Marketing Strategic Analysis of Carrefour KSA & Brand Positioning

This report provides a comprehensive marketing analysis of Carrefour Supermarket in Saudi Arabia, focusing on its Bio Range products. It utilizes marketing models to assess Carrefour's current market position and identifies three-year marketing objectives, emphasizing target market identification. The report explores strategies for enhancing customer loyalty through frameworks like the Ansoff Matrix and analyzes the marketing mix to improve the company's competitive standing. Key areas covered include innovation in organic food, personalized customer experiences, and differentiation techniques. The analysis also identifies target markets such as middle- and low-income households, health-conscious consumers, and school/college canteens. Strategies for building customer loyalty, including social media engagement, loyalty programs, and self-checkout systems, are discussed. Finally, the report examines the marketing mix elements—product, price, place, and promotion—to effectively position Carrefour's brand in the competitive market.

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Executive Summary
The report has thrown light on the overall marketing strategic analysis of Carrefour
Supermarket situated in Saudi Arabia. With the help of the appropriate marketing models and
concepts, the current market position of the Bio Range Products of Carrefour market has been
analysed. Furthermore, for the three years the marketing objectives have been identified
through proper identification of the target market. The loyalty among the customers can be
improved with the help of the different introduction of the strategies such as Ansoff Matrix.
The utilisation of marketing mix can be identified which helped in improving the situation of
the company appropriately.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Overview of Carrefour Supermarket......................................................................................2
Current Market Position of Carrefour Supermarket...................................................................2
Three Marketing Objectives of Carrefour Supermarket............................................................4
Identification of Target Markets................................................................................................5
Analysis of Development of Loyalty with Customers Over Three Strategic Years..................6
Analysis of Marketing Mix for Positioning Brand in Competitive Market...............................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
The report throws light on the overall marketing analysis of Carrefour Supermarket in
which the current position of the company in the competitive business environment will be
discussed. Moreover, the three marketing objectives of the company will be discussed which
will be beneficial for the product to pursue over the last three years which will be appropriate.
The identification of three target segments is required to be done and there should be
demonstration of the different aspects which will be efficient in developing loyalty with the
customers over the strategic three-year horizon. The marketing mix will be used which will
be helpful in positioning their brand in competitive industry.
Overview of Carrefour Supermarket
Carrefour is the French multinational retail organization which is headquartered in
France and they have their branches in all over the world including Saudi Arabia. The
number of locations which is served by Carrefour is 12300 and the key people involved in the
business is Alexandre Bompard and the revenue which has been earned by the company is
€78.9 billion and the number of employees working in the organization is 384151 till the year
2016 (Carrefouruae.com 2019). There are different products which are sold by Carrefour
which is inclusive of hypermarket, supermarket and supercenter. The specific product which
will be considered in the report is Bio Products which will be specially targeting the health-
conscious customers in the market.
Current Market Position of Carrefour Supermarket
As per the market share of the grocery stores till the year 2017, it can be identified
that Carrefour has 20.2% share in the competitive business environment. The positioning
strategy which has been applied by Carrefour Supermarket is offering the different products

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at lowest prices. In case of the Bio Products Range, the respective range is mainly for the
health-conscious customers and with the help of the pricing advantage to be sustainable in
the business model (Armstrong et al. 2015). From the positioning map, it can be noticed that
Carrefour has been placed in the low price and the customers have high awareness regarding
the brand as well.
Figure 1: Positioning Map of Carrefour
(Source: Created by Author)
Due to the low-price positioning strategy, Carrefour Supermarket has destroyed the
few retailers over the decades of the operations (Atwal and Williams 2017). Carrefour
follows the low prices everyday strategy; however, it changes frequently as it switches
between mixture of policies. The company generally keeps low price for the sensitive
products which are highly price elastic, on the other hand, the non-sensitive products are
priced reasonably and the imported products are priced high. Moreover, the revenue of the
organization comes from sale of the own brands of Carrefour that are priced as per the
demands.

