Marketing Plan for Woolworths Supermarkets: A Case Study Approach

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Marketing Strategy Development
Assessment 2: Group Assessment
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Executive Summary
Marketing plays a significant role in leading the organisation to get recognition in the market as
well as be successful. There are various factors on which strategies are developed by the
management of the organisations in order to ensure that it is able to reach out to different parts of
the world as well as to a wide number of customers.
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................2
Issue 1..............................................................................................................................................4
A brief description of this organization.......................................................................................4
Issue 2..............................................................................................................................................6
5Cs for ‘Woolworths Supermarkets’...........................................................................................6
Issue 3............................................................................................................................................10
How does the firm go about collecting information..................................................................10
Issue 4............................................................................................................................................12
Marketing strategies...................................................................................................................12
Issue 5: Developing marketing tactics...........................................................................................15
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................18
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................19
References......................................................................................................................................20
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Introduction
This assignment is based on marketing strategies and the factors which are considered for
developing effective strategies. In this regards, Woolworths Supermarkets has been chosen. This
assignment includes the mission, visions, and strategies of Woolworths Supermarkets. In this
assignment, analysis of the market and management of marketing by Woolworths Supermarkets
is highlighted. Customers, Competitors, Collaborators of the chosen organisation are also
provided in this assignment. The concept of Market Intelligence and Research is also explained.
Marketing Tactics of the organisation by considering the 7P’s are also provided in this
assignment.
Issue 1
A brief description of the organization
Woolworths Supermarkets is an organisation which is established in Australia. It is a chain of
grocery stores and supermarkets which owned by Woolworths Limited. This organisation was
established in the year of 1924 and considered as one of the leading supermarkets in the market
of Australia. Woolworths and its rival Coles have developed a duopoly in the Australian market
covering over 80% of the total of Australian Market.
(Source: Maden, 2019)
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This organisation operates the 976 Supermarkets and 19 other convenience store making the total
operating locations of the organisation to be almost 1000. All of these supermarkets and the
convenience stores carry the same logo. Woolworths has also established a digital platform
which is known as “HomeShop” that also provides the benefit of the delivering the product at
home.
Mission Statement
The mission of Woolworths Supermarkets is to deliver the best in value, quality, and
convenience for their customers.
Vision Statement
Woolworths Supermarkets aims at becoming one of the most popular organisations at the heart
of the society or the community and become the most loved retailing organisation for the kids,
family and home leisure.
Slogan
The slogan of Woolworths Supermarkets is “The Fresh Food People” which provides an
overview of the organisation’s mission, vision, and values.
Products
Woolworths Supermarkets is one of the leading retailers in the market of Australia which has its
expertise in providing groceries such as fruits and vegetables, packaged foods, etc (Woolworths,
2018). However, the organisation also provides other products to their customers which include
magazines, health and beauty products, DVDs, stationery items, household products, etc.
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Issue 2
5Cs for ‘Woolworths Supermarkets’
Company
It is an Australian organisation operating as a retailer, a chain of supermarkets and stores, and is
operating across the market of Australia. For providing insight into this organisation, SWOT
Analysis of the organisation is conducted and is provided below:
Strength
There is a number of strengths of Woolworths Supermarkets such as:
 Market Leader of the retail market of Australia (Keating, 2015).
 The customer base of this organisation is wide in terms of class or age i.e. it has the
products for everyone.
 The organisation always tends to effective employees policies and is considered as people
savvy employer.
 Committed to sustainability and the environment (WoolworthsGroup, 2019).
 Through effective strategies, this organisation is able to reduce the cost.
Weaknesses
The weakness of Woolworths is as follows:
 Lack of presence in the global market operates mostly in Australia.
 Extends two or more offers for a long period of time.
 The organisation is able to be consistent with the technology in comparison with its
competitors.
 It targets different segments with the same products due which customers get confused.
Opportunities
There are various opportunities available with Woolworths Supermarkets which are:
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 Expansion of business in the global market.
 Development of customer’s channels.
 To become consistent with the technology and become technologically advanced.
 Promotion of the brand with the assistance of advertising or sponsorships.
Threats
Woolworths Supermarket has a number of threats such as:
 The rising cost of the raw material impacts the organisations profit.
 Competition from the multinational organisation can affect the business of Woolworths.
 Slow growth of the retailing sector through an online platform in Australia.
Customers
The scope of the customer base is wide which includes customers from the age of below 5 years
and up to the customers of 55 years of age. Moreover, the targeted customers of the organisation
are medium and higher class people. Woolworths Supermarkets is always focused on providing
quality services and convenience. This organisation provides its products services to 3 Million
customers in a week (King, 2014).
Collaborators
The business of the organisation has been based on different elements, one of which
collaboration. Woolworths has different collaborations with other organisation such as Safeway,
Roelf Vos, and Countdown in New Zealand.
Competitors
Woolworths Supermarkets is facing competition from a number of organisations. The main
competitor of the organisation is Coles which is another chain of Supermarket operating in the
Australian Market (Owler, 2019). These organisations have been in price wars from a long
period of time. Apart from Coles, other competitors of the organisation include Kroger, Aldi,
Walmart, Tesco, Amazon, Carrefour, etc.
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Context
There are other factors as well by which the business of Woolworths Supermarkets is affected
and these factors are:
Technological Factors: In this era of modern technology and advancement, Woolworths is
using old technology and ideas for a long period of time. However, the organisation has made
changes in technology and made implementation of effective technology in order to be
competitive.
Legal factors: This organisation has faced numbers of legal issues such as the legal battle with
ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission). The organisation is required to
comply with the applicable codes and must come up with an effective compliance strategy.
