The UK the leading trading power and financial centre

Executive summary

The UK, the leading trading power and financial centre, is the third-largest economy in Europe. The agriculture industry is intensive, highly mechanised, and efficient by European standards but represents less than one per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Tesco is one of the leading grocery supermarkets in the UK; it has been utilising agricultural products to boost the country's economy. The marketing mix of an organisation determines the success of an organisation's marketing. Smart objectives help in marketing orientation and achievements. The online market is characterised by various factors such as sources of threats or threats and profitability. Tesco trades on grocery, and they have introduced an online store to help them foster this kind of online business. Therefore, the marketing mix and business plan that has been addressed in this research are necessary to market Tesco's product.

Tesco is a major supermarket company in the United Kingdom and a retailer whose key rivals are Sainsbury's, ASDA, and Morrison's, which are also called the Big Four in the United Kingdom. Waitrose is another major chain that trails the Big Four in its footprint. German grocery Aldi and Lidl have both been strong players in the United Kingdom in recent years of foodstuffs. Tesco has continued to grow, particular because of selling foodstuff such as groceries; Tesco is a food industry that has continued its growth over the years, staying at the forefront of supermarket developments, including from self-service to international expansion. Tesco recently launched a sophisticated online grocery selling strategy that allows seamless digital shopping. Thus, the industry wants to draw up a marketing strategy for the latest online foodstuffs. Because of the impact of COVID-19 on both the local and the foreign sectors, the business is attempting to rejuvenate its grocery shopping online because the COVID-19 health recommendations and policies are the most convenient for consumers today.

Besides, Tesco competes with convenience stores which become more common as consumers' preferences move on to more trips for fewer products. The commodity market is somewhat fragmented. As of December 2020, Tesco remained the UK's food industry leader, with a market share of 27%, followed by Sainsbury's and ASDAs, with 15.7% and 14.1%, respectively. Aldi and Lidl have taken market share in the last five years from the significant holders. That is why the data given that Sainsbury and ASDA are the main rivals for Tesco food products are supposed to be the basis or the conclusion. Due to the pandemic's impact, however, online marketing campaigns for the whole groceries the company have are mandatory for the organisation's success. The 15.7 per cent difference in Sainsbury is also not conducive because they do not know what else they plan to do in the game. Thus, Tesco would like to see the latest online grocery shopping.

Satisfaction with customers improves customer engagement, thereby improving profitability. On the other hand, several investigators believe that customer satisfaction is a mental mechanism (Hou et al., 2017); in addition to core products or services, technological efficiency, client service components of customer engagement are the primary drivers for customer satisfaction. Moreover, Sualang et al. (2017) indicated that the customer's happiness is induced by listening and taking into account their views. This is a remedy for a good customer satisfaction technique. In addition, the five categories of customer satisfaction process, customer satisfaction indices, reviews, market analysis, frontline staff, and strategic activities are suggested to be the driver of this marketing. Additionally, it is proposed that the happiness of customers is a key to consumer loyalty.

Customer retention as a plan for Tesco’s groceries at a competitive age today is a crucial strategic marketing issue that must be implemented. Ritonga et al. (2018) stress-free and economically efficient is used to attract existing customers. The retention of customers is directly related to marketing ties. According to (Ritonga et al., 2018), RM's principles promote the customer's retention over new customers; a "dialogue" would be created between customers and marketers to promote the development of longer-term loyalty (Morgan et al., 2019).

The retention of customers results in increased revenue, benefit, and appreciation for shareholders. Diverse methods, such as consumer satisfaction, customer loyalty, pricing, etc., can help customer retention. Satisfied customers remain the key to corporate survival, which leads to longer-term profits (Binti Ramli, 2019). According to Zaitseva et al. (2018), research calls customer satisfaction the overall feel for their purchase. He adds that satisfaction and unhappiness are more than a reaction to the products or services. If it does not meet the client's expectations, it can generate negative feelings, eventually becoming unhappiness. Conformity /satisfaction is a precedent for faithfulness (Dick, Basu, theory of model). The businesses that are happy with their customers have a significant competitive advantage (Rastegaripour et al. 2020). He added that a good marketer would constantly develop new tactics to maximise customer loyalty or identify why the customers are unhappy.

Marketing objectives

The fundamental goal is to fulfil Tesco's objective to boost consumer service, redevelop online retail shops to boost its groceries' sales, and reduce costs. Enterprises that always strive to handle their goods make them always available to their customers and meet their customers' needs. The online grocery sales launched by Tesco is introduced, developed, matured, and eventually decreased in four phases. To achieve a long-term marketing strategy, Tescos online grocery sales need to know what products will benefit from their product life cycle, an approach chosen to be taken (Adi, 2020). Not all the grocery products would be beneficial to Tesco’s clients.

