Social Media and Marketing in Woolworths - Case Study Example

Social media and marketing Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Selection of the brand 4 Overview of the Brand 5 Advertising 7 SocialMedia 9 Publicity 11 Analysis 12 Reference 14 Introduction The world of 21st century is living in a civilized environment which promotes fast development and rapid change. The evolution of internet based connectivity technology along with the fact of fast evolution of various sophisticated technological gadgets like the laptops, Smartphones, I-pads etc has resulted in the process of rapid diffusion of various kinds of global trends in various corners of the world. Talking on this note, it can be said that the diffusion of global trends in various corners of the world has acted as a great catalyst for the purpose of creating significant amount of consumer demand in regards to better product standards and quality. It is highly relevant to state that, because of the process of globalization as well as rising consumer demands, many new markets especially from the African arena as well as the BRIC countries like Brazil, Russia, India and China have started to emerge over the last couple of years. It is highly interesting to mention that the new markets which are coming up from various economies often represent a unique pattern of consumer behaviour, which is very different in regards to the consumer mindset that is prevalent in the developed economies. It has to be mentioned that with the process of emerging of new markets, along with the faster dispersion of global trends using the technology medium, the world has become a highly connected single entity. It is highly necessary to mention the fact that because of the high level penetration of the internet in various corners of the world, it has created a major imbalance in the power structure that exists in the buyer seller relationship. The internet powered virtual world has provided a significant increase in the power of the buyers and the consumers. Also, the free availability of various kinds of critical information, which is powered through the technology medium, has resulted in the process of tremendous increase in competition in the marketplace. Due to the increase in competition, companies around the world are increasingly finding it extremely difficult to compete in the marketplace. As a result, for the purpose of generating, communication and delivering the value to the desired target audience, organization and companies around the world are focusing on developing brands for their product and service offerings. Selection of the brand It has to be said that the Australian marketplace has always been a playground of various popular brands since the 1960’s. It is of considerable interest to mention the fact that brands of various locations like America, Britain, Japan, and Korea have dominated the Australian market for the last couple of decade (Mccrindle.com.au, 2012). Michael Kustreba, who is the Vice President of Epsilon, Asia Pacific region has highlighted the fact that as in today’s date, the factor regarding consumer loyalty is constantly changing mostly because of the fact of evolving and fast changing market dynamics. Talking on this note, it can be said that because of shifting loyalty, many new and international brands are starting to gain a strong foothold in the Australian market. As of the recent times, the Australian consumers, who have a significantly higher level of income and fall in the younger age category, have started to show a positive inclination towards various international brands like Christian Dior, Top Shop, Zara etc (Marketingmag.com.au, 2013). However, though it has been stated that the consumers loyalty is attaining a shift towards the preference of various global brand, yet it has to be said that certain sectors like grocery and financial sector still has the highest level of loyalty from the Australian consumers (Warc.com, 2013). Source: Marketingmag.com.au, 2013. However, as per the results of a study conducted by marketing services firm, Epsilon, it has been found that significant number of loyal consumers can shed their tag of loyalty in the events of customer dissatisfaction happening because of strict policies of refund and incorrect billing While discussing the issues of consumer loyalty of Australian consumers in the grocery sector, the Australia based popular grocery brand, Woolworths can be discussed. Overview of the Brand It is of considerable importance to mention the fact that Woolworths, is the largest supermarket and grocery chain of the Australian region, owned by Woolworths Limited. The company Woolworths Limited was founded in the year 1924 in Sydney. It is of significant interest to mention the fact that the key principle behind the foundation of this highly successful retail chain business was to provide every individual with an alternative place where quality things are available at a cheap price (Woolworthslimited.com.au-1, 2012). As of today, the company’s long term goal is to offer a large number of customers with the highest amount of convenience, range, quality and value based products and services. It can be said that the offerings of this highly popular retail chain is highly diversified