Question 1
Whole Foods Market versus Peapod
Similarities
Strategic Mission and Vision
Both companies aim at providing grocery delivery services and aim to partner with similar service providers for increased clientele. Peapod has partnered with Ahold Delhaize while Whole Foods has partnered with Instacart for better market domination.
Customer Benefit Package Design and Configuration
Both Whole Foods and Peapod offer delivery services to customers who would prefer shopping online rather than going to pick up items from the store. Additionally, both service providers offer free deliveries for first orders, and subsequent deliveries call for a fee depending on the time the customer wants for the products to be delivered (Kelly-Barton, 2014).
Differences
Strategic Mission and Vision
While Whole Foods Market is rolling out a grocery delivery in 15 cities in the U.S. through Instacart, Peapod failed to move to lucrative and growing cities such as Houston, Dallas, and Austin. As such, Peapod will remain limited in the Midwest and Northeast markets while Whole Foods Markets take over the whole country to offer their grocery delivery services.
Customer Benefit Package Design and Configuration
While Whole Foods Market has offers for the in-store pickup customers, Peapod does not have such an offer that would help save time for deliveries (Kelly-Barton, 2014). Whole Foods will, therefore, have more customers walking into the stores even during the busy shopping hours to save on their budgets.
Changes in the Process Design Phase that could improve Operations
The process design phase can be changed to improve the operations of the service providers discussed above. For instance, they could target markets that do not mind paying for convenience. Secondly, they could incorporate more apps for smartphone communication between the suppliers and the customers.
Question 2
Service Positioning and Product Process Matrices
Similarities
Both elements of the marketing plan are important for the products life cycle in that they help in outdoing the different competitors in the market by offering more accessibility as well as a variation in taste for the customer in a better fashion than the competitors.
Differences
The service positioning seeks to position the services in the areas where it is more favorable for the potential customers about the existing competitors. On the other hand, the product process aims at making the potential customers identify better with the characteristics of the product compared to those of the competitors.
Examples, Benefits, and Limitations
Service Positioning
An example of service positioning is seen in Whole Foods opening more of its branches in 15 more cities across the United States (Kelly-Barton, 2014). As such, the company benefits in having a wider customer base. However, it has a limitation regarding the initial cost which is high.
Product Process
An example of product process is that used by Peapod, where the customer is prompted to create an online account and can have a cart to add the items needed. The benefits of the product process are that it brings advantages that are not offered by other service providers such as cheaper costs for the same amount and quality of goods. However, the limitations of the product process are that other manufacturers follow the same path of differentiating the products and make them better, thereby, maintaining a stiff competition that is hard to offset (Collier & Evans, 2012).
Uniqueness of the Matrices in Addressing Customer Needs
Service position is unique in that it can affect the perception of the consumer on the product based on the accessibility. On the other hand, product positioning is unique in that it draws the attention of the consumer to the value of the services and products provided.
References
Collier, D. A., & Evans, J. R. (2012). OM 3 (3rd ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
Kelly-Barton, C. (2014, September 21). 6 Reasons Whole Foods and Instacart Can Deliver the Goods. The Motley Fool. Retrieved from http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/09/21/6-reasons-instacart-and-whole-foods-will-deliver-t.aspx
