Woolworths is a famous and well known retail chain in Australia and it encounters a strong and unique level of competition from Coles that is another grocery outlet in Australia. The company provides a wide range of retail products including vegetables, meat fruits, magazines and daily stationeries. The main of this task is to provide 100 fresh products to their customers in the market. On the other hand, the paper explains that how the firm uses effective marketing strategies to build a strong position in the market. Furthermore, here is the discussion about the issues that are being dealt by Woolworths in today’s competitive world. Further detail of the task is discussed below.
Woolworths is a major Australian company established in 22nd September 1924 having headquartered situated in Bella Vista, new south Wales, Australia. It is the second biggest company in Australia measured by revenue and the second largest firm in New Zealand. Along with this, Woolworths is the biggest takeaway liquor retailer in Australia. The company manages most of the recognized and trusted brands in Australia (Woolworths, 2018). The firm is on a mission to offer the best in value, quality, and convenience for the customers across the world. The organization has more than 3000 stores in the world. The company employs more than 205,000 employees who serve over 29 million customers across the world. Woolworths maintains trust on the business partners such as manufacturers and local farmers to maximize the profitability and revenue. Effective and unique strategies are used by the firm to gain competitive benefits in the marketplace.
There are various issues faced by the company in today’s competitive world that affect the growth and sustainability of the firm adversely (Alati, 2013). Some of the issues that are dealt by the company have been stated below.
Slowing market growth: Due to competition, the company is unable to increase its growth and success in the international market. Therefore, various challenges are being faced by the firm. Along with this, the company’s sells rating is going down as it influence the progress of the firm.
Market discounting: There are enormous competitors existed in the marketplace which could influence the sustainability of the firm. Due to competition, Woolworths has to reduce their prices in the market. Therefore, it influences the profitability and progress of the company. It also has a direct impact on the image and goodwill of the organization. By demanding lower prices from its suppliers, the company drives down the durability and quality of the products and services. As a result, the company is selling shoddy products and services in the global market (Rankin, 2017).
Weak staff morale: One of the significant issues for Woolworths is weak staff morale that affects the business operations and activities of the organization. Due to poor organizational structure, the leaders are not able to motivate and enhance the productivity and performance of the employees within the organization. As a result, it could affect the confidence, morale, and loyalty of the employees and on the other hand, they get frustrated at the workplace (Fletcher, 2015).
Aldi’s entry into SA and WA: The potential entry of the rivalries such as Aldi and coles have a direct impact on the revenue and returns of the company. Along with this, Aldi and Lidi operate their business activities and operations for a long time. The competitors make new and innovative strategies and plan to attract and retain the clients in the Australian market. Therefore, the firm is unable to make a unique and dynamic image in the minds of the customers. It is one of the significant issues for Woolworths that could have a direct impact on the outcomes and results of the firm.
Apart from these issues, Woolworths also faces some other challenges including greenhouse issues and climate change issues. In addition, uncovered violations occur at every link in the retailers thus it creates ethical issues in the workplace which could affect the business operations adversely. Greenhouse gas emission is raising steadily thus it affects the goodwill and position of the Corporation (MacMahon, Smith & Lawrence, 2015). Apart from this, Safety standards are not followed by the company in Australia. As a result, the federal court has ordered Woolworths group to pay total penalties of $3.057 million for breaches of the Australian consumer law relating to safety issues. In addition, the defects in Woolworth’s products caused several serious injuries. It is noticed that 90% of the Woolworths Tasmanian supermarket were unable to comply the workplace rules and laws. In addition, the firm failed to focus its contractors to ensure plans and policies across the world. All these issues are being dealt by the organization in various environments across the world (Bepari & Mollik, 2016).
Woolworth’s group has been engaged in retailing operations and activities to provide retail products, grocery products, and home products with rendering fashion accessories. The company uses various strategies such as segmentation, targeting and positioning to beat the competitors that have been discussed below.
Segmentation: Segmentation is the process of dividing the total markets into the different sections based on the multiple criteria comprising of demographic, behavioral feature, and social economic features. Segmentation strategy is initiated by the company to attract a number of customers in the marketplace. Gender plays a vital role towards the development and inception of a large number of retailing services and products. Apart from this, clothing and homecare products are created by the organization after considering the tastes and preferences of the customers across the world. Segmentation of Woolworths products based upon the age levels is an important policy for mitigation of inventory and overstocking obsolescence (Sultan, Wong & Sigala, 2018).
Targeting: One of the significant strategies which adopted by Woolworths is targeting. By using this strategy, the company has been able to find out the right and potential target market across the world. The organization identifies and evaluates the target market to attain its objectives of revenue generation. The primary market of the company is the household segment of the retail market and upper-class people which are reflected by the high quantum of sales that has taken place in terms of sales of groceries followed by home products. Furthermore, Woolworths has introduced large sets of women fashion accessories aiming towards the targeting the young female consumers in the marketplace. With the help of targeting strategy, the firm has been able to cover the three fourth of the Australian retail market (Hubbard, Rice & Galvin, 2014).
Positioning: This strategy is implemented by Woolworths to sale the wide range of products and services in the world. Positioning strategy focuses on the preferences and tastes of the consumers to facilitate a distinct place in a specific market segment amongst the current set of the product and services. It is stated that the firm focuses on the products and services of the competitors to differentiate its products from the rivalries. Along with this, promotional activities are done by the organization for providing the fresh food to its consumers. On the other hand, the introduction of loyalty schemes has been undertaken in the form of reward and discount in order to improve and enhance the overall shopping experience for its consumers. In this way, Woolworths has positioned its retail products and services (Rosenbaum-Elliott, Percy & Pervan, 2015).
