Online Shopping

Then started sharing my idea with my best friend, Stalin Gomes, who is currently studying at Bridgeport University in Connecticut and is also an under Of this company. He also shared a similar idea and we started working towards building our company in 2010. Then we named it “Athletic Footwear”. Our company’s USPS is “The best you can have”. We are committed to provide our customers with varieties of top quality footwear. We are working with all the top athletic footwear brands like Nikkei, Aids, Rebook, Puma, New Balance, Gender Armor, Acacias, Sketchers, Vans and Umbra to bring all the new gears to our customers.

Our company’s marketing targets are runners, athletics, sneaker lovers and others. Our company’s top priority ND goal is to provide the best customer service possible and going global. We want to run our business successfully and also want to go international. To reach our goal we need a very successful website and to make it; we need storefront software that offers us similar options and services we are looking for. In the article, Starting an online store made easy and ‘really sexy’: E- commerce TTY McMahon and DOD Jones talk about the future of e-commerce.

They wrote, “A whole new era of e-commerce is emerging – one where just about anyone can create high-end, custom branded online stores for next to thing. This is being made possible by a crop of emerging online e- commerce platforms backed by venture capital” (McMahon & Jones 2011). These days it’s very tricky to find the right storefront software as there are so many storefront software offering different features like hosting, design, pricing and payment options, marketing tools, reports etc.

There are also many fake web builders which might be harmful for businesses. The purpose of my research is to find the right storefront software for building a website for our business. The research that I have completed describes the important features that we need to consider when choosing storefront software. Below I have detailed each key features required for building a perfect website for my business. Also, I have selected three storefront software and compared their key features. At the end I have chosen the best one for my business.

There are a lot of different storefront software companies these days offering different options and services. The most important thing to keep in mind when choosing a storefront software is our business needs, like it loudest make sense to use a smaller web hosting if we are building a huge website that requires multiple servers, it wouldn’t make sense to pay for a lot of storage and features that we are not going to use if we are launching a small blob. I have decided to compare key features between three storefront software. They are Spiffy, Evolution and Precision Web Hosting.

The important features that I have chosen to write about are unlimited web hosting, customizable web design, 24/ 7 customer service & security, shopping cart & payment options, product management, marketing & SEE, bile commerce and social media connectivity. Kari Fabian writes, “This type of application should help you design your website, upload and manage your inventory, connect to a shopping cart, and provide secure payment options to your customers”. Unlimited web hosting is the most important feature for building a website.

I Want to expand my business in domestic level and also internationally, so it’s very important for me to choose storefront software that offers unlimited web hosting. Spiffy and Evolution both offers unlimited be hosting but precision web offers very limited web hosting. In the article, Spiffy; The brains behind the online business the author writes, “Spiffy takes care of coding storage, backup servers, security and payment administration, in return for a subscription fee and, with basic plans, a fee on each transaction” .

Spiffy offers Content Delivery Network (CDC) which is large network of servers placed across the world to ensure that customers can load any website store quickly, no matter where they are. According to the article, For busy Evolution, e-business is good, Lori Hopkins talks about the features of Evolution. He writes, ‘Evolution helps businesses build their websites, update product information, offer online coupons, handle credit card transactions and track inventory, all in one place.

Its social shopping feature lets customers add e-commerce stores to their Faceable and Namespace fan pages” (Hopkins 2010). Evolution also offers CDC, powered by Zamia, consists of tens of thousands of servers across the globe, allowing shoppers to access any site at lightning speed. Precision Web Hosting doesn’t have servers all around the web, shoppers can’t have access o all sites and also some loads slowly. That is a clear negative side of Precision Web Hosting as I want to expand my business globally. Ant my customers to access my website from any part of the world at lightning speed. All three storefront software also offer mobile common:e feature which lets users pull up smart phone ready storefronts. Evolution and Spiffy come with multiple hosted email accounts to help business owners communicate with customers. These web-based accounts allow owners to access their messages any”here they have an internet connection. On the there hand Precision Web Hosting comes with very few hosted email accounts to help business owners communicate with customers.

I want to communicate with my customers so that I can let them know about new merchandise and sales, so think Evolution and Spiffy are in a better position in this case than Precision Web Hosting. Choosing storefront software that offers customizable web design is also very important for a building a perfect website. In this feature we can customize our web page just as we want it or choose from different readmes templates to make it user friendly and website attractive.

Spiffy offers “Spiffy Theme Store” which hosts a collection of over 1 00 premium and free commerce templates. The Theme Store includes professional looking templates for cloth ins & fashion, jewelry, electronics, art & photography, and other types of commerce sites. According to spiffy, many of the commerce templates found in the Spiffy Theme Store have been created by world-renown designers including happy cog, clearest and pixel union.

On the other hand, Evolution offers dozens of free, ready-to-use templates by which we can make our website shine in less than sixty seconds y choosing from any of our high-quality commerce templates. With a wide variety of free templates to choose from, we will have a stylishly professional site that’s sure to impress our customers. They also offer custom design and branding services to make businesses look unique. Precision Web Hosting also offers some similar services but a bit limited. They don’t have options to design larger websites.

They have limited ready to use templates and customizing options. I want to expand my business and also go international and for that I need storefront software, which is going to offer me to expand thou charging me more. Based on this information I think Spiffy and Evolution have better web customizing options then precision Web Hosting.  One very important feature to look at when selecting storefront software is 24/7 customer service and security from the storefront software company to protect the website and also function properly.

Security is very important these days. Especially with increased threats of online fraud and identify theft. In the article, Evolution; Evolution announces credit card fraud protection service for online store owners the writer wrote, ” In 2009, the umber of personal records that hackers exposed – data like Social Security numbers, medical records and credit card information tied to an individual – exceeded 220 million records, compared with 35 million in 2008″ . Evolution, spiffy and Precision Web Hosting offers secure and flexible commerce hosting.

They offer PC/Clips-certified securities which are dedicated to keep our site’s most sensitive sales and customer data safe from harmful activities. But Precision Web Hosting doesn’t have 24/7 customer service. As Precision Web Hosting doesn’t have 24/7 customer service, think it’s not perfect for my business because I want my customers to get 24/7 customer service so that they are ready to do business with my company over and over again.  Another very important feature we need to consider when choosing storefront software is shopping cart.

Evolution, Spiffy and Precision Web Hosting all accept credit cards. With Spiffy Payments, set up is instant, so we can accept Visa, Mastered and American Express the minute we launch our shop. Spiffy offers a low credit card rate, and no hidden fee. Evolution offers legible payment options. We can accept a variety of payment options including credit cards, Papal, Google payments and international currencies. Precision Web Hosting also offers different payment options like credit cards and Papal. Evolution, Spiffy and Precision Web Hosting all offer flexible and simple shipping options.

Spiffy has shipping rates that can be set up in a number of different ways, including fixed-price, tiered, weight-based and location-based rates. Also, unlimited plan users can receive automatic shipping rates from major shipping carriers like LASS, USPS and Fed. While Evolution and Precision Web Hosting also has similar features but Spiffy has better product management and product tracking options. So, Spiffy is the best option to setup a shopping cart for our business website. Products make up the business of commerce.

A great range of products keeps customers coming back for more. But adding thousands of products is not an easy task and is often vulnerable to errors. Also delivering and keeping track of the product is also a very important task. Spiffy have Track product inventory option through which they can help us avoid selling rodents that have run out of stock, or let us know when we need to order or make more of our product. Evolution has mass import service which can do exceedingly fast product setup and we can relax as their skilled data feed managers guarantee us error free product updates.

While Precision Web has a very limited product management service with no product tracking options. As I am going to expand my business in the feature I will have more products and to track them need a storefront software that has good product management service. So, think Precision Web is not a good option for my business. Marketing and SEE is another very important feature that we need to consider when choosing a effective storefront software for our business. SEE stands for search engine optimization.

Spiffy, Evolution both offers advanced SEE built right into our store, we can earn higher organic rankings in Google, Bingo and other search engines. Also, they automatically help to earn rich snippet displays like Star ratings, pricing and stock Status in organic search results. Evolution also offers their customers to sell their products on Amazon and eBay. On the other hand, Precision Web also offers similar eaters like Spiffy and Evolution but are limited. They don’t options for selling in Amazon and eBay.

Spiffy, Evolution and Precision web all offers email marketing options which helps customers to know about all the latest updates and discounts of the business. I am looking for the best marketing and SEE featured software and I think Spiffy and Evolution are very good options to choose from.  These days almost 30% of the commerce sales are made through a mobile device. Spiffy plan includes a free, built-in mobile commerce shopping cart. This means our customers can browse and buy from our store hill on the go, using any mobile phone from anywhere.

Also, we can manage our store on the go and choose from beautiful mobile responsive themes. Evolution also helps shoppers buy from businesses anytime. Where by delivering a completely mobile optimized experience, from browsing all the way to checkout. Instead of making shoppers fumble through the site with their thumbs, site will be fully compatible with any smart phone or tablet device. In Precision web shopping cart automatically re-sizes the Shop template to fit mobile Screen resolutions but doesn’t have beautiful mobile themes to choose from. So, I think Precision Web is not a good choice for my business.

A company achieves sustainable competitive advantage when an attractive number or buyers prefer its products/services over those of rivals and when the basis for this preference can be maintained over time.

Competitive advantage could stem from offering lower prices than competitors for equivalent benefits or providing unique benefits that more than offset a higher price.  Sustainable competitive advantage is necessary for a firm to win in the market place. It is required for a strategy to deliver on strategic and financial objectives . Using examples briefly explain and state the Importance of each of the following. Strategic vision Strategic vision represents the destination that management seeks to take a firm.

Ford’s vision “A car in every garage” Importance Give the organization a sense of direction Inform company personnel and other stakeholders what management wants Its business to look like Spur company personnel to action Provide managers with a reference point to (2. 5 marks for explanation and any 2 points mentioned as importance of strategic vision) Strategic mission Strategic mission of a firm focuses on its present business purpose. Strategic mission highlight the present products and services, types of customers served and how it intends to do that.

Examples Beacon Books: “To inspire and equip business executives and entrepreneurs with essential information and knowledge they require for professional and personal growth” Google: “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” Importance: It focuses the business by identifying the boundaries of the current business It distinguishes a firm from others and gives it an identity of its own.  Explain the meaning and significance of each of the following:  Strategic group mapping .A strategic group is a cluster of firms in an industry with similar competitive approaches and market positions. Strategic group mapping entails plotting firms in n industry on a two-variable map using pairs of these differentiating characteristics e. G.

Product line breadth, distribution channel use, geographic coverage, price, quality etc. It helps firms to know their positions in the industry versus their rivals It helps firms to know which competitors to focus on in their quest to make strategic moves It helps them to know which positions in the market or industry are attractive to players in the market. 2. 5 marks for explanation of strategic group mapping and any of the above points mentioned)The bargaining power of suppliers Bargaining power of suppliers defines the extent to which suppliers of inputs to competing firms in an industry are able to dictate the price, quality, quantity and even timing of supplies to these firms. The bargaining power of suppliers has an impact on the cost, profitability and a firm’s ability to satisfy its customers and for that matter its competitiveness.

Identify and briefly explain any two of the factors that influence the strength or intensity of competitive rivalry among an industry member firms. Factors Competitors are active in making fresh moves to improve market standing and easiness performance Slow market growth. Number of rivals increases and rivals are of equal size and competitive capability Buyer costs to switch brands are low Industry conditions tempt rivals to use price cuts or other competitive weapons to boost volume e.  Perishable or seasonal A successful strategic move carries a big payoff Outsiders acquire weak firms in the industry and use their resources to transform new firms into major market contenders (5 marks for any two of the above factors mentioned and explained)  Identify and briefly explain any two factors that lead to strong bargaining power on the part of suppliers.

Industry members incur high costs in switching their purchases to alternative suppliers Needed inputs are in short supply Supplier provides a differentiated input that enhances the quality of performance of sellers’ products or is a valuable part of sellers’ production process There are only a few suppliers of a specific input Some suppliers threaten to integrate forward (5 marks for any two of the above factors mentioned and explained) strength and leverage of buyers. 5 marks) Buyer switching costs to competing brands or substitutes are low Buyers are large and can demand concessions Large-volume purchases by buyers are important to sellers Buyer demand is weak or declining Only a few buyers exists Identity of buyer adds prestige to seller’s list of customers Quantity and quality of information available to buyers improves Buyers have ability to postpone purchases until later Buyers threaten to integrate backward (5 marks for any two of the above factors mentioned and discussed)

Using examples explain the difference between a core competence, and a distinctive competence. A core competence is a well-performed internal activity central to a company’s competitiveness and profitability. It tends to relate to a firm’s ability to perform activities that are critical for success in an industry e. G. A better after-sale service capability A distinctive competence is a competitively valuable activity a company performs better than its rivals.

For example Toast’s low cost, high quality manufacturing of automobiles “Lean Production” is far superior to that of other automakers, (5 marks for explanation and establishing the difference between core competence and distinctive competence)  What is benchmarking and why is it a strategically important analytical tool? Benchmark focuses on cross-company comparisons of how certain activities are reformed and costs associated with these activities. It looks at things such as purchase of materials, management of inventories, getting new products to the market and so on. 2 marks) Identify best and most efficient means of performing various value chain activities Learn what is the best way to perform a particular activity from those companies who have demonstrated that they are “best-in-industry’ or “best-in-world” at performing the activity Learn what other firms do to perform an activity at lower cost Figure out what actions to take to improve a company’s own cost competitiveness (3 marks for NY 2 points identified and explained)

Do a five-forces analysis to support your answer. State the relative strength of each competitive force. Below is a representative five-forces model of competition for the online Jewelry business: Rivalry among online Jeweler’s?a moderate to strong competitive force that is likely to intensify in the years ahead. Students should conclude that rivalry among Blue Nile and other online Jeweler’s is normal to moderate, but it is likely to grow ore intense (owing to the success that Blue Nile is enjoying).

Rivalry is centered on such factors as Price and value delivered to customers Selection and breadth/variety of product offerings Ability to customize and customization options The caliber and trustworthiness of the information/guidance provided to online shoppers (educational information, in-depth product information, access to professional grading reports, and so on) Image/reputation Customer service User friendliness of web site?search functionality, ease of browsing through all the selections, finding and understanding the information provided, etc.

Refund and return policies Advertising and promotion?Much of the advertising/promotion is being done online, but the online Jewelry business is not one that is a heavy user of TV, radio, and newspaper advertising on a regular basis. Word-of-mouth is a fairly big factor Most online Jewelry competitors pursued either a differentiation strategy to try to set themselves apart or else tried to attract shoppers via the appeal of very low prices (which entailed employing a low-cost strategy).

Some rivals focused their efforts narrowly on particular Jewelry items/product categories while others had broad reduce lines. Several factors were working to affect rivalry among industry participants: All rivals seem to be actively and busily trying to attract Jewelry shoppers to their websites, partly via online advertising and promotional initiatives (including search engine listings)?fresh strategic initiatives on the part of various rivals heightens rivalry. Low switching costs on the part of buyers?it is simple for people shopping for jewelry online to locate and visit competitor web sites.

Rivalry decreases when the rate of market growth rises?sales of Jewelry online seem o be growing briskly (with the sales increases coming at the expense of brick-and mortar Jewelry retailers). There is reason to suspect that the online Jewelry segment of the overall retail Jewelry industry is in its infancy (an emerging business or industry in its own right); hence, online sales of Jewelry are likely to grow faster than sales of Jewelry in general?a condition which will act to contain rivalry among online jeweler’s.

Rivalry increases when one or more rivals are dissatisfied with their market position and launch moves to bolster their standing at the expense of rivals. A case can be Dade that Blue Nile and most all of its online rivals are “dissatisfied” and thus are likely to make further moves to bolster their market standing, image, and sales. Rivalry increases as the product offerings of rivals become more standardized? many of the online Jeweler’s seems to be offering shopper many of the same things? wide selection, customization, educational information, access to grading reports, and so on.

We see the differentiation among online Jewelry rivals as growing smaller/ weaker, not larger/stronger?with the possible exception of reputation/image, where Blue Nile seems to be the standout leader. Threat of entry?a moderate to strong competitive force Blue Niles success and growing reputation will almost certainly draw more competitors into online Jewelry sales. The barriers to entry into the online segment of the Jewelry industry are moderately The costs of developing a Web site.

