Based on retail change theories, explain the failure of high street retailers. A Case Study of Comet The recent financial meltdown that started unfolding in 2008 had a massive toll on businesses and impacted economies around the world. Adversities of the economic fallout were felt by a plethora of business sectors. Starting from the financial sector, the contagion then moved to the automobile sector, and later infected a number of downstream industries that owed their business viability to easy access to cheap credit that characterised the pre-crisis macroeconomic environment of the developed world. When the world finally started to recollect what had happened, there was hardly a sector that was found spared from ill effects of the global financial crisis. End of easy access to credit as an aftermath of the crisis worked on two planes. One, it constricted access of small and medium businesses to borrowing from banks. The ensuing slackened commercial activity for the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) had its bearing on overall level of trade and commerce within the economy. Two, the purchasing power of the end consumers was greatly diminished. What would now appear as ‘overleveraging’ of individual borrowers in the hindsight was very much a normal level of debt burden in the pre-crisis period. In fact, consumer credit was touted as one of the key drivers of economic activity and growth prior to 2008. However, as disposable incomes shrank in the post-crisis period, consumers made adjustments in their spending behaviour (The Economist, 2013). No other sector was more impacted by this shift than retail. Within the broader retail/FMCG sector, the subclass hit hardest was the high street retail segment (Ruddick and Blackden, 2012).... ... middle of paper ... ... 2014] The Economist, 2013. The emporium strikes back. [online] Available at: http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21581755-retailers-rich-world-are-suffering-people-buy-more-things-online-they-are-finding [Accessed April 1, 2014] UK’s Department of Trade and Industry, 2000. Click and Mortar: The New Store Fronts. London: Department of Trade and Industry. Wood, Z., Kollewe, J. and Schimroszik, N., 2012. Comet sees website crash and suppliers commandeer stock, The Guardian [online] Available at: < http://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/nov/01/comet-website-crash> [Accessed March 31, 2014] Yorkshire Post, 2008. From the first wireless to hi-tech TV, Comet leaves a trail of success [online] Available at: [Accessed April 1, 2014]
Since the economy has yet to recover, consumers looking for an affordable option are more likely to choose the do-it-yourself route. To this end, AutoZone has responded by offering even better prices through private label parts. This is also in response to a consolidating auto parts company, which lowered the pricing power of AutoZone. AutoZone is not immune to threats associated with economic downturn, in particular rising oil prices, which encourages consumers to choose public transportation or at least reduce their driving and thus their dependence on vehicles. In addition, when there is less money in the marketplace in general, all suffer, even AutoZone, since consumers may need to leave their broken vehicle in the driveway until money is available for
JCPenney is a chain of American mid-range department stores that is based out of Texas that started over 100 years ago. JCPenny has been successful for most of its time up until the last three to four years. The company is trying relentlessly to overcome the lingering effects of the makeover that former CEO, Ron Johnson, had implemented in order for the company to take a new direction in hopes of increasing sales. The new CEO, Myron Ullman, has taken a close look into the markets demographic segmentation along with the income segmentation in order to attempt to return the retailer back to its old self, which is to appeal to middle-market customers. A couple issues of major concern for the company are the dissolving of Johnson’s Boutiques, the price of their products, and overall revenue.
The Great Recession affected the stock and house markets hard. Automotive industry was not immune to the ramification of the Great Recession. Rising gasoline price crippled Ford Motor Company flagship vehicles such as the SUV and Pickup based on their poor gas mileage. Caught on their heels, Ford Motor Company had no affordable vehicle platform that obtained good gas mileage. Looking for a new path, Ford Motor Company went outside the company to hire Alan Mulally. Mr. Mulally worked for the Boeing Company for 30 years, starting as an engineer and finishing as the Executive Vice President (Bloomberg Businessweek). Sixty days on the job, Mr. Mulally started the restructuring of Ford Motor Company; moving it forward as a global comp...
Snyder, M. (2012, January 19). 17 Facts About The Decline Of The U.S. Auto Industry That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe. The Economic Collapse. Retrieved November 17, 2013, from http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/17-facts-about-the-decline-of-the-u-s-auto-industry-that-are-almost-too-crazy-to-believe
Heller, L. (2001). Discount Contribution Keeps Expansion on Target. DSN Retailing Today. V 40 i23, p. 20.
