Food has always been seen as a human need and is classified as fast moving consumer good. This is one of the primary reasons why food industry has often been considered as a lucrative industry by many corporate houses. An industry whose products are generally perishable in nature with a very low shelf life, provides a lot of room for large scale, volume based production and in turn generating economies of scale.
Selling Plan & Business Proposal
Food has always been seen as a human need and is classified as fast moving consumer good. This is one of the primary reasons why food industry has often been considered as a lucrative industry by many corporate houses. An industry whose products are generally perishable in nature with a very low shelf life, provides a lot of room for large scale, volume-based production and in turn generating economies of scale.
Over a period of time advancements in industrial technology and information technology has enabled immense diversification and margin of new product development in the food industry. This progression has been topped by the advent of internet and e-commerce. Besides that, increasing globalization, diminishing geographical and cultural boundaries and increasing awareness due to media exposure have now encourages consumers to look beyond conventional home cooked food.
One of the most recent trends in the food industry is consumption of health foods. The increased awareness about what to and what not eat and the need to stay fit and healthy, along with association of weight and health with beauty has triggered an obsessive degree of health conscious among many consumers, regardless of age and gender or socio economic background. The consumers now consider conventional processed and packaged food unfit for health and therefore prefer food that is light, fresh, natural, organic, rich in nutrients and free from any preservatives. This increasing trend has provided an opportunity for many food suppliers to exploit the situation and come up with a relevant product line.
Fresh Direct is an innovative business idea that has made an effective use of the web world to operate its business in a cost efficient manner. The overall business idea, as the name suggests, is to offer food products that are fresh. These food items are delivered at the customers doorstep with the orders being placed online.
Mission Statement
Fresh Direct aims at making consumer life easy by delivering quality products at their doorstep without any hassle in this fast paced life.
Market Analysis
Target Market
Fresh Direct's consumers not only includes consumers who are health conscious and look for deli and organic packaged foods, but also grocery shoppers in general. While the business started off with the idea of delivering health food items, it gradually diversified and expanded into a grocery business. As a result the target market expanded considerably. The consumer groups of Fresh Direct include women, both housewives working and non-working, and single women, students (both male and female) and single men and virtually anyone who do groceries. Besides that there is a special consumer group that shops the deli products for fresh and healthy life.
Since the product line and the targeted customer base is quite huge, and all the business operations are done in the virtual world, this gives an exposure to a significantly large market size. The diversification of product line also means that the demand levels in general are more likely to be sustained.
How do Customers Buy:
As stated earlier, the business is operated in the web world with customers placing there orders online. With a strong supply chain management system in place the required order is then delivered in the freshest of conditions at the customers doorstep and the payment is received then and there. With the new advent of smart phones and tablet gadgets, the shopping experience has been made more consumer friendly, easier and quicker buy developing specialized Fresh Direct consumer apps for Android and iPhone.
Developing Customer Database:
The ideal method that Fresh Direct has to keep a record of its customers is through its web portal. Each customer is required to register on the portal before s/he can start using the service. The registration form has a comprehensive biodata of the customer. The customer's profile and his or her purchase patterns can be automatically tracked down every time a customer logs in to his or her personalized account and likewise a purchase record is also maintained which are further transferred to the database system.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Web presence means low capital costs and low fixed costs in the long-term thus greater chances of economies of scale.
Doorstep delivery in personalized Direct Fresh vehicles enables closer customer relations and one to one feedback.
A strong brand image of offering one of its kind food retail and grocery service that guarantees fresh products.
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