Retailing: United Colours of Benetton and H&M Hennes & Mauritz - Essay Example

? Retailing: United Colours of Benetton and H&M Hennes & Mauritz Table of Contents PART I 4 Introduction 4 Benetton Group S.P.A: A Brief Overview 5 Hennes & Mauritz: A Brief Overview 6 PESTEL Framework 6 PORTER’s five forces framework 8 Retailers Strategy 8 Targeting 10 Positioning Map 10 PART II 10 Retail Mix 10 Store Personality 15 Assessment 16 Summary of SWOT 17 Conclusion & Recommendation 18 References 20 Appendix 23 PART I Introduction The retailing industry can be highlighted as one of the dynamic industries of the world. It is often regarded as an ever growing business which caters to the changing needs of the consumers. The retailing industry is characterised by the outlets which offer wide range of products to the customers. The companies which belong to this industry sell merchandises or goods directly to the consumers, from a specific location. Some of the largest retailing companies of the world are Zara, Target corporation, Walmart, Benetton Group, Hennes & Mauritz and Inditex SA among other. However this study will only focus on the apparel retailing companies of the world. According to the reports, the global apparel retail industry was valued at $1,031.5 billion, which grew by 2 % from the previous year. In addition, the report also forecasted that the global apparel retail industry will reach $1,162.8 billion by the year 2014, which is an increase of 12.7 % from 2009 (datamonitor, 2011). Figure 1 (Source: Euromonitor, n.d.) This report will try to uncover the strategies of the cloth retailing companies. The companies chosen for this purpose are Benetton Group, and Hennes & Mauritz. The study will be divided into two parts. The primary aim of the first part is to underpin the strategy, target customers and position of these companies in the context of its competitive environment. In the second part the report will shed light on the chosen company’s implementation of retail mix in the light of its competitive surroundings. While conducting the study some of the analytical tools such as PESTEL analysis and PORTER’S five forces analysis will be also used. Finally, based on the outcomes of those analyses and findings from the study, a conclusion will be drawn along with some recommendations. Benetton Group S.P.A: A Brief Overview Benetton Group S.P.A. is an Italy based multinational company involved in the manufacturing and marketing of fashion brand. The company was founded in the year 1965 and is currently headquartered at Ponzano Veneto, Italy. The company has presence in around 120 countries of the world and operates with 6,500 department, franchised and megastores. The stores are however managed by individual partners but the company has full control over the stores. The major products of the company are footwear, clothing and accessories. Apart from the core products, the company also offers various other useful products. The best selling brands of Benetton are Playlife, United Colours of Benetton, Sisley and Undercolors of Benetton. The brand United Colours of Benetton alone accounts for 50 % of the overall sales of the company, while the Sisley brand comprises around 15 % of the total sales (Yahoo Finance, 2012). It has employee strength of 10,000 and net revenue of 2,032 million euro. The company is listed in the Milan stock exchange. The company is considered to be the largest clothing manufacturer of Italy. The company is highly focused towards the preservation of the environment and also a responsible citizen of the society. In addition the company aims to be receptive to the current market condition, and highly attentive to the human dignity, environment and transformation of the society. Hence the company wants to contribute towards the progress of the society (Benettongroup, 2011). Some of the major competitors of the company are Inditex SA, Hennes & Mauritz and Gap Inc. Hennes & Mauritz: A Brief Overview H & M or Hennes & Mauritz AB is a Sweden based multinational company involved on the cloth retailing business. It was established on 1947 in the name of Hennes and is currently headquartered at Stockholm, Sweden (H & M, n.d.). The company is best known for its trendy clothing for children, women, men and teenagers. The company has presence in 43 countries of the world and the total workforce constitutes of 94,000 people. It operates with around 2629 stores across the world. From its early days, the company is constantly earning recognition to its name. According to a leading magazine, the company is presently ranked at the second position just after the Spanish retailing giant Zara. However the company leads the US cloth retailing giant Gap Inc. The best selling products of the company are clothing and different type of accessories. As of 2010, the company had staggering revenue of $ 126.97 billion. Again in the financial year end 2012, the net revenue of the company soared to $ 150.57 billion. Looking at these figures it can be stated that the company has performed well in these two years and attained substantial growth. Some of the major competitors of the company are Arcadia Group Limited, Industria De Diseno Textil, Inditex SA, Hennes Benetton Group S.P.A, Zara and Gap Inc among others (Hoovers, 2012). Hennes & Mauritz also remains highly focused for the development of the society and environment. The eagerness of the company towards its development along with the society reflects in the mission and vision statements of the company. PESTEL Framework The pestle framework will be utilized to uncover the factors that are impacting the retail clothing industry of United Kingdom. Therefore an in depth analysis of the UK market in the context of clothing industry will be carried out. PESTEL framework will mainly analyse the external business environment factor such as social, political, legal, economical, technological and environmental factories. Political Factors: The political factors of a country are extremely important for any business to carry out operations effectively in the market place. Similarly, for the retail clothing industry of UK, political factors are important. The political scenario of UK is stable and in the coming years there are no serious threats. However the terrorist attack of 2005, raised concerns over the political condition of the country, but well defined contingency plans and tight security has helped the country to regain harmony and peace. Therefore considering the current scenario, UK offers favourable business conditions to the cloth retailing companies (Kleindl, 2006). Social Factors: Society is the most important aspect for any business to prosper (Nybo and Lama, 2010). The importance is more for the apparel industry. The social factors of a country are distribution, rate, growth, age and health among other factors. UK is characterised by diversified religion, culture and race. Majority of the population are Christian. The population of UK also likes shopping from supermarkets and large departmental stores. Moreover, a substantial number of people are branding conscious. Hence, this gives an opportunity to Benetton and H & M to increase their sales. Legal Factors: The legal factors of a country legal regulation, tax structures and other customer duties. UK has a well defined legal frame and offers favourable business condition to the new and established players of the market. However, both the companies need to be aware and careful about certain legal regulations. For example, the companies should remain in context with Competition Commission, Trade Descriptions Act and Sales and Supply of Goods Act in order to avoid legal constraints. Economical Factors: The economic factors of a country act as a decisive factor for the growth and development of a business. Similarly for the apparel industry, economic stability of the operating country is vital. UK is considered as one of the most economically stable countries of the world. The GDP of UK is 2.43 trillion and the per capita income is $ 38,818 (The World Bank, 2012). Hence through this data it is apparent that the economic condition of UK is highly stable. In addition, the country also has high disposable income. Environmental Factors: The environmental factors are important for any kind of business (Williams, Champion and Hall, 2011). The climate and weather patterns are extremely important for the apparel industry. UK remains cool throughout the year which increases the demand of woollen garments. Technological Factors: For retail business, technology is extremely important. Technology is significant for queue management, billing, management of customer’s profile and also handling the online channel (The Wall Street Journal, 2001). UK in this context is characterised by strong technical infrastructure. After analysing all the elements of the external business environment, it can be stated that UK offers favourable business condition for a company operating in apparel retail industry. In addition, the most significant factors which impact the industry are technology, environment and social and also the legal factors. PORTER’s five forces framework According to Porter (1985), the attractiveness of an industry depends upon five forces namely bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, existing rivalry, threat of substitutes and threat of a new entrant. According to market line, the apparel industry of UK is extremely competitive. There are many established players in the market and with reduced trade barriers the threat of a new entrant has also increased. In addition, due to the presence of large number of players, the bargaining power of buyers is high. The only encouraging factor about this industry is the availability of large number of suppliers. The apparel industry is characterised by continuous evolution of fashion trends and hence companies operating in this industry must continuously offer upgraded and innovative products (Market Line, 2012). Therefore considering the nature of the industry the forces which impacts Benetton and Hennes & Mauritz, are existing rivalry within the industry and the bargaining power of buyers. The existing competition within the industry is highly responsible for shaping the industry (Chen et al., 2012). Retailers Strategy For any organization, it is important to deal efficiently with the prevailing competition in the market. Companies adopt various strategies to deal with competition, but the outcome depends on the proper implementation of the strategy. For example some companies create strong entry