MGT303A: Analyzing Coles' Challenges & Strategies - A Report

This report presents a business information analysis of Coles Supermarket, focusing on the challenges it faces and the strategies it employs. The research delves into the needs and wants of Coles' customers, the quality of its products and services, and the reasons behind its involvement in false advertising. It further examines how Coles misled customers, the consequences of these actions, and the initiatives the company has undertaken to improve its brand image. The analysis includes an assessment of the information gathered, addressing bias, timeliness, scope, justification, and gaps in the research. The report aims to provide insights that can inform future business decisions and improve Coles' overall performance and reputation.

Running head: Information Analysis 1

Information Analysis 2
Contents
Section 1...........................................................................................................................................3
Research context..........................................................................................................................3
Broad Problem Area and Generic Business Decision..................................................................3
Broad Problem Area.................................................................................................................3
Generic business decisions......................................................................................................3
Research Question........................................................................................................................3
List of the information..................................................................................................................3
Research Objective.......................................................................................................................3
Section 2...........................................................................................................................................4
Literature review..........................................................................................................................4
Needs and Wants of Customers from Coles Company............................................................4
The quality of the products and services..................................................................................4
Reasons behind false advertisement at Coles...........................................................................4
Misled customers by adopting false advertisement..................................................................4
Consequences of false advertisement at Coles.........................................................................4
Initiative taken by Coles in improving brand image................................................................4
Assessment.......................................................................................................................................4
The quality of the products and services..................................................................................5
Misled customers by adopting false advertisement..................................................................5

Information Analysis 3
References........................................................................................................................................7

Information Analysis 4
Section 1
Research context
The main aim of this research is to highlight the issues faced by Coles Australia. Coles Group
Limited is a public limited company that runs number of retail chains. The company was second
largest retailer all over the Australia. Coles has ‘lost its way’ and has dropped behind Woolworth
the huge mainstream of key presentation metrics over the last 12 months, according to an
influential survey of suppliers. The reason behind conducting this research is to evaluate the
causes of these issues. The issue was covered with the help of news. The major issue in the
context of Coles has been found that the company was engaged in false advertising.
Broad Problem Area and Generic Business Decision
Broad Problem Area
The major problem area for the company is false advertising. Coles has been recovered guilty
over false shoppers with claims that the products of bread were “baked today” by the Federal
Court, with the court decision that the claims were false deceptive. The promotion of the
products has kept great importance in selling products effectively. It has been analyzed that the
products were promoted as “Baked Today, Sold Today” when they are in fact to some extent
baked and frozen off site through supplier, finished and transported at in-store bakeries within
Coles Supermarkets.
According to qualitative perspective, it is required for the business to keep focus on the quality
of the product as due to false advertisement, company had to face issue in losing its customer and
suppliers. In the context of quantitative perspective, it has been found that Coles Company was

Information Analysis 5
failed to compete with its competitors in an efficient manner. The company had taken number of
steps in making improvements but was failed because of wrong chosen of strategy. Coles
Supermarket Australia paid $2.5 million for making misleading or false representations and
connecting in deceptive conduct in term to the promotion of its par baked products, in dealings
brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (Heffernan & Han, 2015).
Generic business decisions
The proposed information will be used by the company for the purpose of making improvements
in the operation so that the company will not face this advertisement issue in future. They intend
to collect views of people with the information so that they can implement marketing campaign
for making good image in the view of outsiders. It would be the good decision by the company
as they faced numerous due to false representation of the product through promotional strategy.
The decisions of the company should be firm and systematic so that the employees of the
company move forward according to them. The company should go with correct decisions as
wrong decision may lead the company into adverse situation.
Research Question
The research questions regarding Coles’ Supermarket are mentioned below:
 What do customers want from Coles Company?
 How customers can get attracted towards products and services offered by Coles
Supermarket?
 What is the major reason behind false advertisement in Coles?
 In what ways company misled customers by adopting false advertisement?
 What are the major consequences of false advertisement at Coles?
 How did company take initiative to improve its brand image in the market?

