Analysis of the Consumer Profile of LeShop.ch and Coop.ch
Introduction
Actual trends
Nowadays, we are living in a changing world of consumption, where new trends are appearing, especially in Western societies. The most important of them are the growth of the service economy, the changes in purchasing methods, and the evolution of technology. The latter is quite important, because it involves the opening of new markets and niches for organizations, and especially in the food retailers and wholesalers industries.
For customers, this evolution implies new methods for acquiring things. According to the purchase model decision, the consumers will have to choose, among others things: the product category and the channel purchase decision. The recent evolution in the field of technology allowed the appearance of a new purchasing channel, namely the online shopping.
The goal of this report is to analyze the marketing strategy and the customer profile of the two main actors in the Swiss industry of online shopping, namely LeShop.ch and Coo.ch. Then, from the information gathered, conclusions and recommendations will be drawn. The reflections will mainly focus on the advantages and drawbacks of the strategies of the two leaders in order to determine a potential market or niche in the Swiss market for Bina.ch.
The facts
The actual situation in the online shopping industry in Switzerland
The Swiss market of online shopping is actually experiencing a fierce competition. In fact, six major actors are dominating the industry. However, two of them are clearly outstanding as the leaders: LeShop.ch and Coop.ch. The first of them has the biggest share of the market.
For a new business to enter in this market, it must be perceived by the customers as having a substantial differentiation in comparison with the competition. For this reason, I will try during this report to show you the major advantages and drawbacks of the two leaders. According to me, it is clearly possible to fulfil even more the expectations and needs of potential consumers by providing services than the competition do not, and to acquire a niche by creating customer loyalty and devotion.
The global consumer profile
A global consumer profile may already be drawn from logical reasoning, the people who are willing to go shopping online have usually the following characteristics: they are willing to discover new ways of purchasing, they are open to changes and to the introduction of new technologies, they also accept the principle of the anticipated consumption involved by shopping online, and finally they are willing to adapt themselves through experiencing and adopting new services.
Being a multi-billion dollar retailer comes with its perks. JCPenney’s dominance over catalog merchandising has now extended into the cyber world at www.jcpenney.com. This website is multi-functional and easy to navigate, but how would JCPenney’s new e-commerce site stack up against its toughest competitor, Kohl’s, on the web? The answer may surprise you. This is an intriguing look at how varied retail comparisons can be. While JCPenney is struggling with sales on the retail floor, Kohl’s continues to exceed expectations in their stores. Online though, it is a completely different story.
America 's grocery industry is a big business. It is so big in fact, that a few major corporations dominate it. For example Walmart 's grocery business in the US accounts for approximately 56% of the company 's sales. This is the equivalent of $188B per year. It 's nearest competitor, Kroger 's total sales volume for 2014 was less than one third that of Walmart. (Soni, par. 1) Another
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, the majority of revenue is generated by store sales, but online sales from the stores’ websites are increasing. With the US dollar getting weaker, international sales from these US based websites are increasing too. This creates a significant positive outlook for the large incumbent players but also acts as a significant barrier of entry for new players.
Amazon.com operates in the Online Retail Industry. The sector is one of the fastest growing globally and is outperforming the ordinary retail marketplace. It was created after 1995 and it was only the Internet that made it possible for such an industry not only to be established but to become one of the most flourishing sectors in the business environment. What is interesting is that Amazon.com, together with eBay is the pioneer in the field. Both companies were launched in 1995 and are still extremely successful. The creation of e-mail in 1996 had a huge impact on the development of online retail by introducing a fast and easy way to communicate with customers. For this two-year period Internet usage doubled annually, thus, allowing for the expansion of the industry. Google is launched a year later, in 1998, only to become the most used search engine in the world and an essential partner for the online retailers by helping them tailor their websites to customer’s personal preferences and by advertising. After that, more and more people see the opportunity in the growing industry and enter it. By 2001 there are more than 513 million Internet users globally, which calls for action in terms of creating regulations and laws to protect the users and personal property. In 2003, Apple launches iTunes, and provides a platform for low-cost digital downloads. Another major change is the appearance of social media from 2004, which is one of the biggest influencer on the state of the industry. With the launch of iPhone in 2007, this trend strengthens as people get to enjoy the Internet anywhere they want to. From then on, technological advancements have made it extremely easy and fun to shop online, making it ...
The term 'food retailers' is becoming ever more inappropriate as the operators of the largest stores increase their non-food offer. But food remains the core of the offer and the main reason that people visit the stores.
