Sample Marketing Assignment on Woolworths

Executive Summary

The report aims at analysing the importance of consumer learning for the marketing strategies. In this report, the case of Woolworths is taken. The marketers at Woolworths develop their advertisements, sales campaigns and new product development through the use of theories of learning and memory. The marketers use different theories so that they can understand the consumer minds and then create a large impression in the minds of consumers. The marketers of Woolworths use various theories to develop their marketing plans and ensure that their customers are happy with the products.

Introduction

The focus of this report is to examine how theories of learning and memory are incorporated in the development of effective marketing strategy of a company. For examination, three activities of Woolworths need to be taken and examine how they have incorporated them in the development of effective marketing strategy. Marketers these days are looking for strategies and promotional plans that can help them get the understanding of the consumer needs well. The focus of the marketers is on developing the marketing plans that make an impression in the minds of the consumers and help them gain competitive advantage. Due to increased competition, it has become tough for the marketers to understand consumers’ minds (André et al. 2018). This is also due to the fact that consumer preferences keep changing due to advancement in technology and getting huge information through social media. Hence, creating an everlasting impression in the minds of the consumers is always important for the marketers.

Consumer Learning at Woolworths

At Woolworths, consumer learning is considered a crucial aspect of the buying behaviour of the consumers. Alaniz, Bigné & Guixeres (2019) define consumer learning as the process which is used by the marketers to understand the buying and consumption knowledge so that they can develop their marketing plans based on them. De Mooij (2019) indicates in his study that learning is a key process which educates the marketers about different products and different aspects linked to them. It should be understood that learning is a critical process and consistent in nature. The learning enables the marketers to develop their strategies for promoting the products or services. The marketers at Woolworths understand what motivates the consumers and determine the level of consumer involvement in getting product knowledge (Dahl, 2018). This enables them to motivate the consumer to buy add-on products as well. For example, a consumer who has planned to buy a grocery from Woolworths can be convinced to buy home decorative items also by giving a cue about the massive discounts. Therefore, the marketers focus on the cue, which is crucial for effective learning and stimulating the customers.

There are different marketing activities done at Woolworths where the marketers use consumer learning to develop them and ensure that they can put a good impression on the consumers.

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In order to develop the advertisement campaigns, the marketers at Woolworths use Cognitive consumer learning theory. The focus of this theory is on learning involving complex mental processing of information. The theory provides emphasis on information, motivation and process through which consumer response is developed (Gligor et al. 2019). The marketers at Woolworths focus on the process which is adopted by the consumers when taking a buying decision with respect to the price, performance and various other aspects. The consumer uses the information of different products with respect to various aspects such as price, performance in their memory. This information is then used by the consumers to then make a decision about buying a product. It is this that the marketers focus. The information which is collected by the consumers is not through one product but there is a range of experience involved. Consumers use different sources to retain the information in their memory (Moraes et al. 2019). Therefore, when the marketers of Woolworths develop advertising campaigns, they keep this process in mind and develop them to have an everlasting impression on the consumers. Hence, consumer learning is crucial for the marketers of Woolworths so that they can develop engaging advertising campaigns.

Sales Promotion

During the sales promotion at Woolworths, the marketers put a high focus on theories of learning and memory such that they can achieve their objectives. For this, the marketers of the supermarket chain conduct extensive study and then use the perception of the consumers (Nuttavuthisit, Nuttavuthisit & Achauer. 2019). They divide the segments into different consumer segments so that different approaches can be used to influence them. The marketers then use this to develop their promotional programmes for targeting different consumer segments. Studies indicate that different consumers need to approach differently. So, the marketers have to consider it when making strategies. For instance, if the marketers promote a particular chocolate brand then different consumers need different consumers to be approached. There is a set of consumers who may not eat chocolate at all so they should not be included in the strategy. For them, the marketers can provide free trials so that those consumers can taste chocolates for the first time and then take their decision. There can be many factors such as price, flavour and discounts that can engage consumers. Therefore, these factors and perceptions have to be considered when developing strategies.

Studies indicate that marketing strategies can be developed based on the region where certain products are popular (Rai, & Lin, W. W, 2019). For this, the marketers of Woolworths conduct extensive study of psychology of the consumers and then focus on their efforts on them. They determine the areas where the products are not demanded and develop their promotions based on this.

