Analyzing Social Media Impact on Woolworth’s Brand Strategy

The research delves into how Woolworth leverages different social media tools for brand management and market positioning. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the company's customer base across platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, considering demographics and engagement levels. Competitor strategies on these platforms are evaluated to identify strengths and weaknesses in comparison to Woolworth’s approach. The assignment also outlines potential business risks arising from social media use and proposes mitigation and contingency plans to safeguard Woolworth’s interests in the digital sphere.

Running head: BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author Note:

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TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Analysis of Business Environment:.................................................................................................3
Recommendation of Strategy:.........................................................................................................5
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................6
Summary:.........................................................................................................................................6
Reference:........................................................................................................................................8
Appendix..........................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction:
The retail sector in Australia is one of the larger contributor to its overall service sector
with capturing an annual growth rate of 3%. With increase in online-based demand over the
store-based market operation the retail market is booming and expanding. Popular retail based
supermarkets like Wesfarmers, Woolworth, Coles, Aldi owe its existence in Australian domestic
retail market (Xu, Gao & Hammond, 2016). In terms of food and liquor, the Woolworth is
Australia’s biggest supermarket chain operating in retail market with operation extended through
995 stores all over Australia. Even if the firm has substantial market power yet there are external
factors operating outside the firm having equal importance impacts the business condition.
The report aims to identify and assess the extent of such macro factors that determine the
business growth, challenges faced by Woolworth while proposing for solutions that can be
undertaken. The report is prepared based upon the various analyses conducted upon wool

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Analysis of Business Environment:
Social Media Tool Analysis:
Social Media Bookmarking – A widget like application allowing products along with brands
and category to be shared on website pages, social sites and email. The option of wish list makes
it an ideal tool to share ideas. This tool is not free and monthly charges are applicable (Okazaki
& Taylor, 2013). Sharing wrong information misleads users generating spam. Regular
maintenance of account with due care is important solution.
Facebook Like Button -The like button in facebook Woolworth page allow consumers to share
products detail to own facebook profile. Like box option allows consumers to stream products
from ecommerce website of Woolworth just clicking the like page. This is limited to facebook
users only hence more sign-ups can add more likes increasing the popularity of the pages sharing
information of the firm.
Activity Feed- It is helpful plug-in to track the activity of buyers on the website of the firm. It
refers to multiple data and requires strong analytics to decode information from activities.
Business Analysis:
Pinterest Analytics : Helps in promoting better understanding of the content and users through
recording data on the interest profile. It allows getting insight of the engagements audiences have
with the content of the website. One account can access one site at a time hence multiple account
required in order to access multiple websites. Functions only through official site of account
holder and unable to track the pins shared on other sites.

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Keyhole: This analyzes the trending of brand operated in popular social sites like twitter,
facebook and instagram. It provides access to dashboards keeping track of the hash tags,
campaign and keyword and promotes impression and frequency of higher activities ("Top 25
Social Media Analytics Tools for Marketers - Keyhole", 2017). It also allows to get information
regarding highest interactions in surrounding accounts.
Online Customer Analysis:
Facebook: The facebook pages of different categories of products in Woolworth deal with
sharing of information with large-scale population. The like buttons and comment sections allow
people to express opinions.
Twitter: This allows the the firm to track for its popularity along with streaming responses, views
and proceedings.
Instagram: Woolworth maintains instagram accounts that makes it more approachable to buyers
with mor shared images and brief details.
All of these are subject to account holding hence more-sign ups can make the Wool worth
products more accessible.
Competitor Analysis:
Quintly: Most efficient tool to portray the comparison of Woolworth profile with the strategies
and operation of its biggest competitors like Wesfarmer and Coles. It measures stats and presents
graph on the engagement metrics by other firms so major social media platform. It helps the
most in setting goals amid competition.

