Hung P Nguyen
Trader Joe’s – Undeveloped and Underutilized Opportunities
As one of the top supermarkets in the United States, Trader Joe’s has seen a big success
under their leadership style and company culture. They do not use television marketing, and
radio and word of mouth marketing are the main strategies. They also have a very close
relationship with suppliers. Along with these strategies, the customer service in Trader Joe’s is
brilliant because of well-training. As a result, the company’s turnover rate is pretty low
compared to other grocery stores. In addition, Trader Joe’s have a huge amount of loyalty
customers due to the culture and concept in stores. However, as expanding the market of
competitors like Wal-mart, Amazon, and Kroger, Trader Joe’s needs to take advantage of
opportunities to help the company develop and retain loyalty customers.
Social media is the key point to be succeeded in marketing that most companies are
using today. According to the case, Trader Joe’s has a lot of fans in social media. For example,
the Facebook fan-page of Trader Joe’s has already attracted 550,000 “likes” in 2013. The
customers also created some Facebook fan-pages or Twitter accounts to persuade the company
to open a store in their locations. With this huge amount of people who are interested in Trader
Joe’s in social media, the company should jump in to create an official page in order to help
these people and also attract more people to be interested in the company. The cost of doing it
is really minimal but the result they get would be unbelievable.
I really like how Trader Joe’s utilizes “everyday low-pricing” strategy instead of coupons
or discounts. However, no membership card program is a big omission of Trader Joe’s. From
Safeway to Albertson’s, Fry’s to Target, or Costco to Kroger, they all have at least one program
related to membership or royalty-card. It could be a traditional way of retaining customers but it
is really helpful and successful. Although the fans of Trader Joe’s is really huge and growing, they
do not have any evidence that they’re loyalty customers of the stores. By giving them a
membership or loyalty card, Trader Joe’s does not only bring them rewards, but also confirm
they are loyalty customers of the company, and the company appreciates that.
Trader Joe’s should also keep an eye on the technology within the stores. The customers
often have a good experience to shopping around the store but when they are ready to check-
out, a good experience could turn to a bad one if they have to wait in a long line to be check-
out. Self-checkout is the most effective solution that many grocery stores are utilizing. And,
Trader Joe’s should take advantage of that technology to make the customer’s experience to be
fulfilled. As a traditional check-out, the customers would have a chance to talk to employees
and enjoy a great customer service. However, the time of customers is also important. By
keeping both ways of check-out, Trader Joe’s would get the satisfaction of customers.
In conclusion, Trader Joe’s concept is the one that many customers are looking for to
shopping in grocery stores. If the company could able take advantage of opportunities in both
internal and external environment, they would be more success even they are expanding rapidly
across the nation.
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Executive Summary
