Strategic Management Relationship Marketing – Aldi In Australia

Background to the company

Discuss About The Strategic Management Relationship Marketing?

The report is developed to focus on the various important aspects of marketing and marketing strategies that have been used by Aldi in Australia to sustain in the business environment by generating more sales revenue and gaining competitive advantage in business. The report will start with a brief explanation of the company background, conduct the market analysis and then develop marketing strategies accordingly to remain competitive and profitable within the business environment. The business organization offers products and services at lower prices, and thus the focus has been on price reduction related to the marketing strategies. This will not only help the company to spread awareness among customers regarding the products made accessible but can even create a good brand image, thereby influencing consumer buying behaviours as well (Aldi.com.au 2017).

Aldi in Australia is one of the major private retail stores that has remained successful as one of the global discount supermarket chains in Australia. It has more than 10,000 stores in more than 18 countries worldwide, and the company has experienced a gross turnover of more than €50 billion. It was founded by two brothers named Theo and Karl Albrecht and had started its business operations from the year 1913. The company manages good marketing strategies to attract a large number of customers and ensure that their needs and requirements are fulfilled as well. Once it opened its first store in Australia in the year 2001, it had not only contributed largely to the community and ensured growth in the economy but also had improved the condition of local business, people’s needs were fulfilled, and more employment scopes and opportunities had been provided (Beneke et al.2012). The company has delivered good quality products at very low prices on a consistent basis, which has enabled customers to keep visiting the store repeatedly and this increased the sales generated revenue too. The company managed to work closely with the farmers, suppliers, manufacturers and developed healthy relationships with them so that they could deliver good quality raw materials and resources.  The farmers in Australia have been provided with better opportunities, and this has reduced the level of competition in the market as well as made the processes more simplified and convenient (Gellynck et al. 2012). Aldi manages the flow of income by proving security to the manufacturers while the company wants to expand its business in Southern Australia and Western Australia for enhancing the volume of production and keep the demands and expectations of the consumers fulfilled with ease and effectiveness.

Marketing analysis

To survive in the competitive business environment, it is essential for Aldi in Australia to ensure that the consumers’ choices are influenced regarding their purchase of products and services. It is important to determine the things that consumers need to make choices regarding purchases because it will not only accomplish the business goals and objectives but can keep the customers satisfied as well. A proper marketing strategy is implemented after analysing the market conditions to understand the clear goals and objectives and manage effective promotional activities for attracting and retaining customers (Huettl and Gier 2012). The shopping experience at Aldi is somewhat different from what the customers have experienced till that time. Though the company offers products at relatively lower prices, still few problems were faced by the customers such as the use of cash for managing the coin-operated trolleys within the organization, stocking up of the products at lower prices in addition to the other popular brands in the supermarket and display of alcohol within the supermarket (Hutt and Speh 2012).

Aldi is considered as a reliable and establishes discount supermarket chain that focuses on the investments done as well as control the costs in business with efficiency. The marketing strategy has allowed Aldi in Australia to prioritize on the investments made and make the consumers gain the most of the savings through the purchase of good quality products and services. Aldi is comparatively smaller than the size of its competitors in business such as Woolworths, JB Hi-Fi, etc., which maintains a cost-effective layout to manage the packaging and products display strategy effectively. To enhance brand reputation, the promotional strategies in business have been followed to maintain equal quality of the products that are similar to the products presented by rivals in business (Kitapci et al. 2013). The advertising of the “Like brands” helped spreading awareness among the consumers regarding the quality of products delivered and the value for money obtained as well. This promotional campaign served as an effective marketing strategy to engage the target customer segments and influence their buying behaviours too.

With the help of marketing strategies, Aldi, Australia has managed to gain trust and loyalty among the stakeholders in business and has influenced the consumer behaviours of buying as well. The company’s taglines and statements have promoted diversity within the workforce and have even strengthened the traditional competitive advantage in business as well. This has helped the retail discount supermarket to communicate the messages and information to the consumers and make them aware of the kinds of products and services delivered and how those can bring value as well as fulfill their needs and requirements efficiently. During the period of Christmas, the retail chain supermarket has also resulted in major savings of cost and the use of print and media advertising have increased since then (Leake, Vaccarello and Ginty 2012).

