Strategic Management and Business Strategies of Primark - Essay Example

? Primarks Business Strategies By Primarks Business Strategies The way a business is operated is majorly determined by the changes and shifts in the market forces of that particular time. Very few businesses can create a model solution that can make an influence and change the market purchasing behaviour of consumers. The way retail stores are carrying out their operations has varied widely over the years especially over the past decade. Several solutions and business models have been invented and have been effectively adopted for retail stores that mostly serve huge clientele. Primark has been a retailing giant in the fashion industry that has over a few years been successful. Some of its strategies have over the years included effective marketing to specific targets across Europe. Primark’s target market is mostly the fashion sensitive age group which is basically people with the age below thirty five years of age. They also deal mostly with brand names that are minor, which translates to cheap quality fashionable trends. They have maintained their market by providing the same product of the same quality at a lower price than their competitor provide. This accompanied with the effective management of response and delivery mechanisms has ensured that Primark has maintained its competitive and reliability position in the European market. Their computerised warehouse controls and an effective efficient distribution networks has made sure that Primark stays top notch in customer satisfaction. With the current technological capability, social life has been incorporated with the business aspect of running things. Companies have been compelled to adapt social media and the use of the internet to provide their services. Marketing and advertising have been forced to tap into the high usage of internet to make a large profit. With just under three billion people using the internet and over two billion people using smart phones, companies have resolved to a paradigm shifts. Some retail and distributing stores have moved from slightly depending on the internet to full dependence of the internet for all their services. Companies like Amazon and eBay who are also giant retailers have completely depended on online shoppers successfully for their sales. Primark has been reluctant to adapt to this marketing and sales strategies but has just kept the traditional walk in stores. This habit is however facing a challenge as more people change their shopping habit coupled with the various technological products that arise in the market. With Primark’s main target being people who are below thirty-five years of age, they are bound to adjust and shift into providing online shopping solutions for their clients. This is because it is estimated that the highest number of internet users are people who are below the age of thirty five years. This brings Primark head to head in confrontation and demand from its customers. With the global penetration of internet use, coupled with the increase in the use of mobile devices especially smart phones also creates the necessity to Primark of adoption an online shop. The demand in the usage of these solutions provides a huge market in the retail sector. Another factor that might make it inevitable for Primark to adopt the online retail shop is the use of social media marketing and internet marketing. Over one, half of Europe’s population has one or two active social media accounts. The usage of mobile phones and tablets has been very addictive and convenient at the same time. A large number of people rarely get the time to walk around, let alone spend time with their families. Online jobs and jobs that demand regular travelling or jobs which have squeezed time schedules create least chances for shopping to the affected people. This drives away all the interested clients that might have purchased the said products. Providing such clients with an alternative shopping model enables them to purchase the products online at any time. This not only stops the retailer from losing the sales but also enables them to gain new sales and shoot their revenues up. Any business would want this for their existence sake. According to Basu (2004), pestel analysis of Primark will also show how it can strategically adopt a new approach to ensure its profitability and existence in any market. The political stability of most European countries and the legal requirements provide a conducive environment for the growth and operation ability of the company. This means that it can spread its wings and venture into other European markets apart from its native United Kingdom. The legal restraints and government regulations and tax incentives can also affect how the company expands or operates. These factors should be considered in case Primark wants to expand. The economic analysis of the Primark also makes its strategic decisions to be aligned towards sustaining its current market. With the recent fluctuations in market strength and economic uncertainty, it will be in the best interest of any company to realign its goals towards strengthening their strong areas. For Primark, it should ensure that its low cost production is maintained since people would still want to look good even in hard economic times. At the same time, during manageable economic times people would maintain their sense of fashion and would even spend more on those high quality dressing provided at a cheaper cost. The social analysis that Primark can put into consideration involves the putting into consideration of the diverse cultural aspects of the United Kingdom and the European market. Other demographic factors that will affect the strategies of Primark are founded among its core strategies. It has maintained a clientele of the age group of less than thirty five years which means that they are mostly people with a high purchasing power and a sense of fashion. The high purchasing power comes from the fact those youths who are described as people under the age of thirty-five years are prone to frequent spending. As the company also thinks of opening a store in France, it should align its tastes to the people of France since the French like their traditional fashion more than from other companies. Technologically, Primark can adopt the use of new and existing innovations so as to improve the existing technological infrastructure. The use of technology can be used to foster improved distribution channels and also to beef up security both through transaction payments techniques and store security. With the increase in cyber threat and hacking, the use of technology should be used to reduce the amount of cyber frauds especially with the adoption for online payments. The use of installed closed circuit television cameras will also help in reducing the numbers of cases of lose of inventory associated with shoplifting. Most retail stores in the fashion industries face a challenge in the determining of authenticity of products. This is because some designers may have eluded some of the government regulations and mechanisms put in place. This ranges from avoiding taxes to providing inaccurate production records. Most designers are also faced with the challenge of using cheap illegal labourers like children or the use of illegal immigrants to provide their services. This is an illegality that if it is discovered as being practised by a company, it may have very serious legal implications including jail term, license revoking or very hefty fines. As a corporate social responsibility, companies are expected to reduce the percentage of carbon emission and any activities that contribute to environmental depletion. This is possible by performing an environmental analysis of the company’s activities. A reduction in the use of paper work will not only be as cost reduction measure but will also see environmental benefits. Primark can adopt this double kill strategic move of cost reduction and corporate social responsibility. This will be by increasing their electronic transactions by investing in technology and adopting greener energy usage by acquiring solar energy infrastructure. Their mode of packaging should also be reviewed into using biodegradable material and ensuring recycling of plastics and polythene materials. Reference Basu, R. (2004). Implementing quality: a practical guide to tools and techniques. London: Thomson Learning. Read More