International Marketing Report: Waitrose's Singapore Venture

This report provides a comprehensive international marketing analysis for Waitrose's potential expansion into the Singapore market. It begins with an executive summary highlighting Waitrose's position in the UK market and its interest in Singapore. The report then delves into a detailed market environment analysis, including both internal and external factors. The internal environment is assessed using Porter's value chain and SWOT analysis, evaluating Waitrose's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The external environment analysis utilizes PESTLE and Porter's five forces models to understand the political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors, as well as competitive forces within the Singaporean market. The report further explores Porter's generic strategies to determine the most suitable competitive advantage for Waitrose. It then suggests an appropriate mode of entry and proposes a marketing mix strategy tailored for the Singapore market, considering the 7Ps of marketing. The report concludes with a summary of findings and recommendations for Waitrose's successful entry into the Singapore market.

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International Marketing Report
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Executive summary
Waitrose is one of the most polar supermarkets and grocery stores in the UK. It holds the royal
warrant for supplying groceries and wine and spirits to Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles. It
the 6th biggest supermarket chain in the country. Waitrose exports its products in many other
countries, including Singapore. In the plan for expanding the business in Singapore, various
market analysis tools have been applied in the research report. The company’s internal
environment and competitiveness are analyzed using Porter’s value chain and SWOT analysis,
external environment was analyzed using PESTLE and Porter’s five forces. From the porter’s
generic strategy analysis, it is seen that the cost leadership will be most appropriate for Waitrose
to put a foot in the market. Direct investment in Singapore will be best for the company for
market entry. It will apply 7P’s of marketing mix for appropriate marketing plan to capture the
new market of Singapore.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
2. Market environment analysis.......................................................................................................3
2.1 Internal environment analysis................................................................................................4
2.1.1 Porter’s value chain analysis..........................................................................................4
2.1.2 SWOT analysis...............................................................................................................7
2.2 External environment analysis...............................................................................................9
2.2.1 PESTLE analysis............................................................................................................9
2.2.2 Porter’s five forces analysis..........................................................................................11
3. Porter’s generic strategy for competitive advantage.................................................................14
4. Mode of entry for Waitrose.......................................................................................................15
5. Marketing mix for Waitrose in Singapore.................................................................................15
6. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................18
References......................................................................................................................................19

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1. Introduction
Waitrose is one of the biggest chains of supermarkets in the UK. It is the food retail
division of UK’s biggest employee owned retail business, John Lewis Partnership. It had 352
branches across the country, including 30 ‘Little Waitrose’ convenience stores as of February
2015. The supermarket has been able to capture 5.1% share of the British market, which makes it
6th largest grocery retailer in the county (Waitrose.com 2018). The biggest competitive advantage
of Waitrose is the royal warrant for supplying groceries, spirits and wine to Queen Elizabeth II,
that is, to the royal palace and since 2011, to Prince Charles. This has given the company an up-
market status in the country.
Apart from having huge number of domestic stores, Waitrose has its business partners in
many countries across the world, including Dubai, in the Middle East. It operated in Falkland
Islands, Hong Kong, Chile, China, Australia, Bermuda, Barbados, Kuwait, Azerbaijan,
Caribbean, Malta, Ghana, and longest operation occurred in Isle of Man. In Singapore, they have
been operating in collaboration with Cold Storage supermarkets (Lees 2014). However, Waitrose
wants to expand its business in Singapore in its own name. The market research report focuses
on the internal and external environment analysis for the company, the competitive strategy
analysis, mode of entry analysis along with marketing mix for the company to enter the market
of Singapore.
2. Market environment analysis
Market or business environment refers to factors and forces, which affects Waitrose’s
ability for building and maintaining successful relationship with customers. There are internal

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and external environments of a firm. Porter’s value chain and SWOT Analyses will be used for
internal environment analysis and PESTLE and Porter’s five forces model are used for external
environment analysis for Waitrose for expanding its business in Singapore.
2.1 Internal environment analysis
Internal environment refers to the endogenous factors of Waitrose that influence the
business activities and profitability of the retailer. To expand the business in Singapore, Waitrose
must analyze the internal factors, such as, resources and competitive advantage, its strengths.
weaknesses, opportunities and threats to make a strategy accordingly.
2.1.1 Porter’s value chain analysis
Figure 1: Porter’s value chain analysis
(Source: Porter and Heppelmann 2014)

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Primary activities
Inbound logistics
The inbound logistics operations of Waitrose are big and complex and include the supply
of hundreds of product categories across 352 stores in the UK. It exploits the economies of scale
to create value for the customers. It invests regularly to enhance the inbound logistics system.
The payment system to the suppliers is monitored regularly so that there is no issues.
Operations
The company has two types of stores, one is the normal Waitrose outlet and the other is
the convenience store, named Little Waitrose. It also operates a website with online shopping
option. In both type of shopping options, it provides various categories, like, groceries,
entertainment, florist, gifts, pets, garden products, wine and spirits. Apart from that, Waitrose
provides cookery training to the interested people, good food guide, gift cards and loyal
membership.
Outbound logistics
Cost-effectiveness and flexibility of deliveries provide value for Waitrose regarding
outbound logistics. It provides home delivery options for online grocery shopping and in some of
the physical stores. It also adds up to the value for customers.
Sales and marketing