Picciotto, Dan and Nishit K Madlani. "The Global Auto Industry Shifts Its Focus To OVerseas And Emerging Markets." Credit Week (2013): 26. Online. 21 May 2014. .
In the latter part of 2008, the United States’ economy was rapidly plummeting - the stock market crashed, the housing bubble burst and gas prices skyrocketed. The majority of U.S. based firms faced the reality that they would not be able to survive during such desperate economic times. The U.S. automobile industry, in particular, began to buckle under the depressed economy. The government stepped in proposing a multi-billion dollar bailout to stimulate the economy and restore economic balance. The possibility of this unprecedented government intervention was condemned by many economists. If the government helped the ailing automotive industry, this industry would have to tighten their expenditures and plan for the future to prove to critics of the bailout that they would use the government funding to add value to the economy once again.
UK supermarket industry has high level of competition with several big retailers. Waitrose is owned by UK retailer the John Lewis Partnership. Sainsbury is the third supermarket chain in UK. In this report, there is an analysis of retail strategies about Waitrose and Sainsbury. In the supermarket industry, the retail strategies of Waitrose and Sainsbury are compared based on the highly competitive industrial environment. Before the main body, there is an overview of macro environment and competition conditions of supermarket industry of UK. PESTLE analysis is used to identify the macro industrial environment and Porter’s five forces are used to discuss the industry rivalry. After that, it is a market segment of Waitrose and
In recent past across the United Kingdom, many prominent retail chains have closed down their business operations at a high rate of more than 30 stores per day, as the economic depression continued. The United Kingdom’s high street went suffering from the declining consumer confidence and spending as a consequence. Some retail outlets have been put under receivership as well as under administration. High-profiled administrations included retail giants such as Woolworths, Comet and Blockbuster.
The 2008 American recession threatened the very existence of General Motors as a maker of automobiles. Their bad reputation of being male-dominated
The United States recession (which lead to a world recession), began in 1997 and significantly impacted the United States automobile industry during the recession period. The United States automobile industry is still reeling from the effects of the recession throughout the period of economic recovery that continues today. According to Chu and Su, “In this credit-driven recession, one of the hardest hit sectors was the automotive industry, along with the housing and financial markets. Chrysler and General Motors were pushed into bankruptcy; and 276,000 jobs in the automobile and parts industry were destroyed, a whopping 36 percent of the total employment in the sector”.
For every $100 spent at a locally owned business, $68 of that will stay local compared to $43 if spent at a “big box store”. Even though people believe that local businesses are not as beneficial as a big box store, buying locally not only benefits the business but also the community because buying locally builds a strong community and the money you spend at a local business gets put back into the community.
Marks & Spencer is one of the UK's foremost retailers of clothing, foods, homeware and financial services, boasting a weekly customer base of 10 million in over 300 UK stores. Marks & Spencer operate in 30 countries worldwide, and has a group turnover in excess of £8 billion. It has specific values, missions and visions. It’s main vision is ‘to be the standard against which all others are measured’, it’s main mission is ‘to make aspirational quality accessible to all’, and it’s main values are quality, service, innovation and trust. (www.marksandspencer.co.uk).
The American auto industry is in a crisis, their vehicles are not in demand and they need government bailouts to keep their businesses afloat. American vehicles are not on demand because people want fuel-efficient, the car companies that are not at the point of bankruptcy, longer lasting vehicles, and hybrid cars. The American car companies are at a point of bankruptcy and people don’t want to buy cars from a company that may not be there in a couple of months. The foreign car companies are doing well and they much more dependable now that we are in an economic crisis. American cars are not fuel-efficient, not as long lasting, and don’t make many hybrids, so this affects their business negatively. I got some ideas that will make American car companies be on top of the industry again.
In December 2007 The National Bureau of Economic Research (CNN) said that the United States of America had fallen into a recession. The recession meant that people were loosing jobs and that people were spending too much money and even money that they did not have. A major reason that the United States fell into the recession was because banks and private businesses were giving credit to people who could not afford to pay back or had a bad credit to begin with. This was a major problem to all types of busin...