Wesfarmers Limited: Comprehensive Marketing Strategy Development

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the marketing strategy for Wesfarmers Limited, an Australian conglomerate operating in various sectors, including retail, chemicals, and mining. It begins with an overview of the company's core values and the 'Wesfarmers Way' framework, emphasizing integrity, openness, accountability, and boldness. The report employs the 5 Cs framework (Customers, Company, Competitors, Collaborators, and Context) to assess Wesfarmers' current position and market dynamics, including a SWOT analysis. It also discusses information gathering methods used by Wesfarmers for strategic decision-making, highlighting the importance of market research and open communication. Furthermore, the report touches upon the legal and regulatory environment in which Wesfarmers operates. Finally, it suggests developing a marketing strategy through segmentation, targeting, and positioning, along with a detailed marketing mix to enhance their competitive advantage.

Marketing strategy development for Wesfarmers Limited

Running Head: Report
Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................2
5 Cs for Wesfarmers........................................................................................................5
Information gathering......................................................................................................8
Wesfarmers Legislation.................................................................................................11
Developing Marketing strategy.......................................................................................11
Developing marketing mix.............................................................................................13
Conclusion....................................................................................................................16
References....................................................................................................................17
1

Running Head: Report
Introduction
Wesfarmers Limited is an Australian conglomerate which operates in the retail industry,
chemicals and fertilizers manufacturing, coal mining, and manufacturing of Industrial and
safety products. Founded in the year 1914 as the Westralian Farmers Co‐operative Limited,
the organization is headquartered in Perth, Western Australia. The organization became the
largest company operating in Australia in terms of their total revenue buy overtaking both
Woolworths and BHP Billiton. The primary objective of the entity is to provide a satisfactory
return to all its shareholders. The organization practices a strict financial discipline and with
the exceptional Management by able leaders they are able to manage the diverse portfolio
effectively and are progressing in a profitable manner in every sector that they operate in
(Chaney, 2017).
Wesfarmers limited has developed a framework that is made up of the core values of the
company and their strategies to create value for the organization. All of these Strategies and
values are directed towards the achievement of the primary objective of Wesfarmers Limited
of providing a satisfactory return to all the shareholders. The Wesfarmers Way Framework of
the organization can be explained through the image below.
2

Running Head: Report
(Wesfarmers Limited, 2018)
The business organizations of Wesfarmers Limited are primarily divided into two major
segments. The retail segment of the company constitutes one division and the rest of the
operations are a part of the other division of Wesfarmers Limited (Jones, 2017). The
organization also provides the detailed information of all the investors and shareholders on
the company website. All the major shareholders of Wesfarmers Limited are included in the
table below.
3

Running Head: Report
The core values of the Wesfarmers Way Framework the organization believes and thrives on
or that of integrity, openness, accountability and boldness. Integrity is of high importance to
all the members of the organization and the ensure that all their feelings are carried out in an
ethical manner at all times. The organization promote a culture of openness and honesty and
ensure that all the reports, feedback and ideas provided by the members of the organizations
and even the customers or external stakeholders a shared and communicated transparently
and honestly. The organization also provides its leaders and all the members the opportunity
to accept their mistakes and learn from them without being too harsh. This ensures that the
trust in the organization is maintained and the members can openly communicate across the
organization. Accountability is highly valued in Wesfarmers and the roles and responsibilities
are assigned by significantly delegating the responsibilities and the decision making power to
all members of the organization. Because of this, each employee is accountable for their
performance and for the performance of the team which helps in protecting and enhancing the
reputation of the company (Scott, 2018).
4

Running Head: Report
5 Cs for Wesfarmers
The 5 Cs of marketing provide the organizations with the strategic tools to carry out the
situation analysis.
The 5 Cs of marketing strategy for an organization include an analysis of its customers,
company, competitors, collaborators and the context.
Customers: Wesfarmers Limited operates in a number of industries including the retail
industry, chemicals and fertilizers manufacturing, coal mining, and manufacturing of
Industrial and safety products. There are a number of customers that the organization serves
today various businesses and all these customers are central to the operations and activities
carried out by the organization. The organization carries out a regular assessment of their
market size, projected growth and preferences of the customers which continuous to change
over time. Wesfarmers also carries out the analysis of the entire purchase decision making
5

