Consumer Behaviour in Woolworths

This document discusses the importance of consumer behaviour in Woolworths, one of the biggest supermarket chains in Australia. It explores the target market of Woolworths and the issue of competition it faces. It also suggests how understanding consumer behaviour can help solve the competition problem. The study of consumer behaviour helps organizations understand the needs and wants of customers, market their products effectively, and make better business decisions.

Running Head: CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 0
Woolworths
Marketing consumer behaviour

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 1
Contents
Introduction about the chosen company..............................................................................................3
Introduction about the report...............................................................................................................3
Definition of consumer behaviour.........................................................................................................3
Importance of consumer behaviour in organization.............................................................................4
Target market of Woolworths...............................................................................................................5
Issue that Woolworth’s is facing in Australia and how it can be solved through consumer behaviour.6
How the problem of competition can be solved through the understanding of consumer behaviour..6
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................7
References.............................................................................................................................................8

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 2
Introduction about the chosen company
Woolworths is one of the biggest supermarket chains of Australia that is operating
approx. 995 stores in Australia. It works closely with the growers of Australia. It ensures that
best quality product available to the consumers. It approximately sources the 100% of fresh
meat and 96% of the fresh fruits from the Australian growers as well as farmers
(Woolworths, 2018). It is one of the best and innovative retailers by serving customers in an
effective manner. Woolworths believes in serving the customer in their comfort zone so it has
identified the growing demand of consumers in simple way. Therefore, it has started the
online facility for the customers from where they can shop in their comfort zone.
Introduction about the report
It is true that proper understanding of consumer behaviour is essential for the
organization. Those organizations who fail to analyse the needs of customer, cannot work
properly for long time. In today’s time, consumer behaviour is too complex because every
consumer has different mind-set for the product, disposal of product as well as for its
consumption. Therefore, the study of consumer behaviour in an effective way has become
essential for the customers. It helps the managers as well as marketer in various aspects. In
the further section of the report, importance of consumer behaviour in organization has been
described. After this, the target market of Woolworths has been discussed. Every
organization has certain issue in the organization. Therefore, the discussion is further carried
on by explaining how consumer behaviour will help the organization to overcome from the
issue.
Definition of consumer behaviour
Consumer behaviour is referred to the behaviour of buyer’s when they consume, buy,
or dispose any of the product and service. The behaviour of consumer is affected by various
factors. It also involves the searching for product as well as evaluation of product. Consumers
also evaluate the features of product and the consumption of product. Whenever consumer
buys any product, it goes through series of steps. A proper study about the consumer
behaviour helps the organization in understanding how consumer makes decision of buying
and how they look into a product. The uses of these steps help the organizations to know
various reasons behind the purchasing of any product by consumers. It also said to be the

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 3
actions of consumer at the marketplace and the fundamental reasons for those actions. In the
study of consumer behaviour, consumer are said to be actors at the marketplace. In this way,
consumer behaviour is the decision-making processes of people who are purchasing the
services or goods for their personal consumption. Various factors influence on the consumer
behaviour. The first factor is marketing factor that includes price, product design, promotion,
positioning, packaging, as well as distribution. In the personal factors, factors such as gender,
age, income level, and education come (De Mooij, 2010). Physical surrounding completely
making purchase is also one such factor of consumer behaviour. Besides this, psychological
factors also affect the purchasing behaviour of consumers. It includes leaning, motivation,
perception, attitude, as well as belief of person. In order to effectively and efficiently sell the
product and services, organizations are required to know the behaviour of customers what
they want to buy. East, Singh, Wright & Vanhuele (2016) stated that it is a process or activity
in which people engage while searching, purchasing, selecting, or evaluating the product and
services for satisfy their wants and needs.
Importance of consumer behaviour in organization
Consumer behaviour holds a great position for marketer as well as business manager.
The main motive of marketing any product is to please the desires and wants of the
consumers. The proper sympathetic and study regarding consumer behaviour helps in
achieving this purpose. Consumers are the most important for sales person, hence it is
essential for the marketer to know the likes and dislikes of the consumer (Foxall, 2014). By
considering this, they can provide the goods as well as services accordingly. Careful
analysing will help in making exact prediction about the consumer behaviour for any of
product and service. It helps in designing services as well as best product that will purely
satisfy the requirements and demands of consumer. It also helps in deciding the best location
where customers will be easily accessible (Szmigin & Piacentini, 2018). The study of
consumer behaviour also assists in finding the best way of promotion that will attract the
customers in a better way. Besides business managers, it is also significant for the marketer to
study the consumer behaviour. It is essential for the marketer to know its consumer as
individual or group for purchasing, consuming, as well as disposing the product and services.
It helps the marketer to investigate as well as understand the ways in which consumers
behave. By knowing this, they can position its product for the specific people.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 4
In context of the marketer, the assumption is that selling products to more and more
individuals by gaining profit is the basic purpose. The marketer mostly uses this principle in
order to earn more profit. This motive was easy to accomplish in the previous time. However,
in today’s time, most of the customers are aware about the products and its information too
(Creyer, 2017). Therefore, it is not easy for the marketer to attract and further sell the product
to the consumer. As a result, it becomes essential for the marketer to research properly for
selling the product and services by convincing its customers. Proper investigation and study
of the consumer behaviour helps the marketer to recognize as well as forecast the buying
behaviour of customers when they purchase any product. It is important for the marketer
because it helps the marketer to not only understand regarding what purchase rather it helps
in knowing why they purchase product. This study also assists the marketer to know the post
buying behaviour of consumer. Thus, through the study of consumer behaviour marketer
become fully aware about each step of consumer behaviour such as behaviour before
purchasing any product, behaviour during the purchase of product or after purchasing
behaviour. Wilson (2016) also stated that consumer behaviour is significant for the marketer
as it helps in retaining the customers for longer time duration. It customers will be satisfied
for any of the product; customer will buy the product again. Therefore, it requires by the
marketer to market in that way which will convince the customer easily. As retaining the
customer for long time is important but it be achieved by paying proper attention on the
behaviour of consumer while making purchase. In addition, the information’s available on the
websites largely influence the consumers to buy product. All the services and products
marketed goes around the behaviour of customers that how they further respond to them.
Effective marketing of every product by the sales person will assist in delivering the right
product to right people. It holds the most essential potion in the organization as it deals about
the needs of customers.
Target market of Woolworths
Woolworths is a growing retail market in Australia with wide variety of customer
base. The primary target market of Woolworth’s is the household segment of the population.
Through its supermarket, it has mainly targeted the household and working women by selling
home products and groceries. Besides this, it also targeted the other market segment as
secondary. For secondary target, it has started the women wear as well as fashion accessories
on larger set. By doing this, it has the aim of targeting the young people for its brand (Knox,