barriers to deal with the competitors. However in general companies employ any of the four strategies to deal with the existing and new competitions in the market. The four strategies as identified are internal strategy, horizontal strategy, vertical strategy and migrational strategy. Internal Strategy: - Internal strategies are about the changes and reforms at the intra-organizational level. This strategy only impacts in the internal environment of the firm. However the scope of this strategy is limited. Some of the common techniques of internal strategy are productivity-led differentiation strategy, productivity-led spectrum, service differentiation strategy, product differentiation strategy, and time strategy. Horizontal Strategy: - In the context of a retail industry, horizontal strategy is about the decision to carry out retail expansion. The horizontal strategy also looks after the number of retail outlets that a company can support as over expansion may lead to the saturation point of the retail market and can reduce the profitability. Hence the most important task is to identify the saturation point. Merger and acquisition, joint ventures, alliances etc. can be regarded as the horizontal strategies. Vertical Strategy: - In vertical strategy, retailers have to shift from the established plane to the suppliers territory. There are two types of vertical integration strategies namely changes in buyer supplier relationship and integration. Vertical integration simply involves acquisition of suppliers and distributors by the retailer. While the change in the buyer-supplier relationship is about taking control of the suppliers and distributors. Migrational Strategy: - The migrational strategy is characterised by the move of a company from its base to a radically different character and competitive behaviour. This is the reason why this strategy is often portrayed as evolutionary and extra-terrestrial (Mudambi, 1994) Considering all the characteristics of the strategies to deal with competition, it has been found that Benetton uses vertical integration strategy to deal with the competitors. While on the other hand Hennes & Mauritz makes use of vertical integration strategy to deal with the competitors. This is primarily because the company has a strong control over its distribution network (European Commission, n.d.). Targeting A company develops its marketing strategies based on the target market (Dransfield, 2004). Now for this study the target market of Benetton and Hennes & Mauritz will be identified. Benetton group has a large brand portfolio through which the company targets large group of customers. The company presently targets the higher income group customers in the age group 16-45. On the other hand Hennes & Mauritz offers trendy and fashionable products to the customers. The company therefore targets customers who love wearing trendy and fashionable apparels. The company segments its market on the basis of demographic characteristics. It mainly caters to children, men, women and teenagers who like wearing fashionable attires. Positioning Map Product positioning is highly important as it represents the place, a product occupies in the minds of the consumers. It is defined as the marketing technique by which marketers gain competitive advantage in the market. The position strategy also helps companies to differentiate themselves from the competitors. In addition, through product positioning, a consumer sometimes makes comparison of two products (Henry, 2008). Thus it a key factor towards selling the product in the market. The product positioning map of both Benetton Group and Hennes & Mauritz is presented in the appendix section of the project. The map shows that the products of Benetton are highly priced in comparison with its products. On the other hand the products of Hennes & Mauritz are priced low in comparison with the quality offered by them. PART II Retail Mix The retail mix can be regarded as an important notion in conventional retailing. The components of the retail mix include pricing, advertising and in-store promotion, personal service, visual merchandising, store designing and location among others. Retail mix has high resemblance with the marketing mix, and through the components of retail mix, retailers influence the customers for buying their products. For example, by employing the elements of retail mix, retailers can enhance their image by upgrading the materials and tones pertaining to visual merchandising display (Dennis, Fenech and Merrilees, 2004). Now the elements of the retail mix will be analysed in the context of Benetton Group and Hennes & Mauritz. Retail Mix element Benetton Group Hennes & Mauritz Merchandise assortment (range) Benetton offers wide range of products to the customers. Most of the products are fashionable and stylish. The company also believes in offering trendy outfits in order to target young generation. Hennes & Mauritz is a clothing retailer and it offers variety of products to the customers. The stores are best known for selling trendy clothes for children, women, men and teenagers. Pricing position Benetton offers good prices to its customers. The customers perceive that the company offers value for its products. However if we position the major apparel retailing