Carrefour's Digital Transformation: Marketing Strategy Report, Dubai

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Carrefour's digital marketing strategy, focusing on the implementation of new technologies like robotics in its retail stores. The report begins with an introduction to business environment analysis and its importance for companies like Carrefour. It then outlines the company's background, including its products, competitors, and growth trends, followed by a PESTLE analysis to identify opportunities and threats related to digital transformation. The report identifies two customer personas and details the benefits and challenges they face when interacting with digital products and services. It then outlines digital marketing objectives and proposes a digital marketing strategy and recommendations. Finally, the report presents a detailed digital marketing plan to ensure the successful implementation of digital changes, concluding with an overall assessment of the strategies and their potential impact on Carrefour's performance.

ASSESSMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
Background of organization...................................................................................................3
Macro environment for digital provision...............................................................................4
Strategic implication...............................................................................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
Two personas and benefits they gain and the challenges they encounter when accessing
digital products and services. ................................................................................................6
Two digital marketing objectives...........................................................................................8
Digital marketing strategy and Recommendation..................................................................8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
Digital marketing plan............................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Business environment analysis is very necessary for the company because the business
run and operates in the external environment where frequent and fast changes takes place. Thus,
it is very necessary for the companies to continuously keep a check over the changes in the
business environment (Akhmetshin and et.al., 2017). Also, the competition is very high in the
business environment and for this it is very important for companies to market their product and
services to a great extent. For the completion of present study Carrefour has been selected and all
study will be made with regard to Carrefour.
The report will start by outlining the background of company along with the digital
change which it is bringing. Further PESTLE will be conducted to ascertain the opportunities
and threats of the implementation. In the next part, digital marketing strategy will be prepared by
identifying two personas and the benefits and challenges faced by them while implementing the
strategy. In the end, a marketing plan for the intended change will be made to ensure that
whether the changes will be helpful and successful for the company or not.
TASK 1
Background of organization
Carrefour is a company which deals in retail industry and the major product of company are
hypermarket, discount stores, supermarket, warehouse clubs, cash and carry, superstores and
many other different chains of stores. The company was founded in the year 1958 and is
headquartered in Boulogne- Billancourt in France. The Carrefour group was the first company to
open a supermarket, department store and a hypermarket in single roof. The company is a
growing firm in the retail store and the sales of the company is on increasing trend. The increase
in sales suggest that the number of consumers is increasing and this ensures that the consumer
base of the company is increasing. Also, the number of employees in the company is on
increasing trend because of the reason that the operations of the company is also on increasing
trend and for managing this it is necessary for the company to manage the operation by hiring
more people.
The competition within the market is very high because of international market and
business. Thus, it is very necessary for Carrefour to take into consideration all the major
competitors and their working. The major competitor of Carrefour are Spinney, Waitrose, Lulu,
Woolsworth, LIDL, Coles group, Amazon and many other companies. It is very necessary for

the company to manage the competition in good and ethical manner. This is because many a
times the companies uses different methods which may be wrong to manage the competition.
Thus, it is necessary for Carrefour in order to manage the competition use all the ethical
marketing practices and strategies.
Macro environment for digital provision
For a company to be successful it is very necessary for them to timely evaluate the macro
environment in which the company is operating. This is necessary because of the fact that
business environment keeps on changing very rapidly and for Carrefour it is very necessary to
take in consideration all the changes taking place. This is because if they will not consider this
then they might lack in the competition. Thus, for this Carrefour takes help of PESTLE analysis
and this help them to identify opportunities and threat for the digital change which they are
trying to implement.
Political factor- This includes the changes taking place within the political parties or the
regulations prescribed by the government relating to taxes and other charges which needs to be
paid by company. Here for the implementation of robotics in the store Carrefour had to pay some
additional charges to the government and this will add on to the cost of the company. This is a
threat for company as their cost will be high because of this charge. But government is also
charging this for safety reason as in some contingent situation if something happens to the
machine then it might disturb of harm the store and country as well.
Economic factor- This includes changes taking place in economic condition of the
country and this also can have an impact over the working of company. The implementation of
this new technology is beneficial for the economic condition of Dubai because of the reason that
for this technology Carrefour will pay extra charges and this will add to the income for
government. Also, with this robotics the sales of company will increase as well. Thus, this will
be added to the national income of the country and the economic condition will improve.
Social factor- With the implementation of robot system in store the consumers will be
happy as they will not have to carry their bag and shop rather robots will assist them in
completing their shopping (Veselovsky and et.al., 2017). Thus, they will like this new
technology and this will act as an opportunity for the company because now more and more
consumers will get attracted towards Carrefour. Thus, this will increase the customer base and
the goodwill as well of the company.

