Marketing Dissertation Price Supermarket Industry

Investigating the Impact of “Price” As a Positioning Factor in the UK Supermarket Industry: A Study of Tesco

Dissertation Topic: Price Positioning in the UK Supermarket Industry. Tesco is currently the market leader in the UK retail industry (and has been since 1995), since the launch of the Tesco Clubcard. It has been claimed that Tesco has created customer loyalty by introducing the Clubcard. However, it is possible that the Clubcard does not necessarily create loyalty; rather, it helps the company to understand and predict customer behaviour, and to an extent, influence customer behaviour through various price deals and offers.

It has been established that customer loyalty can certainly improve the probability that an organisation’s profits will increase. In the case of Tesco, loyalty has not actually been created although the company has established a way of predicting and influencing consumer behaviour (to an extent) through the loyalty card. Since customer satisfaction is one of the key ingredients that contributes towards customer loyalty, it can be said that at the moment, Waitrose, Aldi, and Lidl are at a better position to create customer loyalty, for whatever reasons.

Customers generally do not differentiate the companies based on the prices they offer, rather, they differentiate the products based on the perceived quality. The problem is that companies such as Tesco, Morrisons, and ASDA have similar price structures, and as such, pricing may not be the point of difference for the consumers. Tesco’s positioning on the basis of price (every little helps) may not help the company to gain a significant advantage over the competitors, although it may contribute to maintaining this advantage.

Dissertation Objectives

Based on the assumption that pricing is not the factor by which consumers differentiate companies, the following research objectives have been composed:

To analyse the extent to which pricing is a differentiating factor (as seen by the customer) that influences consumer buying behaviour in the supermarket industry
To identify whether price positioning (as seen by the customer) is a viable option for supermarkets

1 – Introduction

Statement of the Problem
Research Objectives
Research Questions
Hypothesis
Dissertation Outline

2 – Research Methodology
The Research Philosophy
Ontology
Epistemology
Position on Philosophy
Research Approach
Deduction
Induction
Combined Approach
Research Design
Research Strategy
Grounded Theory
Ethnography
Case Study
Data Collection Techniques
Sampling and Population
Focus Group Interviews
Questionnaires
Scope and Limitations
Gaining Access and Research Ethics

3 – Literature Review
Price Image Dimensions
Price-Quality Link
Price as a Market Cue
Ego-involvement and Price
Price and Retail Patronage
Price Premiums and Brand Equity
Role of Price in Strategic Positioning
Expectation Theory in Consumer Behaviour
Henry Assael Model

4 – Discussion and Analysis
Qualitative Research Report and Analysis
Quantitative Research Report and Analysis
Discussion on the Findings
Is price a differentiator in the supermarket industry?
Is the low end price position viable for retailers?
The Hypothesis

5 – Conclusions

References

Appendix
Questionnaire Summary

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I hope you enjoyed reading this post on the Impact of “Price” As a Positioning Factor and how it affects the UK Supermarket Industry. There are many other titles available in the marketing dissertation collection that should be of interest to marketing students and practitioners. There are many dissertation titles that relate to other aspects of marketing such as branding, corporate advertising, marketing strategy and consumerism to name a few. I would be grateful if you could share this post via Facebook and Twitter. Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments section. Thank you.

Social Media Marketing

A Study on the Effectiveness of Social Media Marketing on Sales in Retail Industry: A case study of Tesco (2016)

Social Media Marketing is one of the major marketing tools for business firms in the current stream of technological advancement though the concept of social media marketing is not so much old in the comparison of other marketing approaches that are practiced by the business firms. Since the social marketing media is a comparatively newer approach for the marketers there are enough questions among the people who intend to use it.

One the major issues that the social media marketing raises is the effectiveness of this approach on the sales of a firm. This dissertation aimed to find out a reasonable answer to the issue and the objectives are set in the course of deducting a set of outcomes which can lead to achieving the aim of the dissertation . The dissertation is segmented in six different chapters each of which has its own benefits and merits. The first chapter is related with the background of choosing such an issue and the rationale that can make the issue so much of being in a discussion.

