Aldi vs Walmart: Marketing Strategies

1. Introduction

Marketing strategic planning is one of the main tactics of all the businesses to establish their brands in the international market and gain highly competitive advantage over other competitive firms (Baker, 2014; Kumar and Reinartz, 2018). Through the marketing mix strategic planning, the organisations can develop effective planning to promote the organisational products and services at international level where more customers can be retained through improving brand visibility (Armstrong et al., 2015; Menon et al., 2015). The aim of the report is to analyse the marketing mix strategic planning of Aldi which is a famous retail supermarket in the UK. Comparing the marketing mix strategy of Aldi with the marketing tactics of Walmart can also be possible in this study which further provides a cope to develop appropriate marketing planning for the organisation Aldi so that they can establish their business at effective retail sector. Through this study, it is hereby easy to compare the marketing mix strategic planning of Aldi ad Walmart and propose a marketing mix planning for Aldi so that they can run their business activities successfully and gain highly competitive advantage over other competitive retail firms in the market like Walmart, Lidl, and Tesco. For those needing additional support, seeking marketing dissertation help can provide further insights into effective strategies.

Aldi is a German based discount supermarket chain which is efficient in serving the customers over 10366 locations and the products of the company includes food and beverages, sanitary and household goods which are the quality products to attract the customers in long run (Aldi, 2018).

2. Roles and responsibilities of the marketing manager

The marketing manager plays a crucial role in the organisations to analyse the market environment and develop an effective marketing planning for establishing the business at the international level (Morgan et al., 2018). The marketing manager of Aldi is also responsible for analysing the existing competitive environment and business circumstances to develop effective marketing mix strategic planning for promoting the products of the company Aldi. Hereby, it is the responsibility of the marketing manager to establish the brand and improve bran visibility in the retail market of the UK where Aldi can run their business operational activities successfully. in addition to these, the marketing manager of Aldi is also responsible for promoting the organisational products in the retail market of the UK. Moreover, the organisation can maximise their profitability and achieve success in near future through developing effective marketing planning where product and pricing strategy are helpful to retain more long run customers in the market (Kacker et al., 2016). Strengthening the customer’s base for the organisational products and services is also the role of the marketing manager of Aldi where the manager is responsible for promoting the products and attract more audiences in the market.

Through strengthening the customer’s base, Aldi can sustain in the competition and gain highly competitive advantage over other competitive firms in the market. the marketing manager of Aldi therefore plays a significant role in the company to establish the business and meet the organisational goal of gaining competitive advantage and high market share through sustainable development. The marketing manager of Aldi is also responsible to develop an effective marketing planning through innovation and creativity so that the customer service planning can be improved where the organisation can serve the customers in a better way. Creative thinking skill and efficiency of the marketing manager of Aldi is important for achieving success for the company where the marketing manager focuses at satisfying the customer by delivering quality products and service at affordable price as the company is a discounted super market chain where the customers expect quality products at lower price compared to market price of the products.

3. Significance of interrelationship between marketing and functional unit

The marketing management practice has significant impacts on the functional department of the company where the operational activities of different departments are changing as per the marketing planning and in this case, the marketing management process of Aldi also affects the functions of the company. The marketing manager focuses on improving the quality of customer service for which the information technological function as well as the working practice of the front-line managers will be changing as per the organisational goal where the staff members try to improve their efficiency and utilise the updated technology for future to serve the customers more uniquely (Babin and Zikmund, 2015). The marketing tactics are interconnected with the functions of the organisation where the marketing managers change the operational activities of the companies in order to achieve the objective of the firm.

For example, the marketing manager focuses at providing efficient customer service for which it is necessary for Aldi to hire efficient front-line staff who can handle the customer’s queries as well as resolve their issues by providing effective solutions. in this regard, the company also needs to update the information technology as well as provide 24*7 services to the customers so that the consumers can access the representative of the organisation anytime as per their preferences. Additionally, the marketing strategic planning has direct impacts on the functional activities of the firm where the managers and the leaders of the firm focus on improving functional activities through innovation and technological advancement to establish the brand and promote the organisational products in the market (Öztamur and Karakadılar, 2014). For example, if Aldi focuses on sales promotion, it should increase the online activities to build strong relationship with the customers in the market and in this regard the managers need to hire efficient staff who can handle the online comments, develop social media content as well as manage the customers through social media and online websites. hereby, the marketing strategic planning has crucial impacts on the functional department of the firm where there are significant changes in the operational activities in the finance, marketing, human resource and production department.

