INNISKILLIN'S INTERNATIONAL MARKETING STRATEGY

Inniskillin's International Marketing Strategy

Table of Contents

Executive Summary4

Ice wine5

A Brief History of Inniskillin5

External Factors8

Japan12

The DFS group and beyond13

Entry into the US15

Europe16

Concepts in International Marketing16

Ethnocentrism16

Polycentrism17

Regiocentrism17

Geocentrism17

Inniskillin's Expansion into Global Markets:18

SWOT analysis18

Porter's Five Forces Model18

Threat of New Entrants19

Bargaining Power of Suppliers19

Bargaining Power of Buyers19

Threat of Substitutes20

Industry Competition20

Markets for future expansion20

Global Marketing Plan22

Market Analysis22

Target Market22

Business Competition22

Market Environment22

Product Analysis23

Description23

Comparison23

Considerations24

Marketing Mix24

Image24

Features24

Pricing24

Advertising/Promotion25

References26

Executive Summary

The wine industry in Canada is one of the best known in the world. The purpose of this report is to focus on the international marketing strategy of Inniskillin Wines, which is owned by Vincor International. This paper begins with defining and gives a brief history of ice wine production in Canada and beyond. It also applies the international marketing concepts onto the Inniskillin's Globalization case study, and sheds some light on the expansion into global markets. An environmental analysis is also included, as well as a SWOT and the Five Forces Model. Finally the paper concludes with presenting a Global Marketing Plan for the company's expansion into the Indian market.

Ice wine

Ice wine is known as “Eiswein” in Germany, which was it's first producer. The difference between regular wine and ice wine is that ice wine is made from grapes left to ferment and then freeze on the vines in the vineyards. It falls within the category of desert wines and has lower amount of alcohol. It has a high amount of concentrated sugars, hence the very sweet taste (Premium ice wine 2010, p.n.d.)

Source: www.winesofcanada.com/icewine3.html

A Brief History of Inniskillin

Formed by Ziraldo and Kaiser in Canada in 1975, Inniskillin Wines got recognized around the globe for its famous award-winning product “Ice wine”. It gained popularity by winning prestigious awards like 2004's “Star Product of the Year” at the Frontier Awards event. In 1989, Labatt breweries decided to go out of business, its wines started being sold by the name of “Cartier Wines”. Cartier Wines bought out Inniskillin in 1992, and the next year the company merged with T.G. Bright and subsequently came to be known as Vincor International, Inc (Wines of Canada 2011, p.n.d.)

Source:www.iniskillin.com

In October 2005, Constellation Brands, an American company and the world's largest wine producer (Kesmodel 2010, p.n.d.) bid $944 million to take over Vincor International. However, the attempt to acquire failed because it did not get the necessary support of two-thirds of Vincor's shareholders (Simon et al., 2005). But Constellation Brands did not give up, it returned with an offer of $36.5 per share ($1.5 billion), which had been accepted on April 3, 2006 (CBC News, 2006).

Environmental Factors

To review the internationalisation process of Inniskillin in Canada, we need to review the environmental factors that attribute to the success of Inniskillin's internationalisation process in Canada. These include the internal as well as external environment in which the company operates.

Internal Factors

These are the factors that led Inniskillin wines to success in the international markets. These include:

A skilful workforce, which has become experienced over the years.

Inniskillin has had a positive brand image. So much so that Hollywood Celebrity Madonna placed an order for Inniskillin to ...