Tops/CRC Ahold
Tops is the leading supermarket brand in Thailand with 47 stores in greater Bangkok and other provinces throughout the country.
Netherlands-based Royal Ahold manages 35 companies operating under local brand names across four continents: North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia. CRC Ahold Co. Ltd, representing Ahold in Thailand, operates under the Tops brand.
The Challenge
Ahold’s entry into the Thai market was fairly recent and included several acquisitions of local operators. This posed the challenge of creating a ‘Go to Market’ strategy for an organisation that looked dramatically different from just a few years earlier.
External challenges included an increasing presence of hypermarket and convenience hybrid operators in the Thai market, creating competitive pressure on Tops. Other internal factors included elements like:
- clearly differentiating the market position between Tops’ store formats in the eyes” of Thai consumers
- limited customer loyalty, with high dependence on anchor department stores for foot traffic
The Tops CEO was very interested in Capgemini’s Consumer Relevancy concept covered in the book The Myth of Excellence, co-authored by a Capgemini executive vice president. The Consumer Relevancy model stipulates that companies should not try to be great at everything. Instead companies should focus on five core attributes – Access, Experience, Price, Product and Service – and select one in which to dominate, one in which to differentiate and remain at par on the others. In addition, companies should focus on the values or context surrounding transactions, rather than on just the product or service itself.
A poll conducted of Tops’ customers found that there were several different views on how Tops was positioned in the Thai market from a Consumer Relevancy perspective. The CEO was convinced that Consumer Relevancy would allow Tops to see its market through the eyes of customers and position a brand that was meaningful and relevant. He wanted to use the concept as the basis for developing a new, consumer-centric brand vision for Tops Thailand.
Capgemini Approach
Capgemini facilitated a series of executive-level workshops to explore the Consumer Relevancy concept and develop a common brand vision. The first workshop, involving the 20-member Tops executive management team, included key tasks such as:
- reviewing Consumer Relevancy concepts and establishing baseline understanding of what drives consumer purchase behaviour
- reviewing survey results from 520 Tops customers on five core transaction elements – Price, Product, Access, Service and Experience. Customers were asked to rate these in order of importance and to rate Tops for each of them
- evaluating Tops’ strengths and weaknesses from the consumer perspective along the five core attributes
- developing a strategic vision for Tops and its two retail formats, including a companywide ‘dominating’ attribute and ‘differentiating’ attribute for each format
- developing high-level, consumer-centric initiatives, aligned to functional areas to achieve the vision.
The second workshop involved the next tier of management to review the concept, communicate the new vision and develop a portfolio of initiatives to enable Tops to achieve its new, consumer relevant vision. The resultant portfolio was aligned not only to each of the functional areas of the business but also against the five Consumer Relevancy elements to ensure proper focus and priority for each initiative identified.
Value Delivered
The benefits of the workshops were immediate. The CEO was extremely happy with the results, which included:
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a common understanding of what drives consumer behaviour using simple, yet highly effective, concepts
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an aligned management team with a common understanding and, more importantly, agreement on the ‘Go to Market’ strategy and market positioning for Tops to adopt in the future
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agreement and consensus by management of who the real competitors are and their market position from ‘Dominant’ and ‘Differentiating’ perspectives
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common agreement by management of Tops’ strengths and weaknesses, initiatives required to close gaps while at the same time enhance current capabilities - to enable Tops to achieve a strong position in the market, and one that is relevant to consumers
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a framework that facilitates all individuals in Tops to speak the same language in the context of being more consumer-centric and relevant to the wants, needs, and expectations of customers and consumers in general.