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Title page Executive Summary Coles supermarket is a leading retailer in the Australian market, selling excellent produce at little prices. One of the major challenges that Coles is faced with is the ongoing rivalry with its major competitor, Woolworth. Customer and brand asset perspectives give the business a collection of tools for increasing total profitability. The main branding issues that have been discussed and relate to Coles Supermarkets include the need for a powerful vision and the need to create innovative branding.
There are three main recommendations that eave been established in order to improve customer perception of the Coles Supermarket brand and overall brand equity. The first recommendation is to promote consumer involvement such as contributing ideas to in-store suggestion boxes. This is a relatively simple recommendation to implement; store feedback boxes can be created and presented at the store entrance and exit, as well as at the store checkout. A simple design may be a large slender locked box with paper and a pen, where people can fill out their suggestion and drop it into the box.
The managers should collect the suggestions frequently and host meetings o address the customer feedback and any changes deemed necessary. The second recommendation is to increase customer participation by proposing cooking classes for adults and children; this recommendation additionally includes a cooking contest that allows customers to submit their individual recipes founded on ingredients from the Coles Supermarkets, with the victor’s recipe being exhibited in Coles Supermarket catalogues and the website. This recommendation will take some time to implement as it includes both physical changes to the store and increases in advertising.
The third recommendation is that Coles Supermarket adopts an improved Flybys loyalty package that has regular competitions that permit customers to win desirable prizes. This recommendation will require extensive research into what competitors (mainly Woolworth) have available, and additionally what costs are involved in offering prizes and discounts to consumers. Advertising on television, online and in-store would be most effective to alert consumers to the new loyalty package. Table of Contents Introduction Brand Background and Brand Context 4 Major Challenges Branding Perspectives 5
Expanding into new areas with new consumers 5 Branding Challenges and Opportunities 6 Treating brands as assets 6 The need for a powerful vision 6 Creating new subcategories 6 Creating innovative brand building 7 Building a digital strategy 7 Leveraging brand assets to facilitate growth 7 Brand Recommendations for Coles 8 Recommendation 1 8 Recommendation 2 9 How to implement the recommendations 9 Implementing Recommendation 1 10 Implementing Recommendation 2 10 Implementing Recommendation 3 11 References 12 Appendix 1. : Figure 1 – Seller’s Brand Equity Model 14 Appendix 1. 2: Reflections 15 Appendix 1. : KILL Reflections. 17 Introduction produce at little prices. They are the second-largest supermarket chain in Australia, containing approximately 740 stores (Ball et al. , 2011). The purpose of this report is to provide recommendations to improve Coles Supermarket’s brand image and also provide suggestions as to how these recommendations may be implemented.
Furthermore, branding perspectives, challenges and opportunities are discussed. Brand Background and Brand Context In 1914, in Collocation, Victoria, the first Coles Supermarket was established and opened by GO Coles with the slogan of ‘nothing over a shilling. Though already popular in the asses, Coles supermarkets experienced a dramatic expansion in this war period as many women had to join the workforce and therefore had less time to spend on domestic duties such as cooking.
They discovered the ready-made meals stocked by Coles and this popular solution for the time poor women led to an increase in sales and stores throughout the country. Coles holds a strong position within the Australian grocery store market accounting for approximately 80% of the Australian supermarket market and are second only to Woolworth (Coles Supermarket, 2015). With a focus on customer service and delivering fresh products to consumers at “everyday low prices”, the Coles brand aims to reassure customers that Coles is “serving you better”.
This ethos has rewarded Coles with a strong consumer base of advocates who are emotionally connected to the brand. As well as this, Coles uses two mottos to highlight the essence of its brand. These are: “There’s no freshness like Coles freshness” and “Prices are Down, Down, and staying Down”. These slogans instill confidence in the consumer that Coles is taking care of their customers while simultaneously advertising Coles’ top quality Australian-made products at affordable prices (Coles Supermarket, 2015).
Major Challenges One of the major challenges that Coles is faced with is the ongoing rivalry with its major competitor, Woolworth (Westerners, 2008). According to Morgan (2014), as of 2013, Woolworth held 39. 0% of the proportion of all grocery dollars spent in supermarkets, closely followed by Coles who had 33. 5%. Branding Perspectives Customer and brand asset perspectives give the business a collection of tools for increasing total profitability (Keller, 2009).
