Strategic Marketing Growth and Development

Question: Discuss about theStrategic Marketingfor Growth and Development. Answer: Introduction Strategies are the initiatives that a company takes to increase its resources and for the purpose of growth and development of the business. Rapid changes in the business environment forces companies to adopt different strategies for the purpose of promotion of the products and services to large number of customers. Changes in the business environment in terms of technology and social and cultural factors force companies to adopt different strategies to attain competitive edge over its rivals in the industry. The adoption of different marketing strategies by the businesses facilitates in attracting more number of customers and build positive brand image among customers. This helps in increasing the sales and profits of the company. This report emphasizes on the analysis of the marketing strategies adopted by the Aldi for the purpose of increasing its market share and thereby sales and profits of the company. Besides this, it also emphasizes on the availability of different strategic options available to the company which can be adopted to remain competitive in the market (Spiller and Bergner, 2011). Background of Aldi Aldi was founded in the year 1913 in Germany. The company has entered in the Australian market in the year 2001 by opening of its first store. The company is able to create different employment opportunities for the people of Australia. It aims at providing high quality products to the families of Australia at low prices. It focuses on building strong relationships with farmers, producers and manufacturers for long time. Majority of the food products are sourced from Australia at the time when the company does not find high quality, efficient and innovative products and services from other countries. The company focuses on the provision of different opportunities to the farmers of Australia in order to reduce the level of competition in the market (Aldi, 2016). Marketing Analysis Strategies Adopted by Aldi The main aim or goal of Aldi emphasizes on providing high quality products to its customer on regular basis at low cost. In addition to this, Aldi procures products from hand- picked suppliers for the purpose of providing fresh food to its customers at low prices. The company has made partnerships with different not for profit organizations such as One Voice and Red Cross Australia in order to provide information related to healthy food products to the disadvantageous families. This results in spreading awareness regarding the c0ompany am0ong its target customers. Therefore, it focuses on increasing the loyalty of customers towards the company. It emphasizes on encouraging the existing customers to buy products from the Aldis store. In order to penetrate in the market, it has organized blind tests of taste and found that the customers also like the taste of the products offered by the company along with other food brands. The company has organized a marketing campaign named as Like B rands in order to communicate and spread awareness about the quality and value offered by the company on its brands (Doole and Lowe, 2008). The company focuses on providing high quality products to customers at a cheaper rate in comparison to the other brands. In addition to this, the company offer products at low prices without making compromise on the quality of the product. In addition to this, the company is using different promotional techniques such as above the line and below the line promotional techniques. In addition to this, the company also organizes Swap and Save campaigns for spreading awareness about the products among the customers. The company uses competitive pricing strategy to set the prices of the products offered by the company. The company buy products in bulk which helps in reducing the cost of the product as the savings are passed to the consumers or customers. Besides this, Aldi also focuses on different aspects in order to select new locations of the store such as population , good visibility from the road and accessibility of the stores through public transport (Tsiotsou and Goldsmith, 2012). For the purpose of the promotion of the Aldi products, there is a use of social networking sites such as twitter, Facebook, public and media relations and 3rd Party endorsement. The company is using e-mail marketing strategy in which the sales personnel of the company send e-mails to the existing customers related to the different deals offered by the company on its products that helps in driving direct sales of the company. Marketing campaigns such as Swap and Save and Like Brands have helped in improving the perception of brands among its customers (McLeish, 2010). The company provides products under its own brand which is considered cheaper in comparison to other brands existing in the market. The company offers products other than food products which are associated with the season such as provision of warm camping gear and snow gear during winters. The company is able to attract more number of customers due to the reason that the company provides high quality products at low prices to its customers (Ward, 2004). The company has adopted unit pricing policy which helps customers to compare the prices of the product with the products offered by its competitors. The company uses three pricing strategies in combination such as psychological pricing, price penetration and competitive pricing strategies by setting low profit margin for non food items and it is compensated by the grocery sales. The company also focuses on minimization of the wastes and the time required in transporting the goods from one place to another as it provides products to cu stomers at cheaper prices in comparison to its competitors (Colborn, 2006). Besides this, company also uses different promotional tools for the purpose of spreading awareness about the products being offered to the customers. The different promotional tools that are adopted by the company include advertising, public relations and provision of special offers to the target customers (Rogers, 2001). Along with this, there is also a publishing of the printed catalogues on a regular basis for the purpose of providing information related to the products offered by the company. In the Aldis layout, the employees are seated and products are displayed in such a manner that the customers can easily reach to the product. This helps in increasing the sales at the store and results in an increase in the performance and productivity of the company. The company provides majority of its products at 50% less price in comparison to other national brands which facilitate the company to gain competitive advantage over other players in the Australian market (Paley, 2006). Strategic Marketing Options for Aldi moving Forward It is requisite for the company to give priority to the expectations and needs of the customers. It is necessary for the company to provide products witrh new features that can help in fulfilling their needs and demands. Nowadays, there is an increased use of internet due to which, it is necessary for Aldi to provide an opportunity to its customers to develop the product as they needed. When customers get the opportunity to get customized products and services then they are ready to pay premium prices for the product. This helps in increasing the customer base of the company (Ryan, 2014). This also helps in providing products with standardized quality to its customers. This helps in increasing the loyalty of the customers towards the product and the company. The company might sponsor different events which help in spreading awareness about the company among large number of potential customers (Ulph, 2011). In addition to this, the company might also provide free samples of the new product that has been launched by the company which helps it to penetrate in the market. The company should also provide discounts on the products in order to attract large number of customers as it helps in creating value for customers. There is a need to create strong relations with customers by sending personalized messages on different occasions such as festivals and birthdays. This also helps in creating a positive brand image among the customers. In addition to this, the company can also advertise on different social media and networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter (Dobkin, 2007). Besides this, the company should also receive feedback from customers and make required changes in the products offered by the company in order to meet the demands and needs of the customer. It is requisite for the company to develop marketing partnerships with other companies that facilitate in increasing the customer base of the company as it helps in spreading the knowledge of the products and services to the customers who do not the knowledge regarding the same (Shankar, et al. 2012). There is a need to provide an opportunity to the customers to provide their views and opinions on making changes in the products and services in order to make it innovative which results in increasing the number of existing customers by meeting the unmet needs of the customers. Other than this, the company should make harmonious relationships with the influencers of the industry which results in influencing the buying behavior of the customers. This also facilitates in creation of the positive brand image regarding the company attract more number of new customers to the company which in turn results in an increase in the sales and profits of the company (Ottman, 2011). Conclusion It can be concluded that Aldi has adopted different marketing strategies in order to fulfill its common goal. The company provides different products and services at low cost. The company has adopted cost leadership strategy for the purpose of gaining competitive edge over its rivals. It has organized different marketing campaigns in order to spread awareness about the products and services offered by the company. It publishes different advertisements on television and social networking sites for the purpose of gaining more number of customers. Besides this, the company may also make marketing partnerships with other companies in order to attract more number of customers. It has also provide an opportunity to customers to provide feedback on the products offered by the company and make required changes in it in order to achieve high level of customer satisfaction. References Ottman, J. 2011. 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