Marketing: A case study on Woolworth and Ezymart organization

Woolworth’s strategy for brand identity and Positioning

Woolsworth is the most trusted and reliable brand in Australia. The Woolworths strategy for branding is the main factor behind the success of the organization as each point focused for the branding strategy is very well managed and implemented. Each strategy of the Woolworth organisation is a result of various analysis and research of the Australian market. These strategies are developed by considering the philosophy of Australian people. Woolworth focuses on the following areas for positioning of the brand as well as identity (Woolworth, 2015).

Quality

For Woolworth, the quality of the products are always on priority. Quality of products helps in developing the faith and trust of the people in brand. Good quality product also creates a strong brand image among the people. Woolworth organization implements various strategies related to the quality of products (Woolworth, 2006). The company manages the products quality by various means. The main strategy behind improving quality of product is to identifying the need and requirements of the people and develops the product according to those requirements. The other strategy related to the quality of product is organizing the various surveys which helps in getting the brand’s position in the market.

Value or Price

Value and price of products also plays a main factor behind the positioning of brand. Low prices as well as high prices both destroy the image of any brand. Thus, the price of the products should be according to its use and quality. It is the human philosophy that people generally don’t believe in the products of lower prices and always consider their budget before buying any product. Woolworth also adopts the same strategy. The prices of the products related to the Woolworth organization are not too high or too low (Guttler, 2013).

Benefit

Strategy related to benefit includes the communicating benefits of products among the people which means creating the awareness of the work of the products among the people. Woolworth organization uses this strategy by various means to popularise the brand among the people. This helps the users in selecting the right product according to their needs and requirements (Umass, 2014).This creates a positive brand image among the people.

Competitor

Today’s world is full of competition. Each type of product is available in various brands in the market. Each brand tries to grow in this competitive market. Thus, the strategy related to the competition market is also very important in an organization. Woolworth also builds various strategies for competing in this market (Pull, 2012). The basic strategy of Woolworth is related to the proper analysis of the market while improving their position in the market.

Advertisement

Woolworth organization also focuses on the advertisement for creating a strong brand image. The advertisements help in building a raw image about the product among the people. For starting any brand or product, advertisement helps in generating the awareness about the product among the people. Woolworth uses the various sources of advertisements for promoting the products in the market. The main sources adopted by the Woolworth organization is media advertisements, media sources include television, newspapers, magazines etc. The other sources of the advertisements are social media and various other famous websites.

Problem and solutions

Woolworth uses the problem and solution strategy to develop faith among the people for the products related to the Woolworth brand. Woolworth ask their consumers about their problems related to the products as well as the general problems. Focusing on those problems of the consumers helps increase the trust as well as creates a positive brand image among the people. This indicates that the company values its customers. Woolworth organization uses this tool by various means (Kotler, 2010). The online complaint and suggestion forum, toll free helpline numbers are the main sources of these types of interactions.

Overview of EzyMart

The success story of EzyMart kick started in the year 2002 when professional athlete and a student, Maher Magableh introduced his first Convenience Store in the popular area of Bondi Beach. EzyMart’s story of success and growth is tale of passion, determination and the one which speaks volumes about perseverance for excellence (Ezymart.net.au, 2015).

Maher’s vision of providing groceries and consumer items at affordable rates to people turned his sporting success into amazing success in the retail world as well.

Strategies of EzyMart for brand identity and positioning

“Make failures your stepping stones for success and keep experimenting.”

This has been the success mantra for taekwondo champion Maher Magableh. The Jordanian-born Maher came to Australia for selection in 2000 Sydney Olympics. Years of taekwondo training and his motto to find a spot on the Jordanian Olympic team ended in much disappointment.

But this failure actually lead to success of his life. Today he has set up a network of over 50 EzyMart stores (Fight, 2012).

His hard work and dedication made Magableh (who had a non-English speaking background) catch the attention of Ethnic Business Awards. Although he could not make to the top, but he was shortlisted with three other finalists. The award was given for the small business category (Fight, 2012).

Experiment is the key to growth

Magableh came to Australia at the age of 27 and started working at a milk bar store. He was supposed to move stock in the shop floor. This store provided him with golden opportunity to experiment with various merchandising strategies. In the meanwhile Magableh found a natural interest in customer service and developing marketing concepts.

