Situational Analysis And Marketing Mix Tactics Of Woolworths Supermarkets

External and Internal Environmental Factors

The report throws a light on the situational analysis which is being conducted on both external and internal environmental factors. The main aim and purpose of the report is to analyse the different kinds of marketing mix tactics along with analysis of the competition who are the tough competitors of Woolworths.

Furthermore, the situational analysis is essential to be conducted which will assist in analysing the various opportunities along with weaknesses which can be faced by the company. The marketing mix analysis along with segmentation, targeting and positioning will be required to be done which will assist in implementing recommendations.

Woolworths Supermarkets is one of the Australian supermarket or grocery store which is being owned by Woolworths limited. The company was founded in the year 1924 and the headquarters of the company is at New South Wales, Australia. The number of locations in which the company is operating is more than 995 locations and the overall revenue earned by the company is 111,000 till the tear 2017 (Woolworths.com.au., 2018). The products which are being sold by the company includes different grocery items along with health and beauty products for the customers.

i) PESTEL Analysis 

Proper external environment analysis is required to be done which will help in analysing the different kinds of key changes in the marketing environment and this may influence both the customers and marketers’ decisions with conducting the PESTEL analysis effectively.

Political Environmental factors play a major role in determining the different kinds of factors which can impact the long-term profitability in a particular country or market. It can be seen that Woolworths is in advantageous position as this is caused due to the closer economic relationship between the Australia-New Zealand trade agreement. It has been seen that Woolworths works as single kind of community as this helps them in catering the requirements of the customers and the foreign and domestic shareholders are stable in nature (Al-Dmour et al., 2016).

Economic Factors are even favourable for the Woolworths Company as this can be seen that both Australia and New Zealand belongs to stable kind of environment and the standard of living is high in both the countries as well. By the International Monetary Fund, both Australia and New Zealand have been ranked in the top fifty in terms of the gross domestic product (Ortega et al. 2015).

Social Factors is in the favour of Woolworths as well in which this has been noticed that in the environment friendly environment, this can be seen that there are different customers who show huge commitment towards the different kinds of products which are organic in nature and come with a green tag as well. Woolworths is one such companies which has set the trend for the other companies in the market and this has helped in setting healthier lifestyle (Choi, 2017).

Competition Analysis

Technological Factors is the other component in which it has been seen that Woolworths is committed towards innovation and this has helped in development of the better kinds of technologies in enhancing the overall efficiency of the different services and this helped in meeting the expectations of the customers. The company tried employing service-oriented architecture which helped in monitoring the bottlenecks in the operations and this helped in reducing costs as well (Choi, 2017).

Legal Factors is wherein the government trading along with different other policies affect the retail industry in the entire Australia. The different trading policies of Australia has highly favoured retail business and the regulatory systems are in favour of enhancement of the business of Woolworths (Kasiri et al., 2017).

Environmental Factors has affected the sustainability of the supermarket and the environment friendly policies has helped in establishing market leader position in the entire market such as Coles, Foodworks along with Big W.

ii) Competitor Analysis 

There are different competitors of Woolworths which include Coles, Big W and Foodworks. These are the other companies or supermarkets which are the major competition for Woolworths as they deal with selling of the similar kinds of products and services to the different customers in the entire market (Huhman, Kelly & Edgar, 2017).

Coles is the second largest competitors in the entire competitive market and this can affect the actual sales of the company in a negative manner as well. In the entire Australian market, Coles and Big W are actually innovative in nature and they have introduced new innovations in the different products and they tried to maintain environmental quality as well (Cameron et al., 2016).

iii) Consumer Analysis 

The main customer analysis is inclusive of the different household individuals and the upper middle-class households along with working class population. Furthermore, Woolworths has tried to apply the demographic customer base in the entire market which was inclusive of the modest incomes and the shoppers who are interested in prices. Woolworths has to target the middle-income group of individuals by offering them the different products which are being sold at affordable rate which has affected the entire decision-making process of the consumers in the market (Noyan & ?im?ek, 2014).

