MARKETING

Marketing



Marketing Environment

Part 1

Marketing Environment Safeway

The supermarket industry is very competitive. The average consumer has more than five choices in their immediate geographic location and over twenty choices within any major city. The marketing mix plays a key role in enticing consumers to spend at your grocery store verses the competition up the street. With so many stores to choose from the competition is fierce within the grocery industry. The right product mix, price, place, product, and promotion, will help Safeway "dominate the middle" of the grocery retail market.

Part 2

Safeway is currently revamping its marketing department to help boost sales and increase stock prices. The main focus of the SPA (single point of accountability) marketing task force is to maximize Safeway's corporate leverage, while continuing to respect regional differences and the need for divisional flexibility. They plan on accomplishing this through customer focus; the shopper is the boss, leading and embracing change, and having a winning attitude. This will be accomplished when shoppers say, "Safeway is my favorite place to shop", Vendors say that Safeway is our best customer, and employees say that Safeway is a great place to work.

According to an article on the Safeway intranet dated December 20, 2004 "Safeway has made dramatic improvements in our perishable departments, have grown our proprietary products substantially, and have confirmed the value of our store remodel program," Steve Burd, CEO of Safeway, continued to say, "In 2005, we plan to make substantial brand building and other marketing investments to improve sales momentum." In order for Safeway's new marketing strategy to be successful the four Ps must be creatively blended so the firm develops the best mix for its target market (Perreault, McCarthy, pg 612).

World-class service is another attribute of Safeway's marketing plan. Whether you choose to shop at the local Safeway ...