ASDA SWOT Analysis and Key Service Marketing Challenges

This article discusses the SWOT analysis of ASDA, one of the top 10 supermarkets in the UK. It also highlights the key service marketing challenges faced by the company and provides recommendations to overcome them. The article covers topics such as internal and external factors affecting the company, theoretical principles of services marketing, and strategic planning. The article is relevant for students studying marketing, business, and retail management.

PRINCIPLES OF
MARKETING

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Swot analysis of ASDA...............................................................................................................3
Key service marketing challenges...............................................................................................5
RECOMMENDATIONS.................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is defined as set of activities and strategies that has been conducted by the
effective team of advertising department in a company, for purpose of obtaining desire
outcomes. The current assignment will be based on ASDA, which falls under the category of top
10 supermarkets in the UK. While running the business in retail industry, organization focus on
customer satisfaction effectively. It provides people online and offline services in appropriate
manner. It positions its products and services in the market in term of offering better quality and
quantity. The study will explain strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing by the
supermarket. It will also specific organizational key service marketing challenges for the next 3
years. Furthermore, the report will also justify analysis of threats via lens of theoretical principles
of services advertising. Lastly, it will clarify strategic recommendations to overcome challenges
within constraints of strengths & opportunities.
MAIN BODY
Swot analysis of ASDA
Internal factors External factors
Positive factors Strengths
 Skilled workforce
 Quality products
 Strategic alliances
 Brand image
 Brand establishment
Opportunities
 Technology
advancement
 Customer trends
 Brand expansion
Negative factors Weaknesses
 Lack of brand promotion
 Limited global presence
 Lack of training
 Poor financial position
 Over dependency
Threats
 New product
development
 Pandemic
 Changes related to
regulatory frameworks
 Changing needs of
customers
 Economic cycle

 Intense competition
Summary
Strengths
ASDA is best at quality products and customer services, which is may provide to target
market, on the basis of their needs and expectations, which is one of its strength. As an
intellectual property, ASDA utilized its brand logo, which enable it to generate excellent brand
awareness in the market (Benzaghta and et.al., 2021). Along with above two strengths, firm may
have more strengths and that is skilled workforce. It may utilize its talented employees to achieve
strategic aims, as they all have set of skills that is relevant to make organization successful. It
may have good financial resources such as banks, investors, etc. which supermarket is able to
utilize in appropriate manner for purpose of gaining competitive advantages in bulk, which is
quite essential for it to do so.
Weaknesses-
The weakness of ASDA is considered as its internal factor that may put negative impact
on its venture growth in the retail industry. Lack of brand advertising, is the best example of a
weakness that chosen supermarket may have, which may put adverse impact on its success and
customer base (Voukkali and Zorpas, 2022). Along with these, firm may also have some
weaknesses, such as limited global existence, poor training plans, ineffective financial position
as compare to rivals and high dependency on business partners or stakeholders. All these
weaknesses may lead to decrease the performance and productivity level of venture, which is not
suitable for its rapid growth in the industry. It may lead to increase more challenges for company
which is important for its management to overcome in term of strategic planning and tactics
implementation. Due to this particular term, ASDA may unable to act competitively as its
management is unable to train employees, eliminate over dependency on some stakeholders that
is not good for supermarket individual success.
Opportunities-
Technology advancement, current market or consumer trends, and other opportunities are
considered as external factors that may affect the way ASDA and its management may take
decision. For example, advancement of advanced technologies enable company to take pleasure
of increasing its profitability and productivity level. Furthermore, in the recent time, trends that
individual person prefer to follow, also provide supermarket opportunity to gain competitive

benefit in bulk. As it may take action to consider each trend and then conduct business
operational practices accordingly. New market might be open up new business growth chance to
ASDA, which is may grab in form of establishing its online presence, which allow employees to
provide online services to customers.
Threats-
New product development, COVID-19, changes related to regulatory frameworks, &
needs of customers and economic cycle and intense competition, are posing threat upon ASDA
and its business growth. As each threat may put adverse impact on company and drive the
attention of organization toward conducting strategic practices. It may lead to increase work
pressure on management which is not appropriate for further planning and success factors. It has
been summarized that all these external factors make, company performance ineffective, and
unable administration to move further in term of strategic plan and tactic formulation that is
important for them to do so, without making any mistake. Appropriate planning is the only
source that may help to deal with all the threats.
Key service marketing challenges
Reason behind ASDA internal weaknesses-
The main reason behind all the weaknesses of chosen company is lack of strategic
planning, which may put negative impact on its venture growth in the competitive business
environment. Without developing and having a better plan, it may unable to obtain any
competitive benefit that affect its performance in positive manner. Lack of planning is the
biggest challenge that organization may face in term of service marketing issue that affect
negatively upon brand image and reputation (Chamberlain and et.al., 2021). Without having this
factor and using the same, it may lose the opportunity to grow rapidly and in competitive
manner. It may lead to decrease the effectiveness of supermarket such as customer satisfaction
enhancement, which decrease the profit and sale that is not suitable for its rapid success in the
market.
External threat and its impact on supermarket-
COVID- 19 is the biggest external threat that put direct impact on ASDA in negative
manner in term of decreasing its effectiveness even worst in the context of marketing. As
organization is unable to create the best content, because of lock-down situation when only few
employees' permission had been granted by the governmental bodies, that increase work pressure

