http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/sobeys-…

http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/sobeys-launches-mission-better-food-135200076.html

This article discusses the new branding and positioning strategies that Sobeys, the second largest Canadian food retailer, is trying to accomplish in order to gain additional market share to overtake Safeway and becoming the leading food retailer in Canada.

Sobeys’ point of difference which makes it stand out in comparison to other food retailers in Canada is their strategy of newly adopting a much healthier and wholesome food philosophy. Sobeys’ main positioning hook is that Jamie Oliver, a famous chef renown for healthy and tasteful recipes will be leading in the selection of foods provided in the supermarket. I believe that Sobeys’ strategy of publicly displaying that Jamie Oliver will be personally tailoring the assortments of foods in the store will be very effective in capturing the attention of Canadian consumers, as Jamie Oliver is a well respected and generally well liked chef. This strategy will hopefully shift public food consumption more towards Sobeys and away from other large food retailers which don’t make much effort in providing healthy wholesome food choices. I find that this new brand positioning of healthy living will be particular successful because more and more Canadians understand the importance of healthy eating and want to purchase and eat more healthy foods. Sobeys’ marketing team have done a good job identifying this unoccupied market and are quickly taking action to capitalize on the opportunity as according to Al Ries and Jack Trout, being the first to occupy a market often leads to many advantages such associating the brand name with the market itself and establishing brand loyalty.

This article also ties into the subject of business ethics. Even though Sobeys might generate plenty of profit from satisfying this specific market segment they are also providing a valuable service to society by providing healthier foods to the Canadian public.

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