New Zealand Honey Industry

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NZhoney

This case is a study on the honey industry in New Zealand. By

analyzing the case, three market segments for honey can be identified

based on the types of customers. The first segment of customers is

the consumers, while the second and third segments are the retailers

and industrial buyers. These three market segments show different

behaviours in their usage patterns, purchase patterns and attitudes

towards the product.

Consumers

Consumers represent a small but significant market segment for the

honey industry. They purchase honey mainly for household

consumption. For consumers, honey is most commonly consumed in its

unprocessed state, such as liquid, crystallized or even in the comb.

Because of its sweetness, honey is also greatly used as a bread spread

or on other baked products. Honey can also be used as a cooking

agent, as we can see that over 50 per cent of households in New

Zealand use it regularly in their cooking. In baking, honey can serve

as a substitute for sugar as it has an advantage of drying out more

slowly and has a lesser tendency to crack, and it also offers an

improved aroma. It may not be well known, but honey can also be used

as a medicine to treat certain ailments or applied to wounds.

Since honey is sold in pottles, measuring from 250grams to 2kilograms,

and its usage is always in small amounts, the purchase cycle would be

approximately once a month. A pottle of honey can last a long time in

a household. Therefore, household consumers would purchase it

infrequently.

When purchasing honey, consumers are usually low in brand awareness.

The most common attributes of honey is the colour, texture and the

price. Consumers tend to associate darker colour with increased

flavour. The texture is important as consumers face problems in

spreading honey which are too thick. When faced with few choices,

consumers would select the honey based on the price.

Industrial buyers

25 per cent of the honey market in New Zealand belongs to the

industrial buyers who purchase honey for industrial processing

purposes. Industrial buyers can be divided into large-scale

industrial users and, small-scale industrial users and food service

outlets. There are many industries that use honey as one of the

ingredient in their products. Although on a small scale, honey is

largely used at an industrialized level in baked products,

confectionary, candy, marmalades, jams, spreads, breakfast cereals,

beverages, milk products and many preserved products. This is

because honey is a major substitute for sugar as a sweetener, which

increases the flavour of baked products, confectionary candy and

breakfast cereals. Honey also helps the beverage industry to produce

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