AMN445 Strategic Marketing Management: Coles' Non-Price Strategy

This assignment is a case study analysis of Coles Supermarket's strategic marketing shift away from price-based competition in the Australian food and grocery retail sector. It begins by outlining the current market situation, including its size and emerging trends, and then provides a rationale for Coles' decision to move away from a price-focused strategy, highlighting the drawbacks of relying solely on price reductions. The assignment then explores alternative strategic marketing options for Coles, such as embracing user-generated content, collaborating with influencers and allies, and focusing on community, local produce, and sustainability. It recommends that Coles adopt a storytelling approach to engage customers and create a stronger psychological connection, ultimately suggesting that value and entertainment are more effective than price cuts in capturing and retaining customers. The study emphasizes the importance of customer experiences and non-price attributes in building a competitive advantage for Coles in the Australian market. Desklib provides a platform for accessing this and similar assignments for students.

Running head: NON-PRICE BASED MARKETING STRATEGY
Non-price Based Marketing Strategy
Name
Institutional Affiliations

NON-PRICE BASED MARKETING STRATEGY 2
NON-PRICE BASED MARKETING STRATEGY
Introduction
Many stores and other business have based their marketing strategies on the price of
commodities and have neglected other factors for a long time. Cutting of prices has been used by
very many businesses in an effort to gain competitive advantages over their rivals. However,
price-cutting is associated with many inconveniences and does not serve the purpose of product
promotion fully. Therefore, we need to ask ourselves whether this is the most effective way of
product promotion. If not then what are the strategies that can be used other than cutting prices to
be able to secure the largest share of the market? The following is an analysis of the current
market situations in the food industry in French and the grocery retail sector. It looks into the
current strategies used in marketing the products and the reasons why there is a lot of shift of the
strategies to new one other than price-cutting. Other strategies such as advertisement have also
been looked into and the justification of the best strategy given.
The food industry is a crucial sector in the Australian government and contributes a lot to
the growth of the economy. It also contributes to employment and finances to the government.
The marketing strategies that are currently used in the country have incorporated many changes
that are very significant to the promotion of market in the country. The industries are well known
for the production of fresh and quality food (Norkaew, 2018). This has enabled the country to
remain the top food producer in the world. The production processes have also improved by the
incorporation of high-quality raw materials to improve the quality of food produced by the
industry. The marketing strategies that are currently being used in the food industry revolve
around lowering the prices of the commodities. Different chain stores such as Coles use taglines
such as “why pay more, cheap groceries” and others in their advertisement to promote their sales
(Ma, Dewally, & Huang, 2017). The company gives a huge discount to their consumers to be
able to compete with other companies. However, the company is recently in a campaign to shift
from the price strategy to other strategies.
The initial marketing strategy of Cole supermarket
Cole’s current strategy is based on price adjustments that use tones such as down down
and cheap cheap. Their competitors apply this in their efforts to bring the chain store down. Its

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competitors have been on their shoulders wondering what the company would do next after the
strategy of price reduction. This is in their effort to reduce the effect of Cole’s strategy and
bemoaning the strategy success (Fung, & Liu, 2018). They would come up with similar tones
such as cheap cheap that would push the marketers away from a green corner. However other
than the woollies supermarket, there have been new players who are now coming up to challenge
the chain store's values and grip (Gnanapragasam, et al 2018). For instance, Aldi is one of the
businesses who are bringing a great threat to Coles. The company has a fresh approach to the
market and therefore has become an alternative for those people who are bored by Coles and
Woollies tit for tat games. They are also bored with the down tones and are willing to hear
something else.
From the argument, it is clear that Cole ought to change from the down-down campaign
to some other strategies that will have more impacts. The down down and cheap-cheap tones are
supposed to be left for some other small food businesses such as chip and fish wrappers. This
strategy is outdated and people are now shifting to a more reasonable and convincing strategy
(Cole, et al 2018). Retail as per now is not about cheap cheap and down-down but is about “new
news”. Therefore, there is the need for the business to change from their initial magic to be able
to compete with other retail businesses. Coles need to change their companies to a different
thing other than down-down tones. Some other business changed a long time ago and is now
enjoying the benefit.
The rationale for shifting from the price-based strategy
Now one may ask why there is need to shift from the price based marketing strategy and
yet it has been used for a long time by successful business (Dean, Griffith, & Calantone, 2018).
The price based marketing strategy is accompanied with some very critical inconveniences that
can be avoided by application of other strategies. First, when the price is the main selling point
there will be an automatic decrease in the shopper’s royalty. Therefore, customers change to
become more conscious about price. On the other hand, price strategies are very costly for retail
business operators. This is because the cost of operation remains constant and yet there is a
reduction in the price of commodities. At the end of the day, the business will be out of the
margin and thus make losses. For instance, Cole's result for half a year shows that there is a
decrease in the earnings. This is from $920 to $790 million, that is a 14.0% decrease (Sexton, &

