Marketing Mix Strategies for Brand Expansion

Introduction

Marketing mix strategic planning is important of all the corporate firms to establish the brand by developing efficient positioning strategy as well as imporve the brand visibility in the market. Through the marketing strategic planning, it is possible for the organisations to expand their business operational activities as well as ensure future sustainable development successfully (Baker, and Saren, 2016). The marketing mix strategic planning in this regard is beneficial for the conglomerates through which it is possible to develop product strategy, pricing, placing planning, promotional strategy as well as physical evidence, distribution, partnership and people and process through which the company can establish the brand in the market (Marandu, 2015). The aim of the study is to discuss the marketing mix strategic planning strategy as well as evaluate the marketing strategies of the company Coles for expanding their business across the market in Tarneit and Victoria to gain highly competitive advantage. Through this study, it is possible to analyse the existing contemporary issues for the organisation during the recent era of globalisation so that it is easy to evaluate the organisational issues to develop effective marketing mix strategic planning as well as recommend some suitable suggestions for successful establishment of the brand on Tarneit and Victoria. The study focuses on discussing all the factors under the marketing mix strategic planning which provide a scope to the organisation Coles to establish the bard in the retail market of the country. Moreover, after analysing the marketing mix strategic planning, it is also possible to develop some recommendations so that the existing contemporary issues of the firm can be resolved well.

Organisational background

Coles Supermarket Australia Pty Ltd is a famous Australian supermarket chain which has been found in the year of 1914. The company provides all the necessities of the daily lives of the human being where it is also successful in establishing the supermarket chain for gaining high market share in the retail market as well as the become one of the best retailer in providing efficient customer service to all the consumers across the market (Coles, 2019a). The company provides the products such as groceries, foods, dairy, liquor, fresh fruits and vegetables, bakery and baby products, health related products as well as gift cards ad Coles mobile, which are quality products and effective to meet the customer’s demand in the markets Tarneit and Victoria. The company operates across over 2500 retail outlets throughout Australia where it serves a wide number of social communities with quality products and efficient services for which it is successful in satisfying the customers by delivering quality products according to the needs and preferences of the consumers. The company by Coles makes life easier for the Australians by delivering quality food which creates values for all the customers where over 21 million customers are satisfied by making effective purchase decision for the quality foods of the company Coles (Coles, 2019b).

Continue your exploration of Conflict in Relationships with our related content.

Coles supermarket are operating through more than 807 supermarket stores as well as it is successful in raising profitability and sales volume year by year. in the last year the company is successful in generating revenue of A$39.288 billion through retaining more audiences at the locality Tarneit and Victoria and serving better service and quality products according to the needs and preferences of the customers which create brand values and it is also considered as effective strategy for successful positioning of the brand in the Australian super market. the business strategy of the organisation is discussed further,

Transform food offer

Move towards everyday low price

Offer anytime anywhere shopping

Lad the right offer in the right location

Reduce costs

Win together

The company Coles is efficient to crate values for the customers by delivering high quality products and efficient services at effective price which provides a scope to the customers to make effective purchase decision for the products according to their needs and preferences at a competitive price (Coles, 2019c). This is effective strategy for creating values for the customers where they can purchase more at adequate amount of money and it further helps to improve value for money of all the customers across the Australian market. In addition to this, the company focuses at cooperation and communication where it recognises that cooperative working practice is effective for making the team members proud after achieving the organisational success. It is also useful to create Coles community where all the team members are cooperating for achieving team success collaboratively. Working in partnership and sharing values at the workplace is effective for achieving success for all the members. Moreover, the company aims at streamlining the cost base bd leverage technology for offering simplified store environment as well as modernised supply chain for securing future sustainable development. Hereby, the company is efficient to enhance their performnace day by day and satisfy all the customers in the market Tarneit and Victoria where it aims at establishing the brand in the supermarket chain and gain high market share successful for future sustainable development (Coles, 2019d).

Marketing mix strategic planning

The marketing mix strategic planning is important for all the organisations where through developing proper strategic planning of product development, pricing policy, promotional strategies, placing tactics, physical evidence, people and improving process, the organisations try to achieve success by establishing the brand in the market through improving brand visibility and increasing brand reputation in the market (Alon et al., 2016). As per the marketing mix strategic planning, there are the factors such as product, price, process, people, place, promotion, physical evidence and partnership (Heding, Knudtzen, and Bjerre, 2015).

Through understanding the strategic planning of marketing mix, it is possible to acknowledge the strategies of the company Coles in developing proper planning to meet the aims and vision of the firm to retain more customers for long run and creating values of them by delivering quality products at affordable price.

