Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail
Customers need and want information to help in making choices about where to shop and what to buy. Retail marketers need and want to create customer incentives to patronize and to buy from them; these are created and nurtured by images, ideas, thoughts and feelings that customers have about themselves and about relevant competing retailers and their offerings. The purpose of this note is to discuss several key elements of information exchange between the retailer and the customer. It encompasses the many related activities retailers undertake to provide incentives to patronize and to buy, such as providing information about store location, hours, ease of parking, products carried, prices, and so on, and the ways customers respond to such information.
Swot Analysis of "Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail" written by Michael R. Pearce includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Patronize Buy facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Sales and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Patronize Buy, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Patronize Buy operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Patronize Buy
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Patronize Buy
Strengths Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Patronize Buy in Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Patronize Buy has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Patronize Buy to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Patronize Buy is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Analytics focus
– Patronize Buy is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Michael R. Pearce can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Patronize Buy has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Patronize Buy to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Patronize Buy to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Patronize Buy has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Patronize Buy is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Patronize Buy in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Patronize Buy digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Patronize Buy has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Patronize Buy is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Patronize Buy has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Patronize Buy has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Patronize Buy has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Patronize Buy is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Patronize Buy needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Patronize Buy to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail, it seems that the employees of Patronize Buy don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail, is just above the industry average. Patronize Buy needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail HBR case study mentions - Patronize Buy takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Patronize Buy needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Patronize Buy has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Patronize Buy has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Patronize Buy has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Patronize Buy even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Lack of clear differentiation of Patronize Buy products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Patronize Buy needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Patronize Buy 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Patronize Buy can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Patronize Buy has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Patronize Buy in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Sales & Marketing segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Patronize Buy can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Patronize Buy to increase its market reach. Patronize Buy will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Patronize Buy has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Patronize Buy to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail case study. Patronize Buy can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Patronize Buy can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Patronize Buy to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Patronize Buy to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Patronize Buy can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Sales & Marketing segment.
Buying journey improvements
– Patronize Buy can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Patronize Buy can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Patronize Buy operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Patronize Buy can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Patronize Buy has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Patronize Buy to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail are -
Increasing wage structure of Patronize Buy
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Patronize Buy.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Patronize Buy demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Patronize Buy in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Patronize Buy needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Patronize Buy in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Regulatory challenges
– Patronize Buy needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Patronize Buy can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Patronize Buy high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Patronize Buy has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Patronize Buy needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Patronize Buy is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Patronize Buy.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Patronize Buy with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Note on Communicating Incentives to Buy at Retail is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Patronize Buy needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.