Marketing Analysis And Business Management Of Woolworths

Background Study of Woolworths and its Industry

Explain Woolworths and its operations.

The marketing analysis and business management is the most crucial aspect of any business. The improvement of business operations and marketing of the company would require proper analysis of the business structure and operations. It can be achieved by using management tools and forming new strategies for development of the company. The vision, mission, and values of an organization describe the appropriateness of the company in their business operations and some suggestions for improvement.
The following report is the study of Woolworths and its operations. Various marketing strategies and management process of the company is analyzed in this report. According to many writers, including Leibold and Hugo (2015), the principle objective of the company Woolworths is classified and explained in the report. The report has some improvement strategies for the company in relation to the objective of the company. The company can be benefitted by some new strategies and technological development. The recommendation part of the report states some steps that can be used for developing better-working conditions in the Company, Woolworths.

The current growth of the business of Woolworths is based on the key strategic priorities;
1. Extension of the lead in food and liquor supply in the Australia
2. Acting on the portfolio for increasing the values for the shareholder
3. Maintaining the ability for expansion of new business
The retailing business is fragile when it is maintained for a long run (King and Thobela 2014). Hence, Woolworths follows sustainable changes that allow it to provide greater values to the customers. The change in the way of shopping and decision taking has a strong impact on Woolworth’s business activities (Dos Santos, Svensson and Padin 2013). It has several sectors of business; Supermarkets, Petrol Stations, Liquor group, Big W, Hotels, Master home improvement, financial services, and Ezibuy. The company operates for food, liquor, petrol, housing development, general merchandise, hospitality and gaming provisions to its customers.

Woolworths is one of the biggest supermarket chains in Australia. It has over 900 shops across the country with the men power of more than a million (Woolworths Online 2016). The operation of Woolworths is divided into three sectors distribution centers, stores, and support sectors. The company is bound to supply superior services, values and range of products to its customers. Woolworths operates in close relation with the farmers and growers of Australia for ensuring the best quality of the products for its customers. The company supplies 96% of the fresh fruits and 100% of the fresh meat from the growers and farmers. The company has been providing the services to the people of Australia from the last 50 years (Arli et al. 2013). The growth of the customers in the company is a result of extensive marketing planning and strategies developed by the company. The Woolworths has increased their retail sales to 10% of the total sales in Australia.

2. Vision, Mission, and Values of the company, Woolworths
2.1 Mission and Vision Statement Analysis of Woolworths
Vision of Woolworths: The vision of the company is to provide quality services and products to the customers by using pricing, fresh food, and human resource strategies (Woolworthslimited.com.au 2016).
Mission of Woolworths: The mission of the company is to deliver the appropriate experience of shopping to the customers for every time they shop at Woolworths (Woolworthslimited.com.au 2016).
Value of Woolworths: The values of the company are to offer a simple and unbiased deal for all the customers for maintaining the quality of the product and services (Woolworthslimited.com.au 2016).

Explanation of the Appropriateness of the Strategies of Woolworths

The company has developed strategies in synchronization with the vision, mission, and values for improvement of the company.
Products information system- the system is used for managing all the activities of the company for selling their products. All the processes of the company sales and transactions are done using an electronic medium (Perkowski 2013). It provides efficiency for decision and faster service to its customers. Hence, the Company is able to provide quality services and faster experience of shopping.

Staff Recruitment and Induction- the Company has developed processes for recruiting the most suitable and able employees and workers for the company. In induction process, the recruited staffs are introduced and made accustomed to the working environment of the company. It is helpful for meeting the vision of producing quality products for the company.

WHS policy- Woolworths provides its staffs with the benefit of regular medical checkups and treatments. It helps in enhancing the employee company relation that would lead to an increase in the overall production of the company (Woolley, Bailey and Raftery 2014). Hence, the company is able to provide unbiased and simple deals for the customers.
These strategies are useful for achieving the statements of vision, mission, and values of Woolworths. 