Product:

Product variety needs to be managed by all the organisation where it is possible for the firms to maintain high availability of the products and enhance product diversification to meet the needs and preferences of a huge numbers of customers where changing needs and tastes of the customers can be managed by the organisation (Noe et al., 2017). Hereby, managing product diversification as well as maintaining product line of the firm are helpful or the companies to enhance their performance and retain a wide range of consumers for different product categories. As per the product category, the company Coles provides a huge variety of products such as groceries, foods, dairy, liquor, fresh fruits and vegetables bakery and baby products, health related products as well as gift cards and Coles mobile which helps to retain the customers as the company focuses on quality of their products to meet the expectation of the customers. In this regard, the company also maintains product life cycle to enhance growth by delivering quality products fresh frusta and vegetables which enhance the healthy wellbeing of the individuals. The quality of the product needs to be maintained for establishing the brand in the supermarket chain as the customers prefers good quality at affordable price. The company Coles also focuses on different product categories such as food and beverages, baby foods, fresh fruits and vegetables as well as different services such as finance to attract a wide range of customers. Irrespective of focusing on one product category, focusing on product diversification helps the firm to diversify their risk and enhance their performance in the market. Providing fresh fruits and vegetables, managing quality of ingredients, managing the warehouse safety and security as well maintaining cold storage in the company are the success factors of Coles where it is successful to deliver quality products to the customers. The products and services are according to the needs and preferences of the customers where the company is successful to manage the product line which helps to compete with other competitive firms in the market. The freshness of the products and healthy final products are also effective to strengthen their customer base where the dairy product baby products are totally researched and stored safely.

Price:

As per the pricing strategy, it is important to provide the products at effective price so that the customers can justify the price of the products according to the quality and quantity of the products. In this regard, the organisation focuses on delivering the quality products at affordable price so that it is possible to create values for the customers (Bahadir, Bharadwaj, and Srivastava, 2015). Cost minimisation is one of business strategy of the firm Coles where it aims at minimising the cost of the operations so that it is possible or the brand to deliver the products at affordable price. Hereby, high quality products and affordable price are the major strategic planning for the organisation to strengthen their customers based in the Australian supermarket chain so that they can secure future sustainable development. Price setting policy in this regard helps the company to make money as well as enhance their profitability and also creating values for the buyers where the customers can buy extra unit of products as the price of the products are justified. The company Coles also focuses on providing discounts at supermarkets for their products such as buy one get one free and the percentage discount on some selected products and this is also effective strategy of Coles to attract more audiences and retain them for long run.

Place:

Placing the organisation in the competitive retail market is necessary where there is several strategic planning of establishing the brand at the market. It is necessary for the organisations to develop channels and intermediaries for placing the brad at locality by expanding their store, increasing numbers of locations, and creating supermarket chains across the locality (Dangelico, and Vocalelli, 2017). In order to develop proper placing strategy for the organisation, Coles focuses on strengthening their supply chain and distribution network through which it is possible for them to manage the customers and distribute the quality organisational product sustainably. In this regard, Coles also focuses on expanding their company through supermarket chain where the suppliers and the distributors are efficient to manage their customers by delivering quality products at right place within right time. Availability of the products at the stress of the company is another strategy where Coles focuses on store management practice so that all the products are available at the stores and the customers can access the products easily. Moreover, it also focuses on multi-channel such as online shopping facilities as well as supermarket chain and own authorised stores for selling their products and services. In addition to these, the company focuses at managing warehouse and cold storage at different marketplace Tarneit and Victoria across the Australian market so that it is possible to improve accessibility of the products. The use of intermediaries as well as supermarket chain as well as authorised shop of the company are the main strategic planning for placing the organisation in the market successfully.

Promotion:

Promotion refers to the act of communication and building and maintaining strong corporate relationship with all the customers in the market. In this regard, though developing effective promotional strategic planning, the organisations try to build strong relationship with trust and loyalty so that all the members of the organisation can interact with the social communities directly or indirectly through advertisement media (McDONALD, 2016). Hereby promotional strategic planning is necessary for all the business firms to promote their organisational products and services. There are several promotional tactics of the corporate firm such as social media advertisement, television advertisement, public relations, improving organisational website, word of mouth, email marketing, sponsorship and sales promotion through which the companies can promote their organisational products ta the market where the customers can access the products according to their needs and preferences. In this regard, the organisation Coles focuses on promoting the brand though sales promotion so that it is possible for the firm to attract the local audiences across Tarneit and Victoria and turn them towards the customers of long run. Sales promotion such as providing discounts at different stores and supermarket chain so that it is easy for them to attract the buyers in the markets Tarneit and Victoria. Moreover, public relation is another strategic planning of the organization Coles where they try to build strong corporate relationship with all the customers. Public relations refer to enhancing communication efforts utilised for creating and maintaining favourable relations between the organisational representatives and the stakeholders including government, customers, social communities, shareholders and the employees. The organisation Coles in this regard promote the brand through providing organisational information, logo, business strategy and vision which attract the audience in the markets Tarneit and Victoria. Publicity can be developed through providing proper information about the brand, products availability, quality of the products pricing of the products discounts and offers and other information read to social sustainability. This is the strategy through which the organisation Coles tries to create brand image and increase brand visibility in the market. On the other hand, the company also focuses on word of mouth in the locality to improve their popularity in the markets. The company aims at creating values for all the old as well as new customers in Tarneit and Victoria and they prefer word of mouth through which the audience can acknowledge the products and services available in the organisation Coles.

