Complete SWOT Analysis of Royal Greenland – The World’s Leading Groups In The Seafood Market

Updated on: Jan 15, 2022
SWOT Analysis of Royal Greenland - Featured Image

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We have previously written an article on the SWOT analysis of HelloFresh – a publicly-traded German meal-kit company. This time we are back with another blog on the SWOT analysis of Royal Greenland.

Royal Greenland is one of the world’s leading groups in the seafood market. They supply a broad range of seafood products that meet the needs of consumers, kitchen professionals and industrial processors. For centuries, Royal Greenland has been associated with high-quality seafood at affordable prices.

Another aspect that made Royal Greenland the giant it is now is its marketing efforts. As the world goes online, marketing is changing and if you are interested in learning about the latest – check out our Free MasterClass on Digital Marketing 101 by the CEO and Founder of IIDE, Karan Shah.

Do you want to learn how Royal Greenland became so successful in the seafood industry? In this blog, we will learn about the SWOT Analysis of Royal Greenland and decode the answer. Before we begin, let us learn more about the Royal Greenland company, its foundations, products, financial status and competitors.

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About Royal Greenland,

SWOT Analysis of Royal Greenland - Royal Greenland Headquarters

Royal Greenland headquarters are based in Nuuk, Greenland and it is owned by the Government of Greenland. The company was founded in 1990, however, its predecessors date back to 1774, when the trade of seafood in Greenland was established by the Danish State using the name Royal Greenlandic Trade Department, and soon after, in 1979 the trade was taken over by the Greenlandic Government.

Greenland the island is the place where the fishing company Royal Greenland do the fishing, processing and seafood trades in a number of towns and settlements in Greenland. The company produces and supplies seafood and convenience products such as cold water prawns, snow crab and lumpfish roe, smoked and marinated fish, hot and cold smoked Greenland halibut, cod, salmon, marinated halibut and ready-to-eat fish cuts. 

Royal Greenland operates production facilities in Canada, Greenland, Denmark, Germany, and Poland. It majorly catches seafood from the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean. The company’s facilities are certified with HACCP, BRC and IFS. Also, Royal Greenland caters to retailers and foodservice operators.

Quick Stats on Royal Greenland
Founder Mikael Thinghuus
Year Founded 1990
Origin Greenland
No. of Employees 2,769+
Company Type Public
Market Cap N/A
Annual Revenue DKK 7,105 Million
Net Income/ Profit DKK 173 Million

 

SWOT Analysis of Royal Greenland - Royal Greenland Seafood Products


Products of Royal Greenland

Royal Greenland has been dealing in these areas for a while:

  • Sea Food
  • Natural Fish
  • Smoked Fish
  • Shellfish & Roe
  • Food Service
  • Recipes
  • Retail, Packaging & Brands


Competitors of Royal Greenland

Royal Greenland competes on a global level with many other rivals. The top 5 competitors of Royal Greenland are

  • Ocean Choice International L.P
  • Pacific Seafood
  • UniSea, Inc
  • WBI Holdings
  • Trident Seafoods Corporation

Now that we understand the company’s core business, let’s delve into the SWOT analysis of Royal Greenland.


SWOT Analysis of Royal Greenland

SWOT Analysis of Royal Greenland can show how a well-established company uses its opportunities to ensure its growth. It can show how the company takes advantage of its strengths to use the opportunities while working on its weaknesses. SWOT Analysis of Royal Greenland will also reveal its expansion plans.

To better understand the SWOT analysis of Royal Greenland, refer to the infographic below:

SWOT Analysis of Royal Greenland - SWOT Infographics of Royal Greenland

Now first let’s begin with the strengths of the company from the SWOT analysis of Royal Greenland.

Strengths of Royal Greenland

An organization’s unique capabilities that give it an advantage in capturing more market share, attracting more customers, and maximizing profits are referred to as its strengths. Following are Royal Greenland’s strengths:

  • Distribution and Reach: Royal Greenland has more than 20 fish processing plants and ship bases that are backed up by a strong distribution network that ensures its seafood is easily accessible in a timely manner to a large number of customers.
  • Dealer Community: The company is self-sufficient in some product areas and has strong relationships with its suppliers. The link between local sales organizations helps to develop the market ensuring a deep understanding of local customer and consumer needs.
  • Financial Position: The commercial development and their equity of DKK 1.7 billion, equivalent to an equity ratio of 31%, support Royal Greenland’s strategic focus and financial strength.
  • Sustainable Development: Royal Greenland always works towards sustainable fisheries without having to be concerned about the risk of excessive fishing or pollution of the oceans. This initiative is giving Royal Greenland a good image of its brand in the market. 
  • Automation: Automation of various stages of production has allowed for more efficient use of resources and cost reduction. It also allows for consistency in product quality and the ability to scale up and scale down production in response to market demand.
  • Skilled Labor Force: Royal Greenland has invested heavily in employee training of its 2,700+ employees, resulting in a large number of skilled and motivated employees.


