Marketing Management: Economics - Business - and Accountancy

Armstrong et al. (2014) depicts that the primary objective of Woolworth is to improve aspects of the shopping experience of people by providing quality products at an affordable cost. Kotler et al. (2013) demonstrates that this organization places the customer at the start and before taking any marketing strategies to implement. They are also successful in inaugurating 20 supermarkets and 13 liquor stores in the year 2013 (Woolworths Online 2016). There are three strategies on which the Woolworth is focused on:

• Improving the core offer so that customer prefers Woolworths more than other brands
• Introducing innovations to meet customer’s needs
• Creating further customervalue for better productivity and profitability

Market segments

The service Woolworth provides to their customers helps them to attain millions of profit every year and this revenue is gained with the contribution made by 190,000-plus employees in Australia (Woolworths Online 2016). They also provide some options in their product categories in order to fulfill the daily requirement of the community. These products are- Fresh and organic fruits and vegetables, fresh salads and herbs, bakery products, meat items, dairy products, spreads and breakfast items, drinks, freezers and much more in the countries of New Zealand and Australia (Nairn and Berthon 2015). The market segmentation can be further classified into three more categories- Geographical market segmentation, Demographical market segmentation and Psychographic market segmentation.

Psychographic market segmentation

Cross et al. (2015) states that being the grocery supermarket chain in Australia, Woolworth primarily sells their products and offer their services in Australian cities such as in Sidney, Melbourne, Kakaduas for targeting the customers.  They intend to offer a broad range of products to target all their customers like food materials, clothing and even electronics goods. However, the services of free home delivery can be applicable for all kind of products and hence can be initialized in every place Woolworth intends to open their stores (Silan et al. 2014). Woolworth has expanded their geographical boundary in suburban areas so that the people can visit their stores often and the free home delivery services can be provided to their house, which will be easy to reach from a centric location.

Demographical market segmentation

Sharma and Lambert (2013) depicts that demographic segmentation emphasizes on the offering of products and services based on their income level and their standard of living. The services considered in this free home delivery services which are provided to everyone irrespective of their income status. However, Mitchell and Boustani (2015) criticizes that according to their existing services this free home services can be obtained only on Wednesday if the purchase is higher than $150, which is too demanding to be fulfilled. Loveridge and Mok (2012) on the other hand, affirm that the low-income group can never take the facility of these services as they cannot purchase items worth $150.

Psychographic market segmentation

Weinstein (2015) also describes that psychographic market segmentation divides the market into segments relying on the personality traits, values, attitudes, interests and lifestyles of consumers. Woolworth focuses on the brand value strategy and provides their services to their loyal customers. However, Gunter and Furnham (2014) mentions that highly qualified people, who have a strong economic background can avail products worth of $150 for getting the free home delivery services but the concerned organization can take initiative for applying this services for the entire week so that the high-income group can get the service every time they shop with Woolworths.

Product

In terms of products, Woolworth has their key products in every field and targets every small need of the communities. These products are health drink and food, meats, seafood, eggs, bakery, meat, fashion apparels and electronic gadgets (Woolworths Online 2016). They have many varieties of products under one category like in Diary and fridge products they have full Cream milk, skimmed milk, Flavored milk, Natural and flavored yogurt, cream and sour crème and others (Woolworths Online 2016). The product manager should know that the delivery service varies with the kind of products they have purchased. For instance, Arli et al. (2013) portrays that the dairy products have to be delivered on the same day otherwise; the customers have to compromise with the quality, which may affect their brand reputation.

Competition

Coles Group, ALDI are some completive brand for Woolworth and regarding home delivery services they provide free home delivery to everyone irrespective of their purchase. Keith (2012) illustrates that Coles Group provides delivery services depending on location, time of day and length of delivery and provide everyday free home delivery on purchase of $100. They also introduce Flexi free delivery services in order to attract more customers. On the other hand, O’Leary (2014, June) states that ALDI presently has no delivery services and hence Woolworth's major competitor is Coles Group rather than ALDI.

