Asda Retail Sales: Structures, Trends, and Strategies

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SALES MANAGEMENT
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Table of Contents
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................3
Reference list.................................................................................................................................10
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Task 1
An introduction to the organisation as well as trends in the sales figures
Asda is awell-known retail organization founded in year 1949 is running successfully all over the
world. The company is having headquartered in UK and about 165000 staffs are working in
about 633 locations.The company is found to offer large number of retail products such as
general merchandise and grocery itemsalong with financial services to large number of customer
base. The sales and revenue of the company in year 2016 is 791.7 million pounds (asda.com,
2019). Based on the gathered information, it is found that Asda Group is operating as largest
food retailers in UK as well as other countries.The present market share of the company is found
to be 17.4%in the field of UK supermarket that indicates the company is able to have efficient
rise in the sales figure.This study will discuss about the B2B sales management process of Asda
in context of managing the range of retail products.
Trends in sales growth of Asda
Figure 1: Asda sales growth
(Source: Asda.com, 2019)
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The above statistics indicates the change in percentage of sales at the stores of Asda from
September 2014 to March 2019. It shows that the sales at the organization has increased by 0.1%
in 2019 from year 2014. This sales growth has made the organization second largest retail stores
in the entire UK region.
Definition(s) of sales management contextualised to the product range
Sales management is the techniques ofbusiness discipline that is focused on the practical
applications of the sales management. This is termed as essential business function that helps in
analysing the sales operation of the firm. This helps in analysing the profit levels of the business
from the calculations of the total sales of products and services.
Scope of sales management
As mentioned by Kaipiaet al.(2017), sales management is the termed used for developing the
sales force for coordinating with the sales operations and setting sales techniques for allowing
business to hit the sales target. In context of the retail products, it has been examined that Asda is
focused on estimating the sales forecast by managing the order with innovative sales techniques.
For example, sales team of Asda has developed disparate system like order management,
Kiosks and customer contact centre for empowering the sales process of the stores.Sales
management is found to have three different aspects that are mentioned below:
Sales operations: Sales team is found to be the backbone of the firm. In Asda, it has been
observed that sales team is continuously engaged in monitoring the sales results in order to
analyse the functioning of the marketing effectively (Bernonet al., 2016). Sales managers of
Asda discusses with the entire sales team about the sales strategies of the retail products to the
customers. However, the Chief Executive of Asda, Roger Burnley has conveyed that year 2018
was quite challenging in case of providing trust among the consumers about its products. With
the help of strong demands of products in the market, the marketers are able to develop the
product strategies.
Sales strategy:Every business is having a sales cycle that contains a series of tasks that aids the
products of the company to reach to their users. Hence, it can be said that having an effective
sales pipeline, the sales management of the company becomes easy. Apart from this, it has been
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found that if the salesperson is able to see the progress in business, they would get more
motivation for undertaking more challenges in business.
Sales analysis:This is done for allowing the company for analysing the current efforts that
affects the success of the company. In Asda, sales analysis is done using sales metrics that helps
in getting clear review of each aspects of sales operations. Different metrics are available such as
sales velocity and technology like CRM tool for streamlining the sales management process of
business (Hutchinsonet al., 2015).
Explanation of the key principles of sales management, focusing on planning, selling, and
reporting
Key principles of sales management are mentioned below:
Effective planning and selling: This is the foremost principle of sales management that enable
the organisation in selling the products in a systematic manner. scope and clarity is required in
sales management for overseeing planning and execution of the targets of the firm. In Asda, the
sales management principle is handled by the sales team effectively. The CEO of the company,
McMillon conveyed that effective planning in sales has helped the company to gain 2.6% sales
rise and this has helped in improving the in-store experience and strengthened the offerings of
online grocery and private brand (Hammett, 2018).
Management of sales reporting:Being a sales manager, it is important to understand the sales
reporting system that is done using sales metrics for achieving the targets systematically. Sales
reporting is done in Asda by analysing the number of deals present in the funnel, sales velocity,
average size of the deal and percentage of the deals.