in nature and comprises of a range of products and services which include food, general merchandise, liquor petrol, consumer electronics and hotels. It is of high importance to mention the fact that the retail chain Woolworths manages a considerable number of highly popular brands like Woolworths, Dan Murphy, Big W, Master Home Improvement etc (Woolworthslimited.com.au-2, 2012). It also has to be mentioned that Woolworths Limited has significant presence in the retail sector of New Zealand as well. Talking on the lines of store presence, it can be said that Woolworths has more than 3000 stores across Australia and New Zealand. Apart from being a retail giant, Woolworths is highly credited with the fact of providing employment to a large number of people as well as providing significant business growth to a large number of local businesses through sustainable and value based partnerships (Woolworthslimited.com.au-3, 2012). Talking in regards to financial performance and health of the brand, it can be said that in the year 2012, there was a steady increase of over 4.5% in sales. It has to be said that the overall sales resulted in the generation of over $ 55,000 million in year 2012. There was also over 4% increase in the sales of the total group of Woolworths Limited. For the purpose of attaining significant growth in its highly diversified businesses, it can be said that the company has designed four strategies which are highly integrated in nature. Talking on this note, it can be said that the first priority of the company is to attain leadership position for the food and liquor segment by repositioning itself in regards to value proposition for its products. Talking in line with this particular strategy, it is important to state that the company is looking forwards to explore domestic and overseas growth opportunities. The second strategy of the company for the purpose of maintaining growth and stability of its operations is to focus on the repositioning process of some of the major brands and product offerings. The third strategic move outlined by the company is to maintain a track of development of new growth opportunities for the company’s business operations. The final strategy highlights the factors of placing various key variables for promoting growth in the upcoming future. Talking in the line-up of the final strategy of Woolworths Limited, it can be said that the company is focusing on productivity efficiency in regards to the existing supply chain as well as human resources (Annual Report, 2012, p. 1 - 9). Advertising Talking from the traditional and academic point of view, it can be said that marketing essentially comprises of the process of better and effective placement of the 4Ps. Talking in more details, it can be said that the cycle of marketing comprises of value generation, value communication, value delivery and finally value capture. However, it is of considerable importance to state the fact that in the presence of a highly competitive market environment, effective value delivery to the right group of customers is very important for attaining growth in sales. As a result, proper segmentation, targeting and positioning of the product is also very necessary. For the process of effective communication of values of a product or service to the right customer segment, advertising plays a very important role (Tellis, 2004, p. 4). It is highly interesting to mention that advertising helps in creating a distinct edge for the products and services of a firm, because of its unique characteristics. While discussing about the unique characteristics, it has to be said that the advertising helps in faster and easier communication of products and services to the consumers of a free and open economy (Petley, 2003, p. 5). Also, talking in regards to the cost benefit analysis, it can be said that advertising using various forms of online and offline medium helps in a great way in communicating the product and service values at a considerably low cost per contact. Talking on the lines of Cost per Mille (CPM), which represents the cost per thousand impressions made, the chart below provides significant amount of information. Source: Zimmerman &Ng, 2012, Chap 6 It is highly relevant to state in these regards, that because of high cost effectiveness provided by advertising, companies and enterprises around the world are focusing on using a well synchronized online and offline strategy while advertising its products and services. Talking about the advertising endeavours of Woolworths, it can be said that the popular retail chain of Australia already has a string of highly well known brands in its product portfolio which help in a great way in the process of value communication of its products to the desired target audience. Also, it can be said that the rewards program that has been started by the retail chain under the name of ‘Everyday Rewards’ in the year 2007 also helps in a great way for the process of effective communication of the brand value of the products of Woolworths to the intended customers (Woolworthslimited.com.au-4, 2012). Apart from the advertising of value of the products gained by Woolworths because of its brands, the retail chain also maintains a well integrated strategy of discounts