One area deserving of scrutiny is he degree to which brand and customer perspectives interrelate in growing business profitability and the particular ways in which they seem to act independently. For example, both brands and customers influence the business’s capacity to grow in four particular sectors: (a) its ability to procure new customers for existing promotions, (b) its ability to foster cross-purchasing from current customers, (c) its ability to demand a superior price for its products and services, and (d) decreased marketing overheads (Picketing & Chi, 2010).
It appears that the brand asset perspective sets more importance on its capacity to allow the cuisines to expand into new product arenas and to obtain new customers in these new arenas. The customer asset perspective, on the other hand, seems to place more weight on its ability to help the firm influence existing customers to buy more of their current offers (Picketing & Chi, 2010). There does seem to be some areas of commonality between the brand and customer asset perspectives however in most instances, each asset impacts customer behavior via different means.
Expanding into new areas with new consumers The brand asset allows the business to expand into new product arenas and o obtain new customers in these new arenas (Crouch, 2011). There have been considerable studies on the importance of the brand asset in brand expandability. A prime example of this is Nine’s effective entrance into golf products. Better recognized for their position in sports such as basketball, running, and football, the power of Nine’s brand provided a smooth enter©e into the expanded market of golfing products (Ambler et al. , 2012).
Coles is already a well-established brand, however several recommendations can assist Coles Supermarkets in advancing even further in the market against competitors (Coles Supermarkets, 2015) It pays to comprehend the reasoning behind why brand asset allows this expandability. Researchers have proffered many theories about what influences this ability. Some believe that the customer awareness of, and positive associations about the ‘parent’ brand is key along with the similarity or ‘connection’ of the new product to the ‘parent’ brand (Ambler et al. , 2012).
Others add that a solid reputation and history for delivering quality products suggests an extremely capable ‘parent’ brand and creates compelling market power and expansion into new fields. These factors combined influence this ability to generate such powerful influence and move into new areas and attract new customers, is exclusive to the brand asset (Ambler et al. , 2012). Branding Challenges and Opportunities The following is a summary of challenges and opportunities that Coles Supermarkets must consider when implementing the recommended changes.
Treating brands as assets Businesses are placed under constant pressure to supply short-term financial outcomes and this, along with the many and varied media channels available to them will often lead them to focus on strategies and what can actually be assured and forget about the objective of building assets (Asker, 2015). Coles must remain certain of the target goal of the three recommendations. The need for a powerful vision A powerful brand vision is one that sets itself apart from the crowd, one that touches a chord deep inside the psyche of customers and inspires employees.
It is preferably simple and effective to put into place and one that will work over time to keep up in a changing marketplace and be a driving force behind brand- building programs (Asker, 2015). The loyalty reward programs Coles will offer will contribute to this. The most effective visions are ones that work on many levels and that are able to adapt to different situations. They go outside of purely functional benefits and draw on a higher purpose whilst using concepts such as organizational values and brand personality (Chairman, Monogram, & Talladega, 2012).
Creating new subcategories Compelling innovations that outline new subcategories of consumer ‘must haves’ are an effective way to grow the brand and create obstacles to stop competitors from gaining a foothold with these same consumers. This process requires farsighted thinking to firstly create the new innovation, then overcome any active perceptions of the subcategory and manage its successful transition into the marketplace (Asker, 2015). Creating innovative brand building Extraordinary ideas and implementations that stand out from the crowd are critical to bring the brand vision to life.
These ideas and the way in which they are introduced far outweigh the size of the budget. There is no place for ‘good’ or mediocre. This necessitates gathering more ideas from varied sources and ensuring there are measures in place to highlight brilliance and implement those brilliant concepts to market at an accelerated rate (Asker, 2015). Building a digital strategy The digital arena is a yet another intricate and ever changing channel and one that requires a totally different way of thinking as the audience controls this platform.
New thinking needs to be activated to adjust the digital marketing focus from the brand and what is being offered to targeting what activities and interests are important to the customer. This will then require creative initiatives and fresh approaches to other marketing options to develop programs and partnerships around consumer interests and passions (Asker, 2015). Leveraging brand assets to facilitate growth An effective brand portfolio should facilitate growth by allowing new offerings, by expanding the brand vertically or expanding the brand into another group of products.
