“Many retailers are currently attempting to deliver an integrated multi-channel retail offering to their customers. Observers believe that this will result in the demise of store-based retailing.”
Widespread disintermediation in the retail industry:
Multi-channel retailing allows retailers to sell merchandise or services through more than one channel. The idea behind multi-channel retailing is it enables retailers to use a combination of channels allowing them to leverage the unique benefits provided to attract and satisfy more customers.
For example, the amount of merchandise that can be displayed and offered for sale in stores is limited. By blending stores with internet and/or catalogue channels it will allow retailers to expand the assortment offered to their customers.
Offering more than one channel as a retailer can also help you gain valuable insights into customer’s buying behavior. For example, an electronic channel can show how and why they shop and are satisfied or dissatisfied with their experiences. The internet channel offers the opportunity to collect more information about customer’s preferences. Many online retailers offer feedback questionnaires after purchasing and registering on the site and all purchases are recorded and similar items are offered to customers next time they log on. The electronic channel can also stimulate store visits by announcing store events and promotions allowing store and electronic channel to work well together.
The Business plan on Ace Hardware Store Entering Bahrain Market
... 2012), Ace Hardware ranks highest in satisfying home improvement retail store customers for a sixth consecutive year according to the J. ... affianced in the wholesale hardware business and has offered dealerships to retailers of hardware and associated items since the company ... for ACE Hardware store owners:- * Lowest cost of goods * Named #1 Distributor according to Home Channel News in 2009, ...
Disintermediation is an important issue in retailing today. Companies must consider disintermediation in today’s retail industry. In their quest to meet the needs of the ever-evolving and demanding customers, companies need to be more aware of consumer trends and the external environments in which they operate.
The emergence of new technologies in the last number of years has influenced retailers hugely not just by opening new channels but also has allowed for smoother transactions with suppliers and has led to more high quality goods at more competitive prices as there is more choice on the global marketplace.
Many retailers in today’s industry deliver an integrated multi-channel retail offering to their customers, some examples are, Topshop (leading high street retailer in uk and Ireland), Tesco (supermarket) and H&M (global high street chain).
All these retailers offer an integrated multi-channel retail offering, they have a chain of retail stores and also offer well-established websites that products can be purchased on and delivered fast, safe and easily. Tesco, one of the world’s leading supermarkets has a big advantage in Ireland as it is the only supermarket chain in Ireland to deliver household shopping and fresh fruit and vegetables to houses around the country, their website is easy to use and the only difficult and tedious part of the process is when you first log on and register, you need to go through thousands of products to select the specific ones you want but after your first shop on the website your shopping list is saved and after that all you need to do is use the list to order your products and one or two items added on after that. Tesco operate very well as a store they have a wide consumer base and are always well-stocked. The fact they operate online as a multi-channel retailer gives them a huge competitive advantage they realise that many people don’t have time to spend an hour doing a massive supermarket shop, Tesco has made it possible for their customers to simply go online and do their shopping from the comfort of their own home. The company has also opened a chain of “Tesco express” stores, these stores are modeled on convenient store with the essentials stocked in it, and so if their customers don’t have the time for one of their massive stores they can simply head to one of the local Tesco express to pick up essentials. Tesco also sell home/car and pet insurance as well as mobile phones and petrol stations. All of this makes Tesco the leading multi-channel retailer in Ireland as they have gained a better competitive advantage in the market over the likes of Dunnes stores and SUPERVALU.
The Research paper on Customer perception about brand reality
1. Introduction: The retail industry plays a significant role in the development and growth of overall economy of a nation. In countries such as UK, retailers have positioned themselves in such a way that they are able to cater all types of customers’ needs and wants. (Economic Survey, 2012). The major retailers of UK are Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda, John Lewis, Marks and Spencer etc. Even when the ...