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Xia, 2018). On the other hand, Woolworths who applies a different strategy recorded 11%
increase in their earning the same period. Woolworth dropped the cheap-cheap campaign early
enough and that is why there is a significant increase in the earnings.
Alternative strategies
1) Embracing user-generated content
Now Cole has given up the old price based marketing strategy and is should now move to
other attributes. This attribute includes community, local produce, and sustainability. The
business after a critical consideration and comparison with the Woolworth chain store there is
clear reason why there is need of a shift. The strategy is all about using stories and the
application of classical advertising techniques to sell themselves (Abdelkafi, & Pero, 2018). This
strategy allows the chain store to be able to pass very positive feelings about a specific
experience. The business is able to do this by featuring people while telling their stories. People
are able to give their stories about the experience they had in the supermarket as part of
advertisement. Therefore, new customers will be convinced to try Cole’s supermarket. This is
after hearing what people are saying about the experience they had in the supermarket.
2) Collaboration with influencers
Secondly, the business should also used sports as a way of advertising their products. The
company together with Woolworths should put the commonwealth games into utilization by
featuring sports stars in their advertisement (Tang, & Hsu, 2018). The company’s recent
campaign should feature athletes and the way they are connected to Fresh food. The company
should also use the stars in connection with the company’s position. These show the qualities of
services offered by the company are the best in reflection to the sports stars. In addition, the store
should collaborate with uncle Toby’s in the sports school campaign (Devin, & Richards, 2018).
This will enable the business to feature young energetic and very attractive athlete who are very
successful. As a result, the company will be linking their success to the purchase of their product.
3, Collaborate with allies
Collaborating with allies comes along with very many businesses. There is available content
about the market that is used during the market campaign. On the other hand, there is a good

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channel to expose the commodities to new people. The business is able to expose their brands so
that they can acquire a new audience (Dyer, Singh, & Hesterly, 2018). This is a very effective
way of advertising the commodities even without having to cut the price of the commodities.
Recommended alternative
This change from the price based marketing strategy and focusing on a story involving
storytelling is the best strategy for Cole’s supermarket. Both Coles and Woolworth supermarkets
should engage their customers in a process referred to as internalization (Jie, & Gengatharen,
2018). This enables people to take the company’s issues as their own. Unlike price,
internalization creates a strong psychological effect that cannot be forgotten easily. The company
is, therefore, able to capture the mind of the consumer in a different attribute of the company and
therefore does not necessarily need to reduce the prices of the commodities. Instead of reducing
prices, the companies will focus on some other important attributes that have more impacts than
price strategy.
For a fact, consumers are not interested in the prices but are now looking at the value that
the company is providing them with and in an entertaining way. In as much as Cole reduces the
prices, they cannot be able to take one customer from Aldi or Woolworth. Therefore, the best
strategy that can be used is by the use of a different advertising style. The company needs to tell
people what value they are providing them with and in an entertaining way (Crawford, & Bailey,
M. 2018). This the only way they will be able to acquire customers even from their greatest
competitors. The business does not need to ask the customers what they want or expect from
them but should let them speak for the business (Goulding, Kelemen, & Kiyomiya, 2018).
Experiences from the customers will enable the business to convince new buyers and as a result,
compete effectively.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the price based marketing strategy is a strategy that is out of puff.
Companies need to take another direction in their efforts to promote sales and compete more
effectively. Companies need to adopt a strategy that gives information to the shoppers in an
entertaining way. The value of the message passed in an advertisement is the most important

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thing and should come first. Use of sports stars and shoppers to tell stories about the business are
the best strategy that can be used by the supermarkets.

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