Developed International Marketing Plan For Wesfarmers’ Coles In The German Market

Market Opportunities and Challenges

Globalization provides a wider market platform for companies’ products and services. Global marketing refers to redefining marketing strategies of a business entity to adapt to the different market environment in various countries. Global marketing refers to taking the commercial advantage of a country by establishing global operational differences (Peng, 2016). Companies analyses the global opportunities and similarities to meet the meet their global objectives. Wesfarmers’ subsidiary Coles Company has targeted the German market. The company has recognized the need to identify its target market and the potential segments of the market in Germany to reach its objectives in the international market entry. This is a developed international marketing plan for Cole in the German market.

Based in Perth Australia, Wesfarmers is one of the biggest companies founded in 1914 as a co-operative entity producing merchandises and services. It produces various products such as chemical, safety products, fertilizers, and retail shops. According to Vidovich and Currie, (2012), it is one of the biggest private employers in Australia with over 220,000 employees. It has been listed in Australian Securities Exchange in the year 1984 and has some subsidiaries such as Coles attached to it. Coles has been analyzed, and its strength in being in the market has shown its potential in growth. Germany with the fourth largest GDP in the world with 80 million potential customers provides a good market base for Coles. The dispute among the stakeholders of Coles and lack of experience in the European market are some of the major challenges for the company.

With the stiff competition, the Wesfarmers will make entry through a joint venture with Kaiser’s supermarkets. Owned by the Tanglemann group, Wesfarmers can bring in new expertise in doing business and expand. It will also provide resources such as human capital and technology.

•    Increase sales by 10% in the next two years
•    Grow market share of 8% by the end of year 5
•    2% market share in the next 12 months
•    Improve customer relation with 20% by the end of 12 months
•    Target new customers and increase customer base with at least 5% by the end of year 1
•    Increase profits with 10% in the next five years
•    Build brand awareness by 40% in the next two years

Coles’ main stores will open in the urban regions targeting the countries growing urban population. The primary target customers are people living in urban areas who can afford to shop at the retail stores. The middle and upper-income category of people in Germany will be the secondary target customers. These categories of people tend to visit retail stores on a daily basis for their needs. Individual members of a family have different needs, hence visits to the stores (Biddle, 2017).

With the opening of retail stores in the urban areas, Franchising will be used to target them. Direct exporting will be used to target the customers from the middle and upper class in the society. The company will conduct all the requirements on its own and does not include the involvement of other management or organization at the entry level.

The company will also enter the market using joint partnerships. The joint ventures will enable partnerships with other companies in the country. This will enable the store to offer a variety of products. The variety of products will help attract different groups of people with different interests and needs to the stores. For example urban housewives and professional women.

A positioning strategy will enable Wesfarmers’ Coles to deliver more value to the target market. It will enable Coles to establish a stronger market position against competitors through effective communication and customer retention probability.  With the position statement ‘serving the people better,’ the company is focused on operational excellence, consumer proposition, and innovation. In Germany, Coles’ statement is associated with the increased variety and functionality of the different products. Using the low pricing strategy, the varieties of products at a low price will attract a larger number of customers. Many consumers consider the pricing of products. Convincing the customers that they are getting value for their money will attract them to the stores. 

Entry Strategy into the German Market

According to Palmer (2011), strategy refers to the direction and organization take to meet its long-term objectives using its resources in today’s business environment. Marketing mix refers to the set of tactical tools in the marketing field used by companies to meet the demands and needs of the target market. Marketing mix strategy is tools used by a firm to ensure that they positively impact and influence their product demands in the market. To meet the customer needs, organizations focus on understanding their customers and developing strategies to improve their performance (O’Neill, 2018). To survive the competition, organizations come up with different ways to market their services or products. We discuss the 4Ps of marketing mix below used by companies to meet their objectives (Baker, 2012). 

Coles is a retail supermarket offering different products from various vendors. They are in a service business. The main factor in the company’s survival and penetrating a new market is in the product and services they offer. All the decisions to be made regarding the marketing mix has to do with the product. The products must meet the demands of the customers. It is therefore important to determine the customers and their needs. With competitors such as EDEKA, REWE, METRO and the large European retailers Aldi and Lidl, Coles supermarket has to make their stores stand out. The competition is already stiff.

Customers purchases products and services based on the benefits they perceive the product/service to offer. Offering products and services that satisfy the customer needs skills and physical resource is key to its success. Coles supermarket being in the service business, the customers are important. The customers either have a positive or negative effect on the results of service (Hibi?, & Poturak,  2016).