Topshop has over 300 stores in the UK and 100 stores in other countries including its flagship us store in New York the brand has been around since1964 and has widespread success since its beginnings in the basement of a department store in the UK. Topshop has had major success abroad due to the launch of its award winning website in 2000. Since then the stores covetable collections have been available beyond the high street. Topshop.com ship to over 30 international destinations and offers customers in the US to shop in United States currency and sizes on the dedicated site us.topshop.com. The website is updated 5 times a week with over 300 new styles. Topshop.com really brought the brand to a global level and allowed customers from other countries to discover the clothing and style of a store that is very unique, if topshop hadn’t branched out and started operating an electronic channel the store would most likely still be UK based, multi-channel retailing offers the retailer to expand to a global market and to tap into a larger consumer base and target market.
H&M is a huge company operating on a global market they have 2,300 stores spread across 41 markets. They offer the latest fashion for men, women and children at affordable prices and are especially popular in Germany and central Europe as well as that they have stores all over the world, North America, Asia and Africa. The operate on a multi-channel level however unlike Topshop they only ship to Sweden Germany and the UK so this is limiting for them as their main competitor Zara offers online shopping to more countries. However H&M’s website is very informative for customers, they can find loads of information about the company, including social and ethical issues important to the company, for example taking a stand against child labour and fair-trade etc. This information is important to many customers and as the company is global this really can encourage more customers to shop with them. The website also lets customers register with them and have access to new posts and “picks of the week” from the H&M style team. The site has a section dedicated to careers at H&M allowing people to apply online for jobs with the company and they also have a video section where they shadow these jobs for a day and record it for people applying to see and learn what work with the H&M team is like. They show promotions and exclusive in-store discounts which gives the company the chance to use the site to advertise and encourage more customers to shop in their store as well as online. They also have a very new online feature of a dressing room where one can pick a model that’s suits their size and coloring the best and try on clothes. If the customer is registered with the site they can also upload a picture of themselves to get a more exact match, features of online stores such as these really do give multi-channel retailers such as these a better advantage in such a competitive industry.
The Essay on Retailer Companies
Amazon Amazon is an online retailer however there have been talks and news articles of the company planning to open a warehouse store in New York City. However being an online only retailer means the company can meet any customer target and offer shopping to anyone. This removes travel time, travel costs and parking costs which appeal to more customers. This can also appeal to younger shoppers ...
These examples prove the point that more and more retailers are integrating more channels into their supply chain and a lot of this is due to the advances in technology and how easy it has become to connect with countries around the world, this has opened markets allowing for better quality and better priced products and merchandise becoming available to retailers. It is also due to the ease of online retailing and how it allows companies to connect with more customers. Will this result in the demise of store based retailing??
There are some retailers still operating a single channel these include, Penneys (Primark), amazon.co.uk and asos.com. Some might argue that these companies are losing a competitive advantage by not offering more channels to their customers however these retailers have perfected their image and work well as a single-channel retailer. Penneys or Primark as it’s known in the U.K is one of the only retailers in Ireland expanding as a company during the recession. The store offers high-street clothing at an extremely competitive price, they are considered to be one of the cheapest stores in Ireland for the type of products they sell, however for them to operate an electronic channel, it would increase cost and therefore cost of the merchandise they sell would increase and the whole image and idea of their stores would change, they work best as a store-based retailer so they don’t change this. Amazon.co.uk is an online store where customers can get anything they are looking for fast and easy. Amazon is popular for price comparisons, new and second hand merchandise, sellers can advertise products they are selling and Amazon offer the same ones, giving the customer a good choice of various products and prices. Asos.com is another online store that offers a range of clothing and accessories for men and women. They sell clothing that is their own brand and also different brands by other designers and stores. They sell hundreds of products. If asos was a store based retailer it would be difficult and costly for them to carry and display all of the merchandise and therefore the company would lose customers and profits. The site allows customers to customize and filter their searches allowing them to find exactly what they are looking for without searching through hundreds of products.
The Term Paper on Introduction to Retail Business
... there is only one brand in that store. JILL MOVES INTO MULTI-CHANNEL RETAILING In addition to its successful catalog operations, ... an indication that the bookstore's multi-front war with online retailer Amazon. com doesn't seem to be working. On January ... - Have financial resources - Strong credit - Full-time commitment - Customer and employee focus - Willingness to learn and improve - Their spirit, ...