Developing supply chain relationships Developing order fulfillment capability and achieving short delivery times Expenditures for advertising and promotion needed to draw visitors to a web site and build a trustworthy reputation/image. In addition, students should see that the pool of entry candidates is probably fairly rage?especially for brick-and-mortar retailers already in the Jewelry business. Hence, the entry threat in upcoming years should be viewed as fairly strong. There would seem to be ample opportunity for new entrants to gain a market foothold and to achieve a level of sales high to be profitable.

But the longer a company delays entry, the harder it will be to compete effectively against online Jeweler’s like Blue Nile that have built a clientele and that have formidable images/reputations. Competition from substitute sellers of Jewelry?a very strong competitive force. Obviously, Jewelry shoppers have many other options for buying Jewelry than from online retailers. Traditional brick-and-mortar Jewelry retailers have the lion’s share of the market and currently are the retailers of choice for the big majority of Jewelry shoppers. Hence, the competition that online Jeweler’s face from other Jewelry retailers is quite formidable.

In addition, there are hordes of possible substitutes for Jewelry altogether (but most people are unlikely to see these alternatives as good substitutes). Consequently, students should conclude that substitutes for buying Jewelry online re a strong competitive force, given that Acceptable substitute sources for purchasing Jewelry are readily available and the prices charged by some of these substitute types of Jeweler’s are reasonably competitive Buyer costs to switch to substitute types of Jewelry retailers are relatively low Many consumers are familiar with and comfortable with buying Jewelry from other than online Jewelry retailers.

The bargaining power and leverage of suppliers to the online Jewelry retailers and jeweler-supplier collaboration?a moderately strong competitive force, especially as encores the suppliers of diamonds/gems and other Jewelry items. Students should recognize that the suppliers of gems/diamonds/]leery items have considerable bargaining power and leverage in determining the prices and terms at which they will supply their products. Yes, there are many alternative suppliers, and it would seem relatively easy for a it is doubtful that suppliers compete aggressively with one another on price?in other words, switching suppliers is unlikely to lead to acquiring a particular gem of particular quality at a lower price.

There is no evidence in the case that suppliers of monads/gems compete with one another on the basis of price (indeed, with the exception of Blue Nile and other online Jeweler’s, there is little evidence that price competition is active in the market for fine Jewelry?that is, rival Jeweler’s are not aggressively trying to compete with one another by selling a diamond of given cut, clarity, grade, etc. At a lower price than their rivals). Blue Niles lower prices stem from its lower costs of doing business, not from the fact that it obtains diamonds/ gems at lower prices than do traditional retail Jeweler’s.

What is important for students to recognize here is that Blue Niles close elaboration with its diamond/gem suppliers has resulted in giving it a lower cost value chain as compared to traditional Main Street Jeweler’s. The distinctive feature of Blue Niles supply chain was its arrangements with leading diamond and gem suppliers that allowed it to display the suppliers’ diamonds and gems on its web site; some of these arrangement entailed multi-year agreements whereby designated diamonds of the suppliers were offered to online consumers only at Blue Niles websites.

Blue Niles suppliers represented more than half of the total supply of high-quality diamonds in the U. S. Blue Nile did not actually purchase a diamond or gem from these suppliers until an order was placed by a customer; this enabled Blue Nile to minimize the costs associated with carrying large inventories and limited its risk of potential mark-downs. Other online Jeweler’s seem to have similar collaborative arrangements with their diamond/gem suppliers.

These collaborative arrangements offer a sizable cost advantage over Main Street Jeweler’s?these cost- saving arrangements put added competitive pressure on traditional local Jeweler’s because such collaboration (and the resulting lower cost business model) puts them t a cost disadvantage. The bargaining power and leverage of Jewelry shoppers?a weak competitive force Individuals have little power to bargain for a lower price on the Jewelry items they are looking to purchase (except perhaps in the case of very expensive items where some price haggling is often fairly normal).

Individuals can, of course, choose to buy or not buy at the marked price but no one individual is usually in a position to enter into direct negotiations over the terms and conditions under which he or she will purchase a diamond ring or other Jewelry item from an online retailer. Any individual an certainly opt to buy from one retailer rather than another, but this does not equate to bargaining and exerting leverage.

Conclusions concerning the overall strength of competitive forces: Competitive pressures in online Jewelry retailing are strong but not overwhelming so (the best evidence for this is Blue Niles record of attracting new customers and growing its sales at a rapid clip a convincing sign that it is able to successfully contend with the prevailing competitive forces). Currently, we see competition from substitute types of forces.

The entry of new competitors could also prove to be significant, if one or more f the new entrants have a well-recognized and trusted brand name and if such entrants opt to price their products competitively versus the prices charged by Blue Nile. Moreover, while competition is fairly strong, it is not so strong as to prevent companies like Blue Nile from being profitable. The online Jewelry retailing portion of the Jewelry industry is rather attractive from the standpoint of promising growth and attractive long-term profitability?Blue Nile is demonstrating that its business model and strategy are quite attractive.

This is the big reason why new entry can be expected. But online sales of fine Jewelry is likely to remain a relatively small fraction of total sales of fine Jewelry for years to come traditional brick-and-mortar local jeweler’s are not going to be driven out of business by online Jeweler’s in the foreseeable future. Do a SOOT analysis of Blue Nile. What are key conclusions you can draw about the its situation?

Product line expansion External Threats to Blue Niles Future Well-Being The entry of more online Jewelry rivals that opt to employ much the same strategy and business model?especially if these new entrants should be retailers that have a brand name that is more widely recognized and trusted than Blue Niles. Diamond/ gem suppliers either become less willing for Blue Nile to display their inventories on Blue Niles web site or decide not to renew their multi-year agreements with Blue Nile whereby certain designated diamonds in their inventories are offered to online consumers only at Blue Niles websites. (Blue Niles suppliers represented more than half of the total supply of high-quality diamonds in the U. S. Untold numbers of people shopping for fine Jewelry are very leery of buying fine Jewel online and thus are not likely to ever be customers of Blue Nile Key Pointed and Conclusions Blue Niles strategy, business model, resource strengths, and competitive capabilities put it in a very strong market position to succeed in the online retail Jewelry business in the upcoming years?it is easy to understand why the company has been extremely successful in growing its sales over the past several years. Blue Nile would seem to have a sustainable cost advantage over traditional brick-and mortar retailers of fine Jewelry. Blue Nile has no resource weaknesses that make it highly vulnerable to competitive attack from local Jeweler’s.

Executive Summary3 Introduction4 Customer Profile6 Demographic6 Behavioural6 Environmental scan7 SWOT Analysis7 PEST Analysis9 Store observations10 In-store10 Shoppers Behavior11 Online shop12 Ideas / Amendments for functional and creative online services12 Brand Awareness Survey14 Motorcycle range14 Clothing and accessories17 Conclusion and Recommendations21 Range evaluation21 Triumph dealers’ range21 Executive Summary Firstly, we shall present a little information about the company. The company was formed as a bicycle manufacturing company by Siegfried Bettmann in Coventry in 1887.

In 1967, the production of the motorbike peaked at 47,000 units in this year. Unfortunately the business went into liquidation because lack of government backing. But in that year, John Bloor, a businessman who is the current owner of the company, bought the land where the factory located and therefore have the rights to the name of Triumph and assembles a team to develop a new range. In 2008, the company could break the record of its peak production. They were able to produced more than 50,000 units in this year. Triumph now has five factories and all are 100 percent owned by the company.

Two of these factories are based in Hickley, UK and the other three factories are in Chonburi, Thailand. The clothing and accessories are made in China. For Triumph motorcycle, there are six range which can be classifies as the following; Supersport, Adventure, Touring, Classics, Cruisers and Roadsters. The age ranges for each range are different from each other. The younger target market is more attracted to the Supersport, adventure and roadster range whereas touring and cruisers range attracts more of 45-60 years old. The range that is the most popular and has the biggest volume sold is the classic.

Whereas the roadsters range has the most competitors. There are 54 dealerships in United Kingdom and Ireland. Sixteen of these are multi- franchise dealers and 38 are solus dealers. All of these dealerships are franchised. All dealers must follow brand standard such as colour the store blue with wooden floor. Fifty percent of the stores will have PCA specialist. There are 16 subsidiary markets and 36 countries nationwide. Introduction The aim of this project is to propose an effective launching event of Triumph clothing range to dealers around UK using the range evaluation that we have researched.

Having an effective launching event can help the company to maximize and maintain relationships with the dealers in order to secure orders. This project also hoping to improve with the order management process which can reduce cost and time benefits both the company and dealers. We have been given the opportunity to evaluate and improve the sell at the launching event for the Autumn/Winter 2011 Triumph clothing collection. Triumph is a motorcycle company whom also sell biker’s clothing and accessories range. Their objective is to promote and be more emphasize with this range where they see potential opportunity.

This project aims to gain knowledge about how to expand Triumph’s clothing collection to non-biker customers. We are appointed to evaluate and suggests a new lunching event(s) to dealers around UK. The problem that they are having now is that their clothing and accessories range are only known among bikers. It is our mission to come up with strategy to maximize their profit by expanding their customer base. We are here to think of ways that can attract those who are non-bikers. For clothing and accessories, they will launch collections twice a year, which consists of Spring/Summer collection and Autumn/Winter collection. The collection is made up of core and seasonal items. Core items are the items regarding to the season and the dealers can reorder any time because the stock is at Headquarter. For seasonal items, they focus on the climate during that particular time of the year and only available via forward order. Forward orders are crucial for both dealers and Triumph. This is the way dealers can secure products for the season and allows Triumph to understand the market and best seller.

For the Autumn/Winter 2011 collection that we are appointed, Triumph has coordinate together with Barbour. Barbour is a UK owned clothing store broadening out from its countrywear roots. Todays the company produces clothing that is designed for a full country lifestyle. The collection is to be launch during February and March 2011. The launching event usually taken place at the factory where dealers visit the pop up store for viewing the new collection and this is to be joined by appointment only. Information, product demonstration and order making are taken place on the event day.

Sometimes the person visiting the event may not have the authority to make the purchase, therefore the company is given them a 3 week launching event so that decisions can be made within this 3 weeks. During this 3 weeks, larger dealers have their individual bringing of 1-3 staffs whereas 2-4 small dealers are grouped together. The main goal of this collection is to start expanding the market to those who are non-bikers. But the problem being that they have not been considering about putting their products into any other department stores because they want to give priority to their existing dealers for stocking Triumph products.

There is no budget limit for the launching event and sounded like the previous events made at the factory has been quite low. Their main competitor is BMW (for motorcycle department). If there were any stock left at the end of the season, participated dealers will pay extra to get their names printed on the sale adverts, which is usually published in the motor publishing. Customer Profile Demographic Supersport: Customer is male, in the mid 20s, single, and lives in the city. Adventure: Customer is male, in the 30s, married, lives in an upscale neighborhood.

Touring: Customer is male/female, in the 30s, married, moves around a lot with no permanent resident. Cruiser: Customer is male, 50-60 years old, married, living in rural area. Classic: Customer is male/female, in the 50s, married, and does not live in big cities. Roadster: Customer is male, 25-40 years old, single, and lives in the big cities. Behavioural Supersport: People who like racing, and look for a motor technically outstanding with high specification. Adventure: People who like adventure, and look for versatile motor accompanying them in different environment.

Touring : People who like sport and travel, they look for a powerful motor having grater practicality in touring or sports touring. Cruiser: People who like cruisers look and embrace attitude of the hotted up motorcycles of the 60s. Classic : People who like vintage style and look for a motor presenting modern interpretation of a timeless classic. Roadster: People who take speed and agility seriously and look for a middleweight streetfighter. Environmental scan SWOT Analysis Triumph was formed as a bicycle manufacturing company by Siegfried Bettmann in Coventry in 1887.

The first motorcycle was built in 1902. Triumph now has five factories around the world. They have 750 dealers in 35 countries and 54 of them are in UK. The clothing range started in 1994 with collaboration with Frank Thomas. Strengths * Branding – A United Kingdom’s brand born in 1887. The brand is not only well known in the UK but throughout the world. * Worldwide presences – Triumph truly has an international presence with factories in UK and Thailand for the motorcycle sector and for clothing sector in China. Also there are 750 dealers around the world.

Countries including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, UK, USA and Venezuela. * Collaboration – The company successfully collaborates with the well known British “Barbour” for their 2011 Spring and Summer clothing collection. This is an opportunity for Triumph to extend their brand awareness to non-bikers sector. * Customization – There is an option “create my Triumph” on the website where you can build your very own Triumph motorcycle.

Weaknesses * Undifferentiated products/service – Unlike their rival, BMW, they don’t only make motorcycles, they produce cars as well. This is why BMW is a much better known company because their target market is relatively larger. * Because Triumph refuses to expand their stores into a more commercial environment such as a department store, the chance of attracting larger non-biker audience is lower. * The company is lacking marketing expertise. This weakened the brand to expand to its potential customers. Opportunities * The virtual world is becoming an essential part of our lives, Internet is a powerful tool.

Having a Triumph site where customers can order online is beneficial. * Joint venture with Barbour will give opportunity to Triumph for expanding the brand name and brand awareness. * Moving into a new market segment with the clothing collection will generates more interests in the brand itself and also generates more profit. Threats * The continuing Global recession – The economic decline result in the demand of consumers. Especially with the increase in oil price, a motorcycle is considered as a ‘want’ not ‘need’. * Intense competition – There are many competitors in this market.

Many of the competitors offer marketing incentives and reduce in product price. This action will have a negative effect on Triumph pricing and market share. * Global warming – The issue of global warming will effect in Triumph motorcycle sales. People are becoming more conscious of fuel consumption. PEST Analysis Political: The government has discouraged bike usage by increasing taxes for all bike riders. Since 2009, there has been an increase in Bike Road Tax as well as Bike Parking Tax. Vehicle Excise Duty for Motorcycles has increased for the 2009-2010 period.

With the increase in oil prices, it has become far more costly to ride a motorbike today. Even so, traffic congestion and overcrowded public transport favors motorcycle use as a means of commuting. Economic: Inflation rates in the UK are increasing as well as the exchange rate, while the interest rate remains low. Due to this situation, the production of motorcycles depend more on imports and labor cost have increased as a result. At the same time the increase in global trade has created severe competition in the industry due to the emerging foreign markets.

However it is easier to escape this recession on a two-wheeler rather than a car. Social: More people in the UK now own motorbikes despite the increases in cost. It is more socially acceptable to own a bike, and there are a lot more female motorcycle owners. A lot of older individuals who used to ride bikes when they were young are now starting to purchase bikes once again (returner bikers). The number of motorcycle use has increased over the years as opposed to cars, as they serve as a status symbol and are more efficient and practical in traffic.

Technological: Technological advances have added many safety features to motorbikes to make riders more comfortable. The demand of motorcycles has led to the emergence of larger capacity engines (around 500cc). These changes make motorbikes more attractive as a means of transport as well as a leisure activity. Store observations In-store North city Triumph North city Triumph opened this brand new store just a month ago and the shop outlook really inspires customers, even though you are not rider. Big Triumph flags outside and a fresh, clean environment welcomes you inside.

The store is located in a busy suburban area, half an hour from London city, in a good marketplace if you are coming by car or by bike. The store is a Triumph Solus dealer and they have a PCA Specialist who is in charge of clothing and accessory parts. The Triumph brand is very well presented in the North city store: Wooden floors, bright and high spaces display their bike range and latest clothing collection range in a stunning way. The shop offers personal assistants for customers and all staff is most helpful and willing to serve clients to meet all their needs.

The Triumph collection is still very monotonous and dark leather jackets and trousers make everything look like same. Unfortunately no product really stands out and even labels such as “new model” failed to make you more interested to buy. North city Triumph’s ideal customer is a man in his mid 40s, who buys products mainly for his needs rather than his wants. Metropolis Vauxhall Metropolis Vauxhall is located south of London city center, close to all transport connections. The shop is a Triumph multi- franchise dealer, so it also offers its competitors products.

Here Triumph’s image as a brand is less highlighted and the collection range is narrower. The store visit is less inspiring than at the Solus store and Triumph’s products get lost among competing brands. Yet, a broad supply of competing products and brands attract a larger number of customers and this generates increased impulse sales for the more generic Triumph products, such as their leisure clothing line. The Triumph collection range remains vague and limited space availability makes displaying products, and brand imaging, challenging.

