Analysis on marketing channels issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Analysis on marketing channels issues - Essay Example This paper will focus on Coles supermarket and its marketing channel, as a retailer in Australia’s supermarket sector. Australia is one of the countries that have the most concentrated supermarket sectors in the whole world and the practises of the two major supermarkets (Coles and Woolworths) that have characterized the sector as a duopoly. Over the past decade, several shifts have occurred that have shown an evolving consumer consciousness and a discontented supermarket sector (LaFrenz,  2014). The lack of competition among the retailers in the supermarket sector has reduced the incentives to keep prices at a considerably low level for consumers. The two supermarkets have the opportunity to wield substantial buyer power that has resulted in lower prices that are paid to the suppliers. The quality of products has also become an issue and the rise of private labelled goods, for instance milk, has become an issue of concern to suppliers and other retail competitors in the retail market. As such, the two supermarkets have been subjected to an ideological opposition that has caused public campaigns t o prevent their entry into different towns and suburbs (Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, 2010). This represents some of the issues that the two supermarkets have to deal with in terms of their market channels (LaFrenz,  2014). Coles supermarket, commonly referred to as Coles, was established in 1914 in Victoria, Australia. It has over 700 stores in the country and employs more than 100,000 employees in its business. It controls about 80 percent of the Australian supermarket sector along with Woolworths supermarket. It has revenue of approximately $32 billion and an operating income of about $2 billion. It operates under its parent company known as Wesfarmers. The role of Coles Supermarket chain as a retailer is to interpret the demands of the