and online advertising efforts, so that it can retain and generate the interest of the consumers of the desired target market. Social Media It can be mentioned without any doubt that as a result of globalization, there has been a considerable change in the lifestyle of the masses all over the world. With the rise of competition in the work place along with the fact of tremendous level of internet penetration and evolution of various kinds of sophisticated technological gadgets, people prefer to stay connected with their friends and workplace using the virtual medium. Because of the shortage of time for socializing and leisure activities, a large number of people all over the world, prefer to stay connected on a 24/7 basis in various social networking sites for connecting with their friends, families as well as for the purpose of developing important network. Hence, it can be said that in the virtual world of Web 2.0, social media holds a very critical and important place in the minds of the consumers. Because of the high level of connectivity and presence of the consumers, the online networking sites and social media has become very important and critical marketing platform for communicating the values of the products and services to the consumers (Singh and Diamond, 2012, p. 213). It is quite interesting to mention that thought the social media acts as a great platform for various brands to connect directly with the audience, yet marketers focusing on using the technology enabled social medium has to keep in mind that the brands will become highly vulnerable in regards to negative criticism of the consumers. The marketers also have to keep in mind that the technology enabled social platform is only effective when communicating the values of the products with the audience of a young age group. There are various forms of advertising, which can be implemented through the social medium. The most widely used tactics comprises of consumer opinion based advertising, opinion generation by the usage of online message boards, usage of blogs and review sites, online games etc (Zimmerman & Ng, 2012, p. 14 ). Talking on the lines of social marketing approaches taken by the highly popular retain chain of Australia, it can be said that Woolworths has initiated a unique combination of online marketing tactics. The highly popular retail chain has developed a Smartphone application, which will help the consumers to stay connected with Woolworths. Also, Woolworths has focused on the process of developing an online wing for its shopping process and simultaneously promote through the process of online shopping discounts and online gift cards. Needless, to say, it helps in a great way in promoting the cost based value effectiveness side of Woolworths to the young consumers. Talking in regards to the efforts of Woolworth in the social media marketing, it can be said that the retail giant of Australia has focused on integrating its online website with small application of YouTube and Facebook. Also for developing a high connect with the audience, Woolworths has focused on developing an online page in the popular social media site Facebook. Also, the retail chain has focused on promoting its advertisement videos online in YouTube, which has a high online audience viewership. Publicity It is of considerable importance to state the fact publicity helps in the process of value communication of the products and services to a highly specific target market. In very plain and simple terms, publicity is defined as the art of getting noticed within a crowd by the right target market so as to capitalize on the desired opportunity (Cadell-M, 2006, p. 7). Publicity for a particular product or service is often considered to be highly effective if there is a significant amount of compatibility in regards to the publicity needs requirements of the product or service along with the communicating scopes offered by the desired and targeted media (Yudkin, 2009, p. 16). Talking about the publicity endeavours of Woolworths, both online and offline activities that has helped in communicating the values to the customers has to be taken into account. While discussing in a more elaborate manner, it can be said that for the purpose of effective value communication, Woolworth has focused on issuing a weekly online catalogue. This helps in making the customers aware of the latest product based offerings on a regular basis (Woolworthslimited.com.au-5, 2012). Also, like many other retailers of the recent times, the most popular retail giant of Australia has focused on providing the customers with the facility of online shopping. Needless to say that, by providing the convenience factor to the customers through the development of online shopping facility, Woolworth has been highly successful in publicising its value offering to the modern day tech savvy consumers. The Australian retail chain has also focused on making significant efforts towards the process of retaining the interests of the consumers. It can be said that the retail chain has focused on organizing online competitions so that they find significant interest in coming back to the website in search for better deals and competitions. It is of significant importance to say that the unique small