Marketing Environmental Analysis Report For Timboon Ice Cream In The Australian Market

Develop a report of a Marketing Environmental Analysis for an SME (small to medium enterprise) in Australia.

A Marketing Environmental Analysis of the macro environment and microenvironment is key to understanding the possible impact of any external local, national or international factors on a SME business. These factors tend to be outside a business owner’s direct control (except company), however, business and marketing strategies can be modified to take advantage of the opportunities they present while also minimising any potential threats.

Therefore, in this assessment task you will need to:

Choose a SME business: wanting to expand generally through new product development / market development/ new market entry – local or overseas, which will enable you to frame this growth strategy.

What is an SME – in Australia a small business has approx 5-19 employees, medium business has 20- 199 and large businesses have 200+.

Why is assessment asking you to look at SME - Australian SME’s make up 97% of all Australian businesses, produce 1/3 of total GDP and employ approx 5mill people.

Background of Timboon Ice Cream Industry

The purpose of this report is to enlighten the readers about the information of ice-cream industry of Australia in the worldwide market. The report evaluates the information about the Timboon ice-cream industry present in Australia. The company is a small medium enterprise located near the Green Ocean Road that serves varieties of ice creams to the customers in the market (Timeboon, 2018). Tim Marwood and Caroline Simmons established the company in the year 1999 with an objective to serve fresh ice cream to the customer. Further, the below mentioned report evaluates macro as well as micro environmental analysis for the company Timboon Ice cream along with the SWOT analysis of the company. The latter part of the report evaluates business opportunities for the company in international market and between the customer segments as well. Competitors of Timboon are also analysed in the below mentioned report.

The ice cream manufacturing industry has become strong since the past five years due to which the companies present in the industry have also started earning well in the target market. The industry in the previous year earned a total profit of $ 116.0 million that showed a growth of 3.6 % in the period of 2013-2018. The industry has also earned revenue to $ 1.0 billion to people worldwide. New South Wales and Victoria are the two states where the demand is maximum for ice creams as high rainfall occurs in that area. Further, it should be noted that Peter’s and Bulla are two major dominant brands present in the country. There is no specific ice cream preferred by people as the choice depends upon their mood and environment. However, ice cream made of fresh milk, cream and yogurt is highly preferred by people in the industry (Johnson, 2017).

It should be noted by the company Timboon Ice Cream that scoop-and-serve segment is highly increasing in the target market, so the company should focus on initiating such strategies in the market so as to effectively grow and increase sales as well. It is forecasted that the industry revenue will increase annually with the rate of 2.9% over next five years that will make ice cream companies more profitable in the market (Johnson, 2017).

Basis	Trends
Political	There are many political and legal risks associated with the companies present in the ice-cream industry. There is medium degree of barrier between entry, exit and regulations in the industry that somehow supports the companies to be profitable in market (Chen, Talebi, Gras, Weeks, & Kentish, 2018).
Environmental	The environmental factors support the sales of the company in the market as the market players adequately analyse the market and supply flavours that the customers would demand in the market.  Changing environment has medium risk for the ice-cream industry in the market.
Social	The customers present in the Australian market are likely to help the ice cream companies to grow because of their taste and preferences in the market. The customers only prefer rich and fresh ice creams in the market (Haskelberg, et. al., 2016).
Technological	High technology provides high assistance to companies to innovate the ways that they make ice creams in the market. Also, technology present in Australia is a plus point for the companies.
Economic	The ice cream industry is adding value to the overall value added economy of the country Australia. Due to which, the country also supports the industry to initiate the economic growth.
Demographic	People of all age group come under the demographics of the industry (Wu, et. al., 2015). The industry targets the people from age group 6-60 years.

The targeted consumers for the company Timboon Ice Cream would be people between age group 6 to 60 years. As ice cream is the most loved product among all so people of all age group prefer eating it. Further, the products served by Timboon are delightful, tasty and fresh due to which adults do not hesitate in sharing it with their parents or their children (Appendices 2). Ice-cream have very few side effect due to which it is preferred by most of the people in all season (Hughes, Griffith, Mendez, Holland, & Ferguson, 2017).

Macro and Micro Environmental Analysis

Further, on the basis of demographic profile of the customers, the company should majorly target people living in New South Wales and Victoria. High profile as well as medium profile customers are targeted who prefer eating fresh milk ice creams in the market. The company Timboon provides ice cream using fresh milk so they majorly targets people that believe in eating fresh ice creams. These are the potential customers that the company need to find and target in the market of Australia.

