The Brand Promotion of Tesco in Beijing City - Research Proposal Example

Thesis Proposal: The Brand Promotion of Tesco in Beijing Based on the Program of Sales Promotion of Tesco's Products to Housewife in Beijing Introduction The paper presents a proposal for a research based study conducted for accessing the promotions of the retailer and departmental store Tesco in the China, Particularly in the city of Beijing. The following sections highlight the problem/ thesis statement being targeted, the main aims and purpose of the research, and the research objectives. The proposal also provides the theoretical perspective which forms the basis of the proposed study and the significance of the research for students and marketers. The type of literature on which the study is going to be based on is depicted along with the brief overview of literature review for the research. The research methodology is explained in terms of selection of the methodology, and the process employed for data collection, processing and analysis. Thesis Statement The thesis of the research to be undertaken is the assessment of the brand promotion of Tesco in Beijing city, particularly related to the sales promotions strategy and tactics employed by the company to target the house wives segments for its products and services. Purpose The purpose of the proposed research study is to be able to analyze the marketing strategies that are employed by the retailer Tesco in China. More specifically the role of sales promotion as used by the company to target the housewives of the Beijing city is analyzed to determine the effectiveness of the sales promotion, the change in consumer perception due to promotions, the changes in the consumer behavior as a result of the promotion and the contribution that it makes to the overall brand persona of Tesco. Research Objectives The aim of the research has been depicted above and the research objectives of the proposed research are as follows: 1. Identify the sales promotions strategies used by Tesco to target the customers in Beijing, particularly the urban housewives segment. 2. Determine the relationship between the sales promotions; point of sale and in store strategies used by company with the Tesco Brand and its persona. 3. Observe the possible effects that the sales promotion strategies implemented by Tesco in Beijing have on the consumer purchase behavior, particularly for the housewives segment 4. Determine the effectiveness of the sales promotions strategies used by observing the sale and revenue trend for Tesco. 5. Recommend any possible marketing, advertising, branding and promotion strategies related to sales that can help Tesco better target their customers in China and attract them towards the products and services of the company Theoretical Perspective and Significance of Research The proposed research would be based on the concept of marketing management as highlighted by Kotler (1988) which is the process if applying the theories of marketing and the relevant strategies into the marketing techniques and actionable tasks for the promotion of a business. Another theoretical concept that is used by the proposed research is that of branding and brand management. Essentially a brand is a perception of a company or an entity in the minds of the consumer. However the management of the brand is an extension of marketing and is strategically linked with promotion. Aside from this the concepts of sales promotions, consumer behavior, consumer purchase behavior, consumer decision making process are also explored in the research in relation to how they influence the promotion strategy used by Tesco to target housewives in Beijing. The proposed research can provide to be significant for students, marketers, future researchers in the field of brand promotion and marketing as well as for the Tesco Company. The students can be provided with possible linkages between the sales promotion strategy of the company and the overall brand promotion of a brand. Moreover the promotion employed by brands in different markets can also be highlighted through the research for students. The researchers on the other hand would have an established research to expand upon or further explore the relationship between sales promotions of a company and the brand promotion strategy of a firm. The markets as well as the management at Tesco can use the proposed research to determine the most effective sales promotion strategies that best contribute to their established corporate brand. Tesco and its Operations in China Tesco is a global retail chain of departmental stores, super markets and hypermarkets. The company is involved in trading and selling of grocery and general merchandise. The company is based in UK and is currently the largest retailer in the United Kingdom. However in terms of global revenues, the company ranks behind the retail Giant Wal-Mart and Carrefour. The product and service categories offered in the Tesco stores include clothing, grocery, food and drink items, technology, electrical appliances, entertainment products and services as well as insurance and financial plans. The corporate strategy of the Tesco Company has been to appeal to all segments of the market in order to have a broad range of target market and high volume of market share. Tesco launched its operations in China in 2004 and in 2009 the company has 56 operational stores that are managed by a staff of around 17,500 employees. The Tesco website provided information on the operations of Tesco in China. It mentioned that "Tesco started trading in China in 2004. We now have more than 50 hypermarkets, mostly around Shanghai. Our first stores in Beijing and Shenzhen/Guangzhou are also proving popular with local people" ('About Us: China', 2009). Brief Literature Review An article in the Wall Street Journal provided that in Tesco is reporting massive increase in its sales for the first quarter of 2009, with 13 percent increase for sales in the UK, and more than 40 percent increase in the Asian markets. "International sales jumped 20% from a year earlier. In Asia, where Tesco has more than 1,000 stores, sales rose 44%, helped by currency fluctuations and a strong performance by the