Introduction
1.1 Company Background
Al Badia Company is a firm based in Oman and deals in processing and selling camel milk. The company will source milk from Oman and sell the camel milk within the country. It will be started after a survey that indicated that a large population in Oman consumes and most consumers like camel milk due to the associated benefits. The company’s headquarters will be based in the capital Muscat due to the location of many ministries in the location. The company shall establish its camel farms in Salalah and Sur and Barka. It shall also set up a dairy farm in Barka, which shall supply the entire country. The company will float a tender for logistics and award it to the best vendor to ensure reliable and timely supplies of its products. The company will obtain customers’ feedback through the portal on its website where customers can leave their comments and complaints.
Half of the company’s target customers are middle-income households. These households purchase commodities in small quantities. 20% of the target consumers are medical institutions that need camel milk for its medicinal value. This group of customers purchases in large quantities. Upper middle-class and upper-class consumers will each constitute 15% of the total target consumers. The success of camel milk company will depend on the company’s ability to tie up medical institutions and use them as marketing channels. The company will also conduct pre-marketing activities to advertise the new company and its products before the launch of the product. These will be done through the website, social media, newspapers, television, and radio, among other marketing and advertising channels.
Consumer behaviour
Consumer behavior is the study of the study of individuals, groups of individuals and institutions and their process of sourcing and purchasing goods and services to meet their needs (Solomon and Rabolt, 2009). Association in groups influences the behavior of an individual.
Understanding the psychology of consumers is critical in the marketing a product or service. It helps a firm in developing a suitable marketing strategy for a product (Solomon and Rabolt, 2009). A company should link its marketing strategies to the behavior of the target consumers. Al Badia Company should consider the behavior of the different categories of target consumers in developing marketing strategies.
Consumer behavior also assists in market segmentation. A company can use the behavior of different groups of consumers to develop to market segments and design its products to meet the specific needs of the different segments (Noel, 2009). Al Badia Company should understand the behavior of the target consumers in each of the four categories of its consumers. For instance, the pricing strategy for medical institutional should be different from that for Middle Income Household segments.
It also assists the firm in predicting the market trend thus enabling it to exploit emerging opportunities (Noel, 2009). Besides, it enables a company to better understand the market thus facilitating new product development, product improvement, and innovation. Thus, understanding consumer behavior is critical for gaining a competitive edge in the market.
Cultural factors influencing consumer behavior
Cultural factors include a set of values and ideologies that a particular community or group of individuals uphold (Funk, 2008). Culture defines the way of life of individuals in a given community. Each culture is made up of several sub-cultures such as religions, status, age, among other factors.
Religion influences consumer behavior. Certain commodities are prohibited in certain religions while other commodities are common with certain religious groups. For instance, Muslims do not take pork due to religious issues (Funk, 2008). Thus, a business selling pork in Muslim dominated areas will fail. Religion also influences consumer behavior during certain important seasons or events. For instance, Christian brides wear white gowns on weddings while Hindus prohibit wearing white colours on such occasions.
Race and ethnic grouping is also a cultural factor that influences consumer behavior. The behavior of individuals in terms of the foods they prefer, clothing, among other aspects, differ from one ethnic group to another (Funk, 2008). Certain foods are associated with particular ethnic communities hence the demand for such foods is higher where a majority are from the ethnic community.
Social status or class affect the behavior of consumers in society. Social class is not just about having money or not but also entails the behaviors such as the clothes a person wears, the school he goes, among other things(Noel, 2009). People from the upper class tend to care less about the price of a commodity. They prefer highly priced commodities since higher prices are associated with high quality. Besides, the upper class has no problem spending on luxuries. On the other hand, the lower class is highly sensitive to prices. They choose commodities whose prices are low and limit their expenditures on essential or basic commodities.
Cultural factors influencing the behavior of food consumers
Religion
Religion is a critical factor influencing the buying decisions of food consumers. In most cases, religion dictates what a person should or should not consume. The decision is usually based on a religious belief about the food under consideration. When a religion prohibits the consumption of a certain food, the demand for such food item will be lower in areas where the religion is dominant. For instance, the Islamic Religion considers eating pork a sin since pigs are considered unclean as outlined in the Holy Quran (Ndaluka, 2012, p. 184). Most Hindus do not eat beef since a cow is considered a sacred animal since its connection with Lord Krishna.
Religious beliefs also promote the consumption of certain foods, especially where a renowned religious leader recommends the consumption of the commodity. Al Badia Company’s camel milk is likely to have many consumers since camel milk is revered in the Muslim culture. Camel milk is nutritious and is rich in potassium which helps in retaining water in tissues due to the resistance of camels to dry conditions. Prophet Muhammad recommended camel milk and urine for the medicinal value and prescribed it for men’s illness (Saad and Said, 2011).
Social status
Social status influences the buying behaviors of food consumers. It determines the demand for different types of commodities, consumers’ reaction to price changes and their perception of prices, among other factors (Funk, 2008).
Consumers from the upper class prefer high-end food products and are less sensitive to changes in prices (Noel, 2009). Most of the upper-class consumers perceive premium prices as high quality. They rarely purchase commodities with low prices as they consider them to be of low quality. Thus, Al Badia Company can maximize profits and revenues by charging premium prices for camel milk sold to the upper middle and the upper class. However, the middle and lower classes are more sensitive to prices and purchase less of the commodity if the firm sets higher prices. Al Badia Company can maximize revenues from this segment by charging lower prices.
Conclusion and recommendation
Consumer behavior is an important variable for successful marketing of the camel milk. It is influenced by cultural factors including religion, social class, among other factors. Camel milk is highly valued by the Muslim community due to the recommendation by Prophet Muhammad (Saad and Said, 2011). Al Badia Company’s camel milk is likely to be successful in the Oman market as also indicated by the findings of the market research. Al Badia Company should conduct further research to enhancing understating of the behavior of the consumers in each of the four groups of target consumers identified. It should establish marketing strategies that suit each group of consumers.
Bibliography
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Solomon, M. and Rabolt, N. (2009). Consumer behavior. 1st ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.:
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