Evaluating Woolworths' Marketing Strategies for Competitive Advantage

Woolworths, a leading player in Australia’s retail industry, faces challenges and opportunities as it aims to expand market share. Despite its strong brand presence, Woolworths must innovate its pricing strategy and explore new markets while maintaining customer engagement through digital mar...Read More

Running head: MARKETING MANAGEMENT
Marketing Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Issue 1: Brief description of the chosen organization......................................................................2
Issue 2: 5 C's of the organization.....................................................................................................4
Issue 3: Market information collection............................................................................................6
Issue 4: Marketing Strategy.............................................................................................................7
Issue 5: Development of marketing tactics (Marketing Mix)..........................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
Reference.......................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
The purpose of this Study is to prepare a report of various aspects of marketing strategy
that are implemented by Woolworths Limited. Initial a brief description of this organization will
be provided along with the company's mission and organizational objectives. The marketing to
5Cs will be implied to understand the marketing strategies of the company. List tool will also
help to understand the process of collecting market information by the company, which they use
to evaluate the external business condition.
Proper marketing strategy will be recommended according to the market segmentation
policy and behavior of target market. In a final section the marketing mix tool will be applied,
which will help to support the existing marketing strategy of Woolworths.
Issue 1: Brief description of the chosen organization
Woolworths Limited is one of the largest retail unit chains in Australia and New Zealand.
It is the second largest company in all over Australia in terms of total revenue. The company was
founded in the year 1924 and is currently having its headquarters in the Bella Vista region of
New South Wales. The total number of employees of 202,000 the company is also currently the
biggest employer in private sector of Australia (Woolworthsgroup.com.au, 2017). The main
operational area of the company includes retail Supermarket stores in all over of Australia.
The organizational mission of the company is to deliver best quality of customer service,
which will help them to provide value and respect for the needs of the customer. The main
purpose of marketing strategy of the company is to establish healthy relationship with all the
stakeholders, which has also, help them to improve upon their brand value. The company
proudly announces themselves as business partner to all the local farmers and manufacturers,

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which help them to effectively operate the business and help in local economic development.
The main purpose of the marketing strategy of the company is to build a strong customer and
store led culture that can be achieved with the help of effective teamwork. Generation of
sustainable development is also one of the major aims of marketing strategy of Woolworths,
which will help them to retain customers and maintain their brand value within the Australian
community. The company is also aiming to expand their product line, which will also help them
to increase the overall sales volume. The management of the company is currently aiming to give
better focus on the needs of their customer. This can be achieved through customer feedback
program, which is mainly achieved by implementing better level of business communication
strategy. With the help of the feedback and information collected from the, it is possible for the
company to improve upon the shopping experience and bring about changes in the existing
customer service protocol.
The company is currently offering all kinds of retail and grocery products, which are
essential consumer necessities. The company sells these products from different types of
manufacturers, which can fulfill the requirement of all class of people within the Australian
society. Throughout past several years of operation in the Australian consumer market,
Woolworths Limited has been able to earn high brand value for their products, which is mainly
believed to the best quality among all other consumer products (Woolworthsgroup.com.au,
2017). The high brand value of Woolworths is one of the main parts of marketing plan, which is
used by the company to communicate with the target audience. In the following section, detailed
description of the marketing strategy will be provided.

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Issue 2: 5 C's of the organization
The 5 C's of marketing is one of the effective tools that help to implement major
marketing decisions of a company (Menon et al. 2015). With the help of this tool, it is possible
to provide an effective guideline and help to implement the correct decision depending upon the
external situation of a market. Baker (2014), has added that this tool is also effective in
understanding the need of the customers and thereby help to provide high quality of customer
service. The major marketing decisions that are implemented by large scale business
organization are highly dependent upon the element of 5 C's in marketing.
Company: This is the primary element of 5Cs marketing plan, which help to identify the
major strengths and weakness of a company in the context of current market environment
(Hanssens et al. 2013). Being one of the largest private business organizations in Australia, one
of the biggest strength of Woolworths is their high brand value and reputation in the consumer
market of Australia. Moreover being one of the oldest companies, it is possible for the
organization to have large scale of supply distribution chain, which is Highly Effective in
providing all the necessary retail and grocery products to the customers. Having over 3000 stores
in all over Australia, it is possible for the company to target a wide range of audience among the
Australian community. The major weakness of the company on the other hand, is there any
ability to expand in other parts of the globe. This is mainly due to the fact that the company has
failed to maintain sustainability in all other parts. The company has currently encountered major
threat due to entry of new rivals in the retail sector of Australia. Nevertheless, it is believed that
with the help of new business pattern, which will be operated through E-Commerce business
chain, it is possible for the company to target even wider range of customers.

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Customers: The Woolworths has wide range customers, which is segmented into
different categories depending upon their personal needs. With the current market share of nearly
20% of the Retail Industry in Australia, it is possible for the company to satisfy the needs of a
wide range of Australian consumers (Woolworthsgroup.com.au, 2017). The company is also
aiming to maintain effective business relationship with all the group of customers which will
help them to maintain business sustainability.
Collaborators: Woolworths being one of the oldest business organizations has been able
to establish effective business partnership with all the local farmers and manufacturers. The
company also has business deal with a wide group of suppliers, which help them to maintain an
effective supply chain distribution channel (Woolworthsgroup.com.au, 2017).
Competitors: In spite of being, the largest private retail network of Australia, the major
competitors of the company includes the Coles supermarket, Aldi and Big W. The company has
to face tough challenge to maintain their market share among the Australian community.
Moreover, with new entrants in Australian retail sector the competitive environment is becoming
even tougher. It is important for the company to bring about modification within the marketing
strategies, which will help them to maintain greater sustainability.
Context: The external business environment in the Australian consumer market has a
major impact in all the marketing decisions (Schmidt et al. 2014). Being one of the developed
nations of the globe, Australia has always maintained a higher economic growth, which is mainly
possible due to the effective government policies and business laws. The highly Advanced
Technological infrastructure with an Australian society has also implemented in the business