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Figure 1: Market Share of Carrefour
(Source: Carrefouruae.com 2019)
From the diagram, it can be identified that as per the Ansoff Matrix, the Market
Penetration strategy is adopted by Carrefour wherein they are applying cheap pricing
policies and it involves the smaller risks when it is compared to the implementation of the
other strategies (Baker and Saren 2016). In the case of the Bio Products, the company is
gaining high market share as they are targeting the young generation who are health
conscious and prefer to eat healthy yet tasty food items.
Three Marketing Objectives of Carrefour Supermarket
The marketing objectives are the different goals which are set by the business while
promoting the products and services to the potential customers which should be achieved
within the given time frame. In case of Carrefour Supermarket, there are three marketing
objectives which are required to be achieved by Carrefour Supermarket for the Bio Range
products in the worldwide market.
 To accelerate the Innovation in Organic Food Business

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 To provide connected and personalized customer experience
 To adopt the differentiation technique for selling products
Firstly, the marketing objective is to accelerate innovation in the organic food
business as it will be helpful for Carrefour to improve their position in the competitive
business environment. In the present scenario, the young generation are preferring the food
items which are fat free yet tasty as they are health conscious and they prefer to consume
organic food items.
Secondly, the connected and personalized customer experience is the other aspect
which is required to be followed by Carrefour Supermarket as it will increase the brand
loyalty among the customers. Carrefour needs to introduce the different products which are
not available in the other competitive supermarkets which will increase the customer traffic.
The customer traffic can be increased and enhanced by providing easy access to the different
products under one roof along with promotional discounts which will increase the overall
sales and profitability of the organization appropriately.
Lastly, the differentiation technique is the other approach which can be adopted by
Carrefour Supermarket as it will be increasing the overall sales and profitability in the market
effectively. There are other competitors of Carrefour wherein they sell similar products,
however Carrefour can distinguish the similar products with the other competitors which will
be helpful for the increasing of overall profitability.
Identification of Target Markets
As per the research from the market statistics, it can be identified that the three major
target markets of Carrefour in the world are inclusive of the following:

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Middle and Low-Income Households- It is the first target market wherein they are
capable of obtaining the maximum value at affordable prices. Carrefour tries to improve the
overall effectiveness through offering low pricing and high-quality products to the customers
(Weinstein and Pohlman 2015).
Health Conscious- With the introduction of the BIO range products, Carrefour is
trying to create a niche marketing strategy for the separate health conscious group of
customers. The Bio products range is being offered to the customers with the help of the low
pricing aspects which will be beneficial for their growth (Kotler et al. 2015).
Canteens of Schools and Colleges- It is the other target market in which it has been
noticed that in the present scenario, the school and college students are becoming health
conscious and it will be beneficial for the success of Carrefour Bio Food Range as it is the
new product range which can be helpful for the company to engage more customers (Baker
2016).
From the above, it can be identified that these are the three major target customers of
Carrefour through which they can attract the customers in managing the brand loyalty and
gain competitive advantage in the overall competitive business market. In the present era of
health-conscious customers, Carrefour needs to mainly focus on such customers and the
prices of the products should be reasonable which will be affordable by the customers
(Möller and Parvinen 2015).
Analysis of Development of Loyalty with Customers Over Three Strategic Years
Social Media Strategy- The first and foremost step to create social media strategy for
the company is to establish the different goals and objectives efficiently. With the
implementation of the social media strategy, Carrefour will be creating brand loyalty among
the customers and it will be showing authenticity (Chernev 2018). In the present era, the

