MBA503 Operations Management: Woolworths' Push-Pull Strategy Analysis

This report provides a detailed analysis of Woolworths' operations management, focusing on the application of the push-pull strategy. It explores how Woolworths, a major Australian supermarket chain, leverages this strategy to maintain its market position. The report discusses the push strategy, which involves making products readily available to customers through pricing, point-of-sale tactics, and loyalty programs. It also examines the pull strategy, used to introduce new products and phase out older ones by adjusting advertising and promotional efforts. The analysis highlights the cyclical development of supermarket strategies and the importance of adapting to evolving e-commerce trends. Ultimately, the report offers a clear understanding of how Woolworths employs these strategies to effectively manage its supply chain and customer engagement.

Running head: OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Operations management
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Push Pull Strategy of the Business.............................................................................................3
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................4
References..................................................................................................................................5

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Introduction
Woolworth’s supermarkets is an Australian supermarket store chain owned by the
Woolworths group of companies. The company which was founded in the year 1924 is
headquartered in Bella Vista of New South Wales, Australia. The company has been able to
establish around 995 different stores across the country and has been one of the largest
supermarket stores of the country. With an annual revenue of more than A$60 billion, the
company provides employment to more than 115,000 people across Australia. The enormous
figures of the company itself suggests the superior market position of the company. The
following report is based on the discussion of a special marketing strategy of the business
organization (Push Pull Strategy) that has been helpful for the management of
Woolworths’s to establish its supremacy over the market of the country.
Push Pull Strategy of the Business
The established supermarkets of the country and across the globe work in almost the
similar manner and employs almost the same strategies except a few. The present business
model of the different kinds of the supermarket is based all upon the scale and leverage
system that are generally applied to the supply chain of the business organizations. These
employs though are same in nature, there are Push and Pull strategies that are important
elements of the business organization. According to, Fera et al. (2017) the rapidly evolving e-
commerce methods have been a major reason behind the employment of the push pull
strategy by the management of the different kinds of the business organizations. These
rapidly growing e-commerce models have compelled the management of Woolworths to push
the products that they offer to the customers. The push strategy of the business will be
dependent on the different factors which will be promoted by the business organization. This
includes the likes of the price, point of sales, customer loyalty and other customer centric

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business activities. The push strategy will basically try to make the products available to the
customers of the business organization. The basic strategy and the push strategy will be
dependent on the success of the business organization in a proper and effective manner.
On the other hand, the strategic development of the supermarkets have been cyclical.
Earlier in each one of the supermarket counters there was a counter and someone who took
the order and assembled it from stock to which the customers had no access (Rao and
Kumara 2017). Then came the steady development of the supermarket, which increasingly
leveraged the scale of the stores and their control of the supply chains to push product at
consumers, and making a margin from the suppliers via retail shelf ‘rental’ and pocketed
promotion fees (Mendes Leal and Thomé 2016). The pull strategy is employed by the
business in order to take away the products from the customer. This particular process is
employed at the time when the management of the company wants to launch a new product
and retire the old from the market. When the push theory is followed by different kinds of the
strategies like advertisement and social media responses, the pull theory involves the likes of
the retirement of the advertisement and promotion s for the particular product.
Conclusion
The following report has provided a detailed strategic report on push and pull strategy
employed by the business organization in a proper and systematic manner. The report has
provided a clear and transparent image of the push and pull strategy and is a good example of
a proper marketing perspective.

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References
Fera, M., Fruggiero, F., Lambiase, A., Macchiaroli, R. and Miranda, S., 2017. The role of
uncertainty in supply chains under dynamic modeling. International Journal of Industrial
Engineering Computations, 8(1), pp.119-140.
Mendes Jr, P., Leal, J.E. and Thomé, A.M.T., 2016. A maturity model for demand-driven
supply chains in the consumer product goods industry. International Journal of Production
Economics, 179, pp.153-165.
Rao, J.J. and Kumara, V., 2017, February. Review of supply chain management in
manufacturing systems. In 2017 International Conference on Innovative Mechanisms for
Industry Applications (ICIMIA) (pp. 759-762). IEEE.
Zhang, C., Fang, D., Yang, X. and Zhang, X., 2018. Push and pull strategies by component
suppliers when OEMs can produce the component in-house: The roles of branding in a
supply chain. Industrial Marketing Management, 72, pp.99-111.