Marketing Strategy

An article that I've read in the Australian Financial review shows how the big department stores uses marketing concept such as market targeting and positioning to attract customers to do personal shopping rather than online shopping.

As stated in the article, the numbers of online shoppers are growing and big department stores are trying to pull them back. They are using the market positioning to do so. Positioning is defined as "a clear distinctive and desirable place relative to competing products in the minds of target consumers" (Kotler et al, 2006 p.105). As to this approach, big department stores use the positioning strategy by offering other extra benefits or services that can't be obtained by online shopping such as Botox injection and other beautification services. By doing this, they will emphasis on the benefits of personnel shopping and put a clear distinctive that personnel shopping is better that shopping online. They also offer free services to their consumers that are time poor. They only have to give them the shopping brief and work is done for the consumers. Now, consumers will think that personnel shopping are easy and time convenient.

From the article, David Jones and Myers used to be the domain for the rich and famous but now they have broaden their offer to working women, fashionistas, new mothers and also men looking for wardrobe update. This shows a good usage of targeting market segments by David Jones and Myers. A key marketing idea that is dividing the total market up into segments-group of buyers who have different preferences for products or services. The organization then targets different segments with different market offerings (Kotler et al 2006, p. 104). They have identified the segment that they want to target which is based on psychographic, the life-style and economic status. In this case are the rich and famous, and the working people who are time poor.

Lastly, we can see that the marketing strategies used by the big department stores are effective from the statement that Myer's chief executive Bernie Brooke. He said that the inception of personnel shoppers had increase the number of money spent and appointment made. This showed that they had successfully targeted the market and positions their product.