Information Analysis 6
List of the information
The list of information would be helpful for the company to resolve the issue as these questions
facilitate researcher to investigate the reason behind issues and its consequences to the company.
The customer is the key of success that is why their desire keeps huge importance in the
business. The company can improve the decision making process after knowing the reasons
behind false advertisement and its impact over the customers and the sales of the company.
Research Objective
The research objective of the company is mentioned below:
 To explore desires of customers from the Coles Supermarket.
 To investigate the quality of the products and services offered by Coles Supermarket.
 To evaluate the major reason behind false advertisement in Coles.
 To find out the ways by which the company misled customers by adopting false
advertisement.
 To analyze the major consequences of false advertisement at Coles.
 To examine the brand image of the company in the supermarket.
Section 2
Literature review
Needs and Wants of Customers from Coles Company
The Australian retail industry is growing with the emergence of various leading players like
Woolworths, Coles, Aldi etc. Among these retailers, Coles is a major retailer that plans and
offers its products and services considering the needs and demands of potential customers.

Information Analysis 7
According to Grewal, Roggeveen &Nordfalt (2017), needs of customers drive their buying
decisions in developing retail industry so that retailers like Coles Supermarketfocuses on the
changing needs of customers. The company believes that it is very important to understand the
customers while creating the strategies. According to a report of Coles (2016), the customers of
company expectgreat value, excellent quality and wide range of products at affordable prices. In
Australia, people want to purchase their grocery and other retail production reasonable rates.
Considering this, Coles is committed to lowering the costs of shopping for its customers and
providing trusted value. Additionally, the customers expect that they can avail routine and
grocery products easily. So, Coles is working to enhance its store network to make the shopping
simpler and easier for its customers.
The quality of the products and services
The company is provided numerous products and services to the customers by adopting
advertisement strategies. The store of the Coles matched up with the food requirements of
Australia depending upon their culture and process of cooking. It has been found that the fashion
was to cook number of foods from the scratch rather than utilising pre-packaged foods (Lewis &
Huber, 2015). Therefore, company endorsed the practices of the food through providing diversity
and options in food items. The company use advertisement strategy such as television, social
media, banner and pamphlet for the purpose of attracting customers towards the services. The
company attract customers by providing them number of variety in products at one place where
customer do not require to move outside for purchasing different products. According to Wu,
Neal, Trevena, Crino, Stuart-Smith, Faulkner-Hogg & Dunford, (2015), it is required for the

Information Analysis 8
company to have strengths such as customer loyalty, diversification and market share for
increasing the revenues of the company significantly.
Reasons behind false advertisement at Coles
Daugeliene & Liepinyte (2012) stated that with the increasing trends, today’s organizations have
started showing misleading and false advertisement and entice the customers all over the world.
The author defined that false advertising is the process of using misleading and false information
to promote the products to targeted customers. This advertising does not reveal its sources.
According to Heffernan & Han (2015), Coles is among the organizations which used false
advertising for promoting its products to customers. This supermarket giant is ordered to pay the
fine after disobeying the Australian Consumer Law by misleadingly advertising its bread
products as “baked today” and “freshly baked”. There are some major reasons which forced the
organization to use these advertisement practices. These reasons are given below:
Changing customers’ needs and preferences
In their article, Heffernan & Han (2015) stated that one of the major reasons behind Coles’
misleading advertisement is changing needs of customers. For example, today’s customers prefer
to use fresh bread and related products, so that company planned to offer its breads as baked
today” and “freshly baked”.
Competition
Australian retail industry is highly competitive as there are various players which pose
competitive threat on Coles. To go ahead from its competitors, Coles used false advertising so
that it can attract more customers and gain more competitive edge against other brands.

