Individual business dissertation proposal
1. Literature Review
1.1 Introduction
Aligning the business organization with the current implementation of digitalization and marketing assessment is essential for retail business organizations like Sainsbury’s. According to Vasiljevic et al., (2018), by identifying the changing consumer behavior and buying intentions, extensive implementation of social media marketing essentially helps the business organization to effectively communicate with the target customers. This literature review significantly incorporates a vast range of contemporary data and research developments on digital marketing in the retail sector. On the other hand, as the company is focusing on innovating the service approaches through online shopping as well as the brick-and-mortar approaches digital marketing incorporates through the marketing mix shows extensive incorporation of collaborative approaches to align the consumers with the business organization. Assessing the perceptions and expectations of the diverse range of consumers, digital marketing approaches through social media and other platforms essentially helps the business organization to understand the consumers and to develop effective customer profiles that can positively impact the business performance of Sainsbury’s.
1.2 Objective 1: To investigate the impacts of strategic digital marketing approaches on Sainsbury’s business
The successful implementation of omnichannel marketing is one of the most crucial marketing approaches for sensitivities in this changing retail market. As the UK market shows, extensive incorporation of innovations and advanced technologies by the competitors like Tesco and Aldi. Sainsbury’s is now focusing on creating high-quality rendering approaches through focusing on product quality, as well as virtual communication, emphasizing the communication approaches through different digital platforms like social media extensively allows the company to create a higher degree of accessibility (Xiao et al., 2021). Apart from that, the market segmentation and target audience of the company is now showing significant streamlining of online and in-store purchases which require effective branding through social media. However, the shifting of the brand positioning of the company is now propagating the marketing message “Live Well for Less” through different social media platforms through hashtag campaigns. These approaches are showing a higher degree of communicative approach by conveying the changes through slogans like “Helping Everyone Eat Better”. The social media campaigns of this approach significantly focus on the pricing strategy as well as the innovations in products that can create value for a large and diverse range of customers.
Figure 1: Comparative data of Sainsbury’s and Tesco focusing on Interactions by Post by post type
(Source: Leu et al., 2022)
The company is now encouraging healthy eating as well as sustainable food manufacturing through digital marketing in different virtual platforms defining the effective KPIs for monitoring the reachability of consumers on the online sites as well as the e-commerce platforms of Sainsbury’s essentially allowing the organization to extract a large number of consumers (Leu et al., 2022). The return on investment (ROI) in digital marketing by advanced tools like SEO, customer relationship management (CRM), and other metrics like Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC), conversion rate, and Cost Per Lead (CPL) of online marketing approaches are playing a vital role for attracting and retaining a large number of consumers. The company focuses on Below The Line (BTL) marketing approaches by targeting specific audiences through digital marketing (Chaffey, and Ellis-Chadwick, 2019). Compared to that, the Above The Line (ATL) approach through digital marketing of Sainsbury’s signifies the branding approaches by social media campaigns to enhance the performance in the recovery period of the Covid-19 pandemic. Li et al., (2023), argue that the enhanced online shopping in the changing market scenario after the COVID-19 pandemic is showing a significant incorporation of the marketing mix by focusing on the product and delivery systems of Sainsbury’s. For example, the mobile application digital Nectar has increased by more than 10 million users in the current scenario which is showing significant growth in product sales of the company (Vukmirović et al., 2022).
1.3 Objective 2: To critically evaluate the Marketing Mix in digital marketing and Stakeholder Mapping for the growth of the company
4Ps of Marketing Mix
Product
Diversified brands of different product lines are significantly incorporating effective branding strategies through social media by implementing different online campaigns. For instance, Sainsbury’s is encouraging sustainable fashion through social media platforms by branding the TU range. However, the biodegradable packaging and the process of the different food and apparel products are essentially focused on marketing campaigns in different digital platforms and e-commerce platforms.
Price
Figure 2: Online promotion of Sainsbury’s
(Source: Ponzoa, and Erdmann, 2021)
Digital marketing of Sainsbury’s focuses on conveying discounts and competitive pricing to attract and retain a large number of customers. Emphasizing loyal customers, the social media campaigns of Sainsbury’s are extensively incorporating flexibility in pricing through the position of the different products in the high-end market (Ponzoa, and Erdmann, 2021). On the other hand, the cheaper pricing of the kid’s products ensures a higher degree of value creation in the competitive market.
Place
Effective presence on online shopping platforms is one of the most key approaches of Sainsbury’s that ensure a higher degree of customer acquisition. On the other hand, the enhanced approaches in supply chain management also focus on customer experience and satisfaction through the e-commerce model of retailing (Chaffey, and Ellis-Chadwick, 2019). The strategic locations of the warehouses and efficient inventory management allow the company to deliver the products to the customers efficiently.
