Strategic Business Plan: Analysis of Woolworths' Initiatives

This report presents a strategic business plan analysis of Woolworths, an Australian retail chain. It identifies key issues such as customer acquisition challenges and over-reliance on the 'brick and mortar' model. The report examines Woolworths' initiatives to enhance its customer base through the adoption of an omnichannel business model, offering both online and offline services. Additionally, the report identifies alternative strategies like international expansion, product diversification, and digital marketing to address these challenges and improve profitability. The analysis includes a discussion of the importance of strategic planning, customer relationship management, and the evolving trends in the retail industry, all aimed at helping Woolworths achieve its business objectives.

Running head: STRATEGIC BUSINESS PLAN-WOOLWORTHS
Strategic Business Plan-Woolworths
Name of the Student:
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Overview of the Organisation....................................................................................................2
Identification of the major issues facing Woolworths...............................................................3
Woolworths and the enhancement of its customers...............................................................4
Woolworths and the usage of the omni-channel business model..........................................5
Identification of the possible alternatives..................................................................................6
Resource Requirements..............................................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References..................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
As opined by Bryson (2018), strategic business plan is considered as a
methodological plan that helps a business entity to plan and prepare for the unforeseen
changes that occurs in the market place. The strategic business plan defines the key initiatives
a business entity can take up to accomplish a set goal and objective (Cassidy 2016).
However, as discussed by Wolf and Floyd (2017), the business entities for the effective usage
of the strategic plans firstly need to identify the key issues that they are facing and for the
effective resolution of these issues formulate different kinds of objectives. More importantly,
they are also required to take the help of different strategies or measures for the attainment or
the achievement of the objectives that they have formulated. This becomes especially
important from the perspective of the modern business world wherein because of the
dynamicity of the contemporary business world, the business entities commonly face
different kinds of issues (Kerzner 2019). In this connection, the given report is focused on
determining the business initiative taken up by the supermarket retail chain industry of
Australia named as Woolworths.
Overview of the Organisation
Woolworths is recognised as an Australian based retail chain business industry that is
specialised in selling the products related to grocery. It also deals with other range of
products such as beauty and personal care, products related to daily household as well as
stationery products (Woolworths.com.au 2019). The concerned firm was known to be
founded in the year of 1924 dated 5th December and was then named as Wallworths Bazaar
Ltd (Woolworths.com.au 2019). The same is headquartered in the region of New South
Wales, Australia. At the present scenario, the firm is known to have its operational wings
spread at over 1000 number of retail stores (Woolworths.com.au 2019). Moreover, the

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company is known to operate itself at an international basis. Studies in this connection show
that the organisation of Woolworths is recorded to stand at the second largest paradigm
concerning the retail chain business in Australia (Woolworths.com.au 2019).
However, the desire of the firm to stand at the first place and change its business
paradigm to a whole new scenario, the company has been taking a major business initiative
recognised as the optimisation of the customer acquisition. In this relation, it needs to be said
that the business enterprise from the year of its foundation until now had been taking the help
of the “brick and mortar” model of business for the purpose of offering retail services to the
customers which in turn had substantially narrowed down the customer base and thereby the
profitability of the concerned enterprise. Thus, Woolworths presently is taking the help of the
omni-channel business model for the purpose of catering to the needs or the requirements of
both the online and the offline customers. This measure had been adopted by the retail under
discussion here for the purpose of attaining its business objective, that is, to become the
largest retail enterprise of the nation of Australia.
Identification of the major issues facing Woolworths
Ansoff et al. (2018) are of the viewpoint that the business entities, for the effective
usage of the process of strategic planning, are required to identify the issues or the challenges
that they face, related to the conduct of their business operations in the business environment.
As discussed by Nickols (2016), this can be done by the business entities through the usage
of different kinds of analytical frameworks which help them to effectively analyse the
internal and the external environment of their business operations. Furthermore, on the basis
of the results that the business entities had gathered they are required to prioritise the
different issues or the challenges that they are facing on the basis of the impact of the same
on the business operations of the concerned business entity (Morden 2016). Vishnevskiy,

4STRATEGIC BUSINESS PLAN-WOOLWORTHS
Karasev and Meissner (2016) have noted that this is important since it enables the business
entities to devote the right kind of resources as well as time for the resolution of the problems
or the issues which are really important from the perspective of the business operations of the
business entity.
In the particular context of the business entity Woolworths, it can be said that there
are various issues or challenges that the concerned business entity is presently facing which
in turn is adversely affecting the prospects or the growth of the concerned business entity
within the nation of Australia. In this relation, some of the most important issues that the
enterprise under discussion here is presently facing are its inability to attract new customers,
the difficulty in retaining loyal customers, the over-reliance on the ‘brick and the mortar’
model of business, the fierce competition that it faces within the retail sector of the nation of
Australia and others. However, an analysis of these issues faced by the concerned enterprise
through the usage of the process of strategic prioritisation reveals the fact that the two major
issues that the enterprise under discussion presently faces are its inability to attract new
customers and the over-reliance on the ‘brick and the mortar’ model of business.
Woolworths and the enhancement of its customers
Morschett, Schramm-Klein and Zentes (2015) are of the viewpoint that the
enhancement of the profitability of a particular business enterprise and also its future growth
or development greatly depends on the number of customers that it had or for that matter the
kind of customer base that it boasts of. Furthermore, as discussed by Frynas and Mellahi
(2015), the customer base or the target market of a business enterprise is greatly influenced
by the ability of the concerned enterprise to attract new customers within its fold as well as
on its ability to retain its loyal customers. According to Trigeorgis and Reuer (2017), this is
important since the profitability of the business enterprises depends on their sales volume
which in turn is being determined by their customer base or for that matter the ability of the