Information Analysis 9
Misled customers by adopting false advertisement
It has been analyzed that the company misled the customers by promoting wrong information in
which the company promoted “Baked Today, Sold Today” and along with this company used
“Freshly Baked In-Store”, but in actual they were not baked properly and frozen off site through
a supplier, transferred and finished at bakeries within Coles Supermarkets. According to
Dillbary, (2009), the companies should be on their words because they attract customer towards
the products and services by adopting advertisement techniques and wrong interpretation
between showed things by advertisement and offered products to the customer can lead the
company into adverse situation. Balough, (2012), stated that the false advertising can be enlarged
demand and so the socially best level of false advertising can be affirmative for the business due
to linked amplify in consumption can set the misrepresentation from flawed competition. On the
other hand there is another paper that maintains consumer consistency and determines the
trustworthiness issue endogenously by commencing legal penalties in ways more connected to
the research paper.
Consequences of false advertisement at Coles
According to Jeeva(2016), advertising is one of the important options which are used by
companies to approach its customers. But there are various companies that use false advertising
to increase its customer base. It can have negative impact on the customers’ buying decisions.
Along with the customers’ choices, it affects the brand image and reputation of company in the
market. In this context, Bradley &Marshall (2013) stated that due to false advertisement of its
products, Coles has experienced adverse consequences. It had a negative impact on the brand
image of the organization as customers found that company has misled them. Additionally, it had
not complied with the Australian Consumer Lawso it has been fined with $2.5 million penalty

Information Analysis 10
for this misconduct. In addition to this, Coles has been banned to advertise bread for next three
years (Heffernan & Han, 2015). Also, it was ordered to show the signs indicating that it had
broken Australian Consumer Law. This issue affected not only the brand image of the
organization among customers but also its competitive position. In this way, the company had to
bear these negative consequences because of the false advertisement issue.
Initiative taken by Coles in improving brand image
The company has taken initiative to improve the brand image in the market as they suffered in
the market due to false advertisements (Temporal, 2011). These initiatives are improvement in
CSR policies as it can be seen in current situation that Coles Supermarket Australia has
recognized the market precedence and corporate social responsibility to communal sustainability.
In this regards the first and the foremost thing that they can do is to invest in the CSR activities.
This will help in increasing the brand image of the company not only in front of their consumer
but also in the minds of their other stakeholders (Jenkins & Dredge, 2016). The company has
given priorities to the environmental standards in order to control the climate change for
promoting green farming. Hence, the CSR policies moved towards the suppliers have generated
sophisticated food products processed in usual way.
Assessment
Questions Biasnes
s
Timeliness Scope Justificatio
n
Gaps in the
research

Information Analysis 11
Needs and
wants of
customers
from Coles
Company
There is
no
biasness
related
to this
question
as the
research
er verify
with
more
resource
s
It has
accomplish
ed within
time frame
of 3
months
It outlines
the aims and
objectives
of the
company
Company
should
focus on
the needs
and wants
of the
customer
The research
gaps are
analyzed
which helps
reader to
recognize the
implication
of the
research. It
has been
found in the
context of
the research
gaps that the
data can be
data can be
collected
with the help
of primary
data in which
survey can
be conducted
to get
information.
The major
gap in this
section is
that the
researcher
can focus on
the quality of
the products
beyond the
false
advertisemen
t.
The
The quality
of the
products
and
services
There is
no
biasness
in this
question
It has taken
3 months
to be
completed
It helps in
making
good
products
The
company
attract
customers
by
providing
them
number of
variety in
products at
one place
where
customer
do not
require to
move
outside for
purchasing
different
products.

