Report on Coles: Strategies for Consolidating Customer Base

This report analyzes Coles, an Australian supermarket, and its strategies for consolidating its customer base. It covers Coles' vision, products, customer segmentation, promotional strategies, and more.

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REPORT ON COLES
Introduction
Coles is an Australian supermarket which runs operates on a basis of retails and customer
service. It was founded in 1914 in Melbourne by George Coles. Coles operates more than 800
supermarkets with an employability capacity of over 110,000 personnel. Thus 80% of
Australian supermarkets are dominated by Coles. They serve different market segments in
Australia in terms of demographics and psychographics by meeting the customer needs. Through
the use of interviews with the employees and customers, the many referrals that Coles adopts in
its operations are key for the consolidated customer base.
Body
Coles struggles in always offering qualitative value to the customers by price reduction in
the weekly shopping basket and enhancing the betterment of quality work by striving towards
fresher produce and easier deliverance hence betterment of the experience of shopping by
customers each and every moment in the supermarkets. The vision of Coles is to be a little better
every day in its operations. The head office of Coles is in The Hawthorn East, Melbourne in
Australia with its stores distributed all over Australia. Coles has specialized in it production and
approximately 80% of its products are sourced in Australia. It specializes in products such as
fresh fruits and vegetables, liquor products, bakery, Dairy products, gift cards and special diets
such as gluten-free diets.
The customers who frequent Coles are the middle-class earners in Australia. Coles
identifies AND understands their customers in terms of demographics whereby they are aware of
the status of the customers and their attitude towards each and every goods or service released
onto the market.
Coles understands their customer needs by sharing their customers’ data to third parties
overseas. This is done through the fly buys which is a customer loyalty program by Coles where
customers gain points in purchasing of merchandise and other valuables. However, these points
are redeemable for rewards, coupons and other household merchandise. The data extracted from
the fly buys enables the company to identify the customer habits and the products needed in the
market.

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Promotional strategies are key in enabling the company to utilize and maximize the
employee skills and all the parties in the development of creative approaches to the sales and
customer service. This strategy is vital in the persuading, informing and convincing a customer
to purchase the particular products. Thus useful in stabilizing sales and increasing demand.
Promotional strategies by Coles is the product mix which entails Coles selling a wide range of
products in the market and their communication process is enhanced by the involvement of
consumer participation.
Coles updates their promotional strategies through the use of responsive websites.
Customers no longer ask for recommendations from friends about a company or product but
consult google for information. A responsive website will be of use. The adoption of online
advertising and integrating online and offline marketing is key in the updating of promotional
strategies rather than print advertising. This is key as Coles made a decline of 13.5% in its annual
profit to 1.61$ billion with the liquor and food sales volume slowing to 1% hence the need for
more update on the promotional strategy.
Each market segment is provided with the products which suit the segment specifically.
In the psychographic segment, the attitude and personal health are considered hence the health
products by Coles such as liver cleansing wheat free muesli and the gluten muesli. In terms of
demographics, the products suit the occupation and financial status of Australian residents. These
products meet consumer needs as they are qualitative and cheap hence meeting their
expectations.
Despite the fact that the products might be released into the market, they may now meet
the customer needs in all sects such as the quantitate measures. Coles only specializes in
qualitative measures. Since the products are sold through the online platform of Coles, there may
be difficulty in persuading the customer to purchase. This is because the websites by Coles do
not provide a full insight into the product information and the website response might be slow.
The alternative product for the liver cleansing wheat free muesli is the liver tone shots,
glutamine pure and natural sweet products. These products are advantageous in that they provide
quick detoxification, liver repair and digestive relief. However the alternative products also have
disadvantages such as their prices being too high, resulting in frequent headaches, they are slow
in their reaction and make one lose their weight.

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Alternatives in the product range that I would offer to the customer are gluten-free
muesli, gluten free salt with caramel 6 bars. I would prioritize consumer needs to be the quality
and the price margin of the product.
Customers have the right to return the faulty goods and get the money back. This is
according to the Consumer Rights Act. This occurs when a customer purchases a product which
is insatiable or faulty, it’s required for the customer to write a letter to the retail asking for a
refund or replacement and repair of the product. Statutory rights give the customer the privilege
of early rejection of a faulty good and ask for a refund instead.
Customer referrals are one of the significant marketing tools in the market. As an
employee of Coles, I would ensure that the referrals are relevant and match the customer needs. I
would advance the referrals from word of mouth to both online and offline whereas encouraging
and rewarding the customers and advance a variety of contacts so as to recommend the products.
I would adopt the use of the internet to offer the outlet of customers to share their ideas and
opinions on their needs on products through the supermarket's website or social media such as
Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
Catalyst events are key to increasing the referrals and gaining a customer base. The two
events are internal are external. The internal event is top referral generators while the external
event is the Strategic Alliance Events. These events are important as they strengthen the word of
mouth marketing efforts and facilitate a reputation for the supermarket for being the place where
every individual refers their loved ones thus increasing the social capital.
Coles maintains customer records and interaction history by embracing technology,
modifying the record keeping and allocating appropriate resources for record keeping. Coles
achieves this by an effective delegation of duties and putting the customer priorities first.
I will forward the report to the board of directors of the supermarket. This is because the board of
directors are responsible for the development of the mission set by Coles and the organization’s
strategic plan and priorities. The feedback on the report is given by the managers of the
supermarket.
Conclusion
The hypothesis of this report is fully supported by the findings. Coles is a big supermarket that
has retail outlets all over Australia and is able to meet all the market segments i.e., in terms of
demographics and psychographics. The management of Coles is focused on the increase of

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referrals by the attendance of catalyst events such as internal events i.e., top referral generators
while the external event is the Strategic Alliance Events. This is key is consolidating the
customer base.
Appendices
Coles plays a vital role in the sustainability of the economy of Australia. They spend
approximately8.7$ billion on wages and salaries. Coles accounts for over 80% of the Australian
economy as it employs approximately 100,000 personnel thus Coles serves many regions in
Australia. Cole’s strategy of predicting customer needs by fly buys enables it to meet the wants
of the customers at any given time
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