MKT00720: A Comparative Case Study of Tesco and Sainsbury's Marketing

This case study report analyzes how Tesco and Sainsbury's, two major players in the UK retail sector, have achieved competitive advantage through their marketing strategies. It examines Tesco's customer-centric approach, EDLP strategy, and relationship marketing, highlighting its focus on customer satisfaction and profitability analysis. Similarly, it explores Sainsbury's emphasis on quality, diversification, and relationship marketing, particularly in managing crises and building customer loyalty. The report concludes that both companies have successfully leveraged customer-centric strategies to build strong market positions, demonstrating the critical role of customer satisfaction and service quality in achieving sustainable competitive advantage in the retail industry. Desklib provides similar solved assignments and past papers for students.

Running head: ANALYSIS OF TESCO AND SAINSBURY’S
ANALYSIS OF TESCO AND SAINSBURY’S
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ANALYSIS OF TESCO AND SAINSBURY’S
Executive Summary
This report is based on the analysis of the creation of competitive advantage in the industry
by two different organizations. The companies which have been taken into consideration for
this analysis are Tesco and Sainsbury’s. These organizations have created effective marketing
strategies which have provided them with a competitive advantage in the industry. The two
organizations belong to the retail industry of the United Kingdom. The strategies which have
been implemented by the companies are entirely based on the needs and demands of the
customers and their satisfaction levels as well. The companies are thereby able to operate in a
profitable manner in the industry with the help of their customer base.

2ANALYSIS OF TESCO AND SAINSBURY’S
Table of Contents
a. Introduction................................................................................................................3
b. Description of the cases.............................................................................................3
c. Evidence based on marketing related success............................................................4
d. The ways by which these organizations achieved success in the industry................5
e. Conclusion..................................................................................................................7
References......................................................................................................................8

3ANALYSIS OF TESCO AND SAINSBURY’S
a. Introduction
The marketing strategies of organization play an important role in the ways by which
the organization is able to create its unique position in the industry. The promotional and
marketing activities are therefore important in successful operations of the business and for
the purpose of increasing productivity and sales of the companies. The companies in a
modern business environment thereby need to create a proper relationship with the
customers. The trust levels that are built by organizations play an important part in their
sustainable operations (Cohen 2014). The modern organizations need to develop appropriate
strategies which can help in their sustainability. Competitive advantage plays an important
role in the ways by which an organization is able to create its higher position in the industry
as compared to its competitors.
The report is based on the analysis of two organizations which belong to the same
industry, namely Tesco and Sainsbury’s. The companies mainly operate in the retail sector of
the United Kingdom. The companies have been able to create their position in the industry
with the help of their unique features (Daspit et al. 2017).
b. Description of the cases
Tesco is a multinational organizational organization which operates in the retail sector
of the United Kingdom. The organization has its headquarters in London and its founder is
Jack Cohen. The company operates its stores in more than 6500 locations all over the world.
Tesco has a huge employee base of 476000 in its different stores in the world. The revenues
that have been earned by the organization in the year 2017 have been more than 55,917
billion Euros (Tesco plc. 2018). The advertising strategy which has been implemented by the
company has been helpful to implement the relationship marketing related activities that have
been performed by Tesco. The major strategy that is applied by the organization in order to

4ANALYSIS OF TESCO AND SAINSBURY’S
operate in the industry in a profitable manner was based on everyday lower prices. The brand
image of Tesco has been improved with the help of its effective implementation in different
processes (James 2016).
Sainsbury’s has been able to acquire the second position in the chain of supermarkets
in the UK which has greater than 16.9% of total shares in the market. The organization was
established in the year 1969. The founder of Tesco is John James Sainsbury’s which operates
in the retail sector. Sainsbury’s has more than 1400 shops which operate in different areas of
the United Kingdom. The company has total employee base of more than 1,80,000 people all
over the world. The organization has gained huge success and popularity in retail industry of
the United Kingdom (Sainsburys.co.uk. 2018). The approach which has been taken by the
company in the retail industry is customer centric in nature. This has been helpful for
Sainsbury’s to gain popularity in the retail industry and provide the customers with better
experience. The approach based on quality management has also followed by the company at
the point of crisis. The horse meat based issue that had been faced by Sainsbury’s was solved
with the help of improvement of the quality of service (Jones et al. 2015).
c. Evidence based on marketing related success
The activities related to marketing that have been conducted by Tesco in the retail
industry are totally based on the ways by which customers can be satisfied in an effective
manner. The strategies that have been implemented by Tesco in retail industry has helped the
company to create a competitive position. The most important objective that has been set by
the company is related to offering the best products to the customers in order to become
successful in the industry. The relationship marketing based strategy has been implemented
by Tesco in order to manage the different customers (Hill, Jones and Schilling 2014).

5ANALYSIS OF TESCO AND SAINSBURY’S
The services that are provided to the customers are also highly effective and
beneficial as it is based on their demands and needs. The company has been able to maintain
its competitive advantage in the market with the successful implementation of this strategy.
Profitability analysis has also been implemented by Tesco in order to stay competitive in the
retail industry of the United Kingdom. The information based on the ways by which Tesco
has been able to gain a competitive advantage with the help of marketing strategies has been
provided by the article named Tesco Success Story (Tesco Success Story 2018).
On the other hand, the marketing strategies of Sainsbury’s are based on the
implementation of quality approach where the organization is able to provide high quality
services and products to the customers. The organization has also been implementing
different strategies that are based on the analysis of strengths which have been created by
Sainsbury’s in the retail market. The company has also been able to implement many
diversifications based strategies that are related to the increase of the effectiveness in the
industry. The crisis based incident which had been faced by the company due to the horse
meat based incident was solved by the organization with the proper management of quality of
products that are offered to the customers (Ruddick 2018).
d. The ways by which these organizations achieved success in the industry
The analysis of the article named Tesco Success Story has proved that the company
has applied different approaches which are customer centric in nature. The accurate type of
customization is an essential part of the ways by which Tesco has been able to create a
competitive position in the industry. The strong base of customers has been created by the
company with the help of implementation of its effective strategies (Mollah 2014). Tesco also
adopted the strategy named EDLP that is related to the different transformation based
processes which been successful for the company. The customers of Tesco are mainly treated

