BUMGT5928: Proposal Plan for Coles Supermarket Strategic Business Plan

This report presents a strategic business plan proposal for Coles Supermarket, addressing the challenges and opportunities within the Australian retail industry. The executive summary highlights the sluggish retail sales in Australia and the need for Coles to adapt its strategic plan. The introduction provides background information on the retail sector and the context of the assignment. The report identifies key issues such as supplier problems, workforce challenges, and the impact of deregulation. It outlines the research methodology, including the use of secondary research and theoretical models like SWOT and Porter’s Five Forces. The report also discusses data sources, potential challenges, and the anticipated outcomes and timeframes for the strategic plan. The analysis covers Coles' organization, issues identification, research methodology, information sources, challenges in developing the plan, and key outcomes with a Gantt chart for the time frame. The report uses secondary research to propose solutions, including strengthening the workforce, resolving supplier issues, and adapting to market changes.

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Running Head: COLES SUPERMARKET
Course code:
Name:
Assignment title:
Your name and id:
Submission date/time:
Lecturer’s name:
Title: Proposal Plan for Coles Supermarket

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Executive Summary
In Australia by the end of 2019, retail sales had been slowly down by more than 0.9%.
Industry is struggling to maintain prices due to sluggish wage growth and high household
debt. Coles Supermarkets Australia is considering a strategic plan to take advantage of
Australia's growing retail market. This report presents a strategic business plan that
identifies key issues, uses research methods from different sources, and determines the
results for Coles Supermarkets.
Australia's retail sector is very competitive, led by three supermarket giants, Wesfarmers,
Woolworths and JBHI-FI. Retail sales in Australia are rising due to franchise and business
practices. In addition, the growth of industry was also boosted by domestic e-commerce.
Companies need to regularly adjust their strategic plans to remain competitive in the
market. As a result, several problems were identified as Cole's supermarket were at the
forefront. The company due to problems from its employees, and suppliers could not make
high profits. Hence research methods have been suggested for adequate solutions.

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Table of contents
Executive Summary............................................................................................................... 2
Introduction............................................................................................................................ 4
Retail Industry in Australia......................................................................................................4
1.Organization........................................................................................................................ 4
2.Issues Identification............................................................................................................. 5
3. Research Methodology.......................................................................................................6
4. Information/data sources....................................................................................................6
5. Challenges in Developing Plan...........................................................................................7
6.Key Outcomes and time frames..........................................................................................7
Conclusion............................................................................................................................. 8
References............................................................................................................................. 9

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Introduction
The retail industry at the end of the year 2019 was sluggish with a recession that had
fallen above 0.9%. Due to the low salary growth and high debt in the household sector, the
sector is struggling to retain its prices. However, it is expected that in the year 2020, the
retail growth will rise by 2.6% at the end of the year (Deloitte, 2019). In this regard, Coles
Supermarket Australia will analyze its strategic plan to gain the advantage of the growing
Australian retail market. In this report, a strategic business plan will be designed by
identifying the key issues, using research methodologies through various sources and
framing the outcomes.
Retail Industry in Australia
The retail industry of Australia is highly competitive dominated by more three big
supermarket giants like Wesfarmers, Woolworth limited, JBHI-FI limited. The manufacturing
sector in Australia is conquered by one-third of the beverage, food and grocery products.
Revenue from supermarkets and sales of groceries contributed to about $135billion (2018)
with 13.7% growth. In the year 2018, the monthly revenue from the retail sector amounted to
$24 million while 10.4% out of total employment belongs to the retail sector. In 2018, the
industry grew at 2.9% while employing approximately 1.3 individuals (Farfan, 2020. The
Australian retail industry is growing due to franchising and entrepreneur form of business
establishments. Additionally, online retail in the country has also contributed to the growth of
the industry (Bailey et al, 2015).
1.Organization
Coles Supermarket is one of the successful retail organizations in Australia that operate
through 2500 outlets around the country. Coles groups have invested in different lines of
business that include Coles online and offline store, Coles express, liquor, financial services
and loyalty programs named Flybuys. It was established in 1914 with one store but with
successful business strategies and capital investment, the business units are one of the
retail giants (Coles, 2020). It has invested time, money and resources in enhancing
customer experience, building a strong employee base while also earning profits through
other services. Since the year 2016, the company has earned approximately$30 billion with
3.2% growth on average. Additionally, customer satisfaction stood at 87.8% and gross
margin was 24.8 %. The company has announced the use of technology in the operational
front. In the year 2019, the company rolled 450 staff replacing it with artificial technology
(Tuckey et al, 2017). To evolve with customer demands and satisfaction, the firm will use
data analytics and artificial intelligence in the warehouse and on the floor. In the retails
sector, the work is complexed and requiring on-time updates, thus unproductive tasks, and

