Woolworths Supermarket: Business Research & Strategic Solutions

This business research report delves into the challenges faced by Woolworths Supermarket in the Australian market, particularly the recent decline in sales and loss of market share. It identifies key issues such as the departure of high-profile executives, disappointing sales figures, and the impact of the plastic bag ban. The report explores the conflict between the company's vision and current market realities, highlighting the need for strategic adjustments. It formulates research questions to investigate the underlying reasons for Woolworths' problems, consumer trends, and the success of competitors like Coles and ALDI. Furthermore, the report outlines research objectives focused on market research, understanding consumer perceptions, and campaign optimization. The high-level outcomes emphasize the importance of market research, adapting to consumer preferences, and implementing new campaigns to revitalize sales and improve customer loyalty. The report concludes by addressing the impact of substitute trends and the necessity for Woolworths to adapt to changing consumer purchase patterns to regain its competitive edge. Desklib provides access to this and many other solved assignments for students.

Running head: BUSINESS RESEARCH FOR HOTELIERS
Business research for hoteliers
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note:

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BUSINESS RESEARCH FOR HOTELIERS
Table of Contents
Chapter 1..........................................................................................................................................4
Research Context.............................................................................................................................4
Pertinent information of the company.........................................................................................4
Information of the Industry..........................................................................................................4
Circumstances leading to the need to undertake the research.....................................................5
Impact and its magnitude to the operation of the company.........................................................5
Conflict to vision and strategy.....................................................................................................6
Chapter 2..........................................................................................................................................6
Business Problem.........................................................................................................................6
Critical Generic Decision............................................................................................................7
Implementation by the company and its Benefits........................................................................7
Chapter 3..........................................................................................................................................8
Listing of Information......................................................................................................................8
Research Question.......................................................................................................................8
Chapter 4..........................................................................................................................................9
Research Objectives.........................................................................................................................9
High Level outcomes of the Business information Collected.....................................................9
Attitudes and Perceptions of customers towards the brand.......................................................10

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Campaign Selection...................................................................................................................10
Substitute Trends Changing Consumer Purchase Patterns........................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12

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Chapter 1
Research Context
Pertinent information of the company
Woolworths supermarkets trades as Woolworths and is a chain of Supermarket/grocery
stores owned by the Woolworths Limited The company along with that of Coles Supermarket
are two of the top supermarkets of Australia and accounts to more than 80% of the Australian
supermarket (woolworths.com, 2018). The company offers almost every kind of different things
from grocery to beauty and health products, DVD’s, electronic items, household products and
every other different thing to the consumers of the company. The company has more than 1000
different major stores in the island continent. The company earns more than $45 billion and
supports employee strength of more than 111,000 (woolworths.com, 2018). The companies also
have some own brands that are sold to the customers through the different stores of the
organization and also own a few subsidiaries in the country.
Information of the Industry
The supermarket and the grocery stores industry is one of the most fiercely competitive
industries in Australia. The presence of Woolworths and Coles and the rapid expansion of the
other industries like that of ALDI over the past few years in the country have helped in the
growth and development of the industry (Kumar & Pansari, 2016). The main strategy of Coles
and Woolworths has been to ensure the cutting of the prices and the expansion of the private
label product ranges in response to the growing demand of the customers of the company in the
market. The Australian supermarket industry is projected at $103 billion and has been projected

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to grow at the rate of 2.1% each year till 2019. After 2019, the industry will see another major
change, as the companies will adapt themselves to new trends and technology to innovate and
provide much more varieties in goods and services. According to, woolworths.com (2018)
currently the industry employs more than 400,000 people in Australia.
Circumstances leading to the need to undertake the research
As mentioned in the introductory part of the following presentation Woolworth’s market
is the largest Supermarket chain of Australia and it implements all the strategic objectives in
such a way that provides them the unique competitive advantage in the market (Albrecht,
Bakker, Gruman, Macey & Saks, 2015). However, the presentation has strikingly contrasted the
above mentioned views by providing the current issues that are being faced by the organization
in the Australian market. The abrupt departure of Tony Philips, the chief marketing officer of
Woolworths caused a haywire in the company. This was followed by the departure of most of the
high profile executives in the recent months. The disappointing set of quarterly sales figures has
been cited to be the main reasons for such a administrative crisis in the company. The marketing
experts predict the following happenings to be a threat to the organization. The sudden such issue
has been the main reason for the conduction of the research.
Impact and its magnitude to the operation of the company
The sudden decline in sales and the loss of market share is a serious concern to
Woolworths. The management of the company has flagged that the sales growth of the company
dropped off early in the new financial year. The result of the sales drop has taken a toll on the
financial projections of the Company (Landy & Conte, 2016). The company expects to sum up to
a huge loss in the coming months which will create a great impact on the business of the
organization. However the largest impact will be the loss of the market share to old rival “Coles

