Business, Accounting and Financial Studies
As an upscale supermarket chain, Taste serves middle-class grocery shoppers.
Taste is a chain supermarket in Hong Kong owned by AS Watson, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Limited.
It began the first branch in Festival Walk, Kowloon Tong in 2004, but most of the branches are opened based on the re-decoration of Park'n Shop, Taste's sister company.
Its main customers are middle-class families. Its retail products are similar to those in Park'n Shop and Great.
The first Taste store opened at Festival Walk, Kowloon Tong in Novermber 2004.
Products ranges:
Taste sells fresh and ready-to-eat foods.
In addition to fruits and vegetables, the supermarket sells different kinds of seafood, cheese and hams.
It also has an in-store bakery and a wine cellar. These make Taste differ from its sister company, PARKnSHOP.
It provides household goods including kitchenware and tableware.
compared with traditional supermakrets, Taste stores are spacious and they have contemporary layout.
For example, the store in Tseung kwan O occupies 55,000-square-foot, stocking over 30,000 individual products.
PARKnSHOP
(Chinese: 百佳; pinyin: Bǎijiā)is one of the two largest supermarket chains in Hong Kong, the other being Wellcome.
PARKnSHOP operates more than 300 outlets in Hong Kong, Macau, and Mainland China.
The first PARKnSHOP store opened in Stanley, Hong Kong in 1973.
For a decade the store remained a local retailer until the mid-1980s when it began to expand outside Hong Kong.
PARKnSHOP is a member of the A.S. Watson Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Limited.
Great is a supermarket in Hong Kong owned by AS Watson, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Limited. It has a branch in Pacific Place, Admiralty, which was opened in 2000 based on the re-decoration of Park'n Shop, Great's sister company.
Its main customers are middle-class families. Its retail products are similar to those in Park'n Shop and Taste.
Fresh goods like fruit tend to be of higher quality and price. There is a large number of counters compared to a typical grocery stores.
They offer wide selections of cheese, chocolate, tea, processed meats, sushi, fresh fish and meat, ready-made meals, sandwiches and more.
There is also a Triple O's burger restaurant, a cafe with food, and an ice cream stand inside the store
Gourmet is a supermarket in Hong Kong owned by AS Watson, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Limited.
It has a branch in Lee Gardens, Causeway Bay, which was opened in 2005 based on the re-decoration of Park'n Shop, Gourmet's sister company.
Its main customers are middle-class families. Its retail products are similar to those in Park'n Shop and Taste.
The Lee Gardens branch ceased trading as from 28 February 2011. The Leighton Centre branch starts trading from January 2012.
Discussion Questions
1) In what ways would middle-class consumers differ from lower income consumers when they shop at a supermarket?
Answer: 1 Middle-class consumers put more emphasis on product quality and do not mind paying higher prices. For example, they may prefer buying organic food which is healthier but more expensive. They may also prefer buying imported items as they think that the quality is better.
In addition, they expect better service from shop staff and a better shopping environment (e.g., more spacious, contemporary layout, etc.).
2) Assume Taste is considering opening more outlets. Suggest some locations for the new Taste Outlets. Explain?
Answer: 2 Since Taste targets higher income shoppers, it should open its outlets in areas with middle-class residents or working adults (e.g., professionals, executives). In this respect, Tsim Sha Tsui, Tai Koo, Admiralty and Central District are potential locations.
(Any other reasonable answers)
3) Who are the target market of Taste?
target markets of Parknshop could be
Supermarkets like PARKnshop satisfy the food need of human beings, so their target customers ranges all the population.
It is a highly competitive market.
target markets of taste could be
Its main customers are middle-class families.
4) How does PARKnSHOP segment its market?
PARKnSHOP has more than 300 stores and 9,000 employees in Hong Kong.
Geographic segmentation:
Different types of 'PARKnSHOP', 'Taste', 'Fushion', 'Courmet' and 'Great' are opened in different areas of Hong Kong to satisfy different types, needs of shoppers.
PARKnSHOP opened the first Superstore in Hong Kong in 1996 in Whampoa Garden Phase 12 with a floor space of 4,200 m².
The first ParknShop Megastore opened in 2002 in Metro City Tseung Kwan O with a floor space of 6,700 m².
A.S. Watson Group also operates a number of supermarkets under different brand names that target higher-income consumers.
There is one Great supermarket located at Pacific Place,
one Gourmet supermarket at Leighton Centre (Causeway Bay),
and Taste supermarkets at Festival Walk (Kowloon Tong), Citygate (Tung Chung), Stanley Plaza (Stanley), Hopewell Centre (Wan Chai), East Point City (Hang Hau, Tseung Kwan O), Maritime Square (Tsing Yi), Olympian City 2 (Tai Kok Tsui), Metroplaza (Kwai Fong, Kwai Chung) and TMTplaza (Tuen Mun). In 2007, another brand, International by PARKnSHOP, was introduced at Happy Valley, Hong Lok Yuen, United Centre at Admiralty and Cyberport which specializes in organic foods.
psychological segmentaion:
PARKnSHOP's higher-income stores are billed as a "lifestyle" food stores and stock a large variety of imported goods, as well as fresh fruit and vegetables and many nonfood items. The upmarket stores were launched in November 2004, when the existing 35,000-square-foot (3,300 m2) PARKnSHOP store located at Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong was rebranded as TASTE. It is open daily from 7.00am to midnight.
Demographics segmentation:
Other brand name supermarket like: 'Taste', 'Gourmet", 'Great", "Fushion" target:
middle to higher class:
"households earning over $800 thousand per year who prefer organic products, shop in bulk and live within twenty-five miles of the store"
or
Traditional PARKnSHOP targets:
low to middle class:
"households earning near the poverty level who shop for the best deals, buy in small batches and live within a ten-mile radius."
geographic characteristics:
behavioristic traits:
2. How does PARKnShop segment the market?
SEGMENTATION,TARGETING AND POSITIONING
1 Middle-class consumers put more emphasis on product quality and do not mind paying higher prices. For example, they may prefer buying organic food which is healthier but more expensive. They may also prefer buying imported items as they think that the quality is better.
In addition, they expect better service from shop staff and a better shopping environment (e.g., more spacious, contemporary layout, etc.).
2 Since Taste targets higher income shoppers, it should open its outlets in areas with middle-class residents or working adults (e.g., professionals, executives). In this respect, Tsim Sha Tsui, Tai Koo, Admiralty and Central District are potential locations.
(Any other reasonable answers)
