Coles - Promotional Strategies

Coles supermarkets is an Australian supermarket and retail chain established in 1914 by George coles. Coles supermarket also has opened its online store, i.e. Coles online, to provide online services to its customers. Coles has developed various brands for its diverse range of products. The primary purpose of Coles supermarkets is to provide adequate services to customers and achieve long term success in the retail industry.

Coles marketing Mix: Coles supermarkets provide a diverse range of products to customers in the best manner. The 7Ps of Coles supermarkets are Products, Price, Place, Promotion, Physical Evidence, People and Process.

Coles creates awareness by several ways. They have promotional campaigns frequently such as the Stikees campaign promoting their fresh produce, Mini Collectibles campaign promotional several products sold in Coles etc. 

Coles appearance on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest cannot be missed. Coles particularly promotes its fresh produce  by creating slogans such as "Fresh Good People". Coles also Promotes its products by partnering with famous Cooking shows such as MKR and Masterchef where it sponsors its fresh produce and products.

 Coles promotes its meat as it is organic and that it promotes local farmer. They also partner with famous chefs such as Curtis Stone to promotes their minced meat variety and other food products. Another famous ways of promoting its products is through their monthly magazines which has heaps of recipes including Coles products and fresh produce. This way it gets customers to buy their products and try them. 

Coles likes to retain its customer buy providing Flybuys point, Container promotion etc where customers receive points that can be claimed on purchase.

Coles has gained huge acceptance for its products in the industry, but it has been identified that the satisfaction level of customers with the products of Coles is still lower than Woolworths, ALDI and some other retail firms operating in the Australian retail market. following recommendations have been provided for Coles to strengthen its retail position further:

• Coles should improve its strategic position in the industry by developing various customer-oriented marketing strategies and taking initiatives to increase customer satisfaction with various products sold at supermarket stores.
• Coles should also converge its number of brands into one brand to increase awareness among customer about its products and to cause brand awareness in Australia.
• Coles has limited global presence outside Australia. Thus, initiatives must be taken by Coles to open a number of grocery stores outside Australia.
• Coles should also adopt a number of competitive strategies to compete with other dominating retail firms in Australia.
• Employees motivation should also be strengthened through various compensation packages and performance management systems.
• Coles should develop talent management strategies to provide regular training to its staff members.
• Coles should also take initiatives to reduce its cost of operation.
• Coles should further strengthen its product base by developing or improving relations with a number of suppliers and launching new products at its stores.