TYhe Increased Competition And Lower Sales

Running head: MARKETING
Marketing
Name of student
Name of University
Author note

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Executive summary
With the increased competition and lower sales, Obelisk has been hired by Overwaitea Food
Group to implement strategies for drawing in the millennial and Generation Z consumers for
higher sales and revenue generation within the supermarket industry of Canada.
The report presented an analysis of the supermarket trends and how the company managed to
put marketing efforts so as to create positive mind sets among hem and influence their buying
behaviours. The recommendations that were made for the company to become successful in
the market through attraction of potential clients and create a sustainable position had been
provided below.
Recommendation 1: Implementation of social media marketing as the best practice
recommendations to reach out to the younger audiences
Recommendation 2: Arrangement and supporting the training and developmental
sessions for the employees to keep them acknowledged about the target market
Recommendation 3: Extension of product portfolio range through addition of foods and
bakery section to the grocery stores managed by OFG

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Table of Contents
Executive summary..................................................................................................................1
Introduction..............................................................................................................................3
Purpose and significance.....................................................................................................3
Scope and limitation.............................................................................................................4
Source and methods.............................................................................................................4
Analysis.....................................................................................................................................5
Presents supermarket trends..............................................................................................5
Importance of attracting millennial and Gen Z................................................................6
Overwaitea Food Group’s focus on the goals....................................................................8
Recommendations....................................................................................................................9
Conclusion...............................................................................................................................18
References...............................................................................................................................19

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Introduction
The report presents us about an idea about how Obelisk Consulting Group can support
Overwaitea Food Group to put together an effective strategy for the purpose of increasing
sales and with the objective of reaching out to wider group of audiences through attraction of
millennial generation and Generation Z customers. There have been few issues such as rise of
competition in the marketplace and lack of proper marketing techniques to draw in the
potential clients, which may also affect the revenue generation capability of OFG
(Owfg.com, 2020). Thus, the possible recommendations shall be made for OFG to sell the
products to the different market segments while at the same time, encourage them to purchase
products and services consistently, which can allow them to become loyal towards the brand,
furthermore, ensure development of new products to the grocery stress for sustaining within
the supermarket industry of Canada effectively (Spears et al., 2015).
Purpose and significance
Considering the subject of the assignment, it is found that the Obelisk Consulting
Group ha, a major Canadian consulting based company in Vancouver, Canada has been
assigned with the responsibility of managing strategies to increase sales and attract customers
for Overwaitea Food Group. Being specialised in the areas of product development and
marketing, the company has to make sure that OFG is supported properly and proper
implementation of strategies is done not only for the purpose of increasing the sales, but also
to reach the millennial generation and Generation Z, thereby, provide proper
recommendations to ensure that the implementation process is successful and noteworthy
(Williams, 2015). The report will present about some feasible recommendations that have to
be made by Obelisk Consulting Group so as to drive the sales through acqusitions of more
customers, i.e., the millennial and generation Z and even drive corporate behaviours among

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the employees of the organisation to fulfil the needs of clients responsibly and effectively
(Owfg.com, 2020).
Scope and limitation
The report is presented to analyse the ways by which Overwaitea Food Group can be
supported by Obelisk Consulting Group to implement the right strategies and ensure proper
marketing efforts and techniques for greater acqusitions of customers from all over Canada.
Not only this, but also the recommendations must be checked and analysed for feasibility
before providing to OFG to ensure that the company acquires success and also can manage to
draw in enough customers to generate higher sales and revenue in business consistently
(Duffett, 2017).
Few of the limitations that may be experienced include the accessibility to relevant
data and information. The secondary sources might not be authentic and reliable, which
might even hinder the successful accomplishment of the research. Thus, in order to make sure
that the limitations are overcome easily, focus has been put on the use of reliable and
authentic secondary sources only in order to find out the most relevant data and information,
furthermore, maintaining the authenticity and validity of the research conducted for the
assignment too (Dunkley, 2017).
Source and methods
Most of the sources that are to be used here have been the secondary sources of data,
which include documents, journals, articles on newspapers, magazines and also academic
journals, reports and books. Few of the internet websites containing data and information
about the same have been used here to gain relevance to the report and ensure assessment of
various findings, which could help in providing feasible recommendations in the future for
Overwaitea Food Group to sustain in the competitive business environment, thereby, attract

