MARKETING MANAGEMENT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The success of a business depends on the marketing plan and management. This plan establishes the marketing strategy depending upon the onset business goals thereby helping in brand management. The supermarket retail brand Coles, Australia along with its existing chain of operations and services has been outlined in the report. Moreover, 5C framework has been extensively used to highlight strengths, weakness, opportunity and threat of the company in the retail industry market. Along with that, digital marketing strategy to influence customers and new markets has also been outlined. Target market and value proposition of the brand along with marketing mix strategy for better market management has been clearly defined in the report. Lastly, it has been concluded that putting emphasis on customers and integrating digital marketing strategy is necessary for sustainable brand management.
Table of Contents
| Introduction | 4 |
| Issue 1: Company background | 4 |
| Issue 2: Analysis of the 5 Cs | 5 |
| a. Company | 5 |
| b. Customers | 7 |
| c. Collaborators | 7 |
| d. Competitors | 8 |
| e. Context | 8 |
| Issue 3: Information collections about 5 Cs | 9 |
| a. Customer need | 9 |
| b. Market threat | 9 |
| c. Context of business evolution | 9 |
| d. Role of collaborators | 9 |
| Issue 4: Marketing strategy development | 10 |
| Potential market segmentation | 10 |
| Recommendations | 12 |
| Target market identification | 12 |
| Value proposition | 12 |
| Proposed positioning statement for target customers | 12 |
| Issue 5: Developing marketing techniques | 13 |
| Conclusion | 14 |
| Reference list | 16 |
| Appendices | 18 |
| Appendix 1: Comparison of retail market share | 18 |
| Appendix 2: E-commerce performance of different countries | 19 |
Introduction
Marketing is considered to be the foremost essential criteria for an organization who deals in the competitive market. The overall product knowledge and overview is revealed in the market through effective marketing. Moreover, it helps to create a brand reputation among the consumers which can be significant for a new product to have promotion in the current market. The present study defines about a retail supermarket chain Coles who has their origin in the Australian market. Hence, the present study aims to highlight upon the initiative of marketing along with its relational factors through which the marketing strategy of the company can be understood.
Issue 1: Company background
The Coles has been a retail supermarket chain who are found to operate their business in the Australian territory since 1914 and they are headquartered in Victoria. The company operates in 807 different stores across Australia along with having near about 112298 employees working under the company. The supermarket chain was found to deal effectively in the market with having a total asset of AU$ 21.644 billion in the year 2018 (coles.com.au, 2018) Apart from that the company was seen to acquire efficient operating income which was AU$ 1.414 billion in the previous year (coles.com.au, 2018). Based on their effective net asset and operating income, the company was found to generate decent revenue which was amounted to AU$ 39.288 billion in the same year. Moreover, the Coles have been found to open an option for the consumers on the basis of online retailing which was started in 1999. The service covers with more than 85% residents across the nation.
The Coles acquire effective mission statement which reveals that “The Coles values are underpinned with the company strategy which drives helping behaviours in order to create long term correspondence with the suppliers, which can further deliver anonymous experience of shopping to the consumers through passionate and caring team members.” Apart from that the Coles was found to generate decent slogans or value statements to the customers which includes “nothing over 2/6”, “you will find best values is at Coles new world”, “serving you better”, “Save everyday” during 1980 to 2007 (coles.com.au, 2018). The company was further found to generate a new slogan in 2010 which announced that “Down Down, Prices are down”. This slogan indicated about the company initiative to offer their products with comparatively lower rate of price.
The Coles are found to have effective marketing policy across the nation which allows the company to undertake the initiative of connecting with millions of the Australians at each and every day. Through the help of company marketing the company was seen to have 24% share of the Australian grocery sector (coles.com.au, 2018). The marketing initiative of the company reveals about the timeliness in case of generating an emerging idea through which the company can relate their products with the market reality across each company store. Moreover, the company offers to give a feedback towards the consumers. The ultimate marketing initiative of the company was found to be effective through providing priority to the customers. This factor has allowed the company to generate innovative ideas for the marketing and business. Apart from that the Coles are found to move fast in terms of marketing and they are set with their brand new status Quo (pun fully intended) which can allow them to have worldwide marketing (coles.com.au, 2018). As the company is seen to deal in various supermarket products like foods, vegetables and others, hence they are likely to relate with the consumer requirements. This motto has been reflected in the company slogans along with their initiative of marketing which is ultimately based on the market or customer demand. These elements has taken the company to relate themselves to the market need based on which they can have effective sales and revenue.
