Marketing Mix Strategy for Coles Expansion

Introduction

Marketing mix strategic planning is one of the effective strategic planning, through which the organisations can expand their business activities across different markets for sustaining in the business and securing future sustainable development (Charter, 2017; Bahadir, Bharadwaj and Srivastava, 2015). The aim of the study is to develop appropriate strategic planning for the organisation Coles to enter in China, so that the organisation can expand their business across the Asian countries and gain effective market share in China. Through this paper, it is possible for the organisation to recommend some suitable ways and tactics, including insights from marketing dissertation help, through which the organisation can enter into the market of China which is a great opportunity for the company to expand their business across the globe. The consumer goods market in China is growing rapidly and it provides a scope to Coles to expand their business in China. In order to enter into the Chinese market, it is necessary to develop appropriate marketing mix strategic planning so that the organisation can expand their business though promotional strategies.

The market mix strategic planning in this regard is helpful for the organisation to understand the target market in China and develop proper tactics to promote the brand so that the customers in China can identify the quality products and services of Coles. Coles is an Australian supermarket and consumer goods chain which is efficient to expand their business across 807 locations. The major products of the organisation are super market consumer goods products including groceries, home appliances, hardware and software, clothing and accessories which can meet the expectations of the customers in the Chinese market. The revenue of the company in the last year was AUS$ 39.288 billion and total numbers of employees are 112298. In this regard, it is necessary to develop an effective marketing mix strategic planning so that the company can enter into China in order to conduct their operational activities in Chinese market and strengthen their customer’s base in future (Coles, 2019).

Objectives of Coles

Proper marketing mix planning will be developed further for the organisation Coles, where the major objectives of the company are such as,

To maximise the revenue of the company

To expand the business activities of Coles in international market, China

To strengthen the customer base of the company

To promote the organisational product in the international retail market

To secure future sustainable development

Marketing mix strategic recommendations

The marketing mix strategic planning for the organisation will be developed further, where the 7P strategic planning is effective for Coles to enter into the Chinese retail market and gain high competitive advantage over other retail competitive firms in the market.

Product strategy:

As per the product strategy, the company needs to focus on the quality of the products that they are offering to the customers. Quality of the products is one of the contributing success facto through which the organisation can strengthen their customer’s base and retain them for long run. In this regard, using quality raw materials and product packaging needs to be improved where the company Coles need to use paper packaging to establish the brand in the market in an environmental sustainable way. Hereby, it is necessary for the organisation to use the product strategy and focus on product sampling where development of new products in the market is necessary. Additionally, labelling the products with the organisational tag is necessary to promote the products in the market, where the quality of the products can meet the expectations of the customers (Adnyana and Darma, 2015). In addition to this, the organisation also needs to consider the product diversification strategy and for this proper market research must be conducted, where through the market research, the organisational representative can understand the choice and preferences of the local customers in China and develop proper products which will meet the expectations of the people living in China. In this regard, product diversification is necessary for better performance and developing product strategy so that the organisation can establish the brand in the market successfully. On the other hand, standardisation of the products in Coles is necessary rather than adoption, where the company can deliver the patent products of the organisation as well as adapt new product diversification as per the local customer’s needs and preferences. Hereby, product category must be viewed and developed with a huge range of variety products in the market, which can attract long run customers in the Chinese market.

Pricing strategy:

The pricing strategy is another marketing tool through which the organisation can expand their business by retaining the customers in the bran by delivering high quality products. In this regard, price penetration is one of the effective pricing strategy through which the company Coles can set lower price for their retail product categories, where low price further attracts the customers in near future. In addition to these, the customers can make effective purchase decision for the organisational products of Coles where they can buy the quality products at affordable price (Ahmed and Rahman, 2015). Apart from that, for effective pricing strategy, the company also promotes the brand through providing pricing offers in new seasons or any festivals in China or New Year in China. Herby, the pricing offers to the customers further helps the organisation to develop strong relationship with all the customers and ensure trust and loyalty among them. For setting appropriate price, the Company needs to consider the factors listed below,

The costs of the company includes production, distribution, labour, raw Material, marketing, infrastructure development, developing company website, warehouse management, store arrangement and fixed cost such as electricity and others which need to be considered while setting the price of the products of Coles so that they can maintain proper revenue in Chinese market.