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Generation Z customers and Millennial to achieve higher sales and profit level (Gutfreund,
2016).
Analysis
The analysis section covers the research on multiple aspects such as focusing on the
supermarket trends, allow for understanding the marketing concepts and techniques required
to attract more customers while even emphasizing on the product development techniques in
order to create a loyal customer base. The research will also cover the various initiatives and
approaches to be provided in the recommendations for Overwaitea Food Group by Obelisk
Consulting Group for influencing the buying behaviours of Millennial group and the
Generation Z customers to encourage purchases while even try to bring in more products as
part of the marketing technique too (Lanier, 2017). This would help the people to
differentiate between the products of OFG with the products made available by its
competitors, thereby, make them remain inclined towards the brand much more
comprehensive (Owfg.com, 2020).
Presents supermarket trends
The advancement of technology and ecommerce has created a huge impact of the
supermarket sector in Canada and a huge numbers of trends have emerged since then. Not
only there are multiple changes that have been experienced within the industry, but also the
integration of scan and go technology along with operating membership only warehouse
clubs to sell products with minimum mark up and online selling at Amazon. Costco
Wholesale Corporation have transformed the entire way of selling products (Fromm & Read,
2018). The latest of innovation has been the self-checkout stations, which has been a major
trend where the customers could buy the product and rather being waiting at the queues, they
could use the self-checkout to create bill and make payments quite easily. The introduction of
portable scanner has helped in scanning the barcodes for the products purchased by the

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customer, which represented the success of the scan and go technology for the supermarket
chains quiet conveniently too (Fromm & Garton, 2013). Due to this, there has been huge
competition in the marketplace, which also made Overwaitea Food Group suffer from this as
Amazon has acquired Whole Foods market and the T & T supermarket, which helped in
delivering convenient services to the customers by allowing them to make purchases of
products and services online and get those delivered at their home within quick time
(Loveland, 2017). The Costco Wholesale Corporation also made sure to operate multiple
membership only warehouse clubs, which helped in selling the products and services with
minimal mark up, thus more customers have gained positive mind set about the brand and
became loyal customers too, which also took a significant amount of profit and share from
the supermarket industry. Considering the recent trends within the supermarket industry, the
companies have evolved themselves with the introduction of new products and services
constantly, which has allowed them to differentiate them from its competitors and remain
aligned with the changing needs and preferences of the customers much more effectively
(Adriana-Camelia, 2014).
Importance of attracting millennial and Gen Z
With the new product development, the small, medium sized and large grocery stores
have aimed at implementing best practices so that the new products remain appealing and
attractive for the younger audiences. The focus on attracting the millennial generation and
Generation Z customers could also be beneficial for representing the efficiency of the
marketing approach or technique, furthermore, ensure inclination towards the brand and
become loyal customer too (Naumovska, 2017). For that, something new and unique must be
delivered to them and it could be possible through extension of the product portfolio, which
could also cope up with the changing needs and requirements of the clients largely. The
millennial consumers or Generation Y and Generation Z are mostly the adult teenagers and

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young individuals such as the people aged between 25 years to 39 years and 4 to 24 years
respectively (Priporas, Stylos & Fotiadis, 2017). As the generation Z consists of the
customers who are the youngest individuals, they are considered to be the most tech savvy
and also habituated with the use of internet and social media. They might not be purely
digitally literate, but mostly they like using the technologies for fun and enjoyment mostly.
These population cohorts are considered as the young adults who are connected to
technology and internet and thus the company should plan to set the marketing efforts in such
a manner that they are easily attracted. Though the spending habits and motivations differ for
these millennial groups and Generation Z, the marketers of Overwaitea must understand that
while the millennial might be associated with the innovation to begin, the Generation Z has
been associated with the innovation and have immersed in it from day one only. Considering
the fact that Generation Z is more likely to make purchases of products and services online,
the company should aim at making the products and services available online as well as

