This report has been prepared on the current retail trends in United Kingdom. The report analyses the marketing performance of Sports Direct, which is a retail organisation of UK that deals in sporting goods. The report helps to understand that what the current retail trends in the retail industry are. This report also includes a required action plan for Sports Direct to meet these retail trends and attract large numbers of retail customers.
In last one and half decades the use of technology in retail organisations is increasing and even the large numbers of people not believe in online purchasing of products rather than physical shopping (Yu, Ramanathan, and Nath, 2014). The numbers of customers of online retail stores is increasing with rapid speed and a huge numbers of people use their personal digital devices for buying products and services from online stores. Currently, in UK only more than 35% of people believe that online shopping is more convenience and easy than physical hopping of retail products like cloths, fashionable products, grocery, digital gadgets or equipment, etc. (Filimonau and Gherbin, 2017).
Online sales in United Kingdom have shown a biggest growth in numbers of customers in retail industry, especially in textile, clothing, footwear, and grocery products. The data published by the National Statistics shows that in textile and clothing products, 16.8% growth has been observed in June 2019, which is highest in all sector (Bolton and Shankar, 2018). Therefore, it means Sports Direct, which deals in footwear, shoes, and cloths have huge opportunity to grow in the online retail market of these products.
The retail industry is going through an enormous amount of change because of aggressive use of technology devices and internet (Bolton and Shankar, 2018). The behaviour of customer is changing rapidly with growing use of technology and their expectations are higher than ever because of large numbers of retail stores available for buying the products of their choices. However, it is really essential to understand the current retail trends before analysing the performance of Sports Direct (Pappas, Pateli, Giannakos, and Chrissikopoulos, 2014).
One of the most important retail trends in UK is that Omni channel retail strategies. The research states that people who use digital devices usually connected with an average of 3.64 connected devices and before purchasing any products or services people use these devices for products comparison, rating comparison, price comparison, and time taken in delivery of product (Chernysheva, Kotov, Altynbaeva, and Khristoforova, 2017). Consumer can watch the product on mobile or smart phones before purchase and order the product from their laptop or i-Pad. It means consumer have multiple of choices for looking the products and they have multiple of choices to buy the products. The online shopping trend forced the retail organisations to think about the marketing strategy and pricing strategies (Ghosh, Tripathi, and Kumar, 2010).
The second thing that can be easily seen in the retail organisation is personalised retail experience. The personalisation of retail experiences includes that retail organisation care for the needs, requirements, purchasing history, taste, and previous searches of customers and ten personalised the products according to these history. The online help through chat boat or customer care facility for customers help also a part of caring the personal needs and taste of the customers (Lange and Velamuri, 2014).
The rise of technology makes the customer more impatience. According to a research, the customer wants an immediate response from the seller in the retail industry and it has been found that no customer want to wait more than 10 minutes for a communication response (Zhou, 2015). Therefore, the retail organisation must aware about the urgency of dealing customers and provide them immediate support when they needed. The culture of immediacy forces the retailers to provide instant solution of the problem of customers, otherwise customer will jump on other option (Merle, Chandon, Roux, and Alizon, 2010).
According to an estimate, it is expected that around 3 to 5 billion people will join online retail market in the world in future. Therefore, the retail organisation must have ability to tap into the new market and channels. The use of technology makes it easier for the retail organisation to think about the emerging markets and provide its products and services in new international emerging markets. The retail players must use the new market locations with their digital strategy of marketing and operational strategies.
Sports Direct is a retail organisation that was created in 1982 by Mike Ashley. The company operates its retail business in sporting goods like shoes, footwear, and clothes. The company has more than 670 retail stores worldwide (SportsDirect.com, 2019). There are numbers of subsidiaries of Sports Direct such as House of Fraser, SportsDirect.com, Everlast, Lonsdale, Slazenger etc. There are more than 17,500 employees working in different retail stores of Sports Direct (SportsDirect.com, 2019). Apart from this, the company has its own online retail sites through the company sales its sports products like footwear, sports shoes, and cloths to both male and female. The revenue of the company was £3,359.5 million in 2018 while its operating income is £217 million. The net income of the company was £27.6 million in 2018.The Company’s tagline is “24 hours delivery” because it deals in both physical stores and online channels (SportsDirect.com, 2019). Sports Direct is number one sports product’s company of UK and it focuses on providing quality products on time to its customers.
