Coles Sales Promotion Essay

Pacific managing director of Nielsen Consumer Group, saidâ€Å"It’s no surprise that consumers are increasingly concerned about their household budgets in response to such fluctuating economic conditions, and the cost-saving strategies currently being employed by consumers are likely to continue well into the year. †(Jessica Kennedy,2011)Due to the rising concern of the current unstable economic condition in Australia, the people have developed a tendency to save or spend only what is necessary. There is also a concern for the rising food and fuel prices and more and more people are looking for good deals and bargains for the basic necessities required to run a household. If this holds true to the working population then this will hold true even more to the student population in Australia who perhaps only have a part time job and live on a fixed budget. Market analysis: The student population contributes a lot to the economy of Australia. In 2008, the total tertiary student community in Melbourne was around 208,800 people and international tertiary student population numbering was at least 28,150 (Melbourne City Research, 2010). These numbers have steadily risen in the past years and will continue to do so. From this situation analysis, it can be derived that it would be a successful venture if fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables were offered at a discounted price by Coles to students in Melbourne for a limited period of time. And if the response is successful in Melbourne it can be an option to expand to other cities as well. Sales promotion pitch: Offering a 15% discount to students from the 1s of July to the 31st of July on all of Coles’ fresh and frozen fruits and vegetable line. SWOT analysis : Strengths:The current economic condition will help the response to a sale if it is held. It will attract the customers and increase revenue. It is also a healthy campaign as fruits and vegetables are being offered at a discount to students to encourage them to eat healthier and will boost the image of Coles. Weaknesses:The risk that the response may not be as enthusiastic as predicted from the target audience. Also that it is targeting a very specific segment of the market and that can be risky to the campaign if the response is not as predicted. Opportunities:The option to hold this sale every half year or more frequently if response is good and also in a larger number of cities. Threats: Competitors like Woolworths and Aldi may also put their items on sale to compete with Coles. Target Segment Demographics: Treating the market as heterogeneous, as all the people of Melbourne are not being targeted and they don’t have similar wants, the target profile for the campaign would look like the following : * Age|* Late teens and above| * Gender|* Male and female|Geographic area|* Melbourne| * Occupation|* Students| * Household size|* Living alone or with housemates| * Lifestyle and Habits|* Lives on a budget, tends to look forthe most reasonable prices, prioritizes saving andhas a slightly more healthy lifestyle. | The typical profile of the segment being targeted would be a College student who Lives alone or with housemates or in a dorm and who purchases their own groceries. Within the target audience there will be differen t views and attitudes about fruits and vegetables. The types of opinions are usually four in kind. They are: * The appreciators: will be the portion of the target market that like eating healthy and enjoy eating lots of fruits and vegetables. These people may be more health conscious and aware of the fact that fruits and vegetables are a very important part of the diet. â€Å" I love fruits and vegetables! They are a part of almost all of my meals for the day†* The acceptors: are the segment of students that eat a moderate amount of fruits and vegetables but also prefer meats and other food items.I like fruits and vegetables but I don’t like including them in all my meals, I prefer meat†* The resistors:this segment is not very fond of fruits and vegetables but eat them on occasion. â€Å"fruits and vegetables are ok but I would rather eat something else†* The rejecters: This portion of students is strongly against adding fruits or vegetables to their daily meals and would most definitely eat other foods ins tead. Insert refrence pg. 206 One of the purposes of the campaign is to try and get the percentage of the resistors and the rejecters to convert to either the acceptors or the appreciators. Time frame: The promotion will last for one month. Starting July 1st and ending July 31st. The duration chosen is during the offseason period where there are no big sales held otherwise. This will make it easier to persuade the target market to purchase their groceries at Coles as it will be cheaper to do so. It gives them an incentive to buy. 20 specimen subjects from Chisholm College that fit the target profile completed a survey about why they picked a particular store over another. Four fixed options were asked and the results were as follows: More than half, i. e 11 people out of 20, said that the main reason they choose a store was because of its low prices. 6 people said they choose a store according to how conveniently it’s located, 2 said it was because of loyalty to the store and 1 said because of good customer service. This further emphasizes the fact that if a sales promotion was held, the response would be enthusiastic and the campaign would be successful. Main Objective: * Increasing the sales of fresh, frozen and canned fruits and vegetables by 5 to 10 percent in the month of July. Initially only in Melbourne with an option to expand to other cities if the response is positive. Additional objectives: * Enhance customer loyalty * Create new customers * To reinforce brand advertising * Encouraging students to eat healthier Perception – achieve at least a 65% increase in awareness of the sales promotion in the firstweek Cognition – Achieve recall of discount period at Coles by at least 80% of the students in Melbourne Persuasion – Make the target audience want to go to Coles for their groceries rather than its competitors Emotion – Induce humor and fun through the advertisement Association – Associate Coles with the most reasonable prices and quality goods Behavior – Persuade at least 3% of the customers that shop at Woolworths, Aldi and other competitors to switch over to Coles Approach: The type of approach to be used for this promotion is the emotional approach and a soft sell strategy. Humor will be used a medium in the advertisement to allow students to relate to the campaign easily and for retention of the message to create the need to buy fruits and vegetables at Coles. An anonymous survey was conducted using 20 students in Chisholm College that fit the target audience. They were asked to state what kinds of advertisements they remembered the easiest out of a given three choices. Out of 20 students, 15 said humorous advertisements were the easiest to remember, 2 said informative and 3 said shock advertising. Pull promotional strategy: ‘ In a pull strategy, the manufacturer directs the majority of its promotional effort towards the ultimate consumer in an attempt to get them to pull the products through the marketing channel. ’ (McColl – Kennedy, JR, 1994) A pull promotional strategy creates a high degree of awareness amongst consumers and implants a desire and an interest for the product. This makes the customers to go to the retail store with the determination to find the product to purchase it and if it is not available they urge the retailer to stock up on it. This is the strategy that Coles is aiming at following as the message will be sent directly to the ultimate consumers who are in this case the students, urging them to purchase frozen, fresh and canned fruits and vegetables. And when the demand exceeds the supply, it will cause the Coles retail stores to urge the wholesalers and other links in the product chain to acquire the product causing a pulling effect through the marketing channel. Communication: In order to inform the potential customers about the promotion, effective and efficient advertising must be carried out. The use of Television, the internet, newspapers and magazines help in doing so. Since the target market is only students, it would also be productive to display the advertisements on social networking sites on the internet. To further reach students fliers can be put up on the notice boards and in the college magazines. Point of purchase displays also helps as it improves in store branding and keeps the customer informed. Having sales signs near the product also can lead to impulse buying. The key message sent out here would be that it is cheaper to buy your groceries at Coles than at any other supermarket. Eliciting the desired response: The main reason for fierce advertising and promotions is due to the reason that the sales promotion will be carried out for one month only. During this time period, Coles seeks to attract as many customers as possible to their stores in Melbourne. It is true that the potential customers go through a behavioral or psychological process before purchasing a product called a response hierarchy. The Coles advertisements and promotions seek to fulfill all the steps in this hierarchy chain.