Metropolis Vauxhall Triumph? s ideal customer is a man aged between 35 and 55 and they also might pop in store just for clothing, not just because of biking. Shoppers’ Characteristics • Triumph clothes’ ideal customer is a man between 35 and 55 • The ideal, and also potential customers, are males returning to their youth: they like to wear something classical, stylish and keep their individual style rather then run after the latest trends • They like to shop in store • They shop mainly for needs more than wants Triumph’s customers respect personal assistants and prefer visiting the same local store • Customer respects practical clothes and a personal look • Triumph’s brand is an important factor for customer ( SWOT,PETS, Dealers feedback) Online shop Online shopping has exploded during last decade and today it is normal to do a virtual shopping trip that satisfies the customer’s needs. This year e- retail sales are on course to a record 16% growth in the UK and as retailers start offering more and more e-services online shops will become faster and more functional.

Also, using IMRG ( Interactive media in retail group) research report, clothing is one of the fastest growing online shopping sectors. ?? Online shopping advantages are remarkable. Lower costs (expenses) to retailers and customers, user friendliness, fast delivery and independence of shopping hours are factors that every company should take advantage of as much as possible. Though Triumph’s image is built on customer service, this would be a further advantage that increases their competitiveness. Also, as no other competitor has a truly outstanding online store, small quality improvements could result in a decent increase of customers.

Triumph world website and dealers’ websites are overall very professional compared to other motorcycle brands, but dealers’ own online clothing shops /services differ largely in their visual outlook, ranges and operating systems in general. Outstanding and interesting dealers stand out straight away. Carl Rosner and A1 Moto are good examples of online shops that are simple to use and harmonized/balanced within Triumph’s brand image and product range. Almost exceptional, Solus dealers stand out with a positive Triumph brand image and visitors get a feeling that the dealer is standing behind and believing in their brand 100%.

However, surprisingly many dealers have a complicated order system and their product ranges are presented in a dull way, without a professional feel. The pictures are small and especially the light coloured casual clothes drown into the white background. At the moment some dealer’s pages don’t inspire to shop and their complicated order-system does not encourage online buying. Based on the research results and the feedback we got from consumers that are targeting Triumph’s target group, it is recommend that dealers’ webpages and online services would be similar and linked together with the Triumph brand nationally.

Triumph’s target group and potential buyers mainly consists of men who usually appreciate user friendliness, and a straight forward clothing line, that can be bought with just a couple of clicks on the mouse Ideas / Amendments for functional and creative online services • Dealers online services/ shop harmonized to Triumph official sites and brand image. • Product info and pictures to have same the outlook as is used in the Triumph catalog and their official pages. • Creating seasonal online campaigns that are targeted to inspire loyal customers and new potential bikers. Charity campains. • “ “Goes with” – boxes”.

Website would automatically suggest clothes or accessories that would go well with previously purchased items. • Making online shopping easier and more fluent. Product ranges displayed with uniform background image and a picture size that allows you to properly view the chosen product. * Clothing pictures with real people, using professional photographer • Promoting of casual wear line should be more directed towards the target customer group, men that have spending power, but little time for shopping. • Create competition “ design your own jacket or t-shirt”. Winner’s design would be launched with limited number.

Brand Awareness Survey We have set up a survey analyzing Triumph brand awareness amongst Fashion students aged between 21 to 35 years old and other category was people with no age limit. At the moment, out of 38 respondents, only 14 have heard of the brand ‘Triumph’. Whereas the main competitors such as Yamaha, Ducati and BMW have 35, 32 and 30 respondents respectively. There are many factors that can be the reasons why Triumph is not as well known as the competitors. * Locations of the stores * Sponsorships * Product variety * Brand reputation * Brand marketing * Brand accessibility

Another point that we can observes is that out of 38 respondents, only 1 respondent wrote Triumph as the brand that comes first in their mind. Whereas Harley Davidson has 15 respondents and Ducati has 8 respondents. For improvements of the brand awareness, we can study how Harley Davidson presents itself to the audience. After this observation, we would like to focus the brand emphasizing its British heritage with the Classic look. We can see that Harley Davidson and Vespa also have the Vintage Classic look and we think if Triumph brings out the Heritage theme it can become better known as well.

Also, taking considerations consumers, we see that most potential new customers are middle age people, who have interest to start new, youngish hobby or finally carry out their dreams. These people, mostly men, have also money to spend for bike and naturally for street wise/ credible clothing. Analysis of Product offers Motorcycle range Triumph’s 2011 motorcycle product contains the following ranges. Pictures of products are listed in appendix. Roadster range Triumph Roadsters range is for the street. It stresses attitude, style, performance and agility.

This range has Street Triple and Speed Triple. The Street Triple’s specification includes Triumph’s trademark twin headlights and high level silencers, meaty dual brake discs up front and a comprehensive instrument suite that even includes a lap timer and adjustable gear change indicator. The Speed Triple’s specification includes four-piston Brembo brakes for eye-popping stopping power, fat alloy handlebars, fully-adjustable 43mm upside down forks for maximum control and a comprehensive instrumentation that includes lap timer and programmable gear shift light. Supersports range

Triumph Supersports range is for the racetrack to compete with the best in the supersport class. This range has Daytona 675. With the lightest and narrowest chassis in the class, the Daytona 675 delivers outstandingly agile and intuitive handling. Fully adjustable suspension front and rear, with separate adjustment for high and low speed compression damping, gives the Daytona 675 superb composure on all surfaces, while top-of-the-range monobloc radial brake calipers up front deliver eye popping stopping power. Adventure range This range is designed for people who are looking for adventure and it has Tiger 1050.

The Tiger 1050 is equally at home in the urban jungle as it is prowling on the open road. The Tiger 1050 with its commanding riding position, its muscular 1,050cc triple engine, powerful brakes and high specification sporty chassis making for real fun on the twisties and composure in the traffic. Tiger 1050 is a superbly competent bike and does scratch, tour and commute all. Touring range This range satisfied sport and touring at the same time and it has Sprint. (Sprint ST and Sprint GT) Equally capable of crossing continents or taking on a track day, the Sprint is one of those rare contradictions.

The new Sprint ST has been given a number of improvements to ensure it remains one of the world’s favourite sports-tourers. Updates include new reflector-style triple headlight unit; re-designed cockpit; the same stunning 1050cc inline triple engine, but with latest spec ECU for ultra-smooth throttle response. Sportier than the GT, the Sprint ST is set to become even more attractive due to its new ultra-competitive price. The New Sprint GT is greater practicality and more emphasis on the ‘touring’ aspect of ‘sports touring’. It offers a unique proposition of performance, practicality and price.

Performance from the uprated 1050cc triple with 130PS on hand. Practicality – the GT’s byword – with 117 litres of lugguage, ABS brakes,  u-lock, built in rack and grab handle, and a 200 mile fuel range. Classics range This range is designed for classic motorcycle style. It has Scrambler, Bonneville, and Thruxton. Scrambler is inspired by the 60s Triumph off-road sports motorcycles that were stripped down for racing and has a unique look and feel all of its own. It has styling details including gaiters, white seat piping and high swept chromed side pipes.

Bonneville is a thoroughly modern interpretation of the definitive ‘proper’ motorcycle, this iconic symbol of rebellion and independence is even more accessible thanks to its low and narrow seat, clean and efficient fuel-injected engine and lightweight 17 inch alloy wheels for even sharper handling. Thruxton is named after the famous racetrack where Triumph ruled the roost and is inspired by the Ton Up Boys of the 1960s. The Thruxton is Triumph’s sportiest Modern Classic, and authentic cafe racer delivering a unique Triumph experience. Cruisers range

This range presents classic cruiser looks and has America, Speedmaster, Thunderbird, and Rocket III. For the classic cruiser look, the America comes with shrouded front forks with polished lowers, chromed single headlamp and chromed engine covers, machined cast wheels, chromed detailing and twin reverse cone pipes. The Speedmaster is a tough looking, no-nonsense sports cruiser that’s dripping with attitude. With blacked out engine cases, slash cut pipes and cast black wheels with polished rims, the Speedmaster embraces the attitude of the hotted up motorcycles of the 60s.

The Thunderbird oozes cruise from every angle with its strong, muscular lines. Powered by the all-new 1600cc T-16 parallel-twin engine, the Thunderbird delivers class leading power, torque and economy figures, with a refinement previously unheard of in the mainstream cruiser class. Rocket III Touring is a true mile eating custom tourer blessed with unique character and that memorable 2. 3 litre motor. The iconic engine has been retuned for effortless low down torque. Rocket III Roadster has Classic streetfighter looks and delivers the tree-pulling levels of torque. Clothing and accessories

Triumph’s 2011 spring and summer garment and accessories product contains the following ranges. Pictures of products are listed in appendix. Roadster range Performance products with attitude, developed for the street and the city. Roadster garments are targeted at the riders of Speed and Street Triple and range from subtle to heavy branded products. Added comfort and features make these products more usable for everyday or occasional riding. This range has items in jackets, pants and jeans. Supersport range Performance supersport products follow the ethos of bikes like the Daytona 675.

They are technically advanced with high specification, delivering a product range that is aimed at the track and sports riding. Visually strong, these pieces are heavily branded with a bold and distinctively triumph design. This range has items in one piece suit, jacket, and jeans. Touring range Touring series is a very functional range of products. Waterproof, windproof and breathable, this collection has been developed to allow consumers to enjoy long rides, providing the wearer with the essential protection from the elements. This range has items in jacket, pans, and jeans.

Adventure range Inspired by the spirit of adventure, this collection of products has a more rugged, enduro style. Packed full of features, these functional garments will deal with the requirement of both road and off-road riding. This range has items in jacket and pants. Heritage range Classic looking products make up this range, inspired by motorcycle garments of the past. This collection is designed for the exacting requirements of a modern day motorcyclist, whist also maintaining that true authentic heritage. This range only has items in jackets. Modern retro range

Where modern meets retro, a range of products inspired by the classic racing garments of the 60’s and 70’s. The use of racing stripes, graphics and colors are combined with classic style leathers and modern construction technologies to deliver a performance riding product. This range has items in jackets and jeans. Legend range The Triumph legends range includes a series of products that pays homepage to the icons of music and screen that had a close relationship with Triumph. Legend collection contains two special editions which Mare- James Dean special edition Jacket and Mcqueen special edition Jacket.

Cruiser range This range have taken the classic image of the cruiser and given it a Brit Rocker attitude. The Cruiser range take their influence from the British Rocker culture of the 1960’s and 70’s and combined these looks with modern technology. This range has items in jackets and jeans. Triumph union range The triumph union range has a fashion influence with products that cross over between categories and can be comfortably worn on any bike or worn off-bike. These products have character and a style of their own. This range has items in jackets and blousons.

Function range The function range of products comprises of waterproof oversuits and protector including protect vase, back pro-tech and pro-tech jacket. Men’s casual range This range presents casual look and has items in shirt, layer tops, leggings, jackets, T-shirts, shorts, polo, hoodies, and denims. These products can go with other Triumph products. Ladies range The ladies collection offers a focused number of styles and options to appeal to both rides and pillions alike. All styles are designed independently, conceived to appeal to women.

This range has items in jackets, jeans, gloves, and boots. Ladies casual wear range This range presents casual look and has items in shirts, T-shirt, vests, and jeans. Junior range The junior range is fun and colorful, and is ideal gifts for younger Triumph enthusiast. This range has items in shirts, T-shirts, bike models, model kits, and Triumph Teddy. Personal accessories range Personal accessories range has items in following categories: – personal luggage (helmet bags, bum bags, laptop bags, and hold all) – gifts(magnets, cybertool, water bottle, and cards set) team hinckley(door mat, buff, beer mat, and bike mat) – headwear and buffs (hat, buff, and neck tube) – collectors scale models – wallets and pens – watches and wall clock – belts and buckles – key fobs and pin badges – mugs and glassware -patches and stickers Conclusion and Recommendations Range evaluation Triumph’s clothing line is strongly linked to their motorcycle collection. They offer a wide range of riding gear, of high technical quality, designed specifically for each motorcycle model.

They renew their clothing line twice a year to suit their customer’s changing needs throughout the year, allowing them to adjust for different weather and climates. Triumph is proud of its roots and history. This becomes clear after only a brief glance through their webpages. Their clothes are designed and manufactured with utmost respect towards its image and heritage. This way they guarantee customer satisfaction and a first class biker look, suitable for riding and leisure. Their vast clothing line serves both the customers and the dealer’s needs.

An ideal riding suit or just a jacket has been designed to every motorcycle type and this helps the dealers in designing their collection and building their order. Triumph pricing range is ideal and comparing biggest competitors BMW and Ducati, we see that their products offer best value for money. If the clothing range, especially in casual wears would be bit more mature and classical, we would even suggest higher prices for some products. Every dealer should offer best-selling products for all motorcycle range and also build up perfect combination for casual wears that goes together in style with modern motorcycle clothes.

The climate and location are naturally also important factors, but it is more important in our view that the supply for their target group and demand of motorcycles are in balance. Collections offer great suits for driving and in that field Triumph are reaching their goals (touring, supersports, adventure). However problem is that most of these products aren’t something you buy every season, not even every year, so Triumph clothing should be stand out more through modern motorcycle clothes, casual wears, that goes as well as biking clothes (modern retro, legend, heritage, casual). Triumph dealers’ range

Based on our store-visits, customer feedback and material that we received from the Triumph company, it seems like Solus and multi-dealers have certain problems defining an ideal clothing range. Solus dealers normally have a large range of products but the typical customer normally comes in to see motorcycles and if they buy clothes it is usually mainly for driving. The casual wear line is presented well but since the competition in this field is fierce, people tend to prefer elsewhere. Multi-franchise dealers have other brands presented as well, so Triumph clothes are not standing out too well.

However, these shops are visited by a larger number of new potential customers, so if the range matches the customers’ needs, this will affects sales positively. To be able to find a perfect balance for the range that is being ordered, dealers must target their potential customers and then build the perfect match of driving clothes, casual wears and personal accessories around it. The Triumph company must also be able to build a brand image that is identical with the products that are being offered. Every successful clothing brand has to focus on a certain look.

Triumph’s history and success in motorcycles is defined by their individual yet stylish look and this should also be the brand message going forward. Appendix: http://www. triumphmotorcycles. co. uk/clothing, Triumph company materials, ——————————————– [ 1 ]. http://www. triumph. co. uk, http://www. a1moto. com, http://www. carlrosner. co. uk, http://www. metropolismotorcycles. com [ 2 ]. http://www. harley-davidson. com/en_US/Content/Pages/MotorClothes_Merchandise/pink-label. html [ 3 ]. http://eu. levi. com/en_GB/shop/index. html, http://www. asos. com [ 4 ]. http://www. streetshirts. co. uk

Harry Rosen SGMA 591: Rabeea Baig (00506057) Table of Contents Company Overview3 Mission Statement3 Strategic Vision3 Current Issue Facing the Company4 Strengths5 Weaknesses7 Opportunities8 Threats9 Driving forces10 * Political and Regulatory10 * Demographics11 * Technology11 * General Economic Condition12 Porter’s Five Forces Analysis13 * Intensity of Rivalry13 * Potential New Entrants13 * Substitutes14 * Suppliers14 * Buyers15 Sustainable Competitive Advantage15 Recommendation16 Appendix18 Bibliography19 Company Overview

Harry Rosen, founder. Harry Rosen Inc. is a privately owned family corporation that sells high-end men’s clothing. This company was established in 1954 by Harry and his brother Lou Rosen in Toronto. They had originally started as a made-to-measure store on Parliament Street with a $500 down payment (Harry Rosen Inc. , 2010a). After having tremendous success, they moved their location closer to the Financial District in order to serve their clientele better (Harry Rosen Inc. , 2010a). Many skeptics had criticized their decision, but this strategic move had worked in their favour.

As of today, this clothing chain has 16 locations across Canada servicing an array of customers. Originally, their focus was to sell made-to-measure suits, but that has expanded to ready to wear suits, dress shirts and ties, sportswear, footwear and accessories. Designers such as Ermenegildo Zegna, Armani Collezioni, TOM FORD, Brunello Cucinelli, and Canali are featured in their flagship stores. Harry’s relationships with Italian manufacturers have allowed him to feature an in-house casual fashion line as well.

As of 2009, Harry Rosen is the only specialty menswear retailer in Canada that has launched an E-commerce website to allow their customers to shop online for certain merchandise. Currently, Harry Rosen has stepped down from any management role and his eldest son Larry Rosen, is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) (Harry Rosen Inc. , 2010b). Mission Statement Harry Rosen Inc. is a Canadian menswear specialty retailer that aims at providing the best shopping experience for their clientele.

