COUNTDOWN SUPERMARKET

Countdown Supermarket

Countdown Supermarket

Objective of the Research

The objective of this research is to highlight the problems of Countdown Supermarket. The main dilemma that Countdown Supermarket is facing is due to the aggressive competition from competitors like pak'n'sav and the New World. The Countdown Supermarket had failed to create the brand loyalty among the competitors due the problems of high pricing, unattractive promotional campaigns and media advertising etc. Therefore, the aim of this research paper is to suggest the innovative marketing strategies and media campaigns so that the Countdown Supermarket must be able to grab sufficient market share of the retail market.

Findings (Category and Brand)

The target market of the Countdown Supermarket is much diversified. The customers appreciates the supermarket offers a huge variety of products and is accessible 247/, but most of the customers respond that product prices are much higher as compare top other competitor supermarkets. Furthermore, 20% customers responded that the customers' service at the Countdown Supermarket is also not good. Customers perceive that the advertising campaigns of the Countdown Supermarket and other competitor supermarkets are more or less the same. Therefore, they don't find any unique selling proposition in the ads. Similarly, the customers said that they are not satisfied with the shopping experience and customer services provide by the Countdown Supermarket. The target audience of the Countdown Supermarket is diversified. Findings (Problems)

The Countdown Supermarket is surrounded by the severer branding, poor customer service and marketing problems. The few of the customers which shop at the supermarket said that they had a very unattractive shopping experience. Almost 80% of the customers responded that the prices of the products are high in comparison with the Pak'n'Sav and New World. The poor advertising and marketing promotion campaigns don't caught the customer eyes. Therefore, we can say that the Countdown Supermarket has become unsuccessful to take advantage of print and electronic media (Eastman 2000, pp. 50). Customers said that due to poor customer service they are not going to recommend their friends to shop at the Countdown Supermarket. It means that the Countdown Supermarket also lacks the spread of positive word of mouth, which can be utilized as a effective marketing communication tool.

Findings (Media)

The media strategies adopted by the Countdown Supermarket are less attractive and un-completive. Therefore, it must adopt the effective strategies to cater more customer and retail market share. Following media channels will be used for the advertising promotion of Countdown Supermarket.

Television: commercials (film) (television advertising).

Radio: commercials (sound, noise).

Press: press-ads (text and image) include all the ads in news paper and magazines.

Display: billboards, bus shelters.

Film: commercials, product placements.

Phone: telephone sales calls and Mobile commercials (SMS, MMS) will be used for the promotional activities.

Direct marketing: direct mail, to the target audience, sponsorship for the different events specially targeting the target audience.

Media budget: The total media budget allocated for the advertising promotion activity is £1 million.

Recommendations

It recommends the following strategies to the Countdown Supermarket to gain a competitive advantage over the competitors such as:

When developing an ...