Module - Digital Marketing: Business and Marketing Blog
Introduction
Makro supermarket is a national market of Uzbekistan, in these stores, you will always find sets of basic food products and essential goods like fresh vegetables and fruits, milk and dairy products, groceries, pastries, meat, chicken, as well as products of their own brand like "M". The Makro has its own website makromarket.uz and any other social media marketing like Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and also Telegram messenger for ordering products to a home or to anywhere. The supermarket has over the 3900 number of staff working and has over 100 number of the store located in 27 cities in Uzbekistan.
I decided to choose the blogging (Blog post) format for the assignment because I have read many books and journals, articles from subject The Digital Marketing and many of the Authors prefer and recommended to use blogging, because it shows clearly practices in retail and the strategy of Makro markets to the consumers and readers more than the Vlogging and the Podcasting mode and of course from that books which is our Module Leader recommended it before are - Charlesworth (2018) – Digital Marketing a Practical Approach and McGruer (2020) – Dynamic Digital Marketing.
P.S. I used the WIX platform check out QUICK LINKS.
Food Retail Market in Uzbekistan
The food retail market consists primarily of small supermarkets, conventional markets for food and new retailers, but relatively large. The main competitors, among them the French multinational Carrefour, which recently entered the Uzbek market are Korzinka, another local food supplier, and foreign companies. While Uzbekistan produces about 53% of its goods. The Company has expanded its online shopping services through its website because of the COVID-19 pandemic: https://makromarket.uz, through which the consumer can conveniently buy and bring his items to his homes.
Digital marketing strategy as a channel marketing strategy
Makro's digital marketing approach should define how it should determine channel-specific goals and set the differential channel proposal as well as channel-specific communications, which are compatible with the characteristics of channel and end-user specifications. Digital channel strategy has two components: internal and external influences– as defined in the figure below, many can see it clearly as a digital communication strategy. Taking these internal and external forces into account, Makro would help to balance its digital marketing strategy with its strategy and company objectives, using new opportunities while addressing risks.
Makro will boost the brand awareness of its grocery stores and reach more consumers with a successful digital marketing campaign. When it runs grocery stores, though, it takes a distinct strategic approach to manage the productivity and reliability of internet outlets. In specific, online shops will be different to the market world, clients and even certain items. Thus Makro will be able to grow its online presence and revenue through its own digital channel via its focused and relevant marketing strategies. These are the core and competitive digital marketing tactics that Makro can successfully execute.
Digital Marketing objectives are branding, revenue generation and customer care. (Charlesworth, 2018)
Digital marketing objectives
Without concrete targets, the likelihood of any project succeeding is greatly lowered – and this is also true for digital media – and yet, perhaps the most critical weakness when businesses transition digitally is that they hesitate to identify their priorities for doing so. Without specific objectives, the organization cannot determine if the online activity was effective or quantify the return on investment (ROI) for such online activities. According to (Charlesworth, 2018), digital marketing can be used to generate revenue/income, grow a brand, and provide consumer support/care. As previously mentioned in the digital marketing branding section, we will choose brand creation as a Makro goal.
Brand Development
There were many global transitions for brands, businesses, and industries at the end of 2020. The year to increase the awareness of digital ventures is generally regarded by businesses. Brands that migrated to digital platforms were acutely aware of the almost unlimited possibilities for growth. Online media and digital marketing can help to quickly accelerate brand awareness and market share. As a result, brand growth tactics have become more important in the online development of a profitable enterprise. The Makro digital channels mentioned in the first section are designed for advertising purposes rather than brand creation. Via blogs, podcasts, and video messages, brand development aims to increase visibility and perception of the company's image, name, and logo.
How will Makro achieve brand development?
Using the right digital media tactics, Makro will be able to improve its brand presence online. Branding, in general, encompasses the whole shopping experience, from the initial encounter to purchasing and brand loyalty. A well-developed brand strategy aids in the connection of businesses to their clients. Here are some of the most important new brand growth techniques.
