MARKETING STRATEGY 2
Kmart is one of the leading industry firms. It headquarter is United States. It started in
the early 1960’s. It is the 3
rd
largest discount retail industry enterprise in the world. In United
States of the discount retail industry, eight companies highly dominate almost 100 % of the
market (Marlon, 2005). The industry in the United States in the current market environment
can be highly profitable to the market leader. However, competition is fierce. The fierce
completion has led to bankruptcy of some corporation in the past. For example in 2002,
Kmart filed for bankruptcy as a result of competitive market environment (Turner, 2003).
Therefore, each of these retailers should be able to differentiate their product for them to have
a competitive edge against the competitors.
One the strategy applied by Kmart in order to remain competitive is to partner with
designers such as Martha Stewart and Kathy Ireland. Moreover, Kmart has opened its own
website. This has facilitated e-commerce and inbound marketing in the firm and increased it
competitiveness in the industry. The company has branded partnerships. It has added latest
celebrity partnerships with actresses Selena Gomez and Sofia Vergara (Thomas, 2008). The
aim to promote clothing lines for juniors and women. Orchestrating the system ensures
reduction on inventory cost and minimizes the chances of losing customers to the
competitors. Therefore, Kmart has invested on upgrading of supply and inventory
management system.
In conclusion, Kmart has invested in merchandising and marketing strategy that will
result to differentiated products. It has optimized on supply chain, to maximize on efficiency
and service capability. Moreover, investment in information technology is essential in
facilitating e-commerce and inbound marketing, in the retail industry. This has led to the
improvement of the platform of Blue-Light internet service (Marlon, 2005).
