Industry Overview Some 400,000 specialty retail stores operate in the US with combined annual sales of $350 billion CAGR 2002-06: 5% Market is dominated by large players like Best Buy, Toys “R” Us, Gap, Sports Authority, etc The market size of some major product categories: o Shoes and clothing - $125 billion o Electronics and appliances - $85 billion o Jewelry - $25 billion o Sporting goods - $25 billion o Books - $25 billion Other categories include Toys, Music, Luggage, Pet supplies, etc Specialty retailers cater to a narrow or niche audience – either by location, type of customer or product mix. On a national level, specialty retailing is dominated by national chains, such as office supply store Staples or electronics outlet Best Buy. However, on the local level, specialty retailing is defined by independently owned, unique shops that express the personalities of their owners. These small retail outlets -- shoe stores, food stores or book stores -- have become the bedrock of downtown and urban redevelopment across the country. Industry Statistics Dec 2007 Valuation Ratios P/E(ttm) 22.80 P/Sales(ttm) 1.34 P/Book(mrq) 13.07 P/Cash Flow(mrq) 11.17 Profitability(ttm) Gross Margin % 34.59% Operating Margin % 9.54% Net Profit Margin % 9.19% Financial Strength (mrq) Quick Ratio 0.49 Current Ratio 1.46 LT Debt/Equity 110.07 Total Debt/Equity 118.25 Mgt. Effectiveness (ttm) Return on Invstmt % 13.23% Return on Assets % 9.09% Return on Equity % 25.77% Key Issues The growing popularity of online retailing is attracting competition from traditional and online multi-retailers such as Wal-Mart and Amazon which are gaining considerable market shares in many of the product segments included in the specialty retail sector. Currently majority revenue is generated by store sales but online sales from the stores’ websites are increasing. With US dollar getting weaker, international sales from these US based websites are increasing too. This creates significant positive outlook for the large incumbent players but also acts as a significant barrier of entry for new players. Moreover, despite the presence of some large chains, specialty retail markets are highly fragmented. Barnes & Noble, for example, with over 900 stores, is the largest US bookseller but has a market share of only 15 percent. With increasing transportation costs and tighter margins there is a possibility that some large specialty retail players will consolidate assets, knowledge and outsourcing capabilities in order to generate economies of scale and scope. Key Opportunities High-end and niche merchandise: With rising disposable incomes the demand for high-end goods in increasing, which can best be catered by specialty retail stores. Large players can offer competitive prices as they buy in bulk. Smaller players can differentiate themselves by offering niche products and superior customer delight at a premium price.
The industry market size in the US is estimated at $303 billion in fiscal 2014, $221 billion attributed to consumer market (private home owners) and the remaining to the professional market
Exploring the profitability of this industry, domestically retailers are struggling to maintain high profit margins. The solid industry growth expected for the coming years is highly supported by the economic turnaround in 2011, however many small retailers are feeling the pressure of low-cost imports . Reduced imports and the continued shifting of manufacturing operations to low-cost countries, creates a trickle down effect onto the fragmented market of companies, with a mix of small and large participants (see Exhibit 2). Increases in price-setting control of wholesalers, are causing downst...
Due to the good establishment of the business, it has huge market national. The company has therefore opened many retail shops and stores all over the country to ensure that their products are accessible to the customers. The entity provides a favorable environment, and many clients view the place as a fun shopping place to be. The retailer has targeted a big pool of customer because of the variety of products it sells. The stores products vary from kitchen goods, jewelry, and electronics clothes to hardware
Best Buy is one of the largest hypermarket store company in USA, with competition from similar local general merchandise store: K-mart, Best Buy do a research on demographic analysis and daily sales statistic to identity profitable customers (Blocher, 2013).
The ecommerce industry is growing faster than ever. TJ Maxx needs to start focusing more on ecommerce not only to keep up with competition, but also to make sure they do well during weak economic periods. ecommerce, overall, tends to do very well during lackluster economic times. TJ Maxx will be able to cut costs more easily the more they expand their ecommerce business. Our business idea will allow them to expand their ecommerce as we will take over their website and delivery. TJX Companies’ three ecommerce sites accounts for only about 1.0% of the company’s total sales. However, the online channel is a key growth driver and TJX is taking initiatives to improve its online business. The ecommerce sales
The emergence of software gaming has led to a 4.4% decline in the $31 billion global toy industry1. Unable to capitalize on the changing consumer needs, many toy retailers in the United States and Canada have suffered from declining revenues and increased competition from e-commerce platforms, such as Amazon. Additionally, the increasing overhead and fixed costs have reduced margins and led to losses in market share for specialty retailers to e-commerce businesses.