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market environment. This external business context has a major impact in all the business
policies of Woolworths.
Issue 3: Market information collection
In order to maintain business sustainability, it is important for Woolworths to collect
relevant marketing information that is essential in marketing research. It is important to collect
information to properly implement the elements of marketing tool and analyze the external
business environment (Schmidt et al. 2014). As the company is able to implement digital form of
business communication with the customers, it is possible for them to collect the latest
information from the market, which is possible due to direct and frequent interactions with the
customers.
It is also essential for the company to deploy expert market researchers, which help them
to properly analyze the external business marketing environment. This is also helpful in
prediction of future market growth. The technique of situational analysis is believed to be highly
efficient in the given context. This can help the business to gather accurate information that is
needed for 5Cs of marketing plan. SWOT and PEST analysis along with Porter’s 5 forces is
applied to collect information in context of the competitive business environment (Schleimer et
al. 2014). The perspective of the customers can be understood with the help of information and
statistical data derived from the customer’s survey feedback. The context of changing business
also needs to be analyzed that can help to implement proper change in the marketing planning
methods. The company needs to properly understand the perspective of the business partners and
collaborators, which is needed to understand their role in the context of the supplier’s role (Shih
et al. 2013).

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Issue 4: Marketing Strategy
From the analysis of the retail sector of Australian market, it is clear that is a tough level
of marketing competition. Angell and Kraemer (2017), have mentioned about the importance of
market segmentation policy that can be implemented by Woolworths Limited for better and
accurate marketing strategy. Additionally, it is essential to consider about the fact that being the
largest supermarket retail unit the target market group for the company will include all categories
of people.
One of the major issues that are faced by the company is due to high level of pricing of
the products. For this reason, the company is able to target mainly the people with high level of
income. Over the past many years, the company is able to provide premium quality of the
products, which has helped them to position their brand value at superior position within the
retail industry of Australia. The company has aimed to launch the market value proposition,
which can be obtained with the help of price based marketing campaigns. This is also used a
major part of the market positioning statement. With the help of effective position statement, it is
possible for the company to have the ability to connect with the customers. It also fills the
information that can help to fulfill the needs of the customers.
The market position statement will depend upon the behavior of the target customers.
This is also effective in providing competitive edge to the company that is achieved with the help
of aggressive marketing strategies. The organizational gaol of Woolworths is effectively
reflected in the organizational mission statement. This includes focus upon the pricing and value
for money for every product.

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Issue 5: Development of marketing tactics (Marketing Mix)
The elements of marketing mix are effective in the context that it can help to change the
parameters of marketing plan depending upon the change of the external business environment
(Sarin et al. 2013). There are 4 elements of marketing mix that can be considered for the same:
Product: The Woolworths Limited sells all kinds of retail grocery products that include
many of the essential requirements of daily life. The wide range of retail products have also
helped in the development of market base for the company in the retail industry of the nation.
Price: The price of the products of Woolworths is usually in the higher category, which
has helped them to provide premium quality of products. However, the company needs to alter or
lower their pricing. This can be achieved by the introduction of lower pricing products and
thereby help them to expand their range of target customers.
Place: The main places of market operations of Woolworths include the retail industry of
Australia and New Zealand. Most of the attempts of the company to expand in other regions
have failed. Hence, the current market tactics needs to modify according to the business
environment of local market.
Promotion: The Company mainly needs to implement and focus upon the digital
marketing tactics. This is believed to help them to focus upon the improving the communication
with the target customers.

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Conclusion
In the concluding note, it can be said that with the help of effective marketing strategies
and use of marketing tool, it is possible for Woolworths to be one of the largest business
organization. The application of 5Cs of marketing along with that of marketing mix, it is possible
for the company to comprehensively expand the market share and maintain their high brand
value in the retail sector of Australia.

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Reference
Angell, R.L. and Kraemer, J.R., International Business Machines Corporation, 2017.
Automatically generating an optimal marketing strategy for improving cross sales and upsales of
items. U.S. Patent 9,685,048.
Baker, M.J., 2014. Marketing strategy and management. Palgrave Macmillan.
Hanssens, D.M., Rust, R.T. and Srivastava, R.K., 2013, May. Marketing strategy and Wall
Street: nailing down marketing's impact. American Marketing Association.
Menon, A., Bharadwaj, S.G., Adidam, P.T. and Edison, S.W., 2015. Effective Marketing
Strategy-Making: Antecedents and Consequences. In Proceedings of the 1997 Academy of
Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 224-224). Springer, Cham.
Schleimer, S.C., Coote, L.V. and Riege, A., 2014. Headquarters to subsidiary transfer effects on
marketing strategy exploitation. Journal of Business Research, 67(3), pp.307-315.
Schmidt, K.M., Spann, M. and Zeithammer, R., 2014. Pay what you want as a marketing strategy
in monopolistic and competitive markets. Management Science, 61(6), pp.1217-1236.
Shih, B.Y., Chen, C.Y. and Chen, Z.S., 2013. Retracted: an empirical study of an internet
marketing strategy for search engine optimization. Human Factors and Ergonomics in
Manufacturing & Service Industries, 23(6), pp.528-540.
Woolworthsgroup.com.au. (2017). About Us - Woolworths Group. [online] Available at:
https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/page/about-us [Accessed 10 Oct. 2017].

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Sarin, S., Challagalla, G. and Kohli, A.K., 2013, May. Implementing changes in marketing
strategy: The role of perceived outcome-and process-oriented supervisory actions. American
Marketing Association.