Product Mix of Coles Supermarket
The report outlines and describes the theories related to the marketing mix concept and implementation of theories to a particular product of the company. 8p’s of the marketing mix are discussed which include product, price, promotion, distribution, partnerships, people, processes and physical evidence. Further, the report includes the competition and the contemporary issues faced by the marketers. Along with this recommendations are provided to the company related to the marketing mix strategies.
The business segments of Coles Groups include Coles supermarket, Coles online, Coles express, Coles financial services, Coles liquor. Cole’s supermarket is an Australian supermarket, retailer, and the customer services chain with the headquarters in Melbourne, Australia. The chain of the supermarket is among the second leading retailers after Woolworths (Coles, 2018).
The product of the Coles group that has been selected is Cole’s supermarket in Australia. The Cole’s supermarket operates its business from approximately 720 stores in Australia with more than 90,000 employees along with this the supermarket has a customer base of approximately 4.5 million people in Australia (Coles, 2018).
The desire target market of the Coles supermarket are people who prefer all the products under one roof. This supermarket ensures that they are offering high-quality products and services which help the company in satisfying the needs of the customer. Thus, the company mostly targets those who people are looking for unique and special products with high quality in Australia. The image shows how the different customers with diverse demands are buying products under one roof. Cole’s supermarket is the shoppers of all the economic levels in Australia.
Marketing mix is the base of the foundation model in marketing. The marketing mix is defined as the set of marketing tools that the firm uses to pursue its marketing objectives in the target. The marketing mix strategies of the Coles Supermarket are discussed below.
The product is an item that is produced or manufactured with the aim to satisfy the needs of the customers. The product can be tangible and intangible which means it can be in the form of goods or services. The products sold at the supermarket consist of baby products, dairy, deli, gift cards, liquor, meat, fresh fruits and vegetables and many other products (Mba Skool, 2017). In the supermarket, the company provides its own brands such as Graze Grass-Fed Beef and BonSucro sugar.
The company offers seven levels of private or generic label brands in their supermarket. For instance: Coles Smart Buy: – A budget label which covers the household essentials and groceries and it is easily recognized by the customers because of its white and red accented packaging.
Pricing Strategy of Coles Supermarket
The product mix of the Coles supermarket includes 3 levels that are core, actual product and augmented product.
- The core product is defined as the supplying of goods and services in the supermarket.
- The actual product includes the freshness and good quality of the products that are offered by the company to their loyal and potential customers. They keep the supermarket stores neat and clean with organized shelf (Baker, 2014).
- The augmented product includes the extra customer’s benefits that are offered by the company. The extra benefit includes a receipt for the free parking, apps, free magazines and many other facilities.
Overall, the strategy of the company for the product is good as they are forming the alliances with different companies so that they can provide the variety of brand in the same products to their customers (Cox, 2011). The company also offer some of the products which are manufactured by the company Coles. In the supermarket, the company ensures they are offering the good quality products to their customers.
The price of the product is the amount that the customer pays to buy the products. Price is one of the important factors that affect the buyer of product or items. Cole’s supermarket makes use of the low price strategy in the Australian market. This price strategy is formed with the motive to attract a large number of customers that helps the company in generating profitability in the market. Moreover, the price kept the Coles supermarket for the grocery item is 15% low comparing it with the other Australian retail market (Pratap, 2017). The prices of the products offered by the Coles supermarket are constant and there is no rise in the prices which helps the Coles to add more profit. The Coles supermarket believes in providing the volume discount at the wholesale price. The evaluation of the strategy says that it is good for the company because this is the way through which the company is able to make a profit (Booth & Coveney, 2015).
Distribution is an important part of the marketing mix that affects the Cole’s supermarket business. Cole’s make use of the intensive distribution strategy which helps the company to sell its products in every store present in Australia. Coles has opened new stores to enhance the accessibility and to grab more customers (Armstrong, Adam, Denize & Kotler, 2014). The company has more than 720 stores in Australia where the company provide products. Apart from this, the company distributes its products or service to retailers and wholesalers.
Above image shows the distribution channels that is followed by the Coles supermarket as the company distribute its products through direct or indirect channels (Lovelock, 2011). Overall, with the help of this strategy company is able to provide convince to the customers by proving products at every store.