In addition to these, creating the logo with the tag line that is save every day is another promotional strategy, where the company tries to promote their bran with the message to the customers that the consumers can save money by making effective purchase decision. This is another important tactics of the brand through which Coles tries to share information about their pricing policy that they try to provide quality products at affordable price where the customers can save money and make effective purchase decision with extra unit of products as the price is less than other competitive firms in the market. Apart from that, digital media advertisement is another effective way for the brand to promote their products and service, however the company did not create own pages on Facebook and YouTube, but they try to promote the brand through social media advertisement by uploading the pictures, creating relevant content about the products and pricing of the products in the organisation. This is effective to attract the audience in the market and retain them for long run for making effective purchase decision. Though digital media strategy, the company Coles tries to improve engagement with the online social communities where it is considered as cost-effective ways to promote the brand as well as it provides a scope to retain a wide range of people by providing message and sharing information through online sites. Quality content variety of information with proper products availability and information about products and prices are effective strategic planning of the brand to retain the customers in the market. Through these strategic planning, Coles aims at enhancing their sales volume and generate profit volume fir future where they try to serve a wide range of customers with quality products and efficient services that meets the expectations and preferences of the customers.

People:

People plays a crucial role in conducting the business operational activities in the firm where the employees and the staff members are considered as the major stakeholders of the business who are contributing with their full potential and creativity to satisfy the customers with latest innovation. Hereby, managing the people is necessary for all the corporate firms to manage the people at the workplace to retain efficient staff members for long run and achieving organisational success (David, David, and David, 2017). It is also necessary for the organisations to create values and fulfil the needs and preferences of all the staff members so that the employees can feel valued at the workplace. In this regard, providing monetary and non-monetary rewards to the employees are important to satisfy the staff members to manage them at the workplace. The monetary rewards are such as structured salary, performance related pay, incentives and yearly bonus. On the other hand, the non-monetary rewards are such as insurance coverage, accidental compensations, harmony, safety and security of the employees, encouraging their creativity motivating the staff members and providing them freedom to work cooperatively with shared vision. In this regard, the organisation, Coles focuses on providing structured salary so that the employees can feel valued ta the workplace and it is beneficial for the leader and the managers to retain the efficient staff members for long run. Additionally, the firm tries to manage health and safety an give the freedom to work and manage the stores and supermarket chain for serving the customers in a better and unique way. The company needs to develop human resource management practice to manage diversity and retain them for long run. It is necessary for the firm to motivate the staff with monetary and nonmonetary rewards so that they can give their full potential for achieving the future organisational success.

Process:

Process innovation is necessary for the organisations to enhance their performance of the firm to support the customers and provide better services according to their needs and preferences. Under the process, the company tries to improve efficiency of the staff members and implement technology to serve the customers in a better way (McCamley, and Gilmore, 2018). Coles hires efficient salesperson for handling the online activities where the staff can handle the customer’s queries by providing answers and help them to choose the right products as per their needs and preferences. Moreover, the one clicks option is developed to provide efficient customers service where the customer can place their orders with the option. Telephonic conversation is another way to context the service person of the company where the customers can call for any queries and the staff are efficient to handle the customers in a better way.

Physical evidence:

Under physical evidence, it is necessary for all the corporate firms to manage the business with proper development of infrastructure (Banerjee, 2017). In this regard, the organisation Coles focuses at designing the stores to attract the customers and choose the locality for further expansion of the business. Developing the stores with proper infrastructure, CCTV camera, fire extinguisher and other activities at the stores and supermarket chains, it is possible on promote customers service successfully.

