Start-up business plan and consumer market research of the Finnish organic market

The purpose of this thesis was to create a business plan for establishing a retail store specialized on selling organic products with a priority on selling local production. To help with the business planning an organic market consumer research was conducted. Finnish organic market was studied to achieve a clear knowledge regarding the current situation on the market. With the help of the background research, an effective business plan was created and the entry to Finnish organic market evaluated. Secondary data used in this research examining different sources such as literature, electronic material and articles for evaluating the market. Furthermore, a consumer market survey was conducted for a group of residents in Helsinki Metropolitan area and analysed using quantitative methods. According to the survey results there are 4 customer segments on the market. Active buyers along with regular buyers purchase organic products more often - weekly and monthly respectively. Those two segments compile 48% of all respondents. Another considerable target segment is random buyers that are 37% of the respondents. They decide to buy organic products spontaneously or occasionally. Making in-store promotions and introducing to random buyers the benefits and features of organic products is a possibility to shift them into the regular or even active buyer segment. Lastly, 15% of the respondents are non-buyers. The reasons why they do not buy organic products are high price or no interest towards organics. The results revealed that the organic market in Finland is growing rapidly. Sustainable food production, wellbeing of animals, the environment, cleanness and quality of the food are among the reasons why consumers buy organic products. There is certainly a demand for new businesses to enter to organic market. Due to an increasing demand towards organic products a growth of new retail businesses in Finnish organic market can be predicted in the near future and therefore it is essential to build an effective and solid strategy for a new start-up business to differentiate on the competitive market. Therefore, creating a strong business strategy and further investigation of the Finnish organic market competitors should be carried out in the future