Running Head: Report
process adopted by the customers and how the customers perceive the brand image of the
organization (Corporation, 2012).
Company: Wesfarmers Limited is an Australian conglomerate operating in a number of
industries and running various product lines. The organization has the primary mission of
delivering value and maximum returns to all their shareholders and has diversified interests in
the retail, manufacturing and marketing industry. The internal strength and weaknesses and
the external opportunities and threats of Wesfarmers Limited are included in the table below.
Strengths  More than 100 years old organization and brand legacy.
 Emphasis of the organization on delivering quality products and
maintaining high performance.
 Huge variety of products and services offered through varied
brands allowing the customers to make a choice from.
 Wesfarmers gives a lot of importance to delivering with
convenience and providing high quality customer service.
Weakness  Being a market leader, under continuous scrutiny for their actions
and decisions.
 The geographical presence of the company is limited to Australia
only (Lehtinen, 2017).
Opportunities  They can expand the footprint outside Australia and New Zealand
to the developing Nations.
 Wesfarmers can run initiatives for enhancing the loyalty of the
customers and employees toward the company.
Threats  Intensified competition between various organizations competing
for the same customer segments.
6

Running Head: Report
 The business is dependent on the economic conditions of the
country.
Competitors: There are a number of competitors and organizations operating in the same
market as Wesfarmers Limited. Some of the major competitors of the organization are Myer,
Woolworths Group, HS Home and Best & Less (Walsh, 2013).
Collaborators: The individuals and organizations that have shared interest in the growth and
development of the company called its collaborators. The collaborators of Wesfarmers
Limited are there suppliers, distributors, and the external stakeholders of the company.
Context: The context of the organization is the climate of the external environment that
influences the overall working of the company. The political, economic, social and
technological, environmental and legal factors majorly constitute the macro environment of
Wesfarmers Limited. Each of these factors that contribute towards the growth and
development of the company and impact their operations are included here.
 Political factors: The political stability in Australia and New Zealand and the rules
and regulations formulated by the government impact The functioning of Wesfarmers
Limited. The tax regulations and other duties levied on the company make up the
political factors influencing their performance (Joseph, 2013).
 Economic factors: The GDP of the country and other economic conditions including
the interest rates, inflation and the currency exchange rates all contribute towards the
performance of the organization.
 Social factors: The preferences of the customers, current fashion trends and the
lifestyle choices of the people of Australia and New Zealand also determine their
preferences and the overall performance of Wesfarmers Limited.
7

Running Head: Report
 Technological factors: The latest technologies and trends shape the future of the
organizations. Wesfarmers Limited needs to keep up with the changing preferences of
people when shopping with the inclination of more and more customers towards e-
commerce. Some other latest technologies like internet of things and artificial
intelligence may also shaped the course of the organization in future (Samli, 2015).
 Environmental factors: Wesfarmers Limited needs to ensure that the business
practices are in line with the environmental rules and regulations set up by the
Australian government. The organisation need to shave their operations and practices
to ensure the sustainable development and work towards reduction of their carbon
footprint to minimise the negative impact of their operations on the environment.
 Legal factors: While Wesfarmers primarily operates as a retail organisation, there are
numerous other businesses and divisions of the company. The excursion into diverse
businesses and industries subjects the organisation to various legal regulations which
the need to comply with. This makes the external environment of the organisation
complex and challenging to manage.
Information gathering
The primary objective of Wesfarmers Limited is to provide a satisfactory return to its
shareholders. The organization does this by continuously acquiring the organizations in the
market and diversifying its portfolio while growing in an efficient manner and expanding
their opportunities and operations. The organization needs all the relevant and valuable
information in order to carry out the decision making and judgement. For this we need to first
determined the information that is relevant to them and all that they need to know in order to
make the decisions. Following this, the organization needs to actively seek out the
information from various primary and secondary sources. Like all the organizations,
8