The levels are actual service, core service and augmented service. Coles retail shops are in business because of the core service. The core service offers the solution to the problems that customers face. The best solutions are usually a combination of different services, and companies offer more. Actual products are the visible part of the service. These are things like brand, quality, accessibility, facilities, and features. Without actual services, the core product is pointless. Augmented services are the added value provided to the customers, and it distinguishes the company from the competitors. For the retail business, after sales, credit and customer service are some of the services that make a store distinguished from others. These services are not necessary, but with the same products across the retail business, they are critical in being competitive and gaining customers (Kasper, Helsdingen &Vries, 2012).

Defining the benefits the product or services to offer is important. These benefits are communicated through attributes such as quality and features. Consumers purchase based on the features that appeal to them (Oliveira, de, Silva,  Lopes,  & Helleno, 2016).

There are two levels of quality of services to customers; the quality level, these include the feature of the products that develop the positioning of the product in the target market. Another level is the quality consistency. The consistency in delivering quality to the customers is important as it helps in customer retention acquiring new customers are hard (Kotler, 2010).

Target Market Identification

The sensational style attracts the attention of customers. It can attract the customer’s attention to your services or products. Good design of a product can contribute to its usefulness to the customers.

The packaging is also useful in the performance of a product or service. It can be very expensive, but the right packaging can gain you a competitive advantage over your competitors.

It is a promotional material that expresses the content of a product. It is important as it provides consumers with the right information.

The brand identifies the services of the company and differentiates them from the competitors. The brand includes the name, sign, design or term (Efanny, Haryanto, Jony, Muhammad, Widyanto, & Adinugroho, 2018).

The product life cycle refers to the period the product or service is developed in a market. The diagram below shows a summary of a product life cycle

Introduction of Coles retail stores in the German puts it at the introduction stage. The store can price in such a way that it is geared towards cost recovery and what the market can bear. The target of the sales should not be high.

The price of a product contains more aspect than just the amount of money charged for the product. It is competitive and involves scaling of prices, payment terms, and discounts. It is very crucial in product or service marketing. Pricing has to be creative to attain the objectives of the company. Through price, companies can create the needed perception in the customer’s mind. That is the value of the products, for instance, high prices are associated with quality. The price is connected to the time, customer point of view and the market. The price can be manipulated in different time spans, target groups and market. It is very important to consider your target market in pricing. The Coles Company should analyze the potential of customers in their target market, the competitors and the total cost of the service. Considering the competitors when pricing is very important as it helps in determining the market price rates (Nagle & Holden, 2012). For a company to achieve growth, it has to come up with a pricing strategy. It enables the company to maximize its market share and value of the service it offers the customers. The company should also create concrete pricing models to be used and evaluate the performance of the pricing strategy used in the market.

For market entry, Coles will use a product line mix pricing strategy to enter the market. Given that it offers a variety of products from fuel, financial services, and food groceries to liquor, the company can identify the products that are in the same line (Coles Supermarkets, 2018). The products face different competition making it difficult to have competitive prices in the market. But having the right product line bundle pricing, for example, will help them attract customers. The product bundle pricing will entail setting prices for main products in the same line cheaper to attract customers to purchase the product. For example, in the food grocery products such as agricultural products with main products, can set the price of the main product low and attract customers who will in turn purchase other by-products. (Sharma & Sharma, 2017). This aims at reducing the price of the products. Therefore, the company can offer competitive prices for such products and gain on the by-products. The company can identify the different product in the same line which can be bundled up and set the pricing based on this strategy. This will enable Coles stores to attract customers, and they’ll get familiar with the store.

Marketing Mix Strategies

The place involves more than just the inside of the store, but also the front store, and signboards that assure customers about the quality of the products inside the store. The general appearance, tidiness, nearness to customers and the location of the services or products are a major determinant of the place of the firm (Kotler  & Armstrong, 2013). These aspects influence the satisfaction level of customers.  The physical perceptions of these elements can have a long-term effect on the customers on the perceived quality (Kotler &  Keller, 2011). In addition to the already available Keiser strores, the Coles will add more retail shops in the urban area. The main target is malls which have a good traffic of people. The target will be people visiting the malls. The environment is favorable for supermarkets.