The company is found to deal in the retail supermarket industry. They are found to have various products which are important according to regular consumer demand. The Coles are found to deal in several products such as meat, Liquor, Gift cards, fresh fruit and vegetable, dairy, baby products, Coles mobile, deli, bakery, Kosher, Gluten free and others (coles.com.au, 2018).
The brand has already been created in the Australian market since 1914 which deals in regular retail products. Hence the marketing of the company is based upon the consumer requirements which have been already reflected in the mission statement of the company.
Issue 2: Analysis of the 5 Cs
In order to get an insight about the onset developments in an organization, there needs to be a collective analysis of the corresponding business factors. As per the views of (), identification of the strengths and weakness as well as the ability of a company to indulge with the customers and collaborators helps in competitive advantage. Moreover, the 5 Cs in respect to Cole’s operational suit will be analysed below:
a. Company
Figure 1: Market share of stores in 2017
Coles has established strong suit of business in the retail industry sector in Australia. An ample amount of money is spent on the grocery items in a supermarket chain. As per the recent reports, Coles comprises of 33.2% of the overall market share with $30 billion spending (Morgan, 2017). As for overall market share, only Woolworths have a bigger market share at 35.7%. As per the views of Karjaluoto et al. (2015), digital marketing differentiates the capability of a brand to operate in larger market demographics. In relation to the company operations, a SWOT table will be created to highlight and analyse the essential factors.
strengths
|
Weaknesses
|
Opportunities
|
Threats
|
Table 1: SWOT Analysis of Coles
On the basis of above distinction, it can be outlined that the strength lays in higher consumer satisfaction rates. In contrast core weakness is lack of effective marketing strategy. Similarly opportunity lie in implementation of digital marketing and threats come in the form of existing and new market competitors.
b. Customers
Figure 2: Quality and Price comparison of Cole’s products
The target audience of the brand lies in the form of middle and lower economy group of individuals. The market share of the company signifies the level of responses it is generating from the market audience (Nuseir and Madanat, 2015). Likewise, the company has been able to go by with the strategy of low priced products that relates to poor quality of products to some extent. Moreover, customer has been highly satisfied with the after sales services that reflect onto credible actions of the brand. Similarly, the brand has not promoted their products in an efficient manner that has resulted in lesser market shares in comparison to some of the other brands. (Refer to Appendix 1)
c. Collaborators
The company has wide array of suppliers as well as partnering channels as it is a supermarket chain. As per Waheed et al. (2017), understanding the need of keeping a balanced supply chain management framework helps an organization manage its services in an effective way. Apart from that, the company has collaborated with Accenture in order help their online sales thereby reflecting onto better revenue generation.
d. Competitors
Figure 3: Online grocery market share in Australia
The company has ample amount of competition in the Australian retail market as the company has existing as well as new line of threats from organizations such as Woolworths, Alid and IGA. In addition, competitive nature of the market allows the brand to target newer market demographics.
e. Context
Apart from company operations and marketing tactics, other factors such as legal, political and technology may also hamper the process of company services (So et al. 2016). In accordance with the company, technological factors are a cause of concern as the company has failed to make valid use of the same to promote its products across the digital platform thereby streamlining services.
Cognitive, behavioural and environmental factors highlight the socio behavioural aspects of the customers (Hagberg et al. 2016). In relation the 5 C framework is able to go along with other factors such as buying decision of customer and role of competitors, thereby justifying its validity.
