Trader Joe's Brand Audit

THE BRAND AUDIT Megan Abero Jasmyne Chambers Max Larson Natasha Sanchez Michelle Wallengren

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CONTENTS Company background Mission Statement Customer Focus Products Points of Parity & Difference BeneEit Ladder Positioning Statement Context for Brand Audit – Brand Purpose – Brand Communications – Brand Health – Strengths – Weaknesses

• Conclusion

COMPANY BACKGROUND

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Founded in Pasadena, California – 1967 FOUNDER: Joe Coulombe OWNER: Theo Albrecht CEO: Dan Bane 399 Stores In the United States (May 2013) Privately Owned/Operated Sales: $8.5 Billion Fiscal Year 2011

COMPANY BACKGROUND

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Started in the 1958 as a small chain of convenience stores -­‐ Pronto Markets – Largest competitor: 7 -­‐ Eleven They made the stores bigger, decked the walls with cedar planks and donned the crew in cool Hawaiian shirts Coulombe idea based off of people's desire to enjoy foods and wines from abroad at home • Saw the need for products that reminded people of their travels Put innovative, hard-­‐to-­‐Eind, great-­‐tasting foods in "Trader Joes" name. That cut costs and saved your money.

MISSION STATEMENT At Trader Joe’s, our mission is to bring our customers the best food and beverage values and the information to make informed buying decisions.

There are more than 2000 unique grocery items in our label, all at honest everyday low prices. We work hard at buying things right: Our buyers travel the world searching for new items and we work with a variety of suppliers who make interesting products for us, many of them exclusive to Trader Joe’s.

All our private label products have their own “angle,” i.e., vegetarian, Kosher, organic or just plain decadent, and all have minimally processed ingredients.

CUSTOMER FOCUS

OUR ANALYSIS: • “Active seekers”/Adventurous people • Diverse Populations • Well educated • Health conscious consumers (gluten free, organic products, etc.)

• Price conscious consumers • Busy, on-­‐the-­‐go • Younger demographic – college students & up

FROM MRI: • Women • Age Range: 25 – 54 • College graduate, Working class, & Professionals • Income: $75,000 -­‐ $100,000

PRODUCTS

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Basic Grocery Goods

– Trader Joe's sells foods, beverages, and household items imported from around the world

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Healthy, Organic, Unique Foods – Any Trader Joe's brand product in the store contains no artiEicial Elavors, colors, preservatives, MSG, or trans-­‐fats.

– Organic and in environmentally friendly packaging.

– 80% of Items are Private Labels

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Ready-­‐made Meals New Products Each Week Affordable Products

POINTS OF PARITY

(Compared to: Whole Foods, Kroger, & Treasure Island)

• Organic produce • Variety of produce • Has a private label • Knowledgeable staff

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POINTS OF DIFFERENCE

Store environment Unique products Affordable prices Smaller stores -­‐ less inventory Buy directly from small-­‐time vendors, private labels • Discontinue items frequently

BENEFIT LADDER EMOTIONAL BENEFIT (How that makes the customer feel)

• Makes the customer feel adventurous, accomplished that they’ve made a unique/ gourmet quality meal

END BENEFIT (What that gives the customer)

• Nutritious and taste fulEilling meal at an affordable price

PRODUCT BENEFIT (What the product does)

• Saves money, SatisEies, Creating a local community feel, Reminds people of products that are found while traveling

PRODUCT ATTRIBUTES (Tangibles that lead to beneEits)

• Low cost, Quality, Ethnic variety, Unique

POSITIONING STATEMENT Among price and health conscious foodies, Trader Joe’s is the brand of grocery stores that provides an entertaining shopping experience because it has an appealing variety of products.

CONTEXT FOR BRAND AUDIT • Lost in translation – What makes Trader Joes the successful chain?

– How we can stand out from our competition?

• Example: Whole Foods is our largest competitor in terms of sales, number of locations, and product choices.

BRAND PURPOSE The purpose of our brand is to create a unique shopping experience for our open-­‐minded customers.

• Trader Joe’s saw a need for products that remind people of travels.

– “And when we return home, we think grocery shopping should be fun, not another chore. So just relax and leave your worries at the door. We'll sail those seven seas, you have some fun with our Kinds at your neighborhood Trader Joe's.”

BRAND COMMUNICATIONS SOCIAL MEDIA: – Social Media outlets are not operated by the company and the material doesn’t have meaning.

– Doesn’t have a strong presence on Facebook • Fan page with 500,000 followers.

• Trader Joe’s products have thousands of likes.

– Twitter fan page titled “Trader Joes List” • Functions as a forum.

• Its not very helpful.

• PRINT: – “Fearless Flyer” – They outline new, and best selling products – This medium is available digitally and in print.

• WORD OF MOUTH: – Asset: loyal customers – Customers do most of the marketing if not all the marketing for them.

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BRAND COMMUNICATIONS •

WEBSITE: (http://www.traderjoes.com)

– Consumer friendly – Easy to navigate through – Informative -­‐ provides important information about history, products, store locations and recipes – Visually appealing

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STORE ENVIRONMENT: overall fun environment – External Communications

• “Decked the walls with cedar planks and donned our crew in cool Hawaiian shirts” • Friendly customer service, lively • International feel • SIMPLE neighborhood supermarket

– Internal Communications • Captains & Mates • Offer beneEits to employees – Medical, dental, and vision coverage – Paid Time Off plan – Retirement plan – 10% Crew Member Discount

BRAND HEALTH • Strong brand health • Higher sales than their main competitor (Whole Foods) and same number of stores – The important point is that Trader Joes stores are a fourth of the size.

• Found a productive way to utilize all of their store space.

• Word of mouth marketing is our strongest asset along with the experience provided • Company goal: GROWTH! – Should look to expand in relevant areas – Launch new advertising campaigns

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STRENGTHS

Established and recognizable brand with loyal and enthusiastic consumers Well established website which provides important information about products, store locations and recipes Majority of online sentiment toward the company is positive Strong private label that is becoming well-­‐ known throughout organic food consumers Manage and select their products thoroughly to offer the best variety to their consumers EfEicient with store space which can lead to new store openings/expansion Offer lower prices than competing grocery stores

WEAKNESSES • Lacks a desired presence on most social media platforms – Because their social media presence is lacking, their reach and visibility is also limited

• Individual products get discontinued – Low product variety

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CONCLUSION

“Secretive” company –

They don’t spend money on advertising, but they yield the power to have extremely loyal customers •

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DON’T NEED TO ADVERTISE

Our take on the situation is that Trader Joes has found a way to bring “fun” to the experience.

Overwhelmed by the amount of energy Tiki-­‐island themed, and their frozen food is from another planet Knowledgeable employees genuinely like working there – Provide healthy options at low prices

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The experience results in extraordinary word of mouth marketing by its customers.

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The experience is what keeps them aEloat.

Implementing heavy advertising would contradict what the company stands for.

More inEluence on meaningful social media campaigns, and print would be a smart path to follow.

SOURCES

• "Trader Joe's." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Trader_Joe's>.

• "Trader Joe's." Trader Joe's. Trader Joe's Co., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. <http:// www.traderjoes.com/index.asp>.

• “Trader Joes Fan.” Facebook.,n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. <https:// www.facebook.com/pages/Trader-­‐Joes-­‐ Fan/15934023652>.

• “Trader Joe’s List.” Twitter.,n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. <https://twitter.com/ TraderJoesList>.