Australia's First Choice
Australia’s First Choice is generating meaningful international connections and expanding their export portfolio with the help of FIAL’s Virtual Meet the Buyer events.
Challenge
Australia’s First Choice, branded as Ozi Choice, was established in 2014 in response to China’s high demand for Australian dairy products. Specialising in delicious and nutritious high-quality Australian made milk powder, milk bites and long-life UHT milk that is easy to integrate into daily life, the company’s philosophy – health is wealth – has underpinned business goals and actions.
Since its establishment, the company has gone from strength to strength, entering the competitive Chinese market space within the first few years of operation. After operating for five years, the company’s goals shifted from establishing a brand in China to increasing the product range and export portfolio. Opening a manufacturing facility in Victoria was also on the horizon to centralise operations within the business. In 2020, the turbulent nature of COVID-19 made logistics and interacting with international buyers incredibly challenging. FIAL’s Virtual Meet the Buyer events ‘sparked their interest’ due to travel restrictions and an inability to network and reach international markets.
Solution
Developed by the Food and Agribusiness Growth Centre, trading as FIAL, the Virtual Meet the Buyer events provide export-ready Australian food and agribusinesses with the opportunity to secure a one-to-one virtual meeting with interested buyers in key markets around the globe. Since establishment, Australia’s First Choice was subscribed to the FIAL e-newsletter, and when the Virtual Meet the Buyer events were advertised the company could not pass up the chance of reaching new international markets and buyers.
Australia’s First Choice presented their product offerings in three of FIAL’s events. At each event, they were sought out by five to six buyers from Jiangsu Province China, Vietnam and Asia. Australia’s First Choice Manager, Damian Gauci, explained the Virtual Meet the Buyer events as an invaluable way to “gain knowledge and networking opportunities in new markets without the need for travel”.
Outcome
Australia’s First Choice unlocked many growth opportunities through FIAL’s Virtual Meet the Buyer events. In Vietnam and China, the company secured several new exporting deals, which increased the company’s market knowledge, export portfolio and exposure to new clients and customers. These events also enabled Australia’s First Choice to continue expanding their exporting portfolio and prospective customer base by one to two countries per year.
Manager, Damian Gauci, highly recommends FIAL’s Virtual Meet the Buyer events as they were “a positive experience, which was useful to gain knowledge about new markets, access them and communicate with potential new clients”. Developing new customers and export opportunities is an ongoing business challenge. Australia’s First Choice said the Virtual Meet the Buyer events helped them overcome this business challenge.
Case study developed by Amber Keep - Food & Agribusiness and Marketing Student at the University of Sydney
Based on research by FIAL in Capturing the Prize, 19 growth opportunities for the Food and Agribusiness sector have been identified with the potential to grow the sector's annual value-addition capability from its current $61 billion per annum to over $200 billion per annum by 2030, creating an additional 300,000 jobs for the economy.