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enterprises to attract and retain customers. However, within the framework of the retail
enterprise Woolworths it had been seen that the concerned enterprise had not been able to
enhance its customer base in the last few years in any substantial manner and this in turn had
adversely affected the profitability of the enterprise in a substantial manner.
In this relation, it needs to be said that the inability of the enterprise under discussion
here to attract new customers or for that matter to retain its loyal customers can be ascribed to
its over-reliance on the ‘brick and mortar’ model of business rather than the e-commerce
which is the recent trend within the retail industry, the ineffective sales strategy followed by
the enterprise coupled with its redundant customer relation management process and others.
Thus, it become important for the enterprise to focus on the focus on the long-term goal of
enhancing its customer base through the attraction of new customers and also the retention of
its existing loyal customers. This goal can be attained by the enterprise under discussion here
effectively through the usage of adequate policies or measures like the improvement of the
quality or the nature of products or services offered by the enterprise, improvement of the
customer relationship management approach used by the enterprise, offering both online and
offline services to the customers and others. Moreover, it is likely that through the effective
conglomerate usage of these measures the concerned enterprise would be able to substantially
enhance its customer base and thereby its profitability or financial returns as well.
Woolworths and the usage of the omni-channel business model
Aguinis, Edwards and Bradley (2017) are of the viewpoint that one of the most
important trends perceptible within the framework of the contemporary business world is the
fact that the customers are showing an ever-increasing propensity towards the e-commerce
model of business. However, at the same time it needs to be said that one of the most
important challenges that the business enterprises face for the usage of the e-commerce
model of business is the fact that there are various customers within the target market that

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they focus on who do not have the required technological expertise to opt for the usage of the
e-commerce model of business (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson 2016). It is precisely here that
the omni-channel model of business becomes important from the perspective of the different
business corporations since it helps the corporations to offer both online and offline services
to the customers (Zhao et al. 2017). This is important from the perspective of the retail
enterprise Woolworths which in the present times had struggled to attract new customers and
also to retain its existing customers. In this relation, it needs to be said that one of the most
factors which had directly contributed towards this issue faced by the enterprise under
discussion is its over-reliance on the traditional ‘brick and mortar’ model of business. Thus, it
is likely that through the adequate usage of this business model the enterprise under
discussion here would be able to effectively focus on both the customers who opt for
traditional retail services and also the ones who like to opt for the e-retail services as well.
This in turn would enable the enterprise to effectively enhance its profitability and thus the
enterprise is likely to benefit in a substantial manner if it adopts thee usage of the omni-
channel business strategy as a short-term goal for the enhancement of its customer base and
also its profitability as well.
Identification of the possible alternatives
Along with the two important measures outlined above that the retail enterprise
Woolworths can use for the resolution of the different issues that it is presently facing there
are other alterative measures as well that the enterprise under discussion here has the
opportunity to use. Some of the most important ones in this regard are listed below-
 International Expansion: Woolworths has the opportunity to undertake
international expansion for the enhancement of the scope of its business which in turn
would help it to resolve the issues that it is presently facing in the nation of Australia.

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For example, the enterprise would have the opportunity to procure surplus amount of
products and services and thereby earn a higher amount of profitability through the
sale of the same in the markets of the host nations (Cokins 2017). In the light of these
aspects, it can be said that the usage of this particular measure is likely to help the
enterprise under discussion here to resolve the issue that it is presently facing in the
nation of Australia.
 Usage of Product Diversification Strategy: Woolworths for the enhancement of its
present customer base and also for the purpose of retaining its loyal existing
customers has the opportunity to take the help of the product diversification strategy.
The effective usage of this strategy is likely to help the enterprise under discussion
here to offer a large number of products or services as per the needs or the
requirements of the diverse segments of the populations that it services (Johnsen
2015). This in turn is likely to help the concerned enterprise to satisfy the customers
and thereby earn their loyalty as well which in turn would help it to earn a higher
amount of profitability.
 Usage of Digital Marketing Strategies: The effective usage of the different digital
marketing strategies is likely to help the retail enterprise Woolworths to effectively
promote as well as advertise the products or services offered by it. This in turn would
offer the opportunity to the enterprise to not only enhance its customer base but at the
same time the amount of profit generated by it (Morden 2016). In the light of these
aspects, it can be said that the effective usage of the different digital marketing
strategies is likely to help Woolworths to overcome the issues that it is presently
facing in the nation of Australia.

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Resource Requirements
For the effective usage of the above made recommendations, the organization would
require different kinds of resources especially the human resources. In this relation, it needs
to be said that the most important individuals of the enterprise who would be required for the
implementation of the above mentioned measures would be the Senior Manager, General
Manager, Marketing Manager, Finance Manager, PR and others. Furthermore, for the
effective implementation of these recommendations the enterprise is likely to need to a
timeframe of at least one year.
Conclusion
To conclude, the process of strategic planning had been an important one from the
perspective of the contemporary business corporations because of the dynamicity of the
modern business world. Thus, it had become important for the business corporations to
effectively analyse the environment in which they are operational and thereby identify the
key issues that they are facing. This is important since the adequate identification of the
issues faced by the corporations enables them to formulate relevant strategies for the
mitigation of the issues faced by them. Furthermore, they also need to prioritise the different
issues faced by them as since this will help them to allocate adequate amount of resources to
the issues which are actually important from the perspective of the corporation. These aspects
of the strategic plans become apparent from the above analysis of the same in the particular
context of the enterprise Woolworths.

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