They have highly trained employees who are knowledgeable about the fashion industry and their customer’s specific tastes and needs. Also, Harry Rosen Inc. offers virtual services through online retailing, and every season they publish their “Harry” magazine to allow their customers to preview the upcoming trends. Strategic Vision The vision of Harry Rosen Inc. is to strengthen their position as a leading menswear retailer in Canada by doubling sales to $500 million by 2016 (Strauss, 2012a). Through their rising sales, they will re-invest this capital back into the business to help it flourish.

Also, with online retailing on the rise, Larry would like to further develop their E-commerce operations (Strauss, 2012a). Current Issue Facing the Company There are two issues facing Harry Rosen which are increased competition and growth opportunities. During the global recession, the retail industry faced many hardships because consumers have to learn how to spend “wisely”. Euromonitor (2011) reported that within the industry there has been an increase in competition. This is a direct result of companies using tactics of heavy discounting to generate revenues and maintain their customer base.

Luxury apparel retailers are most affected by these tactics because they lose the majority of their profit margins through discounting. Euromonitor (2011) predicts that due to increased competition there will be “lower spending on high ticket items”. The emergence of popular outlet chains in the United States has allowed many Canadians to take advantage of purchasing designer label clothing at reduced prices. Now, what does this mean for Harry Rosen? In the past, the booming economy had allowed for year to year increase in their sales because people had larger discretionary incomes.

But due to the recession, smaller independent retailers had to markdown their items in order to stay in business because designer outlet stores are getting more traffic; so will Harry Rosen follow in suit? Or in order to maintain the integrity of the quality products they offer, will they continue their higher pricing and settle for a lower market share? Recent Bloor St. location renovation. Another issue facing this corporation is the question, what should we do next? Harry Rosen Inc. is not in a stagnant position where they are facing a road block and are unable to grow, but rather how should they grow successfully?

The obvious strategic move is to expand their locations and try to have a larger customer base. Over the years, they have followed this strategy but focused on investing capital into renovating store locations to enhance each customer’s shopping experience. By renovating each store and acquiring more retail space, it allows them to cater to their different customer’s taste as oppose to being limited to only selling suits and formal wear. Competitor: Holt Renfrew In a recent interview in the Globe and Mail, Larry did suggest that the company might enter the women’s wear luxury market in the future.

There is hesitation in expanding their target market to women because during the 1980s they had failed in making this venture profitable. Larry admits that “you would be surprised at how little I know about women’s wear” which reassures skeptics on the success of this opportunity (Strauss, 2012a). Also, if they do embark on this opportunity how would they differentiate themselves from competitor Holt Renfrew, who has been an industry leader in market share for designer women’s apparel? Strengths Ermenegildo Zegna’s Shanghai location

Harry Rosen Inc. ’s role in the supply chain is a hybrid of being a distributor and a retailer. They have access to numerous menswear designers and are able to provide them with exposure through their brick and mortar operations. In 1984, Harry Rosen was the first Canadian retailer to showcase Italian designer Ermenegildo Zegna (Harry Rosen, 2010a). Ermenegildo Zegna has been in the business for over 100 years and are known for their fabrics to be “the most beautiful in the world” (Zegna Group, 2012). Not only does Harry Rosen Inc. arry the creme of the crop Italian manufacturers, but they are the only retailer who has established TOM FORD menswear shops in Canada. Harry Rosen Inc. can take pride in offering all of these exclusive fashion powerhouses within a 30,000 sq. ft. retail space. Within the corporate aspect of their operations, certain individuals are assigned the role of being the specialist for each designer. The responsibilities of this job entail being the buyer of the merchandise sold in stores, communicating with the vendor to understand what is new every season, and exchanging this information with the specialists in store.

Also, every season they dedicate a week to display and promote the different designers’ new products. These events entail having these corporate professionals present in store to provide further information for the customer and enhance their experience while they shop for their favourite designer. During each event, there is special pricing on select fabrics to allow for a more quality product at a reasonable price. For example, designers such as Brunello Cucinelli, will debut their next seasons merchandise and extend the product offering that is seen in stores during their special promotion.

It is evident that this corporation is heavily focused on sustaining their relationships with their suppliers because without them there is no product to sell within their store. Clearly, it is also in the designers’ best interest to support Harry Rosen’s staff and provide them with knowledge because it would translate into better sales for them. By delegating individuals who are devoted to keeping in constant contact with their suppliers it allows Harry Rosen to have the upper hand in comparison to competitors. Brunello Cucinelli’s Fall 2012 Collection.

Finest Cashmere available. As mentioned earlier, Harry Rosen Inc. had started their operations in 1954, which means they have been in business for over 58 years. This is a family owned corporation and many of their early clientele, have followed them through their successful journey. For example, many young students graduating high-school will come to Harry Rosen to buy their first suit with their father because this is where he shops. Some of the sales associates in Toronto have worked there for over 50 years and have assisted different generations of their clients.

The importance that sales associates place into creating long-lasting relationships with their clients is another strength that Harry Rosen has. Over time, associates allow trust to build and customers whole-heartedly give them permission to pick out their wardrobe without any question. Sales associates can further develop their relationship with customers through Harry Rosen’s “lifetime guarantee policy”. This policy entails a complementary maintenance and repairs to the garment for the lifetime of the clothing (Harry Rosen Inc. 2010c). This service is provided free of charge because their focus is for their customers to look their best at all times. . Customers can be reassured that they once they have purchased the garment even the slightest button replacement will not be neglected just for the opportunity of gaining new business. To better equip their employees with tools to aid their transactions with their customers, they employ a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software titled Sage SalesLogix. In recent news, Harry Rosen Inc. on the “Gold Sales Effectiveness Award in Gartner & 1to1 Media’s 2012 CRM Excellence Awards program” for the use of SalesLogix (Marketing Weekly, 2012). This program allows associates to “identify clients by purchase preferences including how often each shops, average purchase price and brands most often purchased to provide recommendations that assist clients and increase sales” (Marketing News Weekly, 2012). Other perks of this software include the ability to “to schedule tasks such as suit tailoring and customer satisfaction follow-up calls, as well as for sending service and order pick-up reminders” (Marketing News Weekly, 2012).

Technology is known for it’s disconnect and lacking personal connection, but through SalesLogix, Harry Rosen’s focus develops long lasting relations with their clients and they are able to Customer Relationship Management Software: SalesLogix continue this through their dedication to programs such as SalesLogix. Weaknesses The retail industry is known to be cyclical because it is dependent on economic conditions. During times of turmoil, the luxury retail market suffers greatly because consumers are less likely to open their wallets to such extravagant items.

Barnes Report (2012) predicts that in the menswear clothing industry, employment will drop by 3. 4% from 2012-2013 while sales remain stagnant (Refer to Appendix A). This forecast on employment could be true as the global economy does run the risk of dipping back into a depression. Harry Rosen’s compensation system is solely based on earning commission through sales. In a company where business is mainly clientele oriented, it is hard for newcomers to find their own customers. If they are unable to create new sales for themselves their livelihood is directly affected.

Therefore, there is a high-turnover rate and as Larry mentioned “turnover means they’re here today, gone tomorrow” (Grnak, Hughes ; Hunter, 2006). Within the retail aspect of the corporation this turnover exists because the new staff is not able to carve a niche for themselves. In order to prepare for the busy seasons such as Christmas time, many new hires are taken on board to help with the rush. However, once the traffic subsides to its normal levels, these new employees have to settle for irregular customers or resign.

This affects their customers because these “new hires” had taken time to learn the specific tastes and preferences of their customers; but now they have lost that relationship and need to start this process of trust once again. When Harry Rosen is short staffed at times, the associates have to juggle between different customers and not give every client the expected ultimate Harry Rosen customer service experience. This is also detrimental to their business because associates have to weigh the benefits of trying to help everyone and make mediocre sales or focus their attention to a few clients and have major sales.

Harry Rosen needs to increase their retention rate because it influences their bottom line and by not doing so it has affected their profitability. Opportunities Euromonitor (2011) stated that online sales are growing because the internet is “becoming more popular as a choice for purchasing as, Canadians worry less about factors like internet credit card fraud”. Brick and mortar companies are facing heavier competition from online retailers because “consumers come in to try on items and then going home to order those items online” (Euromonitor, 2011). How is Harry Rosen supposed to turn this growing trend into a profitable scheme?

They have executed their E-commerce venture allowing their customers to view their products from the comforts of their home. The majority of the merchandise featured online is also inventory present in their store locations, allowing for easy size and colour exchanges. Harry Rosen could capitalize on their already established E-commerce operations by partnering with their suppliers to develop online exclusives. For example, to accompany their special events such as Hugo Boss week, customers could purchase limited edition merchandise that might not be featured in Canada. E-Commerce Interface; Harry Rosen Inc.

Due to the recession tightening many consumers’ budgets, “many Canadian consumers turn[ed] to private label offerings” (Euromonitor, 2011). With many retailers developing their private label “many local consumers ceased to consider them as private label, treating them increasingly as just another big brand name” (Euromonitor, 2011). As mentioned earlier, Harry Rosen does offer its own line featuring dress pants, sports shirts, sweaters and outerwear. Many of their customers do purchase from this in-house line because they know they can expect a quality product at a more reasonable price.

For example during the Christmas season, Harry Rosen’s features its classic promotion of two white dress shirts at the price of $190. 00. This sale is always successful because many white dress shirts start at the $165. 00 range and it allows customers to get “more bang for their buck”. Therefore, Harry Rosen should consider expanding their private label into manufacturing suits as well because there is a market for money-conscious consumers. Private Label: Harry Rosen, the economical choice Threats

The fashion world’s capitals are known to be New York, Los Angeles, Milan, London, and Paris. Many of these designer labels have set up extravagant stores to showcase their newest creations. Harry Rosen can be considered equivalent to the street these fashion powerhouses are located on. Within its business model it has brought together all of these different labels under one roof. This is one of the primary reasons this company has experienced success because customers have the ability to access numerous luxury retailers without having to travel to these fashion metropolitan areas.

However, there is threat to their current business models because many of these designers are starting to open their stores within the cities they operate in. For example the German designer Hugo Boss, is a popular label sold in the West Edmonton Mall Harry Rosen location. Given the success they experienced from featuring their product there, they opened their own independent store within the mall. If the vendors that are sold within the Harry Rosen chain start to establish their own presence in the same city that Harry Rosen operates in, it can cannibalize into their sales.

The reason being, Harry Rosen is limited to the extent to how much they will buy of every designer label. Therefore, if a customer is unable to find the specific product they are looking for; they can go directly to the designer themselves and have the variety they originally asked for. Hugo Boss Location: West Edmonton Mall Driving Forces Political and Regulatory Prada – Violator of Labour Laws The external threats that Harry Rosen should be aware of in the political environment are labour laws. For many of their Italian designers, their manufacturing plants are located in Italy to help boost the domestic economy.

For example, Brunello Cucinelli is focused on “improve[ing] the conditions of human life through modern capitalism where profit is used to do good” (Miller, 2009). If all companies followed this motto Harry Rosen would not have to be concerned with compromising their ethics in order to conduct business. However, designers such as Dolce ; Gabbana and Prada are known to import their staff from China to work in Italy (Lee-Potter, 2007). This method allows them to maintain their “Made in Italy” label while paying “barely half of the minimum wage” (Lee-Potter, 2007).

Therefore, if Harry Rosen would like to appeal to all types of clients they need to be aware of the labour conditions their products were manufactured in because there is a shift in society where people are choosing to become more socially conscious. If they continue to purchase from designers who are violating basic employment laws, they could lose a portion of their customer base. Demographic In the past, the traditional clientele that Harry Rosen used to serve was working professionals who had similar clothing needs.

Clearly, this demographic has evolved dramatically because “the typical Canadian workplace… [is] shifting away from formal suits to more of a business casual environment” (Euromonitor, 2011). One of the main reasons for this shift is that “people need to feel more comfortable in the [work] environment in which they spend so much time” (Euromonitor, 2011). For example, Harry Rosen has already been capitalizing on this change by having its “Vancouver outlets stock more sports jackets over suits and ties for the more casual West Coast shopper” (Strauss, 2012a).

Also, Harry Rosen has been servicing a much younger demographic such as males in their late teen years and the “twentysomething market” (Grnak et al. , 2006). In the newest issue of the “harry” magazine, Larry mentioned that “today’s young workforce is formulating its own approach to business dress” (Rosen, 2012). Overall, many people feel as if they are living “99 lives” and Harry Rosen can use this as an opportunity to sell garments that are multi-functional in purpose. This would allow their clients to be present in many different environments and they wouldn’t have to carry excess luggage in order to fit in.

Z-Zegna Campaign is more popular with the younger generation. Technology In society today, there is no industry that doesn’t heavily rely upon the use of technology to aid in its daily operations. As mentioned earlier, Harry Rosen employs the use of its CRM software SalesLogix to aid its sales associate in analyzing their clientele’s purchase patterns. Alongside the buying habits of their different clientele, SalesLogix allows the associates to communicate electronically rather than being tied to a phone.

The software implemented allows automatic e-mails to be sent out based on the customer’s preferences for sales notices, news and events, or made-to-measure promotions. Another key developmental department of Harry Rosen is its online retailing. Larry has “coined [it] ‘Virtual Harry’ – a comprehensive online customer experience that goes far beyond basic online ordering” (Ovsey, 2012). In a recent report, Euromonitor (2012) identified that “sales in Internet retailing continued to grow in 2011, rising 9% in current value terms to reach C$5. 2 billion”.

Harry Rosen is already ahead of many of its traditional brick and mortar competitors by establishing their E-commerce venture. If they continue to follow in pursuit of this increasingly popular trend they will be able to tap into the “huge demand by the client for a virtual experience that complements a bricks-and-mortar experience” (Ovsey, 2012). Traditionally, Harry Rosen was known for their award-winning “newspaper ad campaigns” that featured many Canadian celebrities. Now, “print newspaper circulation is declining” and “Canadians are spending more time online” (Fox, 2011 et CBC News, 2012).

Harry Rosen has only recently started to take advantage of their online advertising by displaying their company website on popular websites such as Youtube, which is seen here. In my opinion, they should take advantage of the fact that Canadian’s spent over 45 hours on in the Internet this past quarter and about 10,000 minutes on Facebook alone (CBC News, 2012). Since their younger generation demographic is a growing customer segment, they should advertise further on social media websites to make a lasting impression on these potential customers.

General Economic Conditions TOM FORD 2012 Ad. After the 2008 financial crisis, there was a “decline in terms of current retail value sales during [2009]” (Euromonitor, 2011). Almost all consumers were extremely cautious about their spending because Canadians need to “focus on necessities rather than luxuries” (Euromonitor, 2011). As the economy starts to recover, the apparel industry still faced a decline in sales by 2% (Strauss, 2012b). However, men’s fashion is bouncing back in a sagging retail market, where sales rose by 3% this past year (Strauss, 2012b).

This trend in the industry is very opportunistic for Harry Rosen because even when global markets are faced with uncertainty, the livelihood of their business is not affected. One of the main reasons is that males are not focusing on factors such as price rather they are buying what they need. Larry stated that there is demand from many “thirtysomething” customers who are willing to spend $5,000 on a TOM FORD suits (Strauss, 2012a). How can someone justify such a steep purchase on such an item? One of the biggest reasons is the fit and quality.

Many of their clients have leading roles in their corporations, and need to look their best at all times. Therefore, even though the retail industry as a whole is always dependent on the state of the economy there is a shift in the air. This new shift entails the male population being less perspective can be extremely favourable for Harry Rosen’s profitability for the future (Strauss, 2012b). Porter’s Five Forces Analysis Intensity of Rivalry Out of the five competitive forces, the strongest is the “rivalry among competing sellers” (Thompson, Peteraf, Gamble, ; Strickland, 2012).

In the past few years, Harry Rosen has been able to capture “35 to 40 percent of the market for ‘better quality menswear’ among Canadian households with $150,000 or more in income” (Grnak, 2006). Now this quote does not include their younger demographic, who have been at the forefront of consumer spending post recession (Ovsey, 2012). However, Harry Rosen does face intense rivalry from its competitors. For example in downtown Calgary, within a 3 block distance there are three other major luxury men’s retailers such as Holt Renfrew, Henry Singer and Thomas Jeffrey.