Most businesses set out to enhance their brand and add greater value to it when considering fresh concepts to which it can be applied. No two businesses are identical and so it is important that decision makers evaluate which of these areas are the most deficient and priorities areas of need and an appropriate course of action. This strategy should create a clear pathway to further build and strengthen the brand and its impact on the marketplace Asker, 2015).
Brand Recommendations for Coles Seller’s Brand Equity Model (Appendix 1) allows businesses to view that in order to create a strong band, they must structure how the consumers feel about the product. It is important that Coles builds the right experiences around the brand so that consumers have positive feelings and opinions about it; strong brand equity means more consumers will purchase from the business, recommend the business to more people, and be more loyal (Mind Tools, 2014).
Coles Supermarkets already have a strong brand image, however Seller’s Brand Equity Model can assist in adding the recommendations; in terms of brand identity, Coles’ consumers are all genders and ages who are looking for fresh produce at low costs and with the potential for rewards. Brand meaning for Coles is fresh food and low costs; the performance of this brand meaning is already high, however adding the customer feedback recommendation will enable even higher brand performance (Mind Tools, 2014).
Brand response and brand resonance can be evaluated after the new implementations, however these are also very strong for Coles Supermarkets already. The main branding issues that have been discussed and relate to Coles Supermarkets include the need for a powerful vision and the need to create innovative branding. There are three main recommendations that have been established in order to improve customer perception of the Coles Supermarket brand and overall brand equity. The first recommendation is to promote consumer involvement such as contributing ideas to in-store suggestion boxes.
The second recommendation is to increase customer participation by proposing cooking classes for adults and children; this recommendation additionally includes a cooking contest that allows customers to submit their individual recipes founded on ingredients from the Coles Supermarkets, with the victor’s recipe being exhibited in Coles Supermarket catalogues and the website. The third recommendation is that Coles Supermarket adopts an improved Flybys loyalty package that has regular competitions that permit customers to win desirable prizes.
Recommendation 1 Consumers could make suggestions about product development, demand for certain products and overall ways to improve the brand, which Coles could incorporate to increase consumer satisfaction (Lyman & Novak, 1998). Additionally Coles could create competitions for customers to become involved with, such as product label designs that consumers could create and submit; Coles could then display these designs on some of their personal products. Recommendation 2 Coles has a large database of recipes on their website and within their catalogues that promote the use of their in-store products.
This is an effective way to develop interpersonal relationships with customers, whilst also promoting the use of Coles’ products. Furthermore, Coles could host a competition that allows customers to submit their own recipes based on ingredients from the Coles supermarkets, with the winners entry being displayed on the website and in catalogues; this would encourage customers to be more active in the Coles community as well as encouraging an increase in purchasing Coles ingredients (Curran & Dickinson, 1986).
Recommendation 3 Finally, Coles could consider developing a similar product to their competitor Woolworth’ Every Day Rewards Card. Whilst Coles already has a Flybys loyalty program (Ball et al. , 2011), Coles could improve this by having frequent competitions that allow customers to win desirable prizes, such as a holiday or rockeries for a year, when they spend a certain amount. The competition could also include extra entries into each competition if customers ‘check in’ or make a status about their visit to Coles supermarket.
This creates excitement for consumers and encourages them to communicate about the competitions via social media, therefore encouraging brand awareness and overall brand equity. How to implement the recommendations According to Martin (2014) steps to implement change in a business include creating a drive for change, implementing and monitoring the change, sharing progress and building on the vision. Creating a drive for change is the first step for Coles Supermarkets; they must be able to identify why the recommendations and opportunities are relevant to both employees and stakeholders.
The next step is to actually implement the changes and monitor them; these recommendations must be developed and be reported on and shared during stakeholder meetings; progress of changes should be evaluated regularly and modifications should be made if necessary (Martin, 2014). Three strong recommendations have been suggested that Coles Supermarkets could recommend their stores implement. The recommendations are clear in regards to the type of recommendation, what is involved and why it would be beneficial.