Running Head: Report
Wesfarmers limited has also develop an effective routine for gathering the information that
the required for making strategic decisions. The three basic steps that we follow for the
decision making include gathering the information, taking a decision and implementing it.
Accurate and timely information collected by the organization is essential for the decision
making and a success in this stage translates into effective performance and growth of the
company. The decision makers in Wesfarmers Limited continuously keep a watch on the
market conditions and go through the reports and the data published by various Government
and non-government sources regarding the economic and financial performance of the
country as well as their competitors (Furrer, 2006). The organization also maintains an open
communication throughout the company where the employees and even the customers can
provide feedback and suggestions for the improvement and these are considered seriously by
the company.
Wesfarmers Limited believes in maintaining and environment of honesty and openness all
across and therefore open communication is maintained across all levels of management for
all the divisions of the company. The organization also carries out the internal analysis
regularly by studying the internal strengths and weaknesses and analyzing the external
opportunities and threats that come their way. The analysis of the financial performance of
the company is carried out through the various analysis tools like the cost benefit analysis,
calculation of financial ratios and studying the financial projections of the company with the
help of the annual performance and the reports published by them. The marketing division of
Wesfarmers Limited also carries out market research regularly in order to identify the
preferences of the current and the potential customers and to analyze in the presence of their
competitors along with their strengths and weaknesses. The market research also allows the
company to find out the current situation of the market and carry out strategic planning which
9

Running Head: Report
help the managers in fulfilling the mission of the company and working towards their
strategic vision (FDIC, 2015).
10

Running Head: Report
Wesfarmers Legislation
While Wesfarmers primarily operates as a retail organisation, there are numerous other
businesses and divisions of the company. The excursion into diverse businesses and
industries subjects the organisation to various legal regulations which the need to comply
with. This makes the external environment of the organisation complex and challenging to
manage. There are numerous regulations, laws and government policies that the organisation
has to abide by. The corporate governance policies of Wesfarmers Limited provide all the
relevant information regarding the charters and the group policies followed by them. The
roles and responsibilities of the board and the management of the company are shared by
Wesfarmers Limited in their annual report. Along with this they also provide the information
regarding the structure and composition of the board, their investor engagement activities,
policies governing the ethical and responsible behaviour by the organisation, the anti bribery
policy adopted by them and the detailed information regarding the political donations
received by them. Wesfarmers limited also works towards ensuring that the human rights are
protected for all their employees and they do not indulge in human trafficking or slavery
through any of their businesses or supply chains. The organisation understand its
Responsibility in safeguarding the people and engaging ethically in sustainable business
practices.
Developing Marketing strategy
The marketing strategy for an organization is developed by practicing the segmentation,
targeting and positioning of the company. Segmentation is defined as the division of the
broad consumer base of the organization into smaller segments of potential customers having
11

Running Head: Report
similar attributes and shared characteristics. For Wesfarmers Limited, it is suggested that the
organization focuses on the people who are shopping for grocery, automotive parts, home and
lifestyle products, liquor and the industrial and safety products. Fizzy organization provides
all of these opening through the diversified portfolio, they can target the customer looking for
these solutions. Wesfarmers cannot classify their customers on the basis of the demographic
characteristics like gender, age or profession (FBA, 2012). Therefore, in order to differentiate
themselves from the competitors and the other organizations offering similar products in the
market Wesfarmers Limited needs to focus on the service provisioning and offer additional
features and convenience to the Shoppers like loyalty points and special offers to keep them
loyal to the brand and to the organization.
The shoppers these days look for convenience while shopping and the larger variety and
choices offered to them, greater is the chance of them revisiting the store and shopping with
them. Therefore, Wesfarmers should continue to diversify their product portfolio and offer
different varieties of same product along with additional discounts and services. Wesfarmers
has position themselves in the market through various different brands. An example in the
Retail Industry is a diversified business of Wesfarmers which stores like Target, Officeworks,
Kmart and Coles is targeting a different customer segment. This helps the individual brand of
Wesfarmers limited to retain their position in the market and also allows your organization to
serve customers coming from all segments. It is suggested that the organization continues to
promote and market these brands separately and maintains the USB of the company that
requires a range of retail stores and offers them to the customers with the large variety of
products and added convenience (Isoherranen, 2012).
12

