Operation Strategies of Asda Assignment Sample
Introduction
ASDA is a British based bodega chain, headquartered in Leeds, England. It is an online supermarket retailing for fresh groceries, clothing, home appliances and many more services delivered to the door. The company is facing some problems with their digital marketing structure. The digital marketing platform is not user friendly; that’s the reason the user finds it difficult to use the app. ASDA is agreeing to partnership with small retail partners which is a major problem faced by this company. Breaking with the value of the brand is another problem faced by ASDA.
Organization overview
Asda, based in the UK, is owned by Walmart. It is a giant company which deals with diversified products and services. Asda is one of the most dynamic markets in the world; it is competing with other competitors in the global market and has taken a proper position in the market. The big giant consists of supercenters, supermarkets, retail markets, online markets and many more services available for their consumers (Erdmann and Ponzoa, 2021). Asda is facing some issues in the digital marketing platform; but they are looking forward to coming up with some innovative plans to overcome the problem faced due to their online marketing. In the era where markets are so much exposed to competition the difficulties faced by the e-commerce companies are quite common. Most of the brands compete with each other to achieve the same goal. Asda is finding the trouble to measure the Return on Investment (ROI) which brings the traffic to the channel (Camisa et al. 2020) Asda is not able to focus on the brand awareness campaign which will bring a huge pull to the site. The pull of traffic can be generated on the site if the company is making surveys to identify the needs of the customer and producing the products according to their needs. Asda’s another problem which is witnessed; they are not targeting the correct audience effectively. Target audience is the biggest challenge for many companies. Asda has emerged into a lead position in the market where the online market capacity has increased up to 90%. Asda’s current revenue generates up to 22,899.2 million euro as per 2019(Saghiri and Wilding, 2021) The market trend of this company is on the upward trend as it is the cheapest among the UK’s other supermarkets.
Critical literature
The ultimate reason behind this study analysis will be to make the analysis of the digital marketing problems faced by Asda company. Asda based in the UK, is a digital marketing platform; which connects with the consumer via the internet. The company satisfies the needs of the potential customer through the online mode of accessibility. The internet marketing of Asda Ltd. includes email, social media marketing, search engine optimization. Asda’s digital marketing potential helps to identify its condition in the current market scenario. A successful foundation of a company depends on the use of digital marketing techniques, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is designed to boost the ranking of any site (Shesterikova, 2021).
Asda is not well versed with the use of Search Engine Optimisation therefore their site faces difficulty in ranking in the list. The research is done to show the current position of the business and where the company is going to land up in the future. The research is based on the primary and secondary study where the information is collected through newspaper, reposts and articles where used. Some websites and magazines were also searched to get a detailed idea about the Asda company. The people all round the world are looking and searching more on the internet; rather than searching a product through the traditional means. Most of the consumers are searching their liked products through the internet rather than the conventional mode of shopping. In the era where technology has advanced so much, digital marketing is the only new way of marketing left with the Asda company.
Digital marketing is done to improve the knowledge of the customers by providing the correct quality of product at the correct time. The online marketing technique in the modern era is adapted to fulfill the needs of the customer (Saura, 2021). In today’s era, the conventional mode of advertising and marketing techniques has been taken away by modern marketing which is also known as digital marketing. Digital marketing has a tremendous opportunity in the economic growth of a country; as most of the brands are adopting the digital marketing techniques. Many research and analysis has proved that digital marketing is one of the best ways to enter the global reach. Asda can make use of digital marketing techniques to understand the target audience; they can do research to understand what type of product and services the customers want. Digital marketing also impacts the revenue of a company. Higher revenue will be generated when products will be sold to a relatively large number of people; who should be satisfied with the products. Today’s market has absolutely turned digital and more and more customers are demanding digital products. The product and services of Asda has helped the company to attract wide popularity in the UK market (Bala and Verma, 2018). Asda is the supermarket which provides the cheapest product among the other supermarkets in the UK, however due to the lack of implementation of Digital Marketing techniques Asda is unable to reach the customers. Social media is another means to communicate with a large pool of people at once.
