Bees for Development Journal 102
Marketing strategy for honey in Ethiopia Phoebe Hayes, iDE UK, 8A Accommodation Road, London NW11 8ED, UK
IMAGES © IDE UK
Keywords: Africa, beekeeping association, co-operative, donor, NGO, value added product The development organisation, International Development Enterprises (iDE UK) has been working with support from UK donor Comic Relief, to enable Ethiopian beekeepers to access national markets. Working in partnership with the Ethiopian NGO, SOS Sahel, the project aimed to lift small-scale producers out of poverty by enabling them to increase productivity and sell value added honey products. This challenge was the driver of a unique partnership between The Innocent Foundation and iDE UK. This culminated in the development of a marketing strategy for the Amar brand of honey by a specialist from the Innocent Drinks company. iDE UK are keen to share the learning from this undertaking with other honey producers through Bees for Development’s network.
Two stage marketing strategy
Market research was conducted over two weeks and entailed meetings with honey experts to inform a comprehensive marketing strategy specifically for Ethiopian markets. Meetings were held with three beekeeping cooperatives, more than ten supermarkets, Zembaba Beekeepers Union, the beekeeping research centre, The Ethiopia Honey and Beeswax Producers and Exporters’ Association, honey entrepreneurs and two honey whole-sale markets. This research found the Ethiopian honey market to be highly fragmented, with a number of honey brands available, but without any clear market leader. In fact there were 12 small brands but none demonstrated any key points of difference with regard to the presentation of products and sizes.
Good promotion is important
availability of large (500 g or 1 kg) pack sizes at a relatively high cost, it was advised that the pack size should be reduced to achieve greater sales volume. This would require a supply of smaller containers.
Price
Ensuring that AMAR continued to be competitive was key, as the product was positioned as ‘affordable’. Interestingly however, the possibility of a price increase was suggested if further research on customers’ perception of price indicated that they viewed it as a gauge of quality. In such instances, low prices would not necessarily be most attractive to consumers.
Building a marketing strategy was based on understanding three factors: 1. The strengths of the products versus those of competitors ie the honeys’ Unique Selling Point (USP) which can be obtained from a SWOT analysis (strengths/weaknesses/opportunities and threats). 2. Who the target customers are, and what is important to them. 3. The products’ positioning - what values are associated with the AMAR brand - see below.
Place
Maintaining records and details of old stockists was considered integral to ensuring their priority if supply issues arose, and in this situation, stockists should be informed of changes in honey availability to avoid disappointment. Targeting supermarkets opening in the local area as well as targeting new outlets, such as the tourist market, was seen to hold considerable potential, as honey is a local, easily transportable and ethical product. Finally, to develop a long-term relationship with stockists, the training of a co-operative salesperson was advised, with responsibility for visiting supermarkets, generating interest and informing about the co-operative’s activities.
The marketing strategy was focused on four areas to grow sales of AMAR honey:
Products
On finding that only one co-operative had stock, achieving a year-long supply through enhanced training, recruitment of additional beekeepers and developing a government support structure was recommended. Additionally, customers’ misconception that crystallisation of honey indicated poor quality could be overcome through educating customers about the natural crystallisation process. Lastly, considering that the domestic market does not regard honey to be a daily product, and the sole
Beekeeper’s co-operative committee 8