Issue 3: Information collections about 5 Cs
a. Customer need
Customers crave for innovative products in a periodic basis. Moreover, ability of a company to identify the product needs highlights its marketing capabilities (Tan and Sousa, 2015). Coles makes use of their feedback sections across their online and offline medium to keep track of the customer needs. This highlights the market intelligence of the company. Apart from that, customer needs vary depending upon market trends thereby suggesting that brand needs to promote products via digital marketing and focus on new category of products (Reypens et al. 2016).
b. Market threat
Woolworths along with Aldi posses the biggest market threat for the company as both these organizations have extensive set of technological capabilities as well as digital marketing framework (Dangelico and Vocalelli, 2017). The company assess the competition be keeping close track of the market shares, customer demands, customer feedbacks as well as trends in market.
c. Context of business evolution
Business environment of retail industry is changing rapidly with the adaptation to digital environment for high flexibility and easy coordination thread establishment. The digital business environment is gradually adapted by Coles through commercial website creation that helps in customer relationship management, promotional and e-commerce through a single channel. Hattula et al. (2015) suggested that market intelligence dissemination can increase the efficiency of organizational decision making by 15% by customer needs and competitive analysis of market. Functionality of linear and integrated marketing channel of traditional and digital marketing platforms respectively attracts Coles towards mixed marketing environment creation. Change of marketing trend specifically inclination of customers for digital shopping can be analysed through market survey and customer feedback analysis. It in terms helps in supply chain strategy determination of marketing mix.
d. Role of collaborators
Responsibilities and active participation of collaborators indicate that the organization is in sustainable market position. Measures of activities of collaborators can be achieved by customer needs analysis and distributor’s role in marketing management. Market research on efficiency and communication with suppliers contributes positively to supply chain reliability and stability. Coles employs local suppliers for fruit, vegetables and meat. The company appoints WITRON Logistik and Informatik GmbH for automatic distribution channel in stores and warehouse to avail low-cost supply chain in Australia. Revenue of supply chain modernisation project through 2 automatic distribution centres of Coles offers $950 million for 6 years. Additionally, a pre-tax profit margin of $146 million in 2019 mitigates redundancies in collaborators distribution channels (supplierportal.coles.com.au, 2019).
Figure 4: Profit earned by Coles from collaborators
Issue 4: Marketing strategy development
Potential market segmentation
Segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP) theory is applied in this context to provide recommendations on the most effective market strategy. The theory addresses elements of marketing like target customer group, potential market for optimised sales and positioning strategy to create differentiation with products of competitive rivals. Market segmentation of this brand helps in generating optimum profit from business by propagating market value creation through customer analysis. According to Qin et al. (2017), four types of segmentation usually followed by business organizations include demographic, psychographic, geographic and behavioural segments. Geographic segmentation cannot be truly applied on Coles as the organization follows uniform marketing strategy throughout Australia to bring harmony in business culture.
>Figure 5: Elements of market segmentation
Demographic market segment of Coles includes people from different age and high–low economic status. Unbiased segmentation of target customers helps a brand to develop positive ethics image among customers through similar marketing activities. However, digital media marketing mainly focuses on the people having access to Smartphone or electronic gadgets and is used to with busy schedule. Behavioural segmentation includes accessibility of digital literacy and interest in different types of foods and grocery products. In the words of Hagberg et al. (2016), digital retailing needs segmentation of market for target customer identification in order to provide personalized service facilities to individuals. Interest of people for regular interval-based shopping and core marketing can classify benefits and laggards of behavioural records for purchasing decisions. Coles may observe specific purchasing occasion of individuals to a particular food chain offer high margin profit generation possibilities. Target customer behaviour analysis can be easy by this target market behavioural segmentation. Psychographic segmentation is a way of identifying values, attitudes and aspiration of customers for a particular product. Coles effectively applies emotional segmentation strategy for people interested in digital marketing channel for green sustainability of retail supply chain and trait value generation. Among these four market segmentation, demographic and psychographic segmentations are the most beneficial for Coles competitive advantage retention
Recommendations
Target market identification
Coles may focus on digitally interested shoppers through Australia to optimise their advent of competitive growth. E-commerce behaviour offers $876 million to the Australian economy that classifies the active digital landscape for shopping and retail business in Australia (Refer to appendix 2). The company can install optimised search engine and Business Intelligence (BI) software in the integrated chain of digital media that allows customer search history and past purchasing history of target customers. Target market of the company is also loyal customers those can attempt both online and offline business chain for target customers. Coles can make people aware of their digital marketing platform after shopping assistance at stores
Value proposition
Value propositions are determined by business organizations to make customers aware of the integrated value of the brand and products currently sold by the group. Coles products’ proposed value propositions are listed below.
