W.VPG.2401 - Vissan Beef Development

Summary

This integrated market insights project partnered with Vissan, a large semi Government managed abattoir in the south of Vietnam. The insights focused on reviewing Vissan's sales channels and opportunities for branding/marketing locally processed beef from Australian cattle. The insights were used to develop Vissan's sales and marketing strategy.

Objectives

•    increase throughput by additional 50%
•    deliver a market insights report
•    improve brand exposure as a high-quality beef provider.

Key findings

•    When Australian beef is used as a description at retail, consumers either think it is frozen or just an Australian breed of cattle (not cattle from Australia).
•    When you explain to them it is live imported from Australia, they are extremely positive, solving concerns around freshness and they believe it will be higher quality than other ‘fresh’ product. This can be a key story for Vissan.
•    Consumers pay more attention to the characteristics of the meat (smell, colour, feel) than the brand. 
•    Colour of the beef due to oxidisation appears to be a deterrent in purchasing beef as well as the small share of the counter (compared to pork).
•    Consumers do not know that the quality of Vissan beef is better than other local beef and therefore think Vissan is too expensive. 
•    Opportunity for Vissan to tell the brand story better, improve cold chain at stores, improve product display, re-brand and re-position in modern retail.

Benefits to industry

• Strategic research informs the sales and production strategy of Vissan. 
• In addition, the information in the insights report can be utilised more broadly across the industry to inform pathways to develop Australian fresh product for alternate sales channels. 
• At this stage, there has been no financial gain to the industry as a result of undertaking this report. 
• Modern grocery retail is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11% from 2024–27. This report will be pivotal in accessing the modern retail channels based on these key areas of business opportunity.

MLA action

Structured workshop with Vissan to inform their sales strategy. Used these insights to inform the LEP's understanding of traditional trade and presentations that have been provided to industry to help them target the correct channels.

Future research

Analysis of current marketing/sales strategy to assess success and how much adoption of insights has been embedded in the strategy.