Market Research Approach
Marketing Research can be based on two major types; quantitative approach and the qualitative approach. In this research the researcher focuses on the sales which is forecasted through the quantitative approach. The quantitative approach of a marketing system focuses mainly on the revenue of the company. These data are required to estimate the sales of a company. It forecasts the expenditure incurred by the company and calculates the estimated sales turnover for the particular year (Sobocińska and Mazurek-Łopacińska, 2021). With the help of quantitative approach the company can understand the market trend that has occurred in the past; the companies can also understand the trend which is going to come up in the future. The forecasting with the help of quantitative data becomes very easy as the data are accurate and they provide the history of the company’s actual turnover (Young et al. 2018). Qualitative approach is used by the business management to understand the overall problem of the business by taking feedback from the customers. With the help of basic statistical skills, a company can get an overview of its past information and predict a future which will likely boost up in the form of revenue generation. There are many ways to calculate the quantitative approach of market research. Straight-line Method is among the one which is widely used by many companies. It is one of the simplest ways to calculate the growth of the company based on past performances. Asda based in the UK, selling edible groceries had generated a revenue of $18.76B in sales, in the year 2010. The sales figure was forecasted to increase by $23.56B in the year 2020 (Jones and Comfort, 2020. Tesco, Asda’s competitor made a sales turnover of 40.68B US dollar, in the year 2010 which increased up to 52.71B US by the year 2020 (Guo and Wang, 2019). This approach shows how Tesco’s sales increase so rapidly as they have implemented the strategic digital marketing tools which has improved the day to day working of the company. It is seen that there is an increase of $4.8B dollar in Asda in the past 10 years whereas; there is an increase of $12.03B dollar in Tesco in the past 10 years (Finkelstein et al. 2018). The quantitative research helped the researchers to understand that Asda was not well accustomed with the digital marketing tools hence, it made less sales turnover compared to Tesco.
Findings
Secondary research analysis- A secondary Research Analysis of Asda was done to understand the problem faced by the company due to ineffective use of digital marketing techniques. Internal and external research will be helpful to forecast the past and present information about the company. Some of the internal data is collected internally from previous data, website of the organisation, newspaper, magazines, books, pay structure. The secondary data are also collected from periodicals, historical investigations and records (Spurlock, 2020). Secondary data can also be in the form of external data which can be collected in the form of online research, competitors, trade organisations. Pestel analysis focuses on the political, economic, social, technological and cultural factors (Trinh, 2018). It considers the environmental factor for doing the market research. In a market theory there is a separation of micro and macro business environment. The micro environment is basically the internal business environment which can be controlled by the company and the macro environment is the external business environment which cannot be controlled by the business. PESTLE analysis is basically a concept where market principles are given more priority (Li et al. 2021) PESTLE analysis is a much wider analysis than the SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis basically focuses on the strengthening development of a company’s internal position; whereas the PESTLE’s analysis included the involvement of micro and macro-economic factors (Olufadi, 2018).
Competition
Asda based in the UK, which offers fresh groceries, home supplies, clothing and other products and services faces a huge competition from many competitors who are keeping an eye on Asda. Tesco is Asda’s first competitor, it is based in England; the company offers General Merchandise to the customers. Though TESCO has come up with the digital marketing strategies, Tesco generates $50.6B more revenue than Asda. Sainsbury’s is another competitor of Asda. The company was founded in London in the year 1869. Like Asda and Tesco, Sainsbury’s also offers General Merchandise products to its customers. The company generates $10.2B more than Asda because the company was able to pool a large number of target audience (Rosnizam et al. 2020). In the peak of COVID-19 the company aimed at providing products and services to the customers on time. Morrisons is another Asdas’s competitor which is earning $5.9B less than Asda (Nofal et al. 2020). All these companies are strategically planning their online marketing and making optimum use of it.
Swot box
SWOT is the acronym for Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat. Coming into the strengths of Asda company; it is found that the company is making a huge range of products. The products and services made by this company attracts a wide range of people. There is a separate distribution center developed by Asda company to distribute the product across the UK without any delay in time. Asda basically focuses on conventional marketing strategies therefore it can satisfy the customers who are not internet friendly (Domański and Łabenda, 2020). The strength of this company is to maintain good relations with the customer through the online networking sites. The weakness of this company is not being able to reach the global market because of strong competitors who are keeping an eye on Asda; for this the company needs to establish online strategies (Peng, 2021). Asda can get better opportunities in the global market if it implements the digital marketing strategies and satisfies the needs of the customers. There are many online retailers who are the biggest threat to Asda’s.