Information Analysis 12
Reasons
behind false
advertiseme
nt at Coles
Selectio
n bias is
done in
this
question
It has been
completed
within 4
months
The scope
of this
question is
broader
because it
provided
causes
behind false
advertiseme
nts
To protect
declining
image in
the market
quantitative
research can
be
considered
more in
comparison
of qualitative
research to
analyze the
research

Information Analysis 13
the fall of
revenues due
to false
advertisemen
ts. The main
gap has been
identified
that there can
be discussion
made on the
strategies
which has
been taken
by the
company in
order to
reduce the
impact of
false
Misled
customers
by adopting
false
advertiseme
nt
Review
finding
with
peers
3 months
have been
taken to
research
this
question
It would be
helpful in
defining the
way of
misleading
by the
company
To help in
preventing
company
towards
potential
concerns
Consequen
ces of false
advertiseme
nt at Coles
There is
no
biasness
in this
question
3 months
have been
taken to
research
this
question
It would be
facilitated in
finding the
results of
false
advertiseme
nt at Coles
To
elaborate
the results
of false
advertisem
ent

Information Analysis 14
revenues.
The
description
of the
competitor
of Coles
Company
can be
discussed
with
explanation
that which
step has been
taken by the
company in
taking
advantages
of bad
position of
the Coles
Company
Initiative
taken by
Coles in
improving
brand
image
Review
finding
with
peers
4 months
have been
taken to
research
this
question
The scope
of this
question is
broad as it
helps in
analyzing
the initiative
by the
company.
This will
help in
increasing
the brand
image of
the
company
not only in
front of
their
consumer
but also in
the minds
of their
other
stakeholder
s.

Information Analysis 15
advertisemen
t and the
strategies
that has been
taken by the
company to
reduce the
impact of
false
advertisemen
ts.
The gap in
the research
is found that
the research
can focus on
other
initiatives
along with

Information Analysis 16

Information Analysis 17
References
Balough, C. D. (2012). A survey of false advertising in cyberspace. Bus. Law., 68, 297.
Bradley, M. &Marshall, H. (2013). Misleading advertising update: hot cross regulator sues Coles
for half-baked claims. Retrieved from http://www.marquelawyers.com.au/assets/ccln-29-
1.pdf
Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd. (2016). Coles: 2016 Years in Review. Retrieved from
https://www.coles.com.au/~/media/files/coles/pdfs/2016/annual%20report/
coles_year_in_review_2016.pdf needs and wants of Coles' customers
Daugeliene, R. &Liepinyte, M. (2012). Interrelation of Misleading Advertising and Solutions of
Consumers: Legal Regulation and Institutional Background in Lithuania. European
Integration Studies, 6, 192-201.
Dillbary, J. S. (2009). Trademarks as a media for false advertising. Cardozo L. Rev., 31, 327.
Grewal, D., Roggeveen, A.L. & Nordfalt, J. (2017). The Future of Retailing. Journal of
Retailing, 93(1), 1-6.
Heffernan, M. & Han, E. (2015). Coles hit with $2.5 million fine over 'fresh' bread. Retrieved
from https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/coles-hit-with-25-million-fine-over-
fresh-bread-20150410-1mi0x1.html
Jeeva, C. (2016). Impact of Misleading Advertisements: Issues and Remedies. Bonfring
International Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management Science, 6(4), 155-157.

Information Analysis 18
Jenkins, J., & Dredge, D. (2016). ‘Huelva, the Light’: Enlightening the Process of Branding and
Place Identity Development. In Stories of Practice: Tourism Policy and Planning.
Routledge.
Lewis, T., & Huber, A. (2015). A revolution in an eggcup? Supermarket wars, celebrity chefs
and ethical consumption. Food, Culture & Society, 18(2), 289-307.
Temporal, P. (2011). Advanced brand management: Managing brands in a changing world. John
Wiley & Sons.
Wu, J. H., Neal, B., Trevena, H., Crino, M., Stuart-Smith, W., Faulkner-Hogg, K. & Dunford, E.
(2015). Are gluten-free foods healthier than non-gluten-free foods? An evaluation of
supermarket products in Australia. British Journal of Nutrition, 114(3), 448-454.