4. Comparing the ways of using marketing mix

7P marketing mix strategic planning is important for the firms where the elements of price, products, promotion, place, physical evidence, people and process provide an opportunity to the firms to establish the business in the market by promoting the organisational products. in this regard, through comparing the 7P marketing strategic planning of Walmart and Aldi, it is posisbel to evaluate the ways the companies utilise marketing mix practice for promoting their business in the international retail market.

Product:

Both the companies, Walmart and Aldi are operating in the retail industry where the firms are successful in providing quality products and services to the customers where the main products are such as groceries, hardware, furniture, appliances, health and beauty and entertainment products. Both the firms focus on quality of the products to strengthen their customer’s base where they can attract more audiences in the market. Walmart mainly focuses on quality and rather than low pricing strategy where the company delivers high quality products to the customers in order to meet the expectations of the customers. On the other hand, in order to get customer’s attention, the organisation Aldi focuses on packaging and displaying the products differently as compared to its competitors which further helps the brand to deliver the products safely to the customers within effective time.

Price:

Price is another important factor under marketing mix where the organisations try to competitive price that can represent the products where the customer can afford the products in the market (Strauss and Frost, 2016). The organisation Walmart focuses on competitive pricing to enjoy the benefits of economies of scale so that the firm will be beneficial to sale a bulk number of products and gain profitability. The term of Walmart ‘Always Low price’ and ‘Everyday low price’ are also effective to attract the customers in future. On the other hand, the organisation Aldi mainly aims at hiring lowest price to gain the market share in the retail industry of the UK. The pricing strategy of the organisation is different as compared of the pricing strategy of Walmart where the price of the products of Aldi is much lower as compared to the product pricing of Walmart. Additionally, price penetration is the pricing strategy of Aldi where the organisation hires lowest price to enhance their market share from the competitors like Walmart. Psychological pricing is also the strategy of Aldi where the pricing of the products can attract the customers and the organisation is successful in retaining more customers for their lower price of the organisational products.

Promotion:

Promotion is another tactic to promote the brand and establish the brand value in the market by improving brand visibility in the retail market in the UK. Both the firms Walmart and Aldi focus on promotional activities to meet the aim of promoting the organisational products where it is easy to increase brand visibility in the market. Walmart mainly focuses on online activities to promote their products across the retail industry where it is possible for the customers to visit the available products of the company and make effective purchase decision. advertisement on television, bill boards, social media and also e-commerce platform is also effective strategic planning of Walmart to promote the products in the market. Reliable warranties and replacement policies of the company further help Walmart to attract the customers and influence the consumers to make effective purchase decision. On the other hand, Aldi focuses on sales promotion and public relations for promoting the organisational products in the market. through expansion of the retail stores, the company tries to build strong relationship with the customers. The organisation Aldi states that commitment towards the stakeholders of the company is important where the organisation focuses on creating values for all the stakeholders including customers, social communities, employees, suppliers, government and distributors. This further helps the company to build strong relationship with the public which in turn helps the brand to promote the business in the retail industry across the UK.

Place:

Place is another significant factor to establish the business and, in this regard, both the firm Walmart and Aldi focus on place so that the business can be established successfully though warehouse and inventory management. Walmart has more than 10020 retail units across 28 countries and it focuses mainly on e-commerce platform for distributing the organisational products. Walmart discount stores, super centres, neighbour markets and Walmart express stores are important places through which the company operates their operational activities across the retail industry. Advanced Information Technology and well-planned network and distribution channel re also effective through which Walmart distribute and place the products at right time. the distribution channel of the company is strong, and the suppliers and distributors are cooperative where the company is successful in create values for them and retaining them for long run. On the other hand, Aldi focuses on the warehouse management to keep the products safe so that they can deliver the products to the customers safely. managing the retail stores of Aldi as well as retaining efficient suppliers are the strategy of Aldi to place the products at right market within effective time.

Process:

process is another effective factor through which the organisation can serve the customers in a better way and in this regard, the process of Walmart is advanced where the efficient front-line staff focuses on serving the customers uniquely by providing them 24*7 service. resolving the queries of the customers and serving better service as per the requirements of the customers by utilising Information and Communication Technology and company’s website are beneficial for the company to improve brand reputation and retain more customers for long run. On the other hand, Aldi also focuses on improving process so that the customers will be satisfied with the service provided by the company.

People:

Managing people in the organisation is also important for successful marketing where Walmart is successful in managing people in the workplace through providing performance related pay, incentives and rewards, managing transparency and accountability at the workplace as well as treating all the employees fairly. On the other hand, Aldi also tries to improve employee’s engagement through communication and creating values for them.