The strategies can be made more effective with the use of new and innovative technology. The introduction of technology development can be used for increasing the production of the products like petrol and liquor. It would help the company in providing faster services to its customers. The customer satisfaction and making new potential customers are the main concept for any business structure. The management of Woolworths should develop appropriate strategies for the business operations considering the political, financial and technical perspective of the business (Spillan and Ling 2015). Use of different policies such as staff retention and remuneration policies can provide employee motivation in the company that would be helpful in meeting the vision, mission, and values of the Company.

The objectives of the company can be divided into two heads; Short term objectives and long terms objectives.
3.1 Short term Objectives of Woolworths
As opined by many authors, including Moran (2012), these objectives are based on the products of Woolworths. The prime short term objective of the company is the continuous offering of the high quality of the products to its customers at optimal prices.

According to authors like Moran (2012), these objectives are based on the social aspects and environmental development of Woolworths. The primary objective of the company is to sustain the development of the company along with ensuring the improvement of the social issues of the world.

Suggestions for Improvement of the Strategies

Many new outlets of the company have been formed in order to meet the short term objectives of the company. It has made shopping easier and convenient to the customers. The long term objectives of the company play a major role in the development of the country (Berning 2014). They have faith in the people and encourage them to start their own business. It would provide the company a chance to make their business an integral part of the company. The objectives are bounded for following the economic trends of the company such as rate of productivity growth.

The company needs to improve their existing products and develop new goals for developing more tasty and nutritious products on a wider range. The environmental problems and the need to sustain the issues can be sorted out by planning awareness projects. In these projects, the company can make people aware of the environmental situations and their issues. Apart from it, the sale of organic products can facilitate the environmental sustainability.

The strategies for the company Woolworths have been logically scrutinized, and it shows the scope of a lot of improvements of the business strategies. The main target of the company Woolworths is developing strategies for becoming a corporate giant in the field of supermarkets. The suggested strategies would help the company for restructuring their recruitment, training, and development strategies (Berning 2014). It would help in enhancing the products and attract more customers to the shops of Woolworths. The training of the employees for developing their attributes towards the business operations would help in encouraging their roles and responsibilities within the company.
4. Market Analysis of Woolworths using marketing tools
4.1 External Analysis of Woolworths using PESTLE marketing analysis tool

Political factors: The political factors have a direct effect on the business operations and success factors of the company, Woolworths. The new tax, impose duties, and rules & regulation can directly change the overall profit and revenue of the company (Sawer, 2013). DTL is a law that imposes new service for the supermarket chains for encouraging ‘one stop shop’ concept among the customers.
Economic factors: Recession is a major economic issue that hinders the development of the Woolworths. All the companies and business activities suffer a major loss during the recession period, and Woolworths had to shut down all its operations completely in UK because of recession (Tennent 2014). The credit crunch in UK had affected the company adversely that led to the loss of reputation of Woolworths.

Social factors: The Social factor is another important reason for altering the situations of the company. According to many authors like Bitzer et al. (2015), the company is affected by the change in the trend and demand of the customers and their tendency towards new and attractive methods for shopping. Woolworths consider quality over the price for their products.
Technological factors: The Company is bound with the development of the technology. Innovative ideas and advancements have serious impact on the business processes of the world. Woolworths have realized the importance of the technology and renovated their old school ways for business operations (Recker 2016). They have brought the latest technology and tools in their business operations for competing with their business rivals.

Legal factors: The legal factors play an important and crucial role in the business operations of Woolworths. The company is bound to follow all the government orders and rules in their operations. The service tax and VAT system affect the revenue generation of Woolworths.

Environmental factors: The environmental factors are important for the successful operations of any company. The company Woolworths has developed strategies for considering the surroundings and following the environmental policies of the government (Tennent 2014). It has introduced the recycling system in their efficient and effective system for encouraging environment-friendly and cleanliness nature of the company.