Manage of objective information:Information are managed by the sales manager for winning
the heart of the customers (Martinoet al., 2017). The main target of Asda is to increase the sales
rate also by maintaining the loyalty and trust of customers towards the products. Hence, it is
important for the sales team to manage every information about the retail products such as
quality, significance, users and other small details properly.
Based on the sales management of the products, the buying behaviour of business and consumers
varies. For example, if the sales rate of a retail food product like pasta or noodles is high, this
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indicates that customer buying behaviour is positive towards the product. However, if the sales
rate is down, the behaviour is just opposite. On the other hand, in Asda, when the sales rate got
down by 10% in year 2017, it has been found that business buying behaviour is poor and the
salesperson has failed in analysing the needs and wants of the business, hence, has ultimately
reduced the profit of the company.
Define and explainsales structures relevant to the product range
Sales structure is the selling process of the company that involves sales compensation, account,
territory design and leading assignments (de Leeuwet al., 2016). In context of the retail products,
it has been found that sales structure is based on the capturing of maximum profit margin and
revenue. Sales structure for the selling of retail products for Asda are mentioned below:
Figure 2: Sales organizational structure of Asda
(Source: Asda.com, 2019)
In context of selling retail products, it has been found that the organization is giving most
priority to the sales representatives, sales management team, promotion executives and logistic
staffs. Asda is quite attentive in managing the sales structure of the business. For example, in
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Asda, sales manager provides training to the entire sales team including the mentioned persons
for managing the product sales effectively. In the sales structure of Asda, sales representatives
are having major role for analysing the needs of the customers. Hence, in case of selling retail
items, SRs can reach to conduct survey among the targeted customers for analysing their interest
levels towards the product. Sales lead team is responsible for developing the leads, collecting
names and phone numbers of the customers. This helps the promotion executives to develop new
sales promotions of the products (Shamout, 2016). In case of new food retail product such as low
calorie noodles, the sales lead team would collect the names of targeted customers for this
specific product and develop sales promotions accordingly for increasing sales rate.
Using examples from your own organisation, as well as competitor organisations, to assess
the benefits of sales structures and how they are organised
Benefits of sales structures are mentioned below:
 In Asda, it has been found that organization is following product sales force structure
where sales team conduct the sales force as per the industry or customer lines. Sales
representative are responsible for developing product expertise and management of
organisation provides guidance to the effort of sales. On the contrary, in competitor firm
likeTesco, it is found that they follow functional structure where responsibilities of sales
process are divided among every sales member such as product specialists, account
managers and others.
 The sales structure used by Asda helps the company in differentiating the position of the
competing lines that helps in developing easy coordination with the product groups.
Moreover, it helps the company in adapting various decision making criteria for the retail
products such as supply chain and capital equipment (Bastos, 2018). On the other hand,
sales structure used by Tesco, helps in accelerating the ability of sales force and
demonstrate importance of the product among the customers. Hence, it can be said that
both sales structures are equally important for increasing sales figure of firm.
 Sales structure of Asda enable to enhance the focus, commitment and attention of the
sales people towards the selling process of product. Hence, product sales structure can
help the company to develop the sales of the new retail product, that is low calorie
noodles in an increment manner. On the contrary, in case of Tesco, using functional sales
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structure, the company is able to interact with every sales member equally that is helping
the department to manage sales of new product as well as existing product properly.
Describe the concept of ‘selling through others’ and explain the importance and
advantages of using this sales technique. Use relevant examples to enhance your answer
Selling through othersis the concept that is used for selling products using a different medium.
These are the sales channels that the company uses for setting products using retailers,
distributers and wholesalers (Kinget al., 2019). For this purpose, the company needs to develop
effective promotions and advertising strategies to gain the attention of the sales channels. In
Asda, it has been found that selling through different sales channels are done for gaining the
following advantages:
Easy accessibility:Asda is found to sell goods through different distributers and wholesaler. For
example, distributor intermediaries help the retailers of Asda to promote the products in order to
gain the attraction of the customers. This indicates that the company is able to access their
customers easily. The main advantage is they provide logistic support to the firm by having an
effective distribution of the products.
