Marketing Report: Evaluating Woolworths' Strategies and Products

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Woolworths' marketing strategies, examining various marketing concepts through the lens of specific product brands. The report begins with an overview of marketing, focusing on value creation and excitement through the Jim Beam brand. It then delves into strategic planning, evaluating Woolworths' market share and the influence of the PEST analysis. The report continues by exploring marketing research, decision support systems, and their impact on consumer behavior, using Ocean Chef seafood as an example. Consumer and business market behavior are analyzed through the Pedigree dog food example, and the report concludes with an examination of market segmentation, targeting, and positioning, using the Arnott's biscuits brand. The analysis covers how Woolworths adapts to changing consumer preferences and leverages these insights for effective product marketing and market positioning.

Running head: INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING
Introduction to marketing
Name of student
Name of University
Author note

1
INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING
Table of Contents
Week 1: Overview of Marketing: Creating Excitement and Value.................................................3
Week 2: Strategic Planning & the Marketing Environment............................................................4
Week 3: Marketing Research and Decision Support Systems.........................................................5
Week 4: Consumer and Business Market Behavior........................................................................6
Week 5: Market Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning.............................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................9

2
INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING
Week 1: Overview of Marketing: Creating Excitement and Value
The purpose of the task is to evaluate the different marketing concepts related to the
business organisation Woolworths in Australia. As a marketing consultant, it is my responsibility
to visit the retail company and to select a particular brand product that manages the various
marketing concepts including the value created through marketing of products and services,
strategic planning, marketing research, business market and consumer behavior along with the
market segmentation, targeting and positioning. The most important products that can create
value and excitement among the customers are the food and drink items (Woolworths.com.au
2018). I have chosen Jim Beam’s brand to demonstrate the marketing concepts that can create
value for the customers as well as influence their buying behaviours. The drinks businesses of
Woolworths include major branded liquor items such as Jim Beam. As a marketing consultant, I
made sure to check the liquor items and at the same time reviewed the opinions and feedbacks of
customers to understand whether value has been created for them and they have been kept
satisfied or not. The company has also innovated the offers and provided additional discounts for
offer value for money products and at the same time, create convenience for the customers to
make purchases. The customers are the focus of the company, so it is important for Woolworths
to place them at the heart of business and understand their needs and requirements. The actual
price of Jim Beam White Label Bourbon and Cola cans are worth of $88 and with the purchase
of two or more, additional 20 percent discount is provided as well. The product brand, i.e., Jim
Beam has provided new and innovative products including Devil’s cut bourbon, black label
bourbon and double oak bourbons, which are new flavors and have managed to create a sense of
excitement and happiness among the customers (Wilson et al. 2012). The bourbon whiskey with
zero sugar cola is new in the market and it has favored the choices of health conscious customers

3
INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING
too. Therefore, it is understood that this branded item has created excitement among the
customers and delivered value too.
Week 2: Strategic Planning & the Marketing Environment
After much consultation and analysis, I found out that the market share of Woolworths is
good in Australia and it has over 50 percent shareholders, according to the index list of top
businesses (Woolworths.com.au 2018). The strategic planning was done to introduce the health
and beauty brand named Schwarzkopf in the market. The strategic planning and analysis of
marketing environment are important aspects of marketing and Woolworths has properly
managed these to create a sustainable position in the market. The strategic planning was done by
analysis and interpretation of data and information and furthermore conduct environment
scanning for determining what kinds of products delivered could satisfy the needs and
requirements of the customers (Hair Jr and Lukas 2014). The factors influencing the marketing
conditions and environment are assessed with the use of PEST analysis, which determined the
political factors, economic, social and technological factors. The political factors have helped in
developing growth opportunities along with management of foreign investors and trading
partners to manage the business processes and enter new markets through higher rate of return on
investments and reduced chances of business failures (Armstrong et al. 2015). The economic
condition is not much stable, because of which there has been financial disruptions whereas the
social factors were to change according to the changing needs and preferences of the customers
and ensure successful product and services delivery. To ease down the affordability of the
customers and enhance the retail shopping experience, the prices of Schwarzkopf was lowered to
$3.45 from $6.90. There are wide range of products of the brand Schwarzkopf including the
extra care ultimate repair shampoo, Marrakesh oil, colour protect, colour protect, conditioner

4
INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING
fibre therapy. There are sun care shampoo and conditioner as well, which have helped in
fulfilling the demands and preferences in the different market segments with ease and
effectiveness. Strategies are defined by focusing on the allocation of resources and developing
strategies to extend the control mechanisms and for ensuring successful business outcomes
(Rentschler and Kirchner 2012).
Week 3: Marketing Research and Decision Support Systems
The marketing research helped in implementing the most suitable strategies for becoming
a customer centric business and developed strong and profitable relationships with the customers
to expand footprints all over the world and even lower the cost of managing business
functionality. It has also identified the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the
company. The strengths included enhanced market potential to utilize the financial, human and
technological resources for creating a positive brand image while the weaknesses were high
prices of products. The opportunities included advancement in supply chains, use of IT for
conducting market researches while the threats could be the competitors like Woolworths, Coles,
etc (Mehta et al. 2012). The changing buying behaviours of the customers were understood and
exploratory research was done for collecting the qualitative data through group based
observations and interviews.
This could also improve the sourcing capabilities, at the same time, enhance the value-
based leaderships, and manage sustainable farming. The marketing research has identified
various important aspects such as the preferences of customers towards the seafood items and so
Ocean Chef is the sea food brand of Woolworths that has enabled customers to make the buying
decisions. The marketing researches have helped in gaining useful data and information