Geographic	Consumers who have high consumer buying behaviour and there is demand for retail items.
Demographic	Age- 22-45 years of household customers Income- Middle and High-Income Groups and everyday value range individuals (Izogo & Ogba, 2015) All kinds of occupation are inclusive
Behavioural	There are seasonal kinds of promotions such as Winter and Christmas and there is loyalty status which helps in producing Clubcard schemes and this attracts non-loyal customers in the market as well (Lien, Cao & Zhou, 2017).

iv) SWOT Analysis 

Strengths · This is the pioneer and oldest company which applies the retail trade model · The company is well known retail store in the United Kingdom wherein there are more than 30000 employees and there are more than 800 stores · The company has strong brand name and efficient kinds of operations as well · The company has operated in different subsidiaries such as entertainment of UK	Weaknesses · Negligible kind of presence globally in comparison to the different other competitors (Orel & Kara 2014) · The brand Woolworths did not maintain the competitive advantage in the entire market · The online market entry was late for Woolworths in comparison to the different other competitors in the market (Hegner et al., 2017)
Opportunities · There is promotion of the entire brand which can be done by Woolworths through different kinds of advertisements along with promotional advertisements (Dhar, 2015) · With the help of the franchise models and the strategic alliances, the company can be able to seek growth.	Threats · There is more competition and rivalries in the international market · The economic kind of recession hinders the overall growth of the company · Lastly, the rising cost of the different raw materials will affect the entire margin of the company

1. i) Targeting Strategy and Profile of Target Market

The targeting strategy which is being adopted by Woolworths depends on the demographic, psychographic and behavioural segmentation of the target customers. The targeting is being done by using the undifferentiated strategy as the different retail sector companies prone to produce the different kinds of items which will suit the different requirements of the customers (Hamari, Hanner & Koivisto, 2017). The symbolic positioning strategy is being used by Woolworths which is based on aims and values of customers and not only the pricing strategy.

Customer Analysis

 In demographic profile, Woolworths needs to focus more on the everyday value range as this will help the company in gaining huge profits in the market. In addition, Woolworths include the different kinds of other non-food items such as different kinds of beauty care products to the customers and the main target group is those customers who will be requiring a whole shopping strip in one specific company effectively (Mardani et al., 2015).

1. ii) Positioning Strategies and Positioning Statement

Woolworths has tried to successfully position themselves in the entire market according to the perception of the different customers. The brand tries to offer different kinds of high quality products at low prices to their target customers and the company also tried to gain huge advantage by having online store which is time saving and this has been proved convenient in nature for shopping experience of the different customers in the market as well (Ferguson, Brown & Johnston 2017). The respective company is extremely customer focused in nature as the company launched Clubcard which helped the company in being more convenient in nature and gained huge competitive advantage in the entire competitive market as well (Blut et al., 2015).

The positioning statement of Woolworths is “Customers First Policy” is being followed and maintained by Woolworths in which the company tries to satisfy the different requirements of the customers in such a manner which will help the company in becoming successful in the different kinds of activities which are being performed by them and gain huge competitive advantage in an efficient manner.

iii) Summary of Brand Strategies

Woolworths tried to adopt the revolutionary kind of packaging in which this has been analysed and seen that the company is being to promote sustainable kinds of products and services to the customers and this helped the company in increasing the overall sales of the company. The primary competitor of Woolworths is Coles and Big W and more than 80% of the industry is taken by them which has formed duopoly in the entire market (Ferguson, Brown & Johnston 2017).

Furthermore, Woolworths has adopted various marketing strategies in which this has been seen that the duopoly market has helped them in gaining huge amount of profit in the entire competitive market and this helped in recording more than 1.8 billion in sales. The other excellent and successful move which was done by Woolworths was made in the year 2013 in which they introduced Aussie Animal Trading Cards and this attracted large number of children in the entire market as well and this increased overall sale of the company as well.

1. i) Product Strategy

Targeting and Positioning

Woolworths tries to provide the various kinds of grocery items as the part of the portfolio of the product. Furthermore, Woolworths have tried to include the different kinds of vegetables and fruits along with DVDs in the entire market and the company never disappoints the customers in the market as well. The overall range of the products is approved and tested by Woolworths as they maintain high quality and the diversified product range will be beneficial for the company as well (Ferguson, Brown & Johnston 2017).