Also, we cannot discount the independent retailers that are also located within the downtown or throughout the city. Even though each retailer prides itself on offering the most exclusive selection of designer merchandise, it is possible that some stores may carry the exact same inventory. Therefore, if competitors have conflicting prices on the same item, “the buyer costs to switch brands [can be] low” if they do not care for principles such as customer loyalty (Thompson et al. , 2012).

In the luxury retail market, where consumers are looking for a quality product, there is always the possibility of them looking for alternatives based on the price. Competitor: Henry Singer Potential New Entrants The threat of new entrants does not provide as much competitive pressure from the Porter’s five forces. One of the main reasons that this force does not affect Harry Rosen as much is because they have been able to establish themselves as a niche retailer in the Canadian market.

Over the years, they have proven to be leading experts within in the industry by offering the best merchandise, their dedication to providing superior customer service, and the knowledge and experience they have gained through 58 years in the business. If a new retailer were to enter the market, they would not know what designers are most popular within every metropolitan city or even what types of garments are most requested by their target customer. Or there is the possibility that they won’t be geographically situated which is most convenient or appealing for their “ideal” customer.

Industry experts know that if they want success in their organization then “location is indeed critical to most retail enterprises” (Grnak, 2006). Luckily, Harry Rosen has been able to acquire the perfect locations because they can be close to their frequent customers, and still have the exposure they need to gain new clients. Substitute Products Fortunately for Harry Rosen, there is no direct substitute for clothing since it happens to be a direct necessity for humans. Now, it doesn’t mean they do not face competition from other men’s fashion retail chains that do not specialize in providing designer clothing.

For example, Moores clothing does carry brands such as “Calvin Klien, Arnold Brant and Lauren by Ralph Lauren” but these fashion houses are not in the same league as Italian designers such as Ermenegildo Zegna, Canali and Etro (Moores Clothing, 2012). Therefore, direct substitution does not exist, which works in their favour. Suppliers The supplier bargaining power is moderate because there are many menswear designers within the industry. However, many of Harry Rosen’s clientele are loyal to certain brands and if a particular vendor were to discontinue business it would have detrimental effects.

Therefore, it is always in both parties as in the suppliers and Harry Rosen’s interests to continue their relationship. Hypothetically, if a vendor such as Armani Collezioni were to terminate their business with Harry Rosen it would have adverse effects on both parties. Now, Armani would have to find new contacts to carry their garments and other logistics. Armani would also have to train their new business partners in order to showcase the product and make sure they received adequate exposure. From Harry Rosen’s perspective, they would lose heir brand loyal customers because of their inability to provide that product. Also, they would have to further invest in finding a replacement designer plus the time and funds involved in maintaining a strong supplier relationship is another dilemma. Armani Collezioni Buyers Once again, buyer bargaining power is moderate because the Canadian menswear luxury retail carriers are limited. Harry Rosen is able to provide exclusive products and that means the buyer is “less focused on obtaining low prices, which may signal poor quality” (Thompson et al. 2012). This corporation caters to a specific niche of customers and this population is small in size. As mentioned earlier, males are less likely to be “price sensitive”, which weakens their bargaining power. The reason is because by continuing to purchase these luxury items they support the notion that you cannot place a price on quality. However, buyer bargaining power is stronger during times of economic depression when consumers have tight budgets and luxury retailers have no choice but to reduce their over the top prices to stay in business.

Buyers can also purchase their products online in order to avoid overspending, but they would have to forgo the experience of shopping at such retailer. The attention to detail and the transfer of knowledge would not occur. But if buyers are willing to sacrifice these amenities then it would give the more power in this situation. Sustainable Competitive Advantage Larry Rosen in Toronto Clearly, if Harry Rosen has been in the clothing industry for over 58 years with successful retail chains across Canada, they must be doing something right.

This corporation is not only focused on being the leading menswear retailer in Canada, but a being “relationship-based business” (Grnak, 2006). Not only do they want to provide you with the best service for the first time, Larry wants to “be your clothier for life” (Grnak, 2006). What makes Harry Rosen’s resources durable and rare are based off of these customer service principles. They don’t look at customers as a ratio of Annual Sales/Total Revenue, rather as actual human beings with whom they want to keep in contact with.

Sales associates are complemented with software which “effectively track[s] customer spending and behaviour and provide targeted service to valued clients” (Grnak, 2006). This dedication to customer service and providing employees with all of the tools they need to maintain proves this is rare to find in the retail industry. As mentioned earlier, the other durable resource they have is their relationship with suppliers. Alongside the support from customers, Harry Rosen has received tremendous support from their vendors to help with their success.

Is there a possibility for rival firms to imitate their resources and capabilities? The answer is yes, but it could only be possible in the luxury niche of the retail market. It would be impossible for mass retailer such as Wal-Mart to develop personal and intimate relationships with millions of their clients. In order for the imitation strategy to be successful, it would require dedication from all levels of management to always prioritize their customers. This strategy would not necessarily steal Harry Rosen’s customers away but increase customer loyalty within their organization.

Now, as for the relationships with their suppliers, they are something that cannot be easily duplicated or reproduced. Harry Rosen has invested a lot of time and finances to foster these connections and many suppliers would be hesitant to start this process again with new retailers. In my opinion, the resource could not be made obsolete by their competitors. I do acknowledge that companies could copy their CRM software, and try to implement it within their organization. However, to use the CRM software, the key ingredient is customers and they aren’t inputted in the system when you purchase the software.

Therefore, the loyalty that Harry Rosen’s customers have displayed over the years would never make their true resource of human relationships obsolete. Harry Rosen is breaking the mould in the retail industry because it does not falter away from its true focus being customers. This corporation’s customers have been its biggest supporter, allowing it to expand from a 500 sq ft. shop in Toronto to 16 locations across Canada. They reciprocate this support by providing the best customer service and experience one would desire at a luxury retail store.

Also, for their fashion-savvy consumers they are always on top of the latest trend through their relationships with designers. Overall, this business plan has allowed for success over the past 50 years and this will prove to be sustainable in the future. Recommendations Harry Rosen’s business model of a being a relationship-based business has proven to be successful. However, they are at a crossroads where they need to decide on what the next business venture is. One strong recommendation is that this corporation should not consider expanding their target market to females.

In the past when Harry tried to embark on this business venture it had failed. Larry did mention they would execute this strategy by “acquiring a specialist retailer to provide it with expertise in the area” (Strauss, 2012a). However, the current market for women’s fashion has “dropped by 4%” due to women being more price conscientious (Strauss, 2012b). In a luxury retail market, ideally you would want your customers to neglect the concept of price and focus on the quality of the fabric and fit. Currently, this market exists for menswear and thus, they should stick to this profitable area of fashion retail. Etro for Women

In a recent article, Larry was also contemplating “adding suits to its E-commerce website” (Strauss, 2012a). Aside from expanding their operations to cater to the female market, this would be second worst idea. Through many studies it has reported that Canadians are spending over 45 hours online, but that does not mean they would know what suit to purchase based on their body shape, personal style and fabric preferences. The purpose of the sales associates at Harry Rosen is to keep up to date on all the different styles of merchandise, the various designers, and understand what the best fit is for their customers.

If a customer is going to purchase a suit online, how will they know as to what extent the new edition of a Hugo Boss suit is going to be slimmer than before? This online experience will not complement the brick-and-mortar experience but rather impair its profitability. The personal relationships that Harry Rosen prides itself on will lose the human interaction factor, and cause disconnect with this venture. Also, if sales associates are based off of a commission salary, how are they expected to make a paycheque if customers skip the store experience for a faster online order?

Harry Rosen would just need to employ tailors to alter the garments bought online. My recommendation is to expand upon their strengths. They should take advantage of the ever changing demographics in the menswear retail industry. If the younger generation is huge factor in their business, then start developing relationships with suppliers to gain more garments that appeal to this segment. Also, if men are becoming less price conscientious then they should start showcasing more Loro Piana merchandise or have the buyers host events for the obsessed Brunello Cucinelli customers.

Harry Rosen is a leader in the industry for developing their E-commerce operations but they should stick to only selling items that require generic knowledge. Appendix Appendix A: Barnes Report Industry Trend Appendix B: Harry Magazines Bibliographies BARNES Reports. (2012). Mens Clothing Stores Industry Report. Retrieved March 26, 2012 from Business Source Complete database CBC News. (2012). Canadians lead in time spent online, says report. Retrieved March 25, 2012 from http://www. cbc. ca/news/technology/story/2012/03/02/canadians-more-time-online. html

Euromonitor International (2011). Apparel in Canada. Retrieved March 25 2012 from http://www. portal. euromonitor. com. ezproxy. lib. ucalgary. ca/Portal/Pages/Search/SearchResultsList. aspx Euromonitor Internation (2012). Internet Retailing in Canada. Retrieved March 26, 2012 from http://www. portal. euromonitor. com. ezproxy. lib. ucalgary. ca/Portal/Pages/Search/SearchResultsList. aspx Fox, V. (2011). The State of the News Media 2011: Americans Shifting to Online News, Still Only Paying for Print. Retrived from Search Engine Land website: http://searchengineland. om/the-state-of-the-news-media-2011-americans-shifting-to-online-news-still-only-paying-for-print-68092 Grnak, T. , Hughes, J. , Hunter, D. (2006). Building the Best: Lessons from Inside Canada’s Best Managed Companies. Toronto, ON: Penguin Canada Harry Rosen Inc. (2010a). Company History. Retrieved March 23, 2011 from http://www. harryrosen. com/eng/aboutUs/aboutUs. cfm Harry Rosen Inc. (2010b). Biographies. Retrieved March 25, 2011 from http://www. harryrosen. com/eng/aboutUs/biographies. cfm Harry Rosen Inc. (2010c). Retail Service. Retrieved March 26, 2011 from http://www. harryrosen. om/eng/customerService/RetailServices. cfm Lee- Potter, A. (2007). Designer labels’ sweatshop scandal. Retrieved from International Labour Rights Forum website: http://www. laborrights. org/creating-a-sweatfree-world/news/designer-labels-sweatshop-scandal Marketing News Weekly. (2012). Computers, Software; Harry Rosen Inc. Wins Gartner ; 1to1 Media CRM Excellence Award Supported by Sage SalesLogix System. Retrieved March 25, 2012 from ABI Inform Global database Miller, L. (2009, July 25). Brunello Cucinelli: Cashmere at its best [Web Log Message]. Retrieved from http://www. suitsociety. om/brunello-cucinelli/ Moores Clothing. (2012). Brands that Make the Man. Retrived March 27, 2011 from http://www. mooresclothing. com/mor/menswear/browse. jsp? page=11 Ovsey, D. (2012). Whatever happened to that consumer business apocalypse? Retrieved from Financial Post website: http://business. financialpost. com/2012/03/16/what-ever-happened-to-that-consumer-business-apocalypse/ Rosen, L. (2012). harry { Letter. harry, Spring/Summer, 2012, page 27. Strauss, M. (2012a). Harry Rosen readies itself for retail foreign invasion. Retrieved from Globe and Mail website: http://www. theglobeandmail. om/report-on-business/harry-rosen-readies-itself-for-retail-foreign-invasion/article2313807/ Strauss, M. (2012b). Men’s appetite for fashion shores up apparel sales. Retrieved from Globe and Mail website: http://www. theglobeandmail. com/report-on-business/mens-appetite-for-fashion-shores-up-apparel-sales/article2368426/ Thompson, A. , Peteraf, M. , Gamble, J. , ; Strickland III, A. (2012). Crafting ; Executing Strategy. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irvin Zegna Group. (2012). History and Development. Retrieved March 23, 2012 from http://www. zegnagroup. com/storia_e_sviluppo/la_storia/inizi

Abstract

Online shopping has grown rapidly in China over the last decade, yet there are only a few studies in the Chinese context. This research focuses on B2C (Business to Customer) and C2C (Customer to Customer) to identify the factors that affect online shopping intention of consumers in both positive and negative aspects. However, there are some differences that exist that influence online shopping intentions among different countries.

As a result, this essay evaluates the determinants of online shopping intention of Chinese consumers by comparing consumers in other countries, which will give an insight for online sellers to develop more competitive strategies in China. Contents Abstract

Introduction

There is a growing number of people choosing online shopping and this growing trend has emerged all over the world over the last few decades. Online shopping is defined as “The act of purchasing products or services over the Internet”. Similarly, iResearch defines it as “The process of transferring commodities or services from the merchant/seller to individual users (consumers) via the Internet. Such a process is called online shopping if any of its capital flow, logistics, or information flow involves the Internet. Benefiting from the rapid economic growth and the development of the Internet, online shopping has become increasingly prevalent in China. The amount of transactions in online shopping, accounts for 1. 1% in 2008 rising to 3. 3% in 2010 of China’s total retail sales of consumer goods. Moreover, the latest report illustrates that up to December 2012, the number of net citizens in China reached 513 million, of which online shoppers are 194 million and the figure has kept a steady development trend with an increase of 20. % compared to the end of 2011. It can be seen that online shopping in China has experienced robust growth and demonstrates great potential when compared to mature online shopping markets, such as the USA, UK, and Japan. However, the development of China’s online shopping has encountered some obstacles, such as the limitations found within delivery and payment systems.

Moreover, most research into online shopping has focused on western countries, but very little research has been done in the Chinese context. Therefore, in order to reach its potential and to maintain the steady growth tendency of the online shopping market in China, it is important to attempt to comprehend the issues influencing the online purchase intentions of Chinese consumers. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to identify and evaluate factors that signify the differences between online purchase intentions of Chinese and global online shoppers. This paper is structured as follows. The next section reviews the related literature about the issues relating to online shopping. Section 1 will identify which factors are prominent or auxiliary and may affect the online shopping intention of global consumers while section 2 will compare Chinese consumers with global consumers and evaluate the significance of the differences.

Literature Review

The e-commerce industry has developed rapidly worldwide over the last few decades including the online shopping market in China which has experienced steady growth. Much research has tried to identify what the factors are and how they affect the online shopping purchase intention; however, a large proportion of these studies have been concerned about the West while only a few studies have focused on Chinese online shoppers and take into account the cultural impact. To allow the reader to better understand the factors affecting online shopping intention in China, this section will offer academic research reviews regarding this subject, including different theories, influential factors, and concerns relating to cultural differences. Since online shopping has become more popular, it has attracted widespread attention. Different models and theories have been adopted by many researchers to identify and examine the factors affecting online shopping intentions or behaviors. The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB)” have been frequently used. Extended TAM “by introducing e-service quality dimensions, trust, and enjoyment in the development of a theoretical model to study customers’ repurchase intentions of online shopping”.

Similarly conducted the related research is also based on the TAM framework but combined it with “environmental and social constructs to elucidate consumers’ attitude and behavioral intention to use e-retailing”. A number of studies have extensively discussed the factors influencing online shopping intention over many years. “Convenience, price savings, extensive information, enjoyment, and broad product selection are considered as major benefits of online shopping” reveals that social influence, such as online consumer reviews or word of mouth play a significant role in affecting individual behavioral intention to shop online, which is consistent with the result of the research done by Chung and Shin and Lee, Park, and Han Moreover, many researchers suggest that “perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness” of shopping through the Internet are important antecedents of intentions. Even though online shopping brings some benefits to consumers which attract them to shop online, some factors have a negative effect on consumers’ purchase decision. For example, poor quality products and underdeveloped payment systems; in particular, many researchers demonstrate that trust is a vital factor for online consumers to make purchase decisions. Xu, Zou, and Wang also point out that trust is considered to be the most important factor.

In contrast, an earlier study suggests that in some countries the most important factor is price while trust is not as important as the price. Recently, some researchers have started paying more attention to the Chinese online shopping market and some comparative studies have been conducted in the context of online shopping in China due to the fast development of the Internet and rapid growth sales in online shopping. Areas covered include China and Japan and China and America. It has been demonstrated that the differences between consumers in China and those in other countries, and namely issues dealing with product quality, logistic infrastructure, payment systems, and social influence. This section has reviewed literature about the major theories used in research and some factors that research has suggested including the difference between China and other countries. In the following sections, this research will classify and evaluate the dynamic factors and related issues regarding consumers’ online shopping intentions by comparing China to some other countries. Global consumers With the increasingly intensified competition in online shopping, it is more essential than ever for online retailers to understand the factors affecting consumers’ intention in online shopping, which is critical to success. Therefore, a number of studies focusing on influential factors of online shopping appear in many published conference proceedings and journals. This section will categorize the issues influencing global consumers’ online shopping intentions.