Partnership:

Under the partnership, the company tris to develop proper partnership with all the stakeholders including the customers, government, suppliers, distributors, employees, social communities and shareholders (West, Ford, and Ibrahim, 2015). All the stakeholders are crucial to run the business sustainable and thus it is the responsibility of the firms to develop effective partnership with proper engagement so that it can run he operational activities sustainably. In this regard, the company Coles aims at managing proper partnership with the shareholders by providing them high return on investment as well as building strong relationship for enhancing trust dn loyalty. Apart from that, Coles also focuses at improving partnership with the local government or conducting the business ethically by managing intellectual property rights, consumer protection legislation and data protection so that it can expand their business sustainably. Moreover, improve partnership with the social communities is necessary of running the business sustainably and in this regard, Coles aim to crate values for the social communities by reducing negative environmental footprint, investing on charity and social development so that it is possible for the firm to expand their business successfully by satisfying the social communities as a whole (Coles, 2019e). In addition to this, partnership with the suppliers and the distributors is also necessary from the company to improve the business operational activities where the CEO ensures that the business will be profitable and it is possible for them to provide high return on investment to the suppliers and distributors for retaining them for long run. Through the above strategic planning, the company Coles aims at developing marketing mix planning to ensure future sustainable development where he product and pricing strategy as well as the promotional tactics are contributing factors or the business to enhance their performance and improving their brand visibility in the market Tarneit and Victoria. Moreover, the strategic planning of Coles is effective to satisfy all the stakeholders here the CEO focuses in improving partnership with all the stakeholders by building strong relationship with them. In addition to the firm’s infrastructure, store expansion and supermarket chain are effective to promote the organisational quality product at the market. The process innovation and promotional tactics are also beneficial to place the brand in Tarneit and Victoria and improving its reputation which in turn helps the company to retain the local customers across the Australian market for long run. However, there are some issues such as high competition, lack of technological; advancement which need to be resolved for gaining highly competitive advantage in the market so that the company can secure future sustainable development.

Evaluating contemporary issues

There are several issues for the company Coles for which it is risky for the organisation to operate in the grocery and supermarket chain in the recent era of globalisation dn digitalisation. The major contemporary issues of the company Coles in conducting their business operational activities are evaluated further,

Uncertainty:

Uncertainty and risk affect the smooth pace of the business of the company Coles, in which it is uncertain for the organisational leaders to predict the strategic planning of the competitive firms, understanding market trend, changing needs and preferences of the customers as well as changes in business rules and regulations for which there is uncertainty which are faced by the company Coles the company cannot predict the future market trend, overall demand of the organisations as well as change preferences of the customers for which the sales volume and profitability of the company can be affected in future. In addition to this, it is not possible to predict the strategies of the competitive firms for which it becomes risky for the organisation to develop proper planning for future success. The 21st century has already seen its fair share of the political and legal uncertainty in the supermarket and retail industry where intellectual property rights, copyright issues, as well as consumer Protection Laws and Health and Safety put the industry under pressure to change the regulatory system of the business (Chernev, 2018). The problem of understanding government policy of Australia and rising concern about the Consumer Protection Law and changing regulatory system raise uncertainty of doing the business ethically by maintaining environmental and legal policies.

Lack of innovation:

Technological upgradation is advantageous for all the multinational corporate firms, however there is risk of innovation and creativity where some of the companies fail to implement the latest updated technology for doing business successfully (Sivapalan, and Jebarajakirthy, 2017). This is another contemporary issue, where there needs proper investment for the companies to implement the latest technology and due to lack of financing options, it is challenging for the company Coles to develop updated technology year by year to attract the customers across the market. Innovative organisational culture as well as enhancing creativity are necessary for doing the business strategically, however, lack of proper innovation and creativity of the business strategic planning raise problems for the company to gain high market share in the market. In the pace of technological improvement, it is challenging for the organisation Coles to develop latest innovative technology for achieving success. Developing long term technology and enhancing creativity is difficult for the company Coles to improve their innovation for retaining the customers for long run. In addition to this, technical issue is another serious problem for the organisation Coles in which technology plays as a game changer role in doing the business efficiently by enhancing innovation and creativity. In this regard, in the recent trend of the global business, it is necessary to utilise the latest technology to accelerate growth and achieve future. Automation technology is necessary for improving business operations as well as protecting customer data and improving customer engagement is necessary through the technological advancement. In the recent era of competitive edge, it is necessary for the business Coles to manage the issue of lack of technical innovation and creativity so that it can be resolved, and the firm can retain more clients for doing the business efficiently.

Poor diversity management:

Human resource management planning is important for all the organisations to enhance their performnace so that it is possible for the company to retain more efficient staff member of the organisation to achieve success in near future (Berkhout, 2015). In the recent era of globalisation and digitalisation, there are high numbers of migration of labour across the international nations and it would be effective for the organisation to manage diversity at the workplace. However, the company Coles is facing problems in such an era of globalisation to manage diversity due to differences in culture, language and beliefs of different employees across different stores and supermarket chain of the organisation. It is necessary for the organisation to manage cultural diversity by implementing proper rules and guidelines so that the CEO of the firm can manage all the employees at the workplace and lead them towards achieving success. Coles in this regard face the challenges of managing diversity for which it is difficult for the organisation to manage the workplace fir ensuring cooperative working practice in the workplace where all the members are treated equally, and the leader can create values for all the employees.