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customers are not interested in the business which offers dry and corporate style posts in the
media. The brand personality shine is the most effective aspect which will be required in
order to improve the be friendly and attract more customers in the market as well (Lovelock
and Patterson 2015).
Regular Discounts and Offers for Premium Customers- There can be introduction of
regular discounts and offers for the different customers who are premium and are loyal
towards the brand which has been introduced by the company. It is an effective technique to
increase the sales is to offer the cheap products at steep discount which are known as the loss
leaders. In case of Carrefour, the company can introduce the different kinds of loyalty
schemes and cards for the loyal customers which will increase the sales and profitability of
the company appropriately (Järvinen and Taiminen 2016). The discounting items will enable
them in boosting their reputation to catch the eyes of the customers and making room for the
new products as well. There are various competitors of Carrefour in the market which are
selling similar products, therefore it is suggested that Carrefour can increase their profitability
in the competitive business environment through offering discounts that will be helping both
customers and business.
Self-Check out System- It is the other aspect in which the company and the customers
will be benefitted as they can select the different products without standing in the queue and
it will be appropriate for managing the overall in-store productivity as well. The biggest
advantage for self-check out system is that it is the added speed with which the different
customers can check out and pay for their purchases and it will be create a positive feeling
among the customers (Ingenbleek, Meulenberg and Van Trijp 2015). Due to the self-check
out system, there are multiple Kiosks available for the customers that will be efficient in
managing the overall sales and profitability and simultaneously they can create brand loyalty
among the customers as well.

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Analysis of Marketing Mix for Positioning Brand in Competitive Market
The marketing mix for Carrefour is done in the manner which will be helpful for them
to position their brand in the competitive business environment. The marketing mix of
Carrefour is done in the following manner:
Product- Carrefour is one of the leading supermarkets in the entire world wherein
there are different segments such as Supermarkets, Multi-Channel Strategy, convenience
stores along with hypermarkets. The supermarket tries to offer the variety of fresh produce,
Bio product range for the health-conscious customers which will be competitive advantage
for the company (Homburg, Jozić and Kuehnl 2017).
Price- With the help of the low pricing strategy, Carrefour can gain competitive
advantage in comparison to the other competitors. The major revenue portion is generated by
Carrefour from sale of the own brand products that are highly priced as per the demand in the
market (Gummesson 2017).
Place- Carrefour has more than 12000 stores which are operating in more than 30
countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and America. Carrefour has tried to ensure that with the
help of the social media marketing and supermarkets, Carrefour can gain competitive
advantage and increase in sales. Carrefour ensures that all the stores appear inviting for the
customers with the proper usage of the modern and attractive designs with various banners
(Goworek, McGoldrick and McGoldrick 2015).
Promotion- IBM along with other partners are developing instore system of
promotion for the Carrefour Supermarket. Moreover, there is inclusion of loyalty card
MyCLUB for the different retail customers which ensured customer retention (Chonko and
Hunt 2018). The respective card enables the different customers to earn points on every

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purchase which is made by them and it can be redeemed by them in place of cash on the next
visit and purchase.
With the help of the Marketing Mix of Carrefour Supermarket, it can be identified
that the 4Ps of marketing is essential for improving their brand image in the market which is
competitive. With the introduction of Bio Products Range, it can be identified that the sales
and profitability of the company has increased to a huge extent wherein there is enhancement
in the offerings which are being done by Carrefour as it constitutes significant part of the
process of evaluation.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that Carrefour occupies a significant place in the
market which has helped them in becoming profitable in the different operations which are
undertaken by them effectively. In the present era, the supermarkets are growing strongly in
the competitive business environment, and Carrefour needs to position themselves with the
application of the differentiation technique which will be effective in managing the different
operations successfully.
With the product differentiation aspect, Carrefour has been able to showcase the
differences in the products which are sold by them and improve their brand image and
increased the brand loyalty among the different customers in the market as well. The
company has incorporated the low pricing strategy which has been adopted by the company
in order to improve their brand image and it has affected their growth accordingly as well.
With implementation of the differentiation of the product technique, the lower costs have
helped them in improving their overall presence in the market and it is one of the most
effective techniques to improve their overall presence in the market.

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