on overall management (Meyer Prescott and Sheng, 2022). Just because of this threat or external
factor, company is unable to serve its online marketing services to customers especially new in
appropriate manner, as it may do not have people who came to workplace and then conduct each
practice in appropriate manner. In the recent time, due to some unethical practices related to
marketing term, governmental bodies in the UK and other nations where ASDA exist might be
changed. Also, due to this reason or factor firm may face challenge to continue its marketing
plan and strategies. It may deal with issue to make possible modification in effective manner,
which is not possible for it do to so in short time period. It can be said that any new regulation or
rule related to business may put a lot of pressure on a company, whether it is small or large, as it
may affect adversely upon management functions. For purpose of overcoming challenges,
company and its management is accountable to take those actions that help to increase
profitability and improve performance level.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Theoretical principles of services marketing may drive the attention of company and its
management toward analysing threats that specify the extent to which each threat may put direct
impact of ASDA. Intangibility, inseparability, variability and perishability, are the four types of
key principles, that is important for supermarket to consider. New product development,
changing needs of target audience, etc. are those threats that directly put negative impact on
company growth at high level, just because of this reason organization is accountable to consider
strategic suggestions that enable it to overcome key challenges (Đalić and et.al., 2021). Each
recommendation below stated by referring to TOWS matrix that enable administration to better
comprehend strategic selections that firm may use to mitigate each factor.
External opportunities
 Technology advancement
 Brand expansion
 Customer trends
External threats
 Pandemic
 Intense competition
 Regulatory frame work
changes
Internal strengths
 Skilled
workforce
SO
Organization may utilize skilled
employees to grab a opportunity such as
ST
By building strong relation
with profitable stakeholders,

 Quality
products
 Strategic
alliances
customer trends identification. ASDA can utilize its strength
as strategic alliance that aid to
overcome threat such as
pandemic and new regulatory
change related to marketing
concept in the retail industry.
Internal weaknesses
 Lack of brand
promotion
 Limited
global
presence
 Lack of
training
WO
ASDA and its marketing team may
develop or design the best campaign by
grabbing opportunity such as
technology advancement that aid to
minimize weakness such as lack of
brand promotion.
WT
The best strategy that firm may
utilize to minimize the
weakness and avoid threat is
technologies, skilled candidate
and strategic alliance. The
utilization of each strength and
opportunity enable
supermarket to avoid major
threats as well as minimize
weaknesses effectively.
Organization can make the most of its strengths, circumvent weaknesses, capitalize
opportunities and minimize the adverse impact of each threat by managing them. It may do each
and every thing, in form of developing strategies and plans that it may implement smartly and
systematically. It can take initiative to build strong workforce, among which each candidate is
able to conduct effective practice that lead to increase organizational performance and
productivity level, even better than its competitors that exist in the retail industry. By using their
skilled employees, manager and leaders in the ASDA can develop better plan that they used to
beat rival and achieve strategic objectives. By conducting this practice firm can gain a lot of
benefits more than other companies that are existing in the market.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Benzaghta, M. A and et.al., 2021. SWOT analysis applications: An integrative literature
review. Journal of Global Business Insights. 6(1). pp.55-73.
Chamberlain, M and et.al., 2021. Head and neck radiotherapy on the MR linac: a multicenter
planning challenge amongst MRIdian platform users. Strahlentherapie und Onkologie.
197(12). pp.1093-1103.
Đalić, I and et.al., 2021. A novel integrated MCDM-SWOT-TOWS model for the strategic
decision analysis in transportation company. Facta Universitatis, Series: Mechanical
Engineering. 19(3). pp.401-422.
Meyer, B. H., Prescott, B. and Sheng, X. S., 2022. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on
business expectations. International Journal of Forecasting. 38(2). pp.529-544.
Voukkali, I. and Zorpas, A. A., 2022. Evaluation of urban metabolism assessment methods
through SWOT analysis and analytical hierocracy process. Science of The Total
Environment. 807. p.150700.

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