Destination | Vega Foods

Africa, with its immense market potential, is the mainstay of our business. Both a key source and an important destination, it is an integral part of our five-year plan.

Our 'Go-to-market' strategy is divided into two approaches. In the first approach known as 'Primary Stucture', we retain control of the distribution network, including infrastructure such as people,warehouse and distribution vehicles. In the other approach termed 'Secondary Structure', we outsource importation and distribution to a third party which we closely onitor.

In our 'Primary Structure', we take complete ownership of the brand and distribution. In our 'Secondary Structure', we partner our outsourced parties and grow together. We ensure this through the following steps:

1- A robust evaluation process during the initiation of partnership, thus ensuring the most suitable importers-distributors fit.
2- Helping the importers-distributors build their distribution network. In addition, we deploy people with strong distribution-management skills to work hand-in-hand with our partners.
3- Building brand equity after distribution network is established, by providing strong marketing support to our partners.
4- Supporting our partners with crucial resources as and when is deemed necessary.

Currently, we have divided Africa into nine blocks. This division is based on strategic reasons such as geographical proximity and similarities in consumer behaviour. Our subsidiaries 'Unique Star Foods' (please see link) cater to each block. Of these, three follow the 'Primary Structure' while the others follow the 'Secondary Structure'.

We believe a marketing plan is only as good as its execution. While we devise the global strategy, 'Unique Star Foods' ensure the plans are executed to perfection in each locality. We sequence the marketing plan into three stages, a simple yet effective strategy:

	Strategy	Execution
*Start-up*	Focus completely on building brand awareness and strengthening overall brand positioning.	Brand-led campaigns in the mass media to create hype and induce maximum trial.
*Mid-level*	Move our brand to the next level by zooming in on the target market segment.	Define target market and employ the communication channels that directly engage target consumers. Category-led campaigns focus on the product's functional attributes.
*Matured*	Generate a sense of brand preference in the consumer mindset.	Work towards building brand affinity and emotional connect, thus conveying brand power.

We believe marketing expenditure may not be directly correlated to marketing success. Thus, we are in continuous pursuit of smarter avenues to maximise returns. Also, we engage top research agencies to conduct periodic brand-health checks. This allows us to determine where we are vis-à-vis where we want to be.