Marketing Strategy Analysis of Coles Supermarket

Question: Discuss about the Marketing Strategy Analysis of Coles Supermarket. Answer: Introduction The report would discuss and analyze the marketing strategies of Coles Supermarket by understanding its corporate objectives and its core marketing plan for growth and achieving customer satisfaction. Further, the report analyses how these marketing strategies have helped the company to achieve its goals and objectives. Coles Supermarkets: Corporate Objectives Coles is a retail chain of supermarket in Australia which is owned by Wesfarmers. Coles have been established with the goal to give people of Australia a shop they trust, delivering quality, service and value (Coles, 2016). Company has the following corporate objectives: To provide fresh food through a better store network to the customers. To deliver quality products and services to the customers at a very low price. To drive its team towards establishing a bold culture through great decisiveness and adaptability work environment. To expand its stores and network through strategic partnership with the suppliers and building long term relations with the key suppliers. Coles has over 776 supermarkets located in Australia and has employed over hundred thousand employees by attracting the young and talented graduates. Coles has been continuously focused on providing fresh food to the customers through its enhanced supply chain system. It prioritizes to improve its relationships with the main suppliers in order to simplify its supply chain management system and deliver great services at a very low price to the customers (Knox, 2015). It is also exploring new channels to reach its customers through mobile applications and click and collect sites. Marketing Concept of Coles Coles focuses on selling fresh food to its customers through its well maintained supplier system. It recognizes the need of the customers which is a great quality product at a very low price. Customer looks forward for a great service at a reduced price and wants a simplified process of shopping so that he can save his time. Coles has consistently improving its supply chain and adopted a simpler supply chain model through well maintained distribution centre and controlled transport system. The stores are also designed in such a manner to utilize the space efficiently and enhance the productivity of the stores. Coles has very smartly invested to employ technology in its supermarket stores so as to give a great experience for the customer though ease of shopping. Its stores support also has very fast decision making process to resolve the customer queries quickly. It also provides click and collect services to provide better services to its customers. Its mobile application enables customers to place their order online and receive timely delivery (Coles, 2016). This leads to increased sale of the supermarket products and also increases the customer base of the company. Core Marketing Strategy of Coles Coles has been continuously reforming and improving its marketing strategies in order to provide a great shopping experience to the customers. Its core marketing strategy involves focusing on people, stores, care, products and financial returns. It follows a six point plan to deliver quality services to the customers (Australian Food News, 2014): Delivering the best customer experience Truly better value Providing stunning quality fresh food to the customers Working smarter stores Excellent availability Selling and serving with personality Coles provides a great customer experience through on-shelf availability of the products, diversified portfolio of products and adopting innovative ways to delight the customers. It continuously develops strategies and methods to reduce the price of the products through its enhanced logistics and merchandise system. It delivers a great value to the customers by providing them ease of shopping and timely delivery of its services. It utilizes its store space effectively so as to increase its productivity and simplify the working process. This way it succeeds in achieving excellent availability of its products at the stores (Australian Food News, 2014). Thus, Coles uses its six point plan to achieve its corporate objective to deliver quality services and value to the customers by establishing its market trust. Though, Coles has been able to establish its market trust through its quality services, it lower margins hurts its profitability as compared to its competitors such as Woolworths (Knox, 2015). Conclusion The report has successfully analyzed the core marketing strategies of Coles Supermarket to deliver quality and valued services through enhanced customer experience. List of References Australian Food News. (2014). Wesfarmers reveals strategies to grow Coles and other businesses. Australian Food News: Thought for Food. Retrieved from: https://www.ausfoodnews.com.au/2014/05/28/wesfarmers-reveals-strategies-to-grow-coles-and-other-businesses.html Coles. (2016). Strategic Overview. Coles. Retrieved from: https://www.colescareers.com.au/~/media/files/colescareers/.../coles-strategy.pdf. Knox, M. (2015). Supermarket Monsters:The Price of Coles and Woolworths' Dominance. Collingwood: Black Inc. Mitchell, S. (2015). Coles' Every Day Value strategy to come under scrutiny. The Sidney Morning Herald. Retrieved from: https://www.smh.com.au/business/coles-every-day-value-strategy-to-come-under-scrutiny-20150423-1mru5u.html