Tesco and Sainsburys Websites - Coursework Example

Tesco and Sainsbury’s Websites Introduction Tesco and Sainsbury are two giants in the retail business. The head quarter of the two supermarkets is in United Kingdom. However, they have branches in Europe, and Asia. The two companies specialise in food retailing. Tesco is the largest food retailer in United Kingdom. Its head quarter is in Hertfordshire. It operates about 2,318 stores in entire Europe and Asia. The European countries in which Tesco has its operations include Ireland, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia (Plunkett, 2007:76). The company has 82 and 60 stores in Ireland and Hungary respectively. In Poland, Tesco manages 66 hypermarkets and supermarkets. The countries that Tesco has extended its services in the Asian comprise of South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, and Taiwan. Tesco offers both online and offline services. The services range from personal finance services to selling online. Tesco Personal Finance is a joint venture with the Royal Bank of Scotland (Zentes, et al, 2012:358). This service caters for approximately 3.4 million customers for various financial services and products. The company has about 326,000 employees (Thomson, & Martin, 2010:549). This makes Tesco one of the biggest job creators in United Kingdom and all its branches of operation. In United Kingdom, Tesco operates under four banners. These banners comprise of Extra, Metro, Superstore, and express. Although the core business of Tesco is food retailing, it also sells non-food products such as clothing in its Superstores. The company also has runs petroleum products and it is in the list of one of the largest and independent petrol retailers. Tesco has registered an excellent performance in the recent years (Tesco, 2011:35). Sainsbury deals in retailing of foods and promotion of health eating. Sainsbury’s has been the largest leader in grocery retailing in United Kingdom. The goal of Sainsbury is to provide food to customers at fair prices. The company does not only stock foodstuffs but also clothing and general merchandise (Hoover, 2004:176). Sainsbury operates under two banners. These include Jacksons Stores and JB Beaumont Hemming (Information Services, 2006:137). This paper looks at Tesco and Sainsbury’s websites. The paper will endeavour to identify the business model that each company employs and the target audiences. Tesco and Sainsbury’s websites are very crucial in order to understand retailing of food in United Kingdom. The two websites are Tesco.com and Sainsbury.co.uk (Davenport, 2007:212). The core businesses of the two companies is specialising on foodstuffs. However, Tesco and Sainsbury sell non-food commodities such as clothes and petroleum products. The two companies have invested many funds in the development of their website to connect with their consumers (Seth & Randall, 2011:26). The management of these two companies understands that dissemination of information is very crucial for success of business venture. With the unparalleled era of technology expansion, the companies embrace online methods of reaching their consumers. They have created a strong database that keeps all the information that is relevant to their customers. Online services are not a complement to the offline ones, but an essential tool in the prosperity of the two companies. Competitor Analysis The two companies are big competitors in the retailing of foodstuffs. Tesco has flourished and out-competed the Sainsbury Company over time. This has led Tesco to emerge as a market leader in the foodstuff industry. The principle reason to explain Sainsbury’s poor performance is the relatively low operating profit margins (J Sainsbury plc, 2011:4). Several factors contribute to the low profit margins. These include specialisation on products with low margin profits, inefficiencies in controlling costs, and lack of value added through the chain of suppliers. The low profit margin leads to relatively low return on invested capital and return on equity ratios. This is despite lack of utilization of capital and use of advantage. This has led to failure of Sainsbury to maintain stability in the top position of market leadership. Arguably, those strategic leaders in Sainsbury have not demonstrated strong skills as their predecessors (TDG, 2012:1). Tesco relies on a serving-out-of-the-shop model, enhanced by Tesco’s existing dense store network, which covers 96% of the United Kingdom market (Dinkhoff, M, 2009:2). Tesco and ASDA have replaced the Sainsbury albeit several percentage points adrift of the company (Ivory Research Ltd, 2009:6). Target Audience Tesco and Sainsbury audience comprise of foodstuffs’ and non-foodstuffs consumers. Both the websites of the two companies depict a product mix that consists of enormous variety of foods and non-food items. The two companies focus on the domestic consumers and those in foreign markets. Tesco and Sainsbury companies understand that the actions of consumers have a direct impact on their success (Tesco, 2012). Both companies compete to win a huge number of consumers in order to increase their profit margins. Through the establishment of the website, Tesco and Sainsbury endeavours to maintain a close contact with their esteemed customers. Business Model Business model is a general description of what a company does to make profit. Tesco employs e-Business model. The e-Business model has enabled Tesco to register the top position in retailing business in United Kingdom. This is because through this e-Business Model has enabled Tesco to focus on target markets, services, and products. Tesco employs two models. These are business-to-business (B2B) and Business to customer (B2C) models (Haerifar, 2012:5). Through the Tesco.com, Tesco reaches its customers in United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, and South Korea. The utilisation of business-to-business and business to customer, the online sales of Tesco exceeded 