Inefficiency in managing corporate social responsibility:

It is challenging for all the corporate firms in the recent era fog globalisation to manage the corporate social responsibility by managing ethical practice and rules and legislations of doing business. It is necessary for all the firms to manage their corporate social responsibility for securing future sustainable development (Bhaskar, and Harshitha, 2017). In this regard, it is problematic for the organisation Coles to manage corporate social responsibility, the problem of using plastic bags is one of the serious issues which raise environmental pollution, soil pollution which needs to be resolved. It is necessary for the organisation to manage the issue of using plastic bags for food delivery as it creates pollution and deteriorate the positive environmental footprint for the firm. In addition to this, high energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission is another issue for the organisation which needs to be resolved sob that it can develop appropriate strategic planning for doing the business ethically.

Poor supply chain management:

Managing supply chain is one of serious issues for the organisation in which the firm Coles face issues to develop green supply chain in doing the business ethically. The firm Coles face the issue of high emission of greenhouse gas during the use of vehicles for delivering the food items, managing the warehouse and raw materials at the cold storage. Hereby, it is a serious issue where high use of vehicles creates air pollution in the social communities and it deteriorates the positive environmental footprint. It is challenging for the organisation to conduct the operational activities of the firm ethically and develop the green supply chain where the suppliers and the distributors are also facing challenges in doing their operations in delivering the quality products of the firm to the customers as well as managing warehouse and cold storage. In addition to these, managing the raw materials for the firm Coles is another challenging factor where due to fluctuations of the market demand raise the risk of purchasing of the quality products and in this regard the suppliers and distributors face difficulties to maintain the quality of products and manage the warehouse and cold storage.

Lack of strategic thinking and problem solving:

Lack of efficiency of the strategic thinking and problem-solving raise concern for the business to achieve success (Weinstein, 2016; Baviera-Puig, Buitrago-Vera, and Escriba-Perez, 2016). In this regard, the organisation Coles face the problem of developing proper decision due to lack of problem-solving skill and decision-making skill. It is important for the business to develop proper strategic planning after analysing the problems of the workplace and develop suitable organisational culture of future. Lack of efficiency of the employees, internal conflicts and lack of proper empowerment of the staff members in the organisational decision-making practice are the main issues for the organisation Coles to secure future sustainable development.

Poor marketing strategic planning:

Lack of marketing mixes strategic planning raise issue for the organisation where the CEO of the company face the issue of poor marketing tactics to retain the customers across the market. It is necessary for the organisation to develop effective marketing strategic planning for future success (Piercy, 2016). However, the organisation Coles face the issue of lack of efficiency in building suitable marketing mix strategic planning to achieve future success. In the recent era of innovation and creative business, it is necessary to retain the customers through developing proper marketing mix strategy, however due to lack of financing, poor marketing mix strategy and lack of efficiency of marketing representative, the organisation Coles face difficulties to manage their brand positioning and develop proper marketing mix strategic planning for future success.

Organic food trend:

Increasing demand of organic food and changes needs and preferences of the organisation are another risk factor for which the organisation face difficulties to predict the future market trend for the food products, the organisation Coles also face problems to develop proper strategy for meeting he organic food demand in the market. In the recent years the customers prefer organic food as they become more health conscious and it is not predictable for the organisation Coles to assess the market trend due to changing needs and preferences of the customers. The customers recently become health conscious and they prefer healthy food rather than junk foods and it further increases the sales volume for organic foods side by side of the junk foods.

Inefficiency in managing human resource:

Managing human resource is another challenge for all the companies where it is difficult to manage all the employees and create values for all of them. The organisation Coles face difficulties in maintaining harmony among the employees across different stores and supermarket chains, due to lack of human resource management strategic planning. It further arises problems for the firm where it fails to create values for the employees, and it deteriorates the number of efficient employees of the firm due to high employee turnover rate in the workplace. The firm needs to focus on managing the employees as they are the major stakeholders of the business it makes it successful by delivering quality products and efficient services to the customers.

Shifting towards online shopping:

Shifting towards online shopping is one of the big challenges for the organisations where in the recent era of digitalisation, all the customers prefer online shopping which enhances the growth in e-commerce business. The customers are preferring to make effective purchase decision through online sites and company’s website through which it can easily place their orders across Tarneit and Victoria and get the quality product ta home. The number of online shoppers is also increasing year to year at a rapid rate and it is problematic for the firm Coles to manage the online service management. Apart from managing the stores and supermarket chain in the market, the company face problems in managing the online shopping and it is necessary for the company to enhance their performance through online business for strengthening their customers base which is effective to secure future sustainable development.