Running Head: Report
In order to fulfill the mission of Wesfarmers Limited of providing satisfactory return to all
their shareholders, it is suggested that the organization create a distinct value proposition for
themselves. Wesfarmers Limited should focus on the quality of service provisioning and the
products offered by them so that the customers continue to revisit them and are loyal to the
organization. The positioning of the brand can be done by emphasizing on the quality and
excellent service provided by the organization (Gompert, et al., 2008).
Developing marketing mix
Marketing mix comprises of the four Ps of marketing covering the product, price, place and
promotion which communicates the entire marketing strategy of an organization. The section
elaborates the marketing mix that needs to be adopted by Wesfarmers Limited in order to
fulfill the long term vision of providing satisfactory return to their stakeholders and to
achieve the marketing strategy developed for them in the previous section. It is suggested that
Wesfarmers Limited develops a marketing strategy that is focusing on delivering quality
products to the customers and adding to the convenience by improving the service
provisioning of the company. The marketing mix that the organization should adopt for this is
included here:
Product: The product portfolio of Wesfarmers Limited is extremely diversified and it is a
leading brand in the market operating in numerous different industries and sectors. All the
subsidiaries of the group work in tandem with the primary mission of delivering satisfactory
value to the shareholders of the company.
Price: Wesfarmers Limited faces out of competition from numerous big brands all over
Australia in each of the divisions in which they operate. The company should attempt to
13

Running Head: Report
maintain the position in the market by offering prices that are similar to the competitors to
ensure that they stay competitive and are able to challenge the existing and the upcoming
players while retaining their customer base. The organization can also offer value discounts
to the customers purchasing in high volumes from them and run special promotional offers on
specific days that have low footfall in the stores to attract more customers and keep them
engage. The reward program run by the organization can be further enhanced by providing
vouchers to the customers for every purchase and the shopping card of the company can help
in easily tracking the purchases made by the customers. Wesfarmers Limited can also offer
fuel discounts to their customers when making purchase through their loyalty cards and
digitizing the entire system of maintenance and tracking of the points of the customers can
reduce the hassle of retaining the receipts of paper making it more convenient for the
organization as well as for the customers. Wesfarmers Limited is a customer centric
organization and all its operations revolve around ensuring that the customers are delivered
best possible products at optimum prices and the best service at the store and when
performing business with the company (Mayo, 2016).
Place: Wesfarmers Limited has well established distribution channels all over Australia and
New Zealand and is providing employment to more than 220,000 employees. They also
operate through the online platform and have ventured into the domain of e-commerce for the
increasing the convenient for the customers. The different labels of the organization allow
them to serve a wide range of customers as per their needs and requirements.
Promotion: The promotional activities of Wesfarmers Limited should continue with the
district brand names as each of the divisions of the company targets a different set of
customers. Wesfarmers limited has been clear about the strategic goals and the company is
recommended to continue with these practices. They can make use of various electronic and
non-electronic modes of marketing including television advertisement, social media
14

Running Head: Report
marketing, print ads in newspapers, magazines, public display board, hoardings and other
promotional methods (Samli, 2015).
People: Wesfarmers Limited is providing employment to more than 220,000 employees all
over Australia and New Zealand. Of these people, approximately 68 per cent are employed
on a permanent basis and 32 per cent are employed on a casual basis. The voluntary turnover
rate across the Group was reported to be 18 per cent.
Physical evidence: The different divisions of Wesfarmers limited offer variety of products.
Coles Group the retail business which was acquired by Wesfarmers Limited in 2007. It is a
national supermarket offering all the convenience store products, liquor and fuel and is
currently operating more than 750 full service supermarkets, more than 800 liquor outlets, 92
hotels and about 630 convenience stores also offering fuel. The home improvement and
office supplies division of Wesfarmers Limited runs by the name of Bunnings Warehouse.
The home improvement and outdoor Living products are offered by the company under this
brand all over Australia and New Zealand. Officeworks is another division which operates in
the retail and supply of office products for institutions, households and educational
organizations in Australia. The Departmental Store division of Wesfarmers Limited operates
the two brands of Kmart and Target. Wesfarmers also offers industrial Products including
chemicals, energy supplies and fertilizers. The industrial and safety equipments manufactured
by the company are also delivered and supplied all over Australia (Joseph, 2013).
Process: The retail business of Wesfarmers Limited run under various different brand names
that all target customers from different social and economic background for the increasing the
reach of the company. It is recommended that the company should continue with this strategy
and for the diversify the business portfolio by mergers and acquisitions which will allow
them to serve even more customers and provide them with a greater convenience.
15

