Tools and Consumer Retention in Retail Marketing †MyAssignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about the Tools and Consumer Retention in Retail Marketing. Answer: Introduction: The marketing mix is the combination of the various factors which in influential on the marketing activities of the firm (Armstrong et al. 2015). The marketing mix defines the putting of the right products in the right place with right price and through right promotion (Hashim and Hamzah 2014). However, the marketing mix also denotes the placement of the products for the right people with proper physical activities of the firm. The 7ps of marketing mix is the modification of the 4ps of marketing mix. The chosen company Tesco is one of the supermarket leading in the international market. one of the major competitors of the company is the Sainsbury. This section applies the 7ps of marketing mix on both the company in order to identify the difference and similarities with the both for marketing activities. The 7ps of marketing mix are: A wide range of products is offered by Tesco which includes clothing, electronics, foods, financial services and others. The numerous products of different categories are capable of meeting the needs of the customer. In addition, for identifying the needs of the customers, the company has expanded to the online marketing. In the retail stores, the company offers free music and grocery delivery service to the along with the 40,000 other products (Al Muala and Al Qurneh 2012). The consumers are given provided with the options to choose from the variety of the products which includes different brand, regions, production type, international cuisine in foods and so on. On the other hand, the Sainsbury also provides its customers with the choice of varied range of products such as the toiletries, foods, stationaries and others. the company in its retail stores offers 30,000 variety of products. Unlike Tesco, the company has categories its products in terms of premium quality, organic, Be Good to Yourself, Home Collection and many others. In terms of attracting the customers, Tesco attempts to maintain the low price of the products without the lowering the quality of the same. The company has achieved remarkable accomplishment and the competitive advantages in the international market leaving one of the oldest brand Sainsbury behind. In addition, Tesco uses strategies which allow the customers to collect points for future purchase which converts into money at the time of purchasing (Christopher and Peck 2012). Apart from this, Tesco uses price-promotional strategy for loyal customer which provide them discount. The pricing strategy of Sainsbury is based on the quality of the products. Unlike Tesco, the price of products is determined not in terms of the customer preferences, but in terms of the quality of the products. This means that the higher the quality is, the higher the price. The company uses the competitive price policy rather that the price cutting policy. The headquarter of Tesco is situated at the Chestnut, Hertfordshire, England, whereas the stores of the company are spread all over the world. The firm uses both online and offline distribution channels for its products and service. The stores of the firm are of six different kinds such as Tesco Extra, Tesco Metro, Tesco Express, Tesco Homeplus, Tesco Compact and Tesco Superstore. As all the customers are not comfortable in the supermarket, the company uses smaller stores and online forum Tesco Direct for those customers. Sainsbury has 714 convenience stores and 598 supermarkets across the world. The company offers home delivery service along with the online shopping facilities (Melis et al. 2015). Sainsbury initially managed the distribution channels by its own, but after 1970 the distribution channel is handled by DHL, NFT and others. The low price strategy of Tesco is one of the advantages which influences the promotions of the company. The company uses digital advertisements, promotional discounts offerings, charitable events sponsorship, point of sales strategies and so on for the promotions of the products as well as the brand. The promotional activities of the firm are focused on the low price and all the promotional strategies are based on the same which not only increases sales of the products but also secure the brand image in the public. On the other hand, Sainsbury is concerned with the brand image and for securing the same it uses the above the line (ATL) and below the line (BTL) promotional strategies (Bashar, 2012). The company also uses the celebrity endorsement strategies along with the digital media marketing. In addition, the company uses its CSR strategies for promotional purpose. Tesco are enriched with excellent, competent and skilled sales staffs who contribute to the success of the firm (Andreti et al. 2013). The company uses various motivational programs for the workers. On the other hand, Sainsbury is also privileged with efficient staffs. Unlike Tesco, Sainsbury uses training program for enhancing the skills of the labors. Stores of Tesco are not like Sainsbury with excellently furnished features. Tesco stores are minimal and clean whereas Sainsbury stores are attractive variedly organized. This is evident from the detail of 7ps of the marketing mix that both the company uses different marketing strategies for the marketing of its products. Tesco has remarkably achieved the leading position in the international market of retail stores, whereas Sainsbury is lacking behind despite being one of the old company in the market (Bojei et al. 2013). Both the company offer wide and varied range of products to the consumers along with the several advantages facilities. The difference is seen in the promotion and the price of the products. Tesco uses the low price strategy for its promotion while Sainsbury focuses on the quality of the products. On the other hand, the similarities are found within the two companies in terms of the process as both the organizations are emphasizing on the online marketing as well as shopping facilities. However, the overall analysis of the marketing mix