Premium Beer Customer Segment in Australia - Essay Example

? Case Study Analysis Table of Content Answer 3 Answer 2 4 Answer 3 5 Answer 4 6 Answer Australian consumers were increasing their focus on the low carbohydrate products due to the rising level of the health awareness. The food manufacturing industry especially the beer manufacturers recognised and capitalised on this consumer demand for low carbohydrate beer. The current competitive advantage Pure Blonde was also largely due to the popularity of the brand in the premium beer customer segment. Foster identified one of the most popular customer segment of premium beer i.e. Premium Peter. The consumers of Premium Peter segment had the different attitude and beliefs from other bear drinking segments. This segment straddled two of the Maslow’s hierarchies, social recognition and esteem needs because they are highly motivated by ego of social recognitions and esteem life style. They have an attitude on sophistication and looking good and represent themselves as one of the boys who are recognised in the society as a rich and having prestigious lifestyle. When drinking beer PPs prefer full strength beer which fulfil their need for masculine appeal and also preferred test. Foster identified this segment as their target customer for Pure Blonde brand but the misconception of “one of the boys” attitude of Premium Peter could have cannibalize its leading brand Crown. So, the company refined this segment and positioned Pure Blonde as a “low carbohydrate premium beer with full strength and test” in the Premium Peter segment. Thus the brand got a competitive advantage from other premium beer brands of its competitors who also targeted the PPSs. The customers of Premium Peter segment realised that Pure Blonde has an extra benefit of low carbohydrate as well as it also satisfy their needs like full strength beer with test. Packaging of the bottle was of high quality with a green, European style bottle and gold stylish label where the extra benefit of “low carbohydrate” was clearly mentioned with the quality and test. Foster wanted a word of mouth promotion of the USP of Pure Blonde and for this reason they made available this product in bottle shops as well as liquor stores and also in the premises but only in a bottle. This distribution strategy was taken regarding the promotion of the unique benefit of this brand by the discussion of this feature at time of purchase. This effective discussion was not possible if the product was offered in glass in the premises. So the company made this available only in bottles. Therefore, the word of mouth started spreading as Foster had created a beer that meets all the needs of Premium Peter. Thus, the full strength taste and the low carbohydrate parameters have strengthen the current competitive advantage of Pure Blonde. So, the advantage of low carbohydrate was that it differentiated the product by a health positive benefit which other premium beer brands did not have. This unique benefit w2as the key reason of attraction of the premium beer segment towards the brand as the target segment were becoming health conscious. The disadvantage is that it could not take the attention of the Premium Larrikin segment of customers who are demographically included in the Premium Peter but having carefree attitude and enjoy the test too much that conscious about health. Answer 2 After facing a huge competition in the year 2010, Foster realised that they need to include women in their target customer rather refining the men demography. So, the company realised that there is a steadily unnoticed growing segment of women who have started enjoying beer recently. This particular segment of women has started enjoying lighter beer qualities of Pure Blonde because of two reasons. Firstly, this segment of women previously highly focused on the vodka, premix cocktail drinks as a hard drinks and lime and soda as premium drinks. Recently they are shifting to the premium beer. Secondly, females are more health conscious especially about the concern about body weight. As, low carbohydrate been does not affect on the weight it has become the key reason for attraction of this brand towards this women segment. So, as a brand manager of Pure Blonde, the phantom customer profile of this segment can be developed as it is a growing and also prospective segment for Pure Blonde. This women segment can be named as Premium Patricia. The life stage of this segment is 18 to 30. Women under this age duration have generally two different stages. First stage is young girl or late teen and second stage early women. Women under this age duration of 18 to 24 are college goers and they also do socialise friends in pubs, nightclubs etc. This trend of women’s social activities has been changing and their liking to spent time with friends outside the home is increasing. This factor has influencing these late teen girls to consume this low carbohydrate premium beer as it contains low carbohydrate and also premium and tasteful. Women under the age duration of 25 to 30 are generally working women and they have been shifting from hard drinks to premium lo carbohydrate beer only for health factor. So the broad characteristics of this segment would be student or working women. There is high possibility is that maximum of this segment are single and spend time with most with friends or partners. These women are likely free from family responsibilities and also little carefree attitude especially the women under age duration of 18 to 24. So, the main key factors are the health consciousness and trendy look of having beer especially in stylist bottle rather drinking hard drinks like vodka in glass. The perceptual map for Premium Patricia is showing that the brand Pure Blonde is preferred by this segment because of the trendy look of having beer in stylish bottle and the low carbohydrate factor and also the full strength taste of this brand. Exhibit 