Placing:

Placing the organisational products in the Chinese market is important, so that proper branding can be possible and in this regard, hiring the local manufacturers and suppliers are necessary for Coles to establish the business in China. In this regard, the company needs to develop strong supply chain in the market where green supply chain can provide a scope to conduct the operational activities strategically. Hiring the local supplier and distributors is necessary for Coles, where the suppliers and distributors are efficient to conduct the activities efficiently and improve the brand visibility successfully. In this context, the organisation also needs to focus on creating values for the supplier and distributors by providing the proper incentive and structured salary to motivate them to sustain the organisation and contribute positively to expand the business in the Chinese market. For proper placement of the organisation, it is also necessary to use electric cars in the market for distribution of the raw materials and final products to the customers ethically, where it further helps to provide positive environmental footprint in the market. Apart from that above strategic tactics, it is also necessary for the organisation to cooperate with local retail manufacturer for partnership working though negotiation and this will provide a scope to the company Coles to utilise the customer’s base of the local manufacturer and develop a joint business of successful establishment of the company in the Chinese retail market (Melis et al., 2015).

Promotion:

For promoting the business in the Chinese market, it is necessary to develop effective tactics for successful branding. In the recent era of globalisation, the people in China are technologically upgraded and they prefer to access the latest information through social media and others such as television news. In this regard, it would be beneficial for the organisation Coles to develop effective social media advertisement by using the social platform in China which operates like a two way communication, in which both the customers and the organisational representatives can interact with each other. There are three major social media platform which are WeChat, QQ and Weibo which provide a scope to Coles to promote their products and develop two way communications with the customer in China. Developing effective pictures of the products and creative content about the products and services, offered by Coles is effective for the company to promote the organisational products in the Chinese market. In addition to these the sending personalise email to the local people and arranging the market campaign is necessary, where the organisational representative can collect the personalise data of the customers and interact with the consumers in the market (Azeem and Sharma, 2015; Mohammad, 2015). This is also effective tactics to gather information about the customers and improve trust and loyalty among them. after proper market research, sending personalise email to the customers as well as sharing appropriate information about the organisational products pricing and activities are useful for Coles to establish the brand in the market which contributes positively in branding. In addition to these, developing personal company website is also necessary which helps to the company Coles, to introduce the company uniquely, where in the website, proper information will be displayed through which the local people in China can access the website and place their orders as per their preferences (Kasemsap, 2018). This is also effective strategic planning for the organisation to promote the brand in the market and retain the customers for long run.

People:

Developing proper organisational culture is necessary for Coles to hire the efficient staff and retain them for long run. In this regard, maintaining transparency and accountability in the organisation, implementation of rules and employment acts in the workplace are effective for Coles to create suitable working culture without any cultural diversity and discrimination. Apart from that, it is necessary for the organisation to manage the people in the organisation through providing structured salary, incentives and bonuses which further encourage their employees to perform better and contribute positively in the organisation. This is hereby, effective for the organisation Coles to manage all the people at the company including the employees, staff, managers and store operators who are working cooperatively to maximise the objectives of the company. Recruitment of skilled workforce after proper assessment of the employees is crucial and apart from that, the organisation needs to develop effective training program to enhance the performance and technical skill of the workers so that they can serve the customers in a better and unique way (Prange, 2016).

Physical activities:

Considering the physical activities, it is effective for Coles to develop facilities for the stakeholders including the employees, customers, suppliers and distributors. Development of proper infrastructure in the organisation is also necessary where proper investment in the equipment, production unit and implementation of latest technology further provide a scope to Coles to manage the activities and expand their operations efficiently.

Process:

Development of automation process, e-commerce services as well as implementation of ICT is effective to enhance communication in the organisation and it further provides scope to the front line manager to serve the customers in a better and unique way (Abril and Rodriguez-Cánovas, 2016). For developing process, the organisational representatives need to provide 24*7 services to the customers through online activities and company website and apart from that, minimum respond time and instant help to the customers are also beneficial for Coles to perform better in the Chinese retail market and establish the brand successfully.

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