Strategic Marketing

Marketing Strategy Implementation 1

Nikema Foster-Carrero

Professor Sally Walters

MKT475 Strategic Marketing

July 29, 2018

Retail chain store marketing strategy

Cravens and Piercy (2015) acknowledge that a sound strategic marketing practice by any organization provides a critical step towards realizing an efficient market targeting tactics. Therefore, in the case for this assignment a fictitious departmental retail chain store will be used in addressing the assignment questions and rendering the firm competitive in the market. The fictitious departmental retail chain stores in question handle both lower end and high-end commodities but mainly focus on serving lower end niches. With the store has several branches in the North, South, and in East Coast then the thesis will respond to how the CMO of the retail chain sector will accomplish marketing strategy of the high-end commodities, and further establish a clear product boundary for the two commodities on sale, as well as achieve a clear segmentation for the high end and lower end products. Likewise, the CMO must also strategize on enhancing consumer, and come up with a strategy for gathering potential/ future customer information.

Question 1: Marketing driven strategy

Cravens and Piercy (2015) define marketing driven strategy as involving the steps of planning for the allocation of enterprise resources in realizing objectives in a dynamic market environment. The strategy is effective as it allows the CMO to achieve a superior understanding of the business and the sector it operates, as well as the client information. Therefore, it is effective for relationship building. However, towards shifting the firms marketing driven tactics of promoting the sales for the high-end products then it is prudent for the CMO to achieve marketing orientation through promotion and capitalize on selling strategies to grow consumer value and esteem, as well as empower the firm to excel (Levy et al., 2014). This is because, despite consumers’ preference for low-end commodities over price advantages, they also yarn for increased value and quality in every offering. Considering the budget strains consumer typically face in every spending situation, then the opportunity cost will be forgone in any type of expenditure achieved (Baker, 2014). Upholding selling, and promotional methods are vital in ensuring that the firm negotiates better terms with their suppliers, as well as minimize production cost and offer competitive/ segmented prizes for their commodity in the market. Besides, the implementation of such strategies will shift the general consumer perception about high-end products to trendy products relished and affordable by all (Levy et al., 2014).

Question 2: Product-Market Boundaries

Rendering from studies by Armstrong and his colleagues (2015), the product-market boundary is primarily deployed by CMOs in enhancing enterprise marketing tactics, responding to competition, and developing an appealing business portfolio. Hence, for the CMO to establish an efficient product-market boundary he/ she must first sort for the specific needs a product portfolio will seek to satisfy in the market (Levy et al., 2014). Establishing product-market boundary is beneficial for the CMO to study the industry trends and determine the most selling portfolio for the business. The CMO will also have to sort the market in which its product will sell. The classification/ sorting are essential in familiarizing consumer with an enterprise portfolio and further prompting demand (Armstrong et al., 2015). Agreeing with Baker (2014), towards realizing market-product boundary it is prerequisite that the right kind of leadership is achieved to counter the severe changes an enterprise faces in the market. Hence, an ideal s strategy to achieve such classification/ sorting is by undertaking a survey within the enterprise departments.

Question 3: Marketing segmentation strategy

The segmentation process in marketing refers to the division of the market into a subset of targets; consumers, countries, or businesses and better servicing their common need (Armstrong et al., 2015). A common characteristic of segmentation is that it seeks to serve homogenous markets comprising of individual consumers, organizations, etc. In the case of the thesis the ideal target consumer from the proposed market strategy will comprise of enterprise loyal customers, budget-conscious consumers, along with value and quality-oriented brand consumers (Baker, 2014). Therefore, the importance of achieving market segmentation by CMO is to familiarize with some of the features essential to attaining cohesion during segmentation.

For the case of the thesis, the CMO will seek to achieve segmentation tactic based on quality-oriented consumers. In this case, the typical consumers will be motivated by the perceived quality of the shopped items. Offering quality is always an inevitable requirement for many businesses. Therefore, consumers who focus on quality are mainly concerned with the merchantable purpose of for commodities offered for sale on the shelves (Armstrong et al., 2015). Therefore, the purchase of any item that is substandard, i.e., does not deliver on quality is perceived as a waste of money. In a typical sense, a quality-oriented consumer will achieve value and satisfaction in purchasing merchantable/ quality commodities. This is because consumers usually perceive quality items as long lasting and satisfying their purpose for use as opposed to inferior commodities (Levy et al., 2014). Also, buying of quality product is also perceived as trendy as opposed to being high-end commodities. For example, many consumers resort to purchasing iPhones despite their cost due to its quality and trendiness in the telecommunication market. As such, a consumer is likely to ignore the purchase of other brands despite their affordability. Mostly, quality as perceived by consumers usually emanates from conveyed and previous user experiences with particular products (Cravens & Piercy, 2015). As such, they will always choose to purchase the item that best met their consumption needs. Therefore, in achieving the segmentation needs for the group it is imperative that the CMO resort to the stocking of the popular name brands that will relate to quality-consumer status.

