Essay: Marketing & Entrepreneurship Analysis Of Woolworths.

Discuss about the Marketing & Entrepreneurship Woolworths.

Marketing can be defined as a business function that deals with the customer. It aims at creating, communicating and delivering superior value to the consumer. It enhances customer relationship to create mutual benefit for the companies and customers. A marketing plan can be described as a comprehensive document containing information about marketing objectives, current opportunities and threats in the marketing, trends prevailing in the market and intended marketing strategy of the firm. The knowledge gained from the market analysis should be demonstrated in the marketing plan of the firm (Kotler, et al., 2015). This report analyses key aspects of the marketing plan of the supermarket division of Woolworth Group Australia.s

Woolworths Australia is one of the leading companies in Australia. It has the presence over Australian and News land markets. The company was established in 1924 by Percy Christmas, Stanley Chatterton, George Street, Cecil Scott Waine and Ernest Williams. Woolworth group own some of the most trusted brands in the nation. These brands are majorly classified under three segments Woolworths food group, endeavour drinks and portfolio business. The company has a team of 205,000 members to serve approximately 29 million customers worldwide (Woolworths, 2017). Woolworth’s supermarket is a major business division of the company, with 955 stores in the largest supermarket chain in the country. The company provides fresh foods to customers with partnering from Australian farmers and growers (Woolworths, 2017). The supermarket consists of a variety of products. Major product segmentation of the company includes fruits & vegetables, meat & seafood, bakery products, dairy products & eggs, pantry, freezer, drinks, liquor, tobacco, pet, baby, health & beauty and household (Woolworths, 2017).The company keeps on upgrading project portfolio satisfying its customers.

SWOT can be defined as strategic analysis and strategy development framework. SWOT stands for strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats (Ferrell and Hartline, 2010). SWOT analysis for Woolworth is done as follows:

Strengths

The key strengths of the company are listed as follows:

Established in Australia since a very long time

Woolworths is present in the Australian markets for over 90 years. It is the major strength of the company. Being the market player since a long time the company holds details about Australian markets and consumers.

Talented & Skilled workforce

The company has a strong database of a talented workforce. It has a team of around 205,000 skilled and talented employees.

SWOT analysis

Good Reputation

The company has a well-developed brand image.  Woolworths is a popular name in Australian households. The company’s objective to provide fresh food produced by locals also adds to the brand recognition of the company. The company is also engaged in various CSR activities for the development of communities, which lays a positive impact on the brand image of the company.

Big market share

Woolworths and Coles are two major market players of the Australian markets. They occupy almost 80 per cent of the market together in the year 2013 (Mortimer, 2013). It is a kind of duopoly in the Australian markets.

 Wide variety of products and services

The company has a diverse product portfolio that it offers to the customers. It keeps on making alternations to the product and services according to the changes in customer preferences.

Weakness

Although the company does not have many weaknesses few weaknesses of the company are listed below:

Less international exposure

The company has presence only in Australian and News land markets. In today’s globalized world the company lacks international exposure.

The company’s entry into online markets was late

The company’s entry into online markets was very late. This led the firm losing its competitive advantage.

Large scale operations slowed the process of change

As the firm grew in size it became difficult to implement changes. The process of implementing changes slowed down because now the firm has a larger area to implement those changes.

Opportunities

The opportunities presented in an external environment that company can grasp are listed below:

Expansion opportunities in the international market

The companies have opportunities for further expansion in international markets. The markets of countries with emerging economy provide the firm with great opportunities. Asian countries China and India are among the most attractive options to the countries for expansion. According to the reports, the company has identified these opportunities and looking for the expansion (Williams, 2013).

Company can opt for better strategic alternatives

The company can opt for better strategic alternatives to strengthen the online retail segment and customer base. The online retailing segment of the company in Australian markets in under –penetrated and needs improvements. This segment holds high growth potential.

