Luisana Herrera
Dr. Ted Gournelos
COM 100
4/5/2014
Publix vs Wal-Mart: Different strategies for different
targeted audiences.
“On my honor, I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized
assistance on this work.” Luisana Herrera
Abstract
Marketing strategies often use social media, like Facebook and Twitter create a bond
and connection between its viewers and the brand. Usually the companies tend to
learn the costumer’s needs and want their desires and perception of their brand.
Social media is crucial for a successful marketing without incurring inexpensive
costs. This research paper does an analysis between Wal-Mart and Publix social
media approach and the effects on their brand reputation and the popularity of their
goods and services.
Marketing strategies and advertisements are becoming more influential and
crucial than ever before. Marketing is defined, as the process of communicating the
value of a product or service to costumers and it main purpose is to sell a specific
product or service. In today’s world technology plays a crucial role in order to have an
effective marketing strategy. This is because of social media. The element of social
media will help create diverse responses to different advertisement methods. This type
of media is defined as the interaction among people in which they exchange information
via networks.
There are numerous organizations that use social media, Facebook and twitter,
to attract new customers and to expand on their ideas, goods and services. Therefore,
Corporations spent millions of dollars in advertisement tactics to make their brand
succeed. This is the case of Walmart and Publix. Although they compete in a similar
market, they take advantage of the popularity of social media to charm their ideal
“costumers”. Both corporations take into consideration factors like: geography, social
class, gender and age in order to construct their ideal social media marketing strategy
and social page.
This research paper will compare the effects of social media on the marketing
strategies of Publix and Walmart. In order to do this, I will analyze numerous videos
and articles that explain the different approach both companies have on social media
marketing.
Wal-Mart stores, Inc, known as Walmart, is a well-known American
multinational retail corporation. The company focuses on chains of large discount
department and warehouse stores. Currently, Walmart is the largest retailer in the world
with a labor force of around two million employees. At the same time, according to
Fortune Global 500, an annual ranking of the top 500 corporation based on their profit,
Walmart is ranked as the world’s largest public corporation due to their sales around the
globe.
Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, had, the idea of providing great customer
service and values. At Walmart they believe in leadership through service.
Consequently, in the entity they have the conviction that true leadership depends on
helpful service. This was the main principle on which Walmart was based on. Walmart
operates under the slogan “Save money, live better”. This slogan is also the base of how
they function since their mission statement states, “We help people save money so they
can live better”. Wal-Mart reduces difficulty and problems in its business strategies to
maintain low costs by focusing on designing simple and centralized communication
channels. At first, their mission was to focus on providing goods and services for
communities and rural households. Due to there rapidly success, they expanded their
service to almost all of the United States and demanded tax breaks, and infrastructure
improvements in order to keep their costs low.
One of Wal-Mart’s biggest competitors is Publix. Publix Super Markets, Inc.,
commonly known as Publix, is an American supermarket chain based on Lakeland,
Florida. While Walmart has an owner and founder, Publix functions in a diverse system,
an employee owner organization. It was wounded by George W. Jenkins, and is Private
Corporation that is owned by present and past employees. This method provides their
workforce with an ownership interest in the company. In other words, each employee
has stock invested on Publix.
Publix mission is to be the “premier quality food retailer in the world”. They
attract consumers with their image of what Publix values stand for. They are committed
to costumer value, intolerant to waste, employment well being and their security.
Hence, they guarantee costumers “we will never knowingly disappoint you. If for any
reason your purchase does not give you complete satisfaction, the full purchase price
will be cheerfully refunded immediately upon request”. This commitment to the
costumer makes Publix reputation and image to be respectable. As a consequence,
Publix No. 6 on Forbes 2011 list of America's Largest Private Companies and is the
largest in Florida.
Many experts argue the importance and helpful effect social media has on
advertising a product or service. Social media like Facebook and twitter allows potential
buyers to comment and share information in just seconds. It also allows business to
improve their relationship with social media, customers and business partners.
Moreover, the value comes from the platform and how people connect to it.
When using a social media, peoples’ interaction with each other becomes
crucial. One characteristic of effective virtual customer environment (VCE) is “ when
costumers engage with the company on a regular basis, co-creating content and sharing
power. If this relationships are successful, customers feel like company insiders, often
serving as a champion for the company and its products”. (Culnan, McHugh and
Zubillaga 2010, 244). By creating this connection between the brand and the customer
via social media, allows companies to market the product more efficiently and
maximize profit at the same time. Also, they target people in a way they create such
strong bonds that they become loyal to their products. Creating this strong relationship
will encourage their audience to buy their newest products and to become unaffected to
negative information about the company. At the same time, the company can assess
how their product is perceived based on the constant content and comments by the
costumers on Facebook and Twitter.
On the other hand, creating a Facebook page or twitter account does not
guarantee people will be attracted to it. It is necessary to make the social media
accessible “ While attracting a large number of participants is not necessarily the most
important success measure for social media initiative, creating a viable customer
community by definition requires a critical mass of active participants”. (Culnan,
McHugh and Zubillaga 2010, 248). Therefore, organizations should take extra measure
to ensure the majority of people possible see their media. Besides, according to this
source they should avoid any inappropriate messages that will push away costumers.