Firstly, one of the most important focuses would be given to the target customer as we will need to know more about their taste and preferences. What it is they need and or want. Particular topics covering this area will be, the need for ‘Market segmentation’, identifying a competitive position in the market about to enter in the market and studying consumer behaviour, will all be discussed.
The company can improve its channel strategy to enhance its current performance in one way. The company’s website is too reliant in the physical stores. The website has photos of the physical store ostensibly to help customers to connect with it. This idea seems well founded. However, the target market for any company that operates an online shopping system is not local. It transcends geographical boundaries. The company needs to consider how it can make the online shopping experience authentic and complete for customers who may never visit any of its physical stores. A website makes a company a global player. In this regard, the company needs to expand its channel strategy to take into account an expanded potential market. This shift in strategy will increase the sales the company makes.
Strengths Customer and Brand Loyalty Product Demand Quality products Solid leadership Weaknesses Increase in competition More focus needs to be placed on Apple’s computers Opportunities Continued innovation and improving on their electronics Threats Increased competition with popularity of Samsung growing External and Competitive Analysis Competitive Analysis Competitive Factors Quantity Quality Core Competencies Unique Characteristics of Service 1. Current Competitive Leadership Development Plans. Special Development Programs Promotion Advertising Approaches Customer Preservation - Part 2. Substitute Training Continued training to keep customer demand high Various ways to reach consumers Various ways to improve employee relations 3.
Based on the research, recommendations are provided for the owner to foster the development of potential business decisions for improving customer experience and long-term profitability. 1.4 Retailer Introduction As mentioned previously, this study will focus on a case retailer. The following portion of the paper will provide information on the retailer and bring familiarity to its current business concepts, merchandise and store attributes.
Methods of operating in the retail food sector are always changing. This is especially true in the supermarket space. Today's informed consumers are increasingly demanding quality, fresh, and innovative foods. Additionally, these consumers also demand convenience be served along with these first-rate products. More grocery products are being purchased at non-traditional food retailers.
It can be said that more products become standardised or undifferentiated; the lower is the switching costs thus yielding more power to buyers. The famous loyalty card of Tesco is remained successful for retaining consumers, which increases the profitability levels for the Tesco. In fulfilling the needs of consumers, customised service, assurance of low prices, appropriate selections, and consistent promotions in stores has enabled the brands like Tesco to control as well as retain their consumers. Recently, a crucial change in food retailing sector has emerged because of increasing demand of consumers having the increased need of shopping in supermarkets showing a specific need for supermarkets to sell products other than food. It has provided
Based on these concerns, retailers in the international marketplace have their work cut out for them. But through proper education of consumers, and the ever-expanding growth of the infrastructure in many countries, the future seems to be leaning heavily towards using the Internet for many needs.
The Information revolution is changing our daily lives. With the rapid development of computers and the internet, online commerce has become quite common and plays an important role in the modern world. Online business has been booming in recent years. US online retail sales rose an average of 11% in the first three months of 2009 (“US Online Sales Up,” 2009). The growth of online sales may be due to the growing number of consumers who shop online.
In today’s era “INTERNET” is playing a significant role in our daily life. People can walk through the internet to one who is actually living on the different side of the planet, can send mails round the clock, search information & even buy things online. With this invention of internet there is a shift in traditional way of shopping. Now there is no need to open a physical store. One can be active at any time and place and purchase products and services. The number of users of internet is increasing day by day which means that online shopping is increasing. Various characteristics of online shopping is making it more convenient for the customers, as compared to traditional way of shopping such as the ability to view and purchase goods and
As the author of the article concedes, the online shopping has flourished in the past years. Many customer have seen the advantages of e-commerce in the ways of time and money saving. Whit a simple click on the keyboard the goods are uploaded in a virtual cart and from there are delivered to the customer address. Also, the online stores have the opportunity to create a customer database and a customer profile. The customers receive periodic reminders of the new offers and sales via email or mobile phone messages. In the meantime, many classic stores have struggled to maintain the business keep up. According to the article, the brick and mortar stores will implement new features that conduct customers to an easy and pleasant shopping. For instance, the retailers will use the customer mobile phone as a concierge application. The customer will be informed about latest products and their availability. Furthermore, the customer will have the possibility to track needed items inside the store with the help of store mapping and products locations. If the customer will change the shopping list, the app will provide the route to the new item. Also, when a customer will passing a store the app will remind the last customer visit into the store and