Running Head: Report
Conclusion
Wesfarmers Limited is an Australian conglomerate which operates in the retail industry,
chemicals and fertilizers manufacturing, coal mining, and manufacturing of Industrial and
safety products. This report includes the detailed marketing strategy recommended for
Wesfarmers Limited by analyzing the current environment and operational practices and
recommending them the optimum marketing strategy and tactics in order to further increase
their profitability and reach in the market.
16

Running Head: Report
References
Chaney, M., 2017. 2017 Annual Report: Delivering value today and tomorrow, Available at:
https://www.wesfarmers.com.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/2017-annual-
report.pdf?sfvrsn=0
Corporation, D., 2012. Developing a Corporate Marketing Strategy, Available at:
https://blog.demandmetric.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/marketing_strategy_plan_metho
dology.pdf
FBA, 2012. Strategic Analysis: Creating Competitive Advantages, Available at:
https://fba.aiub.edu/Files/Uploads/MGT110042.pdf
FDIC, 2015. Developing a Marketing Plan, Available at:
https://www.fdic.gov/about/diversity/sbrp/15.pdf
Furrer, O., 2006. Marketing strategies, Available at:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230743793_Marketing_Strategies
Gompert, D., Davis, P., Johnson, S. & Long, D., 2008. Analysis Analysis and Strategies of
Analysis: RAND Corporation, Available at:
https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/2008/RAND_MG718.pdf
Isoherranen, V., 2012. Strategy analysis frameworks for strategy orientation and focus,
Available at: http://jultika.oulu.fi/files/isbn9789514297885.pdf
Jones, D., 2017. Sustainability Report 2017:' Wesfarmers has been committed to creating
value for its shareholders, employees and communities for more than a century, Available at:
https://sustainability.wesfarmers.com.au/media/2222/2017-wesfarmers-sustainability-full-
report.pdf
17

Running Head: Report
Joseph, K., 2013. Effects of marketing strategies on entrepreneurial development, Available
at: http://eprints.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/6595/1/EFFECTS%20OF%20MARKETING
%20STRATEGIES%20ON%20ENTREPRENEURIAL%20DEVELOPMENT.pdf
Lehtinen, N., 2017. Strategic marketing analysis, Available at:
https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/136513/Lehtinen_Nina.pdf?
sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Mayo, M., 2016. A Template For Marketing Strategy, Available at:
https://www.ryerson.ca/~kjensen/marketing/templates.pdf
Samli, A., 2015. Retail Marketing Strategy Development. pp. 17-25, Available at:
https://rd.springer.com/chapter/10.1057%2F9781137476340_3
Scott, R., 2018. 2018 Half-year Results Briefing Presentation, Available at:
http://www.wesfarmers.com.au/docs/default-source/asx-announcements/2018-half-year-
results-briefing-presentation.pdf?sfvrsn=0
Walsh, I., 2013. Business development and Marketing strategy in Early-
‐stage Technology
Start-
‐up Businesses: The Importance of Understanding the Customer, Available at:
http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10063/3495/thesis.pdf?sequence=2
Wesfarmers Limited, 2018. The Wesfarmers Way: Wesfarmers’ primary objective is to
provide a satisfactory return to shareholders. [Online]
Available at: http://www.wesfarmers.com.au/who-we-are/the-wesfarmers-way
18