6ANALYSIS OF TESCO AND SAINSBURY’S
as the assets of the company which is related to the ways by which they are provided with
accurate services. The needs and wants of the customers have thereby played an important
role in the achievement of competitive advantage by the Tesco in the retail industry (Verma,
Sharma and Sheth 2016).
Sainsbury’s has aimed at gaining success in retail industry with the help of different
types of relationship marketing based strategies. Relationship marketing has enabled the
company to create a different position in the retail industry. This strategy of marketing has
helped the company to maintain positive relationships with the customers in the retail
industry of Australia. The surge that was experienced in the sales of meat was mainly after
the company was able to fulfil the needs and demands of the customers. The article which has
provided information based on the competitive advantage that has been gained by
Sainsbury’s in the retail industry (Michael, Storey and Thomas 2017).
The strategies that have been implemented by the company with the aim of creating a
position in the retail industry are totally based on the ways by which Sainsbury’s has satisfied
the customers. The analysis of the article has mainly depicted that Sainsbury’s has
implemented the strategies in such a manner which will be able to create a huge customer
base. The company can thereby be able to create a position that is better than its competitors
in the retail industry of the United Kingdom. Sainsbury’s has been able to operate in a more
profitable manner as compared to the other organizations (Payne and Frow 2017). The needs
and demands of customers have been provided with huge importance by the retail
organization. The customers have thereby played an important role in the ways by which
Sainsbury’s has created a competitive advantage in the retail industry of Australia within a
short period of time. The customers of the organization have been satisfied with the help of
proper implementation of the marketing strategies that are developed by the company
(Ruddick 2018).

7ANALYSIS OF TESCO AND SAINSBURY’S
e. Conclusion
The report can be concluded by stating that the modern organizations need to
implement effective strategies in order to operate in the market in a profitable manner. The
companies need to create marketing related strategies that are able to provide an important
competitive advantage in the market. The marketing strategies are able to play the most
important role in the ways by which an organization is able affect the operations of its
competitors in the market. The customers of organizations belonging to any particular sector
play the central in providing the sustainable competitive advantage. The companies thereby
need to create a loyal and large customer base in order to operate in the industry in an
effective manner. The two organizations which have been taken into consideration for this
analysis, that is, Tesco and Sainsbury’s operate in the same retail sector of the UK. The two
organizations have been able to operate in a profitable manner in the environment with the
help of their effective and efficient strategies. The strategies which have been implemented
by the organizations are totally customer centric in nature which has been able to prove that
the success of organizations and competitive advantage totally depends on the quality of
services and products that are offered to the customers.

8ANALYSIS OF TESCO AND SAINSBURY’S
References
Cohen, T., 2014. Relationship Marketing. Touro Accounting & Business Journal, 26.
Daspit, J. J., Chrisman, J. J., Sharma, P., Pearson, A. W., and Long, R. G., 2017. A Strategic
Management Perspective of the Family Firm: Past Trends, New Insights, and Future
Directions. Journal of Managerial Issues, 29(1).
Hill, C. W., Jones, G. R., and Schilling, M. A., 2014. Strategic management: theory: an
integrated approach. Cengage Learning.
James, S.D., 2016. Strategic bankruptcy: A stakeholder management perspective. Journal of
Business Research, 69(2), pp.492-499.
Jones, M.A., Reynolds, K.E., Arnold, M.J., Gabler, C.B., Gillison, S.T. and Landers, V.M.,
2015. Exploring consumers’ attitude towards relationship marketing. Journal of Services
Marketing, 29(3), pp.188-199.
Michael, S., Storey, D., and Thomas, H., 2017. Discovery and coordination in strategic
management and entrepreneurship. Strategic entrepreneurship: Creating a new mindset, 45-
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Mollah, A.S., 2014. The impact of relationship marketing on customer loyalty at Tesco Plc,
UK. European Journal of Business and Management, 6(3), pp.21-55.
Payne, A. and Frow, P., 2017. Relationship marketing: looking backwards towards the
future. Journal of Services Marketing, 31(1), pp.11-15.
Ruddick, G. 2018. Sainsbury's sales surge following horse meat crisis. [online]
Telegraph.co.uk. Available at:

9ANALYSIS OF TESCO AND SAINSBURY’S
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9939340/Sainsburys-
sales-surge-following-horse-meat-crisis.html [Accessed 5 Aug. 2018].
Sainsburys.co.uk. 2018. Sainsbury's. [online] Available at: https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/
[Accessed 5 Aug. 2018].
Tesco plc. 2018. Tesco PLC. [online] Available at: https://www.tescoplc.com/ [Accessed 5
Aug. 2018].
Tesco Success Story 2018. [online] Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/tesco-
supermarkets-success-story-example-customer-muhammed-shafeekh [Accessed 5 Aug.
2018].
Verma, V., Sharma, D. and Sheth, J., 2016. Does relationship marketing matter in online
retailing? A meta-analytic approach. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 44(2),
pp.206-217.