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Supermarket” and also loss of significant customers to newcomers in the market “ALDI
Supermarkets”. Apart from this the sudden ban of plastic bags by the Government in the
supermarkets is also a major problem that can have a negative impact over the organization. The
sales of the company have impacted as the customers have found it hard to adapt to the phasing
out of the single use plastic bags (Burt, 2017).
Conflict to vision and strategy
The vision and strategy of the company have already taken a backseat as the management
of the company has been unable to achieve the vision of generating a sustainable sales
momentum in the following condition of the market (woolworths.com, 2018). Though
Woolworths is a lean retailer and provides products at the most competitive and affordable price,
the changed situations have forced them to come out of their strategic vision and increase the
cost accordingly. The company also needs to change the end to end process and systems
excellence to mitigate the loss.
Chapter 2
Business Problem
The problem of the business currently is the sudden decrease in the sales of the different
products that are sold by the company in their stores. The sales figure of the last few months has
not been encouraging for the management as it has touched a new low. The last quarter of the
company saw a meager growth of 0.2% in sales of liquor and other beverages (Hansen & Taylor,
2017). The main reasons cited for the same is believed to be the lack of proper promotional
innovation. The Cheap-Cheap campaign which was launched by the management of the
organization, a few years back, though well received by the customers has failed to improve

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anything considering the price perception of the organization. The main reason for the failure is
believed to be the strategy of the following campaign itself as because most of the experts
believe that the organization made a hasty decision to start such an unorganized and visionless
campaign to counter the threat produced by ALDI and Coles. The absence of a proper visionary
leader is also one of the major problems for the organization.
Critical Generic Decision
The information provided in this presentation when accessed by the organization will
increase the activity of the Company. The problems highlighted in the following presentation can
help the management of the organization to put more focus on the current situation on the
business. The presentation will help to ensure the implementation of an immediate action plan by
the organization to counter the other companies and increase the sales of the organization to the
desired levels.
Implementation by the company and its Benefits
The implementation of a strategic action plan by the management of the organization will
have a number of benefits. They are as follows;
a. Secure a proper and efficient sales value for the business
b. Ensure the competitive advantage of the organization in the market
c. Improve the branding of the products in the market
d. Ensuring the loyalty of the customers and the shareholders of the organization in the
market

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Chapter 3
Listing of Information
Research Question
The research questions that can be formulated from the following projects are as follows;
1. What are the current problems faced by Woolworths?
Validation Statement- The current problems faced by the company in the organization is
certainly the main topic of the research and thus it is the most important question in this
particular regard.
2. What are the reasons behind the problems of Woolworths?
Validation Statement- The reasons behind the problems of Woolworths will help in the
construction of the literary review of the research and is thus one of the main necessities of
the following research.
3. What are the current consumer trends in the Australian Supermarket industry?
Validation Statement- The identification of the trends of consumer in the Australian
Supermarket industry is important because it will be necessary to formulate a proper strategy
to recover from the current situation.
4. Why has been Coles and ALDI been more successful in the recent years than
Woolworths?

