Marketing and Management

This study has provided in-depth analysis about the importance of analyzing market position and market segmentation for expanding entire business process. Country Road is one of the most recognizable middle marketing clothing retailers occupying a predominant place in the realm of Australian supermarket industry. The study has focused to make detailed environmental analysis. Market segmentation strategy along with highlighting the market position has also been analyzed in this study. Based on the customers’ grocery shopping behaviour, Country Road has decided to design its products and services for enhancing the rate of customer loyalty.

Running head: MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
Marketing and Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
1. Introduction:................................................................................................................................2
2. Overall industry market of Country Road and PESTEL analysis:..............................................3
3. Nature of competition within retail industry 500........................................................................6
4. Consumers’ grocery shopping behaviour, identify the major market segments for Country
Road.................................................................................................................................................6
5. By identifying the market position of Country Road discuss decision making process for
impressing primary target customers:..............................................................................................8
6. Conclusion:..................................................................................................................................8
Reference List:...............................................................................................................................10

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MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
1. Introduction:
This study has provided in-depth analysis about the importance of analyzing market
position and market segmentation for expanding entire business process. Country Road is one of
the most recognizable middle marketing clothing retailers occupying a predominant place in the
realm of Australian supermarket industry. Woolworths Holding Limited being the parent
company of Country road has decided to provide quality of products to the customers in
affordable price range. Providing high quality of men and women clothes in affordable price
range is the primary aim of this specific business organization. This organization has launched
ecommerce business process as well based on which the business experts can drag the attention
of customers from various geographical boundaries.
In order to get in-depth overview about the current market trends the study has focused to
make detailed environmental analysis. Market segmentation strategy along with highlighting the
market position has also been analyzed in this study. Based on the customers’ grocery shopping
behaviour, Country Road has decided to design its products and services for enhancing the rate
of customer loyalty.
2. Overall industry market of Country Road and PESTEL analysis:
While evaluating the industry market of Country Road it is observed that the
organization has occupied a recognizable position in the retail market of Australia (Müller &
Hamm, 2014). Before making business strategy and policy the organization needs to make
effective PESTEL analysis in order to evaluate political, economic, socio-cultural, technological,

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environmental and legal factors. While analyzing the PESTEL analysis the study has identifies
opportunities and threats of Country Road:
Opportunities:
 Expanding business in multinational countries for grabbing the attention of international
customers.
 Increasing the number of target customers by enhancing product variety and service facility
Threats:
 Competitors’ business strategy is one of the most remarkable threats for Country Road.
Large number of established retail organizations is there within the market of Australia
which provides variety of products from the stores (Hatheway, Kwan & Zheng, 2017). As a
result, the customers do not have to hop from one shopping mall to another. It is however
identified that Country Road is primarily recognizable for its clothing brands
 Country Road is not very strong and updated in maintaining their promotional methods.
Therefore, the business experts have to face immense threats from the existing competitors
such as The Iconic, Coles, JB-HI-FI and so on.
By considering the threats and opportunities the study has focused to make detailed
environmental analysis which is as follows:
Political As per government rules and regulations, Australia follows a
stable political set up. The business organizations do not have
to go through verbal political chaos (Weinstein & Cahill,
2014). The taxation policies and organizational acts and

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regulations are very much transparent. Business experts do
not have to face challenges in following those taxation
policies.
Economic Economy plays one of the most important role in forming
business strategies and policies. Australia is out an out
economically developed country. While making pricing
strategy of products Country Road does not have to face
challenges as the target customers are from high income
status.
Socio-Cultural Australia is a country which is constituted with the people of
diverse cultural backgrounds and attitudes. In order to impress
the attention of customers from various geographical
backgrounds and attitudes the organization has to maintain
variety of products (Solomon et al., 2014). Country road has
focused to provide their services by maintaining multi-lingual
activities. As a result, people having communication barrier
do not have to face difficulties in dealing with the service
providers.
Technological The inhabitants of Australia are very much advanced in
technology. Due to this technological efficiency customers
can get detailed overview about the products by sitting at their
own place (Ward,. 2014). County Road thus has focused to
launch their ecommerce business methods so that customers

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can receive their services from anywhere.
Environmental Environmental issues like deforestation, irrigation, soil
salinity, soil erosion are major problems based on which
environmental balance is getting hampered day by day.
However, with the initiative of Australian government the
people have to follow several environmental acts and laws
(Wu, Inderbitzin & Benin, 2015). The implementation of The
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act
has rendered a major improvement on the overall environment
of Australia. However, the business organizations like
Country Road have got immense benefits after the
implementation of those acts.
Legal In order to run the entire business process, every organization
has to follow several acts and regulations mandatorily. The
acts include data protection acts, right to information act, anti-
discrimination acts and so on. Every organization while
expanding their business has to provide equal priority and
response to both male and female employee (Proctor, 2014).
Country Road is not exceptional to that. As per the ethical
beliefs of Country Road, the human resource managers have
to maintain confidentiality of data and information after
recruiting an individual employee.
Table 1: PESTEL analysis

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(Source: Müller & Hamm, 2014)
3. Nature of competition within retail industry
3.1 Strengths and weaknesses of the Country Road while operating in the Australian
markets
Strengths of Country
Road
Good relation
with the customers and
a strong customer base
has helped in the
expansion of the
organization while
operating in the diverse
Australian markets
Country road
maintains superior quality
of services in affordable
price range.
Weaknesses of Country
Road
Inefficiency in
the market research has
affected the functioning
of the business while
operating in the
Australian markets.
The high rental
rates that are faced by the
organization has limited
the expansion of the
organization in the
diverse market situation
of the organization
Strengths of Coles
A varied range
of products that are
offered by the
organization has helped
in the retention of the
customers
Innovation and
the application of
technology in the
processes have helped the
organization in
maintaining a steady
productivity index.
Weakness of Coles
Lower
availability of the
skilled workforce
has affected the
functioning of the
organization
while operating in
the diverse
Australian
markets.
It has
affected the
productivity of the
Innovation in the
communication
technologies of the
organization has
helped the same in
maintaining the

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MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
smooth
performance of the
processes while
operating in the
diverse Australian
market structures.
businesses and
thereby affected
the performance of
the organization.
The lesser channels
of distribution has
affected the supply
chain that is
followed by the
organization.
3.2 Porter’s five force (an industry analysis for evaluating the market threats of
competitors)
Threat of new entrants (High)  Low switching costs
 Government regulations and policies
 High costs of penetration in the markets

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Rivalry amongst competitors (High)  The high cost of switching has affected
in maintaining the different changes in
the systems of the business while
operating in the international markets.
The most prominent competitors
giving a constant market threats include
Coles, JB-HI-FI, The Iconic
 The innovation that is made by the
competing organizations has affected
the performance of the business while
operating in the international markets.
The advancement in technology and its
impact on the productivity of the
organization have restricted the growth
of the organization in the Australian
market.
Substitute products (High)  Different substitutes are available in the
Australian markets, which has affected
the course of action of the retail
organization. The high range of
substitutes in the market has affected
the functioning of the organization
while operating in the Australian

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MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
markets. It has posed a threat on the
productivity of the business.
Bargaining power of consumers (High)  The high bargaining power of the
consumers is due to the existence of the
different alternatives and substitute
products, which has affected the
functioning of the business relating to
the maintenance of a strong customer
base.
Bargaining power of suppliers (Low)  There are different sources through
which the organization derives the
commodities, which has helped in
lowering the bargaining power of the
suppliers. It has helped in maintaining
the different levels of change in the
systems of the business while operating
in the international markets.
Table: Porters’ Five Forces for analyzing competitive position, opportunities and threats
(Source: Dolnicar & Leisch, 2014)

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4. Consumers’ grocery shopping behaviour, identify the major market segments for
Country Road
In quest of identifying the customers’ grocery shopping behaviour the organization like
Country Road has made effective market segmentation for understanding the group of target
audience (Dolnicar & Leisch, 2014). The business experts of Country Road have made
effective STP (segmentation, target, positioning) analysis.
 Segmentation:
As per the market segmentation strategy and policy the business experts of Country Road
have decided to segregate the entire market as per geographic, demographic and psychographic
ways (Sell, Mezei & Walden, 2014). Most of the popular geographic locations of Australia such
as Sydney, Melbourne, Bisbane, Perth are targeted for delivering the products and services of
Country Road. As per demographic market segmentation those customers are given preferences
that are from average income status (Rid, Ezeuduji & Pröbstl-Haider, 2014). As a result, both the
premium customers as well as average cost customers are equally eligible for using the services.
The products that are designed within Country Road are for men women and children.
Therefore from 10 to 40 age group of people can use the services of this organization. As per
psychographic market segmentation the organization has targeted the customers from various
cultural backgrounds and ethical values (Campbell, Ferraro & Sands, 2014). The products are
delivered to the customers is not made for drawing the attention of specific group of people.
 Target:
After analyzing the overall target market segmentation it can be summarized that
Country Road has selected the people from different cultural and psychological backgrounds and

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MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
attitudes. Men, women and children are equally important for the service providers of this
organization (Hellwig et al., 2015). In addition, in quest of drawing the attention of average cost
customers the organization has selected the price range of products in such a way that people
having moderate income status can easily purchase its products and services. In addition, the
service providers of Country Road intend to show equal approach to the people of various
cultural backgrounds and attitudes (Alt & Iversen, 2017). As a result, language barrier or
religious barrier cannot be a major obstacle for receiving the services from Country Road.
 Positioning:
Positing is one of the most effective marketing strategies with the help of which the brand
and services can be introduced to the doorsteps of target customers (Venter, Wright & Dibb,
2015). In order to position the brand in market Country Road has used both offline promotional
method and online promotional method. The marketing executives have used electronic media
for multiplying the messages beyond going the regional boundaries (Dey, Lahiri & Zhang,
2014). At the same time, social media has also used as one of the most significant platforms for
drawing the attention of customers from multinational countries. However, social media platform
is vast in sphere based on which customers belonging to other geographic locations can get
detailed overview about the products and service facilities of Country Road. On the other hand,
the inhabitants of Australia are very much advanced in technology (Casabayó, Agell & Sánchez-
Hernández, 2015). Therefore, before purchasing the products and services customers especially
of young generation intend to get detailed overview about its ingredients as well as market
review from the internet.

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MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
5. By identifying the market position of Country Road discuss decision making process for
impressing primary target customers:
In order to identify the market quality the business experts have to focus on two major
components that is quality and price of the products (Venter, Wright & Dibb, 2015). Quality is
divided into two major factors including high quality and low quality of products. On the other
hand, pricing strategy is divided into two ways that include high pricing strategy and low pricing
strategy.
After making effective competitive analysis as well as stakeholder analysis it is observed
that Country Road’s market position is stabled with the segments between high quality and low
price.
High quality
Low price
High price
CR Coles

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Low quality
After illustrating the market positing map of Country Road it can be analysed that
the organization is successfully able to provide superior quality of products in affordable price
range. As a result, the low cost customers can easily purchase the products that helps in
reflecting business profitability.
The market position of the organization leaves a major impact on the overall
decision making process of the company. It has been observed that customers from average
income status are showing their interest in purchasing the products of Country Road. Therefore,
the business experts have decided to render multilingual flexibility within the service providers.
As a result, people having language barrier are successfully able to communicate with the service
providers (Fabijan, Olsson and Bosch, 2015). The customer service executives of Country Road
are flexible in dealing with the people of various religious backgrounds and attitudes. Both male
and female customers are given equal priority and response. Based on the market positioning
strategy the business experts have got the opportunity to render an improvement within their
entire business process (Harding et al., 2015). Due to extreme low cost of product price the
organization is facing challenges to grab the attention of premium customers. In this kind of
situation, the organization has decided to change their business strategy. They have focused on
investing more money for maintaining effective promotional activities. As a result, customers of
various geographic locations can show their attention for purchasing products and services from
Country Road.

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MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
6. Conclusion:
The study has focused to make effective market segmentation strategy of a retail chain
belonging to the soil of Australia. Country Road is one of the most recognizable middle
marketing clothing retailers occupying a predominant place in the realm of Australian
supermarket industry. Market segmentation strategy along with highlighting the market position
has also been analyzed in this study. Before making business strategy and policy the organization
needs to make effective PESTEL analysis in order to evaluate political, economic, socio-cultural,
technological, environmental and legal factors. Competitors’ business strategy is one of the most
remarkable threats for Country Road. Large number of established retail organizations is there
within the market of Australia which provides variety of products from the stores. Therefore, the
business experts have to face immense threats from the existing competitors such as The Iconic,
Coles, JB-HI-FI and so on.
The study has also analyzed that in order to impress the attention of customers from
various geographical backgrounds and attitudes the organization has to maintain variety of
products. Country road has focused to provide their services by maintaining multi-lingual
activities. Thus, with the initiative of Australian government the people have to follow several
environmental acts and laws. As per the ethical beliefs of Country Road, the human resource
managers have to maintain confidentiality of data and information after recruiting an individual
employee. In quest of identifying the customers’ grocery shopping behaviour the organization
like Country Road has made effective market segmentation for understanding the group of target
audience. Therefore, men, women and children are equally important for the service providers of
this organization. In addition, in quest of drawing the attention of average cost customers the
organization has selected the price range of products in such a way that people having moderate

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MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
income status can easily purchase its products and services. In order to position the brand in
market Country Road has used both offline promotional method and online promotional method.

16
MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
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Ward, A. (2014). Segmenting the senior tourism market in Ireland based on travel
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