Strategies Embraced by Williams-Sonoma Company - Case Study Example

Strategies Embraced by Williams-Sonoma Company Introduction Williams-Sonoma is a retailing company founded by Charles E. Williams to serve the retail environment. The company uses the retail, and the direct-to-customer channels to sell products to its customers[San13]. Today, the company has expanded its operational base, and now deals with other items apart from home products. Also, the company also gets information from different sources and uses it to send catalogs to existing and prospective customers. This paper analyzes the strategies embraced by Williams-Sonoma and the expected position of the Company within the next few years. If the Williams-Sonoma continues with its present strategies and objectives, where will it be in five years? The current policies embraced by Williams-Sonoma are increasingly becoming outdated. Till now, these strategies have been successful in increasing the business growth level within the company. Competition keeps growing day by day, and new companies are launched daily within the retail market industry. According to information from the case study, Williams-Sonoma has many market competitors who specialize in similar products[Mar10]. Different companies are also adopting different strategies to distribute their products due to the adoption of new technological advancements. So, it is obligatory for Williams-Sonoma to adopt new strategies if they want to sustain their position in the retail market. If the company decides to maintain its current strategies, business competitors are likely to triumph over them by adopting the latest technologies, and strategies. Competing companies need adequate competitive advantage in order to outperform each other. Without such strategies, performance may decline due to the various challenges experienced in an extremely competitive business. A company that updates its database regularly to accommodate after sale services attracts potential buyers. For this reason, it is necessary for Williams-Sonoma to develop, and implement innovations if they expect to maintain their current market position and attain higher levels of business growth. If you were the CEO of William-Sonoma, what strategies would you recommend, and why? The strategies used by Williams-Sonoma are very efficient, and I would adopt them if I were the CEO. By implement these strategies, I would grow and enhance the success of the business. But, I would focus more attention towards expanding the international market rather than the US market alone. At the moment, Williams-Sonoma underestimates the potential of other markets in enhancing their business success. I believe the idea of expanding the market scope would benefit the company. I would also encourage more use of the modern telecommunication systems, and the Internet to broaden the market scope to other parts of the world. In fact, I would work on developing a reliable international network to facilitate on-time delivery of goods, and services to customers. Consequently, the Internet among other telecommunication systems can be useful in maintaining proper communication with customers the world over as well as international delivery of goods. Such strategies will enable Williams-Sonoma develop an international base and provide services to different parts of the world. I acknowledge that implementing these strategies would not be easy. For this reason, I would have to develop relevant facilities in various parts of the world that attract a huge customer base for our products and services. In addition, Williams-Sonoma would require substantial investments to create, and broaden its international market. Common factors like globalization, advancements in technology, and the growing competition would force the company to broaden its international market. International trade eliminates fiscal boundaries and stimulates free trade and close cooperation between countries. Williams-Sonoma can benefit from such strategies, and use them to expand its market. Describe the competitive strategies used by each of Williams-Sonoma’s competitors. Which of these strategies are the most effective? Support your answer. Williams-Sonoma’s competitors use strategies that have possibly proved successful over time. The company should scrutinize these strategies, and design a competitive strategy to counter them. Such a strategy can put the company in a profitable position within the market. Williams-Sonoma’s direct competitors included national companies like Restoration Hardware, Crate & Barrel Bombay Company, Rolling Pin Kitchen Emporium, and Pier 1 Imports among others. As a point of reference for the case study [Mar10], Crate & Barrel is a successful company that developed from competitive advantage. Today, the company offers original, and unique products to its customers. These products are completely different from those supplied by its competitors. The company has a relatively small customer base due to its preference of counter-culture rather than mainstream products. The Restoration Hardware company concentrated on the fast expansion, and growth of the market network. The strategy is quite costly but is capable of stimulating positive results for small companies. Pier 1 imports focus on most products offered by Williams-Sonoma. Gaining competitive advantage using such means is tough and needs the involvement of substantial resources. The company may face difficulties in identifying possible products to market successfully. Door Store concentrates its efforts in three regions, and this can be quite tricky due to development of the modern economy, and globalization. At last, the may not be able to compete effectively with other companies competing internationally. Rolling Pin Kitchen Emporium uses similar strategies used by Williams-Sonoma and may offer adequate competition in the future if it incorporates a few technological advancements. The Bombay Company concentrates on selling traditional furniture, but, it risks on losing the new generation customers who are interested in the latest products. How is Williams-Sonoma using the Internet as a distribution channel now, and how would you recommend that they use the Internet in the future? Even though the Williams-Sonoma is using the Internet as its primary marketing platform, the company should incorporate more technological advancement to enable the medium work more effectively. At present, the company has no clear goals and objectives for using the Internet in marketing its products. Partly, this may be due to the narrow customer base the company has. The company should first elaborate the concept of incorporating online strategies in its business and develop appropriate websites to support their e-business strategies[Plu08]. Apart from reaching the target customer group, the created websites should strive to maintain the brand of the company among different customers. The Williams-Sonoma should concentrate more on promoting, and selling its products on their website but also have a vision of creating a distinguishable brand image using online business development tools. Reliable brand images can be traces efficiently through different websites and projects the company involves in during its regular transactions. The bigger opportunity for the Company is e-commerce, which should be the top capital investment priority of the retailer. Possibly, the e-commerce platform is likely to gain more market share within the retailer’s market segment within the next few years. The home and furnishings market is under-penetrated, and the e-commerce idea is a reliable opportunity lying ahead for the Williams-Sonoma Company. Conclusion In order to build on its current marketing strategy, Williams-Sonoma will need to capitalize on its undeniable history as a successful direct marketer, merchant of premium products, and cataloger. The company should make more changes to its e-commerce strategies if it expects to maintain its position within the market. References San13: , (Castaldo, Grosso, & Premazzi, 2013), Mar10: , (Rouse, 2010), Plu08: , (Plunkett & W., 2008), Read More