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offline (Puiu, 2016). The management of marketing though inclusion of social media
platforms should also help to grab their attention, as from recent researchers it has been found
that 70 percent Generation Z individuals have been associated with the use of smart phones
and more than 50 percent people have used that for social media surfing. It would become
easier for the company draw in enough clients and make them influenced through consistent
updates provided to them regarding the products and services developed and also respond to
their product related queries immediately in the form of posts, comments and feedbacks for
improving customers’ services delivery too (Owfg.com, 2020).
Thus, from the consumer opinion poll and other evidences, it is clear that millennial
group and generation Z consumers stay significant amount of time on social networks and
thus, the company Overwaitea Food Group should integrate the social media platforms with
the marketing tactics so as to reach out to them quite easily and at a faster rate, thereby,
influence their buying behaviours largely, make them acknowledged and informed about the
new products developed, furthermore, create a loyal customer base to generate higher sales
and revenue as a whole (Berkup, 2014).

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Overwaitea Food Group’s focus on the goals
Being the senior most partners of Obelisk Consulting Group, we have been handed
over the responsibility of Overwaitea Food Group or OFG to implement strategies for
increasing the sales and reach out to the millennial generation groups and Generation Z
groups. The goals and objectives that the company has aimed to achieve include targeting the
audiences present in the millennial generation and the Generation Z. Because of the
tremendous competition within the concerned industry, the company’s focus on the goals of
achieving thee market segments comprising of the customers could be the source of good
revenue generation and for attaining competitive advantage in business as well. The goal
would be to find out the most feasible ways and marketing tactics that would be responsible
for encouraging the millennial and Gen Z customers to make purchase from the grocery
stores of OFG consistently and the targeted market segment is of the Pacific Northwest. The
products should be develop as new, which should be appealing for the younger demographics
while to make additional input on the product development, the company should aim at the
inclusion of prepared foods section, bakery and increase the product portfolio for the grocery
stores (GROAPĂ & CĂESCU, 2014). Thus, the marketing techniques and product
development approach should be considered as objectives and feasible methods and
techniques should be recommended as such to make OFG sustain within the competitive
supermarket industry of Canada.
Recommendations
Recommendation 1: Implementation of social media marketing as the best practice
recommendations to reach out to the younger audiences
To ensure that the attraction of millennial generation and Generation Z consumers are
attracted towards the company and its products and services all over. It is recommended for
Overwaitea Food Group to implement the social media marketing plan and strategy so as to

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create a sense of attention among these targeted audiences, thereby, encourage them to make
purchases from the company consistently (Edwards, 2017). By following the social media
marketing plan, it would be much easier and convenient for OFG to ensure that the right
audiences are targeted and also influence their behaviours largely based on the time they
remain online n the social networking websites. The millennial and generation Z customers
account for more than 60 percent of the customers and thus they have been considered as a
powerful consumer forces within the marketplace at present. It has also been found that the
Generation Z has been interested in the personalised products and also they have been willing
to pay some premium amount of price for the products and services that could highlight their
individuality and behaviours (Tuten & Solomon, 2017). Considering the fact that they have
been protective about their identities and look for privacy options, the marketers of OFG
must be cautious about maintaining contact with the Generation Zers on the basis of own
terms and conditions that might not be too much invasive or creepy. They also value the
online community and the people they have met on the social networking websites, which
make them quite connected and mobilised around various cases and areas of interests (Felix,
Rauschnabel & Hinsch, 2017).

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The millennial, especially, those who are elder and the Generation Z consumers have
watched product reviews and feedbacks and also followed the influencers on social media,
which made them inclined to certain products and services (Owfg.com, 2020).
They access their mobile phones, laptops and desktops to use the social networks and
easily involve in chat sessions, watch videos and make comments during the stages of
shopping journey, which make them buy products and services online often. Thus, it is
recommended for OFG to make sure that the right social media platforms are used such as
Facebook, Instagram or Twitter to market its products and easily grab the attention of
consumers (Ashley & Tuten, 2015). Keeping the social media marketing implementation plan
concise would be effective ad also the more specific the strategy is, the more effective the
execution would be for gaining success through creation of a loyal customer base
(Owfg.com, 2020).

