Wednesday 17 December 2014

London's Hello Fresh cooks up market segmentation

Hello Fresh is for home cooks who want the convenience of receiving packages of ingredients with creative recipes every week (or one-off), for making gourmet meals in their own kitchens. Everything but the chef is the company's tag line.

The online subscription service offers packages for family meals, for vegetarian meals and for 'classic' meals (with meat). Customers can choose packages that provide multiple meals for either 2 or 4 people, with step-by-step recipes including nutritional values and cooking times.

With a lot of venture capital backing, the company is expanding rapidly and already faces competition in some of the markets it serves. To continue its success, London-based Hello Fresh is segmenting its market by geography, attitude and behaviour.
  • Geographic segmentation: Hello Fresh operates in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and the US, adapting its recipes for local markets and sourcing ingredients from local producers. This allows the company to appeal to local tastes and preferences.
  • Attitude segmentation: Cofounder Patrick Drake explains: 'There is that intimidation factor with cooking . . . "I have never tried this recipe before so I am not going to try it", an attitude that discourages experimentation. Hello Fresh targets people who want to experiment with little risk (financial or culinary), a key element in its marketing.
  • Behaviour segmentation: Many people enjoy cooking at home (or want to cook at home) but don't have time to shop or don't have access to specialised shops for international ingredients. Hello Fresh addresses this segment's needs by delivering boxes with exactly the foods and extras needed for each meal.
Hello Fresh has already attracted 200,000+ Facebook likes, 7,000+ Twitter followers and 9,000 Instagram followers.