International Marketing Plan

Millenials and university graduates represent the target customers for Bostock in Canada as they are the significant advocators of organic fruits and food. The business will use the 4ps marketing mix strategy to develop strategies and campaigns for promoting its products The organization’s situational analysis of the business opportunities and threats provide vital information regarding the external environment and its capabilities once in the international market. The PESTEL analysis provides critical information regarding the external environment and how it affects the organization. The PESTEL analysis provides information regarding political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal factors which can affect the operations of Bostock in the new market. The business will enter the Canadian market by direct exports through an own international distribution network which will involve Canadian retailers, distributors, and wholesalers.

In 2015 the population of Millenials in Canada was estimated to be around 9. 5 million, and it continues to grow. Millenials and university graduates in the target market represent the best potential customers with the population being the most culturally diverse and educated compared to the previous generations. With the push towards adoption of organic products being paramount in Canada, the target customers have been critical in advocating for natural products through social media. Majority of the Millenials use their e-wallets to order for organic food. Normalization refers to the act of adapting to the already available product in the market. Majority of the organic apple companies in Canada sell the same variety of apples in the market. Most of the firms rely on the varieties grown in Canada and sell different locally grown varieties like Belmac, Braeburn, Cortland, Duchess among other local varieties.

Product customization is also prevalent in the Canadian market with the majority of the local companies selling organic apple fruits, vinegar, juice, ciders, butter, and wine. However, the Canadian market experiences some gaps in the natural apple products. The reason is due to the reduced number of viable products produced. According to Ingenbleek (2015), organizations dealing with organic products are competitively disadvantaged in providing competitive prices in the market compared to an organization dealing with conventional products. Majority of firms in Canada engage in pricing strategies to develop the costs of their products. Some of the potential competitors in Canada include Avalon Orchards, Apple Luscious Organic Orchards, and Martin’s Family Fruit Farm. These competitors employ premium pricing especially for the organic apples due to the uniqueness of the natural apples.

Standard communication and advertisement practices used by major Canadian organic apple growers and sellers entail the use of television ads, podcasts, and press releases and through word of mouth. However, the competitors in this foreign market have not yet focused on the use of the social media to advertise and communicate to their target market about their product. The Millenials are a technology oriented population who spend most their time on the social media outlets. This venue provides a high potential to promote Bostock organic apples as the use of the social media is the cheap and efficient mode of improving the firm's products to the target customers. Target market The target market for Bostock products in Canada are the Millenials in the nation.

The graph and table a graphical representation of the estimated volume of traditional and natural apples imported in Canada from in 2010 to 2015 in Canada. The data used to generate the graph and the table has been obtained from the GAIN report (Lupescu, 2016). Import Volumes in 1000 Metric tons 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 Conventional Apples 197 190 250 222 217 Organic Apples 10 10 11 12 14 Based on the information from the graph and the table, the demand for organic apples in Canada seems to be increasing over the years. The target market appears to be in high demand of organic apples, which places the firm on a position where the order of Bostock organic apples is expected to be high as there seems to be a short in supply of natural apples in Canada compared to the conventional apples.

Situational Analysis PESTEL Analysis Situational analysis is the critical step in marketing before conducting any tactical or strategic plan. Canada GDP is expected to increase by 2. 2% in 2018 and 1. 8% in 2019 (FocusEconomics, 2018). This estimate indicates that the Canadian economy has a high potential for absorbing Bostock products as the buying power of the locals is high. Social and Technological The social factor entails the cultural and demographic aspects of the Canadian population. International Marketing Threats and Opportunities The threats and opportunities represent the external factors which are beyond the control of Bostock. Some of the risks that the organization can face include stiff competition from local and international firms which are already operating in the Canadian market. Some of the competitors include Avalon Orchards, Apple Luscious Organic Orchards, and Martin’s Family Fruit Farm.

Other threats include the risk of unpredictable environmental patterns in Canada. Some of the opportunities that the company might enjoy in Canada include the increasing population in Canada. This strategy calls for the business to provide annual events. This event offers a great way to meet new clients as well as strengthening the relationship with existing customers. The activities can be changes in the season for apples. International Marketing Mix Strategies International marketing mix strategies relate to the use of different marketing instruments to get positive financial results when operating in a foreign market. The tools used in this kind of marketing mix include the price, place, promotion, and product. Another strategy that Bostock can employ is price skimming. Bostock has a strong reputation in the apple industry.

With different apples and new variety of apples in the international market, the firm can employ the strategy to enjoy maximum revenue before competitors start producing similar products. The prices of the products can be influenced by value chain costs, distribution plans, expenses of competitor’s products and markups (Skripak, 2016). Product The product is another component of the marketing mix, and it refers to a good that meets the demand or need of the customers. The channel used for development should be suitable for the price, the product and the end user. Bostock can utilize advertising strategy in a bid to increase the awareness of the firm’s products to the new market as the apples can be accessed in the retail stores as well as through whole sellers in the region.

The business can also use public relations to build relations with its customers and foster effective communication with the wholesalers, retailers, distributors and the customer. Place Place or placement deals with the mode of provision of the product to the customer. Distribution plays a crucial function in the placement of the product. Bostock must first develop a relationship with the international customers then associating the product with different holidays and apple fruit seasons. The plan for controlling these strategies encompass developing value of indicators which can be observed or measured like the sales volumes of the organic apples or the market share. The control plan also entails estimating the number of signs and comparing the planned values with the actual values that Bostock products fetch in the new market.