Flor del Río Anas company

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INTRODUCTION

Flor del Río Anas company, manufacturer of Manchego cheeses with designation of origin, faces the challenges of expansion and new technologies. At the moment, the company faces a moment of necessary changes to face the new challenges that arise and consolidate its business in this sector.

This document sets out the strategies and objectives that the company must carry out, based on an analysis of the environment, both external and internal, and a study of the cheese market, making a diagnosis of the problems and their consequent resolution according to their resources and current capabilities.

1. PRODUCT

How do we do it to export our Manchego Cheese to foreign countries? We need to understand that in other countries cheese consumption is understood in a different way than in Spain. So, if we want to be successful in our exportation process, we will need to analyse the way that cheese is eaten in that country and adapt our traditional Manchego cheese to the destination market. Here are some proposals of adaptations to the market:

1. Diversify cheese cut options:

Manchego Cheese is a huge piece compared with other types of foreign cheese. In Spanish homes we are used to buy the whole cheese or smaller parts of it, usually in “cuñas”, and sliced it at home. However, British market is used to products that are already prepared to eat straight away. So, in order to export to this country, we can prepare our Manchego Cheese sliced, diced or just in smaller “cuñas”. Always vacuum-packaged for a better preservation of the product. [pic 6][pic 7][pic 8]

1. Produce smaller cheeses:

Manchego Cheese are usually 3 kg weight, but Manchego Cheeses can be done from only 0.4 kg. Experts say that our product loses flavour quality when we change its dimensions, but even inside Spanish market we have different Manchego cheese sizes. In addition, foreign markets do not know well how Manchego Cheese should taste, so, this kind of modifications can be done. This would be a great option to export to France because they are used to cut their own cheese at home but usually smaller size one.

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1. Lower the quality and lower the price of the Cheese, without PDO:

Some markets do not understand what a Manchego Cheese is because it is a very traditional Spanish Cheese. The PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) is a kind of industrial property that recognizes the high quality and the origin of certain products. This kind of certification is worth money and time for bureaucracy. However, in some countries PDO is not so well valued and appreciated and they pay more attention to price. This is the case of Portugal, where most of the cheese consumption is cheap, not high quality and from private label for chains. [pic 10]

Consequently, Flor del Rio Anás should adapt their products in order to introduce them to the Portuguese market, by saving money in the PDO tag and not needing to fulfil all the PDO quality requisites. Also, this strategy will work in UK as they are very proud of British products and pay more attention to price.

1. Add new types of cheeses (ready to eat for salads, in oil, etc):

Maybe Flor del Rio Anas mistake is to focus in only one product: Manchego cheese, and the market in this moment is giving companies lots of opportunities if they diversify their products. For example, UK demands lots of “ready to eat” products and the company could start preparing new products such as: diced cheese in oil, salad cheese, grated cheese, sliced cheese, fresh cheese, etc.

1. Look for a niche: ecological, gluten free, handmade or vegan cheese:

Sometimes traditional markets are very saturated and new demands arise with society changes. Some niches such as ecological, gluten free, handmade or vegan cheese may represent big opportunities for that companies that search to specialize.[pic 11]

1. Make it a luxury and gourmet product:

PDO makes our product in Spain to be part of the gourmet sector, however, in foreign countries these products may not be perceived by customers as gourmet because they not usually know Manchego PDO. So, in order to transform foreign perception of our product we need to redesign the brand by using the elements that in that country are considered to be luxurious and elegant. For example, logo brands that use black and are simple transmits high quality and sophistication. Also, the way of doing marketing is very important because the channels used for distribution impact on the brand image, i.e. use a famous chef to collaborate with to promote your products will be much more effective that a random post in an unknown web page.[pic 12]

1. Create a new brand

Sometimes exporting to other countries is a bit risky because you do not know yet how customers will react and if the modifications of your product will work as well as you thought. So, in order to avoid that your exportation products are directly associated with your national brand, you can create a new one. This process would not only help you to avoid risks but to adapt your brand to the foreign market.

1. Choose another country to export to

Once a company has exported to one country and their product did not work, maybe they should learn from the mistakes done and search for another market with more similarities to the national market, i.e. Cascajares exporting to Canada because of their French tradition in comfited products.

1. Not to export and focus in the national market

Sometimes exporting is not for every type of company and some SMEs do not have resources enough to manage internalization.

1. Logistics

1. Efficient storage by packaging adaptation: vacuum sealed packaging

In this particular point, making a difference between the three markets (Portugal, France and UK) that we are going to export does not have impact. One of the logistical options that Flor del Río Anás should take into account is the way that they export. Considering that we are going to deliver our products in big containers, the company should take advatange of it.

In order to grant the best the use of this containers, many options can be considered. We have gone with the vacuum-packaging option, as it saves room for more cheeses in the container. It is an efficient option that allow us to maximize the number of cheese in a single container.

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