The future of retail industry
The dawn of industry 4.0 is a game changer in the global retail market. Competition is constantly intensifying, and most retailers are finding it impossible to survive. Customers are becoming more knowledgeable, sophisticated and extremely demanding. Industry 4.0 has transformed the retail industry and business is no longer as usual. The future of the retail industry is uncertain and being innovative is no longer an option.
1.
Assume the role of a Marketing Manager for any retailer, that you know operating in South Africa. Critically discuss how your organisation can take advantage of industry 4.0 to create exceptional experience (experiential marketing) for its customers. Your discussion should involve but not limited to:
• Brief background of company
• Product/service offering
• Target market
• Segmentation strategy/strategies
• Targeting strategy/strategies
• Positioning strategy
• Competitors
• Innovative ways of creating experiential marketing
• Unique selling points
2.
SCENARIO 2
“As an innovator or an entrepreneur wouldn’t you want to know if you will be profiting from your idea or if someone else (e.g. a new competitor, a key supplier, your distribution channel or your customer) will rapidly capture the majority of the economic benefits of your idea? Apple sells only 15% of smartphones but makes 60% of the industry profits and it used to be over 90% for many years.”
The statement above reflects the concern of every new business. However, strategists have suggested the use of Porter’s 5 –forces model to evaluate the attractiveness of the industry.
Assume the role of an entrepreneur in the taxi & taxi-sharing business in South Africa. With a strong presense of Uber & other players, would you still consider entering this business? Your discussion should include a conceptual discussion on Porter’s 5 –forces model and its application in the scenario discussed above.
3.
SCENARIO 3
Digital businesses
Even though nobody expected Covid-19, businesses with a digital-first approach are better situated to survive. Competitive businesses understand that digitalisation is no longer an option, but a means for survival. With the right tools and mindset, you can identify opportunities where others see challenges in the midst of Covid -19 era.
Assume the role of a Marketing Manager for any organisation of your choice operating in South Africa. Critically discuss business opportunities that you have identified for your organisation in this pandemic era and how best to harness them. Draw recommendations for senior management convincing them to use digital platforms as a survival mechanism in this era and elaborate how cyber security risks will be managed. Your discussion must be convincing, and evidence based.
4.
Critically discuss conflicting channel priorities faced by organisations and their channel partners. Make recommendations to senior management on how they can mitigate such challenges associated with marketing channels and its member. In addition, discuss value added functions performed by marketing channel members.