1: Perceptual map for Premium Patricia Answer 3 As, Fosters has noticed that a emerging segment of women have started to enjoy lighter beer especially the low carbohydrate beer, so it needs to refine this segment for developing an effective positioning of the brand Pure Blonde in this women segment. To make this brand more attractive in this segment it needs to concentrate on the stylish packaging, lightness and the low carbohydrate factor for health benefit. Although this segment has started shifting from hard drinks like vodka to light beer because they have been reducing consumption pure alcohol, the percentage of which is more in hard drinks than beer. Second factor would be the taste of beer they have preferred more. So the company needs to redesign this brand to make a product differentiation for the women only that might be made of preferred taste of this segment. Women of this segment generally have beer when they are with their friends or partners. So they also have desire to math their habits with the boys and this influence them to have beer. So the design of the bottle should be stylish European small bottle. The bottles need to be available in varieties of colour like pink, green and yellow. Women are very choosy especially in the case of colours, so this is a psychological factor which will catalyze the buying behaviour of women. This unique product design might also be the competitive advantage among the premium beer brands available in the market. Apart from the different colour of the bottle test also need to be different in every different coloured bottle. So, if the colour influence and design make 50% of the buying decision for this brand then the opportunity to choose from a wide range of flavour will add on rest 50% of the buying decision. Availability of different flavour comes under the taste factor and in these criteria Pure Blonde might be the market leader in premium beer market. Second factor is the rising health consciousness of the women. The company needs to consider this factor in the marketing strategies. In the promotional strategy for women the benefits of low carbohydrate need to be highlighted so that women can always keep in mind this factor every time they desire for a beer. By this, effective consumer behaviour will be associated with this brand. Generally, in case of women they first get the desire for having a beer and then chose a brand unlike men who even get an opportunity and just then have the desire to drink. So, different stylish design of bottles, variety of flavour and low carbohydrate, and these three unique competencies of pure Blonde can bring the desire to drink when women get the opportune to drink. So, there might very low possibility to choose another brand and Pure Blonde might face a high demand in this segment of women. The brand also needs to be available in all shopping malls where women frequently visit like to visit or the company place effective add of the brand in these places so that every time they come can leave the place with a desire to drink a bottle of Pure Blonde. Answer 4 The concept of Premium Peter segment was developed by Foster in 2004 and the company targeted this demographic segment of men of age in between 25 to 40 for the premium low carbohydrate premium beer brand Pure blonde. This was a broad segment in the criteria of age. At that time, there were few premium beer brands in the Australian market. So the company developed this segment of wide range of age considering the possible beer drinkers in the Australian beer market. But after few years, many companies came into the market and started offering premium beer. So, competition become increased and the customer also have got the opportunity to chose from wide range of product categories like different test, different percentage of alcohol, carbohydrate etc. For this huge competition in the market the brands have started segmenting the same potential consumers in different manner and in different characteristics of people’s life style and attitude. They have been doing deeper analysis of the people’s way of living and factors which influence them to drink beer. So the same consumer is being segmented in different way and products are made according each small segment in terms of age not location or the quantity. In 2010, this Premium Peter segment was refined by dipper analysis of the people of small age duration. The companies have observed another two new segments that are included in the age duration of the Premium Peter but have different characteristics in their way of living. As there are many brands present in the market so people of different will automatically have the desire to drink different beer. The word of mouth promotion by the customers always helps to increase the demand of a particular brand in the same age group or among the people of very small age duration. Men of age in between 18 to 25 have the desire to drink beer only for full test and enjoyment. They do not think about the carbohydrate factor and even they prioritise the taste only rather than the benefit the brand has. People of age in between 26 to 35 are generally working people and they have the desire of drinking beer for the relaxation after their work and they consider on the carbohydrate factor due to the pressure from family to get back the past health fitness. They generally prefer to consume lower amount alcohol than the previous age group for rising responsibility to the family. The rest people of Premium Peter likely prefer to hard drinks than beer as the drinking style of whisky, vodka is more sophisticated than having beer in a bottle. So there are many sub segments in Premium Peter and this segment is likely to be disappeared. So, Pure Blonde needs to develop the product characteristics taste, carbohydrate amount, design of bottle etc according the test and preference of each small age segment of the overall potential beer buyers. Read More