Evaluating Market Strategy Recommendations -Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Evaluating Market Strategy Recommendations? Answer: Introduction When an organization introduces a new producor service, it needs to develop different marketing strategies related to product and its advertising among people. Marketing mix is a strategic framework that includes various marketing strategies, which can be used to develop better customer relationships and increase customer base. This framework incorporates many strategies, i.e. 8 Ps stands for product, price, place, promotion, processes, people, partnerships and physical evidence (Beamish, Ashford, 2008). It comprises of every aspect, which is used by organization to increase the demand of its different products. It is very important part of marketing audit that assists in realize that marketing mix strategies are the best ways to establish strategic interaction of the company with its customers and other stakeholders. In this report, each and every P of marketing mix is discussed for an Australian Company, i.e. Woolworths. Theoretical concepts of marketing mix are described along with their application on Woolworths products. Woolworths is one of the largest retail chains in Australia and headquartered in Bella Vista, NSW Australia. The product range, which is taken into consideration here, is hair care product, offered by Woolworths. Moreover, the report includes the discussion about the contemporary issues, which are confronted by the organization in this competitive business environment. Woolworths is facing various issues, which are affecting the growth and marketing strategy of organization in supermarket industry. The organization is formulating effective strategies to deal with these issues. In the next section, recommendations are provided for each component of marketing mix. Company Overview Woolworths Limited is one of the major organizations in Australia with a large retail interest throughout New Zealand and Australia. In Australia, it is on second position in terms of profits and revenues. This organization is dealing in different industries, like; supermarkets, petrol, liquor, hotels etc. and offering a wide range of products worldwide. From them, one of the most profitable and established business of Woolworths Limited is Woolworth Supermarkets. The organization is selling various grocery products such as; vegetables, fruits, packaged goods. In addition to this, they also offer beauty and health products, household items etc. Currently, it is operating its 1000 stores in Australia and employing 111,000 people in the country (Woolworths group, 2018). Marketing Mix Concepts and their Application to Woolworths Products Primarily, marketing mix is made up of four components, i.e. product, price, place and promotion. Now, this framework is extended to 8 variables by including processes, people, physical evidence and partnerships. Marketing mix concept can be defined as a framework that is used to develop a significant and effective marketing strategy with every component being utilized in different ways at different places (Dumas, La Rosa, Mendling, Reijers, 2013). In todays business environment, it is essential for every organization to develop this framework, so that it can develop effective marketing strategies to compete with its leading competitors. All of these components are equally important for the sale of products and services and growth of business. Woolworths is implementing an effective marketing mix for its hair care product. However, this organization is offering a variety of products and using effective marketing strategies to connect with its potential customers. This part of report includes theoretical concepts of 8Ps of marketing mix and their application on Woolworths hair care product. Product Under marketing mix approach, first component is product that means anything, which is offered by a company to its potential customers to satisfy their expectations and demands. Woolworths is one of the leading retail in Australia and it offers a wide range of products as a major component of its marketing mix. In this report, the product of Woolworths include hair care product, i.e. hair shampoo, which is offered with the intention to provide an advanced solution to target population regarding issues related to hair. This shampoo includes different herbal materials and ingredients (Alembakis, 2017). It will not create any adverse effect on hair such as; dandruff, hair fall etc. It has prepared this product by considering the needs and demands. In this way, it completely focuses on customers needs and their satisfaction. After looking at the companys product range, it can be said that Woolworths is offering consumer products, which are purchased by customers to satisfy their family a nd personal needs. After preparing the products, every organizations thinks about setting an effective price for its products and services, which will be profitable for business. Pricing is the component that indicates the money that is needed to pay by the people for buying any product of a company. For an organization, it is essential to develop an effective pricing strategy, so that it can enable the customers to buy newly introduced product easily. Generally, Woolworths makes efforts to maintain higher prices than its competitors in the industry. For this product, organization is adopting comparative lower pricing strategy (Dominici, 2009). This strategy appears beneficial and justifiable in the beginning, because it is assisting the organization in targeting the rights customers. By using this strategy, it is very easy to target lower and middle income people, who are facing hair related issues. It has a reward program at some of its stores that offers vouchers for the points collected. In additio n to this, the organization also gives the shopping card that tracks the purchases automatically and provides the fuel discounts, which are applicable. Thus, there is no requirement to keep paper receipts. Place is another important component of marketing mix framework that includes different aspects related to distribution of products and services of an organization. Place determines the processes and activities that how the products and services of a company will be delivered to the right customer. In this way, it is a significant element in making decision on product placement. For its hair care product, Woolworths ensures that its products are available at supermarkets and retail stores, where other products of Woolworths are delivered to customers (Hanssens, Pauwels, Srinivasan, Vanhuele, Yildirim, 2014). For this company, it is essential to ensure the maximum availability of products for targeting a large population and having more marketing opportunities in Australia and other countries. In addition to its retail stores, this company is