The distribution channels used by the company are also important. These are the channels the company uses to get the product or services to the end users. They can be directly or indirectly. Coles will use the direct method to avoid costs caused by intermediaries. The market is already competitive and using the indirect method will make it expensive and costly. Therefore to reduce cost, using the company’s resources will allow the products to be distributed direct from the manufacturers to the stores immediately (Porter, 2011)

To become competitive in the market, the company will use intensive distribution method where they’ll use the mass distribution of products from the manufacturers to the stores. The customers like easy access to products, therefore this method of distribution will enable the company to be competitive in the market (Kurtz & Boone, 2011).

This is a major strategy in the marketing mix as it allows firms to communicate their products and services to the consumers. It entails different strategies such as personal selling, advertisements, public relations, sales promotions, and direct marketing. These strategies have an impact on the relationship between the firm and the customers. They are critical to improving the firm’s sales (Forsgren & Johanson, 2014)). Using an integrated marketing communication where you combine all the promotional elements and provides a consistent message to the consumers. Entering a new market means the company has to use integrated marketing communication to establish themselves in the market. The figure below shows the promotional mix

It is the paid form of non-personal presentation of ideas, goods, and serthe vice promotional by identified sponsors. It involves mass communication and more common form of promotional tool. Coles can use advertisement to create brand awareness in the new German market.

It covers marketing activities that stimulate consumer purchasing and dealer effectiveness. It involves short-term incentives offered to customers. The company can use methods such as trade show, seasonal discounts, gifts, and exchange offer to drive traffic to the stores.

This includes face to face personal communication with prospects for selling. The company sales representatives can engage potent total customers in conversations to enable selling.

This is also another form of mass communication. It involves getting favorable feedbacks from the buyers who place significant news in mass media. The organization pays for the communications. It is effective.

Levels of Service

It involves maintaining constructive relations with the large set of interested publics (Luan & Sudhir, 2010). It is important in promoting the company’s image in the market.

Employees play a significant role in creating the first impression of the company. The customer satisfaction matters a lot. Given the language differences between Australia and Germany, Coles with the help of the Human resource department for both Australia and Germany will use a local recruiter to add more workers to the team. Recruitment of local workers will help in personal selling and customer service within the stores.

The human resource department will provide programs for training and development of the employees in order to provide high quality personal services. The training will be administered immediately the employees are recruited to the team. The HR will also ensure development of the existing employees in order to enable motivation and achievement of personal goals. The trainings will be on the job and off the jobs. These will promote organizational culture in the company. Therefore training employees are important to provide quality services and ease in the operation of the company.

Coles will follow the requirements for health and safety laws as provided by the federal and land governments so as to improve the safety of workers in the workplace. Coles will seek advice and understand the German Health and Safety Strategy so as to comply with the entire requirements. Coles provide health insurance to workers and other vocational treats. It is important to give employees off days to rest and be rejuvenated at work (Bachmann, & Braun, 2011).

The consumer goes through a process before responding to the stimuli to purchase. It involves various stages. The following is the steps involved:

Customers purchase products to satisfy their needs and desires.

The external and internal sources determine the information sources for the customers. Using the right marketing mix will enable the customer to find the needed information about your products and services.

Meeting the expectations of the customers with your products and services will enable you to meet their needs and not look for alternative suppliers. The quality, quantity, price, and attitude of the people around them will determine whether they purchase at your store or somewhere else (Beck, & Kenning, 2015). Therefore considering the market mix is important.

The firm should understand the factors that make consumers purchase their products and repeat purchase. This will enable the company to build a base of loyal customers.

Influenced by the degree of dissatisfaction or satisfaction of the customer, after purchasing and using the product or service. A dissatisfied customer can cause a lot of negativity to the firm and destroy its image while a satisfied customer can lead to repeat purchase and personal selling.

The customer adoption process focuses on their mental process from their first hearing about innovation of a product or service to the final adoption. The adoption involves the consumer deciding make regular use of innovations. The consumer adopts innovations at different rates. The figure below shows the different stages percentages of adoption rates of customers.

Conclusion

Innovators: consumers willing to try new products and services and are always taking risks.

Early adopters; they are careful in adopting new ideas but are opinionated hence they try new things.

Early majority; adopts new ideas before most people do.

Late majority; skeptical and adopt new ideas after majority have tried the new products.

Laggards; very suspicious of change and only adopts new idea after considerable measures.

The image created in the mind of the consumer through the promotional activities influences their buying behavior.

