Marketing assignment essay on: Public relations in Supermarket

Introduction

Public relations are an important aspect of any business plan and are required to build a positive and favourable image among stakeholders of the company. It is necessary to create an effective PR plan including goals, strategies and tactics for spreading awareness among target audience and building a relationship with them (Moloney 2000). Waitrose ltd. is a supermarket chain in UK and is establishing two small stores in New York and New Delhi for testing the demand for their products and the values they serve in the target market.

The report presents the PR plan and strategies to be implemented for building positive relationship with the target public and get maximum media coverage both in UK and target market for attracting UK expatriates and nationals living in these cities as well as local suppliers.

Company Brief

Waitrose ltd is the supermarket chain situated in UK and is the privately owned supermarket brand of the John Lewis partnership. It has more than 282 branches in the country and is 6^th largest grocery store therein. The image of the company is built on the quality and freshness of the food they provide, thus gaining an edge over other supermarket stores in the country. The company is owned by people who work for it and, thus the staffs of the company are called partners (Company history 2012). Shopping is made easier through online ordering, packing at checkouts, customer collection point, wheelchair trolleys, facility of service call at petrol stations, and many more things for making customer feel at ease (The Waitrose Difference 2012).

Situation analysis

Waitrose plans to launch small stores in New York and New Delhi. In both the locations, there is presence of large number of UK nationals and UK-expat communities. The supermarket industry in India is hailed as the future of the country. There is huge potential in the food and grocery segment of the retail industry for new entrants as the food retail is growing at a recognizable rate of 30% (India’s Food Retail Sector Growing 2012). The supermarket industry in USA is highly fragmented, competitive and mature. There is an increase in the revenue for food retailers as consumers prefer to prepare their meal at home rather than eating out. It creates huge opportunity for supermarket stores in New York (Understanding the Grocery Industry 2011).

SWOT analysis of Waitrose Ltd. is conducted for understanding the present situation and opportunities for the company for its new venture.

Strengths: Reputation, fresh and quality foods from own farms, wide range of products, customer friendly service (The Waitrose Difference 2012).

Weaknesses: small market share, perceived as expensive, high dependence on own labels, difficult expansion

Opportunities: online shopping, retail partnerships, expansion in emerging markets, sale of non-food products.

Threats: overseas retail stores entry into the market, premium own brands of other stores with high margins.

Opportunity lies with the company in terms of establishing new stores in emerging markets and markets with huge potential for supermarkets as the company focuses on quality and freshness of food and has difficult expansion in UK itself.

Target audience

The launch of new stores of Waitrose Ltd. in New Delhi and New York targets the UK-based expat communities and nationals living at these places. It is the primary public for which the PR plan is framed. The secondary public includes the local people and local suppliers of the target cities as the company aims to supply local produce based on the needs of the local people of the city as well.

Goal of the PR plan

The goal of the business plan for PR strategy in New Delhi and New York is to build relationship with key stakeholders in these locations and build consumer awareness.

Objectives of the PR plan

The objectives of the company are as follows:

To develop the activities that ensures the demonstration of competitive advantage of the company to the target audience in an effective manner.
To ensure cohesive planning and management by establishing communication teams in each of the target location.
To reassure stakeholders for the success of investment made by the company.
To ensure maximum UK press coverage in trade, business and consumer media.

Key messages

Messages for the PR campaign are developed in line with the objectives of the company and strongly highlight the vision and values of the company so as to create a good and positive image among the target audience:

Provision of fresh and quality food in the newly launched stores.
Major advantages to suppliers through commitment to buy from small farmers and growers in the vicinity.
Quality food with honest pricing to generate value for money.
Commitment to stakeholders in terms of improving cost efficiency, added value and quality delivery of the food.
Operating of the store with due regards to the cultural issues of every location.

Strategies for PR plan

The public relation campaign is of six months with the launch of the stores in February 2013 and consists of three stages: pre-launch activity, at the time of launch and post launch follow-up. Integrated activities include proactive approach for customer communications which is two-way so as to create demand for the store products and aware consumers about the brand and its service; building investor and stakeholder relations for reassuring them the strength of the corporate strategy and value of the company; and lobbying activity for maximizing UK press coverage and local suppliers of the two locations (Oliver 2009).

