Project Brief
A Japanese apple producer has been exporting their product to the Canadian market since 2018. However, after selling the apples for two seasons, the wholesaler suddenly stopped importing the apples. Sales were not very successful and the apple producer wanted to find out why. The apple producer decided to carry out some market research before re-entering the Canadian market, and retained our firm to do so.
Approach
We analyzed why the Japanese apples did not succeed in the Canadian market. We discovered several factors that contributed to the sales failure. If the seller had done some preliminary market research and created a detailed marketing plan prior to entering the Canadian, the sales failure could have been avoided.
Our Vancouver staff visited many local supermarkets and produce stores to research the apple market. We gathered information regarding how apples were packaged, displayed, stored and sold. We determined what qualities appealed to local consumers. Since Japanese apples were very expensive as compared to local apples, they had to be marketed and packaged differently.
Results
Our client recognized the importance of branding and high-quality packaging in order to appeal to the Canadian market and to justify the higher cost of a superior product.
