Retail Management

Furthermore, of the top 15 discount department stores in 1993, 2 were in Chapter 11 and 2 emerged from Chapter 11. Other factors included a lack of differentiation in product offerings, low switching costs for buyers, competitors had volume driven strategies aimed at obtaining market share at the expense of profitability, creating price wars, and a high pressure to increase volume to generate cost efficiencies. Based on Porter’s Five Forces Analysis, potential entrants was high with high entry barriers. With this, competitors had access to distribution channels, were established with multiple locations, had strong brand name recognition, had financial strength to fend of competitors, and had high capital which resulted in high buying power and high economies of scales. Based on Porter’s Five Forces Analysis, buying power was low to moderate. With this, customers had a high availability of substitutes as they could shop elsewhere and had ease of switching between competitors. There was a lack of differentiation among competitors as competitors competed on price. Based on Porter’s Five Forces Analysis, substitutes was low. With this, prices and quality of substitute products were very competitive, performance of substitute products were similar, and there were low switching costs for buyers. Based on Porter’s Five Forces Analysis, suppliers was low to moderate. The top 5 competitors accounted for 71% of

Low product differentiation and economies of scale: There isn’t much product differentiation at play in the retail industry as there are well known manufacturers whose products are offered for sale, which leaves price to compete on. Current well established retailers with thousands of stores enjoy the economies of scale to control their cost that a new entrant might not be able to replicate after immediately entering the industry.

Macy’s shares this target market with many retail stores across America, but most commonly J.C. Penney (Macy’s, 2016). Not only does J.C. Penney share a target market, but they have many similar products as well. It is also very common

Both companies are competing for the customer’s attention with new lines of products, brands, and marketing strategies. The supplier power over JCP is a factor that Mr. Penney has had under control since he first opened the company. As I stated before the strategy that JCP uses is to buy the product for cheaper, so that the customer will be able to pay less at the register. The products are marked up enough to where the company still makes a profit; the buyer power is not jeopardized due to any over pricing. The threat of entry is a factor that has affected the way the company’s market share grows. According to Kohl’s Fact Book, Kohl’s entered the market in 1962, but since then no other company has been able to stay up with the JCP and the other competitors. The other factor that has been hurting JCP’s market share is the access to substitutes in the market. These stores are not retail stores, but they do specialize in apparel, such as Areopostale, American Apparel, American Eagle, Cato’s, J. Crew, H & M, Gap Inc., the list goes on. Each one of these companies brings a different strategy to the apparel industry that JCP has to take

Macy’s is one of the biggest retail chains of departmental stores in the United States with more than 15 brand names combined across 840 stores in 45 states. The company owns the department stores Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, these stores have been meeting the wants and needs of its consumers since 1858.

I have one question regarding the retail merchandising minor. Am I not eligible to pick up a retail merchandising minor since I am a student in the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences? If not, is there a possible reason for an exception since I know I can potentially see myself in a retail merchandising career after

Knowing that consumers will shop for the best deals, differentiation will be introducing new pricing methods that attract the everyday shopper and not only the seasonal shopper.

In order to become more aware of the competitive nature of the retail environment, our group conducted a competitive analysis over three different retail stores. In order to see a difference between stores, we knew we would analyze one discount/mass store, one department store, and one specialty store. From there, we chose one classification of products to analyze: women’s cropped workout leggings. We then graded this classification of products on multiple topics including: presentation of product, service, depth of assortment, location of store, shopability of classification, promotion/marketing of product, price of products and product pricing, return policy, and website. For grading purposes, we assigned each topic a score from one to five,

Macy's Inc. is one of the nation's largest and well known department store chains. Started over 150 years ago, Macy's has continually generated excellent returns for its shareholders and employees. Currently, in the midst of a global recession, Macy's has generated huge profits with same store sales increasing 5.3% year to date. In 2012 same store sales increased 4.6% in the month of February alone (Macy's Inc., 2012). In fact, throughout the duration of 2012, Macy's is projecting even larger profits for its underlying business operations. Even though Macy's has experienced success with both its assortments and brand, its competitors haven't faired so well. Sears, due in part to part to a lackluster holiday season, has been forced to close nearly 120 locations to generate excess liquidity in an effort to shore up its balance sheet (Isidore, 2011).Other competitors who cater specifically to the middle class consumer have also lost significant amounts of market share as consumers trade down due to the economy. This performance is primarily due to the core functions and operations of the business. Planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Macy's excels at these forms of management, which has allowed the company to perform at a higher level relative to its peers in the industry.

General Nutrition Companies, INC. was founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by David Shakarian in 1935 as a single, specialized, general health retail store (Histories, 2011). Since

Lucky Brand® established in 1990 in Los Angeles California, is an apparel retailer with focus on jeans, casual wear and accessories. Lucky Brand® currently has 251 retail stores, as well as locations in select department stores and is thriving online at Luckybrand.com. This company operates as an exclusive distributor, a strategy of selling products through one or few retailers in a specific location (Tanner and Raymond.2014). The retail stores sell exclusively Lucky Brand® as does the Luckybrand.com site and within the department stores, such as Macy’s and Nordstrom, they have boutique sections dedicated to this brand exclusively. To maintain this operating model, the company has to stay relevant through the means by which the product line retail strategy and pricing are managed. This paper will review this strategy, primarily through technology strategy investments and how Lucky Brand® has managed to survive the retail industry for almost thirty years.

Inditex ensures that its fashion is fast through its supply chain efforts. They have created new methods to enable store managers to order and display merchandise faster and added cargo routes for shipping goods. The company ships clothing straight from the factory to stores and makes two-thirds of its goods in Spain and nearby countries, compared to most competitors who manufacture most of their clothing in Asia. Inditex has their sales managers monitoring computers, which are reporting sales at every store around the world. When a garment does well or fails, they are able to quickly tell designers if they need to come up with new ideas. They also have generated

In large chain stores, assistance and product knowledge may not exhibit the same kind of quality as in smaller local stores. Exceptions do exist, and some chain stores are known for their high degree of customer service and product knowledge. Customers in specialty stores will be glad to pay the premium price for our products in exchange for the high quality, great taste, health benefits, and sense of prestige they receive. In fact, higher prices and exclusivity for some items may encourage higher sales - these kinds of customers eagerly accept the idea that higher prices equal higher health benefit, and want to buy only the best. However, the location should be in an area that will attract the clientele who are likely to buy our product. This channel gives company a more direct link with their customer set and company will receive more direct feedback.

Specialty stores can deal only in a few varieties of goods but with a deep assortment. Variety and assortment choices are very important strategically for retailers and an issue for top management.

In the hypermarket segment, 45 per cent of the merchandize is equally distributed across garments, electronic goods, and other white goods. The rest 55 per cent consist of FMCG, staples, and fruit and vegetables. On the other hand, an average Spencer’s Daily store contains a higher share of FMCG products, staples, fruit and vegetables, and some general merchandize. An Express store consists of fruit and vegetables, bakery and chilled and dairy products.