Source two “Social media and its role in marketing” also focus on the interaction
between people and social media. According to this article some of the benefits of
media marketing are “ provides a window to markets to only present products to
customers grievances and suggestions. Two, it makes it easy for marketers to identify
various peer groups or influences among various groups, who in turn can become brand
evangelist and help in organic growth of a brand. And, three all this is done at nearly
zero cost”. (Neti 2011, 6) This method also leads the company of the needs and wants
of different costumers. If a page is popular, it can lead to an increase in the amount of
subscribers, generating a bigger exposure to the product. Subscribers are using
Facebook and Twitter all over the world, which is also a benefit to the company because
their brand is, exposed outside the United States. Therefore, SMM can become a very
personalized way of advertisement and entities can target a specific group based on the
profile of their product.
Are consumers following stores or products online? A study conducted on 2008
reported that Facebook was the fourth most visited website in the world. As Facebook
grows around the world, the amount of retailers using this social media has increased
over the years “has more than 75 million members in more than 80 countries… With
this level of activity, it is no surprise that a recent study of social media found that 59%
of retailers are now using Facebook through the use of fan pages”.(Kunz and
Hackworth 2011, 3). The companies have understood that Facebook is a crucial source
to comprehend what costumers are looking for. Moreover, Facebook assist in
understanding how factors like certain geography, social class or age of a group affect
they way the people perceive their products or services. This benefits the retailers
because they can focus on diverse groups and target their specific need via Facebook or
social media. According to this article, Wal-Mart has increased their fan base 556.8%
due do their constant updates and inviting people to relate Wal-Mart with holidays. This
demonstrates how Wal-Mart values their customers on Facebook and how they market
their product without spending any money.
Wal-Mart can attribute their success by helping customers and communities
“save money and live better”. This slogan has become so powerful that although WalMart main target are low-income family, their customer base is expanding because of
low price products offers. One factor that is crucial to their success is their social media
platforms, especially Twitter and Facebook. Wal-Mart main goal is to reach the
majority of costumers using media as the tool. Wal-Mart has been implementing a more
aggressive use of social media. Its main purpose is to create discussions that will
influence positive reaction and perceptions towards the company. Furthermore, this
brand is fighting to “Overcoming stereotypes, internal perceptions, and audience
members’ past experiences with the brand” by creating this interaction between
subscribers. (Brown 2013) At the same time, Wal-Mart is trying to attract new
customers form different social classes by erasing their reputation of being a low class
targeted warehouse without modifying their product prices.
According to Mitchel, Senior Director of Digital Communications for Walmart,
it is all about creating “right message, right audience, right time.” While content may
be focused on marketing strategy, their main goal is to get people to take a second look
by creating desirable pages with appropriate meaning. At the same time, Wal-Mart’s
social strategy is based on data. Therefore, Mitchel concluded that Twitter was the most
effective channel method because that’s where the audience spends the majority of their
time.
Wal-Mart also focuses on creating a progressive reputation and attracting
possible new costumers by exposing their charity and social responsibility “Using the
slogan “Live Better,” he created a spoke of Wal-Mart Twitter accounts to tell different
stories about the company and its corporate social responsibility. One example that
people might not know about this side of Wal-Mart is that they delivered 2,450
truckloads of supplies to victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.”(Melin 2013) By
using Twitter it allows them to market their brand but also to expand their customer
range. Now they will attract people involved in charity events, non-profit organizations
or citizens that will be interested on them because of there social responsibility rather
than for their product.
Understanding the complexity of social media and having around 3, 500 stores
forced Wal-Mart to focus more locally rather as a mega-corporation in terms of social
media. Also, Stephen Quinn, executive vice president of Wal-Mart US division,
justified this action by stating “ This addresses our ‘next generation’ customers who are
using a lot of social media. A national message is often not as relevant”. This will
engaged more customers because the information will directly be target to them and
their specific region and culture. Secondly, respond to customer questions and issues
will be faster and more personalized. Thirdly, Wal-Mart values families and kids. As a
consequence, the majority of their pictures on Facebook include joyful families.
Sending a direct message of family union and having a more effective communication
while allow Wal-Mart to expand their customer base because subscribers will feel part
of the company and the quality they are receiving is one of the best in the nation.
The effective social media approaches and strategy by Wal-Mart challenges
Publix everyday. Publix, in contrast to Wal-Mart, does not perceive the need to heavily
relay on social media platforms because of the passionately and lovely customers they
have. Publix earned the tittle of a loved brand, which makes their marketing techniques
easier and less demanding compared to Wal-Mart. Due to respectable reputation and
loyal customer base Publix social pages focuses more on selling their products than
trying to create a brand reputation or name.
