“Old Marketing is Dead; New Marketing Wins “
This statement is based on Chapter 3 of Nigel Piercy’s book “Market-Led Strategic Change” – the course text.
Sainsbury’s is a company that has just reported a 5.3% increase in under-lying pre-tax profit to March 2014, (The Financial Times, May 2014). This is contrary to key competitors such as Tesco and Morrisons’ who are both reporting falls in profitability and market share.
You are required to produce a report by conducting a marketing audit of Sainsbury’s current position and then outline the key reasons for its success based largely on the content that we covered in Chapter 4:
• The concept and importance of value-based marketing
Your answer should reflect the practical considerations that an organization faces in the real-world which is a central tenet of Piercy’s approach. For this reason you may want to introduce concepts from other parts of the course.
To achieve the above requires looking at the marketing strategy implemented over the last ten years by the outgoing Chief Executive of Sainsbury’s Justin King. The company has successfully resolved a number of key marketing issues during this time and is, according to market analyst Bernstein offering “quality food for the masses”. Its positioning as thus is different to Tesco.
Your report should contain incisive insight into the status of the current grocery retail market, the key dynamics driving it and where it is heading strategically and how Sainsbury’s has successfully adapted its marketing in relation to those changes. In addition, how the issues put forward and discussed during the course have impacted upon Sainsbury’s current position in the UK and how Justin King has arrived at a successful marketing/value proposition in today highly competitive UK Grocery market.
Your report should conclude with firm and clear statements on what the key factors are that have contributed towards Sainsbury’s UK marketing strategy and how they have – and are -creating value for customers.
Remember: critical appraisal is essential. I am looking for demonstration of genuine marketing insight and understanding in relation to the real-life issues faced by a leading organisation and how marketing can create value going forward. Use of core marketing concepts to facilitate explanation would greatly assist with this.