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Rival IQ: Another best tool to monitor the activities and operation rival brands prevalent in
various social media platforms. This is more accurate in presenting weekly, monthly, quarterly
and annual data regarding how the firms operate ("Top 25 Social Media Analytics Tools for
Marketers - Keyhole", 2017). The record of historical data helps in comparing growth and
analyzes the business cycle trend of the firm on long run basis.
Risk Management:
Social media marketing has many disadvantages captured in probable risks that the
operating firms are exposed to. Absence of proper dealing in the social site can create outcry
socially leading to mismanagement and mess. On business term, the biggest threat is the
revelation of information and detailed strategies of the rival and competitors (Arli & Dietrich,
2017). Risk of violating legal and social rights is also common risks that can take place in any
social site. Pertaining to no specific policies and procedures and lack of training given to
employees also lead to potential operative risk of the firms (Nadaraja & Yazdanifard, 2013). The
online activities often require for business coverage and cyber insurances so that the firm can
stay protected against unethical claim and blame of the functions, which has not been conducted
by it. The mitigation of the risks requires proper management in terms of more alignment to legal
terms and social rights while operating online, provision of employee training to make them
deliver proper outcome (Sashi, 2012). Application of filter on share information and locking of
websites or denied access are best option for risks like hacking, revealed secret information..
Recommendation of Strategy:
Some of the social media based strategies of Woolworth require the firm to implement following
tools:

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1. HootSuite: Using this makes use and handle of multiple accounts easy. It provides
training of the tool and social media marketing as a whole.
2. Hubspot: It not only delivers the best outcome through monitoring and publishing of
other social accounts but also allows to absorb closed-loop report data (Okazaki &
Taylor, 2013).
3. Sales forces marketing cloud: One short destination for tools like emails, content and web
marketing along with social media analytics ("Top 25 Social Media Analytics Tools for
Marketers - Keyhole", 2017). Dashboard view enables firm to track the engagement and
influential interaction about the brand.
4. Simply Measured: It operates through connection with Google analytics and records data
regarding the visitors of website fro other social sites. Best tool to make comparison with
other firms across major channel
5. SumAll: Using this firm can set long-term social media strategy and access to e-
commerce data through performance and interactive charts and graphs.
Conclusion:
The increasing trend of online retail over store-based retail enhanced the social media
marketing operation of the supermarket firms like Woolworth and its rival firms too. The
competition in the industry is the biggest external factor influencing the business operation of
Woolworth. Tools based social media analysis allowed to detect the opportunities and challenge
the business of the firm face. This rightly helped in shaping the risks and coming up with
management strategies that further allow the form to keep moving ahead.

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Summary:
There have been changes in the trajectory of Woolworth business operation due to
influence from both internal and external business environment. The major factors are consumer
behavior conforming the social and psychological influences, age of consumers, existence of
concentration and rivalry in market. The reason behind Woolworth being largest supermarket
chain contributing 80% to the retail industry is the positive image the brand socially, culturally
amid wide population. Biggest external factors affecting Woolworth are existence of
concentrated market with many rivals. No threats to entry allows ant firm to enter and operate
though they often face lower market share in presence of larger market share of the big
superstore retailers. Existence of more firms leads to greater bargaining power of the buyers as
well as suppliers. Tool based analysis of customer base, business, competition allows the firm to
capture the trend of taste, and preferences of buyers and their inclination toward others brand as
well. These effects of factors on business help in re-devising strategies for own growth
incorporating rival operations and strategies too while mitigating the challenges it is exposed to.

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Reference:
Arli, D., & Dietrich, T. (2017). Can Social Media Campaigns Backfire? Exploring Consumers'
Attitudes and Word-of-Mouth Toward Four Social Media Campaigns and Its
Implications on Consumer-Campaign Identification. Journal of Promotion Management,
1-17.
Bordonaba-Juste, V., Lucia-Palacios, L., & Polo-Redondo, Y. (2012). The influence of
organizational factors on e-business use: analysis of firm size. Marketing Intelligence &
Planning, 30(2), 212-229.
Dwivedi, A., Merrilees, B., Miller, D., & Herington, C. (2012). Brand, value and relationship
equities and loyalty-intentions in the Australian supermarket industry. Journal of
Retailing and Consumer Services, 19(5), 526-536.
Nadaraja, R., & Yazdanifard, R. (2013). Social media marketing: advantages and
disadvantages. Center of Southern New Hempshire University.
Okazaki, S., & Taylor, C. R. (2013). Social media and international advertising: theoretical
challenges and future directions. International marketing review, 30(1), 56-71.
Philpott, L. (2014). Marketing and merchandising: Strategies for successful marketing. AJP: The
Australian Journal of Pharmacy, 95(1129), 46.
Sashi, C. M. (2012). Customer engagement, buyer-seller relationships, and social
media. Management decision, 50(2), 253-272.