Recommendations for enhancing brand performnace

After analysing the marketing mix strategic planning, it is necessary to develop effective recommendations for the organisation so that it can resolve the above-mentioned organisational issues and challenges. Through proper suggested recommendations, it is easy for the organisation Coles to develop effective marketing mix strategic planning to establish the brand in the market and gain high market share in the Australian supermarket retail industry. Marketing mix strategic planning in this regard is effective to increase brand visibility in the market as well as manage the internal organisational operations such as supply chain management, managing workforce and improving organisational culture. Hereby, it is necessary to recommend some suitable suggestions for the organisation Coles to manage their organisational operational activities as well as resolve the above-mentioned contemporary issues for achieving future success.

Improving product line:

Increasing the product line of the organisation is necessary through which it can serve quality products and efficient services to all the customers across the market. Design of the products with proper labelling of Coles is also important where the brand needs to improve the packaging style and design of the labelling to attract the customers. Moreover, the company just focus on content on the product for managing the product line by including the advantages of the product, quantity, ingredients of the products as well as how much the customers can save by purchasing the products. The information must be included by the organisation to attract the clients and develop product line. In this regard, the company also needs to focus more variety on final food rather than fresh fruits and vegetables, innovative food items need to incorporate such as diet beverages, ready to cook foods for attracting more audiences in the market. Hereby, the company needs to focus on product variety, labelling and presentation and the packaging of the product to attract the customers for their quality products.

Human resource management for managing people:

Managing the human resource of the organisation provides a scope to all the multinational corporate firms to develop strong corporate relations with the employees and retain them for achieving the organisational success. It is necessary for the firm Coles to achieve success through manging human resources where the employees are the major stakeholders of the firm in providing best possible services to the customers. In this regard, the company needs to create values for the staff members by providing he monetary and non-monetary rewards. In this regard, managing harmony, providing freedom to work at the stores and flexibility to work are effective to encourage the staff to work positively. Positive environment, with collaboration and shared vision as well as enhancing communication and positive attitude of the leaders and the managers are also important strategy through which the firm Coles can manage their staff member and retain them. Apart from that, the company Coles needs to build strong relationship with all the staff and motivate them by providing performance related pay, yearly bonus and compensation for meeting their financial needs. In addition to these, it is necessary for the company to manage health and safety of the workers by implementing Health and Safety at Work 2010 as well as providing insurance and compensation for accidental incident at t workplace, this is effective to build trust and loyalty among the staff and through this strategy, the company can retain the efficient staff for login to achieve success.

Managing diversity:

Managing diversity is one of the important aspects in such era of globalisation where the firms can manage their organisational workplace and resolve the issue of internal conflict and resistance to change. The organisation Coles also needs to focus on managing diversity by arranging effective cultural diversity program so that the employees can interact with each other and understand their values and beliefs. Proper interaction and managing transparency and accountability need to be maintained by the organisation for managing diversity at the workplace. Implementing Equality Act 2010 and Non-discriminatory guidelines in the workplace will also be effective for the company Coles to develop suitable organisational culture through managing diversity.

Technological advancement for proper placement and process innovation:

Technological advancement is necessary for the firm to achieve future success and in this regard, it is important for the organisation to implement latest updated technology for enhancing innovative and creativity. Coles needs to implement Information and Communication Technology (ICT) at the supermarket chain where the employees and the manager of the stores can enhance the internal and external communication. In addition to these, implementing GPS system for tracking the demand of the customers as well as understand the market trend is necessary apart from that, the company needs to focus on Enterprise Resource Planning to improve warehouse management and maintain smooth operational activities to distribute the products efficiency as per the needs and preferences of the customers.

Promotional strategic planning:

Promotional strategy needs to be developed for creating effective marketing mix strategic planning so that the firm can establish the brand in the market as well as increase brand visibility for attracting more local people for long run. In this regard, for promoting the brand, it is necessary for the organisation Coles to advertising through television and social media. The television advertisement is effective for sharing information, products availability and pricing policies among the people which attract the audiences to make effective purchase decision. Additionally, the social media marketing strategy is important from the organisation where the organisation should focus on creating Facebook pages uploading posits as well as creating YouTube channel for increasing awareness and popularity at the supermarket industry. In this regard daily posits on Facebook Page as well as inviting the friends and old customers will help the firm to strengthen their customer’s base. Short video about the product variety, discounts and offers would also be effective strategy for the organisation Coles to retain the audiences for making effective decision from their quality products and efficient services. In the recent era of globalisation and digitalisation, all the customers try to be updated with latest news through online media and thus it would be beneficial for Coles to improve social media marketing through creating own company pages to retain the customers and enhance online communication as social media plays a crucial role to improve two way communication. Moreover, it is necessary to send personalise email to retain old as well as new customers for future and it is considered as one of the important strategic planning for promoting the brand by creating trust and loyalty among the customers. Creating posters and leaflets for the local people and distributing them among the shops, pedestrians and homes will also be effective for Coles to improve their marketing mix strategy to promote the organisational products and increase brand visibility in the market. Celebrity endorsement is another important strategic planning for promoting the company where the organisation Coles needs to promote their products with celebrity endorsement where the celebrity promotes the product through television and social media. This is effective to retain the customer who prefer the celebrity as well as others also where they can understand the values of the products. Presentation of the products need to be clear with proper information where it is possible to share proper information about the products and services provided by Coles, pricing policy and advantages of the products. This strengthens the brand positioning in the markets Tarneit and Victoria where the promotional strategic planning would provide a scope to Coles to enhance their communication with the stakeholders and promote the organisational products at effective market to gain highly competitive advantages. In addition to these, Coles needs to utilise Instagram for promoting the organisational products by uploading latest pictures and clipart about their availability for the products which is effective to retain the customers for their quality products, these are the effective strategic planning to improve engagement with the social communities and strengthen their customers base.