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Validation Statement- The information regarding the success of Coles and ALDI will be
important as it provides a thorough analysis of the competitive environment faced by the
organization.
5. How can the existing campaigns be changed to make it more presentable and attractive to
the customers of Woolworths Supermarkets?
Validation Statement- The description of the existing campaign and how to make it more
presentable and attractive will help the organization to improve on the existing set of
campaigns.
6. Suggest some recommendations that can change the sales condition to avoid market
failure in the future?
Validation Statement- The suggestion or the recommendations will help to address the
problems in a proper and efficient manner.
Chapter 4
Research Objectives
High Level outcomes of the Business information Collected
The high level outcomes of the research will necessarily be based on the proper
implementation of the strategies and performing a thorough level market research. The
performance of the market research is important in the sense that the research helps to determine
a number of different results that are very much important to the success of the organization in
the future (Albrecht, Bakker, Gruman, Macey & Saks, 2015). This includes the likes of the

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consumer trends of the business, the perceptions of the consumers towards the products and the
services sold by the organization. The strategy where the company has been failing regularly in
the market can also be learned from the conduction of the market research in the organization.
Attitudes and Perceptions of customers towards the brand
The attitudes and the perceptions of the customers towards the products of the company
have been certainly in a declining state as sales figures have hit a new low in the last quarter. The
consumers of the company have preferred the use of more innovative and advanced range of
brands (Hansen & Taylor, 2017). As seen by Podsakoff, MacKenzie & Podsakoff (2016) the
customers are also more sensitive to the behavior of the employees as better and friendly
behavior are now seen to be the key to achieving the loyalty of the customers. Apart from this
the consumers nowadays prefer competitive and discounted prices for the products sold by the
company in their stores.
Campaign Selection
The choice of a totally new campaign to attract customers to the organization will be
necessary to pull off success in the market. The campaign will be designed in such a manner that
it helps the organization to attract the customers in the organization. The existing campaigns can
also be redesigned according to the new trends in the market. The redesigning of the campaigns
can be completed by providing a new name and some new features to the campaign. The
addition of the new features will help in the increase of sales in market.

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Substitute Trends Changing Consumer Purchase Patterns
The presence of substitute trends in the market offered by the likes of Coles and ALDI is
seriously hampering the sales of the market. The change thus can be formulated by studying the
market in detail and implementing the necessary changes accordingly (Podsakoff, MacKenzie &
Podsakoff, 2016).

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References
Albrecht, S. L., Bakker, A. B., Gruman, J. A., Macey, W. H., & Saks, A. M. (2015). Employee
engagement, human resource management practices and competitive advantage: An integrated
approach. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, 2(1), 7-35.
(DRO/DU:30071114)
Burt, R. S. (2017). Structural holes versus network closure as social capital. In Social capital (pp.
31-56). Routledge.
Hansen, H., & Taylor, S. S. (2017). Finding form: Looking at the field of organizational
aesthetics. In The Aesthetic Turn in Management (pp. 17-37). Routledge.
Kumar, V., & Pansari, A. (2016). Competitive advantage through engagement. Journal of
Marketing Research, 53(4), 497-514. (doi.org/10.1509/jmr.15.0044)
Landers, R. N., & Behrend, T. S. (2015). An inconvenient truth: Arbitrary distinctions between
organizational, Mechanical Turk, and other convenience samples. Industrial and Organizational
Psychology, 8(2), 142-164. (doi:10.1017/iop.2015.13)
Landy, F. J., & Conte, J. M. (2016). Work in the 21st century, Binder ready version: An
introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology. John Wiley & Sons.
Luthans, F., Luthans, B. C., & Luthans, K. W. (2015). Organizational Behavior: An
EvidenceBased Approach. IAP.
{{metaController.metaData.title}}. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.woolworths.com.au

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Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2016). Recommendations for creating
better concept definitions in the organizational, behavioral, and social sciences. Organizational
Research Methods, 19(2), 159-203. (DOI: 10.1177/1094428115624965)
Saeidi, S. P., Sofian, S., Saeidi, P., Saeidi, S. P., & Saaeidi, S. A. (2015). How does corporate
social responsibility contribute to firm financial performance? The mediating role of competitive
advantage, reputation, and customer satisfaction. Journal of business research, 68(2), 341-350.
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Wagner III, J. A., & Hollenbeck, J. R. (2014). Organizational behavior: Securing competitive
advantage. Routledge.