Entry Mode : Marketing Management

Trader Joe’s is a major food retailer who has developed quite the name for themselves. It has well over 350 stores in over 32 states and is expected to continually grow over the next few years (Bond, 2012). For over 50 years, Trader Joe’s has been providing quality customer services, products and a unique shopping experience for its customers. They have come a very long way from when they first officially opened their doors. Trader Joe’s started when its founder Joe Coulombe wanted to find a way to differentiate his 7-Eleven stores (Schermerhorn, Osborn, Uhl-Bien & Hunt, 2012). In the food retailer industry, Trader Joe’s has developed a process that works well and

How does a store like Trader Joe’s grow into a billion-dollar company with great ratings and demonstrate outstanding management skills? This company used the approach to stand out by being different as an effective measure to compete with the bigger grocery stores. Trader Joe’s business model intentionally kept the size of its stores small and holds fewer products than the larger grocers. They chose to frequently place new products on its shelves and revise ingredients to meet the customer’s needs. They also sell kitchen-tested products to entice new customers. They have also employed a creative marketing team to announce new private-label products to provide outstanding value. In addition to their unique way of doing business,

In Australia exist several restaurants which give to the costumer fast food, as Mc Donald, KFC, Hungry Jack’s, Subway. All of them offer to the costumer fast food, but Subway offer something different as such healthy food.

The threat of entry of the supermarket industry in US is low, which base on the analysis of the three major sources that related to the entry barriers. The first barrier is the economies of scale of the existing large supermarkets. When these incumbents achieved larger volume sales, they can have lower unit costs than new entrants, and it will very difficult for those new entrants to compete with them (Johnson, Whittington, &Scholes 2011). For example, Wal-Mart had invested in innovative procurement, automated distribution centre and bar coding to increase its economies of scale, and these investments created a great barriers for new small retailers to enter into the supermarket industry (Porter 2008). The second barrier is the incumbency advantages, which mean the incumbents established their own strengths that cannot be used by competitors (Porter 2008). For example, the top ten supermarkets in US have accumulated extensive experiences on how to run their businesses more efficiently than new entrants (Johnson, Whittington, &Scholes 2011). The subtle differentiation between the products that sold in supermarkets is the third barrier for new entrants. Because most of the product assortment is same or similar between each supermarket,

One of Trader Joe’s biggest advantages is in their target market. They have found the niche that appreciates higher quality foods but is on a tight budget and Trader Joe’s has managed to provide high quality food that is at a great price. So you end up with the individuals who are health conscious and in college or recently graduated who value a great deal. Trader Joe’s has realized that and has capitalized on this fact by opening in locations that are easily accessible to both students

Trader Joe’s chief executives have been careful in their expanding of the brand to more geographic locations, and they must continue to seek out their target market of “intelligent, educated, inquisitive individuals” and settle around them.

Thirdly, Trader Joe’s stores are small and located in non-prime locations, which holds fixed operating costs at bay. Furthermore, the company is able to generate the industry’s highest sales per square feet in its small sized stores. In an effort to diversify from its competitors, Trader Joe’s also relies on a non-traditional marketing strategy. Completely neglecting conventional marketing techniques like commercials or promotional offers, the company focuses on unique and store specific in-store marketing with its newsletter and the occasional radio ad being its major means of communication with its customers. The Trader Joe’s brand with its vast fan base is naturally another part of the company’s competitive advantage.

One of Trader Joe’s competitive assets is their business model. They open small stores that give their customers a neighborhood feel. Analysts have found that the chain sells almost twice as much per square foot as its main competitor, Whole Foods (INVESTPOEDIA, 2016). This unique strategy allows consumers to view and choose more products in a given area, therefore making them more likely to find what they are searching for. This strategy is sustainable if Trader Joe’s continues to operate in this manner.

Founded in 1958 by Joe Coulombe and now established with more than 365 stores in the United States, Trader Joe 's has been serving customers with their unique business model. Trader Joe 's specializes in organic and natural food offering staples like milk, eggs, and other foods with below-average price points. Trader Joe’s encourage their customers to buy the product at a low price without having to be registered with the store. Once the company makes contacts with the manufacturer of the particular food product, it then establishes contracts with the producer to the supply the food and allocates the space needed in their store (Trader Joe’s, 2016).

3. What are the main threats to Trader Joe’s competitive advantage? Is their advantage sustainable?

Trader Joe’s occupies a niche position in the grocery market by providing natural, organic and eclectic selection of wines, frozen food, prepared food and groceries at everyday low prices. They have a small area format with limited products which has put them in the top rank for sales per square feet.

This is because they constantly keep their shelf stock moving. This is shown by the SKU (stock keeping units) of 3500 compared to the traditional supermarket, which has an SKU of 55,000 (Kowitt, 2010). Trader Joe’s keeps their SKU much lower which enables them to constantly offer high numbers of new products. Therefore brand loyalty will not be as high for Trader Joe’s. Trader Joe’s keeps their costs per unit down achieving exceptional economies of scale. All of these barriers to enter the market make it difficult for new entrants trying to enter the market.

Multinational companies opt to franchise as a way of expansion strategy (Siebert, n.d.). Chick-fil-A is dominant only in the US market. The firm has only ventured into the Canadian market in the airport of Calgary. Many United States Corporations have engaged in franchising in the United States as a form of the expansion strategy. Laws concerning franchising are neither strict in Canada. Our form of non-equity mode will be franchising, therefore our form of entry will be a small-scale entry. This will allow our company to get exposure in key locations and learn from Canadian consumers. The benefit to franchising at first is that it is less costly and less risky for the franchisor.

“Internationalization Process of Toyota in Europe from the Perspectives of Entry Mode and Network Structure”

The reluctance of firms to change entry modes once they are in place, and the difficulty involved in doing so, make the mode of entry decision a key strategic issue for firms operating in today’s rapidly internationalizing market place.