of Tesco and Sainsbury makes it clear that the marketing strategies of Tesco is more effective in terms of profitability of the firm. Tesco is one of the biggest and leading supermarket in UK ad successfully running its business across the world. The marketing goals of the company is to achieve the provide the best products to the customers with the possible lowest price. In addition, the marketing objectives of the company is focused to lead the global market of supermarket within the next few years. In order to achieve the marketing goals, there is the need to prepare the marketing plan. The following section presents the marketing plan for Tesco. Apart from this, the aim of Tesco is to provide versatile product range to the customers along with the establishment of the successful combination of both online and offline business activities. Marketing Mix: The marketing mix of the 7 ps needs to be analyzed at the highest priority for the development of the marketing plan. The company already offers wide range of products to the customers. For achieving the marketing objectives, the company needs to focus on providing unique products to the customers before its competitor companies. The competitor like Sainsbury offers products of different categories according to the taste and necessity of the people. Tesco must therefore must incorporate with the demands and the needs of the consumers in order to make it easy for the consumers to choose their desired products. However, the price of the products is low as the strategic focus of the organization is to provide the best product with possible low price. Here, in the pricing strategy, the company requires to do almost nothing as it offers the best price among all the competitors to its consumers. The company needs to focus on the place as one of the marketing mix elements. The competitor company of the firm, Sainsbury has more than 1200 stores throughout the world which is a possible threat to Tesco. The company must focus on establishing more stores around the world in order to reach more global customers. Despite being an active company in online, there are many people who are unaware of the brand. Also, the people who are not technologically advance is unknown of the brad. Therefore, the company must build new stores in different places to reach most of the customers. On the other hand, the promotion of the company is basically online based and for the people who are the existing customers of the brand. The company therefore, should shift its focus to the corporate and social responsibilities (CSR), which will not only enhance the brand image but also will reach many customers. Apart from that, the company can think about the celebrity endorsement like Sainsbury as their p romotional strategy which will definitely be able to attract the attention of the customers towards Tesco. Considering the people of being one of the element of marketing mix, the company is found to have skilled and competent labors. However, the company arranges various motivational programs for the employees, but the it needs to conduct training programs for them in order to enhance and develop the efficiency of the staffs. The efficiency of the staffs will further be able to provide the best service to the customers. In terms of the process of the organization, the company is more focused on the online activities. As mentioned before, the offline and physical activities of the firm will increase the number of customers as this conventional way is ever effective for successful marketing. The last element of the marketing mix, physical evidence, one of the vital aspect of the organization that needs to be given additional priority. The stores of the company are not as attractive as that of the other competitor companies. The organization needs to maintain more organized and attractive d esign in the stores for capturing the attention of the people. The well organized and well-presented stores will attract the customers and therefore increase the firms profitability. The purpose of the action plan is to understand the global market economy for the company in the existing and new market. Having proper knowledge about the market economy enable the company to take appropriate decisions for the marketing activities as well as the business activities. For the current and existing market, the company needs to follow the present marketing strategies. However, for the obverses expansion, the company must keep the products compatible according to the demand and needs of the consumers. On the other hand, the company must analyses and gain a deep knowledge about the economic condition of the host country. The company must introduce the customers of the host country different discount strategies to attract the customers not only to the products as well as the brand. The action plan also needs to include the place. The location of the stores must be accessible for the consumers. On the other hand, the action plan should focus on the most effective and popular promotional strategies which will attract the customers both the existing as well as the overseas market customers. For evaluating the effectiveness of the marketing plan as well as the strategies, the company must measure some the performance of the same. The firm at first needs to identify the possible number of new customers of the firm as the result of the use of new marketing strategies. The demographic analysis also needs to be given priority by the company to understand the ratio of the approval and rejection level of the products by the customers after the implementation of marketing plan. Status of existing customers needs to be evaluated to measure along with the status of the employee number. On the other hand, the economical measurement of the demands and supply will enable the company to understand the effectiveness of marketing plan. In addition, the overall profitability measurement through the analysis of the market share must be taken into consideration by the company at the highest priority. References: Al Muala, A. and Al Qurneh, M., 2012. 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