Strategic Management of Coles Supermarkets in Australian Retail Industry

Running head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
1.Executive Summary
The report is built on the study of an Australian retail company named Coles. The
organization has been operating in the industry under Wesfarmers Ltd. till the year 2018. The
marketing strategies that have been implemented by the organization in retail industry and the
development of proper marketing mix by implementing the strategies is a major part of the
analysis. The report has been able to offer a detailed analysis that is based on proper
implementation of different strategies of Coles. Recommendations have been provided in the
report based on the ways by which the revenues of the organization can be increased in the
Australian retail industry. The different issues that have been faced by Coles in the retail
industry have been analysed in order to provide the effective recommendations in order to
improve its position as compared to its arch rival Woolworths. The recommendations are
mainly related to improvement of relationships with the suppliers and the employees who are
a part of the Australian retail organization. On the other hand, the development of new
products under its own brands is a major recommendation which has been offered to the
organization.

2STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
2. Background information of the chosen company......................................................3
3. Identification and evaluation the suitability of the current strategy of the company.3
4. Evaluation of the implementation of the strategy......................................................5
5. Identification of key issues and provide recommendations.......................................8
6. Conclusion................................................................................................................10
References....................................................................................................................11

3STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
2. Background information of the chosen company
Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty. Ltd. trades as Coles in the retail supermarket based
chain of Australia. The headquarter of Coles is located in Melbourne and the organization is
an important part of Coles Group. The organization was established in the year 1914 and it
currently operates more than 800 stores all over the country. The employee base of the
organization is based on more than 100,000 members. The organization along with its rival
Woolworths is able to acquire greater than 80% of the entire Australian retail market
(Coles.com.au., 2019).
Coles had been operating as a brand of Coles Myer Limited between the years 1986 to
2006. The organization was further acquired by Wesfarmers in the year 2007. Coles had
thereby developed its position as a subsidiary of the Coles Group after the spin-off of the
business operations of Wesfarmers in the year 2018. Coles has developed its position in the
Australian retail industry in comparison to its major competitor named Woolworths
(Coles.com.au., 2019).
The report will be based on the analysis of the strategies that have been implemented
by Coles in order to operate profitably in the Australian retail industry. The issues that have
been faced by the organization based on proper implementation of different strategies will be
analysed in the report in detail. The report will provide a detailed analysis of the methods that
are used by Coles in order to implement different strategies in the operations.
Recommendations will also be provided to the organization based on proper implementation
of different strategies in various organizational processes.
3. Identification and evaluation the suitability of the current strategy of the company
Coles Supermarkets had been owned by Wesfarmers Ltd. up to the year 2018. The
objectives based on the operations of Coles Supermarkets was mainly related to the
satisfaction levels of the customers and plans that are related to the growth of the
organization as well. The corporate objectives that have been developed by the organization
and effective marketing strategies are a major part of the operations of Coles (Aaby, Slater &
Belonax, 2015). Coles has started its operations in the retail industry of Australia based on
the goal of giving the people of Australia a shop that they are able to trust and the levels of
values, services and quality that are provided to them (Coles.com.au., 2019). The following
corporate objectives have been set by the organization,