Marketing Strategy of Dollar General: Largest US Retailer

Updated on: Aug 6, 2022

In our previous blog, we did a detailed SWOT analysis of one of the world’s leading retailers, Walgreens. Here we will be looking into the in-depth Marketing strategy of Dollar General.

Dоllаr Generаl is the lаrgest disсоunt retаilers in the United Stаtes by the number оf stоres. The соmраny runs оn а simрle business model aiming tо рrоvide а wide bаse оf сustоmers with their essentiаls, everydаy аnd hоusehоld needs, enhаnсed with а vаriety оf generаl соmmоdities, аt lоw рriсes, in eаsily ассessible lосаtiоns.

Dollar General has such a large presence in the market worldwide due to the implementation of the latest marketing strategies which is essential for any business because most of the people nowadays are on online platforms and it is easy to target them. 

If you are interested in learning what digital marketing is and how to use it to your advantage – check out our Free MasterClass on Digital Marketing 101 by the CEO and Founder of IIDE, Karan Shah.

Let’s get a quick overview of Dollar General’s, finance, products and competitors before jumping into the Marketing strategy of Dollar General.

Digital Marketing Academic Challenge 2024 - DMAC

About Dollar General

Dоllаr Generаl Соrроrаtiоn is аn Аmeriсаn сhаin оf retаil stоres selling соnsumаbles, seаsоnаl items, home рrоduсts, аnd арраrel. Dоllаr Generаl’s heаdquаrters аre lосаted in Gооdlettsville, Tennessee.

The соmраny wаs fоrmerly reсоgnized аs J.L Turner & Sоn аnd lаter соnverted its nаme tо Dоllаr Generаl Соrроrаtiоn in 1968. Dоllаr Generаl wаs estаblished in 1939, fаmily-оwned by twо with аn initiаl investment оf $5000 eасh.

They strive to make the most affordable alternative to more than 17,000 stores, easy to buy in 46 states. Their stores offer low daily prices on items including food, snacks, health and beauty products, cleaning supplies, basic clothing, home furnishings, seasonal items, paper products, and much more from the most reliable American brands and products, as well as high-quality private products.

From serving its clients with value and ease of use and their staff with job opportunities in the communities, Dollar General has been committed to its mission of helping others since the company’s inception in 1939.

Quick Stats on Dollar General
CEO Todd J Vasos
CMO Chad Fox
Area Served United States (Except for Alaska, Hawaii and Montana)
Industry Discount Retailer
Market Share/ Revenue US$34.220 Billion (Fiscal Year Ended January 28, 2022)
Vision Serving Others. Every time we open our doors, we do so with that purpose-driven commitment in mind.
Tagline Save Time, Save Money, Everyday

 

Marketing Strategy of Dollar General

Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning

STP – Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning

Dollar General stores sell a limited selection of high-quality, consumable basics in a variety of areas. For internal reporting purposes, the company divides its merchandise into four categories: highly consumable, seasonal, home products, and basic clothes.

When they open a store, they choose localities in which to locate it, frequently focusing on cities with populations of less than 20,000 people. Dollar General maintains its position as a consumer-driven distributor of basic consumables. They fulfil their objective of assisting people by emphasising value and convenience in their business strategy. Thirty percent of their inventory is under a dollar. They offer a focused variety of highly unpreserved items in stores averaging 6,800 square feet, making shopping for essential necessities simple and hassle-free.

Dollar General is well-positioned for future growth and excellent returns because of its focus on three strategic goals: the extension of the new pOpshelf store format, expansion into healthcare markets, and technology adoption to strengthen the retailer’s digital operations.


Marketing Campaigns

Marketing Strategy Of Dollar General - Campaign 1

Dollar General organised a summer fun campaign on June 16 for kids via its social media page on Instagram. The campaign was done to increase the rush to shops with a theme of summer fun for just $1 – where the kids had fun with toys at a budget-friendly cost. The post on Instagram got more than 500+ likes and many kids with their mums visited the store.

Marketing Strategy Of Dollar General - Campaign 2

Dollar General made another campaign which is ‘Turn up the heat and let’s get cookin’ this memorial day. And if you run out of chips or drinks while the grill is going you know where to find us.

Dollar General organised the under $15 campaign on May 25, 2022, via its social media page on Instagram. The campaign was done to increase the sales with a theme of memorial day where the people come to shop and buy BBQ essential products for under $15. The campaign got successful and the reel got 8.3k views.

Marketing Strategy Of Dollar General - Campaign 3

Cino’s de mayo for celebration. And the celebration calls for nachos. Shop everything you need to get the party started for less than $5!

