The name of the business used for this observation report on essential marketing is Trolley (Trolley Kuwait). The company -Trolley, is a chain of convenience stores that primarily focuses on meeting the needs of niche markets at private universities and malls (“About – Trolley”, 2020). Today, Trolley has 53 locations in different areas and regions around Kuwait (“Home – Trolley”, 2020). The chain of convenience stores managed by Trolley are therefore found in private universities in Kuwait and malls in the country. The stores are also located in gas stations, with the business seeking to tap into the market of those pumping their gas and buying a few essentials before continuing with their trips (“Store Locations – Trolley”, 2020). For instance, Trolley Qurtoba is located at 4th Ring Road, Station No. 28 OULA Gas Station. Apart from private universities, malls, and gas stations, several Trolley stores are also located in a few selected hospitals, health clubs, and police stations—for instance, Trolley Al Salam Hospital, located at the Al-Salam Hospital Bnied Al-Gor. An example of a store in a health club is the Trolley Platinum Health Club- Kefan (“Store Locations – Trolley”, 2020). The Kuwait University Khaldiya Campus has a Trolley store located in it, and so is other institutions like Masjid Al Aqsa St., Mubarak Al Abdullah Area West Mishref, GUST university (“Store Locations – Trolley”, 2020).
Trolley stores are open for seven days a week, which means they operate from Monday to Sunday. Apart from physical stores, the company offers e-commerce by delivering items that have been ordered by their customers between 8 am and 9 pm every single day, so it, therefore, means that the online (and delivery segment of the business) operates between 8 am and 9 am. However, the hours of operation are listed as 24 hours for the general physical stores, with the specific operation limit hours differing depending on the location of the store (“About – Trolley”, 2020). Therefore, the stores are opened at any time of the day.
Strategic Location
Does Trolley have a strategic location? Alcácer, Dezső, and Zhao (2015) explain that being in the right and strategic location is crucial in the success of the business. If a company selects a strategic location, it is likely to have adequate access to the customer force, transportation, materials, and employees. Therefore, the location of business often plays a significant role in the profitability of a company and its overall success. Strategic location implies that where Trolley’s stores are located to offer strategic advantages for the purpose that it has been established to serve- that of offering retail products and services to the customers. Being a retail or convenience store, Trolley’s primary concern is getting adequate foot traffic for the business.
The chain of convenience stores owned by Trolley are located in strategic locations with adequate foot traffic or customers walking into the stores. The stores are located in local private universities with thousands of students, teachers, and other non-academic staff. Private or even public universities is a strategic location because it has massive traffic of people walking in and out of their premises to buy retail essentials. For instance, students are likely to purchase stationery, food items, and general wear, which makes the company a target destination for many people. Apart from universities, the retailer’s convenience stores are located in malls, police stations, hospitals, and gas stations. All these locations offer a massive strategic advantage to the business considering the substantial human traffic associated with them and the number of times people are likely to visit them. For instance, the general population visits malls for their household and business shopping. People purchase household items like food, electronics, and clothes, all provided by the retailer. Hospitals and police stations also offer massive foot traffic, because of members of the public frequent them.
Lastly, lately, gas stations, which have been targeted by the company, also offer a massive strategic advantage because of their location. Travelers often stop at gas stations to pump gas, but in the process, they are likely to but essentials like food or cleaning products as they travel. Those traveling for long distances like buying items that support their trips, and the strategic location of the business in these stations is likely to meet these needs. Therefore, it would be safe and accurate to support the fact that Trolley’s convenience stores are strategically located. They serve massive market niches that have been enabled by their strategic locations. Apart from the massive customer traffic attracted by the locations, it is easier for customers and suppliers to access the stores. Excellent infrastructure and transportation systems around malls, universities, police stations and gas stations make it incredibly comfortable for the suppliers of retail products to distribute their merchandise. Besides easy access by suppliers, the locations are also strategic because employees can easily access them. For instance, some of the workers who serve the convenience stores in universities are students who live close to the premises. The proximity and superb transportation allow the employees to access the workplace with ease, improve reporting times, and hence profitability for the business. And lastly, the mentioned locations are strategic because they are highly secure. The security of stores is highly significant because people want to shop in secure spaces; they do not want their money or shopping to be robbed. Convenience stores offer secure shopping where customers can feel safe and secure. Trolley is also located online. Apart from the physical convenience stores, Trolley allows its customers to order products online and delivers them at their doorsteps. The restaurant branch of the retailer, which is listed on Talabat and other e-commerce sites, allows the company to serve a grocery selection that delivers across Khaldiya, Fahaheel, and Salmiya. The online segment is massively strategic because Kuwait is slowly becoming a tech country.
