MGT510 - Strategic Management: Analyzing Coles Supermarket Australia

This case study provides a strategic analysis of Coles Supermarket in Australia, focusing on its business environment and strategic approaches. Founded in 1914, Coles operates supermarket chains across Australia, offering a wide range of products and employing over 107,000 people. The analysis uses the PESTEL framework to assess the macro-environmental factors influencing Coles, including political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal aspects. The Australian retail industry is highly competitive, with the rise of Aldi significantly impacting the market. The analysis highlights the importance of e-commerce, updated technology, and competitive pricing for attracting customers. Ultimately, the study concludes that Coles is influenced by these macro-environmental factors and must adapt its strategies to maintain its market position in the competitive Australian retail landscape. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments and study resources for students.

Strategic Management
Student Name
Institute and Affiliation
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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Macro-environmental Analysis:......................................................................................................3
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................4
References:......................................................................................................................................5
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Introduction:
Strategic management helps to analyse the business directions and approaches of the
organisation. Present research is a strategic management of Coles Supermarket Australia
(Grimmer, 2018). Coles Supermarket was founded in the year 1914 by George Coles. It is almost
100 years old company. It operates the supermarket chains in Australia. They have different
types of products. These are bakery, baby, dairy, fish, fresh fruit, seafood, liquor, vegetables,
meat, tablets, mobile phones and gift cards. Along with they provide eggs, drinks, frozen food,
healthy and beauty, media and stationery products. They have altogether 107,156 employees.
Total revenue of Coles is AUD 33.00 billion and total assets AUD22.1 billion.
Macro-environmental Analysis:
Australian retail or supermarket industry is very competitive. The rise of AlDI has affected
significantly the Australian retail market. PESTEL analysis will help to identify the industries
macro-environmental analysis.
Figure 1: PESTEL Analysis
Source: Gillespie, 2007
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Political: Political and legal uncertainty is there in the Australian retail industry. Australian
business totally depends upon the election results and political environment also hampered due
to the fallen of the Australian Dollar (Business.gov.au, 2018). Hence, Coles supermarket has to
maintain wage regulations, mandatory employee benefits and taxation.
Economical: Australian economic growth is very high and Australian retail industry has huge
contribution in its economical growth. It is through the direct employment, providing retail
service to the local community people. It has been identified that in the year 2011 the retail
industry of Australia reached growth of $240 billion. Sales growth has been increased 3.50% in
the year 2018 (Tradingeconomics.com, 2018). Coles supermarket has been generating high
amount of revenue due to the enhancement of sales growth.
Social: Australian customers love to buy varieties of products in online. Hence, Australian retail
industry is using e-commerce technology to attract more customers. Coles supermarket already
has the online presence. Customers of Australia also prefer updated products and within limited
price. Hence, retail has been able to satisfy its huge amount of customers through updated
technology varieties of products.
Technological: Due to the globalisation world is habituated with the use technology.
Technology based service is common trend of modern business. Hence, Australian retail industry
is also not so far in this matter. They are also using updated technology and mobile apps to
provide the service all over the world. Through the app customer can easily access the
organisational products and services.
Environmental: Australian market is highly competitive and thus retail industry is facing huge
competition in keeping their position as leader. Coles supermarket has been facing several
challenges through its competitors on basis of products and service quality.
Legal: Australian government’s rules and regulations effects upon its retail industry. Their
internal policies change on the basis of governmental rules and regulations.
Conclusion:
The macro environmental analysis helps to identify that Australian retail industry is competitive
and it has been developing through the use of ecommerce and updated technology. They are also
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trying to attract more customers through their innovative approaches. Coles supermarket is thus
influenced through the macro environment factors.
References:
Business.gov.au. (2018). Retail and wholesale trade industry fact sheet. [online] Available at:
https://www.business.gov.au/planning/templates-and-tools/industry-factsheets/retail-and-
wholesale-trade-industry-fact-sheets [Accessed 2 Dec. 2018].
Gillespie, A. (2007). PESTEL analysis of the macro-environment. Foundations of Economics,
Oxford University Press, USA.
Grimmer, L., (2018). The diminished stakeholder: Examining the relationship between suppliers
and supermarkets in the Australian grocery industry. Journal of Consumer
Behaviour, 17(1), pp.e13-e20.
Tradingeconomics.com. (2018). Australia Retail Sales YoY | 2018 | Data | Chart | Calendar |
Forecast. [online] Available at: https://tradingeconomics.com/australia/retail-sales-annual
[Accessed 2 Dec. 2018].
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