East-West Seeds Case Study

Global urban gardening overview:

The global urban farming (Kitchen / backyard/ balcony / terrace garden) market is assumed to be a small market and
expected to grow at a very fast pace. As a market segment, urban farming has unique and rapidly evolving needs
because of the many different growing systems and evolving technologies such as lighting, crop protection and
harvesting systems. Food security is a priority globally, and given the dearth of arable farmland, vertical, indoor
farming and urban open farming will play a key role in ensuring food security. India too is one of many countries
experiencing an increasing demand for fresh, sustainable, and locally grown produce that has a smaller environmental
footprint, using fewer resources to grow (growing space & transportation) and reaching the end consumer without
adulteration and wastage.

COVID Impact:
Consumers across Asia have signaled their eating habits may change permanently once the world moves beyond the
impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). In an exclusive Nielsen study of 11 Asian markets, most of the
respondents shared that they will prefer eating at home. It was observed that end consumers will prefer eating
vegetables which will improve their immune system eg Bitter gourd, bottle gourd, pumpkin etc.

Since lockdown, public interest in growing fruit and vegetables at home has soared. Seed packets are flying off shelves.
Fear of food shortages will have motivated some, but others with more time on their hands at home will have been
tempted by the chance to relieve stress doing a wholesome family activity.

The seeds of enthusiasm for homegrown food may have been sown, but sustaining this is essential. Urban farming has
much to offer in the wake of the pandemic. It could help communities boost the resilience of their fresh fruit and
vegetable supplies, improve the health of residents and help them lead more sustainable lifestyles

India is now also seeing urban-dwellers switching to organic farming or urban farming. Just a few years back, farming
in cities would have been thought to be impossible but COVID19 brought in mammoth changes in the mindset of
consumers and off late we are observing a pattern of city dwellers inching towards growing their own food.

"More people are thinking about where their food comes from, how easily it can be disrupted, and how to reduce disruptions," said
landscape architect Kotchakorn Voraakhom, who designed Asia's largest urban rooftop farm in Bangkok. "People, planners and
governments should all be rethinking how land is used in cities. Urban farming can improve food security and nutrition, reduce
climate change impacts, and lower stress," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

India market:
Right now there are few brands of seeds (which is the most important input to start with) available in the India market
for urban consumers, like Pyramid Seeds (Ugaoo), Namdhari Seeds, Kalash Seeds, Kraft Seeds, Indo American Seeds,
and many more. All these brands are focussing this emerging urban farming market with a traditional approach only
reducing the SKU size to cater to urban consumers.
Urban vegetable kitchen gardening market is predominantly led by the local players. Most of these local players are
not the R&D based vegetable seeds company, many of them are the marketers of the seeds from some suppliers.
Customers can buy these seeds on e-commerce platforms and also in the ornamental plant nurseries. Urban customers
grow vegetables in their backyard gardens or in their balconies. Overall these consumers are amature in nature and
continuously seek support and guidance wrt to know-how of the pant care.

Case :
East-West Seeds (EWS) is a leading seed company in India with significant market share in Bitter gourd, Ridge gourd,
Pumpkin, Marigold, Sweetcorn, Cauliflower & Okra seeds and also aggressively coming in Hybrid onions, okra,
tomatoes, Hot pepper, Papaya seeds business. Now looking at the emerging market of urban gardening, EWS wants
to launch it’s existing assorted portfolio of products for urban farmers, with the detailing on how-to-grow.

Although this seems like a simple project, this is strikingly different as compared to the traditional business model of
EWS, wherein currently EWS is selling its seeds to the growers by traditional channels (Dealers / distributors) mostly
in villages or tier 3 cities. Whereas urban kitchen gardening business model is an altogether different ball game wrt to
products, channel, consumer profile, supply chain etc.

As a Project Manager for Urban Farming, propose an innovative launch plan for urban kitchen gardening seeds
portfolio with detailed overview on Product, Promotion, Price and Place (4Ps) during the COVID 19 situations where
social distancing is the key and digital platforms are disrupting every aspect of life and business. Go-to-market strategy
should be directly linked with the actual consumer insights which can be captured by a survey.

Deliverables:
Market Insight to support all theses deliverables:
● Market scenario (Key competitor players / products / pricing/ promotion)
● Consumer insights (Based on market survey)
● Product: Suggest EWS Product Portfolio (Crops of choice & SKU size) and why?
● Place: Suggest intended channel of distribution & why?
● Promotion: Suggest innovative promotional strategy
● Pricing: Suggest pricing strategy / offers.
● Target Customer: Who would be projects’ target customers and the key opinion leader? Device a strategy to
define and address/influence KOLs.
● Foreseen challenges & opportunities to be prepared for.

Assumptions:
● Take assumptions of product as an FMCG product directed at urban dwellers/farmers to bring the branding
and advertising plans.
● Urban farmers are amaertur in farming techniques (Seed, Crop protection, fertilizer application/nutrition)
● Urban farming enthusiasts are looking for information on websites, blogs, YouTube and Social media
channels.

Note: Conduct an urban end-consumer survey to back-up your launch strategy.

About company:
East-West Seed originated in The Netherlands (‘West’) and has its roots in the Dutch ‘SeedValley’. It is now
headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand (‘East’). East-West Seed is the market leader for tropical vegetable seeds in Asia
and expanding rapidly in Africa and Latin America. The privately-owned company has played an important role in
the development and improvement of tropical vegetable varieties in Southeast Asia and other tropical countries. East-
West’s mission is to provide innovative products and services that help to increase the income of vegetable farmers
and promote the growth and quality of the tropical vegetable industry. We are ranked No 1 twice in Global Access to
Seed Index and recently our company founder Simon Groots was awarded with the prestigious World Food Prize
2019.The Dutch multinational vegetable seeds company, East-West Seeds, came to India in 2003. Today, it is among
the top six seed companies in India. However, it aspires to be among the top three in the next two years.

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