Marketing strategy refers to the fundamental goals and objectives of attaining a sustainable competitive advantage and maximizing sales. The main competitors of Woolworths are Coles and Adi that have become the biggest threat to the company (Armstrong, Adam, Denize & Kotler, 2014). The firm uses marketing strategies to stand out against the competitors in the global market. Some of the marketing strategies are stated below.
Cost cutting strategy: Aldi and Coles are primary competitors for Woolworths that affect the goodwill of the firm adversely. Woolworths focuses on the strategies, procedures, and plans of the rivalries to attract and retain more clients globally. Also, it focuses on the prices of the competitors to destroy the competitors. Woolworths uses cost-cutting strategy to maximizing the revenue and returns. Under this strategy, the organization provides offers and discount to the consumers to attract large target market (Khan, 2011).
Advertisement and promotional strategy: The firm initiates the advertisement and promotional strategy to promote the premium level products and services. The promotion is done by the celebrities in the market as it could have a direct impact on sales and revenue (Moriarty, Mitchell, Wells, Crawford, Brennan & Spence-Stone, 2014). On the other hand, marketing campaigns are done by Woolworths to increase the consumers in the market (Altstiel & Grow, 2015).
Leadership strategy: One of the significant strategies that initiated by Woolworths is leadership strategy. By implementing this strategy, the firm has been able to monitor and focus on the needs, desires, and requirements of the target market to increase the revenue and outcomes. The managers and leaders collect feedback from the consumers in term of quality and prices of the products. Feedback also helps in knowing and understanding whether the consumer is satisfied with products or not. By using leadership strategy, employees are able to make a reciprocal relationship with consumers across the world (Ali, 2012).
Marketing mix strategy: This strategy is also implemented by Woolworths to analyze and identify the demand of the consumers. By initiating the marketing mix strategy, the organization has been able to decide the prices of the products and services. This strategy focuses on the price, place, and promotion of the retail products and services (Chimhundu, McNeill & Hamlin, 2015).
All these strategies are used by Woolworths to make a strong image and position in the minds of the consumers. Along with this, the firm is more successful in its engagement with its suppliers as they are monitoring the prices to grow the sales of the products.
Although Woolworths is one of the significant brands in the retail industry yet the company needs to focus on the process and business operations for overcoming the competitors across the world. For this purpose, some recommendations have been given to make a good and bright image in the future that is discussed below.
Conclusion
The study showed that Woolworths is an effective and powerful brand in the world. On the above-mentioned analysis, it can be clearly said that the company uses unique and dynamic strategies to strive with competitors. The company has perfectly understood the needs, requirements, and process of their business. Furthermore, the firm uses unique segmentation, targeting and positioning strategies to retain and attract the customers in all over the world. This analysis indicated that STP strategies have also directly impacted on the growth and potential of Woolworths. In addition, some suggestions have been given after considering the overall strategies of the company.
References
Woolworths.,(2018). Our businesses, Retrieved from 28th April 2018,< https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/page/about-us/our-brands>
Woolworths.,(2018). About us, Retrieved from 28th April 2018,< https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/page/about-us>
Bepari, M. K., & Mollik, A. T. (2016). Stakeholders’ interest in sustainability assurance process: An examination of assurance statements reported by Australian companies. Managerial Auditing Journal, 31(6/7), 655-687.
Alati, J. (2013). Australian corporate law, [Book Review]. Ethos: Official Publication of the Law Society of the Australian Capital Territory, (230), 41.
MacMahon, A., Smith, K., & Lawrence, G. (2015). Connecting resilience, food security and climate change: lessons from flooding in Queensland, Australia. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 5(3), 378-391.
Rankin, J. G. (2017). Australia, a consumptive society. Drug and alcohol review, 36(2), 270-277.
Fletcher, J. F. (2015). Morals and Medicine: the moral problems of the patient’s right to know the truth, contraception, artificial insemination, sterilization, euthanasia. Princeton University Press.
Sultan, P., Wong, H. Y., & Sigala, M. (2018). Segmenting the Australian organic food consumer market. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 30(1), 163-181.
Hubbard, G., Rice, J., & Galvin, P. (2014). Strategic management. Pearson Australia.
Rosenbaum-Elliott, R., Percy, L., & Pervan, S. (2015). Strategic brand management. Oxford University Press, USA.
Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S., & Kotler, P. (2014). Principles of marketing. Pearson Australia.
Khan, S. (2011). Marketing mix strategy adaptation: a retail organisation’s response to the global economic downturn (Doctoral dissertation).
Ali, A. (2012). Leadership and its Influence in Organizations–A Review of Intellections. International Journal of Learning and Development, 2(6), 73-85.
Chimhundu, R., McNeill, L. S., & Hamlin, R. P. (2015). Manufacturer and retailer brands: is strategic coexistence the norm?. Australasian Marketing Journal (AMJ), 23(1), 49-60.
Altstiel, T., & Grow, J. (2015). Advertising creative: Strategy, copy, and design. Sage Publications.
Moriarty, S., Mitchell, N. D., Wells, W. D., Crawford, R., Brennan, L., & Spence-Stone, R. (2014). Advertising: Principles and practice. Pearson Australia.
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