Improving customer safety and security for enhancing process innovation:

Protecting safety and security of the customers is necessary to build strong corporate relationship with Trust and loyalty. In this regard Coles ned to protect customer’s data and personal information such as banking account details and others of safety and security of the customers and this helps to develop trust and loyalty and customers. The company Coles must implement Customer Protection Law as well as create protected keyboard for providing One Time Password to make the payment. The payment details of the customers as requires to be protected. Apart from that, it is necessary to develop refund option so that the company refund the amount directly to the customer’s account if the product is returned for any issues or customer’s changing preferences. Implementing General Data Protection Restriction guidelines for protecting the customers data of the customers through cloud computing system.

Pricing policy:

Pricing policy of the products of the organisation Coles need to be changed and, in this regard, penetrating pricing is one of the effective pricing strategies for the company to retain a large number of customers in the markets. Under the penetration pricing, it is possible for the organisation to set low price for the quality products to reach wide number of the market rapidly and initiate word of mouth. This is effective for the organisation Coles, where the company needs to set lower price for their quality products so that it can attract the audiences and retain more customers for long run. Setting lower price is effective where the company needs to focus on minimising the cost of the operations so that it is profitable for the firm to deliver their products at lower price as compared to the other competitive firms operating in the supermarket chain of Australia. Through the priding policy, it is also possible for the organisation to retain the customers across the market and create values for them which is the aim of the company where the tag line of the fir is save every day. Under the pricing policy, the company needs to provide offer to the customer seasonally or occasionally to attract them for long run. Additionally, it is necessary to promote the brand by providing incentive to the customers where providing pricing offers and discounts to the customers who download the application for their first orders.

Improving process through innovation:

Process innovation needs to be enhanced where the company Codes need to focus on improving the process of the organisation to manage the customers. In this regard for digitalising the business successfully, the sales representatives of the for need to provide 24*7 service through company website and mobile application. In the recent trend, the customers prefer online communication for resolving their doubts and in this regard the company must hire efficient salesperson for meeting the customer’s requirements and supporting the customers with proper decision. Additionally, the managers need to improve the process of he stores and supermarket chain for better performance and managing the customers so that it is possible to retain the long run customers for the organisational products and services. Product availability needs to be maintained and apart from that the behaviour of the salesperson needs to be cooperative and polite to manage customer’s queries and help them to identify the right products as per the needs and preferences of the consumers.

Improving online shopping facilities:

In the recent era of digitalisation, the trend of the customer’s purchase is towards online shopping activities where most of the buyers across the market prefer e-commerce business for making effective purchase decision. In this regard, it is effective for the firm Coles to focus on online business and invest more in developing the online business activities for enhancing their performnace in the e-commerce industry. In this regard, the company needs to focus on developing the company website where the customers can search their products availability and pricing of the products according to the needs and preferences of the customers. Here, the company must focus on developing effective content with simple language and in a concise manner so that the customers can understand the information on the website of the firm. One clicks option needs to introduce where the customers can place their orders after searching the options. Proper pricing information offers and saving the money by making effective purchase decision from Coles website also need to be included on the web page of the firm. Additionally, the company Coles needs to develop online mobile application for easy order placement where the customers can operate the apps on their smartphones and place their orders efficiently. Effective content, pictures of the products available in the organisation, pricing offer, seasonal offers need to be shown on the mobile application where the customers can operate it easily with the one click option and make easy payment.

Creating green supply chain:

Improving green supply chain is necessary for the company Coles to improve tehri marketing mix strategic planning where the firm needs to focus on retaining efficient suppliers and distributors who can manage the customer’s demand as well as maintain the warehouse and cod storage. In this regard, to make the green supply chia, the company must focus on using electric cars for distributing the final product to the customer as well as managing stocks at different stores of the firm. Using electric cars for distribution of the organisational products will provide a scope to the organisation Coles to reduce the emission of the greenhouse gas and enhance their performance in managing sustainability. Moreover, providing high return on investment to the suppliers and distributors and managing health and safety are useful top caret values for them and it contributes in developing green supply chain of the company.

