Evaluate the Relevance of Strategic Grouping Concept to the Retail Sector in Zimbabwe.

The grocery industry has a relatively high market commonality; a lot of grocery stores are somewhat related in terms of technologies used, labor force and the products or services offered in the stores. Differentiation with other competitors is key for survival in this highly competitive industry.

1. The grocery industry is a commoditized industry, which makes it difficult for grocers to sustain through differentiation. Buyer power is high and thus, cost leadership and operational efficiencies are critical. There is fierce competition amongst various grocery stores, with the main players such as Loblaw and A&P holding multi-banner stores in various market segments. Traditional grocery stores also lose some of their market share to drug stores, convenience stores and other retailers who have entered the industry. Threat of substitutes from fast-food and take- away outlets is not as prevalent, since many grocery stores have started stocking ready-to-eat meals and have deli services available for consumers. Competitive

Supermarkets are one of the many components that contribute to the expansion of the U.S. economy. There are several chains of supermarkets in almost every state, but they cannot be all considered the same. For instance, Publix, Aldi, and Walmart are three of the most popular supermarkets in the U.S., and each one of them has something that its respective consumers value the most, which makes it unique and favorable for the competitors. Therefore, choosing value propositions that will differentiate them from the competitors are a major factor to consider in marketing. This is crucial for the growth of any business because the development of all enterprises lies solely on the effectiveness of its

STRATEGIC LOCATION: When it comes to retail industry the selection of location plays a very important role. Ex. Initially when Wal-Mart was set up by Sam Walton they mainly got success due to their location strategy. They had set up stores i.e. discount centres in rural and small town areas; other reason was strategic placement of distribution centres.

Submitted By: Sahil Bhambri (12 DCP-097) Saksham Sharma (12 DCP-098) Sandeep Bedi (12 DCP-100) Sawan Gupta (12 DCP-104) Tanuj Arora (12 DCP-117) Abhishel Bansal (12 DCP-134)

The UK supermarket industry is a very competitive and profitable industry. It is made up of four main players with significant share of the market, and then various smaller companies who focus on smaller niches in the market such as the bottom of the market discounters and the top of the line speciality stores. It is an interesting market and this report evaluates the attractiveness of the industry using Porter’s five forces model with an insight into how market nicher Waitrose sustains a competitive advantage. Next this report looks at how major player Sainsbury’s successfully competes against its rivals using differentiation strategies, and analyses current consumer trends and problems can effect this industry.

In terms of diversity, Publix has managed to achieve this through its various ranges of goods and services offered by its operating bases. For instance, besides grocery products, the company also has departments that deal with liquor, drug stores and even sushi bars among many others. Among its umpteen services, is its “special

With giants such as Walmart, and Kroger running the grocery store industry it’s difficult for companies such as Smuckers to bargain for shelf-space and prices. Brand name items drawn to the center of the store are what leverages these companies to succeed in the industry. After numerous acquisitions and strategic alliances, Smuckers developed a solid core of product lines which experienced success rapidly. Product lines that experienced the most success as a result of strong positioning in the industry included their Coffee labels, flour and baking products, Oils and food spreads. A 9-Cell Industry Attractiveness/Business Strength Matrix shows that the Industry attractiveness is relatively moderate. With many competitors and strong buyer power from large grocery chains such as Kroger, companies such as Smuckers have explored different strategies that have proved successful in what can be described as a saturated industry. The case insinuates that there may be opportunities in the industry in regards to special markets and perhaps Oils and Baking with sugar free products, but otherwise the recession, although it drove families to buy store bought as opposed to eating out, has had its effects on the food service industry as well.

Woolworths Limited is a retail company made up of a range of businesses that provide customers with quality, range and value. This report focuses on two parts, Woolworths Ltd Strategic analysis and strategic review in order to provide advise to the Board and Senior Management of Woolworths to obtain a higher achievement in 2012. In the first part, the report demonstrates analyzing the business environment by SWOT analysis, key capabilities, major stakeholder interests and identification of generic business level strategy of supermarket unit. Then the second part provides analysis on two strategies from internal and external environment and the Corporate Balanced Scorecard analysis contributing better implement their

The corporation is divided into W H Smith Retail (high street and travel stores), W H Smith News (distribution) and W H Smith Direct (online) businesses and for the purpose of analysis it is important to understand the division between business units as competitive advantage is achieved at the level of each strategic business unit (SBU) and understood through competitive strategy whereas achieving

The grocery retail industry worldwide has grown in recent years to become one of the most intensely competitive industries due to the continuous amounts of new entrants. A grocery retailer is one that sells food and other general household items. Hypermarkets, supermarkets, discounters and small grocery retailers are all under the grocery retail umbrella. Between 2003 and 2008, the grocery retailing industry accounted for 45% of store-based retail values sales over the world. The figures

This case involves a mid-sized, regional grocery store chain called Reed Supermarkets. Reed has 192 retail stores, two regional distribution centers and 21,000 employees in five states in the Midwest of the United States. This case discusses Reed’s market strategy for the Columbus, Ohio, market in particular, which is one of Reed’s largest markets. The Columbus market has grown slightly over the past five years, while Reed’s market share has dwindled slightly in the market. Reed has watched their market share stagnate with the entrance of new competitors (10% growth in stores) and a dramatic shift in customer preferences to value or

Strategic planning involves making decisions about the organization’s long-term goals and strategies and how the organization decides to implement their goals (Bateman, Snell, Konopaske, pg. 113). Strategies help organizations to have a clear perspective on how to go about accomplishing the goals they have in place. All organizations have a clear vision of what their mission and purpose as a company is, they know how to fulfill the mission, vision, and purpose and they know how to ensure that they accomplish all their goals. However, the route the organization takes to define these things determines how effective they will be.

The strategic management is actually defined as the process in which an organization actually formats and also implements the plans which espouse the objectives and goals of that organization (Diana Wicks, 2011). The process of the strategic management is continuous and it changes with the evolution of the organizational goals and objectives.

Strategic planning is defined as a process by which an organization outlines its strategy and makes decision based on the fulfilment of this strategy by the allocation of its resources based on achieving its strategic objective. The senior management of a company is usually responsible for formulating this strategy and hence it is important for them to understand the constantly changing environment to formulate and effective strategy (Mintzberg, 1994). The report deals with a retailing company known as Marks and Spencer (M & S) and the key issues that the company faced in developing and implementing its strategic plan.