Hello Fresh is an innovative company based in Germany that started proving ingredients for healthy meals to people. This is a business path that is previously not ventured. Hello Fresh provides services that involve shipping of accurately measured ingredients for various meals. This saves consumers the pain of having to measure each ingredient for every meal which is often overlooked. Using the exact amount of ingredients alongside having recipe information is a step forward for culinary prowess in many homes. The company employs various marketing techniques to reach various consumer segments. The company has expanded its operations from just operating in Germany to other countries such as Australia. This paper examines Hello Fresh’s market positioning in the Asian market.
In order to understand Hello Fresh’s marketing strategy, I will examine a variety of promotional activities undertaken by the brand. The Hello Fresh website well- structured with several outstanding characteristics. It is simple with a large background image and a call-to-action button guiding the consumer to view meal plans. The background image contains foods that look fresh and healthy and ready to cook. Hello Fresh is also prudent in its color use on the website. Green is used extensively as it is gender neutral and a symbol of health, nature, and vibrancy. The background contains a mix of green and white colors. The call to action button is orange, a color often associated with haste and impulsivity. On clicking the call to action button at the center of the page, the reader is led to the options available and their details as well as prices. The checkout page is simple and to the point. It contains a summary of the customer’s choices with no other distractions.
Hello Fresh also has a link to its blog on its website. The blog leads the way in content marketing. It contains images of fresh foods. The blog contains information about recipes, healthy lifestyles, and cooking techniques. This reinforces the primary theme embodies by Hello Fresh, healthy nutritional choices through good cooking methods using healthy food choices. The blog contains recipes that are shared with any visitors to the website not only their current customers. The product fills a gap in the market and thereby creates value for the entire economy (Armstrong, 2015). The Hello Fresh products are unique and not easily replicated. The company uses marketing initiatives that maximize customer reach and responses.
The blogs contain links back to the website where one can make choices after reading the blog on whether to go on and make a purchase. Nevertheless, there is room for improvement regarding capturing blog readers for future content. There can be a button requesting a reader to subscribe to regular emails regarding the company’s products and recipes.
On the website, there is the option to download the mobile app. Web content is increasingly being accessed through mobile devices given their portability. The app is focused on existing customers more as they are likely to use it for communication and transactions. With these two major points of access to its online content, Hello Fresh has seen growth in traffic considerably. Most of the traffic comes from search engines. Mobile app traffic comes mostly from existing and new customers intending to make a purchase.
Hello Fresh also has a large team of people on the ground going door-to-door to increase brand awareness among people who may be missed by online promotional techniques. Such salespeople provide information about the company and its products. They also hand out vouchers containing more information and calls to action. Once people hear about the brand, they are likely to get curious and look it up online. More so, Hello Fresh uses conventional promotional avenues such as television advertisements and email marketing initiatives. Hello Fresh also has several paid ads on online platforms such as Google. Such ads can appear at the top of a search page of related products. Hello Fresh also has a strong presence on social media platforms. Such pages are used to increase customer engagement and provide information about the company in greater detail. Hello Fresh uses platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+ and YouTube. Each of these platforms is designed to create connections in various ways.
Hello Fresh uses a niche targeting strategy for its marketing drive. This type of targeting involves identifying specific and few segments of the consumer population and marketing to them. The primary goal is to ensure high penetration among the narrowly defined consumer segments (Chaffey, 2016). From the product mix of Hello Fresh, it is clear that its target market is middle-aged women and family caretakers who are often responsible for the making of meals in the family. More so, this target group is conscious of health and dietary choices and is likely to be in the middle to higher income earning brackets.
This strategy is necessary to optimize resource use and ensure maximum impact of marketing activities. Not all people who prepare meals care about the health of meals or the taste of the meals. For the segment that does care, there are portions who are well-off enough to employ professional cooks to take care of that. For women and others who regularly prepare meals, there is often a gap between health and quality of food expectations and the reality. This gap in knowledge and product availability has been bridged by Hello Fresh. All the marketing efforts of Hello Fresh are concentrated on the select segment. It has emerged that Hello Fresh uses a lot of online advertisements. Such promotional actions are aimed at specific people who are interested enough the in the advert to click on it and earn more.
Nevertheless, niche marketing has some drawbacks. The narrowly defined target market can limit the market size for the products offered. A shakeup in the demand patterns of the select segment can lead to major variations in the sales of a company. The parent company of Hello Fresh may be involved in other business ventures that cushion it against possible negative shifts in the tastes and preferences of the Australian segment.
After the market segmentation, Hello Fresh has to position itself within the market. Hello Fresh is a pioneer in the fresh food/meal-kit delivery sector in Australia. Hello Fresh, therefore, has the chance to establish itself as a force to reckon with before other firms enter the sector and provide competition. The basis of market positioning for Hello Fresh is the understating of consumers. Prior to venturing a market, it is prudent to conduct a market assessment to determine customer perceptions about a product as well as their needs and the gaps in the fulfilling of their needs. Hello Fresh has focused on the perceptions regarding healthy foods by the target segment (Chaffey, 2016). Given most people are uncertain about what healthy diets should contain, the recipe information provides an expert's take on meal preparation alleviating the uncertainty. At the same time, Hello Fresh is keen to communicate to potential customers the key benefits of the meal-kit product. First, the customer orders the meal kit option they prefer online. The company works to prepare and ship the meal-kit to the customer in time. Hello Fresh empathizes on the quality of its sources that ensure the final consumer gets fresh, healthy foods. As an unexplored segment, it is essential to communicate clearly the value that will be created by a customer having a relationship with the Hello Fresh brands.
Creating a perpetual map requires understanding all facts revolving around a case (Armstrong, 2015). The primary target segment in this case is women with high income, are well-educated and have high career aspirations. Such women are often working and have constrained times for family-work balances. They need to prepare food fast. They also prefer healthy meals that have good flavors. Hello Fresh brings to the table minimal ingredients options for such women who can use a wide range of flavors conveniently while minimizing the cooking time. The products carry the following attributes; cost-effective, convenience value as illustrated by pre-sliced, cut and crushed ingredients, easy to follow recipes, emotional satisfaction by reducing stress associated with cooking, confidence in health of the dietary requirements and one expands their knowledge regarding culinary processes. Apart from price and combination and quality attributes, the perpetual map can be based on the sense value; the viewing window on the 100% biodegradable packaging entices the taste sense. The emotional value derived from the product includes ease of cooking and lowered stress levels due to rapidly approaching deadlines.
References
Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M., " Brennan, R. (2015). Marketing: an introduction. Pearson Education.
Chaffey, D., " Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2016). Digital marketing. Prentice Hall.