Nature of Aldi’s marketing strategy or strategies since it began

Another effective marketing strategy that has been embraced by the company is the sales promotion strategy where club cards are provided to customers based on which, they can collect points on each of the purchases made. The discount supermarket chain also offers gifts including Buy one get one free promotion to boost the sales for a particular range of products and services. Another sales promotion technique has been the cooperation with manufacturers to manage the supply of posters, display stands, hoardings that can make more people aware of the products and make them purchase those frequently from Aldi, Australia. Among all these marketing strategies, the utilization of pricing advantage strategy is the most effective way to make up more than 20 percent of the discount supermarket brands. The buying behaviours of consumers have changed from time to time, and thus price reduction is an effective marketing strategy to appeal the customers and grab more market share from Woolworths and other retail brands in Australia (Li and Kannan 2014). The marketing strategies implemented by Aldi in Australia have influenced the process of delivering the highest quality of products and services at a much lesser price. The major components of the low pricing of products related to the marketing strategy include an exclusive range of products by various brands, limited range of products, focus on what the customers want and apply the price change policies to keep up with the changing behaviours of customers in the Australia market segments. With the technological advancements, the online marketing strategies have helped in delivering messages and information regarding products to the customers easily and allow them to buy the products and services online through secured payments (Liu and Zhang 2013).

A new business strategy to focus on the marketing techniques has been applied at Aldi, Australia to move forward successfully and generate more new and existing customers as well. The new strategic marketing technique introduced by the company is termed as “Good Different” which can not only make the organisation survive in the immensely competitive business environment but will also evaluate the differences between the stores that are set up and the other traditional supermarket chains all over Australia. According to the manager of Aldi, it is quite evident that this strategic marketing option will strengthen the key areas of business and improve the relationships with various stakeholders in business such as suppliers, customers, investors or shareholders, etc (Miquel-Romero et al. 2014). From the various evidence, it has been found that the company has gained more than 10 percent of the total amount of expenditures of the supermarket. Aldi in Australia, to make the marketing strategy successful, has invested a lot of money to improve the infrastructure of stores and create new formats of stores for ensuring successful expansion in the Western and Southern Australia. Based on the responses provided by Tom Daunt, the Chief Executive officer of Aldi, Australia, it could be understood that after 15 successful years of operations of the company, the company wanted to expand its business operations in South and Western Australia (Owolabi, Adeleke and Abubakar 2013).

Strategic marketing options for Aldi moving forward

The marketing mix strategy can be applied to determine the wide range of products available in the market, assess the prices of those, places where those are available and how the company promotes its products and services to attract new customers. The differentiation of products strategy has also proved to be useful for Aldi to enter new markets and deliver extraordinary and great value to its customers, thereby creating good relationships with the customers, suppliers and support staff too. It also encapsulates ALDI’s business model and will ensure the supermarket continues to set itself apart from competitors as it expands in Australia (Payne and Frow 2013). The major thing that differentiates the company products from the products of other companies is the lower price at which the products are offered. The unique focus on permanently keeping the prices of products and services lower has further helped in saving both money and time for the consumers. Aldi has a market share of 4.2 in Southern Australia and 3.1 percent market share in Western Australia. Therefore, these strategic marketing options could enable Aldi to succeed in the future and influence the buying behaviours of consumers in different Australian market segments too (Peñaloza, Toulouse and Visconti 2013). 

Conclusion

The focus of the report was to analyse the strategies and marketing options that could help in fulfilling the needs and requirements of customers and identify clear goals and objectives for ensuring good promotional activities. From the report, it could be understood that Aldi, Australia had been operating in Australia for more than five years and wanted to expand its business operations and processes in South and West Australia as well. The marketing strategies included the sales promotion strategy, online marketing strategy and promotions based on new products to make people aware and influence their buying behaviours too. The positioning and differentiation marketing strategies could help the company to move forward and create a sustainable place in the competitive business environment. The marketing mix strategy had been used as well to analyse the current market scenario and work accordingly to keep the customers satisfied.

References

Aldi.com.au. (2017). Discount supermarket offering smarter shopping – ALDI Australia. [online] Available at: https://www.aldi.com.au/ [Accessed 20 Sep. 2017].

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