Competitive Forces:
Competition nowdays is a factor tha cant be avoided in any compnay, thats why its always important to know the competition and know where it is going and how it is acting towars the market, a well organized companie will always have in acount the firm actions to see how the industry interacts toward the actions.
The healthy food industry in Colombia has many opportunities and strengths, and is an industry in constant growth. However, as all the industries, it has weaknesses, threats and an increasing levels of competitors thanks to its fast growth.
To begin with, people’s trend in Colombia is eating healthier, because every day, Colombians are more conscious that eat junk and transgenic food, can bring negative effects on their health in medium-long term and in many cases in the short term. Experts say that as a consequence of eating junk food, people can have malnutrition and obesity, especially in children (Portafolio, 2015). On the other hand, as a consequence of eating transgenics, people can get a cancer or effects in fertility and in the immunological system (Greenpeace, 2009). In addition a survey done by Nilsen Colombia in 2015 reveals that 79% of surveyed people search especially for food 100% natural. (El Espectador, 2015)
In second place, another opportunity for companies that want to entry is that this industry is relatively new in Colombia, and the competence is not as intense like in other industries, also if new companies take advantage of this situation, because they can catch easier the increasing number of customers who want to try this new alternative. Additionally, according to Passport (2015), fresh food consumption in Colombia was of 15225 tons, which means a consumption approximately of 311 kg per person. It represents an increase of 1,6% respect to 2014 and an average of growth of 1,5% since 2012.
Additionally , Colombian government is driving campaigns to eat healthier. For instance, there is a campaign called “A Comer Pollo” which government wants to increase national food consumption to benefit local producers, but at the same, to encourage Colombians to eat non-transgenic products.
On the contrary, as in all the industries, not everything is rosy and there are some threats and weaknesses. First, as we said before, this is a relatively new market, and despite it is growing, today, still there are many people who do not know a lot where to get healthy food or simply, can not get it easier or do not want to get it. As a consequence, this market still is small but it has a big potential, specially in Bogotá, most specially in its northern part, because in this zone people has more access to nutritional education and often, they have the resources to buy this type of food.
Secondly, as a consequence of the economic underdevelopment and the unpredictable weather of Colombia, its agriculture is very vulnerable to climatic changes, and shortages of some products are common, affecting our provision of raw materials to prepare our food. Also, the low quality of life of many peasants produces unconformity and many protests against the government. In third place, this is becoming an attractive industry, because there are many companies trying to entrance to the business, and much of those are big companies with a lot of experience and years in the market like Mcdonald's or Burger King that are including healthy options in their menus, making that loyal customers stay with that option and do not try a new one, like ours. It causes that market of healthy food becomes harder and more intense.
In our case, we identified three firms which according to us are our major competence because are located near to our planned location, offer the similar type of food and prices, also have house delivery service and have settled a vision and mission similar to ours.
The first company we identified is called Freshii. It is located in 113st No. 7-21 in Bogotá. Freshii is canadian company founded in Toronto in 2005 by Matthew Corrin and operates in 75 cities in 15 countries worldwide. In Bogotá, this company operates under franchise model.
Their mission statement sets that one of their main goals is preserve the environment through the usage of byo bags and eco friendly products. Their strengths are their experience in Bogotá’s market, the franchising model, and their brand.
In first place, they have 5 years of experience in Bogotá, this is enough time to build up loyal customers and recognition between some people. In second place, Freshii has a franchising model which allows ordinary people to set up their business with Freshii’s brand by paying USD 15.000 and they receive capacitation, but franchise’s owner has to pay 8% of his sales to the company. In third place, this company was founded 10 years ago. During that time, this company built a good reputation globally and probably this is the strongest factor they can use to attract new buyers. (Freshii, 2016)
On the other hand, this company has many weaknesses in their service in Bogotá. One of the most important, is that their House Delivering Service fails constantly and, according to opinions of many people, it takes a longer time than expected. Also, this company charges an extra amount to deliver the food of COP 3000 and customer has to ask for a minimal amount of COP 17000, causing that many of their customers are disagree. Additionally, many customers say that food is very cold and many times, it arrives to their houses without any flavor. (Domicilios.com, 2016)
The second company we identified is called Bawana Juice, Shop & Deli. It is located in 98th street #11-30 in Bogotá. This company covers from 116th to 60th street and from the “Eastern hills (Cerros Orientales)” to north highway. Innovative products, natural food, good location and multiple products in their menu are some of their most important strengths.
To begin with, they have many products we did not find when analyzing other companies, some of those products are “muffin de Almojábana”, “süp”, which is a soup with mushrooms, tomato or blue cheese. Besides, according to their webpage, their products are 100% natural and eco-friendly. Likewise, according to customer’s opinions their food has a good quality and flavor.
However, some customers say that their house delivering service is bad and many times takes longer than expected. Also, buyers say that it is expensive and quantity and quality of food sometimes do not correspond to its price. Another weakness we found is that this company does not have enough personnel to supply the demand and as a consequence they have lost many customers. (Domicilios.com, 2016)