Looking at the company analysis of Timboon, it has been evaluated that the company has gained specialization in providing different flavours of rich and fresh ice creams in the market. The company serves a premium range of 24 flavours that are locally made using fresh products from the farm (Timeboon, 2018). Maple, strawberry, milk and cream, honeycomb and salted caramel etc. are some of the variety of ice creams served by the company. As Tim Marwood and Caroline Simmons have followed their business of dairy product so they are the key personnel for the company.  The business is located at 1A Barrett St, Timboon VIC. Talking about the brand image of the company Timboon, it should be noted that the company has an identified image in the target market. The company make use of quirky packaging style that attracts the customers to purchase such products. Also, the fresh raw material used in making ice creams helps the company in achieve the trust of premium customers present in the market (Parnell, Edmunds, Pierce, & Stoneham, 2018). Further, below mentioned is the 5 P’s marketing mix of Timboon Ice Cream:

Product: The Company serve varied range of ice creams and sorbets in the target market. The names of some of the products served by the company Timboon are mentioned below:

Strawberry, Orange and Cardamon, Turkish Delight, Passionfruit Meringue, Mint Choc Chip, Rocky Road, Strawberry Sorbet, Passionfruit Sorbet, Lemon Sorbet and Rhubarb Sorbet.

The company use milk from the farm and cream from the local dairies to make the ice creams. All the products are made using natural ingredients due to which it taste delicious.

Price: The price of the products of Timboon is reasonable so that people can easily purchase it from the market. All the customers believe that the prices served by the company are very reasonable an affordable by them. The company also provide sundae school under which they help kids and adults to make their own ice cream and learn as well. The company charges $13 per head for the same (Aboulfazli, Shori, & Baba, 2016).

Business Opportunities for Timboon Ice Cream Industry

Place: The Company is located in Victoria but it has many other places in Australia from where one can purchase the product.

Promotion: various activities are initiated by the management of Timboon to attract the customers in the market. As they make ice cream using fresh products, so same message is conveyed in the promotion strategy as well. The Company also provide free sample to first customers that come to their outlet after registering with the company (Sharma, Kumar, Azad, & Adsule, 2015).

Process: The products of the company are freshly made using local products. The process of making  ice cream is simple as there is no added preservative or any other chemical in the ice cream.

Further, it should be noted that there is no specific age group or section that forms a part of the customer segment of the company as the company targets people of all age group. Following this practice, the company is growing well in the target market. Dawn Farms is the milk supplier of the company that provides them quality product in the market. There are many food artisans living in Timboon that provides fresh products to the company. Currently, the company’s plant is based in Timboon and the products are manufactured in whole Australia (Chandan, 2015).

The fact should be noted that there is high degree of competition present in the Ice Cream industry of Australia as there are many companies present in the country that are fighting to attain the top most position the market. Peter Street and Bulla are the two major competitors present in the industry. The customers are becoming health conscious in the market due to which companies are also shifting their interest to gelatine and gluten free ice creams. Domestic competition is also rising due to increasing import market from past five years (Appendices 1). Gelato Messina and Gelatissimo are some of the small competitors present in the industry that are fighting to attain position in premium scoop-and-serve ice cream cups (Granato, et. al., 2017). Below mention is the company analysis of Peters Ice Cream Company:

Peters Ice Cream is an Australian manufacturing company that is subsidiary of European food company R&R Ice Cream. The company was initially developed in the year 1907 by Frederick (Fred) Augustus Bolles Peters at New South Wales. The company has recently introduced Proud and Punch line with which they have started serving fresh and natural ice creams to the customers in the market. Drumstick, Oreo, Original, Frosty Fruit and Connoisseur etc. are some of the products served by the company in the target market. Peters is the leading competitor of Ice Cream in the Australia industry with maximum number of the buyers in the market (Soukoulis, Fisk, & Bohn, 2014).

Strength	Weakness
· Variety of Flavors available: The company offers a variety of flavors to the customers in the market. Due to wide range to flavors, the customers initiate repeated sales. · Easy availability: The product is easily available in the market of Australia. · Great Customer service: The staff welcomes the customers in a friendly way that attracts the interest of the customers. All the customers praise the staff of Timboon Ice Cream Company (Spiteri, Olstad, & Woods, 2018). · Healthy Product: The ice cream market is becoming health conscious. So, the company provide ice cream made of fresh and natural products that do not harm the health of customers.	· Less Recognition: The weakness of the company Timboon Fine Ice Cream is that it has earned les recognition in the market. The people that know about the product are the people that repeatedly use the product. But the people who do not know about the product, do not get to know it from any other sources. · High Competition: There is high degree of competition present in the industry that acts as a weakness for company Timboon Fine Ice Cream (López, Leira, Martínez, & Bugallo, 2017).
Opportunities	Threats
· Globalization: As the company is only present in parts of Australia. So, it has a great opportunity to grow and expand the scope of business in different nations worldwide. · Use of better advertising: The company can also increase their sales by using better advertising and promotion strategies. · Introduction to healthy Options: Further, Timboon can also grow by increasing a variety of options using different products in the market.	· Substitution: The biggest threat for the company Timboon is the threat of substitution in the market. As the customer are becoming health conscious so they are shifting towards various other healthy product present in the market. · Price Negotiation: Much company produces ice cream using cheap quality products and chemicals due to which they sell ice cream at cheaper rate that is a threat for the company.