Technological factor- In respect to technological factor, Carrefour is already updating
and is implementing all new and advanced technology. Thus, this will always be in side of
opportunity because of the fact that the use of technology will always increase the efficiency of
the company. but the threat of implementing the technology is the resistance of employees (Eling
and Schaper, 2017). This is because they might think that the use of robots will decrease the
importance of human resource of Carrefour.
Legal factor- This is also a threat because of the reason that at time of implementing of
the technology there are many different types of laws and regulations being followed by the
company. Thus, for this company has to research a lot for gaining knowledge of all these laws
and rules. Also, when Carrefour will apply this strategy to all its store all over the globe then it
will be more tough task as every country has its own specific rules and regulations.
Environmental factor- This is an opportunity for Carrefour to start the use of robots in
society and environment caring and protection. This is because of the reason that Carrefour can
use robot in taking care of environment like planting trees in nearby areas of the store, cleaning
the nearby areas of the company with help of robots, collecting of plastic bags and reusable
waste and try to recycle it. Thus. This will assist the company in taking care of the environment
and society and in turn this will have a positive impact over the goodwill of the company. The
major reason underlying this fact is that consumers will like the fact that company is taking
initiatives in protection and safeguarding of the environment.
Thus, it can be concluded that doing macro analysis is very important for the company in
order to know that whether the digital product that is using robots at store will be helpful for the
company and will increase the profitability.
Adoption curve- this is a tool which help the company in analysing the fact that whether
the company is having any gain in adapting the new technology. For this the demographic and
psycho graphic need of every stakeholder affecting by the change will be analysed. If all the
stakeholder will be befitted by this then the new technological change will be entertained.
Strategic implication
For the implementation of strategy it is very necessary for the company to use a good
strategy in order to implement the intended change by Carrefour. This model provides for four
differnet type of strategty which can be used in order to implement the new strategy for
development. These are as follows-

market penetration- under this strategy the main focus is on the increase of sales with
help of existing product in the existing market only.
Product development- this is a strategy which includes the focus on new product but
keeping in mind the demand of existing market only.
Market development- this is a strategy under which the company tries to lay emphasizes
on entering into the new market but with the existing product only.
Diversification- this is a strategy in which the company goes for a complete new product
and with the new market as well.
In the end it is advisable to Carrefour that they must go for the strategy of product
development. This is majorly because of the reason that they are intending to bring the new
service of robots in their supermarket which will assist the consumers in shopping.
TASK 2
Two personas and benefits they gain and the challenges they encounter when accessing
digital products and services.
PERSONA 1 CUSTOMER
Customer are the one who used to consume the different offering of the company in the
market. All the organization in real used to make different policy in the organization to attract
the eye of the customer toward the companies product. In rapidly changing environment need
and preference of customer are changing on rapidly basis. Biggest reason behind the same is
identified is changed in technology and ever enhancing level of technology in the market. There
are many benefit which are gained by them due to assessment of digital product and services in
the organization. Some of the benefit which will be gained by Customer due to technology
advancement in Carrefour is as follows:
Simplicity: This is the biggest benefit which will be seen by them, as customer will find
it easy to find out the product they are looking in the store (Zulfiqar and et.al., 2019). This will
eventually improve their satisfaction level in the organization. As they have to consume less
amount of time in the store of the company to find out the thing which they are looking in the
store.
Better knowledge: This will also help all the organization in getting better knowledge
about the product which they are looking to consume in the market. As robot will be having
show all the detail of different product to the consumer and will also help them in getting better

