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  • Essay / Grocery Stores and Their Strategies

    Table of ContentsGrocery Store Consumer Target StrategyPositioning Statement Market Basket:Shaw's Positioning Statement:Sam's Club Positioning StatementGrocery Store Consumer Target StrategyLast week I visited three stores in the greater Portland area that specifically target consumers who need to buy groceries. These three stores were Market Basket in Biddeford, Sam's Club in Scarborough and Shaw's in Scarborough. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay The first store I visited was Market Basket in Biddeford. Market Basket is a grocery chain that sells branded products as well as its own Market Basket branded items such as bagels and bread. The company is centered in the New England region and has approximately 75 supermarkets. This centralized approach results in reduced overhead costs and ultimately allows Market Basket to offer lower prices than other supermarket chains. In turn, they target everyday consumers who are looking for good prices. The Biddeford location also houses a cafe area where consumers can also purchase drinks, sandwiches and other items to enjoy at the store. This approach of creating quick but also healthy coffee, as opposed to the typical “ready-to-go meals” of other grocery stores, sets Market Basket apart from its competitors. Market Basket presents the 4 Ps in different ways. When it comes to products, the store is quite large, allowing them to carry a wide variety of items. Their coffee offers another incentive to buy from a competitor. They are priced much lower than other competitors, creating an environment for repeat shoppers to come in more often because they won't depend on weekly sales to keep coming back. They are also in a great position for their business model. Being fully centralized in New England allows Market Basket to effectively manage overhead costs across all of its stores. Promotion is mainly done in local newspapers which attach a leaflet presenting weekly sales offers. As a grocery store, they target local customers, making this promotional approach perfect for their business model. The second store I visited was Shaw's in Scarborough. This supermarket has over 100 stores in the New England area. Unlike Market Basket, prices often seem higher than other supermarkets in the area. Shaw's makes up for this, however, by offering larger sales in its weekly flyers. In turn, Shaw's appears to be targeting different groups of customers who will be attracted to stop by based on the items featured in their weekly flyers, instead of building a broad base of loyal customers. Shaw's also offers a pharmacy in its stores, which Market Basket does not have. Although they offer this pharmacy service, they do not offer coffee but only offer a “ready to go” approach. Shaw's presents the 4 P's a little differently than Market Basket. They offer a little less variety of products in their storefront due to the size difference between the specific stores I visited. When it comes to price, Shaw's is generally more expensive than Market Basket and relies more on weekly flyer sales to attract customers. Like Market Basket, Shaw's is also ideally positioned for its business model. Being completely centralized in New England allows Shaw's to manage everyone's overhead well..