Supermarket Brand Assemblages - Essay Example

Supermarket Brand Assemblage Name: Institutional affiliation: Supermarket Brand Assemblage It has become common to enter a supermarket and find goods that are labeled under supermarket brands, which are always relatively cheaper in comparison to brands associated with the manufacturer of the same product. The practice is common in all supermarkets in the world, and it is found in a wide range of products, including beverages, foods, and necessities that are consumed on a daily basis like toothpaste, soaps, and tissues. Currently, supermarket brands are about 3% of all goods that are found in shelves and supermarkets are using the trend as a development strategy by attracting more customers. However, branding in the supermarket is never a single activity, but it involves a number of professional activities like marketing, design, media, management, and even consumers. Supermarket brand, therefore, is an assemblage due to the various professional activities that are involved. Therefore, supermarket brand assemblage becomes the focus of this essay. Shopping in supermarkets may appear to be a normal routine among consumers because many buyers just enter the supermarket, pick their preferred good, pay then walk away. However, in a real sense, supermarket shopping is more than picking goods and paying for them because a shopper has to make a rational decisional, which is influenced by personal, social and emotional needs (Moshrefjavadi et al., 2012). Supermarket shopping has even become more complex and challenging due to increased number of shelved products and many supermarkets and national brands that serve almost the same purpose. There is increased competition among supermarkets as they strive to outperform one another by providing quality goods or services at relatively cheaper prices. Consequently, they are involved in intense marketing to attract more customers to select their brands. They always complement marketing with in-store activities to influence customer's buying decision. The primary objective of marketing and in-house activities in supermarkets is to attract many customers to maximize their profits. However, research has shown that there is more to attracting many customers and that consumer satisfaction alone may not lead to a sustainable success of a supermarket due to stiff competition in the industry. Therefore, for a supermarket to have long-term success and a competitive advantage in the market, its brands must create an emotional attachment with customers (Ahonen, 2008). Even though attitude of consumers is also important, the emotional bond is more crucial because it connects a consumer with the brand. Creating a brand that has an emotional attachment with consumers involves a lot of activities, leading to the brand assemblage in supermarkets (Moshrefjavadi et al., 2012). Therefore, supermarket brand is a trajectory of many practices involving human resource, physical resources, technology, and ideas, making it an assemblage. Woolworths is one of the leading supermarkets in the world, and it has realized the importance of brands in achieving its long-term goals. The store stocks about 2,500 own brands, which has led to its conflict with the manufacturers. One of the ways that Woolworth has managed to create its brand is through packaging where is makes quality packages that reflect customers needs and personality. The store is also using the modern technology and customer experience to create quality brands that give it a competitive advantage in the market (Olenski, 2013). Basically, an assemblage means a situation where more than one independent field interacts and affects one another (Hackman, 2010). There are two types of assemblage, and they include stratified and rhizomatic. A stratified assemblage is associated with a fixed structure containing homogenous components and it is commonly known as a molar assemblage. A rhizomatic assemblage, popularly known as molecular assemblage, contains heterogeneous parts of human and physical elements. What is peculiar in the assemblage is that the parts that form the system or structure remain independent as they retain their unique features (Hackman, 2010). In this essay, the components that make supermarket brand assemblage include marketing, management, media, product design consumers, and accountancy. Supermarket brand assemblage, therefore, is a process where human and nonhuman resources interact to create a suitable brand that creates an emotional attachment with the target consumers. The supermarket brand assemblage is meant to create a brand that increases products sales, leading to optimal profits in supermarkets. There is more to supermarket branding than just creating quality and differentiated products, which are always similar and serve the same purpose, which makes it assemblage. A brand should be in a position to create a direct communication between retailers and consumers through presentation and packaging (Patterson & Malley, 2006). Therefore, branding is strategic as it involves special techniques, technologies, and physical resources. Marketing is the major component of supermarket brand assemblage because it plays an important role in understanding the target market, competitors, and trends in the industry (Pickton & Broderick, 2001). However, most supermarket brands are tailored made to meet specific needs, desires and expectations of consumers, which is only possible if a store has sufficient information about consumers. Therefore, marketing is a key component of supermarket assemblage because it provides crucial information about consumers. Marketers always utilize qualitative techniques and behavioral science to have an in depth information and understanding. Also, they use social, economic, and psychological factors to map the target customers. Therefore, marketing is one of the important components of supermarket brand assemblage. It helps in product qualification and reorganization by emphasizing on product differentiation. A brand should have an emotional attachment with customers or consumers, which is only possible when supermarkets fully understand their customers. There are four major factors that affect buyer's behavior towards a brand, and they include cultural, social, personal, and psychological (Patterson & Malley, 2006). When developing a brand, it is important to consider cultural factors found in a target market, which is important in determining perceptions, habits, and behaviors of consumers. It is also important to understand emerging cultural issues and trends in the market to develop a sustainable brand that can lead to the long-term success of a supermarket (Fetscherin & Usunier, 2012). Every consumer belongs to a social group that influences his/her buying decisions. The aspirational social group also influences the buying decision of a consumer even if he does not belong to that group. Apart from the quality of a product and customer needs, he or she can opt to buy a certain brand to fit in the social group. Therefore, supermarket brands should reflect the social role or status of the target customers. Supermarket brands are also created to reflect the personal factors of the target market because purchasing behaviors are also influenced by the characteristics of consumers. Some of the personal factors that are reflected in supermarket brands include age, lifestyle, and