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manual management delay the work in the fast-paced retail world. The company has
estimated that automated systems and artificial intelligence will help in reducing costs by $1
billion (Crozier, 2019). The new technology will help in curtailing risks and identifying the
customers at priority. However, unemployment for many of its employees should be
considered by the supermarket giant. Coles supermarket is planning to restructure its HR,
investment and procurement by the end of 2021. Thus, time and resources both will be
saved by this investment of the firm.
2.Issues Identification
In recent times, Coles supermarkets have been struggling to increase its revenue. In the
first place, the supplier issues have resulted in low stocks of many products in the stores.
The company has collaborated with 7000 suppliers for obtaining the stocks of fresh and
packaged foods. The suppliers that include farm staff have been complaining of “modern
slavery” in Coles (Powell, 2019). The workers have raised issues in front of AGM about the
working conditions and wages. Coles supermarket has been accused of not paying its
managers and staff for six years. The migrant workers (approximately 5%) have claimed of
underpayment by the company across ‘7-eleven shops. It has been reported that about 1,
100 employees of the company have been paid below industry standards. It is calculated
that the company will incur approximately $15m for expenses while $5m for sustaining
interest and other costs (The Guardian, 2020).
Coles Supermarket is not accepting goods from Mars Australia because the pet food
supplier had raised the rise of its products. This would lower the profit margin of the
supermarket giant as it sells the products at lower prices. In the second place, the company
has collaborated with Witron Australia for designing new automated distribution centers. This
technical advancement will replace three stores at Queensland and New South Wales that
will reduce its workforce. Thus, several financially weak families will suffer due to the loss of
jobs. In third place, Wesfarmers, the parent firm of Coles have decided to announce Coles
as a separate legal entity. Thus, Wesfarmers will only contain 15% of Coles's share. Thus,
due to deregulation from the parent company, Coles have suffered downward growth from
the year 2016 (Murphy, 2018). The other competitors like Aldi have taken over the retail
market that was once dominated by Coles Supermarket.
Thus, the company will struggle with its market position due to several issues at the
supplier, workforce. Operational administration fronts of the company. Coles supermarket
should focus on strengthening its workforce and suppliers. The company is operative due to
the products and hard work of its workforce. The firm should improve the working conditions
and restructure the rewards and recognition policy for company-owned and third-party

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suppliers. The company has been deploying automated systems to curtail its costs. It should
ensure the employment of the individual that will be rolled out or some amount of wages
should be given until the workers are employed. Additionally, the supplier issues should be
solved to ensure the fulfillment of stocks regularly. Coles Supermarkets is being deregulated
from its parent company that will provide ample opportunities to expand its growth
independently.
3. Research Methodology
The research methodology is referred to as the techniques through which the information
is selected, analyzed and processed. There are two types of research methodologies like
qualitative and quantitative methods that are commonly used in collecting information
(Kumar, 2019). In the quantitative methods, the information is collected through primary
research. In primary research the data is collected through surveys, interviews and analyzed
through various tools. The data can be numerically measured and significant relations are
formed among the variables to obtain the results. In the qualitative methods, the information
cannot be numerically categorized (Krishnaswamy, 2016). Thus, the data obtained is related
to the present literature. In this method secondary research is conducted that includes
researching the topic on the internet and collecting the information from the works of
different authors and journals (Ganesan, 2019). Some researchers also use mixed methods
that are combing the numerical relations with present literature. The mixed-methods help in
establishing a significant relationship between the practical data and present theories and
other information. Every method is best suited to the type of issues and topics are based on
the research.
In this report secondary research will be done for the strategic planning of the company.
The issues will be addressed through the theoretical models and relevant information from
the internet, books and journals. Different theoretical models like SWOT, Porter’s Five forces
model, TOWS and marketing strategies will be developed to solve the identified issues of
Coles Supermarket. SWOT analysis enables the company to identify its internal environment
through Strength, Weakness, Threats and Opportunities. Similarly, TOWS analyze the firm’s
opportunities and threats while comparing it to the strengths and weakness to prepare maxi-
a maxi strategy that leads to the success path. In Porter's Five forces model, the competitive
strength of the industry will be identified and solutions will be provided for improving the
current position of Coles Supermarket. Many HRM models of employee motivation rewards
and recognition will also be analyzed to solve the labor issues of the organizations. Thus,
qualitative and secondary research is the appropriate method through which the strategic
plan can be developed for Coles Supermarket.

