Another food giant shifts to bottom-of-the-pyramid selling

WSJ story on how the French food company Danone, of yogurt fame, is now focusing on market expansion in emerging and developing economies.

Danone has ruled the high-end healthy products niche for a while, making it one of the fastest growing food companies in the world.

But momentum is slowing in the company’s traditional, rich-world markets in North America and Western Europe.

And so it’s moving into the Gap big time, meaning “Danone is among a vanguard of Western multinational staking much of their future on the world’s poor.”

A decade ago, Danone got 6% of its revenue from emerging markets.  Today it’s 42%

Digging deeper, the company is now trying to target customers who live on dollar-a-day food budgets.

Danone’s CEO says “the objective is to do business not just with the top of the pyramid.”

“GLOBALIZATION MARCHS ON!” cries the newsreel announcer.