Woolworths Case Study

1. Background and managerial problem

1.1. Theory

In the present society, the development of technology has changed the way people think about the role of customer relationship management (CRM) in an organization’s marketing strategy. In the past, CRM is used by information technology companies to describe software applications in marketing, selling and other business functions (Boulding, Staelin, Ehret & Johnston, 2005, p.155; Buttle & Francis, 2004). However, companies now make efforts to build, maintain and enhance their relationship with customers (Herhausen & Schögel, 2013, pp. 1678-1700). Through providing customers with values they want, companies improve their business performance. As a result, companies now pay more attention to

In detail, it will clarify the implementation of CRM strategies and Woolworths Ltd is chosen as case study to analyse.

1.2. Context

The aim of this applied study is to investigate into how Woolworths Supermarkets chain has carried out their CRM strategy and determine how to utilise CRM as a component of marketing strategy.

As mentioned above, Woolworths Supermarkets is one of four biggest players in Australian Supermarkets and Grocery Stores Industry with more than 3000 stores in Australia and New Zealand. Woolworths now serves 28 million customers per week and has approximately 200,000 employees (Woolworths, 2015).

In 2009, Woolworths and Coles were two giants in this industry when accounting for 80% market share. However, the development of ALDI supermarket chain changed the perception of market share (The Sydney Morning Herald, 2009). In spite of a decrease in market share to 40% in 2015, Woolworths is still the largest supermarket chain in Australia. Following is Coles with 33.5% (Tonkin, 2015).

Operating under slogan “The fresh food people”, Woolworths works closely with Australian growers and farmers to ensure fresh fruits and fresh meat for

Firstly, CRM applications allow companies to customise their offering for each customer, which results in enhancing perceived value customers receive. Because the perceived quality of products and services is the determinant of customer satisfaction, companies can improve customer satisfaction by affecting perceived value they offer. Secondly, CRM improves the reliability of consumption experiences by facilitating process of customer orders. Thirdly, the use of CRM applications helps companies manage customer relationships through stages of relationship initiation, maintenance, and