initiatives which are being inducted by the retail chain in the online technology powered medium will help in a great way for the purpose of promoting value as well as interests to the consumers (Woolworthslimited.com.au-6, 2012). Talking on the lines of traditional and offline efforts of publicity, the unique consumer rewards program has to be highlighted. It can be said that the Everyday Rewards Program, which provides rewards and discounts on the basis of shopping points, helps in a great way for publicizing the price conscious value offerings to the consumers (Everydayrewards.com.au, 2012). Also, the traditional discount based pricing policy practiced by the popular retail chain of Australia helps in a great way in communicating the value of the products to the desired group of target consumers. Analysis It can be said that for the purpose of communicating the value of the products and services to the audience at large, the retail chain of Australia has focused on using a mix of traditional as well as modern promotional techniques. While analyzing the effectiveness of the promotional techniques, considerable amount of importance has to be given to the positioning needs and target market for the product. Talking on this note, it can be said that the offering of the retail chain is pretty diverse in nature. As a matter of fact, it can be naturally assumed that the diversified product and service portfolio has very different kind of positioning needs. However, given the nature of the offerings, it can be taken in to consideration that the desired target audience is the consumers located mostly in various regions of Australia. For the purpose of developing a high level of connect with the consumers of Australia, it is a very well planned strategic move to use a mix of modern as well traditional promotion tactics. Talking about analyzing the online promotion tactics, the analysis has to be done in a step by step manner. It is of considerable importance to state that the young consumers of today spend a considerable amount of time in the online medium. From the statistical point of view, the young consumers spend more than two and half hours on the electronic media (Acma-1, 2008, p. 8). It has also been found through research that around 64% of the total time spent on the electronic media by the youngsters is associated with social networking sites (Acma-2, 2008, p. 4,). Hence, it can be said that by having an effective presence in various online and social networking sites, it is easier to communicate the values of the brand’s products and services to the young consumers. It can be said that Woolworths in the recent times have presence in Facebook and YouTube. However, it has to make its presence in Twitter, which is a highly popular micro blogging site. While talking on these lines, it also has to be said that the retail chain’s effort to design a Smartphone application for connecting with the young audience is also very unique in nature. While analyzing the offline and traditional promotional tactics, it can be said that the Woolworths strategy to offer reward based programs and cash discounts to consumers are also highly effective in positioning the product portfolio to the desired target audience. Reference Mccrindle.com, 2012. The history of global brands and influences in Australia.[Online] Available at: http://www.mccrindle.com.au/_blog/The_McCrindle_Blog/post/The_history_of_global_brands_and_influences_in_Australia/ [Accessed 25 Feb. 2013] Marketingmag.com.au, 2013. Global brands carve foothold in Australia as loyalty to home-grown decreases. [Online] Available at: http://www.marketingmag.com.au/news/global-brands-carve-foothold-in-australia-as-loyalty-to-home-grown-decreases-36239/#.UStSdB3-Eb- [Accessed 25 Feb. 2013] Warc.com, 2013. Global brands gain in Australia. 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Zimmerman, J. & Ng, D., 2012. Social Media Marketing All-in-One For Dummies. UK: John Wiley & sons. ACMA-1, 2008. Media Use By Boys and Girls. No. 2. Available at: http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_311396 [Accessed 25 Feb. 2013] ACMA - 2, 2008. Internet Use and Social networking by young People. No.1. Available at: http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_311396 [Accessed 25 Feb. 2013] Woolworthlimited.com.au-1, 2012. Who We Are. Available at: http://www.woolworthslimited.com.au/page/Who_We_Are/ [Accessed 25 Feb. 2013] Woolworthslimited.com.au-2, 2012. Our Brands. Available at: http://www.woolworthslimited.com.au/page/Who_We_Are/Our_Brands/ [Accessed 25 Feb. 2013] Woolworthslimited.com.au-3, 2012. How we do business. Available at: http://www.woolworthslimited.com.au/page/Who_We_Are/How_We_Do_Business/ [Accessed 25 Feb. 2013] Woolworthslimited.com.au-4, 2012. Everyday Rewards. Available at: http://www.woolworthslimited.com.au/page/Who_We_Are/Our_Brands/Everyday_Rewards/ [Accessed 25 Feb. 2013] Woolworthslimited.com.au-5, 2012. Specials of the Week. Available at: http://woolworths.com.au/wps/wcm/connect/Website/Woolworths/Prices/Specials+Of+The+Week/ [Accessed 25 Feb. 2013] Woolworthslimited.com.au-6, 2012. Promotions. Available at: http://woolworths.com.au/wps/wcm/connect/Website/Woolworths/Prices/Promotions/ [Accessed 25 Feb. 2013] Read More