Smart objectives

SMART should be the Tesco goals (Specific, measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time bounded)

Specific: Tesco’s online grocery department wants to make profits out of this initiative

Measurable: The main aim is to increase online grocery sales by at least 5%. This is measurable.

Achievable: Additionally, the goal to increase market share and increasing the number of customers can achievable with available resources and within the given timeframe

Realistic: this marketing Objective is realistic based on facts and historical figures. Time bounded by the deadline, when it should be achieved.

Proposed target market(s) and positioning

The process of market segmentation is the understanding of various people's characteristics and demands. To launch this plan, Tesco’s grocery customer information will be collected from the developed loyalty card system online and described the way customers purchase and behaved accordingly. Based on their similarity, customers will be grouped. The company will then introduce various clubs such as the food club and Healthy Living Club. Market segments are chosen to target, and a marketing mix plan is chosen (Varadarajan, 2020). An up-to-date positioning of products and services on the market is needed to establish efficient strategic marketing. Positioning in retail marketing is an iterative and critical process. The positioning's main objective is for the company and its grocery product to establish and sustain a remarkable position on the market. Consumer positioning begins (Barkah et al., 2018). However, Tesco has a brand image and is proud of its value (Popkova et al., 2017). Clarity, coherence, competitiveness, and integrity are essential to good positioning. Repositioning takes place as consumer desires or business objectives shift. Repositioning strategies involve repositioning images, repositioning products, immaterial repositioning, and material repositioning (Basuki, 2018).

MARKET ORIENTATION

The marketing approach would be made through marketing philosophy (Zeng, & Chen, 2017). It is defined as all departments cooperating to develop, understand and respond to current and future customer needs to satisfy customers (Danaei, & Moeen, 2017). Customer orientation, competitive orientation, and inter-functional orientation form part of the business orientation.

Target Market

Companies oriented to marketing are mostly consumer-oriented. The online audience is will be the key target market. At present, 90 per cent of consumers purchase most of the goods, mainly because of COVID-19, online. Tesco's main objective is to preserve the Covid -19 protocols to regulate the disease's spread and protect the elderly. On the other side, it is concerning about the company. It is eager to pick up on the competition because they are driven by what the company offers and because they are attracted by what the company stands for (Lahtinen et al., 2020). These customers are ready to create an account in their shop to facilitate future check-outs and make the brand their first option when they make a different buy. It is also imperative to note that five important markets are available on the online market: Discount seekers, hiking customers, Impulse buyers, need-based buyers, and loyal customers.

Discount seekers

It is not difficult to understand why discount seekers are not worthwhile for the business. They browse, check various websites or stores and often base their purchasing choices around how much they can save. In the marketing plan and strategy, discount seekers would help us attain the developed goal because an enormous 67% of clients shop in this way, without any loyalty to the brands they buy. This transactional thinking is the polar opposite of another client who wants to develop an intimate relationship with the brand beyond the amount of money they spend. As a consequence, they are the least loyal form of customer and less likely to buy again.

Wondering Customers

If discount seekers are the least faithful online consumer, wonders are behind them. These consumers don't know what they want to buy but only want to buy quickly, as they enjoy the shopping experience. This leads to the most significant proportion of the traffic, but the slightest proportion of the sales revenue. In other words, it would be very costly to the firm lot to buy – unless it knows how to capture the attention. The company plans to develop a strategy that would attract these wondering customers to flock to Tesco’s online grocery shop.

Impulse buyers

Like roaming consumers, when they shop, impulse buyers do not take into account a particular product. Instead, they only buy if it looks or feels like a good idea. This mentality also obsesses impulse purchasers with the new offering. They replace an excellent product with a new one, simply because it's better updated or more trendy. This makes purchasers of impulses especially likely to shop in fast-changing industries like fashion, beauty, and technology.

Need-based shoppers

Although shoppers don't have a particular product at their disposal when they come to the store, consumers who need it are looking for something particular. As a result, the upselling is even more challenging. After doing much research on the goods they are searching for at all locations, they are the most likely type of consumer to compare products and are afraid to make an uninformed decision. That makes the relationship they have (or can build with the company) with the brand unbelievably powerful. Without deep emotional relationships with the brand, consumers in need are less likely to think the organisation can genuinely support them in resolving their problems. Without that confidence, it is implausible to buy. That is why through Tesco, the plan is to gain consumers' confidence by introducing loyalty programs and giving out gifts to new and existing clients.