Products and Services
Trolley convenience stores and online platforms sell a variety of products, mostly consumables. The business brings to the market what customers genuinely want, and sells them at retail prices that are affordable across all the income levels. Consumable products are goods that are intended for consumption, and sometimes they can also extend to durables. Consumables sold by the retailer include stationery-books, office suppliers, and related goods; household items like water and food items. The consumables also include grocery items like bread, pasta and rice, oils, sauces, cereals, and breakfast foods, soups and canned goods, frozen foods, dairy cheese, and eggs. The company offers a grocery side from which its customers can order goods from its expensive restaurant type- branch. The restaurants and stores also offer salty snacks and nuts, chips, water, and soft drinks, biscuits, energy and sports drinks, bakery, and fresh pastry. Apart from foods and drinks, the stores also offer games, home care, accessories, medicines, personal care, and automotive products.
The services offered by the business, especially for its online clientele is the delivery of the ordered products efficiently and effectively to improve convenience. The retailer’s services include credit cards, bill payment, money transfers, and debit cards. In the gas stations, the business is also looking to improve its services for customers who stop by for on-trip shopping.
Customers and Market Segments
Trolley, being a retail business, attracts customers of all ages, gender, and other demographic categories. The products and services offered by the business are consumed or used by individuals and businesses across the spectrum without a specific age group or social class. Both individual customers and businesses benefit from the massive range of products and services provided by the company. Individuals shop for consumables and groceries, while businesses also shop for the same products. For instance, an institution like college or university would purchase office supplies from the company’s convenience stores.
Regarding geographic market segmentation, Trolley serves domestic customers, those living in rural and urban centers, and people of all age groups. Since the company’s convenience stores are not located in international markets, it does not serve the global customer demographic. However, the 53 stores spread across different cities and towns of Kuwait serve people of all ages and those living in rural and urban areas. All demographics are customers of Trolley and form the market segment for the business. People of all gender- males, and females purchase the retail products sold by the company, and therefore there is no exception when it comes to gender regarding customers. The other characteristic of the demographic market segmentation is income. The affordable prices of products and services offered by Trolley allow customers of all income levels to purchase their products. The convenience stores sell products with different price ranges, which can be afforded by low income, middle income, and high-income earners. Thirdly, all occupational levels can afford the products sold by the company. Students, floor level staff, manual workers, middle-level managers in private and public sectors, or even business executives form the company’s market segment because of the quality of products offered and their prices. The affordable prices offered by the company also allows students to purchase from its convenience stores. Behaviorally, Trolley’s market segment includes hard-core loyal customers and those who switch brands easily. Hard-core loyal customers form the market segment of those who will always buy the product or brand in question without any doubt.
Since Trolley focuses on offering its customers high-quality products and unique shopping experience both inside its physical stores and on the e-commerce platforms, it has established a group of hard-core loyalists. They will buy from the company regardless of their situation. Such brand loyalty explains why the company has been expanding its locations across different cities and regions in Kuwait- to bring its products and services closer to the loyalists. On the other hand, switchers are customers who are not seeking a particular brand but instead buy the brands available to them at the time of needs or those who are on sale. These customers also form a considerable segment of Trolley’s – they stop by and purchase products without necessarily having to come back. The last market is characterized by psychographic segmentation. Here, Trolley’s market comprises customers of different personality traits, values, attitudes, interests, lifestyles, motivations, and priorities. However, the overriding priority is to buy essential home products for home use.
Why Customers Buy from the Business
Goudge, Good, Hyman and Aguirre (2017) explain that many variables impact the countless reasons customers buy from specific companies or stores. While some of these variables are linked to the brand’s marketing strategy, there are some other qualities linked to product quality, and the company attributes that make customers want to shop at a particular destination.