1 billion pounds since of design of the website. The company has an active consumer base of about 850, 000 and 250, 000 orders on weekly basis (Tesco, 2012). Through the Business to customer model, Tesco has registered a record-breaking of 1.3 million shoppers who utilises tesco.com. The Tesco staffs deliver the customer orders on daily basis. Tescom.com has an approximate of 9,000 pickers. Majority occurs in existing stores of the Tesco. The internet retailing has expanded Tesco’s profit margins. The website has changed the purchasing power and habits of its participating shoppers. Consumers do not have to visit physically the supermarket and buy food and non-food stuffs (Tesco, 2012). Sainsbury business model anchors on customers’ health, safe, fresh, and tasty food. The company places a great emphasise on quality and fair prices in their approach to business. Sainsbury’s stores concentrate on fresh food and improvement of products in line with customer needs. Sainsbury uses business to consumer model (B2C) to run its business operations. The establishment of website has enabled Sainsbury to market its own products online. The company utilises computerised stock control, in store scanning, and sales ordering. Sainsbury transact with consumers through online (Sainsbury, 2012). The negotiation of products occurs online and there is no need for consumers to make journeys to the company premises to acquire their products. Sainsbury makes products follow to ascertain whether they satisfied the consumers’ needs. Sainsbury’s website enables the company to gain competitive advantage in food retailing in United Kingdom and other regions. Tesco and Sainsbury companies has employed website to support their brands making business more cost effective. This is because most of transactions take place online. Tesco e-shop that features a variety of posters enables customers to place their orders online. Each product has a unique QR-code, which consumers can scan with their smart phone and add to their shopping chart. The Tesco website places around 20,000 products that includes household and office items, groceries, and products for children, pets the market for online order and delivery. Through e-shopping customers can purchase their products from the comfort of their houses. This gives Tesco consumers enough time to devote to their families and friends (Tesco, 2012). Tesco allow customers to choose the period within which the drivers can deliver goods and services to the customers. The drivers of Tesco deliver the ordered goods between 10 am and 10 pm. Sainsbury places a variety of items online (Tesco, 2012). The site arranges the items with useful consumer tips and hints on the health uses of foodstuffs. In addition, Sainsbury online Diet Club gives a personalised meal plan and food diary-switch to the option that suit customer’s needs. The diet advices are customer-tailored thereby catering a large number of consumers. Other health tips in the Sainsbury’s website touch on allergies and intolerances. The company makes products that give the best taste, gluten free, wheat, and dairy free. The company provides a list of foods that may cause allergic reactions to the body. In addition, the e-shop labels clearly the foods making shopping for allergies and intolerances easier. Sainsbury lists the allergens in the allergy box of their products (Sainsbury, 2012). Tesco and Sainsbury’s Website Evaluation Tesco and Sainsbury’s website provides very vital information of their profile. The two website provide the physical address, core business, products, mission and vision, and their approaches to capitalise on unique strength while overcoming challenges. This is very crucial information the company use to get new customers and maintain a strong base of customers. Financers such as bankers and investors refer to the companies’ websites to fund Tesco and Sainsbury. The websites show the locations of the two companies. For instance, the head quarters of Tesco and Sainsbury are in Hertfordshire and London respectively. Product information The two companies provide enough information of their products in their sites. Both Tesco and Sainsbury specialise in foodstuffs. However, the companies engage in non-food products. For instance, Tesco sells clothes, provides financial services, and runs private petrol stations in United Kingdom. Sainsbury on the other hand deals in wide range products such as kitchen appliances, which comprise of cookers and microwaves, fridges and freezers, washing machines, and other cookery items (Hoover, 2004:173). In addition, Sainsbury’s website has garden appliances such as garden power. Registration Option Tesco and Sainsbury offer an option for their customers to create accounts. Sainsbury registrations option seeks to get the consumer preferences. In addition, it acts as an avenue to for Sainsbury to provide their customers with favourite recipes and tips for their customers. In addition, Sainsbury allows for registration of finance and online community. Through the customer accounts, Sainsbury endeavours to keep a firm grip with their consumers. Similarly, Tesco embraces communication to their consumers through sending emails to their registered consumers. The emails contain full and latest special offers and promotions. The registration option has separate option for existing and new customers. Negotiation scope Tesco and Sainsbury’s websites enable consumers to bargain for the prices of the products. This enables customers to arrive at a sound decision on whether to place orders after extensive bargaining. Customers do not have to make journey to the physical premises to negotiate with the Tesco and Sainsbury’s sales departments. Consumers at the comfort of their house order products for delivery through online method. This has made Tesco and Sainsbury to satisfy their consumers. Ordering Process Tesco and Sainsbury have a well-maintained database for a strong base of their customers. Consumers place their orders online. Buyers