Promotion
The combination of ATL and BTL approaches in marketing allows Sainsbury’s to enhance sales by attracting a large number of audience through digital marketing. The brand promotions are highly focused on innovation and creativity by incorporating social media influencers and social media campaigns on different social issues. Creating value through the omnichannel approach of marketing essentially helps the company to focus on customer experience and satisfaction to enhance sales and profitability. Digital marketing for the company is largely based on content sharing on social media and blog posts to create awareness and burying intentions among the target audience.
Mendelow Matrix for stakeholder analysis of Sainsbury’s
Figure 3: Diversification of the stakeholders based on power and interest by Mendelow Matrix
(Source: Zhan et al., 2021)
Customers, shareholders, and sponsors are the essential stakeholders of Sainsbury’s which signify the primary business development approaches. The incorporation of these high power with low interest in the competitive retail market of the UK is essential for the company for operational management (Zhan et al., 2021). On the other hand, executives along with distributors are playing a vital role as stakeholders with high power and high interest in the business of Sainsbury’s. However, the Mendelow Matrix shows employees and suppliers are the key stakeholders who have low power with a higher interest in the business processing of the company. These stakeholders essentially contribute to the business processing and operations of Sainsbury’s effectively. Apart from that, the administration and helpdesk of the retail business are the stakeholders of the company with low power and low interest in the business organization. The business organization needs to keep satisfied these stakeholders to support the business processing.
1.4 Objective 3: To assess the influence of social media marketing on the business growth of the company by focusing on the customer-centric approaches
The marketing strategy focusing on products is significantly focusing on diversifying their product lines of sensibility to attract a diverse and large number of customers through online branding approaches. Apart from that, the second-ranking of Sainsbury in the UK retail market shows a 21.3% market share in the supermarket sector (Ponzoa, and Erdmann, 2021). On the other hand, the sustainability principles through products and the supply chain management is also an essential factor that is incorporated in the marketing practices of the company. Sainsbury’s has shown a significant role in shifting its brand position by assessing the changing preferences of its customer base. Social media campaigns essentially attract a large number of audience members who are potential customers of the business organization. Targeting audiences from the age group of 16 to 80 by effective market segmentation essentially helps the business organization to convey brand messages through different digital media platforms. On the other hand, the incorporation of social media campaigns through hashtags and image sharing essentially helps the organization to create value for a diverse range of consumers (VANNUCCI, and AIELLO, 2018). However, these social media strategies like the incorporation of social media influencers and hashtag proportioning allow the company to create a higher degree of accessibility for a diverse and large audience Emphasis on the efficient supply chain is another significant factor that creates a higher degree of customer experience and satisfaction through faster delivery of a diverse range of product ranges.
Figure 4: Market share of supermarket businesses in the UK from 2017 to 2022
(Source: Cardaci et al., 2022)
Prioritizing the quality, along with the convenience of the consumers is being focused on social media marketing. The company is showing 0.6% growth in market share in 2022 by emphasizing the customer-centric approaches in the changing supermarket sector of the UK (Cardaci et al., 2022). However, the locally sourced products of the company have the potential to create value for a large number of customers and create profitability on a large scale. This factor shows innovative online shopping approaches and the introduction of mobile applications that can enhance the food orders of Sainsbury’s. However, according to Vukmirović et al., (2022), the company has gained 20% more consumers through their mobile application in 2021, which is essentially influencing the profitability of the company. Apart from that, digital marketing focuses on numerous marketing outlets and channels that replaying a key role to enhance the overall integration and collaboration to manufacture and deliver the products efficiently. On the other hand, the online branding approaches of Sainsbury’s significantly focus on the current trends of environmental sustainability and health measures which are influencing the product and distribution strategy of the company. The ‘80% Plus’ digital business approach of Sainsbury’s is significantly allowing the company to enhance digital interactions with the customers, which is essential in this changing retail market.
1.5 Conclusion
The incorporation of a diverse range of secondary data in the literature review focuses on empirical data on digital marketing in the contemporary retail market. However, the marketing approaches show innovative approaches in online and in-store distribution through omnichannel marketing a diverse range of data focusing on the current marketing approaches and changes in marketing. market dynamics have the potential to create an effective understanding and knowledge of the strategic implementation of digital marketing. On the other hand, the post-pandemic recovery of the market in the UK shows significant collaborative efforts in the market by Sainsbury’s to enhance the business performance by identifying the changing consumer behavior. Apart from this, the branding approach through digital platforms essentially allows the company to focus on customer choices and convenience through the omnichannel approach of marketing.
References
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