Sainsbury's Marketing Strategy & Marketing Mix (4Ps)

Published in Services category by MBA Skool Team

Marketing Strategy of Sainsbury's analyzes the brand with the marketing mix framework which covers the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion). These business strategies, based on Sainsbury's marketing mix, help the brand succeed in the market. Let us start the Sainsbury's Marketing Strategy & Mix to understand its product, pricing, advertising & distribution strategies:

Sainsbury's Product Strategy:

The product strategy and mix in Sainsbury's marketing strategy can be explained as follows:

Sainsbury's has a wide offering for its customers under its marketing mix product strategy. In addition to focusing on innovation and quality management, it also looks after developing new products and enhancing the existing range of the products. Sainsbury's has 2 formats, supermarkets or Local convenience store offering more than 30,000 product lines out of which at least 20% are from their own brand, which other than Basics like food, toiletries and stationery includes:

1. Ready-to-eat meals and bakery products, organic range of food products, low-fat content for health-conscious customers and food items for those who are allergic to dairy, gluten and wheat

2.

TU range, a clothing line

3. Home Collection range, offers kitchen products and furnishings

4.By Sainsbury’s range, includes all those products which does not fall in the above-mentioned ranges

Apart from this, Sainsbury's uses biodegradable packaging made from potatoes and sells its own label organic fruits in biodegradable trays.

The company also has a bank which provides all the basic financial services to its customers.


Image: geograph


Sainsbury's Price/Pricing Strategy:

Below is the pricing strategy in Sainsbury's marketing strategy:

Sainsbury’s pricing strategy is based upon providing the customers ‘the value for money’ and thus maintains the quality of products and services ensuring customer retention. It practices competitive pricing policy instead of price cutting policy as the latter provides a gain in market share for short run only.

Sainsbury’s makes a good use of Price discrimination policy as per the positioning of the product, thus usually obtaining a premium price as it positions itself in the high-end market. Sainsbury’s range of basic and kids products are priced very low and are of excellent quality thus, providing value for money. This covers the pricing strategy in the marketing mix of Sainsbury's. the annual revenue of the brand is more than $25 billion.

Sainsbury's Place & Distribution Strategy:

Following is the distribution strategy in the Sainsbury's marketing mix:

Sainsbury’s has more than 500 supermarkets and 700 convenience stores out of which some stores operate 24x7 and the rest of them are open till mid-night on Fridays. In addition to this it offers home delivery and the orders can be placed online on its website or via phone call. Sainsbury’s initially handled its distribution on its own but after the 1970 dispute with the drivers it contracted out its distribution to specialists like DHL, NFT etc.

At present, it has 13 RDCs (Regional distribution centers), 2 NDCs (National distribution centers) these are for slow-moving goods, 2 store houses dedicated to frozen food category and few depots.


Sainsbury's Promotion & Advertising Strategy:

The promotional and advertising strategy in the Sainsbury's marketing strategy is as follows:

Sainsbury’s makes a good use of ATL (above the line) and BTL (below the line) promotional strategies to draw customer attention and build its brand name. It also uses David Beckham’s celebrity endorsement in advertisements to emphasize its sponsorship of the London Paralympic Games. Under ATL it uses broadcast media such as television and radio to communicate its corporate image. Under BTL promotion it uses sales promotion, Database marketing and packaging. It currently uses “Live well for less” slogan for all its promotional campaigns. Sainsbury’s to increase its sales and build customer loyalty launched ‘Nectar reward card’ which helped customers to earn points on every purchase made at the store. These points can be redeemed at their next purchase. These cards also help Sainsbury to build a customer database, with the help of which they send tailored offers to the targeted customer segment. The company also offers an ‘Active kids’ voucher scheme where certain sports club can redeem these vouchers for sports equipment. Also, to promote its image in public Sainsbury’s operates community service and environmental responsibilities.


Since this is a service marketing brand, here are the other three Ps to make it the 7Ps marketing mix of Sainsbury's.


People:

Sainsbury has a good mix of well-trained experts and professionals who are aware of the sensitivity of consumer behavior. At Sainsbury’s customers are always given first preference and thus, new employees are trained on the job to satisfy customer needs and fulfill organizational goals. Sainsbury knows that skilled employees makes an altogether different impact and thus provides training for a wide range of skills. It has recently introduced Level 2 Craft skills Apprenticeship for bakers and fishmongers and a new college entirely dedicated to leadership training for its Store Managers and Team Leaders.


Process:

Sainsbury has made online shopping for its customers very convenient with its ‘click & collect’ service where groceries get rolled out almost instantaneously. It has also made changes in its pricing and allocation of delivery slots which has raised its order numbers and has instilled customer loyalty. Sainsbury is also coming up with new store formats to address the changing needs of customers and is thoughtfully selecting the location for its new stores.


Physical Evidence:

Sainsbury has an excellent strategy to market its products using physical evidence. It has different store design and layouts addressing varied needs of customers. The quality of the baskets & trolleys ensures excellent shopping experience. Also, within the store the layout of shelves is impressive and makes shopping convenient. Hence, this covers the marketing strategy & marketing mix of Sainsbury's.


About Sainsbury's:

Sainsbury's was founded by John James in 1869, London and is one of the largest Supermarket chain the UK with a significant market share in this segment. It has 3 subsidiaries- Supermarkets, Bank & Argos which serves more than 15 million customers in its 500 supermarkets and 700 convenience stores across UK.

Sainsbury's offers a huge variety of grocery products and quality food, in addition to restaurants, pharmacies, delicatessen, coffee shops, meat and fish counters and petrol stations. Sainsbury's employees a total of 100,000 people.

This article has been researched & authored by the Content & Research Team. It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team. The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.

Browse marketing strategy and 4Ps analysis of more brands similar to Sainsbury's. The Marketing Strategy & Mix section covers 4Ps and 7Ps of more than 800 brands in 2 categories.

Continue Reading:


The names and other brand information used in the Marketing Strategy & Mix section are properties of their respective companies. The companies are not associated with MBA Skool in any way.

Share this Page on:
Facebook ShareTweetShare on Linkedin