Marketing plan for Green Meals

Summary
Green Meals is a retail outlet in Dhaka, Bangladesh, that sells authentic organic food products,
sourced from their own farms. Green Meals has a product variety and range that is innovative
and new for the Bangladeshi consumers and here lies one of its strengths over competition. Other
strengths include the authenticity of the organic food products as most of these are sourced from
their own farms, high involvement of the owners and their family members during processing,
customer service by the owners themselves, their transparency regarding the source of the
ingredients and products, and their eco-friendly processes and packaging. The main weakness is
their low brand awareness. The opportunities for Green Meals are the rising interest of
consumers in organic food and the growing middle class who can afford to buy some. The
threats come from current and potential competition but the major threat is from the non-organic
food products that abound and are cheaper for most people.
Purpose
The purpose of this marketing plan is to grow the existing business and market shares of Green
Meals, a retail outlet for organic food and wellness products based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The
plan will help formulate a strategic direction for the business and will discuss, assess and analyze
the macro-, micro- and internal environments that currently influence this small-sized business
and its potential in the future. A three-year strategic direction is provided in the plan so that
Green Meals has a document in its hand and can trace its path to reach its goals against an
established budget, make measurements and adjustments along the way, and be on track to
sustainability and profitability.
Mission Statement
The mission of Green Meals is to provide a variety of high quality, chemical-free organic food
products made from native ingredients for the upper middle and upper class families residing in
Dhaka to encourage the habit of consuming organic food products. The business aims to delight
customers with innovation and novelty by providing high quality products, eco-friendly
processing and packaging, and excellent customer service.
Market overview
The organic food market is still at its nascent stage in Bangladesh. In the countryside, it is more
common to grow organic food while the scenario is quite the opposite in the cities. The main
competitors of Green Meals in Dhaka are Shashya Parabartana, Meena Bazaar and other non-
branded organic products found in the supermarkets. The basic difference between conventional
and organic farming is that the latter is done on a smaller scale with more inputs from both field
labor and managerial skills and under stricter conditions, rendering it a more expensive form of
farming and thus ending up costing an average of 20% higher than conventional food products.
However, the virtues of organic food products are its higher levels of nutrients, minerals and
other elements that can fight certain diseases. Not only are organic foods priced higher, it is not
easy to access these. Only a few reliable outlets sell organic food products. In some
organic products, the information does not include how these were processed and packaged,
raising doubts in the minds of the customers. Three organizations for organic farming have been
established in Bangladesh and they have been working with the government and public
authorities to encourage organic farming. Separate areas in the wet markets are earmarked for
organic food sellers. However, unscrupulous middlemen buy these organic produces in bulk, do
not pay a premium to these organic farmers, and then mix these with non-organic food products
to sell them to larger markets. Thus, only a handful of consumers are getting the organic food
products. An urgent marketing mechanism can prevent this practice. Unless the organic farmers
are ensured that they would get the right price for their labor, it would be difficult to meet the
international quality standards of organic products. In addition, there are no government
approved certification bodies and the sole private organization, Organic Bangladesh Limited that
is trying to standardize the products, are not getting any support from the government.
Market Forecast
The global market for organic produce is growing at an annual rate of 10%. In another research,
it is mentioned that the global organic food and beverage market is expected to touch the $161.5
billion mark by 2018, triggered by a compound annual growth rate of 15%. However, the
proportion of organic foods in the total food consumption basket is still very low with only 3.5%
of the total food sales in the USA in 2012. This figure is even less in Asia not over 1%. Although
there is no statistical evidence for Bangladesh, it is assumed that the percentage of organic food
in the total food basket is even lower than the Asian figure. A research by Cottingham has shown
that the increase of organic food sales has been 8% in 2013, that Asia will see 20% annual
growth in the organic food market, and that the market in Bangladesh has decreased by 4%.
There is no further research to support the statement that the organic food market has decreased
by 4% in Bangladesh. On the contrary, Table 4.1 below shows an increasing trend in the sales of
organic food products from Meena Bazar over a period of three years.
