Felco Passion

GLANCE AT THE MARKETSLaunch of Essentiel: FELCO Australia focussingon its female customersThe Australian subsidiary of FELCOfocused the entire Essentiel launch campaignon female customers. For the timebeing, it has decided that it will only introducethe FELCO 160S (small version) toappeal primarily to amateur gardeners.Thanks to a number of innovative promotions,this has already been a success.A vast continent with a population of just 21million, Australia has a huge variety of climatesand crops, ranging from mango andsandalwood in the north to apples and walnutsin Tasmania. The most remote customeris located 2,600 km from FELCOAustralia’s offices in Carnegie, a suburb ofMelbourne."Given the geographical size of our market,our promotion activities focus on advertisingin newspapers and on the radio and we do alot of public relations with groups that caninfluence the general public," said RémyFavre, who has been running FELCO's Australiansubsidiary since 1999. "For Essentiel,we focused on the small FELCO 160S andhave concentrated our marketing efforts onthe female market. The launch was markedby a press conference held as part of ExpoGarden Show in Melbourne, to which weinvited the media, major buyers and goodlocal distributors. Each guest received anEssentiel bag containing publicity materials(brochure and DVD), an Essentiel apron andsweets, not forgetting of course ... the essentialitem - a free sample of the new product."On the commercial front, Rémy Favre continued,"we have agreed a price deal with alarge group of retailers who have agreed tostock our product. For others, we haveestablished a 6 for the price of 5 promotion.We have also organised a competition forour sales representatives. The one whoplaces the most displays in stores wins acash prize and a number of gift-wrappedFELCO products." All these actions haveboosted sales. "After only two months", saidRémy Favre, "the Essentiel 160S is alreadyour 4th best-selling model."6