Dynamic Marketing Process
(Frantz)
Dynamic processes are flexible, informal, and adaptive processes that normally involve strategic and less structured managerial decisions and activities. For Shoprite, we will focus on its marketing process. Shoprite’ marketing process involves the Four P’s which are product, price, place, and promotion. In their product strategy, Shoprite showcases how they have a wide variety of products in their supermarkets such as food products, beauty supplies, medical supplies, appliances, and etc. Their products are meant to target middle class Americans. They offer their store catalogs to every customer where it shows their special deals, coupons, and other offerings. They also have their Shoprite app where they showcase and offer different products from many different brands across various categories to their customers. Using their pricing strategy, Shoprite gives out special offers on their products during certain months. They also offer their customers gift cards, saving stamps, and business cards in order to help them manage their money while they are at their stores. Shoprite uses the place/ distribution strategy by providing their customers online grocery delivery and online store pick up options. When you download the Shoprite app, it has a store locator where it shows you all of the Shoprite supermarkets near your current location. Shoprite uses the promotion strategy by coming up with promotional strategies such as “Buy 1, Get One Free” sales. They have advertisements through newspapers, magazines, online ads, email, and various social media platforms. They have a Youtube channel where they teach their customers how to cook extravagant meals and give customers price plus cards where cashiers scan them and the customers get weekly discounts on various store bought products.
How a Social Media Information System has helped the Dynamic Process (Frantz)
Instagram supports Shoprite’s marketing strategy. On their Instagram page, they show off some of the special products that they have in their stores. They also create cooking videos to teach their customers how they can make various homemade dishes utilizing their products. They show images of some of their finished home cooked meals and show the recipes on how to cook these meals. It even shows ads for job offers for various positions within the company. They have ad promotions on special items and deals that you can only get on certain holidays like quality red roses for someone dear to your heart on Valentine’s Day. They have an employee of the month weekly where they give special thanks and promotions to their most hardworking and loyal employees. They hold many fundraisers for many special events that their companies sponsor. 
ShopRites Social Media Plan (Mikayla)
Step 1: Define your Goals - To upkeep brand awareness and engage with their consumers daily.
ShopRites main focus with their social media pages is to continuously engage with their consumers whether that is responding to comments or posting content that would be relative to them, like fun new recipes shown through cooking tutorials. Having a social media presence also gives the company an opportunity to increase their brand awareness. For instance, if someone who had never heard of ShopRite saw one of their posts about an upcoming sale they may be intrigued to visit one of the stores and buy whatever the deal may consist of.
Step 2: Identify Success Metrics - ShopRites engagement and follower count is a way for the company to track performance.
As with many other companies that utilize social media, ShopRite measures how well their pages are doing based on the engagement they see, consisting of how many comments or likes a post receives, or their current follower count. By using their engagement as one form of a key performance indicator they can track what their consumers enjoy seeing. An example of this occurance would be if ShopRite posts about an upcoming deal, like their yearly can-can sale, and they receive thousands of likes on the post they can decide this is the type of content consumers enjoy seeing. Whereas, if a post only receives fifty or so likes, they can make the informative decision to stop posting that type of content. The easiest way to measure success on a social media page is to look at your follower count. If you have a high follower count your page is doing well, and if it is low you should be switching up what you post. In ShopRites case, they have over fifty thousand followers on Instagram, which shows that they have a very successful page.
Step 3: Identify Target Audience - ShopRites target audience is middle class families.
The target audience demographic is the same as the target market they are always trying to attract, this being middle class families. Since most people in this income level are trying to find a good sale every once in a while and they are the ones who are consistently cooking at home. ShopRite also has a story highlight found on their Instagram labeled “Family Meals” which gives off the ingredients necessary to make a dish with a serving size suitable for an average family.
ShopRites main focus with their social media pages is to continuously engage with their consumers whether that is responding to comments or posting content that would be relative to them, like fun new recipes shown through cooking tutorials. Having a social media presence also gives the company an opportunity to increase their brand awareness. For instance, if someone who had never heard of ShopRite saw one of their posts about an upcoming sale they may be intrigued to visit one of the stores and buy whatever the deal may consist of.
Step 2: Identify Success Metrics - ShopRites engagement and follower count is a way for the company to track performance.
As with many other companies that utilize social media, ShopRite measures how well their pages are doing based on the engagement they see, consisting of how many comments or likes a post receives, or their current follower count. By using their engagement as one form of a key performance indicator they can track what their consumers enjoy seeing. An example of this occurance would be if ShopRite posts about an upcoming deal, like their yearly can-can sale, and they receive thousands of likes on the post they can decide this is the type of content consumers enjoy seeing. Whereas, if a post only receives fifty or so likes, they can make the informative decision to stop posting that type of content. The easiest way to measure success on a social media page is to look at your follower count. If you have a high follower count your page is doing well, and if it is low you should be switching up what you post. In ShopRites case, they have over fifty thousand followers on Instagram, which shows that they have a very successful page.
