ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how markets are segmented, the positioning of companies within markets, retail branding and the implementation of the marketing mix. It reviews marketing strategies and customer profiling with Tesco's loyalty card data providing an illustration of how a company can segment its customer base into lifestyle profiles. Finding out about the size and make-up of the segment and building up a profile of customers within it is the key to successful positioning and branding. Positioning is about understanding and establishing the position of retailer brand in comparison to the relative positions of competing brands in the minds of retailer target customers. The chapter also shows how early retail branding research focused upon product characteristics. It focuses on retail marketing mix, and discusses the service marketing mix, with particular emphasis on recent research into pricing and promotional strategies and tools of locational analysis.