Threats

The major threats that exist in external markets of the company are:

Increased competition

New market players have entered Australian markets. Aldi is a major company that is given tough competition to Woolworths and Coles. The government is also not in the favor of duopoly, thus trying to reduce entry barriers I the industry. The current policy of government will increase the competition in Australian markets.

Marketing objectives

Economic down turns in Australia

In the recent times, the Australian economy is facing downturns. It has resulted in reducing the buying power of the customer. The Australian customer is becoming more prices sensitive. This can result in reducing profit margins for the company.

Marketing objectives are a part of the marketing plan. These are the goals that marketing plan aims to achieve (Ritter, 2014). The firm has two broad marketing objectives:

• The company aims to deliver fresh foods to its customers produced by local farmers and manufacturers.
• The company has an objective that its customer places it at first position (Woolworth, 2017).

The target market of the firm is the focused that segments that firm selects for catering. A firm divides its market into various segments. It cannot satisfy and cater the needs of each segment; therefore it is important for the firm to select the few segments towards which it can aim its marketing efforts. These selected segments are known as target markets (Boone and Kurtz, 2015). Woolworth’s market consists of B2B customers. It tries to cater the needs of households of all the age groups. The targeted customer base of the company demands products for daily needs. They do not want to spend much time on choosing regular products. The target market needs easy and comfortable shopping experience. The company aims to deliver fresh food products to its target market segment.

The company adopts various strategies to increase its market share. Some of the strategies are discussed here.  Advertisements of offers and promotion of the products by celebrities helped the firm to expand its market share (Weebly, 2017). This strategy has helped the company in past but recently the company has adopted a fresh approach to its marketing strategy. The company has decided to advertise covering the massive media platform including all types of media to reach 80 per cent of the grocery buyers in Australia within the week. The uniqueness in the strategy is that the firm has now decided to advertise from customer’s perspective rather than the company’s perspective. They have started using consumer’s language and changed the name to Woolies from Woolworths for advertising. The marketing strategy of the firm aims to create emotional connections with the people. The marketing strategy is the firm is not only price focused. It aims to demonstrate a brand image that delivers quality and convenience at low prices. It displays itself as a brand that works for the betterment of the communities. This fresh approach in the marketing strategy has been adopted by intensive research on the customers and markets (Canning, 2016). According to the report of AFN (2015) marketing strategy of Woolworths Australia focuses on three key aspects

• Improving the offer that company provides to customers so that the consumers keep the company their first choice.
• Growth by innovating the products and services to meet the changing needs of customers
• The next focus is on further enhancing the value provided to the customer by implementing the ‘Lean Retail’ model.

Target Market

Overall the company’s marketing strategy will now focus on providing more innovation and better compelling offers to the customers at lower prices.

Marketing mix of the company can be defined as the set of marketing tools that are used to seek desired responses from the target market. There are basically four elements of the marketing mix product, price, place, and promotion (Khan, 2014).

Product

Woolworth super market has a diverse product portfolio. It focuses mainly on the grocery products. The firm not only provides a variety of products but also provides the quality products to the consumers. The major product segments of the supermarket are fruits & vegetables, meat & seafood, bakery products, dairy products & eggs, pantry, freezer, drinks, liquor, tobacco, pet, baby, health & beauty and household. The company aims to provide fresh foods to its customers by partnering with local manufacturers and farmers.

Price

Previously the firm has a duopoly in the market, so the prices were bit high. According to the recent changes in the study, the firm has decided to keep its prices low for attracting more customers and remain in the completion. Recently entered market players have kept their prices low therefore the firm was losing its market share. So the firm decided to adopt the strategy of competitive prices (Mitchell, 2015).  

Place

As per the place the firm has a strong presence in the Australian markets. It has around 995 stores across Australia. It also provides the facility of online shopping. This helps the firms to reach every potential customer across the nation. The company also has a world class supply chain that ensures timely availability of the products.