Step 3: Identify Target Audience - ShopRites target audience is middle class families.
The target audience demographic is the same as the target market they are always trying to attract, this being middle class families. Since most people in this income level are trying to find a good sale every once in a while and they are the ones who are consistently cooking at home. ShopRite also has a story highlight found on their Instagram labeled “Family Meals” which gives off the ingredients necessary to make a dish with a serving size suitable for an average family.
Step 4: Define your Value - Providing customers access to quick and easy meals and current deals, and job opportunities within the company.
When considering why someone should take the time to follow and look through your social media pages, ShopRite shows that their page has a great amount of value. The one mentioned many times before is the fact that they consistently post recipes created by professional chefs to give new ideas of how a consumer could use their products. They also show when new coupons or deals come out to promote their products and give the follower an opportunity to save some money, which everyone enjoys doing. The last main value to their Instagram page is that they post job opportunities with them, which gives currently unemployed consumers an easy way to find a career and help ShopRite in their recruitment process.
Step 5: Make Personal Connections - ShopRite connects with their followers by responding to their comments and posting celebratory pictures about their current employees.
By answering comments and congratulating hard work, ShopRite is able to connect with customers and employees. When they acknowledge the work employees put into their job they are strengthening the bond between them and make the employee feel appreciated. And answering comments is the easiest way for a company to interact with their followers. Whether that be answering questions or simply liking a comment.
Step 6: Gather and Analyze Data - ShopRite can utilize the Instagram analytics feature to see current data.
Gathering data through social media gives companies an opportunity to make informed decisions based on what they collect. In this case Instagram offers a feature called Instagram analytics, that takes all data collected from the companies entire account and analyzes it for them. This tool may tell the company what their most popular post is, what hashtags generate the most engagement, and even what time of day their followers are most active.
Step 5: Make Personal Connections - ShopRite connects with their followers by responding to their comments and posting celebratory pictures about their current employees.
By answering comments and congratulating hard work, ShopRite is able to connect with customers and employees. When they acknowledge the work employees put into their job they are strengthening the bond between them and make the employee feel appreciated. And answering comments is the easiest way for a company to interact with their followers. Whether that be answering questions or simply liking a comment.
Step 6: Gather and Analyze Data - ShopRite can utilize the Instagram analytics feature to see current data.
Gathering data through social media gives companies an opportunity to make informed decisions based on what they collect. In this case Instagram offers a feature called Instagram analytics, that takes all data collected from the companies entire account and analyzes it for them. This tool may tell the company what their most popular post is, what hashtags generate the most engagement, and even what time of day their followers are most active.
ShopRite’s Social Capital (Yahilyn)
Social capital is the practical outcome of sporadic or informal interactions between people that can be attributed to networking in the business world. The value of social capital is determined by the number of relationships in a social network, by the strength of those relationships and by the resources controlled by those related. Formula : Social Capital = # of Relationships x Relationship Strength x Entity Resources
Enterprise Social Networks (Yahilyn)
An enterprise social network (ESN) is a software platform that uses social media to facilitate cooperative work of people within an organization. On the other hand, Enterprise 2.0 is described as the use of emergent social software platforms within companies. In other words, the term Enterprise 2.0 refers to the use of enterprise social networks. Andrew McAfee developed an acronym that summarizes key characteristics of enterprise 2.0 : search, links, authoring, tags, extensions, and signals. The model below describes the remarks of the acronym “SLATES”.
ShopRite Addresses SMIS Security Concerns (Yahilyn)
Shoprite does not have a social media policy for employees. A social media information system (SMIS) is an information system that supports the sharing of content among networks of users. The way ShopRite handles SMIS security concerns is as stated in the Privacy Policy. “The data collected through the Website is maintained by us and/or our service providers in a manner consistent with applicable laws. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the internet or any wireless network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your data, you acknowledge that:(a) there are security and privacy limitations of the internet which are beyond our control; (b) the security, integrity, and privacy of any and all information and data exchanged between you and us through the website cannot be guaranteed; (c) any such information and data may be viewed or tampered with in transit by a third party; and (d) WHEN YOU TRANSFER ANY INFORMATION TO US, YOU DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE AT ALL TIMES FOR MAINTAINING THE CONFIDENTIALITY OF ANY PASSWORD OR OTHER ACCESS INFORMATION.”
ShopRite handles unfavorable reviews by addressing the customer by their first name which ensures the customer that the business takes customer feedback seriously. They recognize the customer's complaint and resolve the matter offline as shown below.
