W.W. Grainger Ansoff Matrix

By John Dudovskiy
August 17, 2020

W.W. Grainger Ansoff Matrix is a marketing planning model that helps the global industrial supply company to determine its product and market strategy. Ansoff Matrix illustrates four different strategy options available for businesses.  These are market penetration, product development, market development and diversification.

W.W. Grainger Ansoff Matrix

W.W. Grainger Ansoff Matrix

Within the scope of Ansoff Matrix, Grainger uses all growth strategies except diversification growth strategy in the following manner:

1. Market penetration. Market penetration involves selling existing products to existing markets. Grainger sells about 1,7 million types of MRO products covering a wide range of product categories.[1] The industrial supply company sustains market penetration business strategy via developing and maintaining relationships with customers through sales and service representatives and digital solutions.

2. Product development. This growth strategy is associated with developing new products to sell to existing markets. Grainger does not produce any product in-house, but continually expands its supplier base for new MRO products. Particularly, the worldwide distributor of industrial products is focused on expanding SKUs in its Zoro and MonotaRO subsidiaries to offset increasing competition from Amazon Business. In 2019 the company added about 1,5 million SKUs to its Zoro US assortment to increase it to approximately 3,5 million products.[2]

3. Market development. Market development strategy is associated with finding new markets for existing products. Currently, the B2B distributor has 456 branches and 30 distribution centres in US, Canada, Latin America, Japan and Europe. The worldwide distributor of industrial products may enter market in Asia in the foreseeable future[3]. Grainger enters new markets with Endless Assortment business model with a single online sales channel. Later, MRO products distributor may shift to High-Touch Solutions model in any given market if there is growing demand from large customers with more complex needs.

4. Diversification. Diversification involves developing new products to sell to new markets and this is considered to be the riskiest strategy. Up to date, Grainger has not engaged in diversification targeting new markets with no types of products and services.

W.W. Grainger Report contains the above analysis of W.W. Grainger Ansoff Matrix. The report illustrates the application of the major analytical strategic frameworks in business studies such as SWOT, PESTEL, Porter’s Five Forces, Value Chain analysis and McKinsey 7S Model on W.W. Grainger. Moreover, the report contains analyses of W.W. Grainger leadership, business strategy, organizational structure and organizational culture. The report also comprises discussions of W.W. Grainger marketing strategy, ecosystem and addresses issues of corporate social responsibility.

W.W. Grainger Report

[1] Annual Report 2019 (2020) W.W. Grainger

[2] Annual Report 2019 (2020) W.W. Grainger

[3] Fact Book 2019 (2020) W.W. Grainger



Category: Ansoff Matrix
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