5
INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING
regarding the satisfaction of clients and understood their demands and preferences too (Gupta
2013). Their feedbacks and responses were considered by the company to make business
decisions, which helped in introducing the Ocean Chef food items like Salmon portions skin,
squid salt and pepper, peeled prawns, squid rings, etc. These branded food items of Woolworths
allowed for keeping the fish loving customers satisfied and felt confident to cook these food
items easily at their homes. I, as a marketing consultant understood that Woolworths, which
helped in analyzing the market conditions, used the information systems properly and business
decisions were made for making the seafood items popular in the market (Kajanus et al. 2012).
Week 4: Consumer and Business Market Behavior
As a marketing consultant, I have understood that the decisions made by the customers
while purchasing the products and services are based on the situational influences, psychological
and social influences like their roles, family involvement, culture from which they belong,
perception, attitudes and behaviours and by prioritizing on the health benefits too. The Pedigree
dog food items are healthy and tasty because of the ingredients present in it and it also has high
contents of energy that make customers buy those for their pets. As a marketing consultant, it is
my responsibility to make the organisation identify the flaws in business and create opportunities
for the customers to manage internal searches to know more about the products that they are
going to purchase (Albrechts 2013). From the analysis of market, it was understood that the
consumers’ behaviors change from time to time. Nowadays, they take care of their pets and thus
has introduced the Pedigree adult dog food can casserole with beef gravy, lamb pasta and
veggies along with dog food can loaf and beef pasta too. The buying behaviours and the needs
and preferences of the customers were understood, which helped in keeping pace with the new
market conditions and fulfill their needs and requirements too. Pedigree is a popular dog food

6
INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING
item that has been introduced in the market by Woolworths to make sure that not only the
customers but also their pets can be taken care of, because they are considered as important
family members for the customers (Kristianto et al. 2012). The behaviours of consumers have
changed and to met the health and safety standards, the company has introduced new range of
Pedigree food items and the prices are reduced as well, which has created enough possibilities
for fulfilling the consumers present in the different business market segments (Wedel and
Kamakura 2012).
Week 5: Market Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning
The behavioral segmentation has helped in understanding the rate of usage of products by
the customers and benefits obtained. The psychographic segmentation was used for
understanding their lifestyles, behaviors and personalities and there was clear indication that the
customers want something healthy and tasty. The Arnott’s biscuits are selected as the brand
products required to manage market segmentation, target the new customers and position
products and services properly in the market. Woolworths offers Arrnott’s milk arrowroot,
family assorted, marie biscuits , milk coffee and ginger nut, etc. There are wide range of items
that are of good tastes and have been made available through market positioning and even by
allowing the different products of the brand in different market segments according to the needs
and preferences of the customers in the market (Kwak and Kim 2013). The market segmentation,
targeting and positioning are done for influencing the buying behaviours of the consumers and
make sure that the sales revenue is increased along with the profit level. Woolworths has shipped
the product to over 40 countries and thus the brand Arnott has a good market share. The
company has also expanded the product in the cereal and breakfast segment to meet the criteria
of targeting and positioning of products and services in the market (Woolworths.com.au 2018).

7
INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING
The segmentation of market is done by categorizing the customer segments into old customers,
teenagers and young children. The old customers were provided with health biscuits like Marie
biscuits and ginger nuts whereas the milk coffee and arrowroot biscuits favour the choices and
buying decisions of the young adults and children. The fresh food people campaign helped in
positioning the products and services properly, which further influenced the customers’ buying
behaviors and enhance the sales and profit level (Wilson et al. 2012).

8
INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING
References
Albrechts, L., 2013. Reframing strategic spatial planning by using a coproduction
perspective. Planning Theory, 12(1), pp.46-63.
Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M. and Brennan, R., 2015. Marketing: an introduction.
Pearson Education.
Gupta, A., 2013. Environmental and pest analysis: An approach to external business
environment. Merit Research Journal of Art, Social Science and Humanities, 1(2), pp.13-17.
Hair Jr, J.F. and Lukas, B., 2014. Marketing research (Vol. 2). McGraw-Hill Education
Australia.
Kajanus, M., Leskinen, P., Kurttila, M. and Kangas, J., 2012. Making use of MCDS methods in
SWOT analysis—Lessons learnt in strategic natural resources management. Forest Policy and
Economics, 20, pp.1-9.
Kristianto, Y., Gunasekaran, A., Helo, P. and Sandhu, M., 2012. A decision support system for
integrating manufacturing and product design into the reconfiguration of the supply chain
networks. Decision Support Systems, 52(4), pp.790-801.
Kwak, M. and Kim, H., 2013. Market positioning of remanufactured products with optimal
planning for part upgrades. Journal of Mechanical Design, 135(1), p.011007.
Mehta, K., Phillips, C., Ward, P., Coveney, J., Handsley, E. and Carter, P., 2012. Marketing
foods to children through product packaging: prolific, unhealthy and misleading. Public Health
Nutrition, 15(9), pp.1763-1770.

9
INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING
Rentschler, R. and Kirchner, T.A., 2012. Arts management/marketing journal citation analysis:
assessing external impact. Arts Marketing: An International Journal, 2(1), pp.6-20.
Wedel, M. and Kamakura, W.A., 2012. Market segmentation: Conceptual and methodological
foundations (Vol. 8). Springer Science & Business Media.
Wilson, A., Zeithaml, V.A., Bitner, M.J. and Gremler, D.D., 2012. Services marketing:
Integrating customer focus across the firm. McGraw Hill.
Woolworths.com.au. (2018). {{metaController.metaData.title}}. [online] Available at:
https://www.woolworths.com.au [Accessed 18 Jan. 2018].