As per a research conducted by Szmigin & Piacentini (2018), differences in the consumption level of the consumers are also due to differences in the income level of the consumers. For instance, marketers have to base their sales promotional campaigns in a way that consumers who want to buy less expensive products can also get engaged. For the consumers who like buying cheap products, providing them trial products and samples are used as an effective marketing strategy. This helps in increasing the sales of the products and attracting major consumers. The marketers of Woolworths also consider market segmentation as a crucial strategy to create a good impression among the consumers (Shareef et al. 2018). For example, there are some consumers who consider buying products through price and not performance. Therefore, there is a different strategy used to cater the needs of this group. On the other hand, there may be a group of people who consider buying products through performance. Hence, the marketers have to develop their strategies based on the varying perception of the consumers. For such customers, the marketers of Woolworths prefer using utility angle when developing sales promotion (André et al. 2018). Hence, the marketers at Woolworths ensure that they use different consumer learning theories to develop the sales campaigns.

New product development

Another activity where the marketers use their knowledge of consumer learning theories is new product development. The marketers at Woolworths conduct extensive feasibility studies to understand the needs and minds of the consumers so that they can develop new products that can meet the needs of consumers in an effective way. Studies indicate when marketers study consumer behaviour, they are able to get a thorough understanding of the products they would need (André et al. 2018). Hence, this process is used by the marketers at Woolworths for proper understanding of how consumers decide on a product and how the products can be popular among them. At Woolworths, the marketers even carry surveys through social media so that they can know the psyche of their customers better and then develop products for them. This makes sales high, and Woolworths is able to generate high sales. However, as per Alcañiz, Bigné & Guixeres (2019), there are certain challenges faced by the marketers of Woolworths when developing new products. The consumer preferences keep changing and also the products of consumer-goods companies like Woolworths get a quick response to consumer trends. Therefore, a thorough understanding is needed by the marketers. This has enabled the marketers to focus on gathering as much data as possible when making decisions and developing marketing strategies exclusively for their customers by segmenting them. This ensures that the product development is an effective process and consumers of Woolworths are satisfied with the products of the company.

Conclusion

It can be concluded from this report that theories of learning and memory are extremely important when developing marketing strategies. The marketers of Woolworths have been using consumer learning theories to develop their major activities including sales promotion, advertisements and new product development. This helps the marketers to target the consumers and have a good impression in their minds. This is the reason for the success of the Woolworths and being a popular supermarket in Australia. Hence, marketers should always use these theories in the development of their marketing plans such that they can target the right consumers and that too at the right time.

References

André, Q., Carmon, Z., Wertenbroch, K., Crum, A., Frank, D., Goldstein, W., … & Yang, H. 2018. Consumer choice and autonomy in the age of artificial intelligence and big data. Customer Needs and Solutions, 5(1), 28-37.

Alcañiz, M., Bigné, E., & Guixeres, J. 2019. Virtual reality in marketing: a framework, review, and research agenda. Frontiers in psychology, 10, 1530.

De Mooij, M. 2019. Consumer behavior and culture: Consequences for global marketing and advertising. Sage.

Dahl, S. 2018. Social media marketing: Theories and applications. Sage.

Gligor, D., Bozkurt, S., Russo, I., & Omar, A. 2019. A look into the past and future: theories within supply chain management, marketing and management. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal

Moraes, M., Gountas, J., Gountas, S., & Sharma, P. 2019. Celebrity influences on consumer decision making: New insights and research directions. Journal of marketing management, 35(13-14), 1159-1192.

Nuttavuthisit, K., Nuttavuthisit, K., & Achauer. 2019. Qualitative Consumer and Marketing Research.

Rai, D., & Lin, C. W. W. 2019. The influence of implicit self-theories on consumer financial decision making. Journal of Business Research, 95, 316-325. Springer Singapore.

Szmigin, I., & Piacentini, M. 2018. Consumer behaviour. Oxford University Press.

Shareef, M. A., Mukerji, B., Alryalat, M. A. A., Wright, A., & Dwivedi, Y. K. 2018. Advertisements on Facebook: Identifying the persuasive elements in the development of positive attitudes in consumers. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 43, 258-268.