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The implementation plan for social media marketing to millennial and Generation Z is as
follows:
1. Setting the social media marketing goals that align with the business objectives
(SMART goals)
Specific- To easily grab the attention of consumers and influence their buying behaviours
Measurable- To increase sales by 40 percent within the next year for OFG
Attainable- To measure the content driven strategy enabled through inclusion of social
networks used for marketing
Relevant- To increase the followers on social networks by almost 1000
Time-bound- To increase followers and achieve higher numbers of millennial and Gen Zers
by 20 percent within the year 2021
2. Tracking the metrics
The company should maintain website on social media platforms such as Facebook,
Twitter Instagram, and check for the followers, posts shared, comments, likes, etc. to ensure

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how much audiences have been engaged to the website. The website clicks and email signups
along with social media sentiments and testimonials are considered vital metrics that are
necessary to assess the performance of the social media marketing plan (Constantinides,
2014).
3. Understanding the target audiences through creation of audience personas
To create audience personas, the Facebook could be a great network for reaching out
to the millennial and Generation Zers for OFG and with the use of social media analytics, it
would be much easier and convenient for understand how the audiences interact with the
brand on the social networks. The Generation Z have been digital savvy, who grew up with
mobile phones and internet usage unlike the millennial, which present a major consumer
segment and demographics targeted by the company (Zhu & Chen, 2015).
4. Generate real world data and information
Real world data and information must be drawn through Google Survey so as to
expand knowledge on the customers and about their needs while making purchases. By
acquiring relevant data and information, the company could easily target those segments and
ensure delivering them with information up to date, thus make them acknowledged with the
brand and its products more often (Chang et al., 2015).
5. Carry out a competitive analysis
Conducting a competitive analysis would be essential and this would allow OFG to
understand which of the competitors has been dominant on the social networks. OFG found
that Amazon and Costco have been quite active on the social networks and thus focus should
be on how to win the audiences from a dominant brand towards OFG.
6. Optimisation managed through creation of social media content

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Development of content, both pictorial and video content has been recommended as
well to expand the knowledge and information about the products for the customers, The
millennial and Gen Zers are active on social networks, which could make them easily access
the brand products once the content seem appealing to them thus, their buying behaviours
would be influenced too.
Strengths and challenges
Strengths of the possible recommendation about social media marketing are that it
could enable OFG to gain good outreach to different market segments quite easily and
influence their behaviours to make purchases online (Vinerean et al., 2013). The challenges
might be associated with the lack of ability to target the Generation X customers, who might
not be habituated with the use of internet and social networks much.
Cost benefit analysis
The total costs for the recommendation would be around $4000 every month, with
sponsored posts ranging around $1000, maintenance of website for around $2000 and the
remaining costs should be incurred for conducting social media marketing audit and
competitive analysis too. The other associated costs include design software testing, blog
management, online forums, social media advertisings, etc. The budget is justified, because
with the analysis of costs, it could be understood that with the increase of followers on the
websites, the company would automatically be able to generate higher revenue with constant
sales and acquisition of millennial and generation Z customers in large numbers too
(Balakrishnan, Dahnil & Yi, 2014).
Potential risks
Risks could be the dominant forces in the market in terms of social media presence
such as Amazon’s presence and bran visibility and Costco. Lack of organizational policies

