Marketing Strategy Study Of Medium-Small Sized Supermarket Based On Trade Area Information

Chain operation started in the 1990’s in China when chain supermarkets, convenience store models appeared in the market. The development of chain operation has been a breakthrough in retail industry which leads to its scalability. At present, chain operation has been applied in all retail stores, and it is becoming the main development model adopted by retailers. Chain supermarkets are developing very fast nowadays. All chains are expanding rapidly, opening up stores in all locations in the city to take over more market share, which resulted in much smaller market coverage for each store than before. Besides, every store is adopting similar business model, providing similar products and using similar sales strategies. As a result, it is hard for stores to build up customer loyalty and develop core competence. Though chain operation helps to better meet customers’ shopping needs, however, as most chain supermarkets are selling similar types of products, it is easy that one store is replaced by another.But every store is located in different trade area, and each trade area has its own unique properties. Through market research and analysis, stores can have better idea about the unique needs in different trade area, and thus can work out more suitable sales strategy that caters those unique needs. By doing so, stores can enhance its competitive advantage and profitability.The article composes of six parts:Part one:Brief introduction of the background, purpose, main contents of this article, and as well as the analysis methods of the article;Part two:In-depth understanding of marketing and supermarkets management, better mastery of methodology in trade area investigation and data analysis, through research and study of domestic and overseas articles on the subjects;Part three:Explanation on the major concepts and theories used in this article, mainly including marketing, supermarkets management, trade area investigation and data analysis; Part four:Analysis on the current operation of supermarkets in China;Part five:Study of the sales strategy development model based on data analysis of trade area investigations;Part six:Case study of one specific store, investigating and analyzing its market area, and helping it to develop its own unique sales strategy.Main contributions of the article:analyzed the current operation of chain operation and supermarkets in China and pointed out the problems encountered by small-to-medium chain supermarkets in their operations. This article combined together the concept of market area investigation and the development of sales strategy, worked out a new approach, and built up an analysis model for a more reasonable and rational conclusion. In this article, the author selected one Red Flag Superstore, analyzed its trade area and helped it develop its sales strategy. Such methodology can also be applied to other small-to-medium supermarkets and it will greatly help them with a more suitable sales strategy, more profitability and better customer satisfaction.