The marketing mix
For any business, be it big or small, marketing mix is the foundation of the business. It basically means the four P’s of production, they are product, price, place, promotion and other three P’s of marketing involve people, process and physical evidence (Minculete and Olar, 2018). Asda is one of the well-known markets in the UK because of strategic planning of the product. Depending upon the demand from the consumers, Asda could develop its business which has taken a lead position in the market. Planning involves strategic thinking and research which can be done through online modes of marketing (Lim,2021). The price of the product or services is also a key factor which is very important while conducting the marketing mix of the product. Promotion is essential to attract the customers. In modern marketing the use of various online advertisements, SEO, PPC, Email marketing, SEM can be used.
Conclusion and recommendation
Conclusion
From the research it can be concluded that in the ever-changing business era, where everything is becoming digital, Asda is facing a lot of challenges from the competitors to settle themselves and take a key position in the market. Due to the lack of ineffective digital marketing strategies Asda is not able to cope with the challenges faced by its competitors; as most of them are making similar products. Asda has a brand in the conventional market, to stand out with their brand names Asda needs to improve its online marketing techniques to attract more brand awareness among the people.
Recommendation
Asda based in the UK, is implementing integrated digital strategies to face the challenge faced by the digital marketing strategies. The IDS helps in bringing content, search and mobile marketing to franchisors, franchisees and many other B2B brands. Integrated digital marketing helps in bringing awareness to loyalty and advocacy to assist the customer needs. This method of marketing involves digital advertising of goods and services so that it can attract a huge number of potential customers who are ready to buy the products. It also involves sales promotion by providing discounts on any product or services. Asda should also keep a cordial relationship with the consumers by providing after sales service. In case the consumers do not like the product, the company should accept easy return or exchange of the product. There should also be a chat section where the customers can share their feedback related to any product or service. Social media marketing will also help Asda in keeping direct contact with the customer and understanding their needs. For this purpose, the company needs to hire a specialized person who will effectively perform the segmented activities which will increase the cost of the company, but it will help in the overall growth of the company in terms of total revenue. Integrated Digital Strategy is implemented to make core decisions driven out by the budget. The main importance for implementing this strategy is to understand the market position of the company in the present scenario and where the company will reach in the future. The use of internet marketing has become very vital in developing and understanding the company’s strategy.
Reflection
From the above research I have understood Asda is facing some challenges due to the lack of implementation of Digital marketing strategies. When a company is not able to cope up with the modern tools of marketing such as SEO, SEM, Email marketing, and so on, it will be quite difficult for the company to take a lead in the global market. A consistent growth in the business is not easily possible without the digital marketing tools. I have understood that Asda was not able to take the lead position in the market whereas its competitors, Morrisons, Spinneys, Waitrose and partners, Tesco have taken the lead position in the market by implementing digital marketing tools. It is very important for a business to look into the macro- environmental factors which includes political, social, economic, cultural and technological planning. This is what is said in the Pestle theory. The factors are very important in understanding the position of the business in the market. The marketing mix in the business whether it is done on conventional system or modern approach has been used, the Ps of marketing remains constant. The product price is the lead factor which will help a business in doing strategic planning to implement the price. It involves critical thinking which needs a well-versed research. The online modes of advertising the product and attracting a huge number of audiences is what attracted me a lot. I think in the modern generation, where everything is just accessible via the internet; the digital marketing platform should also be strong and user friendly. Asda is not able to compete with many competitors because it has not implemented the digital technologies properly. SEO optimization will help to generate more traffic on the website which I have witnessed from this research. In this case study I have understood about the SWOT of Asda. It tells that the company is able to produce many new products and attract a large number of audiences. The prices offered for the products or services are relatively less compared to other competitors of Asda. I witnessed that it has a strong hold on conventional marketing where the advertising of the product includes hoardings and banners whereas the modern methods of advertising involve social media advertisement, rolls and posts. It was clear from the research that companies should focus on targeting the audience. The market group should be the actual attention of any company. Without the target audience the products and services developed by the company will just be wasted. There is a great opportunity for Asda to enter the reach of the global market and to compete with many other countries; for this they need to implement the online technologies very strategically. It has not been a long time since Asda started its digital marketing and since then it’s trying to cope up with lots of challenges and taking a strong position in the market. Many companies do not consider the environmental factors before developing a product but Asda keeps the environmental factors in mind.
Reference
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