All of the above companies have not made any decisions or plans to integrate more channels into their supply chain as they make the fact that they operate a single channel work best for them and it wouldn’t be in the company’s best interests at the moment. Although most single-channel retailers operate online as its becoming increasing popular for most retailers to operate more than one channel I still believe that an online retailer can succeed with one channel for example asos.com or littlewoods.ie because they work best like that and are established as online companies just like Penney’s (Primark) are a well established store based retailer and there really is no online market for them.
I don’t think that because many retailers are currently attempting to deliver an integrated multi-channel retail offering to their customers that it will result in the demise of store-based retailing. I think that integrating multi-channel retail offerings to customers only allows retailers to operate and tap into new and different markets as each channel offers a unique set of benefits for customers.
The Research paper on IT metrics of the Apple Online Store
INTRODUCTION The purpose of this report is to survey the efficiency and effectiveness of IT metrics one of the company, Apple Online Store. By examining a range of recently books and internet sites on the topic, this report describes how efficiency and effectiveness of IT metrics can improve and add value to Apple business strategies based on its problem. Efficiency IT metrics focus on technology ...
The e-marketer blog stated “Multi-channel retailers have the potential to create a highly satisfying cross-channel shopping experience by tying together the best attributes that stores and e-commerce have to offer.”
Advantages of online stores:
• Its convenient, customers can do it from the comfort of their own homes and it reduces time spent traveling and looking for items.
• There are no sales assistants and this can reduce the pressure to buy something and customers can be left feeling more comfortable.
• Purchase histories are recorded with the site so next time a customer logs in they can be shown things that mite interest them and they can be grouped with other customers of similar purchases making it easier for the retailer to gain insight into their buying behavior.
• There is an infinite amount of products available to customers online and they can never be too specific as they most likely will always find what they are looking for.
• Online retailing allows customer compare prices and buy at competitive prices.
However online retailing comes with its own set of disadvantages:
• The enjoyment of retail shopping is lost.
• Privacy and security issues always arise with online transactions as the customer is handing over valuable personal details.
• Having access to a computer and the internet is necessary, some people are not computer literate and this then completely takes them out of the customer base.
• Too much choice as a consumer is obvious when shopping online as there is a vast array of products available to them.
Customers want to interact in different ways and that is why I believe that store based retailing will not be too much affect by the growth in catalogue and online retailing. There are advantages to stores that online and catalogue facilities cannot substitute.
The Essay on Customer Service Business Store Skills
DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS Business Name I have chosen to call my business "transfield" because it is an easily remembered and interesting name. The name will be appealing to the targeted area, teenagers, therefore, hopefully increasing sales. Teenagers are the target age group because of how important self identity and fashion is to this age group. Description of product or service "transfield" will ...
• Being able to browse through a store at your leisure.
• The touch and feel aspect of the product can only be gotten from shopping in a store.
• You can get personal service from sales assistants.
• The social aspect of shopping with people or meeting people and interacting with them.
• Immediate gratification from getting the product and having it straight away without waiting for it to be delivered.
• Cash transactions- transactions are safe as you do not have to give your credit card details.
This is why multi-channel retailing is important because when combining online and store based retailing its possible for retailers to gain the best from both worlds when the channels are managed effectively.
Despite the growth in online retailing customers still want the above advantages. Store based retailing will continue to be popular even with online and catalogue retailing. Ideally they are successful when made work side by side. The retailer will benefit from all advantages and a larger consumer base. A good example of this is Argos. They are one of the UK’s most successful multi-channel retailers as they don’t lose focus on one channel for another but they make sure the system as a whole works and this results in huge success for the company as there is something for all their customers. The customers who are not technology friendly can use the catalogue, the customers who don’t like using the store can use the website and the customer that wishes to touch and feel the product with a sale assistant can visit their store. This way no customer is alienated and they keep coming back.
In conclusion, just because retailers wish to deliver an integrated multi-channel retail offering to their customers does not mean that it will result in the demise of store based retailing because in order for the companies to benefit from a good competitive advantage in today’s technologically advanced, fast pace market they need to cover all channels so they can access their entire target market and not leave anything out. As the industry continues to grow so do the companies.
