Know-How Exchange : Strategy

I am helping out a family friend's Coconut Trading Company (let's just call it CTC for now) that is based in Asia. They import fresh premium coconuts by land directly from Thailand and started out as the only distributor in the local market. They have been in the business for more than a decade now and with no competition over the first few years, they were able to establish good relationships with the restaurants owners, beverage stands and hotels within their country.

About 5 years ago, an employee with the knowledge gathered from working at CTC decided to put up a business in the same trade, New Coconut Trading or NCT. The new player thought that by offering low grade coconut at a lower price will be enough to get into the market. But when they tried to tap into CTC's client, NCT found out that offering a lower price is not enough. So NCT took a different approach by offering other fruit drinks that CTC doesn't have and was able to tap into CTC's client, which the loyal customers supported as long as its not coconut related. So with this, CTC learned to adapt to its competitor and the new changes that came with it but at the same time was able to maintain his client.

Everything seems okay for CTC and NCT until 2008. They are both facing a new challenge as another player made its introduction to the market recently. Rumour has it that previous employees from CTC and NCT joined forces to put up Another New Trading or ANT. And this time ANT is trying its best to tap into both CTC and NCT's client by offering premium and low grade coconuts plus a new array of fruit drinks. Lets add to that the number of mobile vendors who are also now selling low grade quality coconuts in the streets. The demand for premium coconut is getting less as the supply of cheaper coconuts from Thailand is increasing in the local market.

What is the best Marketing Strategy for CTC to be able to survive these new threats and at the same time maintain their market share?

Here are a few things to be considered as well:
1) Packaging wise, CTC cannot really do much about it as their fresh coconut still comes in its husk and were shrink wrapped and labelled with a sticker only.
2) Deliveries are done on a daily basis to guarantee the freshness of their product and follows FIFO system. But in certain cases wherein customers still complain that some coconuts were spoiled, CTC replaces these coconuts to maintain good client relationship.
3) To their loyal customers, CTC provides service freezers that customers can use to stock their coconuts to encourage them to order more.
4) They have just recently undergone a rebranding campaign focusing more on promoting their coconut's quality and freshness rather than price. They have incorporated this to their delivery trucks and provided poster, flyers and table stands to their customers.
5) And lastly with the global inflation, CTC was forced to increase its unit price but due to requests from loyal customers, they still provide subsidized prices and absorb taxes for some of their big customers.

Any inputs will be a big help for them come up with a more suitable Marketing Strategy and avoid extra expenses on trial and error projects.