Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun
Consumers shop online for both goal-oriented and experiential reasons. However, goal-oriented motives are more common among online shoppers than are experiential motives. This article identifies and discusses attributes that facilitate goal-oriented online shopping, including accessibility/convenience, selection, information availability, and lack of unwanted sociality from retail sales help or shopping partners such as spouses. Importantly, consumers report that shopping online results in a substantially increased sense of freedom and control as compared to offline shopping. Although consumers are more likely to describe offline rather than online shopping in experiential terms, evidence of experiential motivation for online shopping is emerging. Also, although closing transactions at Web sites is one important e-commerce goal, companies should not lose site of the continuing importance and power of their Web sites as an information and communications vehicle.
Swot Analysis of "Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun" written by Mary Wolfinbarger, Mary C. Gilly includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Shopping Experiential facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Internet and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Shopping Experiential, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Shopping Experiential 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 Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Shopping Experiential
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 Shopping Experiential
Strengths Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Shopping Experiential in Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Shopping Experiential is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Shopping Experiential is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Shopping Experiential is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Shopping Experiential are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Shopping Experiential is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Shopping Experiential in the sector have low bargaining power. Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Shopping Experiential to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Shopping Experiential is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Shopping Experiential to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Shopping Experiential to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Shopping Experiential has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Shopping Experiential to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Shopping Experiential digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Shopping Experiential 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.
Analytics focus
– Shopping Experiential 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 Mary Wolfinbarger, Mary C. Gilly 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.
Organizational Resilience of Shopping Experiential
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Shopping Experiential does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Shopping Experiential 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 Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun - 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 Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun are -
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Shopping Experiential supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Shopping Experiential vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Shopping Experiential is planning to shift buying processes online.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun, 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun 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 Shopping Experiential 's lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun, in the dynamic environment Shopping Experiential has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Shopping Experiential has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Shopping Experiential is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Shopping Experiential needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Shopping Experiential to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Shopping Experiential has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Shopping Experiential 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun 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 Shopping Experiential has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun, is just above the industry average. Shopping Experiential 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun, it seems that the employees of Shopping Experiential 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.
Opportunities Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun | 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 Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Shopping Experiential 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 Shopping Experiential to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Shopping Experiential to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Shopping Experiential 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 Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Shopping Experiential to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Shopping Experiential in the consumer business. Now Shopping Experiential can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Shopping Experiential is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Shopping Experiential can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Shopping Experiential 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Shopping Experiential can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Shopping Experiential operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Shopping Experiential to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Shopping Experiential has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Shopping Experiential to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun case study. Shopping Experiential can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Shopping Experiential 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Shopping Experiential 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Shopping Experiential 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.
Threats Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun are -
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Sales & Marketing field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Shopping Experiential can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Shopping Experiential 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Shopping Experiential has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Shopping Experiential 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.
Environmental challenges
– Shopping Experiential needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Shopping Experiential can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun, Shopping Experiential may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Sales & Marketing .
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 Shopping Experiential in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Shopping Experiential
– 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 Shopping Experiential.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Shopping Experiential 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Shopping Experiential with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Shopping Experiential business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Shopping Experiential needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Shopping Experiential can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun 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 Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun 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 Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun 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 Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun 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 Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun 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 Shopping Experiential needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.