Main factor: price, convenience, and risks

There are some factors that attract consumers to choose online shopping. Firstly, the price has long been considered as a significant predictor when customers making a decision and e-commerce allows consumers to compare the prices across different online shops to find out the cheapest product easily. Moreover, compared to traditional retail shops, internet-based shops have a cost advantage; as a result, they are able to offer their products at a cheaper price than are available in traditional shops. Secondly, many researchers also point out that as well as price the perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness are important factors to attract consumers to engage in online shopping. For example, online shopping provides an opportunity for consumers to easily locate shops and products, especially convenient for target-oriented consumers who have already decided what they want to buy.

On the other hand, even though online shopping brings some benefits and attracts some consumers, there are those that are aware of the risks involved and so this may lead to them rejecting it argues that those risks include: lack of security, the possibility of credit card fraud, uncertainty about the quality of products, and return issues when the products are failed to meet consumers’ expectation. Moreover, due to the distances involved with online shopping and the fact that consumers are unable to touch or see the products seems to be an inherent perception of risk in shopping online.

 Additional factors

Apart from the major factors mentioned above, some additional factors influence the intention of online shopping as well. First of all, the amount of availability of extensive information and choices in online shops which the traditional stores are unable to compete with. Therefore, the options of products available in conjunction with the very latest information being available are a relatively important attractant to online shopping over the traditional retail store. In addition, some other influential factors were identified by Kau, and Fang, such as time-saving, time flexibility, real-time marketing offers, sharing other online customer reviews and enjoyment. Furthermore,  suggest that the more experience of using the internet the more likelihood of the consumer becoming an online shopper.

Chinese consumers

Since neither can the existing knowledge of Chinese consumers’ behavior on traditional shopping nor the reported findings of online shopping in other countries can be directly applied to the online shopping market in China; therefore, marketing strategies need to be tailored to the specific market. This section will highlight and address any different issues influencing the online shopping intention of Chinese consumers by conducting a comparison between Chinese consumers and consumers in other countries.

Main factors: quality, delivery, and payment security

Liu, He, Gao, and Xie state that Chinese people are quite sensitive to price and like negotiating with sellers to achieve a satisfactory deal. Similarly, Atchariyachanvanich and Okada (believe that the main reason why Japanese and Chinese consumers shop online is for cheaper price; however, they add that cheaper price is not the most important reason affecting Chinese consumers’ online purchase intention, Chinese consumers rank the security of the website and the ability to read previous customers’ reviews at the top. It seems to highlight Chinese online shoppers’ uncertainty about whether the products they buy re genuine and have good quality or not. Besides the quality of products, delivery as another essential factor was concerned by Chinese consumers. Just as CNNIC  shows in the 29th report that delivery is one of the main aspects causing consumer dissatisfaction of online shopping; more specifically, 12. 3%, 5% and 3. 6% of Chinese consumers were not satisfied due to delayed delivery, lost or damaged products and bad attitude of delivery staff respectively. As a matter of fact, Chinese logistic infrastructure lags behind some countries; particularly in terms of limited choices of delivery companies and long delivery time.

In contrast, the US has a mature and efficient distribution network supporting online shopping, because outsourced third parties can provide professional services, such as FedEx, UPS, DHL, etc. Research carried out by Xu, Zou and Wangshows that online payment security is the most important factor which should be strengthened by e-commerce companies because online shoppers pay more attention to it. Additionally, an unsound credit card payment system is more likely to cause financial risk and privacy leakage. In the US, using a credit card is the most popular way to pay for online shopping, while in China is still cash payment due to the cash-based culture and immature credit card payment system. This results from the immature Internet technology which to a large extent impedes the development of an online payment system in China. Consequently, the financial risk might be caused by an underdevelopment online payment system, which is a significant reason leading to a decision to reject online shopping.

Additional factors: social influence

Based on Hofstede’s cultural model, online consumer behavior can be predicted by five cultural difference dimensions, one of them is individualism-collectivism, for instance, America and New Zealand belong to individualism while China belongs to collectivism. This, in turn, has led to different online shopping behavior among consumers belonging to Eastern and Western cultures. Several studies have revealed that people from a collectivist culture should be more easily influenced by people within their social circles. Consequently, social influence should not be ignored in the context of online shopping in China. On the one hand, human interaction cannot be fully satisfied in Internet-based shopping; therefore, it may not be easily accepted by Chinese which is more likely to enjoy interacting with others when shopping. In addition, it is very common in China that one tends to follow if friends or relatives are interested in online shopping.

Furthermore, online consumer reviews or electronic word of mouth as a specific way of social influence in the context of online shopping plays an important role in affecting online consumers to make a purchase decision. It seems that social influence is an important factor affecting the online shopping intention of Chinese consumers.

Conclusion

This project reviewed the literature regarding online shopping issues firstly. It then classified some main factors and additional factors that influence global consumers to choose or not choose Internet-based shopping.

Specifically, cheaper prices and convenience of online shopping have a positive effect on affecting global consumers’ online shopping intentions; however, some risks in terms of products, financial and private information are likely to cause the rejection of online shopping. Finally, it acknowledged and assessed the divergent issues affecting Chinese consumers’ online shopping intentions with a comparative approach. Chinese consumers are quite different from global ones due to cultural differences and deficiencies within payment and delivery systems. For example, perhaps because of the high rate of counterfeit and inferior products, Chinese online shoppers pay more attention to the product quality than price. Moreover, in China, the logistic infrastructure and payment system are less developed and less mature than in other developed countries and this brings greater fear to Chinese consumers to conduct online shopping. Additionally, social influence and associated information from previous consumers who express their opinions online about products and sellers are essential for Chinese online consumers. As noted above, online shop retailers should not simply apply the existing knowledge about global online consumers to Chinese online shoppers, cultural differences must be taken into account, which is critical to their success and will benefit the development of the online shopping market in China.

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11. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 36(11), 919-940. Ou, C. X. J., Sia, C. L., & Banerjee, P. (2007).
12. Information Technology Management, 18(1), 16-32. So, W. C. M., Wong, T. N. D., & Sculli, D. (2005).
13. Factors affecting intentions to purchase via the internet. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 105(9), 1225-1244. Xu, H. J., Zou, X. W., & Wang, H. S. (2006).
14. Consumers’attitudes of e-commerce in China. Scholarship and Professional Work – Business, 7(2), 202-207. Zhou, L., Dai, L. W., Zhang, D. S. (2007).

s in bussinessSlideShare Submit Search… Upload Browse Go Pro Login Signup This webpage is not available Email Like S ave Embed This webpage is not available Google Chrome’s connection attempt to www. linkedin. com was rejected. The website may be down, or your network may not be properly configured. Here are some suggestions: Reload this webpage later. Check your Internet connection. Restart any router, modem, or other network devices you may be using. Related M ore Ethics 1054 views Like Major scandals of 2011 479 views Like Corporate governance 545 views ‹› 1 Like /18 2010 807 views

Like Hdfc bank (2) 202 views Like 2009 2020 views Like 2005 781 views Like Infosys annual report by zelani kurnool 1585 views Like 2011 901 views Ethical and unethical business practices by Pooja Lilani on Mar 06, 2012 + Follow Like Corruption 586 views More… 10,928 views 2 comments Like 1–2 of 2 comments yoonloong-chen 2008 1439 views All words no pictures! Why? 1 year ago Reply Like 2007 1480 views Paagal-S tudent Good slides 1 year ago Reply Like Corruption in india 1373 views Like Post Comment Subscribe to comments Corruption in-india-2010-andbefore 16009 views 4 Likes Philomena Mutindi months ago Like Corruption in-india-2010-andBefore 299 views Norfardilah Nordin at melayan lagu jew hahahah 5 months ago Like India – Economy and Looters 522 views attractalagan 1 year ago Like PLUNDER OF INDIA 701 views Paagal-S tudent Tags business ethics y/n 1 year ago Like Corruption in-india-2010-andbefore 291 views Ethical and unethical business practices Document T ranscript Like Plunder of India (Bharat KI Loot) Aawaaz 229 views 1. ASSIGNMENT ON Ethical and Unethical Business Practices SubjectBusiness Ethics Submitted To Prof Gauri SYMMS Roll No-27 Efforts By- Pooja Lilani 2.

Ethical and Unethical Business PracticesBusiness ethics is the most debated topic of our times. The difference is betweendoing the right thing and the wrong thing. Business ethics are the philosophicalcore of any business Like Like Corruption in-india-2010-andbefore 443 views and their outcome is crucial for economic development. Peter Cooper – the great American Investor says “I have always recognized thatthe object of business is to make money in an honorable manner. I haveendeavored to remember that the object of life is to do good. Business ethics are more than moral values and principles that determine ourconduct in the business world. It refers to the commercial activities, either withother business houses or with a single customer. They can be applied to all aspectsof business; from generation of an idea to its sale. Business uses the society for itsresources and functioning, thereby obligating it to the welfare of the society. Whilethe objective of all business is to make profits, it should contribute to the interest ofthe society by ensuring fair practices.

However, greed has led the present businessscenario towards unethical business practices, legal complications and generalmistrust. Code of EthicsLot of organizations implement the code of ethics in their company polices, whichthey implement during induction and regular training. A Code of Ethics isgenerally a more blanket statement of values and beliefs that defines theorganization. So what is it for? Companys assets, funds and records Conflict of interest Management and employee practices Information on competition 3.

Ethical Business PracticesHere are a few ethical business practices that should be followed to build a honestreputation and ensure smooth running of any organization. Investors: Ensuring safety of their money and timely payment of interest. Employees: Provision of fair opportunities in promotions and training, good working environment and timely payment of salaries. Customer: Complete information of the service and product should be made available. Personal information of the customers should not be used for Like Like Like Like Like

Corruption in-india-2010-andbefore 925 views 2006 888 views Quality circle 380 views Hdfc bank limited 329 views Corporate governance issues on satyam group 8 2176 views Like Rahul presentation1 505 views Any good business require corporate governance ppt personal gain. Competition: Unscrupulous tactics, competitor bashing and wrong methods should be avoided while handling competitors. Government: Rules and regulations regarding taxes, duties, restrictive and monopolistic trade practices and unlawful activities like corruption and bribing should be adhered to.

Environment: Polluting industries should ensure compliance with the government norms regarding air, water and noise pollution. Unethical Business PracticesYou might find many companies who blatantly thrive on unethical behavior andpractices. A free environment is present or promoted where acts of violation ofnorms to amass wealth in an unethical manner is followed. Following are some of the activities that come under the ambit of unethicalpractice. Resorting to dishonesty, trickery or deception. Distortion of facts to mislead or confuse.

Manipulating people emotionally by exploiting their vulnerabilities. Greed to amass excessive profit. Creation of false documents to show increased profits. Avoiding penalty or compensation for unlawful act. Lack of transparency and resistance to investigation. 4. Harming the environment by exceeding the government prescribed norms for pollution. Invasion of privacy used as leverage, for obtaining personal or professional gains. Sexual discriminationBusiness houses that comply with ethics to determine their conduct are shrinkingin number.

The lack of business ethics in the market, is the reason the worldeconomy is presently in crisis. Organizations now recognize the positive effectsand outcomes of being ethical, humane and considerate. They have a competitiveedge in the market, because of the honesty they show in their services. Theirmorally upright reputation attracts better staff and helps in retention. Though ethicsare legally binding in most cases, self-monitoring, transparency and accountabilitywill go Like Like Like Like Like Like 654 views 2004 423 views Executive summary 167 views Deshmukh & garg 361 views

S cams 730 views Mrp on the banking industry in india 126 views Corruption in-india-presentation slides v2 22554 views a long way in establishing trust of the people. Besides this, it makes senseto change, before you are penalized. When would we as Indians observe ethical business practices in totality? It is a bigquestion but it has a straight simple answer. Each one of us should be accountableand responsible to stop unethical business practices. We must create an environment which adheres to strictest philosophies of clean,transparent, honest business. Integrity is most wanted. 5.

HOUSING DEVELOPMENT FINANCE CORPORATIONLIMITEDFAIR/ETHICAL PRACTICES CODE Intent and Content This Code has been formulated by Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (the Corporation) pursuant to the Guidelines issued by the National Housing Bank on Fair Practices Code for Housing Finance Companies vide its circular bearing No. NHB(ND)/DRS/POL- No. 16/2006 dated September 05, 2006. This Code has come into force from 19th October, 2006 which has been modified pursuant to the Guidelines issued by the National Housing Bank on Fair Practices Code for Housing Finance Companies vide its circular bearing No.

NHB(ND)/DRS/POL- No. 34/2010-11 dated October 11, 2010 and has been effective from December 23, 2010 . The said Guidelines has been further modified by the National Housing Bank on Fair Practices Code for Housing Finance Companies vide its circular bearing No. NHB(ND)/DRS/POL- No. 38/2010-11 dated April 25, 2011. This Code has come into force from May 10, 2011. Objectives Follow good, fair and transparent business practices by setting reasonable standards; Encourage market forces, through fair competition, to achieve higher operating standards; Relate to the customer in such manner so as to promote a fair and cordial

Like corporate governance 3789 views Like Corporate governance(final) 151 views Like satyam fiasco 1129 views Like Hdfc company profile 943 views Like hdfc report 652 views Like Accounting scams 213 views Like relationship; Set such standards and practices so as to foster confidence in the housing finance system. Application To be applicable to all persons offering the Products and Services of the Like Airtel n zain 6. Corporation as an employee or otherwise in any manner and/or by any mode.

The Code is applicable under normal operating environment except in the eventof any force majeure. The Code is based on ethical principles of integrity and transparency and allactions and dealings shall follow the spirit of the Code. CommitmentThe Corporation shall at all times do its best to act fairly, reasonably and meetthe standard practices prevalent in the housing industry. The Corporation shall abide by all the relevant laws, regulations and meet withthe ethical principles of integrity and transparency during its interaction withcustomers.

While interacting with customers, the Corporation may take all steps as may berequired to provide clear information either in English or Hindi or theappropriate local language regarding: o its various products and services; o the terms and conditions, the interest rates/service charges; o benefits available to customers and the implications, if any; o contact persons for addressing the queries, if any;The Corporation will provide a copy of this Code, at request, to the customer.

The Code will also be made available on its Website and at every branch/ office. The Corporation would not discriminate on grounds of sex, caste and religion inthe matter of lending. However this does not preclude the Corporation fromparticipating in credit-linked schemes for the weaker sections of society and inrespect of schemes formulated by NHB/ other Government Agencies,implemented through the Corporation.

The Corporation shall treat the information relating to customers as strictlyconfidential and shall not share any information, unless required under law orwaived or permitted by the customer. The Corporation shall take necessary steps to inform its customers of their rightto information regarding their account and the facilities available to them. The Corporation shall be clear and not misleading in any of its advertising andpromotional materials.

The Corporation shall inform its customers of all financial information such asrates of interest, charges, method of calculation etc through brochures, posters 7. or during the course of meeting with the customers etc prior to entering into any transaction. The Corporation shall endeavor to keep its customers informed of any change in interest rates / charges etc through letters or any other form of general or public announcement or displays, from time to time.

The Corporation shall disclose, by such mode and in such manner as deemed fit, to ensure transparency, all information affecting the interest of the borrower including but not limited to : o fees/charges payable for processing loan application; o the amount of fee refundable, if any, if the loan amount is not sanctioned; o Prepayment options and charges, if any; o Penalty for delayed payment, if any; o Conversion charges (Switching loan from fixed to floating rate or vice – versa); o Existence of interest re-set clause, if any.

The disclosure shall be done so as to ensure that the borrower is aware of “all in cost” parameters involved in processing and sanctioning of loan. The Corporation shall not indulge in any act which is discriminatory among equals. The Corporation will review the compliance of this Code and a consolidated report of such review may be submitted to the Board. LoansThe Corporation in the normal course of its business shall endeavour at all times toguide its customers about the process and procedure to be followed for availing aloan.

Each application shall be considered independently on merit, upon scrutiny of allthe information, documents required for verifying the title of the property, identityof the person, entity and the security to be offered, including guarantees. The letter of guarantees to be executed by the guarantors would cover theirobligations, liabilities and circumstances in which they can be called upon to paythe dues of the customer/borrower. The Corporation shall communicate in writing to the customer whose applicationhas been reject Collection of Dues 8.

The Corporation shall provide the customers with all the information regardingtheir dues and provide reasonable time for payment of the same. The Corporation shall while protecting its interest adopt reasonable and lawfulmeasures to recover its dues from defaulting customers, including use ofpersuasive methods for the purpose of collection of its dues. Complaints and GrievancesThe Corporation shall endeavour to address/respond to all complaints andgrievances within a reasonable time and keep the customers informed about thestatus of their complaints.

