Impact of Interactivity of Electronic Word

Question: Discuss about the Impact of Interactivity of Electronic Word. Answer: Introduction This study is a marketing audit that aims to identify and evaluate the business opportunities and threats in the market. The focus is made on Aldi, which is a supermarket chain, operating the business at international level. The aim of the organization is to provide high quality grocery products at the minimum possible price. Currently, the company has total 10000 stores, which are situated in 18 different countries. However, as the market competition has increased nowadays, it is important for the company to verify its current opportunities and threats in the market. Apart from identifying the market opportunities and threats, the study or the marketing audit also evaluates the organizations segments and decision-making process of the consumers. Identifying the market opportunities and threats Aldi is a supermarket chain, which is operating its business since 1913. The market of the company covers the countries like, Australia, Denmark, Poland, Germany, France, Hungary, Spain and 11 others (Aldi.com.au, 2016). As per the current report on the grocery retail industry in Australia, it can be said that the annual growth rate of the industry is not bad. The industry report shows that the annual growth rate of Australias grocery retail industry is 4.1% (Mahmud, 2015). The industry report also shows that Aldi is one of the top most performers in this industry. In last five years, the company has achieved tremendous growth. The overall revenue of the industry is $105 billion (Voigt, Buliga Michl, 2016). In the market researches, the experts have identified that the growth of Australias grocery retail industry will continue for next 3 to 4 years. Therefore, it is good news for Aldi that along with the industrial growth, Aldi will also enjoy the growth opportunities for next 3 to 4 years (Berman, 2015). In order to identify the macro environment of the company in a better manner, the analysis of the industry can be done with the help of PESTLE framework. The PESTLE analysis is shown below: Factors Current situation Political Australia is one of the most politically stable countries in the world. The stable political condition has also helped the grocery industry operating business successfully. The level of corruption is very low, which helped the companies maintaining their price at the standard level (Voigt, Buliga Michl, 2016). The new federal government in Australia helped the small and large organizations in operating their business activities by providing proper infrastructure. Economic The economy in Australia is currently facing fiscal deficit. Due to the fiscal deficit, the Australian Government became failure to meet or fulfill all of the promises that it has made to different industries in the country. Per capital GDP of the company has decreased in the last five years (Ododo, Mulholland Turner, 2015). Due to this, the investments in the companies in Australia have also dropped down. Social The Australian society includes a mixed culture. The people in this society like to maintain the tradition and at the same time, they also adopt the new things or changes. This actually helps the companies bringing new products in the market. In case of grocery products, the people always prefer the fresh, healthy and hygiene products (Berman, 2015). Technological The technological infrastructure in Australia is much developed. The companies and the supermarkets in the country get the opportunity of improving their business by utilizing the advanced technological infrastructure of the country. Legal In Australia, the companies are required to follow the legal guidelines provided by the government of the country. The laws related to the minimum wage level, workplace safety and employment rights must be maintained by each company in the country (Brandes Brandes, 2015). At the same time, the legal boundaries implemented by the government for protecting the environment are also needed to be maintained. Environmental The people in Australia are much conscious about the natural environment of the country. Due to this, the companies in this country require to take part in the CSR activities related to the protection of natural environment. Therefore, in the above analysis of the macro environment and the current industrial situation, it can be stated that there is high growth opportunity for Aldi in the coming financial years. At the same time, it can also be said that if the company is able to maintain the quality of the products, then it can easily attract the new customers in the Australian market (Weisenfels, 2015). However, the major threat for the company is the economic condition of the country. The continuous fiscal deficit in the last five years has decreased the investment opportunity, which is creating problem for the company. Apart from that, the growth of grocery industry indicates that there is high competition in the market, which is another threat for Aldi. Describing the nature of competition in the industry and comparing Aldi with its competitors In the above discussion, it has been identified that the competition in the supermarket industry in Australia is very high. The industry has positive growth rate in the market and there is much scope of business expansion in this particular industry. Apart from Aldi, there are two more major player in this industry and those are Woolworths Limited and Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd (Haddock-Millar Rigby, 2015). These two business organizations are not only operating successful business in Australia, but they are also throwing high level of competition to Aldi. If the current business condition of Aldi is analyzed, then it can be identified that the wide business base is one of the major strengths of the company. Aldi has expanded its business in many areas in Australia (Aldi.com.au, 2016). On the other side, the product range of the company is also large. The company is more popular for the quality of its grocery products. Many people in Australia are the loyal to Aldi. This means the loyal customer base is also the strengths of the company. Apart from these, the company also has strong financial base (Aldi.com.au, 2016). As the business of Aldi is expended in several areas and the company is capable of earning good amount of revenue per year, the financial health of the company is much strong (Aldi.com.au, 2016). This strong financial base helps the company in continuous improvements. However, if the comparison is made with the other two giant organizations that are Woolworths and Coles, then it can be identified that most of the strengths of Aldi are not unique. Woolworths Limited and Coles Supermarkets are also having loyal customers. Moreover, Bder (2015) mentioned that the business expansion of Woolworths is more in Australia in comparison to Aldi. At the same time, it is also true that the competitors of Aldi also have strong financial base. However, in this context it can be said that in recent past, the financial strength of Woolworths Limited has declined. At the same time, it is also true that though the financial strength of Woolworths Limited has declined, it is still the major player in the supermarket industry in Australia (Block et al., 2016). On the other side, in comparison with the competitors, it can be identified that the product ranges of Woolworths Limited and Coles are much wider than that of Aldi. This means it is the weakness of Aldi that i t has failed to increase its product range much. There is another weakness of Aldi and that is lack of experienced employees. It has been identified that in comparison with Woolworths Limited and Coles Supermarkets, the company has recruited fresher employees than that of experienced people (Karimi, Papamichail