Costco Wholesale Corporation (CWC) has a variety of marketing strategies accompanied with efficient shipping channels to facilitate distribution of products throughout the globe (Cascio 26). In addition, there are varieties of marketing technique applied to achieve the key business objectives especially in relation to the use of internet. In this regard, this section discusses the markets and strategic plan involved in attaining the business goals by reaching customers.
Current Markets
The CWC has attained many customers across the globe through assistance of social and mass media, posters, billboards and internet. The corporation has a website that allows people to buy and order items from across the globe. The products bought from the sites are paid using electronic money by the use of master cards, visa, Paypal, and Payoneer among many other ways (Cascio 28). However, the current market has been concentrated in the USA, Mexico, Canada and the UK (Cascio 29). It makes most sales accompanied with home deliveries in the United States. This factor implies that the internet is the main marketplace for the business where people buy items and wait for them to be delivered. The customers are distributed widely across the world depending on their needs and preferences for the products being marketed.
New Markets
The exploitation of the global markets through the use of websites and delivery programs has attained popularity in the 21st century. Currently, the markets exploited by CWC are within four nations mentioned earlier. However, the business retains the opportunity to expand its markets in other nations. In fact, CWC has the capability to exploit potential regions like African nations, which have not exhausted the use of internet marketing. Even though CWC faces a grave competition from such business as Alibaba from China, eBay and Amazon, it has an equal chance to compete in the areas that have not encountered such markets (Shih, Szuchiang and Ju 363).
Furthermore, the development of new products through the prevailing improvement in technology inspires systems that can distribute products globally. It is also apparent that people are thrilled by the sale of the products through the internet. Digital technology has allowed customers to watch and evaluate the products before buying and shipping them. This aspect implies that CWC has the opportunity to vest within the increasing internet markets since they have a promising chance of expansion. Finally, the entry to the market being controlled by such companies as Alibaba is moderate. A new company can get customers with almost equal chances to the competing ones. This factor is explained by the fact that the customer does not have to move while evaluating a product from one seller to the other. Therefore, the choice is made depending on the price and quality of the product. In this light, CWC has the capability to receive customers initially served by the competing companies.
New product/Service
CWC wishes to introduce new products to its customers. Its objectives are to develop organic foods that are less synthetic and highly natural. This development is attributed to the advice of most health practitioners through the media, encouraging people to eat natural foods and avoid synthetically processed supplements. The sub-brand of the organic brands are identified as Nature. All items belonging to this level of natural foods will obtain the brand names as the predicate. For instance, the will be Nature-tomato, Nature-Cons, Nature-Juice, Nature-Sauce, and Nature-Oranges among others.
However, the overall scope of CWC sales is wide ranging from apparel, appliances, electronics, bakery, gasoline, health, beauty, books, wines, and sports’ equipments among others (Cascio 31). The manipulation and changes of such products are done periodically. The release of new products and revision of the prevailing ones are made by the producing companies which supply items to CWC for marketing. However, the introduction of coupons is one service that can be addressed in this section. The CWC has introduced coupons where customers receive points to be redeemed or used in winning products from the corporation.
Target Markets
The people targeted by the Nature brand of products will mainly comprise of the residents since most of nature products will be perishable. The main target markets for this corporation will be the residents of United States at the CWC different outlets. However, other countries are also developing such systems where CWC can sell products successfully. For instance, the Mpesa developed by Safaricom Limited provides the opportunities of making payments at home or elsewhere in Kenya. Nature products can be shipped in appropriate conditions in order to reach the customers internationally. The CWC has developed this suggestion in order to create a reliable system and attract these potential markets. Each product has a target market depending on its purpose. CWC has developed ads to link sites that relate to certain products in order to reach the target customers. For instance, the corporation can attach an ad on websites belonging to international hotels and restaurants as well as other related websites to reach the consumers. This relationship allows the seller to meet the relevant customers.
Points of Difference
Essentially, the differences present from such products involve the improvement of a preexisting item. For instance, the company’s coupons were initially developed as winning-card and later changed to become loyalty cards that provide discounts for purchases made by a customer depending on the devotion trends (Shih, Szuchiang and Ju 362). In this regard, the new or revised products are superior to the pre-existing ones. The corporation will now invest further in attraction customers through taking advantages of the campaigns performed by the media. The organic foods will be recommendable for consumption due to their health benefits.
Positioning
Products are segmented according to their uses and prices. The map below shows how CWC has managed to create a platform for positioning its products according to prices, demand, popularity, promotions, uniqueness, and types among others. The CWC uses internet to market and attain its business objectives by setting up a complex perceptual framework.
Works Cited
Cascio, Wayne F. “Decency Means More than “Always Low Prices”: A Comparison of Costco to Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club.” Academy of Management Perspectives 6.4 (2014): 26-37. Print.
Shih, Shiau, Szuchiang Yu, and Feng Ju. “How Does Costco Win Customer Satisfaction: A Case Study of the South of Taiwan.” Journal of Economics, Business and Management 13.7 (2014): 360-63. Print.