companies in a map, Benetton is the costliest. The company offers the lowest price among the major apparel retail stores. In addition, pricing also acts as a competitive advantage to the firm. However several reports suggest that the company uses different pricing mechanism for different market. Quality Quality of products is one of the core competencies of the company. Based on the quality of offerings, the company has also succeeded to gain competitive advantage in the market place. Hennes & Mauritz is known for selling high quality products. Although, the prices are less, but there is no compromise on the quality of the products. Layout The retail outlets of Benetton are of small size but arranged in such a way that it provides enough space for the customers to carry out their activities. The average shopping areas of the stores are 200 sq. Meters. In addition, to reduce customer queues, the store offers several billing counters and distributes the queue. The outlets of Hennes & Mauritz are big in size. They provide enough space to the customers to carry out purchasing activities. The average shopping area of the stores was almost close to 500 sq. Meters. The layout has been designed in such a way that it makes the customers comfortable to browse through the products. In order to manage queue, the stores rely on information technology and quick customer service. Colours The shops are brightly coloured, which help the company to attract customers. There is no specified colour theme, but the company at some stores use green as the theme of the stores (Aswathappa, 2010). Hennes & Mauritz does not focus on any particular colour to make their shops visible. Rather they focus on the wall paintings and architecture. Display/merchandising The company displays almost every available product in the shelves. The shelves also remain full every time thereby attracting the window shoppers. In addition, customers can also touch and try the products from the shelves. Hennes & Mauritz displays mostly the trendy and colourful clothes in order to attract the customers. In addition, the clothes are displayed according to the category to which they belong. Generally the clothes are displayed either in the shelves or racks. It also allows the customers to try the clothes. Fixtures and fittings The fixtures and fittings of the store differ from one store to the other. Usually, the Benetton stores are fitted with modern equipments, and shiny metals. The stores also consist of architectural designs. In addition, wooden floors and trendy furniture make the stores look vibrant. The stores consist of wooden floorings and are fitted with innovative furniture. The stores also concentrate on the interior decorations as well. For example most of the stores comprises of false ceiling, bright lights, and artificial models. Physical facilities The outlets generally consist of stairs, lifts, escalators, as well as fitting rooms. However stores which are small do not consists of any escalators or lifts. All the outlets of the company comprises of escalators and stairs. However there are some shops which also have the lift facility. Apart from that, the stores also have a well designed emergency evacuation system. All the stores have 4-5 dedicated trail rooms (Dierkes, Antal, Child and Nonaka, 2003). Location The stores of Benetton are located in some of the prestigious locations, and in commercial and historic centres (Gay, 2008). The stores are generally located at the prime locations. The company mostly opens a new store in the city centres or at some other identified clothing market place. Customer communications The company depends heavily on the in-house promotions to sell the merchandises and products. Benetton use techniques such as promotional messages, discount signs and discount announcements. In order to communicate with the customers, the store managers of the outlets employ different strategies. One of the common way by which customers are influenced is offering free items with a purchase. For example ‘Buy 2 gets 1 Free’. In addition, offering discount coupons for the next purchase and offering lucrative deals on an hourly basis hugely drive the sales. Service offering The company tries to offer a friendly environment for their customers. The employees are also well trained and remain focused towards hospitality. Apart from that, the stores also offer personalised service to the customers. To reduce customer searching time, Benetton offer trained staff to assist customers in getting their requirements. Hennes & Mauritz is considered as one of the best service providing companies in the apparel retailing industry. The in-house staff of the company is friendly and they assist the customers to choose the best outfit. One of the most interesting services offered by the company is related with the delivery of products. Hennes & Mauritz offers free home delivery of the products purchased by the customers. Overall store ambience/atmosphere Psychological Environment: Influencing the level of action. The stores play soft background music and try to create a relaxing environment. There are also sitting arrangements which make the customers feel like home. In addition, bright colours, artistic display and friendly approach of the in-house staffs offer a