 Additionally, the company includes the different levels of the products such as core, generic and potential products. The core products are inclusive of various kinds of services such as satisfying needs of employees and actual products includes the different kinds of grocery or home and beauty care products. Furthermore, Woolworths adds huge value to the customers by providing extra valued added services to customers.

1. ii) Pricing Strategy

Woolworths tries to maintain slightly higher kind of pricing technique in the market as the company offers huge premium branded products to the customers effectively. Furthermore, and in the end of 2015, the revenue which was earned by them was 42.132 billion A$. Woolworths tried to target working class and upper middle-class customers by offering customer focused services at convenient pricing strategies (Ferguson, Brown & Johnston 2017).

iii) Placement

Woolworths tries to operate in more than 1000 stores in entire Australia and there are few stores which operates in Safeway stores in Victoria. Furthermore, the company has online platform and they have tried in developing online mobile application for customers and this has been seen that there are different online and offline places which has helped the company in becoming successful (Al-Dmour et al., 2016).

Woolworths has various outlets in various regions and this has huge distribution network as well. Lastly, Woolworths company tried to provide the customers with every possible products at convenient prices under one roof.  

1. iv) Promotion

Promotions have become a significant part of Woolworths and they are constantly innovating various kinds of products as well. Additionally, this has been analysed and seen that there are various loyalty schemes for the different customers in the market by providing petrol pump discounts and there were several schemes as to maintain brand visibility.

The mobile application, Facebook page and Twitter along with YouTube is being applied by Woolworths which has been able to guide them for marketing their products to their customers. Woolworths offers various kinds of Everyday rewards along with shopping card which helps in keeping track of the different purchases and this offers different discounts as well (Ferguson, Brown & Johnston 2017).

Brand Strategies

The key marketing metrics along with key performance indicators which are the measurable values which are being utilised by the marketing team of Woolworths as this will help in demonstrating the overall effectiveness of the campaigns across the marketing channels.

With the different kinds of key performance indicators, this can be seen and analysed that there are different kinds of strategies which is required to be adopted by the company in an efficient manner in which this has helped Woolworths in managing the risks and this has improved the marketing communication procedure for the company as well.

Particulars	Past	Future
Changes in the rate of Customer Attrition	In the past, this has been noticed that the rate of customer attrition was more than 35.5% as the Woolworths did not apply different kinds of promotional techniques and the every day value offers were not being included in the marketing strategies as well.	In the near future, this can be seen that Woolworths can implement the different marketing strategies such as introduction of loyalty programs along with other value offers which will reduce the rate of attrition and there will be minimum 12% less attrition rate.
Changes in the Sales Forecast and Revenues	The sales were falling down for Woolworths in the previous three years and this has been seen that the company needs to implement different sales techniques in order to increase the sales.	Furthermore, this has been seen that the sales will be increased and there will be minimum of 50% of the increase in the sales of the company in an effective manner.
Changes in the New Customer Acquisitions	The new customer acquisitions were not done by the company in which this has been seen that the company was not successful in earning huge revenues	After analysis of the different acquisitions of the customers, this can be seen that the company needs to adopt the different kinds of techniques such as improvement in the offerings of the customers.

g. Conclusion

Therefore, from the above this can be concluded that the marketing strategy analysis is required and this is essential in nature which has helped in understanding the situational analysis of Woolworths. Furthermore, this has been seen that the company has tried to include the different kinds of marketing strategies along with marketing mix which has assisted in gaining competitive advantage in comparison to the other competitors in the market.

 The promotional techniques which have been used by Woolworths have helped the company in becoming successful in their approach and this has assisted the company in becoming successful in their operations and this has helped them in becoming successful as well. Lastly, the marketing metrics of Woolworths have been conducted which helped in analysing the changes in the different particulars related to customer attrition and other areas as well.

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Woolworths.com.au. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.woolworths.com.au/