Distribution

Woolworths delivers the products ordered by their customers through the best distribution strategy. Bilgin (2015) depicts that the distribution department first sorts out the orders by their location and then distribute the products and carriages in the destined places. Through their home delivery services, they make sure that the food is not damaged by excessive heat or cold and the quality of the products have to be maintained. Luqmani et al. (2015) also portrays that they have different carriages van depending on the materials that is carried by the distributor. Moreover, Woolworths have to provide this service to their online customers every time they place an order.

Market analysis

In order to analyze the attractiveness and the dynamics of a business market analysis is done. The strength, weakness, opportunity and threats are analyzed regarding the entire business or a particular product. In this session, the SWOT analysis of the Woolworth's home delivery service will be analyzed.

SWOT analysis

Table 1: SWOT analysis of delivery system of Woolworth

(Source: Bull et al. 2016)

Objectives for setting a goal for sales volume

Woolworth deals with their customers enhance their business approach by following four different strategies- extending leadership in business, to maximize shareholder value, building new growth businesses and innovate for enabling sustainable business for a new era of growth (Woolworths Online 2016). Ellram et al. (2013) depicts that retailing never stands still and in accordance with the delivery system, Woolworth can make appropriate changes in delivery service for attracting maximum strategies. Goebel et al. (2012) illustrates that numerous parcels each day failed to arrive on time due to some problem like natural calamities or other problems like flat tires and traffic jams. Thus, with an effective leadership strategy, Woolworths can implement informative, proactive communication and clear, accurate tracking of the products so that customer can predetermine their products and plan their work accordingly (Subramanian et al. 2014).

Moreover, good levels of communication during the distribution of problems, renewing of inventories for delivering products whenever customer orders will depict the stakeholder value of Woolworth. Fernie and Sparks (2014) mentions that implementation of modern technology is necessary for enhancing the existing business procedure. Woolworth has to improve their delivery system for better customer retention and to facilitates their online services as all the delivery of products are home deliveries in this case. Guaranteed one-day delivery, customized delivery date according to the convenience of the customer, can enable long lasting business for Woolworths and also helps in financial growth.

Marketing strategies in relation to the market analysis, objectives and goals

Shani and Chalasani (2013) illustrates that the importance of marketing strategy relies on the achieving a sustainable competitive advantage for increasing sales. This section deals with the marketing strategies of Woolworth, which supports the market analysis, objectives and goals of the company to enhance their delivery/distribution services. This section also illustrates the marketing mix in order to promote the product and services, which plays a crucial for gaining the reputation of the entire business process.

Table 2: Market analysis of Woolworth’s home delivery services

(Source: Rosenbloom 2012)

Conclusion

This business report is about the analysis of an existing or hypothetical goods or services of an organization and then provides the overall conclusion of their influence. Woolworth is the organization that is selected for this assignment and the services that are selected is the home delivery of the goods that customers purchased. According to the existing system, Woolworth gives the facility of delivery of the products by receiving some worth that ranges from $4-$14 and provides free home delivery to that customer, who purchased well above $150. It is concluded from the entire discussion that this existing facility is a huge threat for the organization as it will only targets the premium user or the high-income families as they can purchase goods of that cost. In addition to that, the current marketing strategy of Woolworth is depicted along with its market segments, product and competition and distribution channels. Through the SWOT analysis it is found that gaining trust and better engagement of the premium customers and online customers will be enhanced; however, the high cost of getting free home delivery will disappoints some low income group customers. The opportunity relies on the step taken for diminishing the cost of the limit after which the concerned facility will be offered and introducing the delivery service throughout the entire week. Lastly, the threat is that the competitors like Coles Group who provides the same services at low costs. The marketing strategies of 4P were also illustrated for obtaining the knowledge of the communication objectives, communication channels and the communication mix.

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