But the story took a new turn when Magableh overtook a neglected convenience store in Bondi in the year 2002. He worked a lot on the store and refurbished it to quite an extent. He also stocked popular products like Hershey's and Reese's chocolate from the United States. It was this strategy of providing hi-end quality products which customers find hard to put hands on in the regular market (Ezymart.net.au, 2015).

All the stores of Magableh had different names. Until one day a customer came up and told him that her child and his friends always purchase a chewing gum available at all his stores but at times it becomes difficult to locate his stores as they are all under different name. After some time, he decided one particular brand name for his store and one look and feel for his stores.

Today Magableh owns approximately 15 stores with 36 others operated by franchisees. A total of 400 employees work under him and mostly they are part-timers students funding for their studies (Ezymart.net.au, 2015).

Recommended strategies for EzyMart

EzyMart has made a name for itself in Australia but its presence globally is not very satisfactory. It has ample of opportunity to invest in making an image worldwide. This can be possible by launching its online store and online delivery services. Today people want everything at the click of a mouse. It is a safe investment as people have started trusting the online buyers. Until few years back, buying online was a bit risky, but now people love buying online and have a lot of trust in the products and services too.

Conclusion

The above report is the result of various research and analysis about the Woolworth organisation and EzyMart. Woolworth organization has a strong brand image among the people in Australia. EzyMart is not a popular brand among the people of Australia (Ezymart.net.au, 2015) but it is working well in the Australian market. According to the above analysis it can be clearly said that the Woolworth’s strategies for brand image and positioning are very basic while the strategies of EzyMart is innovative but EzyMart lacks basic implementation which may be the reason of the weak brand image of EzyMart in Australia.

References

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Woolworth (2015). About Us [online]. Available at: https://www.woolworths.com.au/wps/wcm/connect/Website/Woolworths/About+Us/ [Accessed: 6^th February 2015].

Woolworth (2015). Our Services [online]. Available at: https://www.woolworths.com.au/wps/wcm/connect/Website/Woolworths/Our+Services/ [Accessed: 6^th February 2015].

Fight, A. (2012). A franchisor with plenty of fight. [online] The Sydney Morning Herald. Available at: https://www.smh.com.au/small-business/franchising/a-franchisor-with-plenty-of-fight-20121204-2ast2.html [Accessed 9 Feb. 2015].

Ezymart.net.au, (2015). About EzyMart | EzyMart. [online] Available at: https://ezymart.net.au/?page_id=295 [Accessed 9 Feb. 2015].

Guettler, Amy (2013). Examples of Brand Positioning Strategy [online]. Available at: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/examples-brandpositioning-strategy-25213.html [Accessed: 6^th February 2015].

Umass (2014). Positioning Strategy [online]. Available at: https://people.umass.edu/debevec/mktg422/Positioning%20PDF.pdf [Accessed: 6^th February 2015].

Pull (2012). Brand Identity [online]. Available at: https://www.pulldigital.com/Services/Brand---Design/Brand-Identity [Accessed: 6^th February 2015].

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Wallace, Michelle (2011). Attracting and Retaining Staff: The Role of Branding and Industry Image 23 (1) pp. 20 – 30.

Kotler, Philip (2010). Marketing Strategy 10^th ed. London: Pearson Publishing House.

Australian Government (2014).  Australian Small Business Commissioner [online]. Available at: https://www.asbc.gov.au/news/government [Accessed: 6^th February 2015].

Woolworth (2006).Doing the right thing [online]. Available at: https://www.woolworthslimited.com.au/icms_docs/130514_Doing_the_Right_Thing.pdf [Accessed: 6^th February 2015].

Abinanti, Lawson (2014).Branding and Positioning [online]. Available at: https://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/resources/branding-and-positioning [Accessed: 6^th February 2015].

Hall, Steve (2014).The marketer’s guide for developing a strong brand image and identity [online]. Available at: https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/34238/The-Marketer-s-Guide-to-Developing-a-Strong-Brand-Identity.aspx [Accessed: 6^th February 2015].