Homever stores in Korea that Tesco bought last year" (Vitorovich, 2009). The increase in the sales in the international markets for Tesco is largely attributed to its marketing and promotions strategy which is focused on promoting discounted prices to the customers in the markets and on the basis of barnded products by Tesco. "The world's third-largest retailer by sales, behind Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Carrefour SA, is benefiting from price cuts, promotions and a focus on store-branded products" (Vitorovich, 2009). The media promotions and marketing strategy of Tesco for the Thailand market had been to employ local branding and promotion based business to execute its promotions strategy while also gather information aboutv the consumers in the market to get to know more about them (Bakht, 2009). Pertaining Tesco in China, an article in BBC reported that in 2007 Tesco made strategic attempts to localize the product offering as a way of sales promotion to target the consumers in China. "Most of the products on sale are Chinese, including soy sauce, sheep's feet and even live turtles. There is one rather forlorn aisle selling food from the United Kingdom, including sage-and-onion stuffing and mint jelly. A tin of baked beans and a bottle of Tesco's brown sauce seemed to perplex the early customers" (Reynolds, 2007). Similarly the Telegraph also reported on the operations of Tesco in China stating that the store ambiance and atmosphere was localized to traditional Chinese shop/bazaar with the meat selections, food choices, spices and other grocery products customized to the specifications of local cuisine ('Every little helps for Tesco in China', 2009). This depicts that customization and localization of the product offering, store ambiance and promotion appeal are the main tacticcbeing employed by Tesco in for increasing its sales in the region of China. Research Methodology The research methodology that would be used to for the purpose of this study is that based on literature review and secondary sources of information. The information available on the sales promotions employed by Tesco, its brand promotion strategy, the consumer purchase behavior relevant to Tesco as well as the specific sales promotion campaigns used by the company to target the housewives in the city of Beijing would be used as main resources for this study. Moreover the sales revenue reports for the company would be used to determine the effectiveness of the sales promotion strategies. Comprehensively a historical analysis based research methodology would be applied for the purpose of this project. The sources that would be used for gathering secondary data for this research study include peer reviewed academic journals like journal of marketing, journal of international marketing, journal of consumer behavior. Industry and market reports the likes of data monitor reports would also be used as sources of data. The newspaper articles would be used for gathering data on the current marketing and sales promotion campaigns launched by the company in China, while the company website for Tesco would be used to observe the media based marketing campaigns targeting the Chinese consumers in Asia. The reliability of the information used for this study would be ensured by gathering information form peer reviewed academic journals, recognized market reports as well as authorized information provided by the Tesco company. The data would be analyzed using both the quantitative as well as the qualitative approaches to data analysis. The qualitative subject based analysis method would be employed for processing the subjective data gathered from the secondary sources. On the other hand the quantitative and the descriptive statistical data analysis would be used to analyze the quantitative information available on the sales of the company, and the consumer purchase behavior. Possible Conclusions After the brief literature review that was conducted for the purpose of this research, it can be projected that the possible conclusions for the research study can indicate that the sales promotions strategies that are used by Tesco in China are an extension of their marketing strategy and the brand promotion employed by them globally. However the differences might be present in the approach taken to promote sales to the Beijing housewives in terms of the products and services emphasized, and the appeal provided to the target market. This difference would largely be based on the cultural aspects and values of the target market. Gantt Chart The following is the prospective Gantt chart depicting the timeline and schedule to be used for conducting the proposed study. References 2009, "Abous Us: China", Official Tesco PLC Website, available at http://www.tescocorporate.com/plc/about_us/map/ 2009, "Every little helps for Tesco in China", Telegraph, available at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/4782688/Every-little-helps-for-Tesco-in-China.html Bakht, A., 2009, "OMD retains Tesco Lotus", Brand Republic, available at http://www.brandrepublic.asia/Media/Mediaarticle/2009_04/OMD-retains-Tesco-Lotus/35353 Reynolds, J., 2007, "Tesco's empire reaches Beijing", BBC News, available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6301385.stm Kotler, P., 1988, Marketing management: analysis, planning, implementation, and control, Ed. 6, Prentice-Hall Kotler, P., 1999, Kotler on Marketing: How to Create, Win, and Dominate Markets, Free Press Mullin, R., Cummins, J., 2008, Sales Promotion: How to Create, Implement and Integrate Campaigns that Really Work, Ed. 4, Kogan Page Publishers Riezebos, R., Riezebos, J., Kist, B., Kootstra, G., 2003, Brand management: a theoretical and practical approach, Financial Times Prentice Hall Schiffman, L.G., Kanuk, L.L., 1983, Consumer behavior, Ed. 2, Prentice-Hall Schultz, D.E., Robinson, W.A., Petrison, L., 1997, Sales promotion essentials: the 10 basic sales promotion techniques-- and how to use them, Ed. 3, McGraw-Hill Professional Vitorovich, L., 2009, "Tesco Sales Rise 13% on Gains in U.K., Asia", Wall Street Journal, available at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124517559490919807.htmlru=MKTW#mod=MKTW Read More