Firstly, I believe customers buy from Trolley because it offers a great deal of convenience. Shoppers are always looking for convenience- for instance, they want products or services that meet their needs under one roof and in strategic locations where they do not have to travel for long. Trolley has achieved just that: bring convenience stores closer to the people and stock a variety of high-quality products that meet customers’ needs in all areas. For instance, the company offers restaurant groceries that can be ordered online from the comfort of the customer’s homes. Another example of Trolley’s convenience is its strategic locations in gas stations.
Secondly, Trolley offers a variety of high-quality products in its convenience stores at affordable prices, which can be afforded by most customers. Most customers want quality, but it should come at affordable prices that do not scare them away. The majority of shoppers at convenience stores fall in the low-income and middle-income categories, which is precisely what Trolley has been working on to ensure the customer base increases. Affordable prices and high quality have made the business expand rapidly in more than 53 locations across the country.
The other two reasons are the e-commerce platform and customer service. Trolley allows its customers to place orders on its associate e-commerce platforms like Talabat and deliver their products at the comfort of their homes. This is another example of convenience, but it stands on its own because most customers today are shifting from physical brick and mortar shopping to e-commerce. Friendly customer service is evident not just inside the company’s stores but also when ordering for food and groceries online. Friendly customer service is bait for attracting customers.
Competitors
Trolley has a lot of competition coming from the crowded retail space in Kuwait. Top competitors include The Sultan Center and Alghanim Sons, Group. The Sultan Center is the largest independent publicly traded retail company in Kuwait, which serves more than 5 million customers yearly. With 60 stores across Kuwait and other gulf countries like Jordan, Bahrain, Oman, and Jordan, the company has an international presence that Trolley does not have. The Sultan Center also beats Trolley for its substantial online grocery shopping platform and home deliveries across cities in Kuwait.
Alghanim Sons Group operates a different business in retail, distribution, services, automotive, real estate development, and food and beverage. The company’s retail division has hypermarkets, fashion, convenience stores, and other retail outlets, like Al Ziraiya, one of the largest convenience store operators in Kuwait. The company offers intense competition to Trolley because of its diversification on the retail front-offering more than just consumables and groceries. Al Ziraiya has more than 25 convenience stores dedicated to providing fresh, locally produced and imported fresh vegetables and fruits, and frozen and preserved foods.
Competitive Advantage
The cost leadership strategy is the most outstanding competitive advantage exhibited by Trolley. The cost leadership strategy is where a company offers high-quality a considerable variety of products at the lowest costs compared to its competitors (Kurt & Zehir, 2016). With intense competition from retail giants like Carrefour, The Sultan Center and Alghanim Sons Group, Trolley has been cutting a market niche by providing high-quality products at low costs. While this strategy may hurt its short-term profitability and financial objectives, it has helped it in amassing a considerable customer following, which is vital for the brand. Cost leadership is a competitive advantage because the emphasis on efficiency makes the retailer well-positioned to withstand price competition from its competitors. With an increasing share across all the 53 locations in which the convenience stores are located, the company’s sales and profits are set to skyrocket.
Dangers in the Near Future
Firstly, customer expectations are likely to keep changing shortly. Customer preferences are likely to continue changing, in some cases, at faster rates than retailers can keep up. Keeping up with seasonal trends and customer shopping behavior is a massive challenge that Trolley must be ready to deal with. The other danger is the rise of e-commerce and customers demanding multichannel buying experiences. With more customers being tech-savvy and penetration of technology and the internet across Kuwait, more customers will want retailers to provide e-commerce and multichannel buying experiences. More shopping is likely to be done online, and therefore the company will have to battle it out with the major players.
Doing Business Differently
If this were my business, I would introduce some components that would make it different. The first way of making the business different is by offering a seamless experience. When transitioning between in-store and online experience, customers want their experience to be seamless. I would create a fluid online/offline experience for the customers, starting with creating easy-accessible customer profiles. Secondly, I would migrate a significant segment of the retail business online. As it stands out, the e-commerce function has been sublet by Trolley to providers like Talabat. I would migrate the online function to Trolley’s main retail page to ensure that customers can order and get anything they want from their homes’ comfort. Since online retail is the new platform for customers, it makes perfect sense to improve on it. Lastly, I would improve on customer service and experience. It has been noted that exceptional customer service and experience improve satisfaction and loyalty, vital for the business’s success.