According to wordometers, Germany has an urban population of 62,413,358. We will target the innovators and early adopter in the next 2 years and the early majority on the third year and the late majority on the last 2 years.

Our target market for the next 2 years will be {(2.5%of 62,414,358) + (13.5%of 62,413,358)}=  9,986,162.

For 20% market share in the next 5years, we looking at ( 20%of 9986162)= 1,997,232

Revenue expected in the next 5 years will be 1,997,233 of $12= 23,966,788

Increase in profits by 10% will be 10% of 23,966,788= 25,165,127

Year 1; 2% of the market share which will be $503,302

Year 2: 4% of the market share will be $1,006,405

Year 3: 8% of the market share $ 2,013,210

Year 4: 16% of the market share 4, 026,420

Activity	Responsible	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
Market research
PESTLE	Marketing team	To be done in January
Market Survey		To be done from January to February
Research Analysis			The team to research in March
Production Plan
Sourcing local manufacturers	Production team	To use the suppliers of Kaiser
Sourcing local suppliers	To be done in January
Production sampling	To began in January	to end in february
Analyzing the sample result	Production and Marketing team	To begin in January			To end in April
Marketing Plan
Market Analysis	Marketing team			To be in March  , Marc  conducted in March
Competitors Analysis			To be conducted in March
Distribution research
Sourcing effective local distributors	Marketing team			to use the company’s resources no intermediaries
Recruitment
Local employment	HR team	The use the local employees from Kaiser supermarket
Training
Training program	HR team	To be conducted   by the HR from the head office in Australia in conjunction with the German HR

It is important to consider the external environment before setting up the company.

Political: The parliamentary democracy in the Europe region provides favorable grounds for business expansion (Kilroy & Schneider, 2017).hence favorable for Coles

Economic: according to Biddle (2016) the government policies supports business. German has shown a steady growth rate hence the economic condition favorable for business.

Social: the diverse culture and religion backgrounds need to be tackled.

Technology: the country is advanced and innovative when it comes to technology and its use (Watson, 2011). Favorable for improvement of the quality of service offered to consumers.

Legal: Though the German government supports investments, there are consumer laws to be followed.

Environmental: very strict when it comes to misuse of the environment. Therefore waste management should be practiced.

The marketing survey to be conducted by the marketing team, Coles being in service business, it’ll identify the unique benefits to offer the customers. It will identify the competitors who are successful in the same line of business and come up with better strategies to be better than them. Compare the competitor’s price level for both bargain and high end versions to enable Cole deliver and identify unique selling points. The market survey will also focus on the demands of the target market. Identify their demands and needs in order to offer better solutions. The survey will also cover the distribution options, where it will determine where the target market purchase the products and service, costs of sales for volumes of products and potential sales volume. This will enable in determining the quantity of products to be purchased. The market survey team will also use media kits to collect information on the profiles of target customers. The media kits will also be used to determine the kind of promotional mix the competitors in different regions use. The internet will also help in researching about the target customers. The survey will identify the potential promotional mix that the target market can respond to quickly

Research analysis will be conducted by the marketing team, the data they have collected from the surveys carried out will be analysed to determine the trends, patterns or relationship of the information and the usefulness of the data.

Coles to enter market the through Joint venture so the production aspect will not be necessary for all the products to be displayed in the stores. For some of the products that Keiser’s stock, Coles will build a relationship with the available supplier. For the products that are not stocked by Kaiser Stores, the production team will identify the local suppliers. The store will acquire the products directly from the manufactures therefore the manufacturers with the preferred quality at reasonable amount will be sourced.

The production team will use the acceptance sampling technique to test whether the products meet the required needs by the customers. A few samples to be collected from the identified potential manufacturers and suppliers and provided to the customers to determine if they are accepted or rejected.

Marketing and production team to analyze the sample provided to customers for testing based on their feedbacks. Both the teams will then determine whether to move forward will the products from the chosen suppliers or not. If the customers approves the qualities, then the team can choose to use a supplier.

Understanding the market is critical for Wesfarmers to succeed in Germany. It has to analyze the business environment. The environment analysis will provide an overview of the internal resources and the demand of the market. Different factors can impact the business in Wesfarmers despite German being a stable company.

The German market has many competitors, with some of the biggest competitors being Edeka leading with 5858 stores followed by REWE at 3300 then Aldi Sud has 1880 and Aldi Nord with  2298 stores in Germany (Euromonitor International, 2018). The marketing team will analyse each competitors potentiality and the unique features that makes them successful in the market. Coles will also analyse  their pricing strategies.

