The Situational Environs

Demand and demand trends. (What is the forecast demand for the product: is it growing or declining? Who is the decision maker? The purchase agent? How, when, where, what, and why do they buy?)

Social and cultural factors.

The main religion in Germany is Christianity which has the majority of two-thirds of the population who was identified as Christian. Hence, it does not mean all those Christian are daily practicing their religions in the actives in Church.

When we talk about the Christian religion, we can not ignore the Catholic or Protestant identifications. For instance, in some European countries such as Spain, there are more Catholic than Protestant. On the other hand, there are more Protestant than Catholic in Sweden and UK. This issue has been equally split in German, interestingly. Therefore, the typical Church in Germany are made by Evangelical style which is the combination of Protestant religions including Lutheranism and Protestant Calvinism. However, the people who believe in Catholicism and Protestantism are distinct from places to places. Basically, there are more Catholics in the South and West of the country, including Bavaria, Rhineland, Westphalia and Saarland. In the North and East of the country, more of the population identify as protestant.

There are around 5% of the population who are not believe in Christian religion. Among those 5%, the Islam is the biggest religion population who can up to approximately 4 million people. Most Muslims in Germany are from Turkish who followed in Sunni tradition. The rest of 3-4% of the population are believing in Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Yazidi in German.

Describe your target market segment in detail by using demographics, psychographics, geography, lifestyle, or whatever segmentation is appropriate. Why is this your target market? How large is it?

Geography

Germany is a country located in the middle of Europe with France, Switzerland, Netherlands and other countries aside. With a total area of 357,022 km², Germany will become the seventh largest country in Europe with a population of 83.2 million people in 2022. (Nationsonline.org). Germany’s landscape is made up of three major natural zones which are The North German Plain, The Central Uplands and Alpenvorland and the Alps.

Economy

Germany is one of the biggest economies in Europe and GDP ranked fourth in the world in 2017. The service industry is the biggest component that contributes 70% of the total GDP, the industry sector provides 29.1% and the agriculture sector provides 0.9% of the total GDP. (Economy of Germany, 2023). Vehicles, machinery, chemical goods, electronics, electrical equipment, medicines, transport equipment, basic metals, food items, rubber, and plastics make up Germany's top ten exports. (Economy of Germany, 2023).

Target market

Over 1.12 million tons of palm oil was imported into Germany in 2017. In addition, Germany received at least 695,000 tons of palm oil as a component in manufacturing and intermediate goods. Based on the article, the palm usage in Germany increased around 80,000 tons in 2017 compared with 2015 and more than 52% in usage of palm oil were used in the energy sector. However, 22% of palm oil was used in the food industry which was around 250,000 tons, and other sectors such as chemicals, and pharmaceuticals cost around 30,000 tons in total in 2017. (The palm oil market in Germany in 2017). The data shows that Germany needs palm oil as a component in their manufacturing business and other business sectors.

State precisely the marketing objectives and goals in terms of sales volume, market share, return on investment, or other objectives or goals for your marketing plan and the time needed to achieve each of them.

MARKETING OBJECTIVES AND GOALS

 Marketing Objective

Our marketing goal is to occupy the whole German market, and even the European market. We import palm oil from the country of origin in Malaysia and sell it to Germany, which is one of the largest importers of palm oil in Europe/Palm oil is mainly used in the catering industry in Germany, where it is often used because it is cheap and healthy.

 Sale Volume

Palm oil is widely used in German catering industry for frying and cooking (German eating habits: Germany is located in the north cold zone and the north temperate region, the temperature is relatively cold, so eat fried food, cooking food is more) Palm oil is not only cheap, healthy, good taste by the majority of German catering industry. Because of the German diet, palm oil has become an indispensable product in their daily life, so our sales will be very high.

Market Share

The German diet is mainly fried and cooked, so it has a large market share. Moreover, Germany cannot produce palm oil itself, so it has to rely on imports. Our company is a multinational palm oil company with a large market presence in Germany, which is the fifth largest importer of palm oil in Europe.

(INTERNATIONAL MARKETING PLAN)

1) Using all the relevant research material obtained during the course of exercises 1, 2 & 3 as well as the feedback obtained during the presentation of those exercises, prepare an International Marketing Plan for marketing your chosen consumer product in the country of your choice.

2) Before you write up your plan, read the selected material provided from “The Marketing Plan” by William Cohen (5th Edition).

3) Use the format provided on page 2 (Figure 1-1: Marketing Plan Outline) of the said material as your guide in preparing your International Marketing Plan. Each section of the format given is explained within the material provided. If you require any clarification, or if you propose to use an alternative format for your plan for any reason, feel free to consult me. Otherwise, use the format provided.

4) Your International Marketing Plan will be graded based on originality & feasibility of the plan, accuracy & comprehensiveness of information obtained, as well as organization & presentation of material.

State how you will implement the marketing strategy(s) chosen in terms of the product, price, promotion, distribution, and other tactical or environmental variables.