PESTEL, Porter’s Five Forces, And SWOT Essay On Harris Farm Supermarket.

The marketing plan is to be based on a company (product) of your choice. You are expected to analyse the current market conditions, target market, marketing mix and then formulate recommendations. It is suggested that you do NOT choose successful multinationals such as McDonald’s, Apple, Sony, Nike etc. Instead select a company that has a product or service that is a fairly new introduction into the marketplace OR is in the decline stage of the product life cycle.

Background of Harris Farm Supermarket 

Harris Farm Supermarket is one of the Australian grocery chains in which the company has their business in more than 25 locations in New South Wales (Harris Farm Markets, 2018). Furthermore, the respective supermarket specializes in selling vegetables, fruits along with different other grocery items. The company was founded in the year 1971 and the founder of the company was David Harris and the respective Harris Farm Supermarket is operating in more than 25 locations. Lastly, the numbers of employees who are working in the Harris Farm Supermarket are more than 2000 till the year 2015. However, the company is in their declining stage as there are various other competitors in the market such as Woolworths, Target and Kmart supermarkets.

Macro Environmental Analysis 

In order to analyze the macro environment, the PESTEL analysis can be conducted in order to understand the different factors which are affecting the firm in both negative and positive manner.

Political factor is the first aspect in which this has been noticed that there are various kinds of political norms in Australia which can affect the brand image of the firm if the same are not being followed. The government regulations in Australia are against the duopolistic nature of the market and this will negatively affect the Harris Farm Supermarket (Weinstein and Pohlman 2015).

Economic factor is the second aspect in which the Harris Farm Supermarket needs to analyze the different spending patterns of the customers in Australia. This has been noticed that the company cannot exist as there are different other competitors in the market which can affect the overall brand image of the company and the prices are high at Harris Farm Supermarket and this can create huge impact on the sales of the company.

Social factor is the third aspect in which the company tries to pride themselves in fostering a positive and proper relationship culture and the company tries to hand the community by supplying a percentage back to the different customers in the economy. However, the other competitors such as Woolworths and Coles are successful in this social aspect as they tried to join hands with various communities in serving the economy.

Technological factor is the other aspect which is required to be taken into consideration by Harris Farm Supermarket as this has been seen that the company lacks in the self check out service and they are in the declining stage as they are not being able to cope up with the various kinds of self service and check out system for the customers and they are successful in performing such activities as well (Foxall 2014).

PESTEL Analysis of Harris Farm Supermarket

Legal factor is the other aspect wherein this has been noticed that the organization may suffer from different safety related concerns. The company Harris Farm Supermarket needs to keep in mind and abide by the various laws such as related to environment and legal rules and regulations as well (Malhotra and Peterson 2014).

Environmental factor is the other aspect in which the company is not being able to offer fresh and organic kind of products and environment to their customers. However, on the other hand, this has been noticed that the Woolworths try to maintain fresh and healthy environment for their customers and this helped them in becoming the largest supermarkets in Australia as well (Bresler and Lubbe 2014). 

With the help of Porter’s Five Forces Analysis, the different threats and the other bargaining power of the rivalries can be analyzed in an efficient manner.

Threat of the new entrants is moderate for Harris Farm Supermarket; however this can be a major challenge for the company as there are various kinds of brands in which this can lower the productivity and sales of the company in a negative manner. On the other hand, there are established players in the market as well which is inclusive of Woolworths and Target supermarket which can be a huge threat for Harris Farm Supermarket (Malhotra and Peterson 2014).

Bargaining power of the buyers is low in the market in which Harris Farm Supermarket is operating their business. However, on the other hand this can be seen that different consumers can have several choices such as online e-retailers which can be a threat for Harris Farm Supermarket. On the other hand, this has been analyzed that brand image of Harris Farm Supermarket is not so strong in present scenario and this is affecting the brand image negatively (Olson et al. 2018).

Bargaining power of suppliers is low as the size of Harris Farm Supermarket is small and this will have huge impact on profitability of the firm as well. The chances of forward integration are low in Harris Farm Supermarket and the demand of the suppliers is different in nature as well (Marshall 2014).

Threat of substitutes is huge in the Australian market in which this has been seen and analyzed that Woolworths, Kmart and target supermarket are the major and largest competitors in the market. These competitors are offering the customers with various technological advanced services which are impacting the reputation of the firm in a negative manner (Goworek, McGoldrick and McGoldrick 2015).

Level of competitive rivalry is high in the market for Harris Farm Supermarket as there are huge players in the market and this can pose a huge competitive threat. The main competitors of Harris Farm Supermarket are Woolworths and Target and this threat is becoming huge in nature as well (Miquel-Romero, Caplliure-Giner and Adame-Sánchez 2014).

There are major competitors of Harris Farm Supermarket which is inclusive of Woolworths, Target and the Kmart Supermarket which are the largest supermarkets in Australian market. Woolworths can be a major threat for Harris Farm Supermarket as the company has introduced different kinds of technologically advanced equipment and this has helped Woolworths in succeeding. This can be a threat for Harris Farm as the company is in the declining stage and this can be dangerous for the growth of the firm as well.

With the help of SWOT analysis, this can be analyzed that there are various strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats which are being faced by Harris Farm Supermarket in the market. The SWOT analysis of Harris Farm Supermarket is as follows:

References

Bresler, M. and Lubbe, I., 2014. Marketing management.

Foxall, G., 2014. Strategic Marketing Management (RLE Marketing). Routledge.

Goworek, H., McGoldrick, P.J. and McGoldrick, P.J., 2015. Retail marketing management: Principles and practice. Harlow, UK: Pearson.

Harris Farm Markets. 2018. Buy Groceries Online | Harris Farm Markets. [online] Available at: https://www.harrisfarm.com.au/ [Accessed 6 Sep. 2018].

Malhotra, N.K. and Peterson, M., 2014. Basic marketing research. Pearson.

Marshall, G., 2014. Marketing management. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Miquel-Romero, M.J., Caplliure-Giner, E.M. and Adame-Sánchez, C., 2014. Relationship marketing management: Its importance in private label extension. Journal of Business Research, 67(5), pp.667-672.

Olson, E.M., Slater, S.F., Hult, G.T.M. and Olson, K.M., 2018. The application of human resource management policies within the marketing organization: The impact on business and marketing strategy implementation. Industrial Marketing Management, 69, pp.62-73.

Philip.; Keller Kotler (Kevin Lane.; Ang, Swee-Hoon.; Tan, Chin-Tiong.; Leong, Siew Meng), 2017. Marketing management. Pearson.

Shaw, S., 2016. Airline marketing and management. Routledge.

Weinstein, A. and Pohlman, R.A., 2015. Customer value: a new paradigm for marketing management. In Proceedings of the 1997 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 132-133). Springer, Cham.