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4. Information/data sources
In a technologically advanced era, the collection of information and knowledge is less
time-consuming. The traditional methods involved searching the information through
textbooks or via teachers as the internet access was limited. In recent times, online
platforms act as storage of data that can be obtained free or paying some amount. To fulfill
the requirements of this report many online and web sources will be analyzed. To collect
information about the strategic model's Google books can be used which allows access to
worldwide books within different time frames. Journal articles published in national and
international publications will also be used. They are easily available and can be cited after
obtaining the data. Issues related to the workforce can be solved through employment
compliance policies available on government websites. Some online sources like
newspapers and research articles by commercial organizations will also be used for this
research.
5. Challenges in Developing Plan
There will be challenges that will accompany the course of research. One of the
challenges will time. While completing the project through secondary, a lot of time is
consumed. The research through various articles and journals is laborious and time-
consuming. Thus, the work has to complete within a given time frame so the task should
perform efficiently. Secondly, the costs of research will also be a challenge. The collection of
sources will require an efficient network data connection. In the absence of computer
systems and laptops, the cost of using a system at cyber café will also raise research costs.
Thirdly, some best of the articles on the online source require subscriptions and
membership fees. Thus, many of the information is unused due to high subscription fee. The
information has to be collected through available free sources on online platforms. Searching
and analyzing information through online is also laborious. It might take several hours to
collect information from the textbooks from a small portion of the research.
6.Key Outcomes and time frames
A strategic plan takes about more than 2 months for obtaining complete and authentic
results for the identified issues. In the first week, problem identification will be done. In the
second week, resources will be collected followed by the third week. By the fourth week, the
strategic plan and research resources will ready for compilation. In the fifth, sixth, seventh
and eight weeks, the report will be prepared with collected data. Thus, in eight weeks,
research will be complete about the strategies that Coles Supermarket should adopt for
strengthening its market capture. In the following Gantt chart has been prepared to
showcase the time frame of the report

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Table 1: Gantt chart
Activities Weeks
1
Week
2
Week
3
Week
4
Week
5
Week
6
Week
7
Week
8
Problem
Identification
Resource
Collection
Starting the
compilation
Report
Preparation
Conclusion
The companies are required to restructure their strategic plan periodically for maintaining
the competitive strength in the market. Thus, several issues have been identified from the
operational front of Coles Supermarket. It relates to the workforce, suppliers and separation
of the company from its parent organization, due to which, the firm is not able to earn high
revenue margins. The issues have been identified and research methodology has been
proposed. Time frames, outcomes and challenges have been discussed. In eight weeks, the
strategic plan will be prepared so that Coles Supermarket can improve its operational
aspect.

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References
Bailey, J., Price, R., Pyman, A., & Parker, J. (2015). Union power in retail: contrasting cases
in Australia and New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations, 40(1), 1.
Coles. (2020). About Us.Retrieved from https://www.colesgroup.com.au/about-us/?
page=our-strategy
Crozier, R. (2019). Coles to use technology to cut its costs by $1bn. Retrieved from
https://www.itnews.com.au/news/coles-to-use-technology-to-cut-its-costs-by-1bn-526872
Deloitte. (2019). Retail Forecasts - November 2019. Retrieved from
https://www2.deloitte.com/au/en/pages/media-releases/articles/retail-forecasts.html#
Farfan, B. (2020). The Largest Australian Retailers. Retrieved from
https://www.thebalancesmb.com/largest-australian-retailers-2892105
Ganesan, R. (2019). Research Methodology for Engineers. MJP Publisher.
Krishnaswamy, K. N. (2016). Management Research Methodology: Integration of Principles,
Methods and Techniques. Pearson Education India.
Kumar, R. (2019). Research methodology: A step-by-step guide for beginners. Sage
Publications Limited.
Murphy, J. (2018). Coles carved off: Uncertain future of supermarket giant. Retrieved from
https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/coles-might-not-be-around-in-10-years/
news-story/4ddfdac929ee98c80933f722c4fe919d
Powell, D. (2019). Coles under pressure over potential worker exploitation in supply chains.
Retrieved from https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/coles-under-pressure-over-
potential-worker-exploitation-in-supply-chains-20190910-p52ptv.html

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The Guardian. (2020). Coles underpaid workers by $20m over six years. Retrieved from
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/feb/18/coles-underpaid-workers-by-20m-
over-six-years
Tuckey, M. R., Boyd, C. M., Winefield, H. R., Bohm, A., Winefield, A. H., Lindsay, A., &
Black, Q. (2017). Understanding stress in retail work: Considering different types of job
demands and diverse applications of job resources. International Journal of Stress
Management, 24(4), 368.