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and knowledge among employees to use social media market tactics and ignorance of legal
complaints in the social media platforms could be other risks too.
Recommendation 2: Arrangement and supporting the training and developmental
sessions for the employees to keep them acknowledged about the target market
It is recommended to invest in the training and developmental sessions so as to make
the employees skilled and knowledgeable about the millennial and Generation Z to whom the
products and services would be marketed to. The various methods and techniques of the
training and developmental plan for the employees have been presented below (Nda & Fard,
2013).
Step 1: Consideration of business goals and objectives
The objectives for the employee development plan have been set, which include
keeping them informed about the ways of developing new products and seven understand
who actually the customers are, i.e., the millennial and Generation Z consumers. By aligning
the set of objectives with the employee development plan, it would be easier for OFG to
acquire desired skills and knowledge, thereby, fulfil their roles and responsibilities properly
too (Jehanzeb & Bashir, 2013). The managers or leaders of OFG must bridge the gap
between current employee skills and the skills to be developed by creating a career path and
demonstrating about the promotional opportunities that should be provided to them with the
new marketing efforts put by OFG to attract the millennial and Gen Z consumers.
Step 2: Communicating with the employees
Though few of the employees of OFG might know the development goals, still it is
the responsibility of the manager of OFG to communicate with them, let them know about the
organisational policies and principles, thereby, make them understand the significance of
working together as a team to foster higher engagement of customers.

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Step 3: Identifying their strengths and potential and implementation of training sessions
and skills enhancement programs
The readiness is based on the skills, experiences and knowledge of the individuals and
thus identifying their strengths as well as their weaknesses, could allow the company to
deliver necessary training sessions (Rodriguez & Walters, 2017). The skills enhancement
programs could also strengthen the skills and competency of the employees and make them
knowledgeable about the target market as well as about delivering better customers’ services
by responding to customers’ queries on social networks, thus, raise the satisfaction level
among them too.
Cost benefit analysis
The average costs for management of training and development would be around
$1000 with wages provided to the trainer, training and development equipment and other
associated costs too. In spite of the costs associated with it, with the management of this
training session, the employee would acquire the desired skills and knowledge about
extensive background of the millennial generation or Gen Z (Elnaga & Imran, 2013).
Potential risks
Lack of alignment with the organisational policies and principles and high amounts of
costs incurred while arranging training sessions could be major risks. Another major risk
could be related to the poor ability to identify the weaknesses of the employees due to poor
monitoring.
Recommendation 3: Extension of product portfolio range through addition of foods and
bakery section to the grocery stores managed by OFG

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It is recommended to extend the product portfolio by adding some food and bakery
based items to the grocery stores managed by OFG, which could easily grab the attention of
the younger demographic segments and met their needs. The introduction of some new range
of products should further boost the company’s ability to make sure that more customers are
influenced to make purchases from the company (Dunkley, 2017). It has been found that with
the changing behaviours of customers and most importantly, the generation Z and millennial
consumers have mostly followed the recent trends, which could easily make them enticed
towards the brand with the inclusion of food items to be introduced at the grocery stores of
OFG. The company should also integrate the food supply chain all across its stores,
especially, for the Save-On-Foods, Urban Fare, PriceSmart foods, which could enable
Overwaitea Food Group to acquire other market segments and remain focused on attracting
the younger buyers too (Fromm & Read, 2018).
Cost benefit analysis
The costs that might be incurred while adding the food options to the grocery stores
would be around $300. These costs might be excess to the company considering its extension
in brand portfolio, but this would be effective for OFG to add some extra value and create
unique selling proposition as part of the marketing tactics (Owfg.com, 2020).
Potential risks
The risks could be the lack of feasibility to understand whether the addition of new
foods items could be effective or not for drawing the attention of consumers. Moreover, as
most of the people targeted here, i.e., the millennial and Gen Z consumers prefer to buy
online, the availability of food items at the grocery stores might not be good enough for
influencing their buying behaviours (Adriana-Camelia, 2014).

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Conclusion
The report was prepared to discuss about how the company named Overwaitea Food
Group focused on the management of marketing efforts to draw in millennial and Generation
Z consumers, thereby, influenced their buying behaviours too. The company was
recommended to facilitate the social media marketing and also arranged training and
developmental sessions along with the addition of food and bakery options, which should
help in attracting the younger generation consumers and influence their buying habits largely
too for better sales and revenue generation.

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