Impact of digital marketing on Woolworth’s growth

and development
 Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION:......................................................................................................1

1.1 Identification and reasoning on topic selection:......................................................1

1.2 Literature Review:...................................................................................................1

1.3 Overview of social media for digital marketing and its importance:........................2

1.4 Impact of Social media on growth of Woolworths:..................................................3

1.5 Statement of Problem:............................................................................................4

1.6 Research Questions:..............................................................................................4

REFERENCES.................................................................................................................5
 1. INTRODUCTION:

1.1 Identification and reasoning on topic selection:

Woolworths was established on 5th December 1924 at Sydney Imperial Arcade by
Woolworths Stupendous. It is one of the largest supermarket chains in Australia that is
serving people with fresh food since decades. It operates in 995 stores across Australia
and has more than 115,000 employees in its store, distribution centers and other
support offices. It keeps its customers at priority providing them with superior service,
range, value and convenience while purchasing (Woolworths.com, 2021pp2).

For this report, the most trending topic in this today’s world i.e. the digital marketing is
focused and how it impacts the growth and development of a business in Australia will
be analyzed and examined throughout the report. While researching about the digital
marketing and its importance in the companies of Australia, it was found that there is an
interesting journey for retail company Woolworths to switch and upgrade to have the
digital marketing and e-commerce as one of its major reasons for growth and
development during Covid and post Covid scenario as the company majorly deals with
fresh groceries and other FMCG products and services. The research by different
scholars also explains about the shift from the modern advance use of social media and
digital marketing techniques over the traditional marketing tools to promote the business
and attract large pool of customers in the business industry(Cameron, 2021,pp3(4).

1.2 Literature Review:

In the early times, the retail supermarkets were physically visited by the customers to
purchase food, and other related products that also affected their purchasing behavior
and preferences. However, presently, the buying behaviors and preferences of the
customers depend on the availability of e-commerce sites, appealing pictures,
information on digital platforms, mobile shopping and smart technologies applied by the
companies as people have no time to visit the stores and purchase these days, so they
want convenience and ease for shopping their products online through different digital

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platforms. Moreover, these has led to launch of new competitors and sellers in the
market who can be threat for the retail companies in business (Cameron, 2021,pp3(2)).

1.3 Overview of social media for digital marketing and its importance:
Digital marketing no less than the marketing strategies developed before, however, it
involves a great mix of new tools and strategies for companies to follow and promote
their businesses through different mediums. To reach each customer effectively,
businesses try different strategies which turn out to be the biggest challenges for them
to deal with, especially in the retail industry (Reinartz, Wiegand and Imschloss, 2018,
pp2 (2)). The reasons for this gap between the customers and business can be
highlighted to be the social media platforms of digital marketing and the advancement in
the information technologies across the globe that has made it challenging for
businesses to cope up with the new upgrade and enhancement of their techniques to
promote and aware their brands to the customers with the right message, products and
services. A researcher conducted a study where 421 marketing managers were asked
about the use of social media marketing in their retail companies and how well does it
impact the businesses. The findings of the study highlighted that the usefulness of the
social media platforms and networks are not dependable on the usage of it and it also
found that there is a positive influence of trust on the perceived usefulness that
promotes the adoption of the social media marketing by the retail companies. Hence,
this means that the results of the study clearly recommends that use of social media
marketing helps the retail companies to build trust and have overall growth in the
business (Kasangottu, 2018,pp2(1)).

Likewise, it is seen that the retail industry is constantly transforming and evolving since
last 2 decades. The landscape of the retail industry has been drastically changed by the
globalization, mergers, acquisitions and the technological advancements. The extensive
growth of the internet has been of one the key player/catalyst in the process of the
change and development. Dealing with the intangibles and the information of the
products by the retail industry through the use of the internet has been challenging as
each small details and aspect needs to be managed and considered when the business
take off to the digital platform. Moreover, the application of the social media as the

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marketing strategy by the retail companies has given more control to the consumers in
terms information and power over the market process which becomes challenging and
keep retail companies in different dilemmas. However, even if it is challenging and
difficult to shift to the social media era, it is important for the retail companies to take
over the digital platform for the growth and development of the business overall to reach
large number of customers, serve them conveniently, aware people about the brand all
over the world and also take benefits of promoting through the digital world. It also helps
them to become competitive and have competitive advantages for the long run in the
dynamic environment (ArangoBotero, Valencia Arias, Bermúdez Hernández and Duque
Cano, 2021,pp6(2)).

