Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website
Businesses have traditionally operated under a brick-and-mortar strategy, paying little attention to the electronic retail channel. Now, though, increasing competitive pressures and Web technologies as an information source necessitate that managers adopt an integrated click-and-mortar strategy. With differing levels of success, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have invested in their own websites to promote their online presence. However, the recent power of information intermediaries makes it difficult for companies to attract consumers solely through their own webpages. As a result, companies are being forced to adapt their online strategies to increase customer attraction; a proper use of backlinks and infomediaries can accomplish this at relatively low cost. This article traces the emergence of infomediaries and backlinks and the mechanics of their operation, offering managers and practitioners guidance regarding how best to improve the impact of their online visibility.
Authors :: Eva Lahuerta Otero, Pablo A Munoz Gallego, Renee M.E. Pratt
Swot Analysis of "Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website" written by Eva Lahuerta Otero, Pablo A Munoz Gallego, Renee M.E. Pratt includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Backlinks Infomediaries facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
increasing energy prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Backlinks Infomediaries, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Backlinks Infomediaries 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 Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Backlinks Infomediaries
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 Backlinks Infomediaries
Strengths Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Backlinks Infomediaries in Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Backlinks Infomediaries has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Backlinks Infomediaries 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 Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High brand equity
– Backlinks Infomediaries has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Backlinks Infomediaries to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Backlinks Infomediaries in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Backlinks Infomediaries in the sector have low bargaining power. Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Backlinks Infomediaries to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Backlinks Infomediaries is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Backlinks Infomediaries is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Backlinks Infomediaries 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 Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Backlinks Infomediaries 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 Eva Lahuerta Otero, Pablo A Munoz Gallego, Renee M.E. Pratt 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Backlinks Infomediaries is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Organizational Resilience of Backlinks Infomediaries
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Backlinks Infomediaries does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Backlinks Infomediaries digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Backlinks Infomediaries 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.
Weaknesses Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Backlinks Infomediaries 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 - Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Backlinks Infomediaries is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Backlinks Infomediaries needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Backlinks Infomediaries to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website 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 Backlinks Infomediaries has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Backlinks Infomediaries has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
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 Backlinks Infomediaries supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Backlinks Infomediaries vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website 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 Backlinks Infomediaries 's lucrative customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Eva Lahuerta Otero, Pablo A Munoz Gallego, Renee M.E. Pratt suggests that, Backlinks Infomediaries is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Lack of clear differentiation of Backlinks Infomediaries products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Backlinks Infomediaries needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Backlinks Infomediaries 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. Backlinks Infomediaries 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website, 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 Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website, it seems that the employees of Backlinks Infomediaries 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 Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website | 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 Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website are -
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Sales & Marketing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Backlinks Infomediaries can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Backlinks Infomediaries can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Backlinks Infomediaries can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Backlinks Infomediaries can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Backlinks Infomediaries operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Backlinks Infomediaries has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Backlinks Infomediaries to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website case study. Backlinks Infomediaries can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Backlinks Infomediaries 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, Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Backlinks Infomediaries in the consumer business. Now Backlinks Infomediaries 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, Backlinks Infomediaries is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Backlinks Infomediaries 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Backlinks Infomediaries 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Backlinks Infomediaries 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Backlinks Infomediaries 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.
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 Backlinks Infomediaries 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Backlinks Infomediaries 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.
Threats Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website are -
Regulatory challenges
– Backlinks Infomediaries 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.
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 Backlinks Infomediaries.
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. Backlinks Infomediaries needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Backlinks Infomediaries with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Backlinks Infomediaries
– 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 Backlinks Infomediaries.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Backlinks Infomediaries 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
– Backlinks Infomediaries has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Backlinks Infomediaries 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Backlinks Infomediaries 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 Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website .
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website, Backlinks Infomediaries 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 .
Environmental challenges
– Backlinks Infomediaries 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. Backlinks Infomediaries can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Backlinks Infomediaries is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website 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 Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website 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 Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website 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 Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website 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 Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website 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 Backlinks Infomediaries needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.