Some dominant economic features of this industry include the number of rivals, the number of buyers, vertical integration, and supply/demand conditions. The number of rivals in this industry varies on the scope of how large or small the firm is. Larger rivals include Whole Foods and Walmart and smaller rivals include Lucky’s Food Market and Pathmark. For example, Walmart has a highly differentiated product selection. it offers various forms of products that are ‘identical’ to better convenience its consumers. Walmart also has large channels of distribution where its “shippers are always on the lookout for ways to speed product from source through supply chains to the consumer” (Walmart, 2014 Pg.1). The number of buyers in this industry is consumers who are buying large volumes of products, where these buyers do not necessarily have any buying power. The majority of of grocery stores are in the retail industry, where larger involvement occurs from integrating operations, and suits the industry as a competitive
At present, the large cross-category physical retailers occupy a large percentage of market. For example, Walmart and Target who have more awareness of brand and more convenient network of the retailer stores. In the beginning, Bed Bath & Beyond does not provide an online shopping service to customers. Because the online shopping can help someone who is lazy to buy things in the physical stores and does not own a car to the stores shop. Under the pressure of Walmart, Target and etc., Bed Bath & Beyond started to open online shopping website. However, many pure online retailers are also a big threat of Bed Bath & Beyond especially Amazon.com which will have better price and no tax. Because Amazon has the lower cost of their products, they have
Considering that retail industry is divided into five segments, each of this segments operates in a different stage of a life-cycle. First of all, the Big-Box & Department Store Retailer segment is in declining stage, because of the recent recession that adversely impacted many industries. Many retail companies were not able to adapt to a new environment, where customers are more savvy and innovation oriented. Therefore, many retailers close down their underperforming stores. However, many Big-box and Department stores in order to keep up with the market demand are expanding by adding grocery sections and shifting into Warehouse Clubs & Supercenters Retail segment which is still growing. This segment is operating in a mature cycle-life. It still growing, but slowly as it reached the point of market saturation. Next the Supermarkets and Grocery Stores segment is also in a mature stage of life-cycle. However, this particular segment is undergoing a slow growth rate, as a result of strong rivalry in the food retail sector. Many customers during the recession switched to more economic sellers in the warehouse club & supercenter retailer segment. However, currently household income is increasing and many consumers are looking for healthier choices the supermarket and grocery stores segment will experience a faster growth rate. Finally the E-tailer segment is
One of the greatest opportunities for Amazon is an Online Payment System. The online system allows the company to reduce transaction fees and increase ease of use for their customers. Internet sales are increasing at a fast pace. This is a product of increased fuel prices, which make driving to a store less likely, and foreign purchases. This development allows foreign purchases to buy clothing as it becomes more popular abroad. Amazon’s biggest competitors can include retail stores that online stores such as Target, Best Buy, and Walmart among others, these can be considered the most dangerous for them since they have strong market share and can be a direct competitor since they attack the same market. Amazon wish to compete in prices, offering
Tiffany & Co. is a specialty retail store that sells luxury merchandise. The company is a part of the consumer discretionary sector and belongs to the specialty store sub-industry. Various well known companies such as Bed Bath & Beyond, AutoZone and Staples belong to the specialty store sub-industry. Shopping malls are the primary location of the specialty retail stores. Although some stores are individually located in plazas, most specialty retailers choose malls in order to attract more potential customers and explore other benefits such as shared security and parking costs which can be essential to their overall.1
Big-box retailers such as Target & Walmart have already recognized the growing influence of e & m-commerce, and are offering online store formats. Costco, whose advantage lies in bulk-sales, also announced greater focus and online with plans for mobile applications and improvement to Costco.com.
The sales outlook in the Internet, catalog, and retail outlet markets remains very positive, with estimated rates on return above 25%. Capable and adequate workforce is available in all areas researched. Legal considerations will be minimal.
The specialty retailers with the highest sales are Zale Corp ($2.2Bn), Signet US($1.7Bn), Tiffany ($.8Bn) other players include Friedman’s ($.4Bn) Whitehall ($.3Bn), and Samuels ($.1...
On the other hand, most factors prove otherwise. The retail industry does not have high Economies of Scale to be exploited in general . Yet, it is impossible to run department stores like Metro on a small scale . A large retail space, inventory, and warehouse are necessary to host a specialized portfolio of brands and products to better attract both customers and suppliers. Heavy capital requirements and operational expen...