Promotion helps the company to boost its brand recognition in the market along with the sales of the company. Cole’s supermarket makes use of sales promotion, personal selling, advertisement and public relations to attract the customers towards its brand and stores. Not only this, the company spends the amount to inform the investors and the customers about their policies, programs, and strategies (Knox, 2015). The company makes use of the attractive taglines while promoting the product through advertisement such as “Why pay more”, “Cheap Groceries” and “Extra value for you and me” that helps the company in attracting the potential customers. Recently, Cole’s supermarket started an innovative campaign in which they asked many customers why they like to do shopping at Coles and recorded all their responses. The customers get loyalty, discount and the promotion scheme in the stores of the Coles. Flybuys loyalty and reward program of Coles supermarket is one of the largest programs in Australia with more than 5.5 million Australian active users.
Distribution Strategy of Coles Supermarket
This strategy of promotion is helping the company to form the strong customer base which is essential for Cole’s supermarket to become a leading company in Australia.
The system and processes of the organization affect the execution of the products and services of Cole’s supermarket. The process of the business entities provides the breakdown to elaborate the structure of the company.
The above graph shows the four core processes of the Cole’s supermarket. The image shows that the subsystem layer is overlaid with a sequence of four core process which shows the life-cycle of the Coles supermarket. The company seeks to enhance its processes in the supply chain to provide better services to the customers. Streamlining of processes is used by Coles to cut the cost which add value to its customers (Thampapillai, Tan, Bozzi & Matthew, 2015). Cole’s supermarket brought changes in the buying process now the customer can buy the product using online site. The company is working on the extended marketing mix elements and are focused towards the process of supermarket.
It is significant factor in the current competitive market because competitors are making strong physical evidence in the market which impact create an impact on the working of Coles. The physical evidence of Cole’s is in the form of its stores available in Australia (Lyons, 2007). The stores of Cole’s supermarket reflect good layout, ambiance and branding. The company took step to renovate the stores of Australia that helps the company in attracting new customers. The supermarket shelf are organised so that the customers don’t find it hard to find any particular product (Khan, 2014). Overall, Physical evidence strategy is good which helps the company to attract new customers.
Over here, people stand for the employees of the company who plays a vital role in marketing and promoting the company. Currently, there are more than 90,000 employees who are working with the Coles supermarket across Australia. These employees require appropriate knowledge, skills, and aptitude so that they can deliver the quality services to their customers (Smutkupt, Krairit & Esichaikul, 2010). The Coles supermarket provides training to their employees in order to enhance the customer service. The employees of the company can proactive share their opinions to provide satisfaction to the customers. The company has numerous programs for its employees like The First Steps Program and Retail Leaders Program. Most of the employees of the company are underpaid due to the cosy deal among the Coles supermarket and the national retail union which indicates the negative aspect of the strategy. The company is concern about their employees but Cole’s supermarket need to pay attention towards the strategies related to this element.
Promotional Strategy of Coles Supermarket
This is a new marketing mix element which shows how partnership can help the company in improving their performance (The Marketing Mix, 2017). Cole’s supermarket has partnership with the Flybus that helps the company to enhance the brand reputation and position in Australia. Flybus has the largest reward and loyalty program in the country. This partnership contributes in the sales of the Cole’s supermarket which ultimately leads to the profit. The company make use of profit in expanding its outlets. The partnership among Myer and Coles is growing and has become the largest growth and acquisitions ever in Australian corporation. Myer operates a chain of mid-market departmental stores in Australia on the other hand Coles operates in supermarket (Fillis, 2011). Overall, strategy of the company is good but company should bring improvement in their overall strategy.
Cole’s supermarket has many competitors in the Australian market and the main competitors are Woolworth and Aldi. Woolworth and Aldi operate the business in the same industry in Australia. Woolworth is acquiring the leading position in the supermarket business and Coles is acquiring the second position after Woolworth along with this customer base of Woolworths is more than Coles (Arup, Beaton-Wells & Paul-Taylor, 2017). Thus, both the companies are giving strong competition to each other.
In the year 2008 and 2009, Woolworth Company continued to improve but Coles managed to narrow the gap but in the year 2011, there was a gradual decline in the business operation of Woolworths. Though, on the other hand, the business operations of the Coles improved (Knight, 2015). The issue behind this was the pricing strategy of Woolworths; the company provides the products and services at high prices which makes the customer switch to their preference from Woolworths to Coles. The pricing strategy of Coles was superior over here, the company provides the products and services at low prices along with this the company provides rewards and loyalty bonus to their customers.
Cole’s supermarket is one of the leading and growing companies in the retail and consumer services industry but some of the issues might impact the company and these issues are discussed below: –
- Auditing issue: – Auditing issue is a contemporary issue that is faced by the company on the regular basis. The business activity of the Coles is involved in the strong competition with the other organizations that keep the pressure on the company to keep the tight price (Keith, 2012). Due to the poor or inefficient auditing plan of the Coles, they are not able to keep the adequate details to maintain a strong position in the competitive market (William Jr, Glover & Prawitt, 2016).