Holland, 2015). Due to this, many times the company faces problems at the time of managing the outlets as well as the stores. Another weakness of Aldi is that the price range of the products of Aldi is much lower than that of the other competitors in the market. Though most of the time customers look for the products at low price range, very low price range sometimes creates questions in the minds of the customers regarding the quality of the products (Yoo, Kim Sanders, 2015). Aldi is facing this particular problem. As the price range of the company is low from the beginning, it cannot increase the price suddenly. At the same time, the company is also loosing many customers due to the very low price range of the products. Therefore, from this discussion, it can be said that Aldi has several strengths in this current business scenario. However, the high level of competition from the side of Woolworths Limited and Coles Supermarkets is creating some problems for the company. Wide product range and strong financial base of the competitors have increased the weakness of Aldi (Simkin, 2016). Though the company has expanded in many areas in Australia, it requires more business expansion as well as business improvements for future growth. Identifying and analyzing the market segments of Aldi Aldi is operating its business in the market of Australia for many years. In order to identify the market segments of the company, it is very important to analyze the customer base of Aldi with the help of STP model. This particular model helps understanding the market segments, target markets and positioning strategies of a particular company. If the customer base of Aldi is analyzed with the help of STP model, then it can be identified that the company has segmented the market on the basis of the demographic and psychographic factors. In case of demographic segmentation, the company has concentrated on the elements like, income and age of the people (Aldi.com.au, 2016). The company has divided the market in three segments based on the income group of the people. These three segments are High income group, Middle income group and Low income group. After segmenting the market, the company has targeted the middle income group only (Aldi.com.au, 2016). This is because the number of people in the middle class income group is more in Australia. Due to this, the company has more scope of increasing the market share by targeting the people in the middle class income group (Adner, Ruiz-Aliseda Zemsky, 2016). On the other side, the company has also divided the market into two segments based on the age group of the people. These two segments are People in the age group between 20 to 30 years and People of above 30 years age group (Aldi.com.au, 2016). The company has primarily targeted the people, who are above the age of 30 years because most of the grocery items are purchased by the people of this particular age group. However, the people between the ages of 20 to 30 years are the secondary target market of the company. The number of customers in this particular age group is less and so the company has considered these people in the secondary target market (Aldi.com.au, 2016). Apart from the demographic segmentation, the company has also segmented the market based on the psychographic factors. The company has mainly concentrated on the lifestyles of the people and divided the market into two segments people, who prefer fast lifestyle and people, who prefer to lead traditional lifestyle (Aldi.com.au, 2016). Between these two segments, the second one is the primary target market of Aldi and the first one is the secondary target market for the company. Discussion on the decision-making process of the target market of Aldi In the above discussion, it has been identified that the primary target markets of Aldi are the middle class income group, who are in between the age group of 20 to 30 years and like to lead the traditional lifestyle. If the buying behavior or the decision-making process of the primary target market of Aldi is analyzed with the help of the generic theory of consumer buying behavior, then it can be identified that the people in the primary target market of Aldi prefer their actual need first while taking the purchasing decision people (Karimi, Papamichail Holland, 2015). The price level is the most important factor that the primary target market of Aldi considers first. The people in this particular target market have limited capacity of purchasing the products. Due to this, they always look for the products at moderate price level (Block et al., 2016). At the same time, quality is another important factor that the consumers under the primary target market of Aldi always consider while taking the purchasing decision. The people always prefer to have the quality at satisfactory level as per the prices of the products (Adner, Ruiz-Aliseda Zemsky, 2016). Apart from the price and quality, the consumers also consider the looks or packaging of the products. Therefore, the decision making process of the primary target market of Aldi is as follows: In the above diagram, it can be identified that there are five stages included in the decision-making process of Aldia customers. The first stage of consumers decision making process is awareness creating. At this stage, the consumers or the target market of the company becomes aware of the products and services of the company. This is very vital stage because this stage creates the first impression of the company (Haddock-Millar Rigby, 2015). Due to this, Aldi always takes care of the promotional activities. The second stage is verifying the products and services of the company by discussing with the other people. As the target market of Aldi includes the people of middle income group, they always clearly verify the products before investing the money in purchase. People generally ask their friends who already have used the products of Aldi. After that, the third stage is visiting the stores of Aldi (Weisenfels, 2015). At this stage, the consumers physically come at the stores of A ldi to verify the products closely. The fourth stage is verifying the products closely. At this stage, the consumers closely check the products and try to match that with the feedbacks given by their friends. The last stage is taking the final decision. If the consumers become satisfied during the verification, then they take the purchasing decision (Brandes Brandes, 2015). Therefore, the above discussion is indicating that in order to influence the decision making process of the primary target market, Aldi always requires focusing on the promotional activities. The positioning statement of the company can be as following: The positioning of Aldi aims to provide the best quality products at the affordable price range. The company focuses on the providing the proper worth to the consumers spending, so that it can deliver the best products and services to the customers. Conclusion In this study, it has been identified that the macro environment and the industrial condition is much favorable for the business development of Aldi. However, there is huge competition in the market and the company is trying hard to compete with the competitors. The major competitors of the company are Woolworths Limited and Coles Supermarkets. The company has several strengths though it requires focusing on its product range. The company has segmented the market as per the demographic and psychographic factors and the primary target market of the company follows five stages during the decision making process. Reference list: Adner, R., Ruiz-Aliseda, F., Zemsky, P. (2016). Specialist versus generalist positioning: Demand heterogeneity, technology scalability and endogenous market segmentation.Strategy Science,1(3), 184-206. 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