Search Engine Optimisation, Effect of Globalisation and Culture - Case Study Example

?Running Head: Marketing Marketing [Institute’s Marketing According to the American Marketing Association, “Marketing is an organisational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers are for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organisation and its stakeholders” (Pickton & Masterson, 496-499, 2010). Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury, Sainsbury’s (2011) currently holds the title of being the second largest supermarket chain in United Kingdom after Tesco. Despite the fact that the company has diversified into financial services industry, home retail industry, and online shopping, it still derives most of its revenues from its supermarket and retail operations, which is the core business. The paper would make an attempt to explore marketing mix of Sainsbury’s (2011), effect of internet on the same, issues that have arose from cultures or globalisation and Search engine optimisation (Pickton & Masterson, 496-499, 2010). Marketing Mix Product Quite understandably, being a retailer the product of Sainsbury’s (2011) ranges from grocery to home furniture, organic products to frozen foods, sports goods to clothing, from fashion to DVDs, the product line of Sainsbury’s is spread over different products. However, the focus has been to create a product line, which is more inclined towards non-perishable items rather than perishable items. For most of the large sized stores of Sainsbury’s would end up stocking more than 30,000 lines. However, important here to note is that out of these 30,000 lines around 6,000-7,000 product lines would be the company’s “own label” goods. Important here to note is that Sainsbury has been actively extending many product lines as well. For example, there are more than 700 line of the “basic” product, which the economy product line of the company. Furthermore, the company has also extended to include more than 1100 premium products in its line under the umbrella of “Taste the difference” category. Moreover, this has also allowed the company to customise its product line greatly. Sainsbury’s is now selling many well-known brands and along with them, it is selling many brands that have been custom made for its customers. Place Without any doubts, the factor of place has great importance in marketing. The company currently holds more than 872 stores all over United Kingdom. The stores appear to be in three formats including the regular stores, convenience and smaller supermarkets and the hypermarkets. In order to satisfy the needs and demand, there are some superstores of the company that operate on a 24/7 basis. The format of the store opened by Sainsbury’s largely depends upon the area and the need of the customers of that locality (Lancaster & Massingham, pp. 264-266, 2010). Important here to note is that how well Sainsbury’s and other retailers have been able to respond to the threat of disintermediation. Critics predicated that with the rise of brick and motor companies, retailers would become extinct. However, Sainsbury has been able to respond well to the challenge of disintermediation by intermediation and setting up new online business. Promotion Sainsbury’s has been an aggressive marketer and promoter for its products. The same is evident with the fact that recently, Sainsbury’s signed a deal with the administration of 2012 Summer Paralympics, which will take place during 29 August and 9 September 2012. Sainsbury’s has taken a bold step by signing a deal, which is the largest in the history of this event. Sainsbury’s also takes the credit of giving the advertising world “the best known slogan in retail advertising” which is of “Good Food Costs Less at Sainsbury’s.” Furthermore, since 2000, after being pushed at the third position in the retail industry of United Kingdom, it pursued aggressive promotion strategies. Using Jamie Oliver as the ambassador for the corporation, it has been able to add more than extra 1 billion Euros of sales (Pickton & Masterson, 496-499, 2010). Currently, the promotion strategy of Sainsbury’s is to make sure that customers are trying new products and making sure that the turnover for each product line remains substantial enough to keep that in the portfolio. Viral Marketing remains a strong cornerstone of Sainsbury’s strategy as well. For example, during the fall of 2006, for promoting its new wine offering, Sainsbury’s joined hands with wine blogging site Secret Sommelier and the Bordeaux Wine Bureau to launch its viral marketing campaign based on short messaging service and emails. Customers sent emails and texts to win plasma screen TVs and other prizes from 100 Sainsbury’s stores all around the United Kingdom. Furthermore, there are many other promotional offers and a campaign, which Sainsbury (2011) is running through with the help of Web 2.0 and direct marketing. Some of them include the Buy now Free Next Time, Sainsbury’s Promotional Codes, J Sainsbury's Active Kids healthy eating and exercise campaign, book club promotion and Big Brand Electrical Sale. Search Engine Optimisation It appears that Sainsbury’s is missing an important opportunity by focusing too much on its brand as a key word. However, the reality is that many people spell the brand name incorrectly and by not allowing the key words like “supermarket” “online grocery”, “individual product names” and others, Sainsbury’s is missing a crucial opportunity. If all these key words searches get directed towards Sainsbury’s website then it would witness a significant increase in its website visitors and in turn revenue as well (Lancaster & Massingham, pp. 264-266, 2010). Pricing Pricing has been one of the strengths and strong suits of marketing. Sainsbury’s has always been seen as offering very competitive prices. It further intensifies the competition by introducing various discounts, promotional offers, coupons, rebates, and others. In fact, this has been the core aspect of the Sainsbury’s promotion as well. For example, previous slogans and catchphrases for Sainsbury’s have been “Quality perfect, Prices Lower”, “Sainsbury’s for Quality, Sainsbury’s for Value”, Good Food Costs Less At Sainsbury’s and its current marketing slogans is the manifestation of the same which says, “Value where it matters”. The value proposition for Sainsbury’s has always been “more for less” (Pickton & Masterson, 496-499, 2010). Another important aspect about the pricing strategy of Sainsbury’s is their online pricing strategies. First, Sainsbury’s actively uses the word “free” in their strategy to attract its customers. Without any doubts, the word “free” has a great impact on the minds of customers. Second, bundling is the most common online strategy that is not used with the same intensity when it comes to offline pricing. The idea is to give way two or more products in the price, which is less then their combined price. Also important to note is that this online and offline pricing has allowed Sainsbury to employ price discrimination as well. There are many products at Sainsbury stores, which are priced just a touched higher but the same products are available on a lower price on the internet. The reason being that it easy for customers to check prices online but the same is not true in case of offline prices. Effect of internet on Marketing Mix Sainsbury’s has been one of the companies that have quickly responded to the changes and pressures that internet and media has put on it. In fact, internet has played a crucial role in taming the overall marketing mix of the company. It changed the product by forcing Sainsbury’s to add many new product ranges in its line. It has affected the prices greatly because by taking the shopping online, customers know have greater chance to have a thorough comparison of prices. It changed the “place” factor of marketing mix by eliminating the physical place and creating a new virtual place of internet for selling product. It also affected the promotion by shifting the promotional budgets from TV, print and billboards to facebook, virtual ads and internet promotion. Effect of Globalisation and Culture The change in nature and globalization has appeared to be affecting greatly the product line of Sainsbury’s. For example, with a new culture of ethical consumerism, it had to add more than 100 products under the umbrella of its Fair Trade products. Furthermore, for responding to the needs to more calorie conscious and health conscious customers, it had to add product line of “Be Good to Yourself”. Furthermore, globalisation has forced Sainsbury’s to become more responsible towards its African suppliers after a controversy appeared on the scene regarding the poverty and inhuman conditions in which the African suppliers of Sainsbury were living in. Today, Sainsbury has special programs to help its suppliers and the people in need in the local community and even outside. References Lancaster, Geoffrey, & Massingham, Lester. 2010. Essentials of Marketing Management. Taylor & Francis. Pickton, David, & Masterson, Rosalind. 2010. Marketing: An Introduction. SAGE Publications Ltd. Sainsbury’s. 2011. Sainsbury’s. Retrieved on February 11, 2011: http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/index.jsp Read More