Application of different retail mix strategies of two cold storage supermarkets

Abstract

The motivating force that spearheaded this research topic was the inherent

competitiveness of the food retail industry in Singapore. The team wished to establish

how Cold Storage Supermarkets, a local supermarket chain, had attempted to

reposition itself in the face of intense competition and changing customer needs.

Cold Storage Takashimaya and Cold Storage Northpoint were chosen for the purpose

of this study since because both stores encountered mutually exclusive sets of

competitors and customers.

The in-store observations and interviews with vanous Cold Storage personnel,

revealed that the marketing mixes of the designated stores and their direct competitors

had supported the notion of value platform creation. Additionally, the team were able

to establish linkages between the demographic characteristics of target customers as

derived from secondary sources and customer shopping behaviour observed by the

team. Consequently, the team was able to justifY that the in-store shopping behaviour

exhibited by the stores' customers were directly linked to differences in store-level

attributes.

Lastly, the team discussed several dominating trends in the local retail scene emerging

in the near future. The team also made recommendations as to how these two Cold

Storage stores could bridge transitions to overcome these trends.