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

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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
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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.
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(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.
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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).
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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
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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.
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 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.
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 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,
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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
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help the managers in fulfilling the mission of the company and working towards their
strategic vision (FDIC, 2015).
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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
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