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Waitrose recently launched its new promotional food with a focus on the good food.
They have used the tagline ‘Great food is simple when you start with the best’ under the
campaign ‘Beautifully Simple’. It puts emphasis on the quality of food and its simplicity. As it
holds a position for supplying the best quality of food, sourced from local British farms, hence, it
aims to create customer value by offering the simple but quality food and make life better.
Service
Waitrose provides highest level of customer service and support. They have easy return,
refund and exchange policies for both the physical store and online purchases. They provide
24*7 customer support service regarding any query of the customers. Waitrose also offers
community service through their CSR programmes.
Support activities
Firm infrastructure
The infrastructure of Waitrose is of high quality and has state-of-the-art amenities and
appliances. With more than 350 stores across UK, and close to 30 convenience stores, Waitrose
maintains its infrastructure quite well. The warehouse has most modern facilities for storing
inventories. The shelves of the stores are always well stocked. The appliances are up-to-date and
monitored to keep the storage fresh.
Human resources
All the employees of Waitrose are under direct control of JLP. Waitrose employs full
time and part time workers and provide industry standard wage. The employees are given

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training for best quality customer service, as well as enhancing product knowledge, managing
supplies and inventories.
Technological development
Waitrose invests a lump sum for technological advancement and application. It has
launched its mobile app to make the customer experience all the more better and convenient. The
websites are continuously improved to provide seamless customer experience and highest value.
The self-checkout stations are being increased and maintained on a regular basis.
Procurement
The company procures raw materials and other supplies from local manufactures and
farmers as they promise to provide the products originated in the country. They maintain an
efficient and cost effective supply chain for procuring fresh and prepared products under
different categories.
2.1.2 SWOT analysis
Strengths  Royal warrant for supplying groceries and spirits to the royal palace,
that is, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles.
 5.1% market share and 6th largest retailer in the UK with almost 352
stores and a website.
 John Lewis partnership

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 Popular advertising efforts
 Strong brand identity
 Success of the loyalty card, MyWaitrose, as disruptive innovation
 Around 10000 employees across the nation
 Awards and recognition
Weaknesses  Intense competitions, such as, price wars and less profit margin
 Reputation for providing higher priced and sometimes unaffordable or
too costly products
Opportunities  Publicity of the royal warrant to gain more market share, locally and
globally
 Success of the ‘Community Matters’ CSR activities to draw more
market attention even in the Singapore market
 Efficient resources to utilize the market scope in Singapore
Threats  Lagging behind in the local and global competition
 Competition from already existing and popular supermarkets in
Singapore
Table 1: SWOT analysis for Waitrose
(Source: Author)
From the SWOT analysis of Waitrose, it can be said that the company has the biggest
publicity factor from its entitlement of the royal warrant. It has been chosen by the royal palace
to supply the groceries, wine and spirits and this acts as the biggest strength for the company for
any type of business venture, locally or globally. Along with strong brand identity, highest

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quality of supply and other strengths it can explore the opportunities in the Singaporean market
that has huge labor, huge demand for retail goods, and good economic condition of the citizens.
However, being a new entrant, Waitrose faces the risk of lagging in the competition from already
established supermarket.
2.2 External environment analysis
External environment are the exogenous factors and forces that affect the businesses of
Waitrose. The Singapore market is the external market and this analysis will highlight those
factors in the Singaporean market that would influence the business operations of Waitrose.
PESTLE analysis and Porter’s five forces analysis are described below.
2.2.1 PESTLE analysis
PESTLE is the external market analysis tool to analyze the political, economical, social,
technological, legal and environmental factors for a company. The PESTLE analysis for
Waitrose is as follows.
Political
Singapore is a democratic country and it is politically stable. That has reflected in peace
in the country and a better standard of living. Singapore is free from any beaurocratic corruption
and hence, the country has been a choice for foreign investors. The business opportunities have
improved over time. However, there are limitations on the freedom of speech for the opposition
parties and there is fear of legal suits on account of defamation from a speech or comment.

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Economic
Singaporean economy is a free-market or mixed market economy. It has developed very
rapidly in the past few decades. It has the highest per-capita income among the ASEAN
countries. Moreover, the lack of corruption in every sector has helped the economy reach
heights. The business environment is competitive and the workers are educated, motivated and
hardworking. Along with that, the government has invested a lump sum to diversify the
economy, which led to a rapid growth in tourism, pharmaceutical and many more sectors. It also
receives skilled and unskilled cheap labor from the neighboring countries. However, the country
is facing issues with rising labor cost in the recent past.
Social
The country follows traditional values in the social life. The literacy rate is high and
people are hard working. The population has a mixed culture from the natives and the
immigrants. They prefer service industry more than the manufacturing jobs. English is the
official medium for communication, making it easier for the foreign investors, and there are few
barriers for the multinational firms. However, there are some racial issues in the country.
Technological
Singapore is technologically advanced country. The fast change in the lifestyle and living
standard are accredited to the technological development. Internet has reduced the time and cost
of business and the Singaporean government has been investing in the technological field to

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provide much improved computer and internet service to the citizens. FDI has increased in the
technological sector. The technologically sophisticated and capital intensive industries are
supported and encouraged by the government for rapid development.
Legal
The Singaporean government facilitates the growth of e-commerce business, which is
beneficial for both the domestic and international online retailers. The other acts and regulations
are quite liberal for doing a good business in Singapore.
Environmental
Ministry of the Environment and Anti-Pollution Unit of the Singapore government work
efficiently to reduce the environmental footprints. Companies are mandated to follow CSR
policies. Shortage of water and pollution from transport are two major concerns for the country.
By analyzing these factors it can be said that Waitrose will have a positive external
environment while expanding its business in Singapore. There is not much legal or economic
barrier, rather a business supportive political, economical and social environment and
technological advancement of the country will be helpful for Waitrose.
2.2.2 Porter’s five forces analysis
This analysis tool is used to measure the industry rivalry, threat of substitutes, threat of
new entrants, bargaining power of the suppliers and buyers for any organization.
Threat of substitutes  NTUC Fair Price shops, Prime supermarket, Sheng Siong,
Giant etc. provide substitute and similar products at lower