ShopRite handles unfavorable reviews by addressing the customer by their first name which ensures the customer that the business takes customer feedback seriously. They recognize the customer's complaint and resolve the matter offline as shown below.
Dynamic Process Analysis
Databases (Mikayla)
A database is “a self-describing collection of integrated networks” (Kroenke, 2021). They are composed of bytes, also called characters, grouped into fields, records, and files. Along with the data elements, databases contain relationships among rows in tables and metadata. A database looks very similar to a spreadsheet, but the two are not synonymous. The two-store data differently. In a spreadsheet data is stored in separated cells and can be edited within said cell. But a database gathers data from external tables and gives you a more dynamic way of evaluating and relating data. Databases are also known to be more intricate than spreadsheets. Many companies choose to work with databases rather than spreadsheets because of how quickly automation can occur due to the use of relational data throughout, and because they can become the “one-stop shop” for information found in multiple locations.
Shoprite can observe premade databases, throughout its dynamic marketing process, by using the Instagram Insight tool. Instagram Insights is a feature that any business account can access to see the demographic of their followers and their overall account performance. When looking at the insights tab you can see that the database is grouped into files and then even further sectioned into fields. When talking about databases, files are “groups of similar rows and records” (Kroenke, 2021). In the example below the files are the different characteristics of the follower’s demographic, in other words, the gender, age range, and location tables. Fields are the columns of a database table that “represent the attributes of an entity” (Kroenke, 2021). In the below example, the fields are the individual labels of each table. For the locations table, the fields would be London, New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, and San Francisco.
Another feature of databases, mentioned earlier, is metadata. Which is “data that describes data” (Kroenke, 2021). An example of this on the bottom right table, of the figure above, is the measure of traffic for each hour in the day the followers of the account were most often on Instagram.
Database Management System (Yahilyn)
A database management system (DBMS) is software that manages data storage, retrieval, and updating in a computer system. Shoprite adds, accesses, and processes data using the MySQL database management system. Forms, reports, queries, and application programs make up database applications. Shoprite uses "Report Manager'' as one of its database applications, which is a Web-based report access and management solution that enables administrators to access a single report from a distant location using an HTTP connection. The SQL tool for doing queries is incorporated in Wakefern's Data Warehouse. Data Marts, which are subsets of a data warehouse and only include specific information from the data warehouse, are also used by Wakefern. ShopRite uses SAS, which collects data for data mining and gathers information about customers which is then used by marketing to efficiently and effectively target customers and potential customers. The types of new technologies for databases are SQL, NoSQL, NewSQL, and In-memory. 
LAN connects computers that reside in a single geographic location on the premises of the company that operates the LAN. The internet is a network of networks. Internets connect LANs, WANs, and other internets. Shoprite uses a Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) network with DSL backup provided by AT&T. A switch is a network device that links computers and delivers messages by replicating each computer's broadcasts exclusively to the intended destination. They also provide DSL cables and wireless networking routers. They employ a Broadband Connection via DSL to connect to the internet, which delivers a high-speed connection over a phone line without interfering with voice service. AT&T DSL Broadband has a maximum speed of 768 kilobits per second. (768 kbps).
ShopRites Protocols (Frantz)
A protocol is a group of rules for communicating data. Some examples of protocols are http, https, smtp, and ftp which are application layer protocols. There also are web service protocols such as WSDL and SOAP. There are even internet plumbing protocols that have four or more layers to them. ShopRite uses IEEE 802.3 as the protocol system. Also referred to as Ethernet, the protocol is used for wired LAN connections to “ specify how messages are to be packaged, processed, and transmitted” (Kroenke, 2021). Cloud-Based Information Systems (Frantz)
The cloud is a network of servers that are accessed through the Internet that involve the software and databases that run those servers. The cloud is important because many organizations are using it due to lower costs from many cheap processors. These processors give companies free communication and data storage. Many companies can access it anywhere, it has tons of elasticity and visualization technology. The cloud even has Internet-based standards which enable flexible processing capabilities.ShopRite uses CBI4, an AI cloud-based information system. It also is an IAAS system meaning the systems vendor hosts “the bare server computer, data storage, network, and virtualization” (Kroenke, 2021). ShopRite uses it to increase their sales, and time management, and to help them better track their products. ShopRite also uses it to keep making quick updates to their inventory systems, print out new labels, and put back out-of-stock items. This system has helped Shoprite prevent many price mismatches on products, product availability problems, and other back-end issues.
A problem with ShopRite’s networks mentioned earlier, is that they don’t update their app to notify their online customers when some of their products are out of stock until after their order is given to them. The problem is caused due to some gap in the networking system that keeps Shoprite’s inventory systems separated from the ShopRite app itself.
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