BUSN20016: Branding Impact on Sales in Australian Supermarkets

This research project investigates the impact of branding on sales within Australian supermarkets. It addresses the problem of how branding strategies affect customer perception, loyalty, and ultimately, sales performance. The study aims to determine the effect of branding on sales and examine its influence on the competitive advantage of supermarkets. The methodology includes a literature review to gather theoretical perspectives, qualitative data collection through interviews with supermarket managers, and quantitative data collection through surveys of customer service executives. Secondary data sources such as books, journals, and online articles will be analyzed using thematic analysis. The research seeks to provide insights into the branding strategies employed by supermarket chains like Woolworths, Coles, Aldi, and IGA in Australia and their subsequent impact on sales, especially in a highly competitive market.

RESEARCH IN
BUSINESSTitle:
Impact of branding on Sales: Study based on
supermarkets in Australia

Problem Statement
Branding is the customers’ perception as well as the blueprint of business. Branding of the organisation
may include the comfort, symbol of happiness, loyalty of the customers and it can create lasting
impressions on the mind of the customers (Wills, 2017).
The branding of the organisation starts with the logo design and marketing may consist using various
channels of the organisation.
As stated by Saurombe, Barkhuizen & Schutte (2017), brand is the asset of the organisation and it is
taken as intangible resources of the organisation.
Brand image speaks about sales and it makes the money based on strategies of branding of the
organisation.
If the companies cannot tempt the customers to purchase the products, the result will slow down the sales
of the organisation.

Contd…
In Australia, the supermarkets increased the branding by investing 20% more on budget.
Supermarkets in Australia mainly do the private labels branding and it has been increased by 23% since
2016 (Herstein et al., 2017).
Branding is the reputation developed by the supermarkets over time and if the organisations stop the
branding, the supermarkets may lose the customer loyalty and greater profit margin as well.
Branding helps to improve the value of the products and services and the organisations can increase the price
of the products. Without the branding strategy, the supermarkets cannot improve the price orientation
(Dahlstrom & Nygaard. 2016).
Constant branding is necessary for a supermarket as it can help to minimise the investment.
In Australia, supermarket chains like Woolworths, Coles, Aldi and IGA use the commercial branding to
increase the sales as competition is high in the market.
The systematic research will try to explain the branding strategies of supermarkets in Australia that can
impact on sales.

Aim and Objectives
Aim
The aim of the research is to determine the
impact of branding on sales of the
organisations.
Objectives
◦ To determine the effect of branding on sales
◦ To examine the influence of branding on
competitive advantage of the firm
◦ To find out the strategies of branding of the
organisations

Brief Methodology
Literature review
Literature review will help the researcher to collect the secondary sources after reviewing
the scholarly papers of the authors.
The literature review is the substantiate findings of the knowledge of the research topic
(Machi & McEvoy, 2016).
In this research, literature review will be conducted to gather the theoretical perspective of
the branding strategies of the organisation those can impact on sales.
A summary of the important information will be produced in the literature review section

Primary Data collection
Qualitative Data
The researcher will collect the qualitative data
through conducting interview of the supermarket
managers.
The qualitative data are mainly observational and
structured interviews will be conducted to the 5
chosen managers of supermarkets in Australia.
The researcher will prepare 8 open-ended questions.
Quantitative Data
The researcher will collect the quantitative data through conducting
survey to the customer service executives.
Quantitative data are numerical data that would be collected from
the 45 customer service executives of supermarket.
The researcher will prepare 10 close-ended questions in order to
collect the survey responses.
The researcher will send the questionnaire through email and will
ask the respondents to revert within 15 days.
The data will be presented using graphs and tables.

3. Sources of secondary
data, data presentation
The secondary sources of the research will be books, journals, articles, online magazines, websites,
government reports and organisational annual reports.
The secondary data sources of the research will be mainly the online articles and the researcher will collect
the articles from Google Scholars and CQU library (both campus and online).
It is very significant to collect the data to conduct the research and align the secondary data sources to the
primary data. Primary data will be linked to the theoretical data collected in literature review.

Contd…
The secondary data sources will be analysed using
the thematic analysis method. The secondary
data can be segregated as different themes to
pinpoint, examine and record the themes within the
data using thematic analysis (Smith, 2015).
The researcher will segment the data sources using
themes.

Bibliography
◦ Dahlstrom, R., & Nygaard, A. (2016). The psychology of co‐branding alliances: The business‐to‐business relationship
outcomes of role stress. Psychology & Marketing, 33(4), 267-282.
◦ Herstein, R., Drori, N., Berger, R., & Barnes, B. R. (2017). Exploring the gap between policy and practice in private
branding strategy management in an emerging market. International Marketing Review, 34(4), 559-578.
◦ Machi, L. A., & McEvoy, B. T. (2016). The literature review: Six steps to success. Corwin Press.
◦ Saurombe, M., Barkhuizen, E. N., & Schutte, N. E. (2017). Management perceptions of a higher educational brand
for the attraction of talented academic staff. SA Journal of Human Resource Management, 15(1), 1-10.
◦ Smith, J. A. (Ed.). (2015). Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods. London: Sage.