Table: Market Growth of Organic Food Groups in Meena Bazaar in year 2017-2020
The most likely top selling products of Green Meals are identified after a recent survey:

Competition Analysis
Three prominent organizations that have been selling organic food produce in Dhaka are
Shashya Prabartana, Proshika, and Meena Bazaar.
The competitor profiles are shown below:
The first name for organic food retail is Proshika that started ecological farming in1978.
Proshika supplies a limited amount of vegetables and fruits in some retail outlets in Dhaka. The
five farms owned by Proshika send two tons of vegetables to Dhaka every day. Proshika trains
farmers on organic farming and sells their produce through their own channels to selected outlets
and offices.
Shashya Prabartana started its Dhaka outlet in 2000 as part of an NGO, promoting organic
farming. The brand mantra of Shashya Prabartana is organic healthy nutritious and the brand
slogan is Farming Organic for 30 Years. Thus, the organization has established its purpose that is
directly related to organic farming. The customers of Shashya Prabartana are attracted by its
wide variety of organic food products.
Meena Bazaar is the first superstore in Dhaka that sells organic food products packed in
recyclable materials and the main customers of these are the upper income households. But the
middle-income families are also expected to get on the organic food trend as groups like
Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon rally for public awareness and legal steps to hinder indiscriminate
use of chemicals. The demand for organic produce is rising as people are getting more health-
conscious and these players in the organic food market have export in their long-term plans.
Dhabol and similar businesses do not have outlets as such but function from the home of their
owners. Their family members have access to a wide network outside Dhaka which afford the
opportunity to acquire the products from the sources. There is no marketing activity from Dhabol
now except for a Facebook page but they plan to operate through e-commerce soon
Distribution Network
The owners themselves own the organic farms for rice, lentils and other products. Everything is
sourced from outside Dhaka except the almonds. Almonds are not grown in Bangladesh and are
therefore, bought from wholesalers. The finished products are sold at the Green Meals outlet,
another outlet called Deshal that sells clothes and homeware products made from local materials,
and two online grocery shopping outlets calleddirectfresh.com and chaldal.com
Another large superstore is currently in discussions with Green Meals abou tkeeping their
products on their shelves. To the organic farmers, it is important that they get the right price for
their products. Therefore, to keep them motivated and satisfied, Green Meals gives them the
right price and in return, get the assurance of high quality products. Directfresh.com, chaldal.com
and Deshal strive to give the best local and international products to their customers. Hence, their
need is to keep those brands in their portfolio that reflect their values of purity and honesty.
While it is beneficial for these outlets to keep products of Green Meals, it is alsobeneficial for
Green Meals since their products can reach a wider market as Deshal has seven outlets in Dhaka,
chaldal.com has 400 daily customers and directfresh.com has a customer base of 20,000
households. However, it cannot be ensured that the sources from where chaldal.com
anddirectfresh.com are entirely reliable.
Objectives and Marketing Strategy
The main financial objective of Green Meals is to reach breakeven point by the second year of
operation and gradually increase their sales and profit margins. The marketing objectives of
Green Meals are related to their mission and business objective of increasing the consumption of
organic food products. The main marketing objectives are to increase the category and increase
market shares. Compared to its main competition, Prabartana, Green Meals’s market share is
only 1% of Prabartana’s. In three years’ time, Green Meals aims to increase this to 16.5%. The
communication objective is to create 25% brand awareness among the target customers in Dhaka
within the first year of business.
Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning
A concentrated marketing approach is taken by Green Meals whereby they target high-income
urban male and female who are consumers of organic food products and a secondary group of
people who are lactose-intolerant. The primary target market for Green Meals is provided below
A secondary target market of Green Meals consists of people who are lactose-intolerant. Almond
milk from Green Meals is specifically targeted to this group of people. The current positioning of
Green Meals is based on product attributes of 100%local and fresh. Their positioning can be
further honed by adding the customer benefits and value and comparing with the competition. A
better version of the positioning of Green Meals is that they source authentic organic food
products from their own farms and process them under strict supervision to give the highest
quality to the customers.