It was until 2012 that Publix saw the need to open their first official page and the
response surprised everyone “What happened next was even a surprise to the company:
in the weeks after their official Facebook page launch about 100 people were liking the
page each minute. Only a Little over a year, Giselle Abramovich of Digiday noted that
the page had over 25 million interactions to brand-initiated posts, and referred to Publix
as one of the most engaging brands on Facebook. ( Dragon 2014). Publix attributes this
rapid success to the fact that they post as a friend rather than as a brand. These way
subscribers will connect and enjoy the brand rather than feeling pressured to buy from
them. Creating this trusting and friendly via Facebook contributes to the development of
such a respectable brand.
At the same time, Publix targets upper and middle class families in the state of
Florida. Moreover, their customer base is so loyal that no matter what they post people
will still go to their stores first before going any place else. Therefore, they can write
more educated and socializing focused posts. They understand that people like to
socialize, go out and spent quality family time. Also, at Publix they realize people tend
not to react as positive when the only thing they see in social media are prices and
advertisements of the brand. As a consequence, they try to promote their brand by
posting recipes, entertainment based on a particular holiday or activity, promotions in
order to teach costumers how to save money, and their charity events so people are
indirectly distracted from the marketing section of the Facebook and Twitter page.
Furthermore, they keep their customers updated of store news. As Publix seeks to
expand beyond Florida and the costumers will have primary information and stories of
the brand.
Another way Publix engages their customers to social media platforms is by
providing career guidance and advises. By doing so, Publix will create stronger
relationships with their customers. In August 2012, the brand launched their Facebook
page “Public Careers”. According to Shannon Patten the main purpose of this Facebook
page was to provide job seekers with an interacting and interesting page to socialize and
have fun with some of their current staff members. At the same time, this gives a clue of
what Publix values on their employees. This is later transformed on the way they
advertise their product on social media pages like Facebook and Twitter.
Both companies are consider to be ethical responsible because of what their
values stand for. The fact that both companies successfully use Facebook as a way to
engage families and kid suggest the ethical behavior behind their actions. Also, the
effectiveness is the way they manage their social media not only is ethical correct but an
accomplishment in terms of financial statements.
Wal-Mart ideology is simple “ personal and moral integrity is one of our basic
fundamentals and it has to start with each of us”. By committing to moral and personal
integrity, Wal-Mart concentrates on making peoples experience more pleasant. Also, the
commit to one of their main objectives, helping people live better. This mission applies
not only to our customers and social media subscribers but also to anyone related to
Wal-Mart. Achieving this goal makes their social media approach even more family
related. Subsequently, this brands tries to avoid any type of controversy and always
focus on the morals of individuals before their products or services.
Wal-Mart, social media plan has been extremely successful. This is evident
because Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the world with a labor force of around two
million employees. Also, Wal-Mart is ranked as the world’s largest public corporation
due to their sales around the world. Showing how they due attract people and that there
Public relation team knows how to manage effectively those pages.
Publix also demonstrates there ethical values based on their mission and
reputation they have gained with their customers. Although Publix writes their
notification in a more informal way than Wal-Mart, they still manage to main respect
and ethics with there costumers. They are able to maintain a friendly relationship
without any inappropriate or offensive language or idea. This respectful environment
increases the amount of people that visit it and comment on a regular basis.
There success is clearly identified because of how fast their social media pages
have grown. In less than a year, Publix became one of the most dynamic Facebook
pages and constantly developing new ones to target a specify issue.
Social media are crucial for a successful marketing strategy. A successful social
“According to a recent report from Forrester Research, 32 percent of consumers find
brands' official webpages by way of popular social media sites such as
Facebook.”(Brunham 2013) Facebook and Twitter are sources in which people can
express their concerns and point of views. Although Wal-Mart and Publix Facebook and
Twitter page focus on different targets and principles, both understand the importance
of this tool to successfully market their brand. Publix seems to have a more informal
page structure because they have a very organized and structure costumer base. While
Wal-Mart has to focus on attracting new costumers from different social classes and
continue promoting their low prices that distinguish them from the rest of their
competitors. Regarding their different approaches, both companies are strongly
positioned in their market but understand that the future in marketing relies on
technology and social media. Therefore, they will continue searching for the best way to
engage more costumers using popular media like Facebook and Twitter.
References
Kunz, Michelle B.., and Brittany A.Hackworth.2011.”ARE CONSUMERS
FOLLOWING RETAILERS TO SOCIAL NETWORKS?” Academy of Marketing
Studies Journal 15,no.2:1-22. Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost. (accessed May
5,2014)
Mary J., Patrick J. McHugh, and Jesus I. Zubillaga. 2010. "HOW LARGE U.S.
COMPANIES CAN USE TWITTER AND OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA TO GAIN
BUSINESS VALUE." MIS Quarterly Executive 9, no. 4: 243-259. Business Source
Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed May 5, 2014).
Neti Sisira. “SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS ROLE IN MARKETING.” “International
Journal of Enterprise Computing” Vol. 1, no .2 (2011): 1-16. Accessed April 30, 2014