(1) (2)
1. Brand development 1. Brand development
2. Revenue generation: 2. Direct sales
(a) Direct sales 3. Lead generation
(b) Lead generation 4. Customer care
3. Customer: 5. Customer service
(a) Care 6. Customer support
(b) Service
(c) Support
However, due to the complexities of the internet:
1. A single website/presence may address one, two, or all three of these goals.
2. It is unusual for a website/presence to only mention one.
3. Different aspects of digital marketing should be used to achieve different goals.
As a result, determining the primary target, articulated as a percentage, is important for consistency in identifying strategic online priorities. Table 3.2 illustrates how such a percentage breakdown would extend to various organisations. After determining the percentage allotted to the main and secondary goals, the marketer must determine which aspects of digital marketing can help achieve those objectives.
Source by Charlesworth A. (2018) – Digital Marketing a Practical Approach
To the additional source, we have the Dynamic Digital Marketing Model. by (McGruer, 2020)
Each of the eight areas is a powerful way to market your business online and, in essence, each area is a digital marketing channel:
McGruer (2020) mentioned an 8S scan, social, deliver, substance, offer, sponsor, strategy, and score model in her book "Dynamic Digital Marketing Model." Any of these are being considered by Makro Supermarket.
Search. Makro's SEO is powerful. The Makro website is the first to include results for a search for specific products.
Social. Makro, as previously said, can be viewed on a variety of social networks and internet forums. However, some of them need further focus and growth.
Sell. Makro offers the ability to purchase items not only in their stores but also online. As a result, consumers can shop on Makro's website without having to visit a store.
1. Search – search marketing and SEO (search engine optimisation).
2. Social – social media marketing.
3. Send – email marketing.
4. Substance – content marketing and creation.
5. Sell – social selling.
6. Sponsor – online advertising.
7. Strategy – digital marketing planning.
8. Score – digital metrics and analytics.
Social Media Marketing
Because of the low cost of internet access and the vast variety of features and usage of smartphones, the majority of media audiences have moved away from televisions and into online communities on social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Telegram, and others. Makro can successfully use the power of social influencing through communicating in various formats that are exclusive to and social media platform. In 2018, the smartphone penetration rate in Uzbekistan was 31.30 per cent.
Analysing and Learning Digital customers
Buyers' behaviour, which includes all facets of marketing, is innate and clients make purchasing judgments dependent on several considerations, such as sentiment, perception, need expenditure and rationale. Meanwhile, external considerations – manufacturers and sellers – product consistency, architecture and packaging, brand strategy and eventually marketing plan that attract the attention of consumers physically, visually and emotionally. Although we have been using internet technology for a while throughout our lifetime, digital devices such as smartphones, laptops and other gadgets have been in use only in the last few years. In the case of Makro, Uzbekistan has a large proportion of its population from the educated segments and the young generation.
Key problems of digital marketing
About 66 per cent of small companies survive their first two years, but 50 per cent fail within the first year due to inadequate and insufficient marketing practices. They are unable to retain paying customers in a cost-effective manner. A company may have goods that customers are willing to pay for, but without aggressive marketing, the company would struggle to produce leads. Failure to have entertaining content has a negative impact on the success of digital marketing activities. As in the case of Makro's Instagram profile, where only one Instagram feed is created and customer contact is almost non-existent. But, how will these automated traps be stopped or managed? The implementation of the seven simple steps for digital performance outlined in (McGruer, 2020) would aid in the management of digital marketing pitfalls.
In conclusion
To summarize, because of COVID-19, many people have begun to use online shopping since 2020, so Makro Supermarket can correct the shortcomings on their website as well as participate more effectively in social networks and the YouTube channel. They do excellent work in other areas. As a result, Makro is one of Uzbekistan's most successful supermarket chains.
There is still room for improvement; everything about us changes so quickly, and if you do nothing, you will experience regression rather than stagnation or consistency.
References
Charlesworth (2018) – Digital Marketing a Practical Approach
McGruer (2020) – Dynamic Digital Marketing
Makro Supermarket (2021). Available at: https://makromarket.uz/ [Accessed 22 March 2021]
Datareportal, 2020. DIGITAL 2020: UZBEKISTAN, s.l.: Datareportal.
Nordea, 2020. Country Profile Uzbekistan, s.l.: Nordea.