Dollar General played a campaign where they gave chinos de mayo nachos under $5 on May 6, 2022. The campaign got successful on the Instagram platform and the reel on Instagram got 14.9k views.

Dollar General does such marketing campaigns frequently on Instagram where it provides discounts on various products and brings exciting deals to its customers. You can check out Dollar General’s Instagram account to know more.


Social Media Marketing

Dollar General is active on Social Media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. It has got its maximum number of followers on Facebook than on Instagram & LinkedIn. Their post mainly contains promotional content and more items available at Dollar General including gifts, presents, celebration items, food, accessories, festive offers and discounts, mother’s day specials etc.

Facebook

  • No. of followers – 3293k Followers

Instagram

  • No. of followers – 244k+ Followers

LinkedIn 

  • No.of followers – 199k+ Followers

Twitter 

  • No.of followers – 872k+ Followers

The posts on Facebook and Instagram but on LinkedIn the story is different. On LinkedIn, the posts are more related to the corporate side of Dollar general including employee feedback, hirings & openings, achievements and awards, leaders talks, discussions and webinars.


SEO Strategies 

Marketing Strategy Of Dollar General - SEO

As per SEO rankings, we all know that the number of keywords below 1000 is somewhat wrong and above 10,000+ is fantastic. From the above picture, we can see that Dollar General has only 544 organic keywords, which means they need to work on and fix their SEO strategies. 

Again the amount of organic traffic per month is above 400,000+ which is outstanding. Here Dollar General is getting 2,900,000+ organic traffic which is again incredible. Hence, it is evident that the digital marketing strategies of Dollar General are doing really well.


Influencer Marketing 

This company doesn’t involve people to do their Influencer Marketing. 


E-commerce Strategies

Dollar General does have its e-commerce store and the company is following almost all the e-commerce strategies including —

  1. Include advanced product filtering (home accessories, meals and deals, school essentials etc.)
  2. Highlight new products (Dollar 1 Deal)
  3. Offer more payment options.
  4. Give discounts (DG coupons) 
  5. Leverage social proof.
  6. Build loyalty programs.
  7. Provide discounted or free shipping

The e-commerce website of Dollar General is intuitive and easy to use, it is a user-friendly website. The refresh and load time is low and it is a secure website. One can order each and every product online which is available at Dollar General’s physical store.


Mobile Apps

Marketing Strategy Of Dollar General - Mobile App

The application offers a facility of ‘order in-app, pick up at store’ which is DG PICKUP and another is DGGO! through which one can scan and pay-in-app for a quicker and hassle-free check-out experience.

Digital coupons, cart calculators and shopping lists are some of the features of the app. The application has more than 10M+ downloads with a star rating of 4.3.


Content Marketing Strategies

Dollar General is very active on social media. Their social media posts content mainly creates supermarket awareness among people. They post recipe videos in which the dish is made using the ingredients, and retail package food items available at Dollar General.

Some posts relate to decorative items, gifts, and entertainment accessories. They also update their corporate news on social media like LinkedIn.

This ends the elaborative marketing strategy of Dollar General. Let us conclude our learning below from the marketing strategy of Dollar General.

Digital Marketing Academic Challenge 2024 - DMAC

Conclusion – What’s unique in Dollar General’s Marketing?

Digital marketing is crucial since it links a company with its clients when they are online and is effective across all sectors. It links businesses with ideal consumers through SEO and PPC on Google, social media marketing, and email marketing. If you would like to learn more and develop skills, check out IIDE’s 4-Month Digital Marketing Course to learn more.

Alternatively, you can enrol in one of our free online masterclasses led by IIDE’s CEO, Karan Shah, to gain insight into the field of digital marketing. 

We hope this blog on the marketing strategy of Dollar General has given you a good insight into the company’s marketing strategies.

If you like such in-depth analysis of companies just like the marketing strategy of Dollar General check out our IIDE Knowledge portal for more fascinating case studies.

Thank you for taking the time to read the marketing strategy of Dollar General, and do share your thoughts on this case study marketing strategy of Dollar General in the comments section below.

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Author's Note:

My name is Aditya Shastri and I have written this case study with the help of my students from IIDE's online digital marketing courses in India.

Practical assignments, case studies & simulations helped the students from this course present this analysis.

Building on this practical approach, we are now introducing a new dimension for our online digital marketing course learners - the Campus Immersion Experience.

If you found this case study helpful, please feel free to leave a comment below.

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Aditya Shastri

Lead Trainer & Head of Learning & Development at IIDE

Leads the Learning & Development segment at IIDE. He is a Content Marketing Expert and has trained 6000+ students and working professionals on various topics of Digital Marketing. He has been a guest speaker at prominent colleges in India including IIMs......[Read full bio]

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