Question:
Using the retailer chosen “Pound land”, undertake a comprehensive and extensive look at the internal positioning of this company in regards to how it is dealing with the issues identified?
Poundland is a public limited store situated in British. Poundland lies under the retail sector. As a retail shop Poundland sells different brands products in one place. The main aim behind starting this type of store was they wanted customers to get all their necessary items in one place in an affordable price.
Subsequent to global financial crisis, the UK retailers have gone through significant downturn. Among them, mostly affected are the discount retail chains. Still, there are certain retailers who have manage themselves quite efficiently to deal with this major issue. Pound land is one of them (Armstrong, 2010). In the context of current external environment, it can be said that this particular industry has evidenced an increasing trend.
Poundland before opening any new store analyses the market and customer requirement so that the products sold in that store are according to customers and market. Gap analysis in Poundland is used to analyse the difference between their present conditions with future condition in relation to communication, working culture, business environment, employee welfare, profit share and others (Armstrong, 2010). Poundland gap analysis assesses the analysis of their retail supply, surplus in items or profit and other working. Gap analysis in communication is done to analyse the difference in their consumer demand and requirement so that long term and short term plan are changed accordingly (Blake and Rivkin, 2010). Gap analysis can be in communication, delivery service, customer service and other services. Suppose customer wants packed uncooked chicken and the seller present in store is offering him different variety of pork meet, so the miscommunication or the mistake of seller done in understanding and analysing the demand of customer can affect Poundland business as well as customer relationship also.
The promotional strategy adopted by Poundland is as they provide different discounted products every time which attracts more number of customers in comparison of their competitors. Marketing strategy adopted by Poundland is as they try to advertise their range of customers with the help of media i.e. Television, internet or web media and others for instance, Pound land has 26000 followers on Facebook and 38.7K followers on Twitter which explain that Poundland is active on Twitter more than Facebook because of the offers and vouchers (Plunkett, 2010). Pound land organizes different events to advertise their products and shops location which make easier to their customers (Blake, Buttner and Rivkin, 2010). The other promotional strategies adopted by Poundland are they provide credit cards to their regular customers, they invite celebrity in the shops for inaugurating different events so that huge number of customers gathers (Plunkett, 2010). The main competitors of Poundland in retail industry are as Wall mart, Iceland, Poundworld, Aldi.
Hard discounting shops are famous for their rock bottom price. They can sell their products at extremely low costs as they are unbranded. However, Poundland are restricted as everything has to be a pound. To increase their sales volume Pound land adopted the discount pricing strategy by which they sell all products of their in house production on £1. Commented by (Armstrong) retail industry is based on customers requirement and needs, so Pound land price strategy for every store is different (Blake, Buttner and Rivkin, 2010). Pound lands in their old and new stores adopt different pricing strategies as the sales rates of both stores are different. New stores of Pound land usually offer discount and reduce price rate in their newly opened store to attract more and more customers.
Pound land stores are often located within the city centre where they are easy to access. As mentioned by (Gelder and Woodcock, 2003) Pound land is nearly having 500 stores worldwide where they sell number of brands as per their customers demand and requirement. If Pound land decided to open any new store first they analyse different factors on which they store sales depends as customer demand in that particular location, availability of other facilities like transport, roads, water and etc. As commented (Field, 2009) location of any retail store decided their business profit and their operation procedure. As mentioned in one research (Plunkett, 2010) Pound land all stores are situated in good location which increases their sales in comparison of their competitors.
Pound Land retail stores have different customer services which are decided by their top managers. Pound Land store managers try to continue their customer service facility after the purchase. As commented (Gelder and Woodcock, 2003) customer service of any retail industry organization do not begin and finish on counter, to continue customer relationship store manager and other employees should always work on it (Gelder and Woodcock, 2003). Pound land influences their each and every employee for maintaining customer relation. Pound land after evaluating several problems regarding their customer relation decided to hire new employees who will only for on customer relationship i.e. within the store they will try to help customer in purchasing, choosing and other things if they face any problem (Plunkett, 2011). Pound land customers perception depends on their past experience of purchasing and choosing their products within the store (Plunkett, 2010). Pound land as a retail industry always monitors their employees’ performance regarding customer relation within the store.