Additionally, each of the three recommendations is desirable, as it will appeal to consumers and promote the brand, and it feasible, as not a lot of additional funding is required. The following are suggestions of how the three convincing and well-justified recommendations could be implemented by Coles Supermarkets. Implementing Recommendation 1 The first recommendation is to promote consumer involvement such as contributing ideas to in-store suggestion boxes. This is a relatively simple commendation to implement; store feedback boxes can be created and presented at the store entrance and exit, as well as at the store checkout.
A simple design may be a large slender locked box with paper and a pen, where people can fill out their suggestion and drop it into the box. The managers should collect the suggestions frequently and host meetings to address the customer feedback and any changes deemed necessary. Implementing The second recommendation is to increase customer participation by proposing changes to the store and increases in advertising. Initially an area should be et up for cooking classes; these should be advertised and a suitable cooking instructor(s) should be selected.
The advertising should include what recipes are going to be taught, and include any information about ‘special kids cooking classes’ or ‘cheap dinner ideas’ that will spark interest from consumers. Coles Supermarket’s produce should be readily available for this, and it would be good if groups were kept small but open, so that other consumers can see and become interested. It may be worth discussing if there is a cover charge for this activity. Secondly, cooking contests must be advertised and dates must be set or testing the food; an area should be selected, which may be set up in big tents outside the Coles Supermarket stores.
A judging panel should be present and the winner should be contacted in order to place them and their recipe into the catalogue and on the website. This will encourage more consumers to buy Coles produce and participate more in the Coles Supermarket culture. Implementing Recommendation 3 According to Martin (2014) following implementation success, the progress should be shared with the public and with stakeholders; this may include promoting the new suggestion boxes, cooking classes and Flybys reward schemes.
Press releases to the media should be distributed and stakeholder meetings should be held to promote the new trendy implementations happening at Coles Supermarkets (Martin, 2014). Finally, Martin (2014) suggests that there must be constant building on the vision; once the changes have been implemented, they must continue to be monitored and improved. Therefore Coles Supermarkets must continually monitor these three implemented recommendations and regard and implement any changes necessary in order to continue to improve the brand. References Asker, D. (1996). Building strong brands.
New York: Free Press. Asker, D. (2015). The 10 Most Common Branding Challenges. Brand Marketing News and Insights. Retrieved 18 May 201 5, from HTTPS://www. Prophet. Com/authenticators/2014/09 / 15/the-10-most-common-branding-challenges/ Ambler, T. , Apothecary, C. , Dell,J. , Keller, K. , Lemon, K. , & Imitate, V. (2012). Relating Broadband Customer Perspectives on Marketing Management. Journal Of Service Research, 5(1), 13-25. DOI:10. 1177/1094670502005001003 Ball, K. , McLaughlin, S. , Murphy, C. , Indianapolis, N. , English, V. , & McNeill, B. Et al. (2011).
Supermarket Healthy Eating for Life (SHELf): protocol of a anatomies controlled trial promoting healthy food and beverage consumption through price reduction and skill-building strategies. BMW Public Health, 1 1(1), 715. DOI:10. 1186/1471-2458-11-715 Chairman, E. , Monogram, N. , & Talladega, M. (2012). Brand Performance and Brand Equity. Interdisciplinary Journal Of Contemporary Research In Business, 3(9). Coles Supermarket,. (2015). Corporate responsibility. Retrieved 19 March 2015, from http://www. Coles. Com. AU/corporate-responsibility Coles supermarkets,. (2015).