Promotion

Promotion is the key marketing tool of the company. The firm has an effective promotion mix. It uses every kind of media platform for promoting its products. The company also launches various time to offers to attract the customers. Recent evidence show that the company is including digital marketing as a part of its product mix.

Recommendations for Woolworth Australia are given below:

• After analyzing the recent trends in the Australian markets it can be suggested to the firms should keep a close eye on its competitor. It should analyze every activity of its competitors and frame its strategy accordingly
• The firm must aim to cut the cost in any manner to sustain the competitive advantage in the market. The firm can cut the cost by mass production or acquisitions. They should also effectively communicate the message of lower prices to its customers.
• The firm should analyze opportunities in markets other than Australia. International expansion can create a backup for the firm if it faces the downfall in Australian markets.
• It should focus on utilizing technology in its operations. Technology based technological options such as Big Data analytics, accounting software packages and stock management software can increase the efficiency of the firm. It will also reduce the need for human staff so they can be utilized
• The company should also provide training to its employees so that they contribute to making customer’s shopping experience easy and relaxing.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that company has a big established player in Australian markets. Its core businesses are divided into three major segments Woolworths food group, endeavor drinks, and portfolio business. The focus of the report is in the supermarket segment of the company. The company held a dominant position in the market along with its competitor Coles. But recent changes in government policy have resulted in the removal of entry barriers in the industry. This has increased the competition in for the firm in the industry. It has been noticed that firm is losing its market share. The key arising competitor for the firm is Aldi. Aldi is the growing firm in Australian markets snatching the market share from Coles and Woolworth. Aldi is successful in doing so because of its lower prices. To deal with the changes the firm has also shifted the focus of its marketing strategy towards providing innovative products to the customers at lower prices. The firm’s major strength is that it is an old established brand name in the Australian market and holds details about Australian markets. The company also has a well-developed marketing mix. Few recommendations are also suggested for the firm to grow in coming future.

References

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Boone, L.E. and Kurtz, D.L., 2015. Contemporary marketing. Cengage learning.

Canning, S., 2016. It’s all about the customer: Woolworths’ top marketer on its new brand campaign, viewed on 2 August 2017 from https://mumbrella.com.au/woolies-marketer-says-refresh-380223

Ferrell, O.C. and Hartline, M., 2010. Marketing strategy. Cengage Learning.

Holden, R., Carmignani, F., Dixon, J., Guest, R., and Makin, T., 2015. Australia’s economy is slowing: what you need to know. The Conversation, viewed on 2 August 2017 from https://theconversation.com/australias-economy-is-slowing-what-you-need-to-know-47036

Khan, M.T., 2014. The concept of'marketing mix'and its elements (a conceptual review paper). International journal of information, business and management, 6(2), p.95.

Kotler, P., Burton, S., Deans, K., Brown, L. and Armstrong, G., 2015. Marketing. Pearson Higher Education AU.

Mitchell, S., 2015. Woolworths kicks off new marketing campaign. The Sydney Moring Herald, viewed on 2 August 2017 from https://www.smh.com.au/business/retail/woolworths-kicks-off-new-marketing-campaign-20151019-gkd4dl.html

Mortimer, G., 2013. FactCheck: do Coles and Woolies control 80% of the market?, The Conversation, viewed on 2 August 2017 from https://theconversation.com/factcheck-do-coles-and-woolies-control-80-of-the-market-15418

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Ritter, J., 2014. What is the role of marketing in strategic planning?. The Business & Management Review, 4(4), p.88.

Weebly, 2017. Marketing Strategy , viewed on 2 August 2017 from https://orreconomics.weebly.com/marketing-strategy.html

Williams,  K., 2013. Woolies looking at global expansion. The Weekend Australian, viewed on 2 August 2017 from https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/latest/woolworths-q3-sales-up-25/news-story/f4afa176dd5df2f08578408b55dbbdc3

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