Dole accelerates its global strategy with custom consumer and market intelligence from The Smart Cube

Business challenge

Dole is one of the largest fresh produce companies in the market, known around the world for its pineapples and bananas. Over the years, its expansion has seen the company add canned fruit, pre-prepared fruit bowls, salad kits, bottled juices and more to its product offering.

Alongside its long-established B2C division, Dole recently centralised its B2B division which supplies raw ingredients to other businesses working in the space, with an increased focus on product diversification. All this takes careful strategic planning – which requires deep, accurate and timely insight into the markets Dole operates in.

To strengthen its category intelligence, Dole wanted an external partner that could provide the knowledge and expert guidance it needed to continue pursuing its growth strategy. And that brought Dole to The Smart Cube.

The Smart Cube solution

Dole and The Smart Cube started working together in May 2019, kicking off the partnership with a workshop at Dole’s Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore.

Over the next few months, The Smart Cube supported Dole as it formed a dedicated Consumer and Market Insights team that works with stakeholders across the business.

By gathering data and insights about competitors, products and markets, The Smart Cube analyses multiple factors to gain a holistic view of the industry, in line with Dole’s business objectives. The team delivers both regular reports – updated as frequently as the stakeholders require – and long-term research work that informs Dole’s ongoing strategy planning. These insight modules include:

• Regular country reports
• Contract manufacturer intelligence
• Market entry assessments
• Consumer sentiment analysis
• Distribution channel assessment

As well as the dedicated full-time team in Singapore, The Smart Cube also provides ad hoc strategic support for Dole’s North America division.

Results

In the first eighteen months of the partnership, The Smart Cube team has built relationships with key players across the business, including global CEO Pier Luigi Sigismondi. The analysts started out supporting the strategy team, rapidly expanding to work with the marketing and procurement and innovation teams too.

Through its various divisions and projects, The Smart Cube has delivered over 40 projects to date, including:

• A market entry strategy for fresh and packaged fruits in China and Africa
• Insight into individual growth categories across 20 focus markets
• Competitor assessments for product development and pricing strategies

Following the success of its work with the B2C division, The Smart Cube is now also providing category and market intelligence for Dole’s B2B arm.

Value delivered

The research and reporting work informs many different aspects of Dole’s strategy, including brand messaging, new product development opportunities in existing markets, and even expansion into new markets.

The Smart Cube’s work is having a measurable financial impact on Dole. For example, the team has identified more than $500 million in untapped market opportunity for its packaged division, while helping to avoid over $15 million in potential losses by staying out of unprofitable markets for Dole’s fresh products.