Commented by (Field, 2009) main responsibilities of store manager of Pound land different stores are to always maintain positive environment within the store so that all employees are motivated. As stated by (Gelder and Woodcock, 2003) store environment of Pound land are always positive and motivational for their employees as well as their customers. The main responsibility of Pound Land store managers are as to maintain daily operation of their employees and the operation which are held within the stores. In contrast to this (Terriff, Osinga and Farrell, 2010) if store environment in positive all employees will automatically be influenced to work. Positive atmosphere of store helps managers in influencing their subordinates to perform better and complete their task on time.
Pound land is a retail store where customers come to purchase different products offered by them. Pound land different stores location, services, products influence their perception customers regarding the company brand. As mentioned by (Gould, 2008) Pound land managers focus on their store operation and the cost which they invest and incur from operation. Pound land tries to manage their all store operation in an integration manner to run store easily. As stated (Guercini and Runfola, 2010) main factors of Pound land stores operations are as store manager, sales men and women, low level employees, customers and others. As mentioned (Morrow, 2010) Pound land is having its separate and vast warehouse where huge number of items can be stored. Pound land always focuses on their product quality which they get from various other companies and the quality of products which Pound Land is providing their customers (Terriff, Osinga and Farrell, 2010). Pound land always operate in proper hierarchy
Hard discounting stores tend to have a low profit margin strategy to attract price sensitive customers. Poundland keep prices low to keep sales volume high by doing things such as Bulk buying, own brand labels and cost cutting.
Because prices are so low it means that sales volume will be higher. Another way that Poundland makes itself more profitable is by cutting costs where ever it can. For example staff costs are cut by only having around 5 members of staff throughout the whole store. The staff are paid well but have a lot of responsibilities when there is no customers at their till they are expected to do another task elsewhere in the store e.g. cleaning (Gelder and Woodcock, 2003). Hence Poundland profits are around million before taxation. Pound land organization always focuses on their profitability share i.e. to increase their profitability share they adopt various strategies and policies (Plunkett, 2010). If any store of Pound land is having poor sales in comparison of other competitors they evaluate the reason behind and then adopt new sales techniques and strategies. Pound land adopted lean and money inventory for their profitability retail operation (Gould, 2008). In contrast to these all profitable strategies Pound land try to increase their sales volume by opening new stores in such a location where no other retail stores are present and then Pound land offers customers low price product and launches various discount scheme. Commented (Morrow, 2010) Pound land to increase their sales cut down their supply chain system cost, manufacturing cost and motivate their employees to avoid wasting organization things.
Conclusion
The study is all about Pound land pricing strategies, location, operating procedure, store atmosphere and other factors which are important for their business (Morrow, 2010). Pound land is a retail industry so the main factors on which their sales depend are customer relationship and the employee employer relationship (Plunkett, 2010). Pound land adopted several strategies and methods to influence their customers regarding their product and other services which differ from store to store. Commented (Plunkett, 2010) Pound land has won number of awards for their customer relation, customer services and the quality of products. Pound land sells huge number of fast moving products of different companies. The study is having brief study about the location, store atmosphere, customer relationship and etc.
References
Armstrong, J. (2010). Persuasive advertising. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Blake, C. and Rivkin, C. (2010). Stationary fuel cell application codes and standards. Golden, CO: National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Blake, C., Buttner, W. and Rivkin, C. (2010). Vehicle codes and standards. Golden, Colo.: National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
Field, S. (2009). Career opportunities in the retail and wholesale industry. New York: Ferguson/Facts on File.
Gelder, D. and Woodcock, P. (2003). Marketing and promotional strategy. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes.
Gould, W. (2008). The Puerto Rico Gap Analysis Project. RiÌÂo Piedras, P.R.: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, International Institute of Tropical Forestry.
Guercini, S. and Runfola, A. (2010). Business networks and retail internationalization: A case analysis in the fashion industry. Industrial Marketing Management, 39(6), pp.908-916.
Morrow, S. (2010). Work schedule manager gap analysis. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration, Office of Research and Development.
Plunkett, J. (2010). Plunkett’s retail industry almanac 2010. Houston, Tex.: Plunkett Research.
Plunkett, J. (2010). Plunkett’s retail industry almanac 2011. Houston, Tex. (P.O. Drawer 541737, Houston TX 77254-1737 USA): Plunkett Research.
Plunkett, J. (2011). Plunkett’s Retail Industry Almanac 2012. Houston: Plunkett Research, Ltd.
Terriff, T., Osinga, F. and Farrell, T. (2010). A transformation gap?. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.
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