Potential international market for Ecover

Introduction

International marketing is one of the effective ways for the multinational corporations to promote their products and services and establish the brand in the target market. Before developing the marketing tactics, it is necessary for the multinational companies to analyse the market and identify the external or the macro factors which have crucial impacts on the business to conduct their operations (Cateora et al., 2020). Additionally, the firms must target the market to expand their business and strategise their marketing plan successfully. The study provides a scope to analyse the external environment for the countries, France and Poland so that it is possible to acknowledge the market condition where the brand would be able to expand their business. The study focuses on the organisational analysis of Ecover which a famous organisation is providing ecological cleaning products with recyclable packaging. The study also provides a scope to evaluate the potential consumer segment and the target market in the countries for further analysis of the viable market for Ecover where the company can expand their business successfully. After that, the international marketing mix will be proposed for Ecover for promoting their organisation and retaining the target customers in the target international market.

External analysis of France and Poland

External analysis of France and Poland can be conducted through PESTLE analysis where the factors such as political, economic, social, technological, legal and the environmental factors which have crucial impacts on the business of Ecover.

Political:

Political factors is playing crucial role where government stability, internal government collaboration, free trade and the local political situations are considered to understand the country’s political situation.

As per the comparison, France is semi presidential country where the powers are distributed between the resident and the Prime Minister (Boyce et al., 2018). They are collaborative and develop the decision together by maintaining all the legislative structure. On the other hand, Poland is also another country where prime minister plays an important role to take decision for the benefits of the country and it is considered to be one of the most politically stable countries in the European countries.

Socio-Cultural:

The socio cultural factor is also beneficial to understand the viable market for the business of Ecover and in this regard, literacy rate, population, health and social care and increasing skill set of the individuals are considered.

The Population of France is higher as compared to the Population of Poland and it has been explored that there are social developmental projects in both the countries. The government of the countries are able to increase the literacy rate and it is good where the children are admitted to the schools and the educational activities further enhance social development in both the countries (Borowski, 2019).

Economic:

Ecover must focus on analysing the economic condition of France and Poland to identify the target market and in this context the factors such as inflation rate, GDP of the country, and consumer spending are analysed further.

According to the economic analysis, the GDP growth in France is deteriorating due to recent pandemic era and it becomes negative with low GDP growth rate. The economy is running under recession and the inflation rate is also 0.29% which was previously 1.35% in 2019 (Trading economics, 2020b). The market researcher expects that the market will be overcoming with high GDP rate and moderate information rate so that expected economic growth can be achieved further. On the other hand, Poland is a country with 3.23% inflation rate and the GDP growth is also stable even after this pandemic era. This simply explores that Poland is more economically stable country for the business Ecover to expand their operations and establish the brand successfully (Trading economics, 2020a).

Technological:

Technology plays a crucial role in managing the business activities and it further enhances the creativity and innovation of the firms and thus it is necessary to be utilised in the target countries France and Poland for the brand Ecover to find the viable market (Atighechian et al., 2016).

Legal:

Legal rules and legislations in the country further help the brand to follow the legislative structure and develop the organisational activities efficiently so that it would be possible for the firm to expand their business in long run.

As per the legal consideration, both the countries are able to lead their industries and improve creativity and innovation to enhance economic growth and social development (Valencia, Cardenas and Acevedo, 2018).

Environmental:

Environmental sustainability must be managed well as it provides a scope to Ecover to manage their activities and secure future sustainable development.

Sustainability of the business Ecover must be maintained through environmental protection and creating green footprint and both the countries are suitable for the firm to manage their environmental solutions by providing the ecological cleaning products with recyclable packaging (Igliński et al., 2016).

Potential customers

The brand Ecover must focus on analysing the customers segment which is beneficial to identify the customers and find the viable market for successful expansion of the business. Through the market research, it is possible for the brand to acknowledge the actual needs and preferences of the customers and analyse recent market trend for the ecological cleaning products.

As per the analysis, it can be stated that, the population in France is much higher as compared to Poland and there is strong customer’s base for the ecological cleaning products. The organisation Ecover must focus on the country France for expanding their business activities and operations successfully (Katsikeas, Leonidou and Zeriti, 2019). The GDP growth rate as well as the purchasing power parity of the country France is also higher than Poland. Though due to recent pandemic era of COVID 19, the countries face issues in managing their economic growth rate and social development, France is considered to be more viable market for business expansion (Vallati and Grassi, 2019). As per the customer’s analysis, the purchasing power of the customers is also higher as compared to the consumers in Poland and there would be strong customers segment in France where Ecover can target the consumers successfully in long run. For further analysis and evaluation of the target market, the brand Ecover must focus on the customer’s analysis through gathering the feedback of the customers and conducting online survey. This is one of the effective ways to conduct market research and identify the potential consumers segment for the brand to target the right audiences (Kordana and Słyś, 2020). The method of conducting the market research is the online questionnaire survey where the customers are influenced and convinced to take active initiatives to share their feedback, opinion about ecological cleaning products and other economic condition, so that it would be possible for Ecover to identify right consumer base. The market research through online survey is effective for the brand to acknowledge the actual needs and preferences of the customers for the ecological cleaning products and also identify their price execution which they can afford for the products.