Objectives of the Company, Woolworths

The SWOT analysis of Woolworths is an external analysis of the company and it can be used for developing strategies and plans for improving the condition of the company.
Strength: As opined by many authors like Bartholomeusz and Bartholomeusz (2016), the factors of strength of the company are;
1. Excellent Market reputation of the company
2. The financial returns of the company that supports the power growth
3. Geographical location of the shopping centers that provide excellent market access
4. Strength of the Brand
Weakness: As opined by many authors like Bartholomeusz and Bartholomeusz (2016), the factors of weaknesses of the company are;
1. The changes in the operations are slow when done on large scale
2. The increase in the causal work results in the high turnover and decrease in the corporate memory of the individual stores
3. Disparity among management level of wages and casual staff wages results in the lack of honesty
Opportunities: As per mentioned in Marketing Magazine (2016), the factors for the opportunities in Woolworths are;
1. Existence of global market development
2. Extra revenue can be generated by changes in the policy of plastic bags
3. Possibility of enthusiastic growth and variation of markets
4. New opportunities in newer areas of the globe
Threats: As per mentioned in Marketing Magazine (2016), the threat factors for Woolworths can be explained as;
1. Significant oppose from the competitors, especially from the secular retailers in the market
2. The social trends of the mean consumers are crucial for the big business
3. Inquiry of the government for the prices of food in the supermarket
5. Developing Strategy for improvement in Woolworths
5.1 Marketing Mix Strategy for Woolworths

The marketing mix strategy can be made for the improvement of strategies for product, their prices, places of business, and promotional strategies. Woolworths can develop wider range of products for their customers. It would help the company for meeting the needs of their customers. The pricing strategy would be useful for modifying the prices of the products as expected by the customers. It would provide scope for increasing the sales of the products.

5.2 Relevance of the strategy for the Woolworths Business objectives

The prime objective of Woolworths is to become a giant organization by providing their customers the best services and products at an optimal cost. It can be achieved by using the strategy of pricing. If the company lowers the cost of their products to an optimum level as expected by their customers, the sales of the company will increase rapidly (Batt 2014). The increase in sales would ultimately lead to increase in customers by promotions from the existing customers. Hence, the company Woolworths would be assisted in achieving their objectives and meeting their mission and vision statement.

Appropriateness of the Objectives in Business of Woolworths

Some recommendations for the improvement of the strategies of Woolworths are;
Improving Decision making Process- Woolworths should improve their decision making system for enhancing their decision making process. The root symptoms for the distinguishing the correct solutions for any problems should be made clear by understanding the prime causes for the problems.

Initializing the Internal growth Strategies- The internal growth of the company could be enhanced by the addition of the strategies for internal operations. It would be helpful in lowering the risk factor in the organization.

Considering Market development- Woolworths should consider the market development as one of the strategical development factors in their company. It would maintain their growth and development without deviating from the main focus of their business operations.

Development of their products- The product development would put an emphasis on the products of the company, and it would imply modifications to the existing products.
Innovation- The Company would be largely benefitted by the innovation in their existing strategies with consideration to the market requirements.

 

Conclusion

The Company, Woolworths is one of the biggest companies that have a prominent role in a number of operations like, food processing, liquor supply, petrol, housing development, general merchandise, hospitality, and game. The strategies developed by the company are useful for completing and achieving the goals and objectives of the company. The market analysis shows that the operations in Woolworths are influenced greatly by the six factors of PESTLE analysis. The company has developed their technological approach for the business operations and introduced new and innovative tools in their business structure.

The SWOT and PESTLE analysis have shown that the company Woolworths has marketing strategies favorable to the market cognitions. The Strengths and opportunities of the company lie in the outstanding reputation of the company, high branding power, geographical location of the shops, some extra revenue generated from the plastic bags, and globalization of company’s market. The Weaknesses and the threats to the company are due to the slow scale operations, the presence of disparity among the employees, opposition from the business rivals and some Government issues.

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