The communication strategy for the launch of two stores in targeted locations involves creation of good perceptions among customers, suppliers and especially UK-expat community living in targeted locations.

Communication tactics

Action plan for maintaining public relations for the launch of two stores is categorized into three phases:

Pre-launch phase

It is a two month phase starting from December 2012 to January 2013 for setting up the campaign theme, resources and procedures, and testing of visual identity. The budget for this phase is 20000 pounds. The action plan for this phase is as follows:

Setting up of updates on intranet of the company regarding the launch of new stories in New York and New Delhi.
Use of existing databases for sending a number of e-alerts to blogs, websites and social media for increasing awareness of the launch of the store in two locations.
PR-led advertising in leading newspapers and magazines of targeted locations so as to create awareness about the launch of the store and its vision of providing quality food and value for money (Barrow 2011).
Building international media relations by announcement of the launch of the two stores in UK press media so as to get feedback from UK-expat communities and nationals situated in target locations.
Regular updates on features and service of the store on national and corporate website of the company so that relationship can be built with the key stakeholders of the company in these locations (Oliver 2009).
Regular press releases, media tours and press interviews to spread the message of the campaign to target audience.
Inviting local farmers and small growers at pre-launch sponsor events for understanding the local culture.

Launch phase

The launch phase of the PR campaign starts from February 2013 to March 2013. The budget for the phase is 30000 pounds. The integrated activities and tactics for the campaign are as follows:

Liasoning with the newspaper editorial boards both at the target market and in UK press in order to feature the launch story of the two stores in an effective manner.
News of launch to be flashed on both the national and corporate websites. Along-with this, a dedicated website for these two new stores to be developed and launched.
For news and business broadcasting, release of audio and video news also covering the announcement of the first suppliers of the store who have joined them and have become partners in the store.
Press releases and seminars for UK media.
Optimum use of social media including Twitter and FaceBook for spreading awareness about the store, and its features and service along-with spreading the message of truly British so as to attract UK expatriates (Leinemann And Baikaltseva 2004).
Event sponsorships and seminars for attracting local suppliers.
PR-led advertisements in trade magazines and business magazines for spreading the idea of how Waitrose feels proud to work with local suppliers.
Interviews and articles regarding work experience of local suppliers working with the company in UK in local trade and business magazines of New York and New Delhi.
Management of issues by continuously monitoring public, media and competitor comments so as to gain an understanding of the culture and bring changes accordingly (Oliver 2009).

Post launch follow-up

It is initiated from April 2013 to May 2013 with the budget of 10000 pounds. Following actions are included in this phase:

Regular media releases for launch of new products in the store and discount offers.
Continuing use of social media for displaying customer satisfaction stories, outstanding offers in the store and facilities available for easier shopping at the store.
Regular e-newsletters to suppliers and regular customers of the store (Barrow 2011).

Measurement

It is essential to identify the value of the PR campaign by measuring its worth after the campaign is over. Measuring the worth of the campaign run for launch of two stores in the locations of New Delhi and New York includes media space grabbed by the PR campaign; number of hits and visits of people on the link for new store launch on official and corporate websites of Waitrose Ltd.; comparing the positive and the negative comments given by media, public and competitors on blogs and other social media; attendance of media and other stakeholders in the events organized by the company; and information requests and enquiries made in regards to the launch of the store (Harrison 2000). Along-with this, the change in the awareness and opinion of public pre-launch and post launch of the store through surveys can assist the company to measure the value of the PR campaign.

Conclusion

Waitrose Ltd. is a supermarket chain in UK which has to launch two small stores in New Delhi and New York for testing whether there is demand for the type of products and value the company has in UK. The PR campaign is divided into three phases for the target audience comprising of UK-expats and nationals situated in target market as well as local public. The budget of 50000 pounds is divided for three phases and the campaign would last for six months. Integrated approach to spread awareness is adopted covering UK media, target market media, and suppliers. Evaluation is necessary for measuring the value of the campaign which is done through several measures such as website hits, media space and attention gained during the campaign, etc.

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