corporate social obligation. They have found that their customers respect the going with crucial: tending to customer needs, being a not too bad supervisor, being sensible for suppliers and their workforces, offering tried and true things and working astutely (Brodie et al. 2013).

Customer Demographics of Harris Farm Markets

Harris Farm is a grocery chain in Australia, who has done a commendable job on selecting their brand elements.

Brand Name: The name if taken from the surname of the family who founded the chain. However, compared to its competitors, the brand name is long and difficult to remember.

URL: Harris Farm website is https://www.harrisfarm.com.au/. The name of the domain is similar to the brand so that it is possible to be reinforced in the customer’s mind.

Packaging: The logo and brand name is widely printed on the different products so that customers are frequently exposed to the brand.

Harris Farm frequently involves in marketing programs and strategic measures to better their customer service. Harris Farm from the beginning measured Net Promoter Score (NPS) to recognize the customer interactions for helping in developing happy customers. By using RJMetrics they were able to join all data into a central data storehouse, which can be used by them as stock of actionable information (Buil, De Chernatony and Martínez 2013). The constant attention to bring improvement in customer service and satisfaction level paid off when from 2014 Q1 to 2015 Q1 customer acquiring rate increased to 51% and the number of customers asking for replicate orders saw a huge 2x development.

Harris Farm’s new Love Local initiative was aimed to inform shoppers about the profit of buying from inside their local area. The aim is to inform customers about the source of their food and what they can contribute to support the local economy.

Harris Farm is hoping to gain a status in the Australian retail market as a very valuable brand. They have been successful in rebuilding bridges with suppliers, shaking up its marketing, tweaking its loyalty program, fixing supermarkets and ending losses. Their engagement scores with staff, suppliers and customers. Customers responded well to their brand campaigns and their key brand metrics have been heading in the right direction (Freling and Forbes 2013).

The model helps approaching brand equity for Harris Farm from the standpoint of their consumers. Their power lies in what their customers know about them, felt, seen and heard.

Image: CBBE model

Brand Salience

• Broad awareness of Harris Farm
• Brand recognition and brand recall
• Depth and breadth of brand awareness

Brand Performance

• Meet customer’s functional needs
• Reliable
• Style, design and price

Brand Imagery

• Meets psychological and social needs
• Demographics and psychographics affect them

Brand Judgments

• Personal opinions and judgment of the brand-
• Brand quality (benefits), brand credibility (competitive, innovative), brand consideration (when purchasing), brand superiority (uniqueness and better than others)

Brand Feelings

• Customersemotional responses and reactions
• Warmth, fun, excitement, security (safety, comfort), social approval, self-respect(pride)

Brand Resonance

• Attitudinal attachment
• Sense of community
• Active engagement
• Behaviour loyalty

The Marketing Action Plans take a gander at a three year time skyline with achievable here and now objectives to energize the possibility of a continuous duty. With restricted dollars and individuals to complete the command it is imperative to stay centered.

References and Bibliography

Aaker, D.A. and Joachimsthaler, E., 2012. Brand leadership. Simon and Schuster.

Balmer, J.M., 2012. Corporate brand management imperatives. California Management Review, 54(3), pp.6-33.

Brodie, R.J., Ilic, A., Juric, B. and Hollebeek, L., 2013. Consumer engagement in a virtual brand community: An exploratory analysis. Journal of Business Research, 66(1), pp.105-114.

Buil, I., De Chernatony, L. and Martínez, E., 2013. Examining the role of advertising and sales promotions in brand equity creation. Journal of Business Research, 66(1), pp.115-122.

Freling, T.H. and Forbes, L.P., 2013. An empirical analysis of the brand personality effect. Journal of Product & Brand Management.

Harris Farm Markets. 2017. Our Story. [online] Available at: https://www.harrisfarm.com.au/pages/our-story [Accessed 11 May 2017].

Iglesias, O., Ind, N. and Alfaro, M., 2013. The organic view of the brand: A brand value co-creation model. Journal of Brand Management, 20(8), pp.670-688.

Kapferer, J.N., 2012. The new strategic brand management: Advanced insights and strategic thinking. Kogan page publishers.

Kelley, L., Sheehan, K. and Jugenheimer, D.W., 2015. Advertising media planning: a brand management approach. Routledge.

Loureiro, S.M.C., Ruediger, K.H. and Demetris, V., 2012. Brand emotional connection and loyalty. Journal of Brand Management, 20(1), pp.13-27.

ProductReview.com.au. 2017. Harris Farm Markets. [online] Available at: https://www.productreview.com.au/p/harris-farm-markets.html [Accessed 11 May 2017].

Rosenbaum-Elliott, R., Elliott, R.H., Percy, L. and Pervan, S., 2015. Strategic brand management. Oxford University Press, USA.