pleasant experience to the customers. This approach also creates excitement within the customer’s thereby increasing browsing time and sales. Psychological Environment: Influencing the level of action. The stores of Hennes & Mauritz are elegantly designed with wooden flooring and artistic display of products. The stores always play soft music thereby creating a relaxing shopping environment. In addition, with the availability of huge space inside the store, customers also feel comfortable. Hence from the findings it can be stated that the ambience is such that to a large extent it succeeds to attract new customer into the shop. Store Personality According to Martineau (1958) store personality is the way by which a store is defined in the mind of the consumers. The factors defining a shop are partly on the basis of functional virtues and partly on psychological attributes. The concept of store personality as portrayed by Martineau is extremely important for a retailing business. Similarly for Benetton and Hennes & Mauritz, the store personality helps to drive customers. Apart from the value and qualities of a product, its success is also dependent upon some intangible factors. Customer comes inside a store not only depending upon the quality of the food and price it offers, but the ambience also plays an important role to them. Some customers may also consider cleanliness of the store as a factor while choosing his/her destination. Apart from that, customers take their partners and friends for shopping where they want to feel relaxed. Often the store personality becomes the identity of a store. Hence it can be clearly stated that, store personality is plays an indispensible role towards the success of the outlet. Both Benetton and H & M can implement the concept of store personality. For example to improve the store personality, both the companies must focus on the retail mix. The companies should try to offer an environment to the customer which is relaxing, friendly as well as attractive, so that the companies drive more customers. In this context, the store ambience can be improved and the employees can be trained to display friendly behaviour with the customers. Also in order to position their outlets to the target audience both Benetton and Hennes & Mauritz should consider the factors such as attitude, price, products, ambience and high end promotion. Assessment Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) basically designs, manufactures and sells fashion apparels and other accessories. It mainly operates with retail outlets as well as through online channels. The strategy of the company is to sell wide range of products and services to the customers. The company mainly targets children, teenagers, women and men. Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) also follows a simple strategy of continuous expansion in order to increase sales and generate more revenue. In the context of its retail operations, the company believes in offering a great shopping experience to the customers. This is the reason why we come across artistic store ambience and friendly approaches of the employees. The company also focus hard on cost efficient production, reduction of lead times and improving the logistics department. On conducting an in-depth analysis of the company, it has been found that the Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) is successful in implementing its intended stagiest. Also it should be mentioned that the company has been benefitted by this approach. In my opinion Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) is one of the most successful companies in terms of its business value. The financials of the company clearly states that the company is witnessing staggering growths. It is also believed that if the company will continue to flourish in the coming years. However, through this few recommendations will be made to the company, for the primary purpose of improving the operations of the company. This study has also evaluated the strategies of Benetton group. According to the findings, the strategy of the company is to focus on product differentiation. The company offers a large number of products to the customers (Market Line, 2012). The company mainly operates with the retailing business. The products of the company are priced high which restrict several customers to afford their products. Also if we compare the top four apparel retailing companies, Benetton is the costliest. The company therefore targets only higher income group customers. The company has therefore developed a strategy to reduce the price of the products. Apart from that the strategy was primarily designed to facilitate the company to assure the clients of more competitive and suitable supply of products. In order to target the intended customers, the company relies on different promotional aspects. Now, based on the findings from the study and also considering the literature about the area of concern, it can be affirmed that Benetton has been successful in implementing their new newly developed strategies. International expansion is another strategy for the company, where it has been successful. However, some of the plans are yet to be put into practise. For example, the company did not executed price reduction