Retail Marketing Report-Mystery Shopping in Western Australia

 
Retail Marketing Report: In today?s retail environment, retailers can no longer ignore the importance of multi-channelling. With the shift towards online shopping many traditional bricks and mortar businesses have had to create an online shopping front in order to compete in this highly competitive market. Further, when retailers expand into another channel(s) they need to devote planning and strategic thinking towards formulating a long term plan to effectively cope with the growing intensity of competition as well as changing customer needs. Assessment 1B: Retail Marketing Report

Task
You have just been employed as a mystery shopper for Mystery Mates.* Your first customer would like you to mystery shop their business (including bricks & mortar store and online store) to conduct a review of their retail marketing strategy. In order to perform this review you will need to address the areas below and evaluate from both the bricks & mortar store and online store perspective. *You must act like a mystery shopper from Mystery Mates. Introduction
Executive summary
― Your report must include an executive summary including the key findings and recommendations found within the report (no longer than 1 page).
History of the company
― What is the retailer?s mission statement?
― How long have they been in business and how has their business changed over the years?
Target Market
― Describe the retailer?s target market (describe demographically and psychographically, if possible) and the retailer?s market positioning.
Competitors/ Sustainable competitive advantage
― Identify direct competitors and compare/ contrast your retailer?s competitive advantage. Consider the bases on which the retailer can build (or has already built) a sustainable competitive advantage.
― Describe the current climate and situation that your retailer finds itself in as it attempts to compete.
― Provide a brief overview of the retail sector in which the retailer operates. Consider – what environmental and economic factors are affecting the retailer, the competitive pressures, changing demographics and buying preferences, consumer behaviour issues, image issues, etc. that affects this retailer and how they conduct business? How has the industry changed as a
School of Marketing, Tourism and Leisure
MKT3550 Retail Marketing
result of e-commerce and technology? Retail Market Strategy
Current retail market strategy
Evaluate the Retailer?s current market strategy and in doing so, address the following areas:
― Retail format.
― Location strategy in the marketplace:
 Where is the retail store located?
 Why do you think they chose this location(s)?
 How accessible is the location for their customer base?
― Its retail mix:
 Merchandise variety and assortment (consider staple and fashion merchandise offered), quality of product, national v private brands.
― What is its pricing strategy?
― Quality/ level of customer service
― CRM or customer loyalty program
 Does it have a CRM program? If not, should it have one, why/ why not?
 If it has a CRM program, evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of it from both the customer and business perspective.
― Communication Mix:
 What communication elements does the retailer use in the marketplace and marketspace? Are they consistent?
― Store/ Website layout, Design and Visual Merchandising
 Evaluate the retailers store/ website layout, design and visual merchandising. Is there consistency across both channels?
― Overall, how effective do you think the retailer?s current market strategy is for the retailer? Recommendations
Future retail market strategy
Consistent with the learning outcomes of this unit, provide a retail strategy for this retailer going forward. Consider:
― What do you think the future holds for this retailer?
 What growth opportunities, operational or strategic recommendations you would suggest the retailer pursues for the future? What opportunities would you capitalize on? Why?
NOTE: You must visit both the bricks & mortar store and online store and act as a mystery shopper. HINT: Don?t state what the Retailer believes they stand for today but what you, as the mystery shopper, see them as standing for. Remember mystery shopping fills in the gap of information between operations and marketing.
HINT: Consider the key concepts covered in the unit when writing this report.
HINT: Address the considerations above but don?t limit your report to only these areas.
HINT: You must be critical in your analysis, rather than purely descriptive.
Selection of a suitable retailer for the assignment:
o You cannot select the following retailers: Myer, David Jones, Woolworths, Coles, IGA, Target, Kmart, Big W, IKEA or Bunnings.
o The retailer must have a retail store present in Western Australia as you will need to visit their marketplace to fulfil the requirements of this assessment.
o The retailer must have both a bricks & mortar store and online store retail presence.
 Find, select, organise and reference information (it is not acceptable simply to write this report ?off the top of your head?). You must provide evidence to support your points.
 Analyse (What does this mean? Why did this happen? Who contributed to this?), not just describe information from competing explanations and sources.
 Read widely in order to critically review the information available about your selected retailer. You will need to consult your textbook but you must also seek other sources of information that are specific to your retailer and market. Don?t underestimate the value of asking questions of the retailer?s salespeople or customers of the retailer (consider online as well ? blogs, forums etc.).
Finally and most importantly, you need to find a company that is locate in Western Australia provide the address and make it as you have visited the store.
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