In a global context the New Zealand beef and lamb sector is unique, we have an export profile like no other (more than 90 per cent of our sheepmeat and beef goes overseas), we are niche producers (we can only feed 30 million people) and our production is based on natural farming systems.
We know that competition in the meat market is strong and new competitors are emerging. This means that as a sector we need to work harder than anyone else in the world markets – we need to know our consumers better than anyone else.
Gathering market intelligence and understanding our consumers
As a sector gathering intelligence on the major food trends around the world, understanding the market segments that are growing and what type of consumer is purchasing through them is integral to developing an in-depth understanding of who our end consumers are We need to understand the values, needs and motivations of these consumers, what is making them tick, what’s important to them, and what type of experience they expect when they purchase premium food products.
This is the information we’re uncovering through our market research.
Effective use of our knowledge
Our ability to generate and effectively use this knowledge is a key component of market development programme and is essential to effectively connect the Red Meat Story to consumers. We use these insights to alert the consumer to how well our product matches their needs.
This includes:
- Quantify markets to highlight opportunities and differences and articulate their needs.
- Validate and test the Red Meat Story.
- Identify innovation opportunities by.
- Assessing the size of various segments and prioritising opportunities accordingly.
- Identifying segments where needs are not being met and where we could meet those needs.
- Create a platform for predicting the trends and needs of tomorrow’s consumer.
- Social scanning to listen to the voice of the consumer.
- Exploring potential disruptive forces to enable pre-emptive action and help the sector shape itself and turn these forces into market growth opportunities.