- Meats entirely free from artificial growth promoters injected in animal bodies
- Freshly harvested products direct from firms
- Fresh and hygienic food containers for food value retention
- Cashless transaction for green sustainability development
These value propositions are helpful to reflect environmental and market sustainability of the brand that can add more commercial value to the product diversification. As illustrated by Wu et al. (2018), value propositions help customers to acknowledge potential of the organization to deliver promised value of products. Theory of planned behaviour can be addressed by this STP market penetration procedure. The linkage can be established for relevance of the subjective norms of this theory with behavioural control plan of Coles by value proposition usage for promotion. The dynamic performance potential of Coles can add improvement priorities to the marketing management chain of Coles.
Proposed positioning statement for target customers
Positioning statement is a marketing strategy that addresses marketing components of target audiences, customers, product name competitive and differentiation strategy. As illustrated by Todorova (2015), benefits obtained by the positioning strategy can be properly justified by supply chain elements communications and respective channels to reaching target customers easily.
Positioning statement of Coles
For customers engaged with digital media who can easily avail e-commerce website from Smartphone, tablets and other gadgets the retail processed and unprocessed food products is a digital and social media market category the provides flexibility, high availability effective interaction and online transaction. Unlike service of competitors named Tesco and Sainsbury's, our products can be differentiated through freshness, no artificial ingredients and use of only Aussie raw materials.
Issue 5: Developing marketing techniques
4Ps marketing mix framework is used to provide a detailed outline of market strategies that can be applied for meeting the STP policies mentioned in the previous issue. As narrated by Resnick et al. (2016), elements of this marketing mix are specific to develop consciousness about products specific for target customers from the perspective of price, availability, contact and market place determination.
| Product | The company can bring some variation in packed foods by making green and recyclable packaging for packed foods and pieces of bread. In the words of Shin and Parker (2017), keeping customer nostalgia alive portrays consciousness of the brand towards traditional value besides marginal profitability. Additionally, the old Aussie firm based veg and non-veg food items are retained to add value for loyal customers of Coles. Variation in products helps in expansion of Coles market in the UK |
| Price | Reasonable pricing policy is kept for both new and old products of Coles to make price-sensitive customers satisfied with marketing benefits. “Save every day” policy of Coles can make the brand offer service to both high-end and low-end customers. Affordable pricing of retail goods is expected to make the company create personal customer base even in highly competitive retail market in the UK. |
| Promotion |
Social media promotion can be applied with personal commercial website for better grasp on customer communication and interaction (Cui et al. 2018). Hierarchy of effect theory makes cognitive, affective and conative impression on consumer buying behaviour through awareness, knowledge, linking, preference, conviction and purchase. Figure 6: Elements in hierarchy of effect theory(Source: Cui et al. 2018) Greater customer awareness can be developed in respectively small period of time through the interconnected portals of social and digital media page of Coles. Real-life moments are used in advertisements to increase relevance of customers with products. |
| Place | Coles mainly use their commercial and social media page for sales and e-commerce phase. Online media helps in global market acquisition by easy country-market analysis through contingent character identification (Bahadir et al. 2015). Flagship supermarket stores of Coles will also operate together with the online chain for integrated value chain development. |
Table 2: 4Ps marketing mix for Coles
Conclusion
Coles is one of the largest grocery retailers in Australia providing convenient and customer-friendly services through inorganic and fresh food products even in their processed foods. The company has opened digital marketing portal to easily adapt to the changing trend of the UK market to getting attention and appraisal from target customers. Coles maintained market orientation through customer demand analysis and supply chain fluency development. The company can utilise its strength of loyal customer base to perform technology shift for supply chain automation control system development to maintain fluency of product supply in stores. Customers avail Coles’ outlets for shopping is mixture of loyal and new customers that enhances notion of the brand for competitive value retention even in the target market. Market intelligence is utilised by the company to analyse demand and globalised digital trend of retailing. The strategy of orthodox store-based marketing with digital marketing with this green supply chain can address market sustainability.
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Appendices
Appendix 1: Comparison of retail market share
(Source: http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/7597-coles-and-woolworths-continue-to-gain-share-in-fresh-fruit-and-vegetable-market-201805220618)
Appendix 2: E-commerce performance of different countries
(Source: https://wearesocial.com/au/blog/2018/02/2018-digital-report-australia)