Loyal customers

Although loyal customers are classified last, they are far from minor. Quite the contrary, because the driving force behind repeated shopping and the overall success and longevity of the brand are loyal customers. The plan is to use this kind of group to gain more traffic to the online grocery store. They can make up the minority of the customers but produce a large part of the revenue and recommend the brand to other people. That's because the firm wants to engage in more than just making purchases.

The proposed marketing mix

Marketing managers described the word 'Marketing Mix' as a 'mixer of ingredients. Products, preparation, pricing, packaging, branding, distribution channels, personal sales, advertisement, promotion, show, service, physical management, fact-findings, and research were included in the Boren marketing mix. The products included the latter grouped by Jerome McCarthy into four groups is known today as the marketing 4P. This marketing mix is proposed for the Tesco online grocery market (Shengnan and Nedelea, 2019). However, people are arguing in favour of adding another two p's, people and packaging, along with the Marketing Mix 4 p definition. The 4 Ps marketing combination is combined in a successful marketing plan. The aim is to achieve the business's marketing goals by offering value to its customers (Ang & Rusli, 2018). The 4 Ps of the marketing mix are linked to and combined to determine the product's role within its objectives.

Product

Prices without a product are seldom addressed, and the clients can understand the relation between the price and the product. Thabit & Raewf (2018) describes the groceries that can be sold to the customer to fulfil a need or need for attention, purchase, use, or consumption. They often describe a consumer product as the product purchased for personal use by the final consumer. According to (Thabit & Raewf, 2018), the commodity is the cornerstone of a marketing mix approach, which offers retailers to distinguish between goods and competition with a symbolic and experiential attribute. But what the commodity does for the customer often concerns it. Quality, style, features, brand name, and sizes are essential (Ансере et al., 2020). Lahtinen et al. (2020) determined that goods from private labels could deliver much higher quality at lower prices than national brands. In this situation, Tesco's foodstuffs online, the commodity expected to bring to customers, are sold. Through selective pricing adjustments, the domestic competitor responds to the increasing price rivalry. A commodity is a physical item, service, idea, person, or location that can give tangible and immaterial qualities that are considered essential, worthy, or satisfying by individuals or organisations to trade money, employers, or another unit of value for it.

Place

This is the strategic location where intended for this approach to sell this project, and in this case, the place is online. The groceries asset to be bought online and delivery to be done by a representative from the shop.

Pricing

Price refers to the value assigned by the seller, as the readiness for the good and service to be provided by the buyer to anything bought, offered for sale" (Lahtinen et al., 2020). Price is the only factor in the marketing mix that generates sales, all the other costs. It can also be used in the marked fields of marketing decision-making as an active campaign tool. Foreign pricing is more complicated than domestic pricing due to political control and extra costs (Zeng, & Chen, 2017). The price of an object influences the value of the sales. In principle, price is dictated by the fact that the value of the item on offer is what consumers interpret. Recent research has shown that demand-driven prices are linked to higher gross margins for retailers, although past market dependency has been correlated with lower gross margins (Ang & Rusli, 2018). It is planned to use many price policies, such as price guidelines on the market, pricing on costs, price conflicts, price penetration, pricing on the economy, value prices, and geological prices.

Promotion

Meaningful 'P' in marketing mix '4P' (Product, Price, Promotion, and Place). While the '4P' characterisation has led to the common usage of the word 'promotion,' most marketing professionals, as well as many educators, prefer the term 'marketing communications.' Please note that it might need to use marketing communications to collect ads, sales promotions, public relations, event marketing, etc. Promotion is seen as the promotion of sales (Ang & Rusli, 2018). Companies use marketing Communication to inform consumers about their product offers. In this respect, Marketing Communication is one aspect of the consumer communication process. The complementary aspect of the communication process is market analysis, in which providers attempt to provide customers with information on customer requirements. The manufacturer should interact with consumers, according to (Lahtinen et al., 2020), and in turn, should listen to consumer expectations and needs to improve the product and service. Tesco has proudly declared that it listens to its customers and suppliers for one of the reasons for its success. For instance, to meet their clients, focus groups, assisted stores, home visits, and several qualitative testing techniques have been introduced.

Conclusion

This article is aimed at designing and carrying out an online grocery store marketing campaign for Tesco. There are some shortcomings in the four Ps of the marketing mix in that they omit or underline critical marketing activities. For example, services are not explicitly specified but may be classified as products (service products). Other essential marketing activities (such as packaging) are not explicitly addressed but are placed within one of the four P groups. Also, the marketing mix does not give the actual picture of a consumer's behaviour. Also, with the selected marketing mix, it is impossible to consider the unique elements of a customer.

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