Marketing 'made in Britain'

SWOT: Focus on British heritage as a strength

 In today's global economy, brands are looking for a competitive edge that will attract the attention of customers near and far. From a SWOT perspective, that strength is often 'made in Britain', which provides an edge for British-based marketers.

Grenson is a good example. The company communicates its British heritage when marketing its high quality shoes to local and international customers. Founded by William Green, the company modernised its name to Grenson in 1913, among the first brands legally registered in the UK.

With a long and proud tradition of producing quality shoes, Grenson only became active in wholesaling to major retailers like Harrods and Selfridges in 2011. Grenson launched its first branded overseas retail store in 2016, choosing a trendy neighborhood in lower New York City to influence consumer perceptions of its fashion credentials. Today, Grenson shoes are also stocked by online retailers like Mr Porter (the men's side of online merchant Net-a-Porter), amongst others.

Grenson updates its marketing plan as trends change, consumers change, the marketing environment changes and technology changes. One thing doesn't change: Grenson's brand is always mentioned in the context of its British heritage, keeping 'made in Britain' in the spotlight with every communication channel.

This is true of all Grenson's social media marketing activities: It's on Instagram (87k followers), Facebook (26k followers), Twitter (13.5k followers), Pinterest (2k followers) and Tumblr.

This example extends coverage of SWOT in Chapter 2 of my Essential Guide to Marketing Planning textbook.

Sainsbury's vs Domino's Pizza: Unexpected competition

When you think about competition, think not just about current rivals but also about potential rivals. Sainsbury's, for example, is testing a new pizza takeaway service that aims to add convenience during the busy holiday season. And this is the kind of unexpected competition that Domino's Pizza has to consider when writing a marketing plan and conducting SWOT analysis.

'By giving our customers the chance to pre-order personalised hot pizzas and pay at the counter, we are saving them time and giving them a great value takeaway experience', says a Sainsbury's exec.

To streamline the in-store preparation process, the grocery chain is initially offering only two sizes of pizza, with multiple toppings available, in three branches. Customers order in advance and then pick up in the store, paying at the pizza counter rather than joining the queue to pay. All in line with Sainsbury's strapline, live well for less.

Grocery retailers like Sainsbury's typically offer frozen pizza or ready-to-bake pizza, but it's not usual to sell made-to-order takeaway pizzas. Yet adding takeaway pizza makes sense because so many shoppers like to buy premade meals to eat at home. Will consumers get into the habit of buying pizza where they buy milk, juice and nappies?

Sainsbury's is popular on social media, with 1.6mm Facebook likes, 505k Twitter followers, 96k YouTube followers, 171k Instagram followers, and 39k Pinterest followers. Comments about the pizza trial on these social media sites will help Sainsbury's gauge interest, in addition to tallying sales.

Grocery retailing challenge: Competitors as stakeholders

Stakeholders (also known as publics) are groups such as community residents, media representatives, stockholders, financial analysts and others who have an interest in or some influence on marketing performance. Obviously, customers, employees, managers, suppliers, government regulators and others can directly influence a business and its performance, meaning they're particularly important stakeholders.

As I say in my texts and here on the blog, competitors must also be considered stakeholders, because every rival can, directly or indirectly, affect the performance of its competitors. This is particularly true in the grocery retailing industry, where activities such as price-match guarantees directly affect what competitors do.

Sainsbury's situation shows this in action. To be competitive, Sainsbury (with 1200 UK stores) has to offer good quality at good prices, as well as making sure its stores are the right size and in the most convenient locations for customers.

Its competitors are using price wars as a key element in their marketing plans--which puts the pressure on Sainsbury to cut prices, too.

Sainsbury recently complained that a Tesco matching price promotion unfairly compared some Sainsbury products with Tesco products. The high court disagreed. But taking this to court indicates that Sainsbury is concerned about the effects of Tesco's price policies.

In fact, Sainsbury just announced a major price-cut promotion of its own to fight back against what competitors like Tesco and Aldi are doing to attract customers and increase market share. Competitors are, as this shows, influencing Sainsbury's decisions and performance.

Seeking to analyse its strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities, Sainsbury has revealed that up to 25% of its stores are either the wrong size or not in the right location. That presents a challenge because of the company's real estate commitments. Can Sainsbury improve its financial position, fix its store situation, keep prices low and improve profits? Stay tuned.

Starting your marketing plan?

Are you starting to prepare a new marketing plan? Here's a brief list of resources to consult for ideas, advice and structure:

• Chartered Institute of Marketing's marketing planning tool takes you from mission statement to resource requirements and budgets, step by step.
• Marketing theory articles and case studies to give you ideas and inspiration.
• What is a SWOT analysis? Find out here.
• Developing brand values is a key aspect of marketing.
• Brand problems? Read about these turnarounds.
• How to forecast sales for your marketing plan.

For a more comprehensive listing of online resources, click to my page of useful marketing planning links.

Grameen Danone Succeeds

Danone and Grameen Bank have a joint-venture social business called Grameen Danone, a for-profit enterprise making and marketing yoghurt in Bangladesh. Danone, the French food giant, and Grameen, known for microfinance, saw an opportunity to create jobs and improve nutrition by creating a business that would pay for itself. Danone has the manufacturing and product strength; Grameen has the local market knowledge and connections (see SWOT analysis in Chapter 2 of my book).

The yoghurt was developed to be especially nutritious and affordable; local women who sell the yoghurt make a tiny profit on each cup; and the manufacturing facility creates jobs for people in the area. Grameen Danone has been so successful that it will soon open a second facility in Bangladesh to take advantage of increasing demand.

Grameen and Danone are now working together to bring microfinance to areas of China that were devastated by earthquakes, a great example of leveraging strengths to bring social and financial benefits to local communities.