amount of option which can be consumed by the consumer for satisfying need in the market. As
robot will be having knowledge of all the different product which are available in the store of
Carrefour.
At the same time there are many challenges which are also seen by consumer due to
assessment of technology. Biggest reason behind the same is identified that it is not that easy for
all the consumer in understanding the change in technology that easily. Challenges which may
be faced by the consumer in the market due to introduction of robot in Carrefour are as follows:
Bonding: It will get difficult for the consumer in making bonding with product which
they are looking to consume in the market. Reason behind the same is identified that, robot will
not able to make that bonding with the consumer as compare to what a salesman can do.
Communication: Customer will also find it difficult to communicate with robot in the
Store. Reason behind the same is that feeling used to play a very crucial role in fixing up a
communication with other party (Schaltegger, Lüdeke-Freund and Hansen, 2016). As a result it
will be difficult for consumer to fix communication.
PERSONA 1 STAKEHOLDER
Stakeholder are the one who used to has interest in the performance of the product in the
market. All the stakeholder used to has different sort of interest regarding performance of
product in the market. Change in Technology used to create variety of different opinion for
different stake holder in the organization. As some stakeholder look it as a gaining decision and
some used to has a opposite opinion of the same. Some of the benefits and challenges are as
follows:
Benefits
Goodwill: Usage of robot in the organization will help Carrefour in creating good buzz in
the market. As it will promote unique facility which is offered by company in the market. This
will eventually help company in building good goodwill in the market. This will eventually a
good gain for maximum level of stake holder of the company. Competitor will be one of the
stakeholder which will be not benefited by the same.
Customer Experience: As all the stakeholder always hope to satisfy the need of the
customer. This technology advancement by Carrefour in the market will eventually help
stakeholder in improving the level of customer satisfaction in the organization. As techn0logy is

one of the biggest factor in today's era which is attracting the customer toward This will
eventually helped company stakeholder in getting best out of the market (Ciambrone, 2018).
Challenges
Risk: Biggest challenge which is faced by organization stakeholder by accessing the
technology in the organization. As Technology enhancing will ask a good amount of finance
require in the organization. As all the stakeholder always looks to safeguard there position in the
organization, it may hesitate financial stakeholder in the organization to invest there resource that
freely for the product of the company. This will create variety of different challenge for different
stakeholder.
Two digital marketing objectives
Objective 1
“To create brand awareness among consumer and increasing the customer base of company
by 25 percent in coming 1 years”.
Carrefour is looking to increase the customer base of the company with the help of promoting
different information regarding the brand of the company, on different digital platform in the
market. Company will be taking help of Social media marketing as a primary digital platform.
Reason behind the same is that number of user of social media is that high that organization will
able to touch large number of the consumer in one go in the market (Gavurova and et.al., 2017).
Objective 2
“To improve customer engagement by 20 percent in coming 1 year.”
Carrefour is looking to increase the customer engagement toward the company by promoting the
different communication tool through which customer can connect with the organization in the
market. Organization will be providing online chat features as a marketing strategy to increase
the amount of customer engagement in the organization.
Digital marketing strategy and Recommendation
There are many different type of digital marketing strategy which can be used by the
organization to improve customer acquisition in the organization .Some of the different type of
digital marketing strategy which can be used by Carrefour in the market are as follows:
Email marketing: It is the strategy in which organization has to send regular email to the
consumer, describing different offering of the company in the market. This help organization in

building good bonding with the consumer in the market. Also Carrefour will be sending good
wishes mail to the consumer in the market on special occasion Such as Birthday, festive (Fabuš,
2017). Building good bonding with the consumer in the market will help company in seeing that
consumer will eventually prefer the product of the company more as compare to other in the
market and will also help company in building good educated customer base in the market.
Social Media Marketing: It is another best strategy through which Carrefour can
improve customer acquisition in the organization. In this strategy the organization has to make
sure that they used to promote the offering of the company on different social media Platform.
Organization will be designing the attractive poster in the organization and will be publishing the
same on social media platform. This will eventually help the company in educating larger
number of customer in the market. As number of user of social media is too good. Also
Carrefour will also provide good communication platform to the consumer in the market. This
will also help the company in improving customer engagement in the market.
Content marketing: It is the another way through which organization can improve the
customer acquisition in the organization. In this strategy the organization will be publishing the
different content about company offering on different website (Gürel and Tat, 2017). This will
help company in educating the consumer in better way about the different offering of the
company in the market. As content can create a good image of the company product in the mind
of the consumer. Organization has to make sure that they used to hire good content writer in the
organization. As there are many different content through which reader used to go on regular
basis, only few contents are the one which are consider by them. So Carrefour have to publish
good content about company on different website, which will help company in building a good
bond with the different consumer in the market (Phadermrod, Crowder and Wills, 2019).

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Online
Carrefour PLC. 2020. [Online]. Available through: < https://www.Carrefourplc.com/about/key-
facts/ >