LURPAK – EXPENSIVE, BUT ENJOYABLE

BUTTER EXPORT: Danish butter is expensive in Australia, but consumers love it for its good taste

Europe’s largest dairy group, Danish-Swedish Arla, whose products include the world renowned Lurpak butter, is currently witnessing a veritable boom in sales of butter to Australia. The dairy group forecasts a tripling of sales of Lurpak to the market down under in 2006 compared to 2005.

“Since Lurpak costs three times as much as the local butter, our customers didn’t think that Lurpak stood a chance. But the good taste has won them over, as well as Australian consumers,” says head of sales Lars Møller Henriksen at Arla Foods’ office in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.

Lurpak entered the Australian market for the first time in 2005, where it was marketed through the Woolworth store chain. Now Lurpak has leaped onto the shelves of Woolworth’s competitor Coles. The two stores account for about 80% of the retail trade in Australia, which has a population of approx. 17 million people. Lurpak’s taste for success is expected to result in sales of approx. 300 tons in 2006, compared to 100 tons in 2005.

“Although that is not a lot in volume terms, it represents profitable business for us,” says Lars Møller Henriksen. “Now we are building a warehouse and a wellfunctioning distribution system. We will also concentrate our efforts on new store campaigns and advertisements in lifestyle magazines such as Vogue so that even more consumers will become aware of Lurpak.” Arla Foods’ exports to Australia were initiated after consumers started e-mailing the international website http://www.lurpak.com to ask where they could buy Lurpak in Australia. Arla Foods found an importer who got Lurpak into a number of independent stores and places such as the fish market in Sydney. From there Lurpak has spread across the entire continent.

http://www.arlafoods.com