From the first assessment of marketing plan report, it can be stated that Harris Farm Supermarket is an Australia based grocery chain that has its business operations in over 25 locations in New South Wales in addition to butchers store in Willoughby. This supermarket has specialization in vegetables, fruits, delicatessen and other grocery products. In Australia, Harris Farm is the biggest individual retailer of vegetables and fruits and it offers “odd-shaped” fruit that is known as Imperfect Picks. It is operating its business from the year 1971 and now, it is working with over 2000 employees in its different stores (Ward, 2014).
In the first part of marketing plan report, situational analysis of Harris Farm Supermarket is conducted by using different strategic frameworks like PESTLE analysis, SWOT analysis, competitor analysis, Porter’s five forces analysis etc. From macro-environmental analysis, it is identified that Harris needs to comply with all the policies and regulations which are imposed by Australian government as incompliance can have adverse impact on its business operations. To survive in this country, the company needs to analyze the spending patterns of customers. The company is facing intense competition from many leading players in Australia such as Kmart, Target Australia and Woolworths etc. (McCauley, 2017). It has affected the market position of Harris Farm in Australia. Moreover, it can be stated that company has various strengths like product differentiation and its loyalty program which assist the organization to overcome its weaknesses and threats like competition, increase in the labor costs, e-commerce players etc. Moreover, the company may have various opportunities such as expansion of business in foreign markets and increase in the brand presence (Grant, 2016). These opportunities will help Harris Farm Supermarket in enhancing its brand image and attaining sustainable competitive advantage against other retailers.
In order to attract more customers and stay competitive in the industry, it is very important for all the organizations to formulate and implement effective marketing strategies. Before developing the strategies, Harris Farm Supermarkets identifies its targeted customers to which it offers its products and services. Then, it will formulate its marketing and promotional strategies by understanding the needs and demands of its targeted market population (Zakaria, Rahman, Othman, Yunus, Dzulkipli & Osman, 2014). Target market and marketing mix strategies of Harris Farm Supermarkets are stated below:
Customers can be segmented into different categories, how to best segment these customers depend on particular business objectives, the company is making efforts to attain. Harris Farm is the organization that is operating its business with the objective to offer fresh produces to Australian population and it desires to educate its customers on where there produces come from (Aghdaie & Alimardani, 2015). For targeting the markets effectively, Harris Farm is considering different characteristics of market segmentation which are discussed below:
Demographic Segmentation
Under demographic segmentation, Hariss Farm focuses on different characteristics of customers like age, income and profession. Considering these features, it markets its products via social media and online networks among both males and females in age group of 30 to 50 years. It indicates that it is not very much popular among young people. Moreover, the company targets the higher and mid-ranged income people as it offers fruits, vegetables and other retail products on comparatively higher prices.
Psychographic Segmentation
Considering the psychographic segmentation characteristics of customers, this organization targets the customers on the basis of their lifestyle. It sells its products to the people who live healthy life style as its major offering includes fruits and green vegetables. It can fulfill their dietary needs and provide other low fat products. Moreover, it focuses on on-the-go consumers that include customers with busy lifestyle involving in work and travelling. This is the segment that tends to buy convenience food like easy to prepare food and snacks (Cross, Belich & Rudelius, 2015).
Behavioral Segmentation
This segmentation categorizes the customers on the basis of their observed behaviors towards the products of any company. Under this, the major target market of Harris is family feeders that purchase the household items regularly. In this segment, the choice of products can be varied as per the occasion and requirements.
Geographic Segmentation
Currently, the company is offering its products and services in Australian locations only. It has its stores in 25 different locations in New South Wales. These physical stores and its online website are serving both rural and urban people in the locations (Howarth, 2014).
In this way, Harris Farm is using different characteristics of market segmentation that assist the company to find and target the most appropriate customers.
In order to attract above targeted market, Harris uses effective marketing strategies and techniques by focusing on different components of marketing mix framework (Bahadir, Bharadwaj & Srivastava, 2015). These components and strategies are given below:
Harris Farm Supermarkets is a grocery retailer that is engaged in offering a wide range of products such as vegetables, fruits, dairy products, meats, sea food, utensils and other organic produces. The products of company are available both online and offline. In order to attract and retain more customers, Harris is very much focused on understanding the needs of Australian customers and providing excellent quality products. For the future, it can be recommended that this company should diversify its product range and add more products in its brand portfolio. It should focus on other products like footwear, cosmetic products, stationaries, toys, furniture, office supplies and fashion accessories etc. It will assist the organization to increase its customer base and its overall sales.
Among marketing strategies, pricing strategy is one of the most significant strategies on which a company like Harris Farm needs to focus. Currently, the company is offering its products by using premium pricing strategy. The prices of its fruits and vegetables are higher than other players in the industry like Woolworths and Coles (McCauley, 2017). It is the major reason that market position of company is declining now. Harris should decrease the prices of its grocery products so lower class people can afford them. Moreover, it should use price skimming strategy under which initially, it should offer the products on higher prices than after it should lower the prices. It will assist Harris Farm to make more money and generate significant revenues (Helm & Gritsch, 2014).
Place is another marketing strategy that assists Harris Farm to distribute and deliver its products to final customers. Harris has 25 retail stores in New South Wales and it owns 2 warehouses. From these warehouses, the company distribute the goods to many restaurants, 50 IGA stores and export them to different countries in Middle East and Asia. Additionally, customers can shop the products from its website also. It makes their shopping easier and more convenient. The company should establish an extensive distribution network so that they can approach a larger population in Australia. It should expand its business in other nations like United States of America by establishing a distribution center over there. It will have positive impact on Harris’s profitability (Australian Food News, 2018).
