Reference no: EM133548173

Problem

TRADER JOE's

Trader Joe's is an American chain of grocery stores headquartered in Monrovia, California. The chain has 560 stores across the United States.

The first Trader Joe's store was opened in 1967 by founder Joe Coulombe in Pasadena, California. The chain was owned by German entrepreneur Theo Albrecht from 1979 until his death in 2010, when ownership passed to his heirs.

Coulombe noted two trends in the US that informed the merchandising of his new store concept: one, the number of college-educated people was rising steadily, and two, international travel would be accelerating as well. A better educated, more well-traveled public were acquiring tastes they had trouble satisfying in American supermarkets at the time.

Since its inception, Trader Joe's has continued to expand across the United States. In 2004, Business Week reported that Trader Joe's quintupled its number of stores between 1990 and 2001 and increased its profits tenfold. In February 2008, BusinessWeek reported that the company had the highest sales per square foot of any grocer in the United States. In 2016, Fortune magazine estimated sales to be $1,750 in merchandise per square foot, more than double the sales generated by Whole Foods.

As of January 21, 2023, Trader Joe's had 560 stores across 42 states in the United States with stores being added regularly.Most locations averaged between 10,000 and 15,000 sq ft (1,400 m2).

Each location is designed to represent its respective area, with staff members creating murals along store walls to represent the surrounding neighborhood. Some store locations have their own "find the mascot", and children can obtain a unique collectible prize when they tell a staff member where it is "hiding", and choose a new hiding location.

Trader Joe's sells many items under its own private labels, at a significant discount to name-brand equivalents, and requires its name-brand suppliers not to publicize this business relationship.Trader Joe's labels are sometimes named in accordance with the ethnicity of the food in question, such as "Trader Jose's" (Mexican food), "Trader Giotto's" (Italian food), "Trader Joe-San's" (Japanese food), "Trader Ming's" (Asian food). By selling almost all of its products under its own labels, Trader Joe's "skips the middle man" and buys directly from both local and international vendors.

While a typical grocery store may carry 50,000 items, Trader Joe's stocks about 4,000 items, 80% of which bear one of its brand names. Products include gourmet foods, organic foods, vegetarian foods, frozen foods, imported foods, domestic and imported wine and beer.

The company ranked number 23 among the 2019 Glassdoor best places to work in the US, and number 14 in 2020.
The management decided to expand internationally in Europe (except UK), and they hired you as an international marketing manager.

Assuming this role you have to answer the following question:

What are - to your opinion - the key elements of the brand's visual identity and messaging that need to be localized?