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 5
2015). By doing, Woolworths holds the larger market share among all the retailing industries
in Australia. By knowing the preferences its consumers, it is able to maintain a great position
in Australia. By targeting its customers, it is engaged in various retailing activities for
providing home products, groceries, day-to-day items of necessity such as fashion accessories
and clothing. In this way, it is proved that it has mainly targeted the household segment for its
wide variety of products.
Issue that Woolworth’s is facing in Australia and how it can be solved
through consumer behaviour
In today’s time, although Woolworth’s is facing but still it has to face several issue in
retailing industry. The major issue is the growing competition in various super marketing
retailers. It is founded from the reports that. Sales of Woolworths declined from A$16,251 to
A$15,927. The slower growth in Australia market is the main issue that Woolworths has to
face (Rice & Martin, 2018).The major competitors of Woolworths in Australia are Aldi,
Wesfarmers. Due to the growing retailing business in Australia, completion has become a
major issue in the Woolworth’s supermarket.
How the problem of competition can be solved through the
understanding of consumer behaviour
It is true that through the understanding of consumer behaviour, firms can properly
fulfil the needs and wants of customers. By researching the behaviour of consumer in the
Australian market, it can add the more products and services accordingly. Through this, it can
also read the customer reviews. By doing this, it can come to know about the problems and
wishes of customer. Surveys are also proving to be helpful for minimising the competition.
The company’s through various survey sites can easily set online surveys. It will also allow
the company to ask the specific questions (Govender, 2017). In order to effectively cope with
the competition, organization is required to know about the likings of customers. It will help
in know the products that customers want to buy. It is true that effective businesses realises
the significance of marketing for getting success in complex business environment. By
understanding the consumer behaviour in proper manner, it can achieve success in the long
run. All these will help in minimising the threat of competition. Consumer behaviour will
also assist the Woolworths in making better market campaign in the organization. By
knowing the needs of the customers properly, it can do the advertisement accordingly. It can

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 6
also add some new products in its product line (Parsons, Maclaran & Chatzidakis, 2017). Few
customers will initially like the new products and then after some time it will get publicity.
This will definitely help it in facing the competition and remain as a market leader always. In
this way, it helps the organization in solving the problems in better way.
Conclusion
In the limelight of above discussion, it can be concluded that Consumer behaviour
holds a strong position in the business environment. Consumer behaviour helps the
organization to understand the needs and demands of customers appropriately. The study of
consumer behaviour assists in determining how an organization should market its product as
well as services. Besides this, it also helps the organization to decide what products to
manufacture. In Australia, Woolworth is targeting the household sector as main base. Due to
presence of various strong players in Australian retail marketing, it is facing the problem of
completion. However, using consumer behaviour in proper manner, it can identify the needs
and wants of customer in effective way.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 7
References
Creyer, E. H. (2017). The influence of firm behavior on purchase intention: do consumers
really care about business ethics?. Journal of consumer Marketing, 14(6), 421-432.
De Mooij, M. (2010). Consumer behavior and culture: Consequences for global marketing
and advertising. Sage.
East, R., Singh, J., Wright, M., & Vanhuele, M. (2016). Consumer behaviour: Applications in
marketing. Sage.
Foxall, G. (2014). Consumer Behaviour (RLE Consumer Behaviour): A Practical Guide.
Routledge.
Govender, S. (2017). How social media can be used to engage and interact with consumers
in the retail industry: an analysis on Woolworths' online strategies (Doctoral
dissertation, The IIE).
Ironmonger, D. S. (2016). New commodities and consumer behaviour. United Kingdom:
Routledge.
Knox, M. (2015). Supermarket monsters: The price of Coles and Woolworths'
dominance (Vol. 6). Black Inc..
Morley, M. (2018). How Consumer Behavior Influences an Organization. Retrieved from:
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/consumer-behavior-influences-organization-
31799.html
Parsons, E., Maclaran, P., & Chatzidakis, A. (2017). Contemporary issues in marketing and
consumer behaviour. United Kingdom: Routledge.
Rice, J., & Martin, N. (2018). Company results: how competition is transforming Australia’s
retail sector. Retrieved from:
Solomon, M. R., Dahl, D. W., White, K., Zaichkowsky, J. L., & Polegato, R.
(2014). Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being (Vol. 10). London: Pearson.
Szmigin, I., & Piacentini, M. (2018). Consumer behaviour. Oxford University Press.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 8
Wilson, H. (2016). Marketing Plans: How to prepare them, how to profit from them.
London: John Wiley & Sons.
Woolworths. (2018). About Woolworths. Retrieved from: