Supermarket Crisis Management Strategies

This assignment examines crisis management strategies employed by major Australian supermarket chains, specifically Woolworths and Coles. It delves into real-world examples of crises faced by these companies and analyzes the public relations tactics they used to address them. The goal is to identify effective strategies, assess their impact, and draw conclusions about best practices for crisis communication in the retail industry.

Running head: PR STRATEGY AND CRISIS COMMUNICATION PLAN
PR STRATEGY AND CRISIS COMMUNICATION PLAN
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1PR STRATEGY AND CRISIS COMMUNICATION PLAN
Executive Summary
Public relations is the foremost thing that gives a direct reflection of the company operations
to the world. The customers and the media make their judgements and buying decisions
based on how they perceive an organization, and this perception is based on how well can the
PR of an organization perform. The PR helps a company to gain industry reputation.
Similarly, poor performance of the PR team can prove to be devastating for an organization.
The mass opinions are not to be trifled with, under any circumstance if an organization hopes
to attain greatness in any industry. The needs of the customers are the first things that decide
the operations of any organization and along with this, the other moral, environmental and
ethical grounds all have to be kept in mind while making decisions on behalf of the company.
The PR has to take care of many things, and has to be ready for any unforeseen challenges
that may arise. They have to face the situation with complete authority and make sure any
situation can be turned in favor of the organization, otherwise the purpose of the PR would be
nullified. The following report would take the case of Woolworths Limited, Australia and
take a deeper look into the organizational functions and the PR functions. It would then go on
to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the PR as well as look into how they handle
crisis situations. That would be followed by recommendations on how to enhance the
efficiency of PR even more, so that company reputation is solidified.

2PR STRATEGY AND CRISIS COMMUNICATION PLAN
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
The company..............................................................................................................................4
Current PR condition..................................................................................................................5
Strategies....................................................................................................................................7
Ability to handle crisis...............................................................................................................8
Recommendations to face such situations in the future.............................................................9
Conclusion................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................11

3PR STRATEGY AND CRISIS COMMUNICATION PLAN
Introduction
Public Relations (PR) is the department that helps organisations or companies to
interact with the greater masses and the media. The PR department of any organization that
enables companies to create and maintain a cordial relation with the customers and uphold a
positive image and reputation in the industry. More often than not, the PR is the driving force
for companies to retain a steady and loyal customer base. In a world where market
competition is already fierce and is growing even more powerful every day, the companies
need to set strategies that would help them to set themselves apart from the rest of the
organisations and make the customers notice them even more (Grunig 2013). The PR can
ensure that the companies can gather such a reputation in the industry that the customers will
be willing to opt for their services willingly, by themselves. PR represents the services,
products and operations of the entire organization to the public and media in the best way
possible. A strong relationship with the consumers increase sales, which, in turn, boosts profit
levels as well.
Woolworths Limited is one of the biggest retail supermarket chain in Australia. It
operates throughout Australia and New Zealand and is the largest liquor retailer in Australia.
The company also is the largest hotel company in the country. The company operates out of
New South Wales. For a long time, the PR department of the company has been aiding the
image of the company to illuminate in the industry and maintain a great customer relation.
The PR of Woolworths enthusiastically back up on the company slogan “The Fresh Food
people” and does everything it can to make sure that the organizational operations are in
cohesion with the ideals of the company (Smith 2013).
The following g report would be looking into the PR of Woolworths in depth and
would critically analyse if it is well equipped enough to handle if there are any sudden

4PR STRATEGY AND CRISIS COMMUNICATION PLAN
condition of crisis. The report would also then try to recommend and suggest methods and
strategies which could help the company to have a PR that is even more effective and more
focused upon the customer satisfaction level as well as a department that can take swift and
prompt actions whenever there are any allegations against the services or products that are
sold by the company.
The company
Woolworths is a conglomerate of companies that have a number of businesses ranging
through a variety of industries. Supermarket chain is the primary business of the company,
with different names in Australia and New Zealand. Liquor retail is one of the biggest
function of Woolworths and the company is the biggest retailer in the country. Hotels and
pubs are also run by the company and the company performs in a prolific manner even in this
sector. The Australian Leisure and Hospitality umbrella has a lot of hotels and resorts as well
as pubs under its name and this wing of Woolworths has some of the most notable names in
the industry under it (Hill & Day 2015).
The company started in 1924, in Sydney, Australia. The company was founded by
five people – Percy Christmas, Stanley Chatterton, Cecil Scott, Waine, George Creed and
Ernest Williams. The investment was provided by the chairman of Gowings, Preston
Lanchester Gowing. The founders initially planned to name the company in a way that would
use the already famous Woolworth chain which operated in the United States and the United
Kingdom. Later, when finding out that the name Woolworths was available for registration in
New south wales, the company was officially named Woolworths Limited. Even though the
name of the company was similar to the supermarket chain of the United States or the
Woolworths Group of the United Kingdom as well as the Woolworths Group of South
Africa, the functions and operations were quite distinct that set the company apart from its
peers (Mialon et al. 2016). The operations of Woolworths Limited were made to be

5PR STRATEGY AND CRISIS COMMUNICATION PLAN
innovative and a lot of planning and time was invested to make sure that the company would
be creative in its operations. It was the first supermarket in the world that gave printed receipt
to its customers. The company expanded to New Zealand in 1929, even though the first food
store was not opened up till 1956, in Auckland. Woolworths began its supermarket operations
in New Zealand from 1971.
The company grew rapidly. Despite the devastating effects of the Great Depression,
Woolworths managed to keep on expanding even while all the economies of the world were
experiencing unimaginable financial slump and by the 1920s, the company had 23 stores.
Woolworths successfully opened stores in every metropolitan in Australia and despite the
threat of the global economic meltdown, the company bought eight stores from Edments Ltd
in 1936 (Grimmer 2017). During the Great War, the expansion and sales of the company was
hindered, but as soon as it was over, rapid expansions were planned and the ideas were put
into effect immediately. In 1955, Woolworths opened their 200th store. Up until this point, the
company was mainly a variety chain. In 1955, the company opened its first food store and
stepped into the food sector. Gradually, from there, the company began encompassing an
array of industries and sectors and became the giant that it is today.
Current PR condition
Woolworths Limited, Australia has always been credited with good customer services
and great quality of the products that are sold. Since the advent of the modern shopping ideas
and gradual increase in the importance of public relations, Woolworths have been quick to
understand the importance and have kept on adapting according to the customers’ needs. The
company understands that in order to stay ahead of the edge, the operations have to be fully
focused on customer satisfaction (Black 2013). The company has a functionality that revolves
around, and keeps, the customers first. This customer oriented service makes sure
Woolworths stays on top and one of the best in world in terms of customer satisfaction.

6PR STRATEGY AND CRISIS COMMUNICATION PLAN
There have been times when the operations of the company have been criticized and
potential media catastrophes were faced, but the PR of Woolworths made sure that none of
these could bring the company name down.
The PR of the company has a number of strategies that all are focused upon upholding
the company name in the industry and maintain a strong bond with its customers. The PR is
highly active on social media that enabled the customers to directly express their opinions
and complaints against the services or the products of the company online and this helps
Woolworths to take prompt actions and resolve any issue that may arise (Bailey & Bailey
2016). The PR has set five priorities that would ensure the customer first policy of the
company:
 To build and maintain a customer oriented culture within the company and a team that
would be solely focused on the stores
 Having a momentum in the Foods department that would be sustainable
 Expanding the drinks business, so that the customers’ needs can be catered to more
efficiently
 Giving high priority to the stakeholders and enhancing the portfolio business, and
 Using end-to-end process and boosting systems to become a lean retailer
The PR believes that everything is achievable is an organization has a retail team that always
adheres to the customers. The suppliers are also to be given importance as they make sure the
operations of the organisation runs smoothly without any glitch. The Support Office team
gets daily feedbacks from the customers, which helps Woolworths to improve upon their
customer services on a daily basis. The PR department prompts Woolworths to take some
very few strategies that would ensure greater customer satisfaction and keep the company

7PR STRATEGY AND CRISIS COMMUNICATION PLAN
reputation positive in the industry (Phillipov 2016). Reducing costs can be achieved by
improving processing and operations and using optimal efficiency.
The PR has three key ways to adapt to the changing requirements of the industry:
 By placing the customers at the center of the operations
 Listening to the needs of the customers carefully, and
 Through creating ways and innovating ideas that would keep the customers interested
in shopping with Woolworths.
Woolworths understands that technology is the future of shopping and everything that is
to come from hereon, will be pivoted around it (Gill 2014). Mobile phones have changed the
very essence of shopping: customers can not only shop from their phones any time they want
to, but also from anywhere in the world. This means that the online operations of the
company has to be on alert always. Developing websites, apps and virtual stores that would
complement the physical stores are only few of the ways that would help to maintain a
customer base.
Strategies
The PR has announced strategies that are to be achieved by 2020. These twenty
strategies are all based on the People, Planet and Prosperity framework that was introduced
by Woolworths in 2015 (O'Byrne & Daymon 2014). The strategies have been dubbed
Corporate Strategies, even though Woolworths assures that these strategies go beyond just
being corporate and would tread on the domain of public relations and would even further
strengthen the bonds with the customers. All the stakeholders have been considered while
making these strategies.
People – The company aims to have a work force that would consist more women in
executive positions. Woolworths also intends to get rid of wage gap among the male and

8PR STRATEGY AND CRISIS COMMUNICATION PLAN
female employees at all levels of the organization. Indigenous people are to be made a part of
the work force of the company (Lewis & Huber 2015).
Planet – Reducing food waste rapidly and decisively. The PR has also announced that
Woolworths will bring down the carbon emission 10 percent below the 2015 level by 2020 in
order to contribute to the fight against global warming.
Prosperity – PR believes that suppliers are to be given high priority and aims to place the
company in the top quartile of the surveys that are conducted by the suppliers (Grimmer
2017). Public relations of Woolworths firmly believe in the idea of growing together with the
community. This led the company to promise to invest some portion of its earnings to
community partnerships.
Ability to handle crisis
Despite having numerous PR strategies as well as focusing entire operation centering
around the customers and suppliers, Woolworths still faces adverse conditions from time to
time.
There have been times when the social media came to explosion points when
customers put up posts and pictures regarding the products that are sold by Woolworths. The
PR was quick to respond and handled the situation, which could have brought media disaster,
with perfect strategies that reversed the whole condition in Woolworth’s favor. The PR is
very much aware that there are some customers who would always try to extort the services
of the company and try to exploit the company’s reputation (Stanton 2016). The PR always
keeps a look out on social media to handle any situation like this that may occur.
The biggest blow to the operations of Woolworths in recent times came when the
company decided to downsize on their employee strength following a slump in the sales. The
expressed their grievances saying that they were not notified by the company directly, rather

9PR STRATEGY AND CRISIS COMMUNICATION PLAN
they got to know about the news from TV (Bajracharya & Hastings 2015). When
Woolworths decided on cutting down jobs, the PR had to convey the message to the
employees. Instead the PR failed to live up to the expectations and responsibilities, which
caused massive and extended allegations of treating the employees in a poor manner, despite
claiming to give them priority in the operations of the organization (Akbar & Ahsan 2014).
With this decision of the management, the PR was bestowed with a number of
responsibilities: the media was to be briefed so that they know what is going on or the reason
behind the decision, help the employees so that they can withstand the blow in an easier way.
The media controls the mass opinion, so if the media wishes to, or is misinformed, the whole
public opinion regarding the company reputation would suffer, causing sales and profit to
plummet (Stacks 2016). Coming up with such a strategy that would keep a balance among
every stakeholder of the organization is a complex and brainstorming task, and,
unfortunately, the PR did not quite match up to the expectations. In situations like these, the
PR should talk to the employees first and explain the whole scenario to them. They have the
right to hear about this directly from the PR and not from any external source. The
communication of each department has to be in perfect synchronisation, so that no
information is left out and every bit of it is freely flowed throughout the entire organization.
It is vital to explain the conditions to the employees so that no misplaced expectations are
held and subsequent disappointments occur (Feigin 2016).
The media and journalists are also to be notified of the situation and so that no false
information is put forward to the public. It also makes sure that information is not
misinterpreted. The PR has to be careful in order to sound right when making a public
statement regarding a vital and controversial issue. At times like these, the PR is often the
only hope for companies to shed a speck of light on an otherwise bleak situation (Guth &
Marsh 2016). Woolworths stumbled over in almost all of these aspects: the employees were