Competitors of Timboon Ice Cream Industry

Below mentioned are the key development areas for the company Timboon that will help them to move forward on the defined target:

• Human Resource: the company should employ people in their business that can help them to efficiently carry out the business functions in the market. Human resource management team of the company should initiate effective back office function so that the front desk program is smoothly managed (Appendices 3). Further, the personnel of the company should initiate effective communication between each other so that all the functions of the business are effectively completed. Also, the company should wisely use the talent of personnel in the companyConficoni, Alberghini, Bissacco, Ferioli, & Giaccone, 2017).
• Marketing and Promotion: the company should focus on the area of marketing and promotion in order to succeed in the market. The marketing and promotion strategies of the company should circulate the information about the products and services of the company in the worldwide market. Promotion strategies will attract the customers from different areas.
• Product Development: the company should focus on diversifying the scope of business and adding new flavors in the product line. Apart from this, the company should also add new products apart from ice creams in their business.

Further, apart from New South Wales and Victoria, the company should focus on the entire market of Australia and Asia. In terms of behavioural and psychographic segmentation, the company should target the people that always get cravings for ice cream. They should also target people who loves eating fresh and healthy ice creams in all seasons.

Conclusion

Thus, in the limelight of above mentioned events, the fact should be noted that the above mentioned report evaluated the internal and external environmental analysis of Timboon Fine Ice Creams situated in the Victoria. The company uses fresh and natural products to make ice creams in the market. Further, the above mentioned report evaluated that the company Timboon has a wide scope to grow but it needs to initiate diversified promotion and marketing strategies in the environment.

References

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Chandan, R. C. (2015). Dairy Industry: Production and Consumption Trends. Dairy Processing and Quality Assurance, 41.

Chen, G. Q., Talebi, S., Gras, S. L., Weeks, M., & Kentish, S. E. (2018). A review of salty waste stream management in the Australian dairy industry. Journal of environmental management, 224, 406-413.

Conficoni, D., Alberghini, L., Bissacco, E., Ferioli, M., & Giaccone, V. (2017). Heavy metal presence in two different types of ice cream: artisanal ice cream (Italian gelato) and industrial ice cream. Journal of food protection, 80(3), 443-446.

Granato, D., Santos, J. S., Salem, R. D., Mortazavian, A. M., Rocha, R. S., & Cruz, A. G. (2017). Effects of herbal extracts on quality traits of yogurts, cheeses, fermented milks, and ice creams: a technological perspective. Current Opinion in Food Science.

Haskelberg, H., Neal, B., Dunford, E., Flood, V., Rangan, A., Thomas, B., ... & Gill, T. (2016). High variation in manufacturer-declared serving size of packaged discretionary foods in Australia. British Journal of Nutrition, 115(10), 1810-1818.

Hughes, D. W., Griffith, A., Mendez, D., Holland, R., & Ferguson, K. (2017). A Tennessee Milk Plant as a Possible Way of Growing the Tennessee Dairy Industry. Journal of Agribusiness, 35, 1.

Johnson, S. (2017). IBISWorld Industry Report C1132 Ice Cream Manufacturing in Australia. Retrieved from: file:///C:/Users/Laptop04011/Downloads/2847361_2041631578_C1132IceCreamManufacturinginAu%20(1).pdf 

López, E. T., Leira, R. D., Martínez, M. G., & Bugallo, P. B. (2017). Integrated environmental permit through Best Available Techniques: Evaluation of the dairy industry. Journal of Cleaner Production, 162, 512-528.

Parnell, A., Edmunds, M., Pierce, H., & Stoneham, M. J. (2018). The volume and type of unhealthy bus shelter advertising around schools in Perth, Western Australia: Results from an explorative study. Health Promotion Journal of Australia.

Sharma, A. K., Kumar, R., Azad, Z. A. A., & Adsule, P. G. (2015). Use of fine wine lees for value addition in ice cream. Journal of Food Science and Technology, 52(1), 592-596.

Soukoulis, C., Fisk, I. D., & Bohn, T. (2014). Ice cream as a vehicle for incorporating health?promoting ingredients: Conceptualization and overview of quality and storage stability. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, 13(4), 627-655.

Spiteri, S. A., Olstad, D. L., & Woods, J. L. (2018). Nutritional quality of new food products released into the Australian retail food market in 2015–is the food industry part of the solution?. BMC public health, 18(1), 222.

Timeboon., (2018). Flavours. Retrieved from: https://www.timboonfineicecream.com.au/flavours/

Timeboon., (2018). Our Story. Retrieved from: https://www.timboonfineicecream.com.au/our-story/

Wu, J. H., Neal, B., Trevena, H., Crino, M., Stuart-Smith, W., Faulkner-Hogg, K., ... & Dunford, E. (2015). Are gluten-free foods healthier than non-gluten-free foods? An evaluation of supermarket products in Australia. British Journal of Nutrition, 114(3), 448-454.