A Proposal for Club-Mate Company
Club-Mate is a Dietenhofen Germany company producing Club-Mate cola via Loscher brewery as their main product. The company is classified under beverage industries. The product has 20mg caffeine, 5glow sugar, and 20kcal low calories per 100ml. Mr. Georg Latteier is the founder of the cola. He operated a small beverage company in 1898, but the cola wasn’t discovered until 1924 (Sarah Baird, 2015). The Club-Mate cola is a non-alcoholic drink made of mate tea containing multiple ingredients. The tea leaves originate from South America. Club-Mate is advertised as a healthy, stimulating drink. The company describes the benefits of this drink as a “miracle drink.” The health benefits of this drink are mind-blowing. Not only does it contain caffeine, but it helps with curing kidney failure/diseases.
Club-Mate Cola drink is widely sold in Germany, the country of its origin, Iran, U.S, U.K, Russia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Europe, Canada, Australia, Israel, Turkey, and South Africa (Sarah Baird, 2015). A comprehensive distribution strategy is put in place for perfect distribution to reach as many consumers as possible in places such as supermarkets, smaller kiosks, clubs, and open areas with the target customers in mind and bars. The target market has been health-conscious families, baby boomers, and teens.
Consumer buying patterns are shaped by their purchase decisions. Club-Mate cola consumers would prefer to get their drink where they are used to, the same packaging, and same taste excellent quality. Hence, the distribution in the supermarkets is done where products like Starbuck coffee are sold since both offer the same benefit, caffeine. In the U.S, the distribution strategy of Club-Mate cola drink is that it’s sold in health supermarkets, while in Germany, it’s sold in clubs, cafes, restaurants, youth centers, cinemas, and places that provide gourmet cuisine art (Sarah Baird, 2015).
Despite this cola having health benefits, it is still not known in most parts of the world compared to its competitors Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Most African Countries, to be precise, have little idea what Club- Mate cola is since it is only found in South Africa. Is there a need for a product to be established worldwide? Yes, and that is precisely what Club Mate should do to their cola. It is commendable that the cola has dominated all of Europe, but it should be accepted by people from diverse backgrounds for a product to be effective (Conversific, 2020). Having feedback from china, India, Zambia, Ghana, England, Kenya, and California is more satisfactory in improving their product.
Therefore, this study proposes a digital marketing strategy that Club Mate can use to widen its international market. First, the company should conduct a survey online regarding market potential and social-economic factors (Conversific, 2020). In order to get better results, the survey should be paid for. Through this, they will understand the regions where customer potentials lie, how the region fairs in terms of labor and wages, and the government policies present. Secondly, the survey will reveal the cultural factors in the target nation, which is essential for the next step of building a target persona profile. The other step will require the company to do a thorough competitor analysis essential in understanding current prices and existing tactics used to gain customers. Additionally, having an International SEO (optimizing search through the search engines) is also essential in reaching out to more customers (Conversific, 2020). The company can easily do this by making an SEO-friendly domain, optimizing for different search engines, and using the target language for keyword search.
References
Conversific, 2020. How to Develop a Digital Marketing Strategy for International Audience. https://www.conversific.com/blog/digital-marketing-strategy-for-international-audience/
Sarah Baird, 2015. Club-Mate: The Favorite Drink of German Hackers and Club Kids Is Here. Eater. https://www.eater.com/drinks/2015/9/8/9263863/club-mate-energy-soda
www.sunnysidecircus.com/countries/germany/food-drinks-germany/club-mate/
https://www.club-mate.de/en/
