Trader Joes Brand Analysis
What is Trader Joe’s?
Trader Joes is a specialty grocery store that predominantly sells their own private brand. Products that have the Trader Joes brand label range from cookies, juices, exotic cuisine from around the world, cosmetic goods, nuts, meats, pre-made lunches, and just about anything else that would be found in a normal super-market. I worked at Trader Joe’s for about a year and a half. This work experience made me more perceptive to how consumers choose products and the equity they place in their brands. As an employee, we were required to know detailed information about each brand, which included its sourcing, nutritional content, expiration dates and recipes it could be worked into. All Trader Joes products are colorful, descriptive, healthy and generally inexpensive. The company has their own in store artists who create promotional materials for every product. Trader Joes brand differentiates itself from other super markets because they create a culture with their products and employees that customers become fanatic about.
Trader Joes Brand Analysis: What can they improve?
While Trader Joes has been extremely successful in building their own trader joes brand equity and creating a culture around their products and customers, I believe they can utilize fundamental marketing techniques to further increase sales and continue to maintain their high level of perceived value from their customer base. The product that will be focused on is Trader Joes brand Babble Mendocino Red Wine. Trader Joes recently has acquired the license to sell beer and wine products in their stores. Due to the high cost of purchasing this license, many of these products are sold at a premium. This product has the Trader Joes logo on it, but customers are apprehensive to initially purchase the wine because they do not know what to expect. There is a liquor store right next to Trader Joes where they could purchase wine for a cheaper price. Trader Joes is confident that they have a product customers will be excited about, but they will never know the true equity of the product until a high volume is sold and feedback is received. The target market for this wine is adults over the age of 21 who drink alcohol and see value in purchasing organically sourced products. These consumers are experienced in purchasing Trader Joes brand products, but are inexperienced in purchasing alcohol from Trader Joes. These customers want value and quality from all products with the Trader Joes logo on it.
Cheese Pairing
A solution would be to offer a discount on selected organic free-range cheeses that pair with the wine. When both of these products are purchased together a small discount could be applied. Pushing the customer to buy these complementary cheese products will increase the consumer’s satisfaction when drinking wine and create a hobby for them to purchase different Trader Joes wine and organic cheese combinations. Both wine and cheese products are on the more expensive side and would bring a healthy amount of revenue. Trader Joes can heavily market this in their monthly flyer called the “Fearless Flyer” and also utilize the employees to push the information to the customers in person.
Sample Wine in Store
Another way to increase the attractiveness of the trader joes brand wine product is to provide samples to customers in the store. This will give them the opportunity to try the product themselves. They will see that Trader Joes believes in their product that they are willing to let consumers try before they buy. This tactic should be utilized on peak shopping days (historically Saturday and Sunday) to create an in store buzz that will get customers talking to their friends about the product.