achieve this through their Tesco and Sainsbury’s accounts. This ordering process is reliable since the two companies process the orders and confirms the same to their customers upon receiving the orders. Tesco and Sainsbury send the processed orders with corresponding price back to the customers for their perusal. This gives a chance for consumers to verify whether the requested products are in stock. In addition, consumers cross-match the orders from the two companies to ascertain conformity with their orders. Payment options Tesco and Sainsbury online payments have eased the burden of customers to travel physically to the premises of the two companies. The two companies adopt different modes of payments. Sainsbury’s use Nectar Credit Card offset their debts (Sainsbury, 2012). The card offers two year’s double Nectar points on Sainsbury’s shopping when consumers shop using their Nectar Card. Similarly, Tesco utilises club cards for customers to make payments. The consumers do their payments online (Tesco, 2012). Delivery Options Sainsbury and Tesco websites enables customer to get their ordered goods within the shortest time after they have settled their deals. Consumers have a chance to choose the time within which the Tesco and Sainsbury’s can deliver their goods. Tesco drivers convey consumers’ products starting from ten am to ten pm on a daily basis (Tesco, 2012). Sainsbury provides delivery options for various items ordered by the customers. Sainsbury drivers deliver orders for standard delivery within three to five days from Monday to Friday. This takes place every day between seven am and seven pm. Standard delivery costs 3.95 pounds. Up on delivery, anybody over the age of eighteen year can receive, inspect, and sign the consumers’ orders (Sainsbury, 2012). After Sale Support Tesco and Sainsbury’s website invites feedback from their customers. Tesco invites suggestions and comments from their consumers through emails. Customers are able to share their experiences thereby providing the necessary information, which Tesco requires to make their products more appealing to the buyers. Sainsbury’s website accepts feedback from consumers inform of questions. They have an option where customers place their queries. After Sainsbury receives customers’ enquiries, the company answers them explicitly (Sainsbury, 2012). Community Link Tesco website lacks an option for community links. The site does not include chat rooms, loyalty schemes, or group discussions. However, Sainsbury’s website embraces Nectar Loyalty scheme. It is a great initiative that rewards customers according to their spending through their Loyalty points. This helps to maintain a strong base of loyal customers. In addition, Sainsbury’s website provides gifts vouchers and cards. These are popular choice in promotions and point redemption (Sainsbury, 2012). Performance Tesco and Sainsbury have faster loading speeds. Consumers can access the sites without having to install software. The design of the sites is very clear and the two companies have icons for different products. Up on clicking the icons, the sites displays all the relevant information pertaining to that site. One needs to have an internet connection to access the site from any computer, phone, or tablets. This has enabled the companies to attract a huge number of consumers. Ease of Use Tesco and Sainsbury website are committed to providing access to their websites. Anyone can access the sites without many difficulties. The best resolution for one to access the Sainsbury’s website is a monitor set at a screen resolution of 1024 by 786 pixels (Sainsbury, 2012). Similarly, Tesco.com is easily accessible at all screen resolutions. The loading capacity is very fast and consumers can place their orders without any problems. The simplicity of the websites usage has enabled different consumers of across all ages to enjoy the online shopping of Tesco and Sainsbury. Aesthetics and Innovation Tesco and Sainsbury share some similarities and differences on the aspect of aesthetics. The background colour and images of these two sites do not change. This demonstrates that the backgrounds colours of the two websites are well defined. The websites do not match with the colour one specifies in the browser. The graphics of the Sainsbury’s website has a lot of flashing, blinking, and animations. The web pages of the two companies demonstrate consistence. The text, navigation, fonts, colours, background, and page layouts display uniformity. Tesco website embraces social network such as facebook and twitter. The site allows customers to follow the activities of the company through the facebook account and twitter handle. Through following the facebook and twitter, updates consumers can access crucial information on promotions, prices, and general trends of Tesco operations (Tesco, 2012). Sainsbury does not have a twitter and facebook options in its website. Conclusion It is evident that investing in e-commerce is very beneficial to companies. This is because consumers can get the right information about the products and services, which companies offer. Consumers do not have to make physical appearance in the companies’ premises. They carry all transactions online. To achieve this with efficiency, the design is website is very crucial. The features of a good website include accessibility, good performance, good use of colour, and search engine optimized. Tesco and Sainsbury companies have embraced these facets in their websites. Bibliography Al-Qirim, N., 2004. Electronic Commerce in Small to Medium-sized Enterprises: Frameworks, Issues, and Implications. Michigan: Ideal Group Inc. Augustin, J., 2011. Management Accounting at J Sainsbury Plc. Munich: GRIN Verlag. Davenport, T., 2007. Strategic Management in the Innovation Economy: Strategic Approaches and Tools for Dynamic Innovation Capabilities. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Dinkhoff, M., 2009. 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