Based on the analysis of the samples provided to the customers by the production and marketing team, the company will identify the suppliers who meet the quality standards to source the products from them. The suppliers will be chosen based on the customer acceptance of the products. The manufacturers whose products were rejected by the customers to be notified of the same.

The human resource team will use provide the local recruitment agency with their requirements on the qualifications of the employees they need. Recruitment of the right team is important to the company’s growth, image and success.  Therefore the candidates selected by the local recruitment agency to be vetted by the HR department to ensure they meet the standards of the company.

The HR team to provide training for the employees immediately they are recruited to the team in order to uphold the company’s vision and goals. The HR will also ensure development of the existing employees in order to enable motivation and achievement of personal goals. The trainings will be on the job and off the jobs. These will promote organizational culture in the company. Therefore training employees are important to provide quality services and ease in the operation of the company

The marketing team to set the goals for events, come up with content and management tactics. The key message to be highlighted and develop the modes of communication before presenting it for sponsorship.

Social media creation is very important as it will help in digital marketing. Digital marketing will enable the company to reach as many customers as possible. The marketing team will be responsible for creating the social media for the company.

The company’s marketing team to use sales promotions to attract customers when the service is introduced in the market. It will help build the brand name for Coles in the German market. The sales promotions programs to be sporadic where the customers will feel as if they are getting new deals and need to acquire them immediately. They will be strategic and not bore the customers.

With the help of marketing team to come up with a budget for the project, they are to analyse the cost connected to inventory selling, storing, promotions and distribution. This will be used to determine the profitability of the project and accountability of the resources.

The price estimations are based on the competitors pricing. An analysis on the different products offered by the competitors will enable us estimate the market price.

The marketing team to be responsible for launching the product in the market. Through the market research and analysis, they are able to determine the right audience for the launch. The company aim is to solve a problem for the audience, therefore right positioning against the competitors will help the company to achieve a competitive advantage.

Through the launch, the company will also get some feedbacks which are necessary for improvements. The feedbacks are necessary for improvement of the company’s services and also the help boost the sales as you become aware of the needs of the customers and areas that need improvements.

All the departments in the company to provide annual reports in order to get an overview of the overall company’s performance. This is helpful in determining areas that need improvements and where research can be conducted more. It provides the shareholders with information.  

Activity	Measurement	Responsible	Activity completion date(s)	Memo
Market Research (PESTLE)	Determine macro-environmental opportunities that will benefit the company	Marketing Team	One year before the release date	Opportunities must be consistent with company objectives
Market survey	Collection of customer feedbacks that would benefit the company to improve its services	Marketing team	Six months before the release date	Feedbacks should be taken into consideration
Market Research and Survey Analysis	Right tools used to determine what’s available in the market.	Marketing team	One year before the release date	Gaps in the customers determined
Sourcing local manufacturers	Analyse the available suppliers for different products to be displayed in the supermarket.	Production team	one year before the launch into the market	Source for quality suppliers for products in the supermarket.
Production sampling	Sample products to test in the market.	Production and marketing team	Three months before the launch	The products samples are important for positioning the product in the market.
Analyzing the sample result	Determine the right products for the market	the production and marketing team	Two months before launch	The samples meet the quality standards for the market.
Market Analysis	Analyses the potential of the market	Marketing team	One year after release date	Determine what can be offered differently in the market
Competitors Analysis	Who are your competitors and what are their strengths and weaknesses	Marketing team	One year before the release date	Determine their pricing and their strengths that keep their customers.
Training	The HR department to provide training for the existing employees	HR department	Three months from release date	Employees to be aware of their objectives.
Marketing plan for Event sponsor, Social media and Sale promotion	Promote the products	Marketing team	On release date	To create awareness of the product
Budgeting	Costing purposes	Marketing team	One year before the release date	Work within the company’s capabilities
Pricing	Depending on the demand of line of products	Marketing team	continuous	Use promotional pricing on products
Product launch	Introduce Coles in the German market	The whole company	On release date	New partners
Collecting Feedback	To gauge customer satisfaction	Marketing and customer service team	Continuous	Assist in serving customers correctly
Annual Report	The level the company has reached	Financial, marketing, customer service, and HR team	One year after release date	Keep track of the company’s progress in all departments.

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