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.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the firms that continue to invest in the growing online sales channel are likely to emerge as future leaders. Brick n Mortar retailers such as Target and Walmart are investing in creating an omni-channel environment. The model embraces IT while leveraging advantages of physical locations. Companies that are not investing as much as the leaders in online channels (for example, Kmart) are likely to lose out in the long run.
Operational efficiencies
Retail industry is centered on commoditized goods and is hence extremely dependent on price/cost advantages. Investments in IT technologies that enable efficient inventory management. Retail industry is one of the largest users of big data. Big data is being used to analyze process improvements, study logistics, optimize inventory, improve merchandising, and most importantly, study in-store and online consumer behavior to forecast future needs.
IT technologies enabling supply-chain efficiencies is going to play a greater role in achieving cost leadership. Companies such as Walmart, which are able to use IT to track and manage the purchase, storage and distribution of merchandise can offer lower prices which is a key success factor in the industry. Amazon and Walmart, who continually invest in technology are likely to remain competitive on price, and will be able to offer services which make goods available to consumers in efficient ways, are likely to e...
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...distribution channel would lower Amazon’s labor costs, thus increasing its capacity to further reduce prices of products. As a result, traditional retailers would face even tougher competition against online retailers.
Online shopping is set to radically change the dynamics of the retail industry with increased consumer reach. It is expected to continue flourishing with mobile transactions increasing and online retail sales projected to reach $434 billion over the next four years. Even big box retailers are entering in to the e-commerce market. Online shopping will be disruptive for the following reasons:
• Industry leaders such as Walmart, Target and Costco have a significant physical. Will find it difficult to adopt online channels.
• Industry leaders do not have as much expertize in the online channels in comparison with ‘younger’ competitors such as Amazon.
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.
Some pros of doing a store retail channel is that customers can actually touch the products, they receive personal customer service, and immediate gratification after purchases. Pros of the internet channel is that there is a greater selection, Nordstrom can provide more information for products, and collect more information about shoppers. Drawbacks
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.
In addition to the change in behavior of consumer, many companies or retailers change the sales channel combinations. The greatest impact of the Web-bases electronic revolution has occurred in companies adopting the click-and-mortar approach. Click- and-mortar is one the strategy used by the companies or retailers that they continue to conduct their business in the physical locations and have added the electronic commerce component to their business activities. According to one study, 37% of United States retailers are selling through a combination of the internet, in stores and catalogs. This represents a growing demand for the business-to-customer package delivery service.
Wal-Mart’s competitive environment is quite unique. Although Wal-Mart’s primary competition comes from general merchandise retailers, warehouse clubs and supermarket retailers also present competitive pressure. The discount retail industry is substantial in size and is constantly experiencing growth and change. The top competitors compete both nationally and internationally. There is extensive competition on pricing, location, store size, layout and environment, merchandise mix, technology and innovation, and overall image. The market is definitely characterized by economies of scale. Top retailers vertically integrate many functions, such as purchasing, manufacturing, advertising, and shipping. Large scale functions such as these give the top competitors a significant cost advantage over small-scale competition.
Amazon’s macro-environment is made up of six external factors: political, economic, environmental, technological, social, and legal conditions. These factors are important because they shape how the company operates and you must know each piece to be able to compete within the retail and eCommerce industry. An evolving political factor are the efforts the government has made toward punishing offenders of cyber-crime. This kind of thief wasn’t walking into your store, but hacking into your computer. This type of crime wasn’t possible before the internet. The government has started to take these crimes more serious as technology evolves. Technology is a factor that Amazon.com must invest heavily in. They are reliant on having top of the line technology to survive against cyber-crime and to stay relevant in the tech world. ECommerce is everywhere now and competition is very high. This brings in legal conditions; Amazon must know what laws exist in which countries because they are a
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.
Target has not significantly penetrated the online shopping business as compared to its competitors Walmart and Amazon.com
Although Amazon has been active trying to find the perfect strategy to make profits, the numbers in its financial statements had not shown the most optimal results. We have discuss that even though its strategies have been right according to supply chain and logistics methodologies and theory, something had been missing to represent this successful strategies into financial results. It is seen that Amazon had spent too long time finding the right strategy which the last might be the one because in the financial statements profits started to come up. Amazon still have a long way to go to mature its strategy and represents it into profits for its shareholders.
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
Recommendations to achieve a sustained competitive advantage: Online, mobile, and store purchase will certainly increase customer traffic with the online and store combinations gives Target Corporation with a best possible low-cost price. A best-cost provider strategy allows Target to position itself and compete with low-cost providers such as Walmart. In addition, it employs a competitive strategy with a designer label along with superior supply chain, increased operational capabilities, and skilled employees. . The strategy of sending coupons are huge for a customer, so increase discount based on their purchase history and use the store brand credit card to attract more customers.
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.
Amazon’s also tried to spearhead the industry by introducing the customer-pleasing traits in terms of the technology, order fulfillment and retailing strategies categori...
Technological factors. This is very important factor for Amazon therefore the success of the business depends on that. Amazon has to face a lot of technological challenges and to find a way to be ahead of the competitors.
Hoover describes Amazon as the Earth's biggest everything store. If Wal-Mart improved its online presence and online store, Wal-Mart can easily be the ne...