Managing environmental sustainability for improving partnership:

Enviroentnal sustainable needs to be managed by the firm to improve effective market strategy and provide positive brand image in the social communities to retain the audiences for making effective purchase decision. In this regard the issue of using plastic bags needs to be resolved and in this regard the company Coles need to mitigate the use of plastic bags and start using the paper bags for packaging for managing environmental sustainability. Apart from tat, using renewable resources need to be developed and the company Coles needs to implement solar panels at the roof top of the stores and supermarkets to use their electricity, this would be an effective initiative for utilising renewable resources and mitigate the waste of electricity. Additionally, the organisation Coles need to manage wastage by transferring it to the landfills as well as the company needs to manage the wastage of foods. In this regard the company needs to develop refrigerator with the help of the local government and charity homes at the locality to store the extra food where the needy people and children can take the food for their consumption, this would also be another effective initiative to create value for the social communities and it provides a scope to the organisation to enhance their performance and securing future sustainable development.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that the organisation Coles is efficient to manage their brand position in the super market in Australia and the company is also efficient in generating high profit volume and raising revenue year by year through strengthening their customer’s base by delivering quality organisational products and efficient services that meet the customer’s needs and preferences and expectations for the consumers. The company faces several issues in doing business in such an era of high competitive super market chain such as uncertainty, lack of innovation:, poor diversity management, inefficiency in managing corporate social responsibility, poor supply chain management, lack of strategic thinking and problem solving, poor marketing strategic planning, organic food trend, inefficiency in managing human resource and shifting towards online shopping which raise issues to gain highly competitive advantage in the super market industry across the Tarneit and Victoria, Australia. The company strength including financial stability and infrastructure as well as efficient human resource can develop effective strategy for resolving the issues and strengthen their position in the market through creating efficient marketing mix and strategic planning. The recommendations in this regard are such as improving product line, human resource management, managing diversity, technological advancement, promotional strategic planning, improving customer safety and security, pricing policy, improving process through innovation, improving online shopping facilities, improving green supply chain and managing environmental sustainability through which the organisation Coles can gain highly competitive advantage and strengthen the customers base for securing future sustainable development.

Reference List

Alon, I., Jaffe, E., Prange, C. and Vianelli, D., 2016. Global marketing: contemporary theory, practice, and cases. London: Routledge.

Bahadir, S.C., Bharadwaj, S.G. and Srivastava, R.K., 2015. Marketing mix and brand sales in global markets: Examining the contingent role of country-market characteristics. Journal of International Business Studies, 46(5), pp.596-619.

Baker, M.J. and Saren, M., 2016. Marketing theory: a student text. London: Sage.

Banerjee, S.B., 2017. Corporate environmentalism and the greening of strategic marketing: Implications for marketing theory and practice. In Greener Marketing (pp. 16-40). Routledge.

Baviera-Puig, A., Buitrago-Vera, J. and Escriba-Perez, C., 2016. Geomarketing models in supermarket location strategies. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 17(6), pp.1205-1221.

Bhaskar, K. and Harshitha, N., 2017. Retail Marketing in India: Challenges, Strategies and Opportunities. In National Conference on Marketing and Sustainable Development October (Vol. 13, p. 14).

Birkin, M., Clarke, G. and Clarke, M., 2017. Retail location planning in an era of multi-channel growth. London: Routledge.

Dangelico, R.M. and Vocalelli, D., 2017. “Green Marketing”: an analysis of definitions, strategy steps, and tools through a systematic review of the literature. Journal of Cleaner production, 165, pp.1263-1279.

David, M.E., David, F.R. and David, F.R., 2017. The quantitative strategic planning matrix: a new marketing tool. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 25(4), pp.342-352.

Heding, T., Knudtzen, C.F. and Bjerre, M., 2015. Brand management: Research, theory and practice. London: Routledge.

Marandu, E.E., 2015. Strategy factors associated with the export performance of manufacturing firms. In Proceedings of the 2010 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 7-11). Springer, Cham.

McCamley, C. and Gilmore, A., 2018. Strategic marketing planning for heritage tourism: a conceptual model and empirical findings from two emerging heritage regions. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 26(2), pp.156-173.

McDONALD, M.A.L.C.O.L.M., 2016. Strategic marketing planning: theory and practice. In The marketing book (pp. 108-142). London: Routledge.

Noe, R.A., Hollenbeck, J.R., Gerhart, B. and Wright, P.M., 2017. Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

Weinstein, A., 2016. Superior customer value: Strategies for winning and retaining customers. Berlin: CRC Press.

West, D.C., Ford, J. and Ibrahim, E., 2015. Strategic marketing: creating competitive advantage. Oxford University Press, USA.