Promotion is the most significant marketing strategy that helps Harris Farm to communicate its brand message to targeted customers. This organization uses different marketing and promotional strategies and techniques such as advertising, sales promotion, public relations and personal selling. Under advertising, Harris Company is using both online and offline media. It promotes its products in newspaper, magazines, television, radio, social networking sites etc. It posts the pictures of its products on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter so people can become aware about its product offerings (Luttrell, 2016). Now, Harris Farm Company should use more techniques to entice more customers. It should provide discounted offers and gifts to its regular customers in festive season. It should post the ads on Google also. It should send the mails and messages to frequent customers. At Harris, there is need to think smartly while making investment in promotional and marketing activities.
Harris Farm is focused on developing good relationships with its employees. The company believes that improving customer experiences is mainly attained by its employees who communicate with the customers on purchase. It emphasizes on hiring skilled and talented employees for its stores. To improve the performance of its people, the company should conduct training and development programs for its employees. They should be trained for developing their employee behavior with the customers at stores. It should implement a suitable employee recruitment program which should be consistent with customer relationship management (Australian Food News, 2018).
In order to manage its operations effectively, Harris Organization is practicing different processes that help the company to run the business by minimizing operational costs. Under this, the major focus of this organization on developing an effective supply chain management process. It makes efforts to avoid the involvement of many intermediaries so that it can reduce the costs. It should hire a team of technical experts that can manage its online operations (Aghdaie & Alimardani, 2015).
Physical evidence of an organization indicates the distribution of products to final customers so that they can trust the physical presence of organization. Harris Farm has made various efforts to show its physical evidence. Physically, the company has its stores in over 25 locations in Australia where products can shop for fruits, vegetables and other grocery products. The stores of Harris are well-managed and products are available in different shelves as per the product category. In the future, this firm should attempt to enhance its physical evidence by implementing effective strategies. It will help Harris Organization to improve its physical and brand presence among targeted audiences (Baker, 2015).
Under extended marketing mix, partnership is the last component that assists the organization to avail products and raw materials. It has partnered with its suppliers and farmers who are supplying it all the products like vegetables and fruits. While developing partnerships with suppliers, it focuses on two aspects i.e. creating value and delivering value to its customers. In the future, the company should establish partnerships with well-established players in international markets (Sutton-Brady, Kamvounias, & Taylor, 2015). It can expand its business through franchisees and licensees. It should develop effective relationships with its future partners and suppliers so that they can negotiate the prices of products.
In this way, Harris Farm Supermarkets should focus on upgrading its marketing strategies and techniques so that it can deliver its brand message to end consumers. The company will be able to enhance its brand image in both local and foreign market (Steenkamp, 2017).
Conclusion
From the above analysis, it can be concluded that Harris Farm Supermarkets is operating its business by implementing effective marketing processes and techniques. The company is conducting marketing research and identifying the needs and demands of Australian population. The above report shows that the major targeted customers of the company are from the age group of 30 to 50 years. Marketing mix strategies play a significant role in enticing customers towards its retail products and services. It is hereby recommended that Harris should make some changes in its marketing strategies so that it can promote its products effectively and increase its sales and revenues.
References
Aghdaie, M. H., & Alimardani, M. (2015). Target market selection based on market segment evaluation: a multiple attribute decision making approach. International Journal of Operational Research, 24(3), 262-278.
Australian Food News. (2018). Harris Farm Markets opens innovative grocery store. Retrieved from https://www.ausfoodnews.com.au/2016/08/29/harris-farm-markets-opens-innovative-grocery-store.html
Bahadir, S. C., Bharadwaj, S. G., & Srivastava, R. K. (2015). Marketing mix and brand sales in global markets: Examining the contingent role of country-market characteristics. Journal of International Business Studies, 46(5), 596-619.
Baker, J. (2015). Harris Farm sets retail benchmark. Retrieved from https://www.fruitnet.com/produceplus/article/167387/harris-farm-sets-retail-benchmark
Cross, J. C., Belich, T. J., & Rudelius, W. (2015). How marketing managers use market segmentation: An exploratory study. In Proceedings of the 1990 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 531-536). Springer, Cham.
Grant, R. M. (2016). Contemporary strategy analysis: Text and cases edition. John Wiley & Sons.
Helm, R., & Gritsch, S. (2014). Examining the influence of uncertainty on marketing mix strategy elements in emerging business to business export-markets. International Business Review, 23(2), 418-428.
Howarth, B. (2014). How Harris Farm Markets is getting to a single view of customers. Retrieved from https://www.cmo.com.au/article/591048/how-harris-farm-markets-getting-single-view-customers/
Luttrell, R. (2016). Social Media: How to Engage, Share, and Connect, Rowman & Littlefield
McCauley, D. (2017). Harris Farm Markets is taking on Coles and Woolworths in the $90 billion grocery war. Retrieved from https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/harris-farm-markets-is-taking-on-coles-and-woolworths-in-the-90-billion-grocery-war/news-story/3e144dc4413f1390461bd6c5a051bcbb
Steenkamp, J. B. (2017). Global Marketing Mix Decisions: Global Integration, Not Standardization. In Global Brand Strategy (pp. 75-109). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Sutton-Brady, C., Kamvounias, P., & Taylor, T. (2015). A model of supplier–retailer power asymmetry in the Australian retail industry. Industrial marketing management, 51, 122-130.
Ward, M. (2014). Harris Farm Markets targets food waste with ‘Imperfect Picks’ range. Retrieved from https://mumbrella.com.au/harris-farm-markets-target-food-waste-imperfect-picks-range-251363
Zakaria, I., Rahman, B. A., Othman, A. K., Yunus, N. A. M., Dzulkipli, M. R., & Osman, M. A. F. (2014). The relationship between loyalty program, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in retail industry: A case study. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 129, 23-30.
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