Marketing Story Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing Story Analysis - Essay Example At a deeper level, however, one can find the existence of international marketing strategy, brand image and strategic retail management. 2. Analysis a. Retail Management One of the major and all-encompassing marketing concepts highlighted by this article is that of retail management and consumer behavior. The U.K, like its developed counterparts, is facing a change in its demographics with a skewed population pyramid (KPMG, 2013). The so-called â€Å"ageing population† translates to changing customer habits based on age. In the middle of such a transition, retailers such as Tesco are finding it difficult to adapt to such changes in customer behavior. This transition has given way to increased significance of one-stop convenience shopping as elder individuals find themselves difficult to visit several stores for buying food and non-food products (SAS, 2013). This is one of the most important aspects of retail strategy which requires companies to build store formats based on the needs of the target market (Gilbert, 2003). For instance, IKEA has adapted to customers’ needs for buying furniture for their first apartment (Castella, 2012). Furthermore, it caters to customers’ need to engage in one-stop shopping for their home by offering a maze-like retail format whereby customers walk through virtually everything before getting down to the product they intended to buy (Tozer, 2011) . The article demonstrates just how the â€Å"space race† is no longer important as it used to be. In fact, multi-channel strategies, as the author puts it, are the basis for such advantage in the contemporary world. This points to the area of retail format development which involves the development of a new format of stores for the existing customers with a different retail mix (Levy & Weitz, 2012). In the context of Tesco, this means making the shopping experience more convenient for customers. Tesco has strictly adopted the multi-channel strategy by having T esco Express, Metro, Superstores and Extra in its pipeline of stores (Doyle, 2008) (West et al., 2006). These outlets fulfill different market needs ranging from being located near to customers’ place of residence or work to offering ready-to-eat meals in City Centers. Another way of viewing the same is to understand the shift from the traditional bricks and mortar store format towards digital/online presence (Bernstein et al., 2008). b. E-commerce and multi-channel strategy The scope for e-commerce has been highlighted in the article by claiming that, owing to busy work schedules, individuals are now flocking towards online shopping which has already increased by over 8% in Britain with respect to Tesco. Even successful traditional companies such as Wal-Mart are now offering e-shopping in addition to their traditional services (Rosenbloom, 2013). However, given the fact that virtually all major retailers have adopted this perspective, one may challenge whether or not the mul ti-channel strategy can guarantee a â€Å"sustainable† competitive advantage in today’s world. Further contradiction arises from some authors who have claimed multi-channel strategies to be obsolete. According to them, the â€Å"channel† perspective is being replaced by the â€Å"touch-points†