- Globalisation: – This factor creates the negative and positive impact on the Coles supermarket. Globalisation is the process of the integration or interchange of the views, ideas, products and other aspects of the culture across the borders. Currently, Cole’s business is serving its services in the market of Australia which is helping the company to increase the credibility in the market. Though, on the other hand, Cole’s business model and sales volume are getting affected due to the entrance of the worldwide retailer and consumer service companies (Davies, 2012). These companies are also maintain low pricing strategies under which they are offering high-quality product or services with the low prices and this reflects the negative impact of globalization on Cole’s supermarket.
- Employee turnover issue: – The turnover of the employees is becoming one of the leading and crucial issues for the Coles supermarket. If the companies have high employee turnover than it will create the negative impact on the workplace culture of the company along with this it impacts the growth and development of Coles.
There is need to bring improvement in each element of the marketing mix of Coles Supermarket. Some of the recommendations are given below which helps the company to improve the business operations.
5.1 Product: –
Cole’s supermarket should add the services by providing the free home delivery up to 5 km and should charge the extra amount for additional km. This will enhance the sales of the supermarket and leads to the customer satisfaction. The company should extend its product range by forming tie-ups and alliances with the dealers.
Processes and Systems of Coles Supermarket
5.2 Price: –
Cole’s supermarket provides the high discount on the wholesale price due to which it reduced the price in discount offer in the market. So the company should keep the flexible price range considering the customer demands and needs.
- Place: –
It is recommended to the company to make use of the effective channel for the distribution of products. The use of the direct channel will be beneficial as it includes fewer intermediaries due to which the customer will be able to get the products at the low prices. The company should try to open its maximum outlets in prime locations which help them to enhance the accessibility in the Australia market.
- Promotion: –
This is the fact that the Coles supermarket is well-known leading in the Australia market but the company should actively participate in the promotion of their product. Advertisement tool is used by the company to promote the product but Cole’s supermarket should endorse celebrity in an advertisement this will help the company to enhance the sales of the products.
- Process: –
The process of the company is bit complex and the company has simplified it by providing the facility of the online supermarket to the customers but to add value to this Cole’s supermarket should try to reduce the operational cost.
- Physical evidence: –
Cole’s supermarket should extend the number of stores in prime locations in Australia. The company should enhance the appearance of every store equally which makes the store look alike.
- People: –
Cole’s supermarket should pay minimum wage to their employees considering the number of working hours as it is found that many of the employees of the company are underpaid which reflects the negative aspect of the company. The company should provide benefits to the employees so that they can feel satisfies and valuable in the organization.
- Partnership: –
The partnership is one of the factors which help the company to achieve the success in the market. Cole’s supermarket should get involved in the partnership with many other companies to make a strong position in the market.
Recommendations for competitive analysis
The pricing strategy of the company is one of the successful strategies with the help of which the company is able to deal with the competitors. The company should form an effective strategy for every element of the marketing mix to deal with the strong competitors of the market. Cole’s supermarket should try to maintain their loyal customers because of this the only way through which the company can maintain strong customer base which helps the company in making a strong position in the market of Australia.
Physical Evidence of Coles Supermarket
The company should also make strategies to deal with the contemporary issues as these issues affect their operations and ability to make the decisions.
The company should implement the proper auditing system which helps the company in extracting the adequate and accurate data. This data is essential for the companies to face the competition in the competitive market.
The company should take the advantage of the globalization as this is the only way through which the company can expand the business in the international market. Cole’s supermarket should try to expand its business operations across the border. This will help the company to learn more about the international operations and strategies. The managers of the company will get to know how to deal with the competitors in the international market.
The HR team of the company should try to understand the issues faced by the employees at the workplace in Australia. So, that the HR team can resolve their problems and provide them satisfaction because this satisfaction is important for employees to remain in the company. The company should provide benefits to the employees like bonus, rewards, recognition and promotion which help the company to retain the employees.
Conclusion
It can be concluded; Cole’s supermarket is improving marketing mix strategies and making effective strategies so that the company can maintain a good position in the market. These strategies help the company in accomplishing the goals and objective of the company. The report reflects the strategies formed by the company for each element of the marketing mix and how these strategies can be improved. Moreover, the report includes the competitive analysis and the contemporary issues faced by the company for which the company should take proper steps.
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