Political Factors: The organisation has been facing political pressure as Woolworths and its
rival Coles forms a duopolistic nature within the Australian market of retail. It is necessary to
consider these factors as well as it affects the success of the business directly.
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Issue 3
How does the firm go about collecting information
There are numerous methods of marketing research adopted by the Woolworth supermarket with
the assistance of the following factors in the context of the business. These include collaborators,
customers, the official website of the Woolworth supermarket and competitors. The information
regarding the 5 C’s is collected with the help of deep research. In addition, the research is
conducted by collecting data from newspapers, magazines, books, and journals. Additionally, the
data are collected from the data present over the internet.
a. What do customers want?
After conducting research, it is identified that the main aim of the Woolworth is to give the
priority towards satisfying the needs of the customers as per the changing demands (Evans &
Hempstead, 2017). The customers prefer to buy such products that are of cheap nature and
offering good products and services. Company focus on products that satisfy the customers by
makes the products available at affordable prices so that it can reach to the common public. The
company can collect information regarding the changing demands of the customers with the
creation of several departments. Further, the company can focus on essential research tools and
conducting surveys to know the changing demands of the customers.
b. Which competitors pose a threat?
In the market, there are several competitors of the market that are profitably running their
business. These are Macro whole foods limited, Wal-Mart, Tesco, Myers, and Coles. Efficient
and effective strategies this help in making the competition better by differentiating its products
from other competitors. The above-mentioned rivalry companies limit the growth of Woolworths
in the market segments by limiting the share of the company that requires a high level of
concentration.
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c. How the context of business is changing, if at all?
The effects of the external factors greatly impact the working condition of the business. These
factors include political, social, technological, legal, environmental etc. For example,
government laws and policies affect the working conditions of the business environment.
d. What role do collaborators play in the process?
The collaborators play an effective and efficient role to manage the business activities of
Woolworth so that the company can run its business operations successfully (Chernev, 2018).
For conducting research on the competitors, it is important that the information can be collected
from the employees or with the help of the social networks. The information can be collected by
conducting surveys and retrieving information from the competitors by preparing reports about
them about their current position and contribution in the market segment.
To acknowledge about the trends that are changing in the market such as maximize the flexibility
of the product by making additions and modification so in the products or by developing new
products and business diversifying is also one of the options and assessing and gather the
information related to the newly launched products (Prajogo, 2016).
The method of research issued to gather more information related to their collaborators. This
research can be conducted with the help of SWOT analysis that assists the business to analyze
the internal strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities for the company.
Woolworth is the market that leads the other similar markets in Australia by applying its own
tactics and strategies. These assist the company to support their customers, collaborators,
suppliers, context, and corporation for effective and efficient management so as to compete in
the market.
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Issue 4
Marketing strategies
The customers of Woolworth are quite loyal and are not scared by the complaints of the suppliers
of local markets whether they fulfill the expectations of the customers or not. After analyzing the
market, the organization focuses on enhancing the relationships with their customers by
providing those rights products and services that satisfy the demands of the customers.
It also notices that the company focuses on female customers. It specifically contains the
description of the products and spends a huge amount in resolving the issues. Especially females
are targeted who use cosmetic products between the age of 14 to 30 years.
To run the business in an effective and efficient manner it is essential to formulate the marketing
strategies with the help of market segmentation. Market segmentation assists to characterize the
market on the basis of specific groups. The market can be segmented on the basis of under
mentioned tactics. The segmentation of the Woolworths divided into various segments that are
based on various criteria on the basis of characteristics of the product, social and economic
features and demographical features. Each and every segment of the company comprises with the
quantum of preferences of products or services as per the pattern of consumption of the
consumers (Bahadir, et. al., 2015). The segments that related to the demographical features that
comprise the consumer's age, the gender of the consumer and the level of the consumers. Further,
segmentation of the market on the basis of income levels of the consumers and their initiatives
regarding the products procurement from the manufactures or the producers. Other segmentation
includes:
 Behavioral Segmentation-This segment categories the market according to the people’s
behavior, decisions making and patterns of usages. For example, customers prefer to buy
the best product convenience, quality and value.
 Physiological Segmentation- This segment category the market on the basis of values,
attitudes, lifestyles personality traits and interests. This allows the company to focus on
the design of the market in a well-focused manner.
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 Geographic Segmentation- This segment category the market on the basis of geography
and its location. The customer needs to depend on the basis of geography and their
location.
 Demographic Segmentation- On the basis of demographic condition the market
segmented the basis of consumer age, gender and the number of retailing services. There
are large numbers of products that are developed by focusing on the particular gender.
For example, the age group below 5 years sets out a large number of products of infants,
this is also for the age group of 6 to 17years and the requirements of catering for those
consumers who are above the age of 55.
A choice of the target market- With the abovementioned discussions, it is suggested that t
Woolworth supermarket he Woolworth should prefer the demographic segmentation of the
market. In this context, the company gave preference especially to the people under the age of 6
to 17 years to meet their selling targets (De Mooij, 2018). This segment gives preference to the
infant food products.
A value proposition for the target market- The Woolworth enhances the value proposition for
the target market to attract the target customers of the company by providing the products to the
customers according to their preference.
“Company provides best products according to your preference”.
A positioning statement for the target market- The Woolworth form positioning statement
ensures the requirement of the customers.
“Company provides better quality products with applicable refund policies”.
For effective and efficient marketing strategies there are several methods are mentioned
underneath:
Ads on Facebook- This method is one the effective and efficient to attract the customers at
social media levels. This assists the Woolworth supermarket to reach towards the specific and
particular consumers that are interested in the product of the company. With this platform, the
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