Coles Supermarkets. Retrieved 20 May 2015, from http://www. Coles. Com. AU Crouch, C. (2011). Brand Values. Royal Society For The Encouragement Of Arts, Manufactures And Commerce, 157(5546), 10-13. Keller, K. (2009). Building strong brands in a modern marketing communications environment. Journal Of Marketing Communications, 15, 139-155. DOI: 10. 1080/13527260902757530 Martin, M. (2014). The Seven Steps to Implementing Change in Business. Small Business. Retrieved 18 May 201 5, from http://smelliness’s. Chronic. Com/seven -steps-implementing-change-business-24035. HTML Mind Tools,. 2014). Seller’s Brand Equity Model: Building a Powerful Brand. Retrieved 21 May 2015, from http://www. Middleton. Mom/pages/article/Keller-brand-equity-model. HTML Morgan, R. (2014). Market share narrows between Coles and Woolworth, while LAID makes important gains. Roy Morgan Research. Retrieved 19 March 2015, from http://www. Raymond. Com/findings/5427-market-share-marrowbones -Coles-Woolworth-while-laid-makes-gains-201402120013 Picketing, M. , & Chi, C. (2010). Multicultural perspectives in customer behavior. Journal Of Marketing Management, 26(11-12), 993-1004. DOI: 10. 080/0267257x. 2010. 508969 Westerners,. (2008). Challenges and Opportunities 2000-2008. Retrieved 20 May 201 5, from PDF Westerners,. (2012). Westerners 2012 Annual Report. Retrieved 19 March 201 5, from http://media. Corporate-IR. Net/media_files/lord/14/144042/westerners_sir /westerners/engaging. HTML Appendix 1. 1: Figure 1 – Seller’s Brand Equity Model Appendix 1. 2: Reflections In regards to both the assignment one and assignment two my chosen topic was Coles Supermarket. I chose this business because it is a place regularly shop and also frequently see ads on the television for it.
Overall I felt like this assignment was a positive experience for me; I was able to learn a lot about Coles Supermarket as well as their main competition, Woolworth Supermarket. Assignment one worked really well for me as I found it easy to obtain information about Coles Supermarket such as the background information and the other general topics; there are many reports on Coles Supermarkets that the companies produce themselves, so this helped me a lot. With the second assignment (this one) I found it more challenging to source and retrieve information about branding issues.
I already had the recommendations completed from assignment one but I found it hard to find reliable SOUrces of information regarding common issues in branding. This then made it hard for e to decide what the best recommendations were for brand improvement, however after a lot of research I was able to make a decision about it. Something I really enjoyed about this assignment was learning about different supermarkets within Australia; it is very different from my home country and it was good to know some of the background information about the places where now shop in Australia.
I also found that I started noticing that when I watched television, certain shows, such as My Kitchen Rules, were sponsored by Coles and I remember feeling excited because I was doing my assignment on this popular company. I also enjoyed discussing how the recommendations could be implemented, although at first I found this challenging. However once I related the common branding problems to the recommendations, I found that it was easy to work out the best ways to implement the recommendations in order to best support the Coles Supermarket brand image. Ally enjoyed working on the implementation process of my recommendation for Coles Supermarket to have recipe competitions and cooking classes; I personally love cooking and this would excite me very much if I knew my local supermarket did this. I would definitely enter the competition and use ingredients from Coles Supermarkets to try and win the recipe contest. I could also visualize this being a popular trend and excitement for many other people, especially some of my friends who are amazing cooks and are not from Australia.
It made me think about how Coles Supermarket would have so many applicants who are not Australian and this would bring more diversity and culture to their online recipe sections; this made me excited because even recipes from my own country could be shared. There were several things I did not enjoy about this assignment. Firstly, it was ere difficult to find a lot of the information for the second assignment on branding recommendations, especially in relation to supermarkets. There were many suggestions for other companies but they were not comparable to Coles so I could not gain ideas from these.
I struggled with deciding the best way to implement the recommendations from assignment one into assignment two in order to improve the overall brand. I felt very lost for a while whilst completing this assignment, however took a couple of days break from it and then got back to work and my mind was much clearer. I was able to focus more on the task; this s something that I will remember for future assignments if I am struggling. Overall I think my recommendations and implementation procedures would be very useful for Coles Supermarkets.
I think they could be very fun for a lot of people and also great for people who like to gain rewards when shopping, just like Woolworth Supermarket’s every day rewards offers. I had to research these further in assignment two, even though I had already looked into them in assignment one; I had to make sure Coles did not already have these things. Found out Coles had petrol discounts already but the other recommendations they had not previously used. This assignment and the previous one have taught me a lot about companies and the importance of their brand.
It has also taught me a lot about competition and how to gain a competitive edge over others by offering and implementing the new recommendations. I think I enjoyed letting myself be creative in these aspects of the assignments. Overall I think I had a very good experience with this assignment; whilst some parts of it were difficult, such as the research, many parts were exciting and allowed me to be creative, such as suggesting the recommendations and how to implement them. Therefore it was a good experience for me overall.