personality of customers (Fetscherin & Usunier, 2012). Consumers' buying habits always evolve with age, lifestyle, personality, and the economic status. Supermarket brands are therefore designed to reflect the personal attributes of their customers. Apart from personal factors, psychological factors also influence the designs of supermarket brands. Some of the psychological factors that supermarkets consider when designing their brands include what motivates customers, perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes of customers (Fetscherin & Usunier, 2012). A brand that reflects the psychological elements of a target consumer are likely to succeed and lead to the long-term success of supermarket. Marketing, therefore, plays a pivotal role in the creation of supermarket brand assemblage, especially through market research (Churchill & Iacobucci, 2010). Supermarket owners and management rely on information from market research to design the brands that meet the specific desires, expectation and needs of their customers. Market research is always done by the marketers where they analyze all the information on the market that may be useful in creating the desirable brand (Churchill & Iacobucci, 2010). Having sufficient information about consumers is important in creating a successful supermarket brand, and it is only possible through effective marketing research. Despite the fact that marketing is one of the important elements of supermarket brand assemblage, its application is successful due to improved technology, which is another important component of the assemblage (Lusch & Vargo, 2014). The changing technology is rapidly changing consumer behaviors and how they interact with the brands. Supermarket managements have noticed the trend, and they are now using technology to influence customer behaviors and to add more value by creating a successful brand. First, supermarkets are increasingly using technologies to improve the interaction between customers and the brands. According to CIE survey, 86% of supermarket customers are willing to pay more to get a better customer experience (Olenski, 2013). Consequently, many supermarkets have embarked on creating an excellent in-store experience, which has led to free and effortless returns. They are also using technology to improve customer experience as they continue to use digital channels to heighten consumer expectations (Hamilton, Garretson & Kerne, 2014). Therefore, supermarkets are focusing on the happiness and well-being of their customers in creating successful brands that can lead to sustainable profit-making. Supermarkets have also used the modern technology to simplify their checkout process in their stores. Many leading stores like Amazon are now using the modern technology to eliminate checkout obstacles to enhance checkout completion rate (Hajli, 2014). Checkout plays an important role in enhancing the interaction between customers and brands because it is the final stage where customers make purchasing decisions. A failure in checkout system in the supermarket can negatively affect customers buying decisions regarding the brand. It can also create a negative perception of the customer towards the product. They are also using the latest technology to add value to the services that they offer. Technology, especially the information technology has also enabled consumers to play an active role in supermarket brand assemblage through user-generated brands (UGBs). Branding is no longer left in the hands of producers and retailers, but consumers have also found the avenue of contributing to product branding through the use of social media. Social media has transformed marketing communication because it has changed how customers interact with the brand (Hajli, 2014). The traditional perspective of branding failed to incorporate consumer involvement, but social media has made this possible, as consumers now play an active role in the branding process. Social media has enabled customers to play the role of producers, marketer, and consumer. There is increased online branding that has been instrumental in giving consumers to participate in supermarket branding (Hackman, 2010). UGBs are advantageous to supermarkets when they are creating their brands because it enhances consumer's experience (Severin Dennhardt Innsbruck University, 2010). UGBs allow consumers to air their opinions, which are important in creating successful supermarket brands because consumers will develop a personal a personal interaction with the brand (Bonhomme, Christodoulides & Jevons, 2010). The supermarkets will also be in a better position to provide quality goods and services by addressing specific issues and needs of customers. Also, UGBs give supermarkets to closely monitor, listen, and converse with consumers, which are important in enhancing service delivery (MacKinnon, 2012). Supermarket management is another important component of supermarket brand assemblage because it determines the overall success of the store. Management ensures that everything is in place, and it monitors and coordinates all the activities involved in supermarket brands (Fetscherin & Usunier, 2012). Effective employee management is important in creating a successful brand because of their close interaction with customers. Management ensures that employees are motivated and that they are professional and ethical when serving customers. Employees also play an important role in shaping the customer's behavior and attitude towards the brand (Fetscherin & Usunier, 2012). Therefore, it is the responsibility of the management to create a conducive working environment that motivates supermarket employees to offer quality services to customers. Media also plays an important role in ensuring successful supermarket brand assemblage because it connects customers and supermarkets. Supermarkets use mass media to create brand awareness through promotion mix like advertising, sales promotion, and public relations. Social media has become inevitable for branding and product promotion because of its large number of users Chen, 2014). The media, therefore, also plays an important role in supermarket brand assemblage. In conclusion, supermarket brand is never a single activity, as it involves many professional activities like management, marketing, media, and consumer. Supermarkets value branding because it enables them communicate directly with customers. The use of social media in branding is inevitable because it helps in promoting UGBs and it is also the most convenient platform where supermarkets and their customers can communicate with one another. Supermarket brand, therefore, is an assemblage because it involves many activities. References Ahonen, M. (2008, December). Clarifying the stage of corporate branding research (1996-2007): a literature review and a classification. In Proceedings of the Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference ANZMAC (pp. 1-3). Bonhomme, J., Christodoulides, G., & Jevons, C. (2010, February). The impact of user- generated content on consumer-based brand equity. In Paper accepted at the 6th International conference “Thought leaders in Brand Management”, Università della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland. BRANDS, U. G., & FROM, W. R. C. C. L. (2010). Severin Dennhardt Innsbruck University. Chen, L. (2014). 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