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Top 25 Social Media Analytics Tools for Marketers - Keyhole. (2017). Keyhole Blog. Retrieved
14 November 2017, from http://keyhole.co/blog/list-of-the-top-25-social-media-
analytics-tools
Wirtz, B. W., Daiser, P., & Mermann, M. (2017). Social Media as a Leverage Strategy for Open
Government: An Exploratory Study. International Journal of Public Administration, 1-
14.
Xu, J., Gao, X., & Hammond, J., (2016). E-tailing in Australia: A preliminary analysis of David
Jones.

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Appendix
Social Media Tools Analysis
Social media
tool/website
Purpose/
description
Opportunities Limitations
[List each social
media tool that you
intend to analyse.]
[What is the purpose
of this social media
tool or website? How
do your customers
use it?]
[Outline the
specific areas of
each tool that
you think your
business will use
and how.]
[Are there any rules or
functionality that limit
your ability to use the
tool? E.g. strict terms &
conditions. If needed,
you may like to include
a link to each tool's
terms and conditions.]
Social Media
Bookmarking
Purpose is to locate
the preference of
People who
enthusiastically share
ideas through making
wish list
More shares in
social media
through multiple
platform
consolidates
advertisement of
the firm
Monthly charges
applicable, More
possibility of
spamming, Regular
account maintenance
required to keep
control of the web
traffic.
Facebook Like
Button
Purpose is to get
broad view of the
popularity in number
of supports people
make through likes.
Spreads the
product
information and
details easily
Specific to facebook
account holder only.

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People tend to use it
frequently.
Activity Feed It aims to track the
activities people
undertake while
visiting the website
Allows to detect
the frequency of
the taste and
preference of
buyers
Multiplicity of data
leads to handling and
decoding issue.
Business Analysis
Social media
tool/website
Business goals Suitability Skills/resources
needed
[List each social
media tool that you
think you will
potentially use.]
[Which business
goals/objectives
does this social
media tool align with
or help achieve?]
[Rank the tools
according to
how suitable the
tool is to your
goal(s).]
[List any specific
skills/resources that are
needed to utilise this
tool.]
Pinterest Analytics Captures the ongoing
trend in facebook,
twitter and instagram
regarding the products
and brand image
allowing to plan
marketing strategy
Less suitable One account can access one
site at a time hence multiple
account required in order to
access multiple websites.
Functions only through
official site of account
holder and unable to track
the pins shared on other

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sites.
Keyhole Along with the
Woolworth products it
fetches detail about
other popular products
trending in higher
frequency
More suitable Understanding of social
media marketing while
pinch of analytics
knowledge are required.
Online customer analysis
Social media
tool/website
Customer
demographics
Volume of
customers
Details of use
[List each social
media tool these
customers use.]
[Analyse your online
customer base. You
can include age,
gender, social
status, education
and attitudes.]
[Estimate the
number or
percentage of
your overall
customers using
social media.]
[Include frequency of
use, purpose, and
interaction quality (high,
medium or low
interaction).]
Facebook Mostly young
generation including
the teenagers and
excluding the middle
and old age
population. No
educational
background required
Per 100
customers 70
people use
facebook social
media creating
brand
perception and
High interaction used
mostly for following
people, connecting and
keeping in touch with
people. It is also used as
platform of showing
support to any cause or

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to maintain facebook
account. Social
status can not be
distinguished but
more internet or
virtual information
prone people hold
accounts here.
image activities in the society.
Twitter Compared to
facebook, less
number of people
but mostly 13-40 yrs
aged population are
in twitter
50 person per
100 person use
twitter
Less frequent use than
facebook and mostly
followed by internet
freaks.
Instagram 10-28 years aged
population are in
instagram that more
popular in youth and
less known and used
by ederly people.
60 person per
100 person use
instagram
Medium level of
interaction with its
depiction of images that
used as refreshment
while receiving details of
events and brands.
Competitor Analysis
Social
media
tool/website
Competito
r
Online Market
share (%)
Strengths Weaknesses
[List each
social media
[Competitor [Enter an
estimate of your
[What are your
competitor's main
[What are your
competitor's main