Weaknesses of Royal Greenland

Weaknesses are aspects of a business or brand that should be improved. Royal Greenland’s major flaws are as follows:

  • Limited Reach: One of the major limitations of Royal Greenland is its reach. It is currently operating in limited countries. Majorly working in the metropolitan cities. It does not deliver to some of the major countries in the globe such as India & Russia and this becomes a weakness as the company is losing some of its potential customers.
  • Costly R&D: Royal Greenland has spent a lot of money to build their branches in different countries. For Royal Greenland, CSR and social sustainability are not just words, but a tangible commitment to taking great social responsibility, even when it comes at a high financial cost. 
  • Low Current Ratio: The company’s current ratio, which measures its ability to meet short-term financial obligations, is lower than the industry average. This could imply that the company will face liquidity issues in the future.
  • Literacy Among Farmers: The sellers, fishermen and farmers as most of them are illiterate and do not have the means to connect on the internet. This has become a problem in terms of expanding the suppliers base.
  • Lack of Physical Outlets: Royal Greenland does not have any physical outlets and are mostly displayed in supermarkets shelves, which affect its sales and brand presence in many ways. Sometimes people who are willing to buy products on the move or at the moment do not have the opportunity to do so.


Opportunities for Royal Greenland

Opportunities are potential areas of focus for a company to improve results, increase sales, and, ultimately, profit.

  • Size of Indian Fish Market: The size of the fish market in India is more than 50 billion dollars, in production and sale, according to the statistics released by the Indian Fisheries Department in the year 2016, 90% of this comes from India and the rest 10% is imported. This becomes a major opportunity for Royal Greenland to expand and cover the Indian fish and livestock market.
  • Social Media Presence: Currently, Royal Greenland social media presence is zero that should be considered by the marketing team of Royal Greenland because a presence on social media is vital in today’s marketing industry. Royal Greenland can increase its market base by sharing seafood recipes or posting product pictures with attractive packaging to capture the attention of customers. If you are interested in the field, check out our social media marketing course to get started.
  • Changing Lifestyles: As the changing lifestyle and workload gets even more increased for working professionals, people are more likely to consume ready to cook meals which saves their time. Royal Greenland has an opportunity to tap and enter this gap where it can deliver food ingredients and recipes to customers.  
  • Online Presence: As more and more people come online and spend most of their time over the internet, the ways to widen its e-commerce presence creates a great opportunity for Royal Greenland to connect and serve more and more people that will ultimately increase its customer base.
  • Further Expansion: Royal Greenland aim is to extend their standing in the North Atlantic and the Arctic. A regional existence in both Greenland and Atlantic Canada is a foremost part of their strategy. This allows them to benefit from the understanding and know-how of the regional fishing communities and ensure a steady supply of fish and seafood from all of their North Atlantic and Arctic locations.


Threats to Royal Greenland

Threats are environmental factors that can be harmful to a company’s growth. The following are some of the threats to Royal Greenland

  • Local Fisherman: There is immense competition in this sector as Royal Greenland has to compete with local fisherman, supermarkets, shops, vendors, etc to maintain their position in the market.
  • Deals on Perishable Products: As Royal Greenland deals in perishable products, it creates a huge threat of products getting contaminated so Royal Greenland has to maintain a constant temperature all the time along the cycle to avoid such contamination. 
  • Unfavourable Events: However, Royal Greenland is following the ideology of sustainability but if somehow its suppliers and fishers exploit the natural resources for just the sake of extra income, then if caught by environmental activists can spoil the brand as a whole and make it face legal actions.

This ends our complete SWOT analysis of Royal Greenland. Let us conclude our learning below.

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To Conclude

The seafood market in the Asian market offers great opportunities for Royal Greenland with rising demand for processed frozen food due to an increase in a hectic lifestyle, increasing growth in the high-price segment and rising restaurant industry. 

With a strong supply chain and core competence in frozen seafood, the company has the potential to take advantage of these opportunities. The best way of doing this is through market development and market penetration. This means investing in promotion and marketing will be the major requirements. As a differential leader in the competitive seafood business, Royal Greenland chances of obtaining further growth are relatively high.

Talking about the competition where marketing plays a crucial role, taking advantage of technology not merely in this industry in which every other company is focusing on digital marketing to rise ahead of each other. If you have the curiosity to learn you may check out IIDE’s 3 Month Advanced Online Digital Marketing Course to know more.

We hope this blog on the SWOT analysis of Royal Greenland has given you a good insight into the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

If you enjoy in-depth company research just like the SWOT analysis of Royal Greenland, check out our IIDE Knowledge portal for more fascinating case studies.

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Aditya Shastri

Lead Trainer & Head of Learning & Development at IIDE

Leads the Learning & Development segment at IIDE. He is a Content Marketing Expert and has trained 6000+ students and working professionals on various topics of Digital Marketing. He has been a guest speaker at prominent colleges in India including IIMs......[Read full bio]

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