strategy and therefore the products are sold at a high price from the retail outlets. The marketing strategy of the company also played a crucial role towards the success of the company. Hence considering all the aforementioned facts it can be stated that Benetton has been a successful venture. However if the strategies developed by the company were properly implemented, the company would have been more successful. With strong financial position, large base of loyal customers and strong marketing activities will facilitate the company to prosper more in the years to come. In spite of being the costliest apparel retailer, the company has been successful in gaining large market share. The financials of the company also highlight that the company is witnessing continuous growths and increasing its market share. Summary of SWOT The study has conducted evaluation of both Benetton Group and Hennes & Mauritz and it pointed out that both the companies have some kind of strengths and weaknesses. In addition, both the companies also have some external opportunities and threats. This section of the study will therefore shed light on the aforementioned factors. From the study it has been identified that the strengths of Benetton are strong brand recognition and high brand value. The company also has a base of loyal customers and strong financial position. However the biggest strength is the wide range of products. On the other hand the strengths of Hennes & Mauritz are strong market position in the apparel industry, large geographic presence and dual channel operation. The weaknesses of Benetton are highly priced products and weak strategic position gains the rivals. However for Hennes & Mauritz, its biggest weakness is excessive dependency on the third part merchants or vendors. Both companies have the opportunity to focus on the online selling platform and to expand in other countries (European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, 2004). The threat for both the companies lies in the fierce competition within the industry. In addition, risk pertaining to foreign exchange fluctuation is also a cause of concern for both the companies. Now considering the strengths, weaknesses, threats as well as opportunities, the report will recommend few strategically changes to both the companies. The suggestions will be presented in the final section of the report (Market Line, 2012). Conclusion & Recommendation The study was about analysing the two apparel retailing giants Hennes & Mauritz and Benetton Group. The study has also analysed several other business aspects of these two companies. For example the study conducted environmental analysis and industry analysis to identify the overall competitive situation of apparel industry in UK. The strategies of both the companies were also evaluated. Apart from that the target market and the positioning strategies of the firms were also uncovered. The study revealed that the political, economical as well the legal scenario of UK is stable, which facilitates the companies to operate effectively in the market place. The study has also pointed out that the apparel industry of UK is highly attractive, but the market is mostly catered by the top three or four players. The companies primarily targets men, women, teenagers and children and offer several consumer schemes to sell the products. One of the interesting findings of the study is that, both the company positions itself as a company which offers value to the products. The analysis of the retail mix enlightened that both the companies rely heavily on the ambience of the store to attract customers. Through this study it has been also identified that both Benetton and Hennes & Mauritz offers amicable and aesthetic store ambiance. Hence considering all the aforementioned facts it can be stated that both the companies try offering great shopping experience to the customers. In addition, it can be also concluded that both companies are highly successful players in the apparel industry of the world. The recommendations for both the companies are as follows: - Recommendation for Hennes & Mauritz Hennes & Mauritz focus on affordability has been a core element of its success. Therefore it is recommended to the company that, it should keep its low products and try to develop some premium chains in order to target higher income group and brand conscious customers. Hennes & Mauritz is a late entrant in the online retailing business. Due to large number of established players such as eBay, Amazon, Zara etc. the visibility of the company is low. Therefore the company should concentrate on promoting its online platform to increase sales and revenue. Recommendation for Benetton It is highly recommended to the company that they should consider reducing the level of appalling advertisements. The company should also consider reducing the prices of the products as a major section of the society could not afford to buy goods from Benetton. 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Benetton Group S.p.A: Company Profile. [online] Available at: [Accessed 20 December 2012]. Appendix Positioning Map of Benetton and Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) Product Quality Benetton Hennes & Mauritz Price (Source: Author’s Creation) Read More