The Corporation shall make available facilities at each of its branches andoffices for the customers to lodge and/or submit their complaints or grievances,if any. The Corporation will ensure that its grievance redressal procedure is madeavailable on its website. ETHICAL PRACTICES BY HDFC BANK 9. HDFC only Indian bank in global list of ethical companyPosted: Thu, March 17, 2011 | 12 PM ISTMumbai, March 17: HDFC Bank, second largest private sector bank, is theonly Indian organization got listed in the worlds most ethical companies listthis year.

As per the list prepared by the Ethisphere Institute, only one Indianfirm HDFC has made a place in the 110 worlds most ethical companies. HDFC is one of the most trusted brands in the India and for a financialservices company it is quite noticeable that people should perceive that it asethical as well. Commenting on the attainment HDFC Vice-Chairman andCEO Keki Mistry said: “It obviously feels nice to be one of the worlds mostethical company and the only one from India. ” The new achievement ofHDFC will help to inhance the brand equity of the company going forward.

Among the list of companies online market portal eBay, Ford MotorCompany, banking giant Standard Chartered Bank, Accenture, AdobeSystems, software giant Microsoft and food and beverage firm PepsiCo foundin top position. 10. Reliance Unethical PracticesComplaints India enables consumers and users of services and products to posttheir common complaints and suggestions regarding airline, bank, business,companies and Government and non Government organizations in India andabroad. Track your car complaints, mobile phone complaints, bank complaints,credit card complaints etc at this website.

Its a consumer forum, board or bureaufor consumers to redress their complaints. Consumer Courts in India now gives the power to consumers to fight for theirconsumer rights at district level consumer forums. However consumers canproceed to confront companies and try to get quicker responses through thewebsite. For companies its important to quickly address consumer complaints toprotect their product or service brand image. Consumer-India web site has anumber of resources for your assistance. Separate new product complaint and NRIcomplaint sections help in easier posting and tracking of complaints. With online internet scams proliferating, its asy to get cheated by fraudcompanies. Consumers need to protect themselves from online scams, emailscams, phishing etc. Complaints can be posted on all products and services. You can post complaintsMobile Services (Airtel, BSNL, Idea, Reliance, Docomo, Unior, Aircel etc),Mobile Phones (Nokia, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Blackberry, 11. MicromaKarbonn etc), Home Appliances like TVs, Refrigerators, ACs,Cooking Ovens etc. Unethical PracticesInfosys Employee Testifies on Alleged Visa FraudBy Megha Bahree and Miriam JordanAn Infosys employee, who has alleged that Indian tech giant, Infosys TechnologiesLtd. engages in visa fraud, provided more details to a U. S. Senate subcommitteethis week. Tony Avelar/Bloomberg News In a testimony, an Infosys employee provided more details about alleged visa fraud at Infosys. In a statement to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees andBorder Security on Tuesday, Jay Palmer, the whistleblower at Infosys, said thecompany “intentionally violated our visa and tax laws for the purpose of increasingrevenues. ” Mr. Palmer accused Infosys of frequently violating U. S. visa laws and 12. f staffing multiple client projects with illegal employees, including at GoldmanSachs, American Express, Wal-Mart and Johnson Control, among others. Mr. Palmer filed a lawsuit against the company in February in Circuit Court inAlabama, alleging the company sought his help to circumvent U. S. law. Thelawsuit has led to a probe by U. S. authorities. Infosys, which is cooperating with the inquiry, denied the allegations. Paul N. Gottsegen, chief marketing officer for Infosys, said in a statement Wednesday thatMr. Palmer’s emarks were “full of inaccuracies, exaggerations and falsehoods. ”“There is not, nor was there ever a strategy, scheme, or policy by the company touse the B-1 visa program to circumvent the H-1B visa program,” he said. “Thecompany did not have a practice of sending unskilled employees to the UnitedStates on B-1 visas to do the work expected of skilled individuals in the U. S. on H-1B visas. ”Mr. Palmer disagreed. This is how, he says, it was done. During a March 2010 visit to Bangalore headquarters he says he heard severalconversations between Indian managers and U. S. based managers where it wasmade clear that Infosys was going to increase the use of the B1 visa program to getaround tough new restrictions the U. S. had placed on the H-1B program. Infosys,he says, decided to flood the local Indian consulate with visa applications in orderto get as many approved as possible no matter the level of an individual’s skill. Hesays that in many cases the company sent relatively inexperienced workers to theU. S. for projects. He says Infosys sent employees on B1 visas to the U. S. for specific full-time jobsat client sites but instead of paying them U.

S. salaries, it would pay them muchlower Indian salaries, calling it a stipend. Infosys, however, charged its clients U. S. rates for the employees, thus getting full reimbursement from their Americanclients for Infosys’ labor costs. He also says Infosys paid no taxes on payments tothese workers. According to Mr. Palmer, Infosys created an internal website of “do’s and don’ts”with tips including: “Do not mention activities like implementation, design & 13. testing, consulting etc. , which sound like work. Also do not use words like, work,activity, etc. , in the invitation letter.

Please do not mention anything about thecontract rates as you’re on a B-1 Visa. ”He says that in order for this to work, the U. S. contracts had to be written as “FixedPrice” contracts and not as “Time and Material” contracts. On a Fixed Pricecontract a customer is charged a lump sum for labor, and the people doing thework do not need to be identified to the client. But on a T&M contract, on the otherhand, the people doing the actual work had to be named along with their hourlyrate. In August 2010 Mr. Palmer says he received emails and requests to rewrite T& M contracts to FP contracts.

Describing a specific instance, he says that in December 2010 an Infosys employeeshowed him a spreadsheet with a list of B1 visa workers on a project at JohnsonControl, who should not have been doing such work. He said that these workerswere working full-time testing software code and writing scripts but were paidtheir salaries by Infosys depositing money into the cash card accounts withoutwithholding any income tax. Mr. Palmer’s testimony comes as the Indian IT industry finds itself facing morescrutiny than ever. Outsourcing has always been a hot-button issue in the U.

S. , butwith a stubbornly high unemployment rate in the U. S. , the offshoring of what areperceived to be American jobs has become an increasingly sensitive political issue. Last year the U. S. passed legislation that raised fees for skilled visas, particularlyaffecting Indian IT firms. IT firms based in India generate 60% of their revenuefrom the U. S. On their part, Indian firms have seen the increased visa fees as well as delays ingetting approvals and much tougher interviews as part of a concerted campaignagainst them. Some Indian officials have even labeled the U. S. oves unfair tradepractices. In his testimony Mr. Palmer, says he and his attorney have received over 40communications from individuals at other Indian companies stating that the sametype of H-1B and B1 visa fraud is being committed there as well. 14. Infosys said it would not rebut Mr. Palmer’s remarks point-by-point at this timebecause of its ongoing litigation with him. “We take very seriously our obligations under the law and specifically ourresponsibilities to comply with the immigration laws and visa requirements in alljurisdictions where we have clients,” said Infosys’s Mr.

Gottsegen. “Mr. Palmer isobviously intent on spreading his falsehoods about Infosys and our businesspractices as broadly as possible in order to advance his objective of getting as bigof a payout as he can from the Company. ”In his testimony, Mr. Palmer also lobbied for more restrictions on work visas toforeign companies. “My real life experiences have educated me to the point that if Congress decidesthat an increase of Green Cards or legal work visas in the U. S. is a must, then thereshould be limitations or ratios,” he said. For example, for every H-1B visa issuedto foreign national company they should have to hire an American worker. ”More In Infosys Infosyss High-Margin Quest Comes at a Cost Infosys Earnings Likely Stellar, But Dont Be Fooled Nilekani Says ID Project on Track Quo Vadis Cognizant? Infosys Noses Ahead of TCS After EarningsHe also said Indian companies were benefiting at the expense of the Americaneconomy, a charge the Indian IT industry disagrees with. Indian software andservices industry body NASSCOM has said in the past that the cost savings theyprovide help make U. S. firms more competitive. I have read statements from NASSCOM stating that not increasing Green Cardnumbers and with the current visa restrictions, the Indian economy would suffer,”said Mr. Palmer. “Let me ask the committee, what about our economy? Whatabout the years and years of ignoring the laws. These companies maliciously donot hire Americans and look at ways to circumvent policy and law instead of 15. working with it. Look at the stock and growth of these large foreign companies in adown environment — they are not suffering. ”ndian financial industry has always been successfully able to race every prospectoffered by the Indias fiscal policy both in terms of alteration and expansion. Inspite of all the endeavors implemented to develop the financial market, it stillremains fatally faulted due to lack of three major key elements namely inadequatemanagement, stringent accountability, and proper punishment. As a result, the capital market of India has remained one-dimensional and hasstaggered from one investment scandal to another. A straightforward listing of thetop 10 investment scams narrates the account of why Indian investors were leftannoyed by the scamsters.

Unethical PracticesA brief about Top 10 Investment Scams in India1. The Securities Scam The capital market witnessed its foremost investment scandal in the form of securities scandal in the year 1992. It revealed the utter anarchy and lack of administration in the prevailing fiscal market. The money market at that time permitted funds to be relocated with impunity from financial institution and corporates into equity and consequently witnessed crores of banks capital to transfer into brokers account. This illegal market practice was later asserted as “legal and acknowledged”.

In an attempt to punish the tricksters, a special court was initiated and scrutinized around 70 cases registered by CBI. Surprisingly, not even a single trickster was found guilty by the dreadfully sluggish judicial system. As a 16. matter of fact, the scamsters made frequent attempts to re-enter the market with same set of traps and resulted in losses to investors. 2. The IPO scam Soon after the entry of international organizational investors, the Control over Capital Issues was banned as the market saw heavy bull trend resulting in the revitalization of the secondary market from the previous scandals.

The ban of Control over Capital Issues unlocked the prospects of massive scandal in Initial Public Offerings (IPO). The scam was executed in two parts; the first part was carried out by the firms that increased their market costs to incur profits in order to sponsor lucrative projects. The second part saw the unison of small time merchants, CAs, investment bankers and traders to hoist new firms and heave public capitals. The IPO scam prevailed for three long years from 1993-1996 and finally saw its downfall when the costs of the registered firm started deteriorating. . Favored share scam The scandal was an outcome of the extensive cost fixing on the derivative market. Besides increasing fresh capital, advocates of Indian firms promptly coordinated general body authorizations to transfer shares to themselves on a privileged basis and at a considerable reduction to the market, thinking that the share prices would never see the ground. Conglomerates started this trend and accrued profits of nearly 55o crores until Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) formulated strict guidelines to abandon the market practice. . CRBs cardboard scam The ` 1000 crore finacial multinational named as Chain Roop Bhansali (CRB) was the only biggest firm and most impudent of all to benefit and disappear in the loosened market ambiance of mid-1990s. The services offered by his firm 17. entailed FC collection, mutual fund, banking, etc. The clearances obtained by the firm for the trading of these services required sufficient inspection by SEBI and the RBI and the fact that they managed to qualify shows the supervisory weariness of the regulators.

Facilitated by the clearances and profitable credit ranking, CRB accrued greater profits based on high value financing. The CRB collapse not only affected the investors but also the other finance firms. 5. Plantation firms scam Since few firms in mid-90s were subject to no guidelines, the plantation companies during that time also got away with profit protrusions. The plantation firms projected themselves as a part of IPO and assured massive returns. The investors were lured and the companies accrued profits from fake campaigns of around ` 8000 crores plus. . Mutual Funds scam After several mutual fund scams, the UTI bailout reflected the lack of proper guidelines in the Indian capital market. Since UTI was initiated under its own regulations, it was the tax payers who suffered the loss of ` 4800 crore in the process. After three years, the company was back purchasing Ketan Parekhs controlled scrips and incurring massive losses in the process. The evidence of the private mutual funds performance has also been inconsistent after hitting the downfall in 1999 and 2000.

It took a considerable amount of time for capital market to win back the trust of mutual fund investors. 7. The 1998 scam The scamster of 1992 scam, Harshad Mehta came back with a bag of tricks again in 1998. This time he lured investors through a website by trading stock tips. His unremitting manipulation of several shares resulted in the much expected collapse of Bombay Stock Exchange. 18. 8. Home Trade scam Initiated in 2000, Home trade invested rs 24 crore in promotional campaigns to attract investors. The scam affected 8 co-operative banks that lost ` 82 Crore in EPF scheme.

The Chief Executive of Hometrade, Mr. Sanjay Aggarwal was convicted by Nagpur Police later. 9. DSQ Software Scam In the year 2000 and 2001, the Managing Director of DSQ Software, Mr. Dinesh Dalmia, was held responsible for ambiguous mergers and prejudiced allocation of the amount of upto ` 595 Crores. He was later convicted in the year 2006. 10. Satyam Scam After manipulating the firms documents for several financial years, the former Chairman and Chief Executive of Satyam Computers, Mr. Ramalinga Raju, was arrested for committing scam, following unethical practice and forgery.

He showed greater profits and committed fraud of ` 700 crores. Search Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on Twitter Find us on Facebook Find us on Google+ Learn About Us About Careers Our Blog Press Contact us Help & Support Using SlideShare SlideShare 101 Terms of Use Privacy Policy Copyright & DMCA Community Guidelines SlideShare on mobile Pro & more Go PRO New Business Solutions Developers & API Developers Section Developers Group Engineering Blog Blog Widgets © 2013 SlideShare Inc. All rights reserved. RSS Feed ENGLISH English Francais Epol Deutsch

THE UK RETAIL SECTOR Retailing is one of the major economic sectors of United Kingdom, with retail sales of ? 221 billion, employing around 3 million people and operating over 300,000 shops. Within the sector there is a scale polarisation at both the business and the store level. The leading retailers are huge, multinational businesses which dominate the sector. They operate a range of stores from major hypermarkets and supercentres through to small convenience stores. Retailing is also significant it its social dimension as well.

Whilst economically retailing bridges production and consumption, in social terms it effects most of the population every day. It is the rare person who does not go shopping, or indeed has not worked in retailing or been involved in it in some way. For some, retailers offer their major social intercourse of the day or week and act as a social network, setting or centre. The quality of UK retailing and its locations thus has both an economic and a social bearing on the perceptions of the country.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS 1. 1 Political Structure and Trends The activities of retailers and thus shoppers are affected by the political structure and trends in a number of ways. It would be wrong, however, to see this as a direct relationship derived through a body of legislation specifically targeted at retailing or shopping. Instead, trends in retailing and shopping are more dependent on a number of national debates and initiatives that have been developed recently by various levels in the political process.

The main direct effect that politicians have on retailing and shopping is through their exercise of power over location through the levers of the land-use planning system. Whilst land-use planning is a local authority activity, national government can intervene to provide directions and guidance on the assessment of development opportunities and proposals. Whilst land-use planning towards retailing in the 1980s allowed decentralised activity, since the early 1990s there has been a growing consensus on the tightening of restrictions on off-centre and green field evelopment. Thus it has become much harder to obtain planning permission for developments away from existing town centres and newer forms of retailing such as factory outlet centres and regional shopping centres have become harder to accommodate. This consensus has emerged through a general concern with the health of town centres and a desire to see town centres as vital and viable parts of the urban structure, fulfilling traditional nodal activities, including providing a focus for shopping.

Whilst land-use planning affects the location of retailing, other instruments of government can affect the operations of the business, although as we note there is no overall retail trading legislation. Instead, shoppers are affected by a battery of public policy which attempts variously to regulate competition, safeguard consumer interests and to regulate trading conditions. Recent changes in this arena have seen an easing of restrictions on trading hours for example but a strengthening of powers over retail selling and employment practices. Concerns over public health have led to tighter regulation on food stores.

In essence the approach could be summed up as ensuring that retailers do their jobs properly and that there is as much a level playing field as possible. Again there is no reason to suspect that this will change, though the scale of the legislation will change as globalisation continues in this market. Big retailers will be created on a pan-European level and will be subjected to standard operating conditions across for example Europe, which safeguard consumer interests. The European dimension obviously has another political aspect as well, most notably in terms of the Euro.