1.4 Impact of Social media on growth of Woolworths:

Social media has been one of the biggest and effective tool of the digital marketing to
boost the companies awareness across the world and attract a large pool of customers.
A study explained that how businesses can expand globally through the use of social
media and digital marketing strategies that majorly involve the customers, culture,
customs, competition and the local laws. The study also explains the application of
social media for promotion and awareness of brand all over the world is effective and
helps the retail industry to attract large pool of customer base in advance age of e-
commerce. The article additionally incorporates the correlation of key boundaries
between three retail organizations. The worldwide business development for top
retailers is additionally a moving assignment with regards to various market real factors
across mainland. Yet, there are likewise effective worldwide retailers whose presence
isn't limited by mainland geologies. The worldwide retail enterprises are long stretch
organizations with longer breakeven periods. Along these lines, a compelling worldwide
business extension system ought to be executed with knowledge into the future
business prerequisites (Constantinides, Romero and Boria, 2008,pp1(2)).

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1.5 Statement of Problem:
Woolworths was always focused on satisfying its customers through its services and
products by the application of the traditional media and marketing techniques. So, it was
difficult for Woolworths to cope up with the advancement and serve its clients during
extensive use of digital business and ecommerce at a point of time which led to
decrease in its sales and overall growth. During Covid and Post Covid scenario, it was
difficult for people to shop physically at the stores and distribution centers of the
company, so it was the time when Woolworths applied the digital marketing strategies
extensively to reach out its customers effectively and serve them the best leading to its
great growth and development. So, in this report how the digital marketing strategies
and which strategy of marketing has affected the company is analyzed with its overall
investigation of how did it interact with its customers and attracted them to get back on
track.

1.6 Research Questions:

The major research question that can be focused in this report is:

 What are the digital marketing factors or strategies that impact the growth and
development of Woolworths?

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 REFERENCES

ArangoBotero, D., Valencia Arias, A., Bermúdez Hernández, J. and Duque Cano, L.,
2021. Factors that promote social media marketing in retail companies.

Cameron, N., 2021. Ecommerce, digital drive first-half growth at Woolworths and Coles.
[online] Cmo.com.au. Available at:
<https://www.cmo.com.au/article/686492/ecommerce-digital-drive-first-half-
growth-woolworths-coles/> [Accessed 14 December 2021].

Constantinides, E., Romero, C. and Boria, M., 2008. Social Media: A New Frontier for
Retailers?. [online] ResearchGate. Available at:
<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254594049_Social_Media_A_New_Fr
ontier_for_Retailers> [Accessed 14 December 2021].

Kasangottu, S., 2018. A review of metro, target, &woolworths global business

strategy. International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology,
[online] 9(7), p.5. Available at:
<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326928843_A_review_of_metro_targe
t_woolworths_global_business_strategy> [Accessed 14 December 2021].

Reinartz, W., Wiegand, N. and Imschloss, M., 2018. The impact of digital transformation
on the retailing value chain. [online] ResearchGate. Available at:
<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330631842_The_impact_of_digital_tra
nsformation_on_the_retailing_value_chain> [Accessed 14 December 2021].

Woolworths.com, 2021. The Woolworths Story - Woolworths Group. [online]

Woolworthsgroup.com.au. Available at:
<https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/page/about-us/The_Woolworths_Story/
How_We_Were_Founded#:~:text=1924%3A%20Woolworths
%20begins&text=On%20Friday%2C%205%20December%201924%2C
%20Woolworths%20Stupendous%20Bargain%20Basement%20opened,where
%20good%20things%20are%20cheap.> [Accessed 14 December 2021].