offering its products online through its website and mobile application. Thus, the Woolworths organization has established a large distribution network. Promotion Promotion is one of the most important components of marketing mix that assists the organization in communicating its brand message and approaching its targeted audiences. It includes different marketing and communication strategies and tactics. These strategies may include sales promotion, advertising, public relations and special offers. For determining this component, organization needs to choose an appropriate strategy for its products and services (Engel, Warshaw, Kinnear, 2010). For its hair care product, Woolworths Company is implementing sales promotion and advertising strategies. Under advertising strategy, it uses both traditional and modern media, like social networking sites. In addition to this, the organization is using print media also, as it is the best way to approach the customers through newspapers and magazines. Apart from this, price concessions and discounts are also given to the people in the introduction stage of hair care product. For Woolworths, promotion h as always been of an intense importance and they have been using very innovative ways. Easy availability and accessibility of products is assisting them in generating customer loyalty. A wide range of promotional channels assists Woolworths in approaching its target customers and generate revenues for this product segment (Hollensen, 2015). Processes In the marketing mix approach, next component is processes, which is an appropriate operating procedure in delivering the products and services. The organization needs to ensure that it is following rights and appropriate processes for product delivery to customers. There is need of involving more sales persons in the conversion process. Woolworths has a customer friendly process and emphasize on delivering customer satisfaction (Huang, Sarigll, 2014). At Woolworths, process component includes fast billing services and getting the good purchased, both online and offline as well. The company ensures that the process is fast by the use of advanced billing process and software. The staff at stores takes the response and feedback of customers to make innovations in the processes. It assists the organization in staying competitive in the industry. Generally, the hiring of a company reflects its brands values, so that it focuses on recruitment of right people to produce, sell and offer its products. Under this process, the organization ensures that its brand communicates to the customers effectively. Currently, Woolworths operates with more than 111000 people and delivers the services effectively (Kotler, 2015). The sales assistants are accountable for its success to great level. The major objective of organization is customer satisfaction in super market industry and Woolworth is the best example. The human resources of this company are well-trained and contribute in the success of organization. Partnerships Partnership is the process of establishing alliances between two independent firms for the benefits of both firms and to satisfy the needs and demands of customers. Organizations are using effective strategies to partner with another organization (Lam, and Harker, 2015). These strategies are such as; joint venture, franchises, strategic partnerships etc. There are so many manufacturers, who are using this component for future product development. Woolworth is developing partnerships with different small scale organizations, so that it can increase its product and customer base. By doing this, Woolworth is able to gain more resources and skills. Physical Evidence Physical evidence is the intangible and tangible evidences, which can be observed by the customers, like; maintaining the outlets, delivering customer service effectively etc. It is very important component for validation of product and service quality. It shows the environment and other physical factors in the organization and its workplace. The retail stores of Woolworths are attractive and clean. These stores are customer friendly and easy to explore through different category of products. The retail stores of this company are major physical evidences of its survival. Thus, the theoretical concepts of marketing mix are very important for each and every organization. It can be analyzed that Woolworth is performing its marketing mix very well. By its implementation, the company is able to attract a large customer base and increase the sales of its products. Contemporary Issues and their impact on Woolworths and its Marketing Strategy Competition is one of the major factors, which impact the growth and success of organization in business environment. Each and every organization needs to conduct marketing research for analyzing the competitive pressures (Low, 2016). Woolworth is one of the largest retailers in Australia, but still it is facing intense competition from other leading players, like; Aldi, Coles, Tesco, Wal-Mart and Macro Wholefoods Ltd. From its competitors, Coles is one of the biggest competitors that are operating its business operations as an Australian supermarket, consumer services and retail chain. The organization is headquartered in Melbourne and owned by Wesfarmers Limited. Currently, the organization is operating its 801 stores allover Australia. It is implementing various marketing and brand strategies, which assists the organization in attaining a better brand image and competitive advantage in retail industry (Knox, 2015). It is posing intense competition for Woolworths with the name of its parent company, i.e. Wesfarmers Limited. Technology Advancement In todays competitive business environment, the organizations prefer to use modern and advanced technologies, so that they can deliver their products and services effectively. Woolworths is facing the issues related due to advancement in technology and technology resources. It has a large impact on organization and its marketing strategy, as other competitors are using advanced technology for manufacturing and delivery their product and services (Kalia, 2017). The retail stores are using latest billing technology to deliver fast services. Amazon is one of the best examples that are using drone delivery service that is leading it ahead. Apart from this, there are some other areas of Woolworths service delivery, where company is unable to implement advanced technology. These areas are such as; supply chain management, smart phone marketing, synching inventory and securing the confidential information of regular customers. It is the major reason that Woolworths is facing issues, as its competitors have already adopted effective technologies and strategies to attract customers (Pasquier, Villeneuve, 2017). Supply Chain Issues Supply chain management is the most important process for the