Whilst decisions about the Euro are beyond this report, retailers as a key service sector, will have to deal with its introduction (or not). For some this is already anticipated through their acceptance of Euros in the UK, their Irish and continental European experiences and in their forward planning of technological (eg POS) investment. Smaller retailers in particular however may be less prepared for any positive decision. Overall there will be costs in implementation, as well as potential trading disruption depending on timing of introduction. 1. 2 Economic Structures and Trends

To a considerable extent, the economic structures and trends driver for change operates at such a macro-level of the economy that it is very hard to consider it in any detail. The general economic position of the country will condition to a great extent the outcomes retailers experience from the shopping activity. Thus the volume and value of retail sales is of importance in this arena, but it is hard to be certain of magnitudes looking forward. Political policy can have an impact by its promotion of certain sectors and locations in the economy, in pursuit for example of greater social inclusion and a fairer distribution of wealth.

However alternative policies could equally be considered. The economic structure also has an affect on the retail landscape through the encouragement or otherwise of the construction of landscapes for consumption. Businesses have to be willing to invest in the built environment and to feel comfortable that such investments will make a return. Probably the only safe assumption to be made is that the broad economic structures will remain in place and that in the future Britain will be economically approximately ranked similarly to where it is now in the world.

Taking this assumption, then it would seem that we can expect many of the trends we have seen in recent years to continue. Thus, there would seem to be scope for further growth in retail sales, if we take a broad definition of retailing. There will be developers wishing to invest in the UK in commercial property, but much of this development may take the form of redevelopment or enhancement of existing locations. The exceptions to this might be purpose built new facilities in areas of identified deprivation, though the exact form of these facilities will be open to question.

The economic structure has an impact on retailers and retail structure. British retailing is dominated by large corporate chains, many of which are head-quartered outside the country. Whilst there is in a sense a requirement to improve local knowledge to meet consumer needs, large retailers have demonstrated that computing power can be used to understand markets. Knowledge management becomes a key element in the future economy. There does not seem therefore to be any particular reason why current trends towards bigger and foreign retailers (eg.

Wal-Mart) dominating more of the market should not continue, although they will probably structure some of their activities on a national (ie. local) basis. There will be opportunities for local and new retailers, but overall the market structure is likely to remain dominated by such big and increasingly global players. The interaction of the political will and the economic situation of the country and locations and individuals within the country will be important in determining the affluence of otherwise of the population, and thus the attractiveness of sites for retailers.

This personal disposable income is critical to the future of locations, though it is tempered by the aspirations and lifestyle choices, and the costs of these eg. monthly rental of satellite television reduces out-of-home shopping. Most recently there has been announced major investment in the country’s infrastructure, funded in part by increased tax and NI revenues. This could affect perceptions of affluence and personal disposable income for years to come. More worryingly perhaps is the possible pensions timebomb which is currently being exposed through the switch out of final-salary schemes.

Continuing concerns over mortgage payments based upon endowment policies and the high level of credit in the economy reinforce these worries. Socio-Cultural and Lifestyle Aspirations Changing socio-cultural and lifestyle considerations have fuelled much of the change in shopping and retailing in recent years. Attitudes and beliefs as well as wants and needs have been transformed. They continue to develop and further change can be expected. In particular, attitudes to work and leisure are worth identifying separately as they are potentially so important.

Modern consumers are a mass of contradictions, many of which are inexplicable on any rational basis. Some travel miles by car, damaging the environment, to refill a plastic bottle which costs virtually nothing, or to place bottles in a bottlebank located on a superstore car park. Branded products with a conspicuous logo are purchased in preference to identical generic products selling at a vastly reduced price. People pay 50% more for a 30% smaller microwaveable pot of baked beans rather than have to open a tin and heat the product ‘normally’.

Ready-washed salads or chopped vegetables in their millions are purchased to ‘save time’ or to cover up for lost culinary ‘skills’. Understanding and predicting change in this arena is therefore a little difficult. What can be said is that there is a tension in this aspect of shopping. On the one hand consumers have ever broader experiences and expectations that have been increased by their exposure to new events, horizons, ways of doing things etc. So holiday experiences are brought back and combined with UK products and behaviours. Things that are seen in TV programmes become available in local stores.

On the other hand, the very nature of the global experience, particularly through leisure products such as TV and cinema, tends to reduce things to the lowest common denominator – Pringles, Coke, Gap, Nike – and it is no coincidence that the majority of exemplars are American. This differentiation/similarity paradox will also emerge in other ways, and in particular in terms of the attitudes and belief statements of individuals and the way they translate these into shopping actions. Single-issue causes are fundamentally important now and look set to remain a force.

Attitudes to corporate or government activities may lead to both small-scale individual behaviour changes but possibly to more aggregate corporate behaviour changing movements. The ‘battle’ over GM foods and the rapid development of organic food sales are examples of the start of this rather than the end. Consumers and businesses will spend a lot of time in the future working out their positions on issues and changing behaviours appropriately. However, the number of individual positions by their very nature will outnumber choices available.

This points to a continuing fragmentation of much of consumer demand, but overlain by certain common themes. For retailers, identifying these themes early will be critically important and reacting quickly will be vital. The issue of mobility is complicated. It is clear that people’s understanding of mobility has been transformed in a number of directions. The overall perception of mobility has extended significantly. This extension is both in terms of the mental view of locations and travel and a dramatic extension of what may be possible and also a willingness and ability to actually travel.

The location of holidays and the influence this has on price perception and product purchase is one example of this. The willingness to travel longer distances to shop on a regular or an irregular (shopping centres) basis is another. It is also the case that as we are spending more time ‘on the move’, our needs in consumption terms have changed. We need to be able to consume as we go (food, music, information etc) and retailers have changed locations, products and shop formats to adjust to this. 1. 4 Demographic Structures and Trends

Shopping and retailing are obviously heavily dependent on people, both as an industry, but also as the basic consuming unit. Changes in the population structure and the location of this population, as well as the make-up of the households in which people live, are fundamentally important to retailers and to understanding the shopping future. For example, population growth in specific locations or of age-groups of people encourage or discourage retailers to construct the retail environment differently.

The ‘baby-boomers’ or ‘Generation X’ concepts have their reality in the shopping behaviour each group carries out and the demand for experiences and products they exhibit. Similarly, the growth of children as consumers and acknowledgement of the spending power of the “tweenies” represent new foci for retailers and service providers. Similarly, the breakdown of the nuclear family and the rise of single person households changed the consumption landscape, both in non-food because of the absolute number of households, but also in food due to pack size issues and so on.

More but smaller households will have an effect on the type of products and services purchased and the shopping trips undertaken. In short, understanding likely future demographic structures and trends provides a good base from which to examine future shopping, and because of the nature of population dynamics provides us with a solid foundation of understanding. New births notwithstanding, we have good estimates of population demography for the next twenty years.

Population estimates for the UK suggest that there will be in the next twenty years an extra 4 million people in the country on the current base of 58 million. It is forecast that current trends will continue leading to a substantially older composition of the population than at present. There will be significant growth in the 45+ age groups, many of whom will be young in body and mind and will be able to finance their consumption (a group of time rich/cash rich). There is within this also an increase in the 75+ age group which will present significant issues for the delivery of shopping opportunities.

The ageing of the population will present an opportunity to target older consumers, but it would seem to be likely that the differences within this group will be as great as differences between the 45+ age group and other groups. The ageing of the population has another dimension of interest to retailing. Retailing is a traditional user of young people and the workforce in retailing has been seen as being more youthful and transient than many other sectors. With a decline in the youth cohort and a large increase in older consumers, retailers are going to have to question their hiring policies.

Some retailers have been aware of this for some time, but it is going to become a wider phenomenon. Older consumers are going to want to be served by older well-informed staff and retailers are going to have to draw on this older workforce in order to keep their stores staffed in the first place. Willingness to work and the expectations of work for these groups may be much changed in the future. 1. 5 Product and Process Innovation Of all the drivers of change, the one that is most obviously in the news with respect to shopping and retailing is that of product, or more particularly, process innovation.

The rapid development of the digital revolution, linked on occasions to the development of electronic commerce has caught the imagination of many, but perhaps blinded them to some of the pitfalls. Despite the fall from grace of the B2C Internet, most large retailers have a web site and are seriously exploring the opportunities or dangers of this new channel. The implications of this wave of experimentation for home delivery and for the very nature of retail organisations needs to be considered.

In short, is the Internet the new way of shopping and retailing, which will eventually conquer all, or is it a small additional channel of limited impact? Whilst it is crucial to consider the possible implication in this area, it is important to emphasise (unlike perhaps the UK Foresight process) that retail futures are not all technologically based or driven. Product innovation is almost impossible to predict due to the rapid development and innovation of technology and other components. There are some possible ‘straws in the wind’ associated with developments in miniaturisation, communications and digitisation.

Books, videos, films and music may all be transformed by product changes associated with new mechanisms for making, storing and communicating such material. Beyond that however it is almost impossible to predict what new products will be around and futile to attempt to predict in any detail what we will be buying. Process innovation is however another matter. The process of shopping has for well over a century been composed of multiple channels, but process innovation in the form of e-retailing is challenging the balance amongst these channels, chiefly because the nature of the medium has changed.

In addition, the current implementation of e-retailing has the scope to change the nature and cost structures of retail activities. The “traditional” model – in which the customer via self service undertakes most of the shopping tasks (and bears the costs) -changes with many tasks and the associated costs transferred to the retailer. The retail business economics of e-retailing differ from those of store based retailing. Predicting the extent of Internet or e-retailing take-off is foolhardy given the breadth of experimentation and the pace of change. It is however worth reflecting on the use to which the new format is being put.

It would appear that e-retailing is being used in three different ways at least for shopping. First, there are sites and opportunities that are essentially price driven. The focus is on getting the cheapest price for the product. Secondly however some sites are being used to provide a form of service delivery. In this case, products are sought because they are special, unique, different or distinctive or because they are hard to find and thus a broad data source is needed. In short, the Internet can allow the breadth of retailing to be consulted more quickly than might otherwise be the case.

It is possible to identify a third type of use, namely the time-saver, when basic components of shopping (provisioning? ) are routinised into some form of home delivery service. These three illustrations are themselves further (and this time ‘virtual’) examples of the categorisation of shopping behaviour outlined earlier. With the exception of downloadable digitised products such as video and music, most products purchased remotely will require some form of home delivery system. Shopping in the real world, with the exception of mail order places the onus for this aspect primarily on the consumer.

However, Internet retailing separates these activities and thus reinforces the distinction between purchasing and obtaining. In order to obtain virtual purchased goods, home delivery points will probably be needed and solutions will need to be found to the problems of delivery timings, people absent deliveries and the like (though other solutions are possible focusing on local stores/distribution points). It is also the case that one of the conventionally perceived benefits of Internet retailing, namely the removal of many car journeys, might be obviated by the expansion of local home (or workplace) delivery services.

In terms of process, the emergence of the Internet has also had effects ‘behind the scenes’. 1. 6 Environmental Changes and Trends The UK is a congested set of islands, although this can be overstated by those living in the South East of England. As such the environmental aspects of shopping and retailing are particularly important given that the sector is a large user of land and the consumers are travellers to and from locations. Retailing of course is not only about consumers moving products, as shops are the commercial end of an entire supply chain.

The way in which land is used for retailing and the retail supply chain have not remained static and there is good reason to presume that this will continue. Similarly the design and architecture of retail locations is not static and plays a considerable role in both the construction of the ‘feel’ of the retail location and experience and also, in environmental terms, its efficiency and effectiveness. Retailing uses land and locations for its physical activities. Consumers tend to travel to the store or shop components of this system.

Space use by retailers has changed dramatically with broad trends towards the polarisation of shop size. In the main this has not led to any particular problems over space although many retailers have sought the prime locations. However some problems have been felt in secondary locations as concentration and competition effects have washed through the system. All the pressures being identified thus far suggest that there is not going to be a dramatic increase in space needs but rather that it is the quality of the space that will be most important. Current estimates of retail space, from CB Hillier Parker, suggests a stock of over 1. billion square feet of gross shop floorspace, which translates into 524 million square feet of net floorspace. Of the total gross floorspace 17. 7% is in “managed” retail environments (town and out-of-town shopping centres and retail warehouses), compared to 13. 5% in 1990 and 8% in 1980. Longer term however, it might be that existing space may be more problematical leading to either wholesale transformation or re-use as something else. Retail Sector Structure Size and Scope of Retail Sectors As has already been indicated, the definition of retailing has become more problematic.

The horizontal and vertical blurring of activities and boundaries means that putting precise dimensions on the sector as a whole, and any component sub-sectors, is more difficult than before. Many examples of the issues abound, but we could for example contrast the coffee shop in the local Tesco, to the purchase of take-away sandwiches at Pret-a-Manager and the purchase of sushi for lunch at Sainsbury. Are they all retailing? Similarly Tesco sell pre-packaged insurance at the store but the same ‘product’ is available via the telephone and from banks and brokers. Where do we draw the line for retail sales?

Even Delia Smith’s cookery programmes on the BBC could conceivably be seen as a retail activity, given the direct correlation between transmission and product purchase. The boundaries of retailing are highly blurred and volatile and government conceptualisations and statistics focused on product are not necessarily the most appropriate or helpful. There has been growth in product purchase, though of course in most cases the products themselves have not been static. New products have been introduced and dramatically changed categories, as computers replace typewriters and sunglasses, watches and fashion jewellery are sold by clothing chains.

In non-food we can point to new products such as CDs and mobile phones, and in food ready meals would be a simple example. Furthermore in most product categories the range and choice available has expanded Organisational Structure and Competition As major retailers have grown in scale, so they have expanded their activities into new domains. With emerging scale has come a greater degree of knowledge and power in the channel. The pace of growth of retailers has been greater than for many manufacturers. Allied to operational changes such as the development of retailer brands and the better knowledge of consumer atterns and trends, retailers have reconstructed the traditional supply chain. In essence a dominant retail organisational type has emerged, characterised by strong vertical power which has been used to control, administer and command supply chains. Major retailers have also been involved in the use of horizontal power through their construction and reconstruction of the retail landscape. Where retailing locates and the form it takes has been transformed by the activities of major retailers and developers. Decentralisation is a key theme in this, and ‘waves’ of off-centre or out-of-town development have been identified.

In most cases, these developments represent retail formats (eg. the food superstore and non-food retail warehouse) that can not readily be accommodated in existing centres. Such new locations tap into consumer needs, but have an impact on existing retailers and customers not able to travel to them. Moreover, they are in virtually all cases operated by major retailers and thus reinforce the competitive imbalance amongst organisational types. International Opportunities and Threats British retailers have had a chequered history in terms of international operations.

At the same time, Britain is an open market and retailers who wish to enter the market can in most cases do exactly as they wish. The exceptions to this are those formats eg. Supercentres, which are constrained by land-use planning on the grounds of space use and various dimensions of impact. Essentially though the UK is a retail supermarket with the best bits of many retailing cultures. This open market is illustrated by the growing presence of many non-indigenous retailers in British retailing. This presence has been generated both by organic growth and by takeover.

It encompasses most, if not all, retail sectors and formats. An increasing proportion of UK retail sales is therefore being captured by non-UK businesses operating here. This inward investment is a threat to the main ‘British’ retailers in competitive terms. Whilst international activity is risky, the retailers coming here are entering in many places a cosmopolitan market and one used to purchasing non-local products or travelling abroad. As such it seems not to matter to consumers where a retailer is from or who owns whom. If however competitive action combined with technological change eans that more imports are then generated and managerial head office positions, including research and development, are located outside the country, then these should be issues of concern for the country. For retailers entering this market, they have to adapt to a different (generally higher) cost structure and this can create difficulties for their positioning and performance. It is not likely that the pressure from overseas retailers will subside. Britain is a large market with a relatively small number of major cities and centres.

For retailers looking for organic growth and being town or shopping centre-located, entry is relatively easy. More problematic is the entry for free-standing or off-centre stores, where sites may not be as available. More likely however is entry via take-over. Given most major UK retailers are publicly quoted, such an entry is available at any time at the ‘right’ price. Whilst it is true to note that British retailers have not been overwhelmingly successful when they have internationalised, there is emerging evidence that some leading UK retailers are now seeing success.

In a number of sectors, leading retailers have expanded across the globe, but particularly into Europe and Asia. Some of this expansion is due to opportunities to buy companies at reduced prices, and some is due to knowledge gained as international sourcing has expanded. Retailers such as Kingfisher, Tesco, and WH Smith are well known international retailers and have imported some of their experiences abroad back into their UK formats. Other smaller chains have also internationalised capitalising on niche strengths (eg Signet, Courts, Body Shop, Lush, Carphone Warehouse, Game, Thomas Pink).