Market Strategy Saudi Arabia (Coursework Sample)

MARKET STRATEGY SAUDI ARABIA
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Topic: Market Strategy Saudi Arabia
Introduction
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the second largest in Arab countries. There are around 16 million citizens, 9 millions foreign expatriates, and 2 million illegal immigrants. It is boarded by countries like Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, and Iraq with its total land area being 2.15 million km2. It is the world’s largest oil exporter and is second in the known oil reserves. It has one of the highest Gross Domestic Product at number 19th in the world. Most of the Saudi Arabia income is dependent on the oil mining with almost 70% of government revenue generated from oil exports. It was formed in 1932 by King Abdul Aziz Al Saud when he united the kingdoms of Nejd and Hejaz.
The demographic factors, climate and location, have affect on how a company conducts the marketing and success in any region and location. Knowledge of the country’s characteristics, a company can tailor make adverts, marketing strategies and products that are acceptable in the given country. When planning market entry into Saudi Arabia, it will be necessary to understand how each of the factors in location, demography, and climate would affect various products offered by Wal-Mart. This will enable a formulation of a marketing strategy for the short and long term geared for the country.
Market Strategy Saudi Arabia
Location is one of the influencing factors in developing a marketing strategy. Saudi Arabia is located in Asia continent and occupies about 80 percent of Arabian Peninsula (Henry 2007). It is within longitude 34 ° and 56 degree east, and latitude 16 degree and 33 degree North. Most of the country is made of Arabian Desert and borders mostly Islamic countries. The desert is mostly sandy, and wadis are common but no lakes or rivers. Alluvial deposits are found in basins, oases and wadis and made a very small percentage of the fertile land. There is a large central plateau that rises from the red sea and descends to the Persian Gulf and Nejd. The location of the Saudi Arabia will have several effects to the marketing Strategies of Wal-Mart.
The location of Saudi Arabia as a country poses various challenges in marketing the Wal-Mart products. One of the issues will be transport availability. There need to have convenient transport for the marketing team, that will ensure that all the areas identified for the target business, understand about the Wal-Mart presence and products offered. Goods and people have to be transported from the Wal-Mart stores, and the location of the country must offer efficient and cost effective means of transport. The transport should be fast, reliable, and accessible. The other factor of the location of the country will be availability of the market. The country location and the location of the business should allow for customers to access the store outlet easily. The other effect of the location will be availability of the products and raw materials for the products that Wal-Mart intends to stock in its store. The other factor of the location that will affect the marketing strategy will be the environmental concerns due to the desertification in the country (Henry 2007). The marketing must have the elements and use images that people are familiar. Adverts may include the sand dunes, oasis, and other desert features and how they connect with Wal-Mart. The design of the structure to hold the Wal-Mart store may include a tent or the shape of a sand dune. The other issue with the country location is security issues in the local level and international levels. Saud Arabia has experienced terror attacks from its citizens internally and at a global scale. These have effect at the message that will be conveyed during the marketing campaign. The lack of security may hinder marketing or may require a change of the marketing strategies. Location will also affect the products stocked in the store, hence the marketing strategies. Saud Arabia is located in the Islamic world and the products marketed and stoked should target this market segment. Location will require a marketing strategy to be tailored to factor in challenges and advantages brought by the country location in a certain region, in the world.
The other factor that affects the marketing strategy will be climate. Climate affects the products available and product needs in a given market segment. Issues like the rainfall levels, humidity, temperature variations and range, seasons, and other elements of climate will affect the behaviour of the consumers, agricultural activities and the product demand. Saud Arabia has a desert climate that is characterized by high temperatures and low rainfalls. There are very high day temperatures in most regions of the country except, Asir province, and acute night temperature drops. The summers can average 45 degree Celsius and high of 54 degree Celsius have been recorded night temperatures can drop to minus 5 degree Celsius. Asir province weather is affected by the monsoons of the Indian Ocean (Henry 2007).
One of the effects of the climate on the market is on the products needs. The climate in Saudi Arabia do not allow the agricultural activities and these may affect the marketing strategy. Wal-Mart may capitalize in stocking agricultural products. There is also a need for the clothes that are favourable to the desert weather. It may not succeed in selling products meant for other regions such as those of the cold climate. There is a need for, cold drinks and the other products which can be used to replenish water lost due to high temperature. The other effect of climate on marketing strategy will be the effect of climate on human characters hence viable shopping hours. There mare is a need to include messages of environmental consciousness and conservation in the marketing strategies of Wal-Mart due to high level of desertification in Saud Arabia.
The other affect of the marketing strategies is found in the demographics properties of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia have and estimated population of 29 million peoples with am estimated per capita income of 24 000 US dollars (Henry 2007). Most of the population is Arabs who practise Islam as a religion. Men and women are expected to perform a different role in culture, like women are not allowed to drive or attend same public rallies with men. The education levels have improved significantly since the discovery of oil. Most of the population is made of people of ages 15-64 years with more males than females and the population growth rates as at 2011 were 1.536%. The life expectancy is at 75.9 years, and 85% of the population is found in the urban areas (Henry 2007). These demographic factors will help the Wal-Mart make directed and meaningful marketing strategies to the Saudi consumers.
Population density and distribution will affect where the outlet stores can be located and where to do the marketing. The population is mostly located in the urban centres or around oasis where some farming happens. These will help the Wall-mart target the marketing to these highly populated areas. The other factor is the age distribution of the population. Majority of the population is between the ages of the 15-65 years, and there has been an increase in the youth population (Henry 2007). Targeting such products as electronics and including technology motivated marketing, will be effective for such population. Marketing strategy, market segment and advertisement method, will be influenced by these factors. The other effect of the demographic factors will be the religion of the majority of the Saudi people. Religion has a significant influence on what people consume, wear, and value. The majority of the population is made of Muslims and it will be wise for the Wal-Mart to include products and marketing messages tailored for the Islamic community. The culture and ethics influence the food, clothes and objects acceptable in a certain community. Wal-Mart should include products that promote the Arabic culture since the most population is made up of Arabs. There is also a need to understand the income levels which affect the propensity to consume. The GDP is high for the Saudi population and these may necessitate more luxury products (Henry 2007). The language is also another demographic factor that has a very strong influence on the marketing strategies for the Wal-Mart. The language used is Arabic and; therefore, marketing and advertising should be in Arabic. The products need to have Arabic messages so that customers can understand what they are buying.
Marketing strategy involves the formulation of the proper marketing ways that will ensure a business is established in a certain market segment. It will involve knowing the market environment, consumer behaviour, understanding corporate ethics and social responsibility, and understanding the competitors. There are different internal and external factors that will affect Wal-Mart in the Saud Arabia market. Each has a varying weight and consequences to the success of the business in both short term and long term. There are more factors that are directly or indirectly connected with location, climate, and demographic factors that will affect the marketing strategies of Wall-Mart in Saud Arabia.
Politics influence businesses to greater effects (Henry 2007). Having a good will with the Saudi leaders and rulers will have the direct impact on the success of Wall-Mart in the new market. Wall-Mart should not include messages that may provoke political actions or loss of faith in the short and long term to the politicians. Products and information should not portray political inclinations or favours. The other effect will be on the legal systems, legislation and laws. The business and country laws should be obeyed and respected in the marketing strategies by the Wall-...