International Marketing Mix

The marketing mix strategic planning is important for the business to expand their operations in the target market and in this regard the analysis of the marketing mix strategies for Ecover will be discussed further in the context of both the countries (Samiee and Chirapanda, 2019).

Product:

The product range of Ecover is good where the brand is able to provide high quality ecological cleaning products which further provide a scope to the company to satisfy the clients and retain them for long run. The company is also efficient to focus on the packaging style and in this regard the ecological cleaning products are delivered to the customers with recyclable packaging. The paper packaging system is suitable for the ecological cleaning products to be delivered with recyclable packaging and it is suitable for both the countries France and Poland to increase positive brand image towards environmental sustainability management. Hence, the organisational activities toward the product quality and the packaging style are good for both the target markets, where the government can support the brand for better future towards environmental sustainability the customers will also be satisfied with the new range of the ecological cleaning products with recyclable packaging, provided by the brand Ecover.

Place:

Placing the products in the target market is necessary for the bran Ecover so that it can retain the customers and improve trust and loyalty among them. In this regard, for placing the organisational ecological cleaning products with recyclable packaging, the brand must focus on online and offline to conduct their business. The brand needs to expand their business through establishing the physical store in the target market which increases brand visibility in the market as well as the customers can also access the products easily. On the other hand, for successful expansion of the business across the target market, the brand needs to manage the online ecommerce services through designing their website in which strong supply chain management and distribution network must be managed well, so that the customers can get the products according to their needs and preferences. Hence, both the places internet and local shop are important for Ecover to expand their operational activities in future.

Price:

Pricing strategy is important for the firm to promote the organisational products and in this regard the major factors that affect the organisational pricing are such as high competitive environment, demand in the market, availability of the substitute products and costing to produce the particular product, the organisation Ecover also focuses on pricing for their products in order to manage their operations and retain the consumers for long run. As per the analysis, the purchasing power parity of the customers in France is higher than Poland and thus it would be beneficial for the organisation Ecover to expand their business in France and make the products affordable for the customers. Setting the price for the ecological cleaning products with recyclable packaging would be beneficial for Ecover and it further provides a scope to the business to promote their products in the market with appropriate pricing where the customers can find the products affordable as per the quality and quantity of the ecological cleaning products by Ecover.

Promotions:

Promotional activities are necessary for Ecover to manage their operations and expand the business in the target market. As per the above analysis, France is more viable as compared to Poland, where Ecover can expand their business sustainably. For successful promotion, the firm must focus on developing website and develop suitable content that would be useful to retain the customers. The customers can find the company information in the website and in this regard, Ecover needs to share all the necessary and useful information of the firm with the customers like product availability, pricing, offers, company financial position, sustainability solutions etc. On the other hand, for successful promotion of the brand, the organisation must focus on social media advertisement, where FaceBook, Instagram and Twitter are the best solutions for promoting the organisational products and services in the target market. through hiring the Facebook posts with suitable content and pictures of the organisational products and services, Ecover would be able to promote their products in the target market, the strategies are useful or the brand to establish their business in the viable market and strengthen their customers base in long run.

Conclusion and recommendations

It can be concluded that, the market analysis and external macro analysis for the business are suitable to acknowledge the recent market trend, consumer base as well as the economic growth and sustainability in the market. Ecover is the manufacturer and distributor of ecological cleaning products where the brand aims to expand their business to the viable market, as per the external analysis, the information about economic growth rate, purchasing power parity among the customers in both the markets France and Poland as well as the social development structure in the countries are suitable of the study to understand the countries where the brand would expand their activities. In addition to this, the potential consumer analysis is also possible through gathering authentic sources of information and it has been explored that France has suitable and strong customers base with high population as compared to Poland and on the other hand, the customers purchasing owe rarity in France is also higher. It further explores that the market of France is more viable for the organisation to expand their business efficiently and run their activities in future in an environmentally sustainable way.

As per the analysis an evaluation, it has been explored that, France is more viable market as compared to Poland, where the brand Ecover can promote their organisational activities and retain loyal and long run consumers successfully. For expanding the business of Ecover in France, it is mandatory for the business to expand their activities in France in order to enhance their performance and serve the customers in a better way. For successful establishment of the business of Ecover, the proposed strategic planning will be discussed further.

• Ecover needs to ensure the quality of the products so that it would be possible to satisfy the clients and in this regard the organic materials and natural ingredients are necessary to develop the solutions for ecological cleaning products.
• Ecover must focus on pricing strategy and in this regard the premium pricing strategy must be adopted by the firm in order to promote their organisation in France. Through this pricings strategy, Ecover must set lower price for their ecological cleaning products in order to retain the customer and satisfy them by delivering high quality products at affordable price.
• Promotional activities must be developed by Ecover and in this regard, the brand needs to develop website with simple and clear content to attract the audiences. Through the website, the brand can share the information about the available products, quantity and quality as well as price ranges, offers and the organisational values. These information and data are necessary for the customers to make effective purchase decision.
• The firm also needs to ensure customers relationship management through developing customer portals where the consumers can get 24*7 services and they can contact the representative for further support.

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