Export Lessons From Fast Growth Brands

With few easy wins and the odds seemingly stacked against you, breaking into a new market can feel like a formidable task. Will the trends you’re seeing in your home territory repeat themselves overseas? Will your brand and marketing translate across cultures? Can you scale and adapt to new demand at the speed you need to??

To give yourself the best chance of market success, we’re looking at some of the biggest challenger brands and how they’ve found novel ways to understand and approach new audiences.

Creating a premium branding to grow your audience

With a 35% market share across all channels, Dash Water is one of the UK’s best-performing seltzer brands. In 2021 they took their locally-sourced “wonky fruit” model overseas to over 1500 stores in Australia — but how have they managed it??

Simply put: they understood the importance of crafting a strong story and created a brand which appeals to changing consumer pressures.?

At its core, Dash provides a healthy alternative to that ‘cold can’ moment people associate with fizzy sugar-filled drinks like Coca-Cola and Fanta — but it’s more than that. The truth is there are lots of brands providing “healthy” or “sugar-free” alternatives, so Dash chose to focus on the growing consumer desire to reduce food waste and become more sustainable. Their locally sourced and wonky fruit flavours come packaged in aluminium or glass meaning a low-carbon footprint and, as of last year, B-Corp accreditation (an industry sustainability standard).??

In other words, Dash found its USP by understanding that its customer base was just as concerned with the health of our planet as they were with their own well-being. In noting the trends towards sustainability and social purpose aren’t exclusive to their home market, Dash has continued to harness its brand to gain a market share in over 13 territories and is looking to enter the US this year.

Using your data to understand new markets

As technology continues to improve, it becomes more possible for up-and-coming brands to shift their attention to new markets earlier in their development cycle. Where it once needed significant upfront cost to identify market potential, brands can now harness data and get foundational insights into new customer bases, removing the need for lengthy business trips with large expense sheets.

Graze Snacks began its journey into export by studying how other retailers and brands had tackled exporting. Seeing the likes of Tesco conduct lengthy market research programs in the US, they looked to see how their technology and data could provide a faster solution. Through launching an MVP trial they were able to test hundreds of key indicators in a short space of time at a low cost. The data; including customer taste profiles, price, marketing and logistics formed the basis for their launch in over 50 states.

This tech-first approach allows Graze to be fast-paced and reactive with their goods — 40% of their products have been improved in some way from their initial release. It comes with the added benefit of reducing their employment costs and allowing their core team to focus on building relationships with specialists in their supply chains. In turn, the ship runs smoothly and the customers get the best DTC experience.?

Whilst we don’t often think of FMCG food and drink companies as tech companies — Graze’s competitive and efficient business model shows that perhaps we should.

Finding a gap in the market

Founded in Berlin in 2011, HelloFresh looked at the tried and tested supermarket shop and flipped the script for the consumer. With office hours at an all-time high, the team saw home cooking on the decline and looked to offer consumers a fool-proof and healthy way to source their meals. These “Meal Kits” were truly innovative and still in today's more competitive landscape they manage to hold a commanding market share — but how have they done it?

First and foremost, great foundations. The team realised the business model had huge potential with attractive unit economics but needed large early investment to craft their own supply chains. The idea was this: the more of their process they could control, the easier it would be for them to deliver a great experience to the consumer and get the highest margins per box.?

Where supermarkets and other retailers struggled to adapt to an e-commerce boom, HelloFresh had close connections to their supply chain and the key data insights from an online user base to meet their demands. This meant they could improve their products based on real customer information on price, dietary, location and recipe preferences. They understood their buyers and they took advantage of consumer trends. With a boost in sales from the stay-at-home coronavirus restrictions and a growing eco-minded customer base, their trajectory looks strong.

HelloFresh is in 16 markets and currently expanding its presence into Italy whilst holding a market share of 69% in the US “Meal Kit” sector.