The second chapter is related with the prior research and findings which have a substantial amount of effect on from choosing the issue of research and conducting the research. The third chapter is on the research methodology discussion and the discussion on most applicable methods that can lead to the research to success. Afterwards, the chapter of results comes in where the results are discussed.

The final two chapters are about analysis and concluding the research. At this point, it is quite imperative to state that the research is based on the responses from a sample of 50 people residing in the UK. The sample is selected using a random sampling method. The results are calculated with the SPSS 16.0 version and Microsoft Excel. The approach used in the research is a deductive approach.

For achieving the aim different types of statistical tools are used which includes three measures of central tendency along with the standard deviation, correlation analysis, regression analysis and ANOVA. The central tendency measures give an image of somewhat agree category result and percentage analysis shows similar effects. The correlation analysis shows sometimes though a very little degree of relativity, a good amount of relativity remains among the variables. The regression analysis which is considered as the core of all analysis has shown results that helped to reject the null hypotheses except for the brand awareness variable. These results have led to some important insights that can be very helpful for both the company Tesco and for further research on the topic. This research contains some important discussion on one of the most talked issues of the current marketing world. The number of researches done on the issue seems to be meager in terms of the presence in the global village. Moreover, the insights and analysis that are done in the research dissertation can be helpful for firms that are newcomers in the market and desire to make a mark in the retail industry.

Dissertation Objectives

To critically evaluate if there is any relationship between the SMM process and sales of Tesco
To critically evaluate how SMM process helps to build up brand awareness of Tesco
To critically assess the relationship of SMM process and the brand loyalty of Tesco
To critically assess how SMM process helps Tesco to maintain a firm customer relationship

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Loyalty Cards

An Exploration into The Relationship Between Brand Trust and Use of Loyalty Cards – A Case Study of Tesco

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This dissertation seeks to evaluate the relationship between brand trust and loyalty cards and show the impact of loyalty cards on brand trust of customers. In context to carry out the investigation, it has explained the facets of brand trust, customer satisfaction, perceived value and customer loyalty. The research is a quantitative, deductive study where primary data have been collected from three stores of Tesco Plc., in the UK (Birmingham Region) through the survey questionnaire method. The research has assumed Uncles’ Research Model (2002) in the background and has modified it according to the objectives of the research. The questions in the questionnaire are mostly close-ended questions based on Likert Scale Rating which has been analysed through factor percentage analysis method. The research has successfully identified 4 factors with various sub factors and established the suggested research framework through justified literature review and data evidences, based on the conceptual model of Uncles’ et al. (2002). It has also accomplished all the four research objectives showing that loyalty programs are considerably effective in earning trust from old and new customers by perceptible and imperceptible constituents, which can be explained both in behavioural and attitudinal aspects. This research has also considered several literature gaps which were present earlier and tried to answer several of them.

Loyalty Cards Dissertation

The main purpose of this research dissertation is to evaluate the relationship between brand trust earned through loyalty cards used in many conventional retail stores. Many companies have now adopted the practice of loyalty cards because they consider this an excellent way of earning trust from customers and creating a special bond with them.This in turn helps in the retainment of old customers and also creates a good reputation in the market. The loyalty card system gives some privilege facilities to the member customers because they get bonus points and discount offers on products. This study will delve deeply into the concept of brand trust, the effects of loyalty cards in relationship marketing and the impact of loyalty cards on brand trust in reality, by considering the case study of Tesco and their Loyalty Club Card facilities for the UK customers. The main aim of the research is to evaluate and find out the relationship between brand trust and loyalty cards. It will identify and evaluate whether loyalty cards can confer brand trust in the customers. To fulfil the main aim, the following objectives will be further accomplished;

To investigate the impact of loyalty cards on brand trust of customers by a questionnaire analysis of Tesco club card members from three different stores in the UK
To critically evaluate the effectiveness of loyalty programs in increasing the perceived values and customer satisfaction which contributes to brand trust
To test the hypothetical assumptions regarding the relationship between loyalty programs, perceived values and brand trust
To prove that loyalty programs offer a good index of customer brand trust
The survey results will be interpreted through percentage analysis and deductive reasoning, thus proving the suggested theoretical assumptions