Coles and Woolworths Ethical Issues in Marketing

Woolworth case study

Marketing is the process through which a company is attempting to communicate with customers and try to make them aware of all the products and services offered by the company in the targeted market. It is very important that company should take care of the fact that marketing techniques should be ethical. The focus is on the ethical issues in marketing strategies of Woolworth company. Due to intense competition in supermarket industry, company is always been the keen supporter of promotional tools. They are always attempting to innovate their promotional tools so that they are in continuous contact with their targeted customers. As visualised in different surveys, company is carrying out extensive promotional techniques through online media. Following graphs is showing the growth that departmental stores have while marketing on online media. This is the sector which is having the main source of income in online media.

(Illustration 1: Online sales growth rate in Australia, 2021)

The challenges-

As described inn above case study, company is using online marketing tool extensively and this is posing some serious challenges to the company. These issues comes mainly under the category of ethical issues. One of the main issues is that the online media marketing targets only one specific group of targeted audience and this makes a demarcation line between the whole society. This challenge also paints a bad image on face of company that is only existing in the market for a specific section of society. Following diagram showcases the problems that are existing in the area of marketing. Majorly, every problem relates to online channel.

(Illustration 2: Challenges in online marketing, 2020)

The solution-

To solve the above-described challenge, it is important that company is focusing on incorporating such ways those will be including both offline and online marketing channels. Through this combination method, company will be able to target and communicate with both those in access of internet and those who are living in remote area as well. This will also improve the image of company in target market and will be boosting the sales revenue as well. Furthermore, this will improve the brand awareness in the market and will also focus on increasing the credibility of company in market. If the company is using both the channels, than it will improve the communication strategy of company with its customers and hence, will also gain their trust, this trust value will improve the competitive edge of company in market.

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Coles supermarket case study

Coles group is dealing in grocery products and it has employed more than 110,000 staff members. They have established their brand name in marketplace and is operating in more than 2400 location in Australia. The level of competition is high in retail sector hence the percentage market share changes frequently. The customers of Coles are more technology friendly hence it is beneficial for company as there operation cost is reducing and more focus is on customer satisfaction. These are the main aspects which is helping company to grow its turnover and profitability. Due to vast size the company is facing difficulty in delivering high quality supply chain systems and need to control its cost and expenses. Moreover due to large distance the communication problem is taking place which is effecting the operations and activities of Coles.