Question

Do you think it would be easy or difficult to imitate Trader Joe's strategy? Why?

Answer 1

It is difficult to imitate Trader Joe's strategy.

The business strategy of Trader Joe's encompasses providing highly selective products that cannot be found in other grocery stores. It carries private label products that account for 70% of its product offerings. It also provides customers with extraordinary value with attentive employees. The products they sell at Trader Joe's are free of preservatives, added flavour, or artificial colour. The foods that are considered for private labelling are carefully taste-tested to ensure maximum quality and taste. This proves that they do not compromise on quality. So, it is safe to say that the 'branding strategy' of Trader Joe's is unique.

At Trader Joe's, they value their customers. They make efforts to increase customers' average spending per visit. This facilitates a greater and stronger buyer-seller relationship. They also let customers sample products before they make a decision to buy them. This increases customer trust. Such is their 'customer retention strategy' that builds stronger customer relationships and maximises revenue that each customer brings in.

It is these strategies that give Trader Joe's a competitive advantage over other grocery stores in the market. It has a unique branding strategy that no other grocery store has. Its customer retention strategy ensures customer delight and keeps then coming back for more every time. Such a strategy takes time to be implemented. One cannot imitate such a strategy. It takes effective strategic planning to come up with such a strategy to make it work and to implement it successfully. So, it is not easy to implement Trader Joe's strategy.