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By Posted on Posted in Brands, Culture, Cyprus, Food, Greece, Packaging, Private Label No Comments

Private labels are gaining huge market shares mainly in Europe and soon worldwide, but the most enjoyable part of launching a private label product is the adaptation to the local culture and taste.

Food products are the most sensitive to local tastes and habits.

An international company has several options when choosing a brand strategy. Brands may be local, regional and global. And this is the Carrefour & its Feta private label case.

Carrefour is worldwide No.2 retailer behind Walmart and Feta is a traditional Greek cheese appreciated around the world and have now very different names because since 2002, Feta has been a protected designation of origin product in the European Union, which means Feta only produced in Greece can be called Feta, any type of Feta produced outside Greece, cannot be named Feta.

Carrefour who is very active on its private label range and changing its global strategy by putting more pressure on its supplier and shifting in almost all categories of its shelves and pushing PL products forward and this is becoming somehow very obvious in their leaflets (no matter the market), has adapted a local strategy in Greece and Cyprus by launching their Feta.

The Carrefour Feta has no dedicated private brand, but simply using the Carrefour logo.

The main factors affecting the decisions to adapt products to local markets can be divided into 3 categories (Source: Sasu 2005, p. 148):

Market characteristics:

  • Government regulations
  • Non-tariff barriers
  • Consumer models
  • Competition
  • Level of economic development
  • Legal

Product characteristics

  • Functions, attributes
  • Durability, quality
  • Methods of operation and use
  • Brand and packaging
  • Life cycle
  • Country of origin

Company characteristics

  • Profitability
  • The cost of adaptation
  • Organization
  • Resources
  • Policies adopted
  • Experience

The below Carrefour Feta can be found in Greece and Cyprus stores, but the company can easily export this product to its worldwide stores.

To find out more about Feta, visit FetaMania

By Posted on Posted in Brands, Culture, Products No Comments

The globalization of the world economy has triggered more and more companies to expand beyond their local markets. This is especially true for brands that already enjoy a good reputation in their country’s market.
Exploring foreign markets for these big or small players means that the brand equity accumulated over the years back home can be transferred to the new entities abroad.

Nevertheless, such expansion is not always risk-free unless the local culture is analyzed and understood in order to serve the best interest of the brand/products.

When Pepsi entered the Chinese markets, they discovered that their slogan “Come Alive with the Pepsi Generation” was literally translated in Chinese as “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead” and as “Come out of the grave with Pepsi”

Another example is McDonald’s when they had their big India expansion, given the fact that India is a vegetarian country. McDonald’s had to build a primarily veggie-lover’s menu, with only a few exceptions, such as the Chicken Mahraja Mac.

The menu in India has absolutely no beef or pork on it, in deference to the local belief that cows are sacred animals. McDonald’s ability to adapt to this meat-less culture is extraordinary when you consider the fact that it is best known as the chain that sells billions of hamburgers a year.

To achieve successful product localization, companies needs to understand the language, customs and culture of the specific market they are targeting. Companies should carefully consider their product names which sometimes can have different meanings in other cultures, some colors can have different cultural significance and humor can hurt if not used properly.

Today, the biggest market where companies carefully localize their products is China.

Starbucks took their localization attempts in China one step further and released Dragon Dumplings with 5 tastes and colors, which represent 5 blessings: coffee stands for warm love, gold for bright future, green for persistence, rose red for good luck, and white for peace.

While Levi’s launched dENiZEN, the name of its new “global brand” aimed at Asian consumers. The collection, offering its own logo and styles, is primarily aimed at China but also available in Singapore and South Korea.

KFC added a traditional Chinese street snacks to its breakfast menu to suit local tastes. The fast food chain offers now shaobing, a type of sesame-covered flatbread, also rice congee and fried dough sticks.

Absolut Vodka localized its brand in China by releasing a limited edition bottle for this market, Absolut 72 Bian. The design of Absolut 72 bian was inspired by an ancient Chinese fable, ”Journey to the West”, a heroic story about the monkey king Sun Wukong, who acquires the power to undergo 72 transformations.

Entering new markets requires much more than a market entry strategy; it’s a real brand building exercise. Brand managers need to re-evaluate key components of their brand strategy to face the needs of the market and stand up to competition. This requires both time and investment and only the strong will survive.