Physical evidence:

Physical evidence is also another important factor and both the firms Walmart and Aldi focus on improving physical evidence to create positive impression among the customers.

Hereby, both the firms focus on creating effective marketing mix strategic planning, but the marketing tactics of Walmart is much more prominent and effective as compared to the marketing practice of Aldi to retain loyal customers and establish the business at international level through improving brand visibility and presence in the retail industry.

5. Developing marketing plan for Aldi

It is important to develop an effective marketing mix planning so that the organisation Aldi can promote the brand at international retail market by strengthening their customers service and improving brand reputation.

Product:

Product is important for Aldi to promote brand reputation in the market and in this regard, the company should focus on developing quality product that will match the expectations of the customers. Unique design and using the organic raw material are helpful for the company to create reputation and sustain in the retail industry by maintaining corporate social responsibility. Moreover, using updated technology for producing the products is also effective for the company to establish the business at international retail market. additionally, the company must focus on packaging style of the products and in this regard, it should transfer the paper packaging strategy rather than plastic packaging so that corporate social responsibility of the company can be managed.

Price:

for pricing strategy, the company must focus on price penetration to set lower price for their quality products so that it can attract more audiences in the market. In addition to these, value-based approach should be adopted by the company Aldi where the company must focus on creating values for the customers by delivering high quality products to them at lower price compared to other competitive firms in the retail industry like Walmart. Additionally, cost leadership strategy is helpful where the leaders focus on minimising the cost of producing the organisational products so that it is posisbel to maintain profitability though the company set lower price for their products.

Promotion:

For promoting the products, Aldi need to focus on online advertisement through social media as well as sending personalise email to the customers so that he consumers can identify new innovative products of the organisation. moreover, social campaign and developing company’s website are also effective tactics to handle the customers ad improve visibility of the company in the retail market. In addition to these, increasing activities in the e-commerce platform and serving the customers innovatively are also effective or promoting the brand in the market. developing suitable content in the social media is also beneficial where the customers can identify the organisational products successfully.

Place:

Placing is also important where Aldi needs to mange warehouse by implementing updated technology like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) as well as GPRS system to track the orders as well as manage the distributors and suppliers. This strategy will be helpful for the company Aldi to manage the placing of the organisational products safely. Hiring efficient staff for managing online orders and multi-channel retail activities are also beneficial for the company to handle placing the orders successfully.

Process:

Process is also another important factor under marketing mix and in this regard, Aldi need to invest in technology for improving internal process. Aldi aims at serving the customers uniquely so that it is possible to create values for the customers and in this regard, the company needs to invest in Information Technology as well as Information and Communication Technology for managing the customers by enhancing internal and external communication.

People:

People is one of the crucial factors for maximising the organisational objective where the employees and internal staff members of Aldi are the success factors to run the operational activities and, in this context, Aldi needs to maximise the values for the employees. Through providing performance related pay and incentives as well as rewards to the employees, the company can encourage their creativity and enhance their performance in long run. this is an effective tactics to increase the interest of the employees. Additionally, the company needs to develop suitable organisational culture through managing transparency and accountability as well as high communication so that all the employees can work as team and meet the common team objective.

Physical evidence:

In order to develop physical evidence, the company needs to focus on retail stores where the customers can choose the products as per their needs and preferences as well as the floor must be neat and clean. Technological infrastructure needs to be suitable for serving the customers in long run.

These marketing mix strategic planning for Aldi will be suitable and prominent for the firm to establish the business at effective international retail market. these above-mentioned planning are also beneficial for the company to meet the aims and objective of maximising customer’s satisfaction and improving brand reputation in the market.

6. Conclusion

it can be concluded that, marketing mix strategic planning is one of the key success indicators for Aldi to achieve success in near future through promoting the organisational products successfully. Comparing the marketing mxi strategy of Aldi with Walmart helps to identify that Walmart is much more efficient to utilise the marketing mix tactics to promote their business in the international retail market and it will be beneficial for Aldi to utilise marketing planning so that it is posisbel for the brand to improve brand visibility and strengthen their customer’s base in long run. In this regard, quality products and lower price as well as social media advertisement are the major tactics under marketing mix to promote the products and create brand reputation. Additionally, managing the people in the workplace by developing proper organisational culture and encouraging them through providing performance related pay as well as high investment on Information Technology are beneficial to improve distribution of the organisational products and manage the customer service which will provide a scope to satisfy the customers and secure future sustainable development of the brand in the retail industry.

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