Proceedings of Annual Tokyo Business Research Conference
15 - 16 December 2014, Waseda University, Tokyo, japan, ISBN: 978-1-922069-67-2
A Market Research in Japan for Organic Olive Oil from
Turkey
Cemal Elitas1 and Ibrahim Sabuncu2
Japan has the third biggest economy in the world and an important market
for organic olive oil sector. However, Turkey’s olive oil export to Japan is far
behind the level that it should be. It’s reasons: Japanese consumers give
great importance to quality, they are conscious and choosy persons; Japan
market is hard to enter market for foreign companies; there is a common
bias in Japan market that olive oil is a product that mainly belong to Italy and
Spain. Though, some of these difficulties are turn to advantage for organic
olive oil producers. Thus, the organic olive oils which are produced
according to high quality standards and meets Japanese quality
requirements by JAS (Japanese Agriculture Standards) organic certificates,
already passed many of obstacles in the market.
It has been seen in the pre-literature review studies that Japanese organic
foods price sensitivity is lower than European Union. So, although currently
most of the organic foods of Turkey are exported to European Union, Japan
is much more advantageous market than European Union for organic food,
agriculture and especially olive oil products.
In this project, advantages of Japanese market and marketing mix that
provide success to organic olive oil producer in this market are determined
by an experimental study. For this purpose, a survey will be prepared and
applied to the Japanese companies (Importers, Distributors, Retailers, etc.)
that can be potential organic food clients for Turkish exports. The results of
the survey will be statistically analyzed, marketing mix and marketing
strategies will be developed for organic olive oil exporters who wants to enter
Japanese market according to analyze results.
Key Words: International Market Research, Marketing Mix, Japan Market, Organic, Olive
Oil, Turkish Exporters
Prof. Dr. Cemal Elitas, Ress. Ast. Ibrahim Sabuncu
University of Yalova, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, International Trade &
Finance Department, Safran Campus, 77200 Yalova, Turkey, Phone: +90 226 815 5218, Fax: +90
226 814 6089
1
2
cemalelitas@gmail.com, isabuncu@yalova.edu.tr