Coles Marketing Plan Essay

Cole is an Australian supermarket with large influence and market share in the country. In addition, the company contributes significantly to the nation’s economy. In essence, the company has acquired more than 30% of the market share of the supermarket industry in this nation. Specifically, the company’sproduct line consists of daily products, grocery, meat, deli, fresh produce, bake house, cigarettes, liquor, apparel, general merchandize and over head products. Notably Cole has a culture of low price as its marketing strategy of attracting and retaining customers. Fresh produce are the chief of Cole’s product line. The chain of supermarket is among the leading retailers operating more than 720 stores in Australia (Morales, 2013). The company harbors more than 90, 000 employees with a customer base of approximately 4.5 million people. Woolworths is the main competitor of Cole with 40% stake in the Industry. Others include Aldi, Speciality Foods, and Franklins. Coles together with its leading competitor have a market competitor of sale price and large customer base (Pearson and Hendricks, 2011). The company endeavors for high quality in its products, services and delivery (Szakiel and Beare, 2009).[PPD_PAYTOREADMORE] The present market strategy of Cole is geared towards the liquor, food and fuel consumers (Morales, 2013). In addition, it emphasizes on providing a diversity of products on its target markets with customers of different income. Further, Cole’s consumers are derived from all over the world (Romaniuk and Thiel, 2012). With regard to promotion, the company employs different media such as the radio, newspapers, the internet and TV in the promotion and advertisement of its products. Public relations are also another strategy in promoting the company. MARKETING OBJECTIVES The situation analysis identified some of the objectives for Cole Supermarket . Among them is increasing revenue, increasing the customer base, building customer royalty and increasing the competitive advantage. Increasing sales and revenue Just as it is for much business, increasing sales is also the core of Cole’s business objective (Simon, 2013). The objectives of this company is to increase its sales to more than $150, 000 in the first year of its establishment, the management anticipates that the second year sales will increase by 50% and the third year by 40%. By the second year of its operation, the company would have expanded to include more stores and supermarkets in various parts of the world. Coles aspires to sell as many products as possible and generate high returns. Despite this, the company faces stiff competition from mass merchandisers and restaurants in some of its products. This point to the reason why the company has relied on fresh produce, and which are which are convenient to the customers. In addition, the company has also diversified its products to include many varieties with different prices to suit customers with different economic capabilities. Cole’s Strategy has been emphasized on clients who wish to do a one stop shopping. Increasing Customer Base and Traffic Most business organizations especially start ups and small ones workvery hard to acquire a customer base (Lusch 2007). In order to achieve a customer rate in their stores, Cole’s stores are located in areas that have high traffic such as big cities and towns. You will rarely find a Cole Supermarket in a rural environment. Some of Cole’s stores are also located in near apartments, residential and business districts. Cole is also much interested in building customer loyalty in its businesses. This is the reason why it has established royalty programs in order to retain and make customers royal. These royal programs are designed in such a way that the clients are rewarded according to how they purchase products. Improving its Ratings and competitive advantage Cole endeavors to do research with regard to its various products fresh produce, meat, daily products, grocery, deli, bake  house, cigarettes, liquor,apparel, general merchandize and over head products and customer service.The reason for these phenomena is to ensure that the products and services offered are of top quality and which customers will find unique. Improving the products and services will certainly increase the company’s rating and competitive advantage in this industry(Argenti 2008). TARGET MARKET and Position The company has particularly focused on the segmented population who requires their products under one roof or in other words, one stop shopping. Cole will be much like a haven for shoppers of all economic levels and busy types who wish to tend to look for products that are unique and special. This is because; the services are faster but yet satisfying. Such people will find the high quality goods and services to their expectations. Moreover, the clients will as well appreciate the faster service and fun experience at the company’s premises , whether they are celebrating special events or simply want to enjoy the special products at low prices. Cole expects to establish more and bigger stores and supermarkets in order to improve its competitive edge among its leading competitors such asWoolworths. According to the situation analysis, the â€Å"down down† price strategy appears to stay since for many years, it has acted as its competitive edge. Hence, the low price strategy will assist the company in competing for the customers ( Mckeown, 2012). Further, the increase in its floor space for its stores and supermarkets by 2% every year is to provide more space for its groceries and fresh produce including more products such brand mix and apparel. The company anticipates adding more than 20 stores in various parts of the world in this year alone. This owes to the increased customers and expansion programs. This is also a way of establishing a platform for the steady growth and expansion for the coming years. In essence, Cole wants to penetrate into its competitor’s market share including its main rival, the Woolworths. COLES APPROACH TO THE MARKETING MIX The marketing strategy for Cole Chain of Supermarket is the creation of awareness on potential customers by use f mouth and media advertisements such as magazines radio, internet and newspapers. With regard to media, the company employs the most popular ones both in print and electronic to present their advertisements and promotions. In this way, they are able to create what is known as distinctive experience in superior products. Other means for reaching out these clients include promotions, and fliers. The strategic location of the company’s premises would be typically considered as an important function for the purpose of marketing and promotion (Allison and Kaye, 2005). The premises are established in high traffic retail areas of business districts and towns. The central business districts, residential areas and towns in this perspective offer attractive incentives for investors and other business that are in operation. Moreover, the businesses are strategically positioned and easily accessible by the public and customers, there is also an advantage of the public which comes from being located in the central business center. Cole supermarket focuses on the basically educated and progressive clients fascinated in tying out new experiences and products and those who are not satisfied with the existing products or a service that are offered in other stores and outlets. ROLE OF THE MARKET PLAN One of the main contributions of the marketing plan is defining an organization’s mission and objectives. Likewise, this marketing plan will assist Cole’s Chain of supermarkets in achieving its objectives and in defining its long-term mission (Baker, 2008). This marketing plan will assist Cole in achieving substantial if not tremendous revenue just within the few years of its operation. It will also assist in more investment in the company and expansion to more stores by the subsequent years. In addition, it is anticipated that the marketing plan will assist the company in establishing a special relation with each worker (Tracy 2000). In this way, the workers a will be made responsible for their  stores and be rewarded for the profits generated. Evaluating all indicators of each variable or environment that makes up the PESTEL analysis, it is possible to express the diagnosis of the external environment in which this business will be inserted. Thus it was found that, in general, the external environment is in favor of development of the Cole Supermarket