SWOT analysis helps to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of a company and provide information that what are the opportunities and threats for the company in near future. The table shows the SWOT analysis of the Sports Direct.
|
Strengths 1. Number one sports retailer in UK that operates its business in 20 countries and has more than 670 stores. 2. Trusted Brand 3. Large numbers of subsidiaries 4. Tie up with popular brands like Nike, Adidas, and Reebok etc. 5. Low pricing strategy 6. Low employee turnover 7. 24 hours online services to its customers through its online app and sites |
Weaknesses 1. Operates in highly competitive industry 2. Low margins on products effect its profitability 3. Controversial image |
|
Opportunities 1. Increasing use of online channels 2. Emerging markets 3. Join ventures and subsidiaries in emerging markets provide a larger market as an opportunity. |
Threats 1. Large number of competitors 2. Rising cost of raw material 3. Advancement in use of technology may cause several technological problems
|
The online presence of the company provides a huge advantage to Sports direct because its 24 hours presence provides the opportunities to grow in the sports market. As it is found that sports, footwear, and textile industry in UK is growing with 16% growth, the company has ability to establish itself in a monopoly situation in the UK sports market (Nauright and Pope, 2019). However, the company has huge numbers of customers, but there are so many sports company already operating their business in the market. The focus of the company is still on physical stores, which is against the current retail trend. The company needs to focus on its online stores and sales of sports products (da Silva and Las Casas, 2017).
The Sports Direct is a popular company in the UK and also it has a great market in more than 20 countries. However, the company is facing strong challenges while operating its business overseas and through its physical stores. The huge numbers of competitors and changing needs and expectations of customers because of digitalisation and availability of large numbers of alternatives online is major issue for the company. Therefore, the company needs to focus on following recommendations:
To improve its online retail business of the sports equipment and shoes, Sports direct must follow this action plan.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Sports Direct should focus on new emerging retail market for its sports products and must review its pricing strategy to face the tough competition in the sports industry. Apart from this, the company should also provide instant support and communication facilities to the customers, so it can satisfy the customers after sell and can establish a long lasting relationship. It also helps the company to provide 24 hours access of sports products and equipments to its retail customers, so they cannot jump on the other brands and organisations.
References
Bolton, R.N. and Shankar, V. (2018) Emerging Retailer Pricing Trends and Practices. Handbook of Research on Retailing, pp.104-31.
Chernysheva, N.M., Kotov, R.M., Altynbaeva, E.S. and Khristoforova, Y.A. (2017) Current condition of the retail market. Food Processing: Techniques and Technology, 47(4), pp.145-151.
da Silva, E.C. and Las Casas, A.L. (2017) Sports marketing plan: an alternative framework for sports club. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 9(4), pp.15-28.
Filimonau, V. and Gherbin, A. (2017) An exploratory study of food waste management practices in the UK grocery retail sector. Journal of cleaner production, 167, pp.1184-1194.
Ghosh, P., Tripathi, V. and Kumar, A. (2010) Customer expectations of store attributes: A study of organized retail outlets in India. Journal of Retail & Leisure Property, 9(1), pp.75-87.
Lange, V.G. and Velamuri, V.K. (2014) Business model innovation in the retail industry: growth by serving the silver generation. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, 18(4), pp.310-329.
Lemon, K.N. and Verhoef, P.C. (2016) Understanding customer experience throughout the customer journey. Journal of marketing, 80(6), pp.69-96.
Merle, A., Chandon, J.L., Roux, E. and Alizon, F. (2010) Perceived value of the mass?customized product and mass customization experience for individual consumers. Production and operations management, 19(5), pp.503-514.
Nauright, J. and Pope, S. (2019) SportsWorld: global markets and global impact of sports, theory and practice. Sport in Society: Cultures, Commerce, Media, Politics, 20(12), pp.1817-1931.
Pappas, I., G. Pateli, A., N. Giannakos, M. and Chrissikopoulos, V. (2014) Moderating effects of online shopping experience on customer satisfaction and repurchase intentions. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 42(3), pp.187-204.
Pantano, E., Priporas, C.V., Sorace, S. and Iazzolino, G. (2017) Does innovation-orientation lead to retail industry growth? Empirical evidence from patent analysis. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 34, pp.88-94.
SportsDirect.com (2019) About us [online]. Available from: https://www.sportsdirectplc.com/ [Accessed: 19/10/2019].
SportsDirect.com (2019) Annual Report [online]. Available from: https://www.sportsdirectplc.com/~/media/Files/S/Sports-Direct/annual-report/annual-report-2019.pdf [Accessed: 19/10/2019].
Yu, W., Ramanathan, R. and Nath, P. (2014) The impacts of marketing and operations capabilities on financial performance in the UK retail sector: A resource-based perspective. Industrial Marketing Management, 43(1), pp.25-31.
Zhou, C. (2015) Impact of electronic commerce on the sporting goods market. Open Cybernetics & Systemics Journal, 9(1), pp.2135-2140.
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download