Also, it is prudent that the segmentation process takes into consideration the conscious shoppers. These are consumers who mainly consist of price sensitive individuals that will always go for/ purchase low-priced items. These are consumers believed to be experiencing budget constraints. Hence, a better strategy of promoting selling activity to this conscious group is by enhancing sales promotion activities, issuance of special offers and even coupons on some of their preferred shopping basket items (Cravens & Piercy, 2015). A major characteristic for the budget conscious consumers is that they possess limited loyalty status with a firm due to price benefits and would likely disappear/ shop in other stores when such benefits are not achieved. The conscious shopper groups mainly consist of people with limited income and are commonly termed as ‘smart shoppers’ who are always on the verge of saving as much as they can of their hard-earned money. Hence, the firm will come up with irresistible selling promotion tactics that appeal to the price-conscious consumer groups (Cravens & Piercy, 2015).

The final segmentation strategy that the fictitious firm will deploy in motivating selling effort is the brand consumers. The consumers mostly value the purchase of branded commodities familiar to the market. An advantage of purchasing familiar brands by consumers is the alleviation of purchase risk (Cravens & Piercy, 2015). In several cases, popular brands have been associated with quality in item and services. Therefore, it is easier for consumers to go for a popular brand not only for prestige but also to benefit from other offerings that come with the product in the market. For instance, Apple phones and even Samsung smart TV are perceived as popular brand items that consumers will primarily prefer to buy over other counterfeit and unknown TV and smartphone brands from the Chinese markets (Levy et al., 2014). Therefore, in promoting the sales of high-end commodities it is critical that name brand electronics, apparel, and other household items be stocked on the shelves. A prevailing assumption is that consumers purchase will always be influenced by strong brand reputation as established by the store as opposed to other selling factors (Cravens & Piercy, 2015). Achieving such an echelon of brand segmentation is likely to revolutionize the purchasing initiative among consumers. Therefore, in the case of the thesis, it is imperative that the brand segmentation target the largest number of users identifying themselves with a particular brand and with the ability to prompt purchase (Baker, 2014). It is only prudent in this case that the CMO serve the needs of the common market brand consumers as opposed to those of sophisticated brand consumers. For example, Samsung brand can achieve the status of a common market brand as opposed to Apple iPhone for the sophisticated brand consumers (Cravens & Piercy, 2015). Nonetheless, a better strategy that the CMO can also improve brand recognition and purchase is by deploying percentage off strategy to create new business for other of its stocked products.

The CMO at the fictitious firm will also segment the market to consist and serve the common needs of the existing/ loyal customers. These are customers currently achieve all their buying decision in the store notwithstanding the accompanying factor in the firm (Cravens & Piercy, 2015). Agreeing with Baker (2014), these loyal/existing segments of consumers are usually forgotten when achieving segmentation. Perhaps because these individuals are die-hard of the brand and will always remain unperturbed/ unmoved by any mishaps suffered by the enterprise at any given time. Whereas they are pivotal to the organization it is not simply right to ignore their needs when achieving segmentation. This is because when they sense that their needs are not effectively catered to by the organization their loyalty to the firm is likely to diminish (Levy et al., 2014). Hence, the CMO at the fictitious firm should acknowledge and measure up to the needs of its loyal consumers to motivate selling efforts through loyal consumer referrals. An advantage of such realization is that it is an efficient/ cheap alternative of supplementing the firm promotional and selling strategies as it involves a direct method of word of mouth method for achieving referrals of potential brand consumers (Baker, 2014).

Question 4: Consumer relationship management strategy

Baker (2014) defines consumer relationship as involving strategies for managing the level of engagement between consumers and the business. CRM mostly rely on consumer data to identify their specific needs and deliver them to the expectation. Similarly, Armstrong and fellow proponents (2015) outlines that consumer relationship management helps in driving sales prospect for a business, along with ensuring consumer retention. Therefore, for the fictitious retail chain to develop an effective CRM strategy for its high-end commodities it will have to first revolutionize consumer experience through better client association tactic. Relatively, the firm should be set up in an ambient location with adequate physical space that is accessible to all consumers and with the prospect of achieving increased sales (Levy et al., 2014). The enterprise should also enhance its quality control strategy to help alleviate consumer service issues. The achievement of such quality initiatives will help foster loyalty among existing consumers and motivate the staff to excel. Relatively, the CMO should perceive CRM as an intended long-term investment plan to revitalize its brand reputation in the retail sector and grow consumer dependableness (Cravens & Piercy, 2015).

Question 5: Strategy of gathering important information from consumers

Towards achieving informational needs for the enterprise, it is imperative that the CMO engage in hiring and training of the firm’s sales representatives to better the consumer survey process and achieve marketing goals (Cravens & Piercy, 2015). The type of survey achievable in this case may comprise of direct client survey, indirect in store behavioral survey using the Company database, as well as phone surveys, and others. Likewise, the use of social platforms provides a cost-effective way of achieving consumer engagement. Also, offering selling incentives such as coupon and percentage off on products is also handy in gathering intelligence about consumer purchase trends in the retail store (Baker, 2014).

References

Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M., & Brennan, R. (2015). Marketing: an introduction.

Baker, M. J. (2014). Marketing strategy and management. Macmillan International Higher Education.

Cravens, D. W., & Piercy, N. (2015). Strategic marketing (Vol. 7). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Levy, M., Weitz, B. A., & Grewal, D. (2014). Retailing management (Vol. 6). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.