Save costs and time:This particular sales channel helps in the management of costs and time for
marketing the products. For example, distributers of Asda takes care of the storage and supplies
of the product which helps in managing the transactional functions and provide helps to cover
the entire market effectively.
Effective selling process:In selling products such as raw food items, the company is found to
provide product training to the retailers along with promotional materials and sales incentive
programs for encouraging them (Balogunet al., 2015). Hence, it can be said that involving the
retailers in the selling process helps Asda in controlling the range of customers effectively.
Sound marketing:Marketing budget is boost by developing joint campaigns with the retailer
channels. For example, marketing campaigns such as “Christmas made better” and “James
Martin BBQ” are conducted by the distributive channels of Asda that has helped to get effective
range of customers in the sales process (campaignlive.co.uk, 2019).
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Conclusions and recommendations
The following recommendations are useful for Asda to enhance the sales process for the
development of new retail product in the market:
 Proper recruitment techniques should be developed an effective sales team and organise
the sales force and structures accordingly.
 Appropriate training session should be arranged for managing and leading the sales
forces of Asda’s sales team properly
 New technologies should be used such as mobile devices, social networking sites to
improving the sales performance of the company
From the entire study, it has been found thatAsda is able to manage the sales process of all its
stores in a proper manner. However, there has been a decrease in the sales rate in last year that
signifies that company should strengthen their sales process by following the mentioned
recommendations lucratively. This would help in rising the sales of the company for the new
developed retail product significantly among the retail market of UK and other countries as well.
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Reference list
Asda.com (2019). About us. Available at: https://www.asda.com/help/company-details[Accessed
on: 16.06.19]
Balogun, J., Best, K. and Lê, J., 2015. Selling the object of strategy: How frontline workers
realize strategy through their daily work. Organization Studies, 36(10), pp.1285-1313.
Bastos, C.S.S., 2018. Process modeling for sales management: critical analysis and
improvement through information management technologies (Doctoral dissertation).
Bernon, M., Cullen, J. and Gorst, J., 2016. Online retail returns management: Integration within
an omni-channel distribution context. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics
Management, 46(6/7), pp.584-605.
campaignlive.co.uk (2019). Asda advertising, marketing campaigns and videos.Available at:
https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/the-work/advertiser/asda/6963[Accessed on: 16.06.19]
de Leeuw, S., Minguela-Rata, B., Sabet, E., Boter, J. and Sigurðardóttir, R., 2016. Trade-offs in
managing commercial consumer returns for online apparel retail. International journal of
operations & production management, 36(6), pp.710-731.
Hammett, E., (2018). Asda puts focus on improving brand trust after sales rise.Available at:
https://www.marketingweek.com/2018/02/20/asda-sales-brand-trust/ [Accessed on: 16.06.19]
Hutchinson, K., Donnell, L.V., Gilmore, A. and Reid, A., 2015. Loyalty card adoption in SME
retailers: the impact upon marketing management. European Journal of Marketing, 49(3/4),
pp.467-490.
Kaipia, R., Holmström, J., Småros, J. and Rajala, R., 2017. Information sharing for sales and
operations planning: Contextualized solutions and mechanisms. Journal of Operations
Management, 52, pp.15-29.
King, K., Hawkins, A. and Reed, A., Client 4 Life Group, LLC, 2019. Sales pipeline
management system for multiple independent parties. U.S. Patent Application 16/058,424.
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Martino, G., Fera, M., Iannone, R. and Miranda, S., 2017. Supply chain risk assessment in the
fashion retail industry: An analytic network process approach. Int. J. Appl. Eng. Res, 12, pp.140-
154.
Shamout, M.D., 2016. The impact of promotional tools on consumer buying behavior in retail
market. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 7(1), pp.75-85.
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Appendix
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