10PR STRATEGY AND CRISIS COMMUNICATION PLAN
not notified directly, the media was not handled in a clear and explanatory fashion. Even the
inter-departmental communications were not coordinated properly (Jones 2014). This caused
massive confusion, that led Woolworths to suffer massive deterioration in its industry
reputation and customer satisfaction levels were also affected.
Recommendations to face such situations in the future
As the public relations manager of Woolworths, some recommendations can be
suggested to the management of the company, so that similar conditions in the future can be
tackled properly. The competition from other companies in the sector are continuously
surmounting and Woolworths has to adopt every strategy that will ensure their place at the
top of the industry. The first thing that Woolworths needs to do is to ensure the departments
are all properly coordinated and information is shared with everyone. The employees have to
be given idea about any and every decision that the management considers to take that will in
any way affect the employees. The best way to do this to include the employees in the
decision making process. This way, the employees would feel more important and more
valued to the organization, which will prompt them to work better themselves. If the
employees are taken care of by the company, they will take care of the customers. This will
leave the management to focus their energy and time on other crucial aspects of the
organizational operations, like expansion and increasing sales margin. The PR has to be close
contact with the media so that every step of the company can be given a positive light and the
mass opinion on the reputation of Woolworths is not tampered with.
Conclusion
It is quite evident from the above discussion, that Woolworths is having trouble
dealing with the pressure that they are facing in recent times. The ever growing competition,
the constantly changing customer needs are all proving themselves to be a heavy burden for

11PR STRATEGY AND CRISIS COMMUNICATION PLAN
the company to bear with. The company has been seen to take some wrong steps that have
affected the reputation in a very negative way recently, but yet, the company is trying its best
to turn the whole situation in their favor by using efficient media management and
triumphantly advertising the positive things of the company strategies. The positive side of
the operations have harnessed the backing up from the suppliers of the company, which has
helped Woolworths to thwart some of the competition. If the recommendations are properly
executed and taken care of, the organization can surely regain its lost position in the industry.

12PR STRATEGY AND CRISIS COMMUNICATION PLAN
References
Akbar, S., & Ahsan, K. (2014). Analysis of corporate social disclosure practices of Australian
retail firms. International Journal of Managerial and Financial Accounting, 6(4),
375-396.
Bailey, M., & Bailey, M. (2016). Marketing to the Big Middle: establishing Australian
discount department stores. Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, 8(3), 416-
433.
Bajracharya, B., & Hastings, P. (2015). Public-private partnership in emergency and disaster
management: Examples from the Queensland floods 2010-2011. Australian Journal
of Emergency Management, 30(4), 30.
Black, S. (2013). Practice of public relations. Routledge.
Feigin, L. M. (2016). The effects of protests and boycotts on a brand and its reputation: a
case study on Woolworths and boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) (Doctoral
dissertation, The IIE).
Gill, M. (Ed.). (2014). The handbook of security. Palgrave Macmillan.
Grimmer, E. L. (2017). Checkout Crisis Management.
Grimmer, L. (2017). Is it so hard to say sorry? Revisiting image restoration theory in the
context of Australian supermarkets. Asia Pacific Public Relations Journal, 18, 17-32.
Grunig, J. E. (Ed.). (2013). Excellence in public relations and communication management.
Routledge.
Guth, D. W., & Marsh, C. (2016). Public relations: A values-driven approach. Pearson.
Hill, A., & Day, P. (2015). National food incident response. Food Australia, 67(1), 28.

13PR STRATEGY AND CRISIS COMMUNICATION PLAN
Jones, G. V. (2014). WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014. How the Australian table grape
industry looks to the rest of the world, 106.
Lewis, T., & Huber, A. (2015). A revolution in an eggcup? Supermarket wars, celebrity chefs
and ethical consumption. Food, Culture & Society, 18(2), 289-307.
Mialon, M., Swinburn, B., Allender, S., & Sacks, G. (2016). Systematic examination of
publicly-available information reveals the diverse and extensive corporate political
activity of the food industry in Australia. BMC public health, 16(1), 283.
O'Byrne, S., & Daymon, C. (2014). Irresponsible engagement and the citizen
investor. Journal of Public Relations Research, 26(5), 455-473.
Phillipov, M. (2016). ‘Helping Australia Grow’: supermarkets, television cooking shows, and
the strategic manufacture of consumer trust. Agriculture and human values, 33(3),
587-596.
Smith, R. D. (2013). Strategic planning for public relations. Routledge.
Stacks, D. W. (2016). Primer of public relations research. Guilford Publications.
Stanton, R. (2016). Corporate Strategic Communication: A General Social and Economic
Theory. Palgrave Macmillan.