organization, operating business in retail and supermarket industry. It is essential for a retail organization to manage its supply chain as it includes all the processes from production to distribution of products. Woolworths is a growing retail store in Australia and it has various suppliers for supplying its products. However, the company is facing various challenges related to supply chain management, like; wholesale order delivery of products at dock and lack of space for storage for some specific products (Fernie, Sparks, 2014). In addition to this, the organization has established an inappropriate tracking system for ordering and receiving the products. Due to this, the company has to bear Bullwhip effect and people of company stand helpless for not enough delivery of products by its suppliers. It has an inappropriate inventory management system, so it is failed to deliver the quality products to its customers. It is affecting marketing strategies and brand image of Woolworths in Australian retail market (Scott Walker, 2010). Increase in Raw material costs This is another issue, which is affecting the business operations of Woolworths adversely. In Australia, costs of raw materials are increasing continuously, so that organization needs to implement higher pricing strategy. Setting a higher pricing strategy declines the customer base of organization. Due to this, Woolworths has lost its regular customers for its retail products and services (Meffert, 2013). Increased costs of raw materials and labor add more cost to the manufactured products that means company should increase the prices of products. By doing this, company has failed to gain enough profits and revenues, which can balance its cost of production and manufacturing. Recommendations However, Woolworth is a leading player in Australian retail industry, but brand image and marketing of this organization got affected due to above-mentioned issues. To resolve these issues, the company should make changes in its marketing strategies under marketing mix framework (Khan, 2011). There are some recommendations for 8Ps of marketing mix, which are given for Woolworths to overcome these issues and establish effective marketing process. These recommendations are stated below; As far as it is concerned with the product component of Woolworths marketing mix, the organization should focus on diversifying its product segments. The company should manufacture its products by using effective and advanced technologies and procedures. By the use of modern technology, it should start offering more products and services and it should not only depend on grocery and departmental stores. By focusing on technology production, the company will be able to deal with competition in Australian retail industry (Nenycz-Thiel, 2011). Woolworths Organizations should establish the prices by considering the needs of market. The company has offered so many products, which prices are comparatively higher than its competitors. It can harm the organizational image and profits for long term. Thus, it is recommended that the company should make investment in more profitable businesses that will increase its revenues and profits (Seo, and Jang, 2013). Under its place strategy, the company should expand its distribution network and open its stores in countries of Asia. In addition to this, the company should focus on resolving the supply chain issues and hire some more suppliers. It should enhance the quality of its products for regaining its brand image among Australian population. As discussed above, promotion is one of the most important marketing strategies under marketing mix. It can be recommended that Woolworth should make more investment in advertising and promotional activities. It should use effective technologies in its advertising and promotional campaigns for effective communication of brand message to target audiences (Sinapuelas, Wang, Bohlmann, 2015). Woolworths Organization should focus on delivery process and improve the supply chain management. In addition to this, the organization should use some innovative process for providing a better shopping experience to customers. It should develop better relationships with suppliers to reduce the cost of raw materials. The organization should conduct a training process for enhancing the skills and abilities of its human resources. They should be aware about the stock excess and stock out at its retail stores. By doing this, the company will be able to retain its existing customers and create new customers. Under partnership strategy, Woolworths Organization should partner with the large scale organizations also. The company can connect with the organizations, which are using advanced technologies and have sufficient resources. It can expand its business in US by partnering with a leading retailer, i.e. Wal-Mart. This partnership will be very profitable for the growth and success of Woolworths business (Thomas, 2017). Physical Evidence For the physical retail business, it is very important to manage the physical evidence effectively. In the case of physical sales, the Woolworths Organization should focus on improving the ambience of retail store. The stores should be clean and very attractive. Staff at organization should be customer friendly and helping, so that customer can have a better shopping experience (Dominici, 2009). Thus, Woolworths Organization should consider the above given recommendations, so that it can make a better image and reputation in the industry. By resolving these issues, the company will be able to attain more competitive advantage over its competing brands. Conclusion It is hereby concluded that marketing mix is one of the most important approach under marketing management process. Each and every organization needs to focus on its marketing strategies to deliver its products and services to final customers. Form this report, it can be concluded that Woolworths Organization is implementing effective marketing strategies to communicate its brand message and offer products to target customers. It has employed better and efficient processes under its marketing mix framework. Now, the company is planning to expand its business by introducing new products and services. In its organizational life, the company is facing various issues, like; supply chain, competition and technology advancement. These issues affected the brand image of organization adversely. At the end, some recommendations are provided, which will assist the organization to overcome the issues and regain its brand image in future. By doing this, the company will be able to expand its bus iness in other countries and establish its retail stores all over the world. References Alembakis, R. (2017). Woolworths facing shareholder resolution asking for human rights supply chain disclosure. 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