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 - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, 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.
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.
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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
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.
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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Backlinks Infomediaries to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Backlinks Infomediaries to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
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.
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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Backlinks Infomediaries 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.
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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Backlinks Infomediaries has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Backlinks Infomediaries 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.
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 -
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 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 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.
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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Backlinks Infomediaries has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Backlinks Infomediaries 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.
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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Backlinks Infomediaries has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
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.
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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website HBR case study mentions - Backlinks Infomediaries 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.
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 -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Backlinks Infomediaries 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.
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.
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.
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.
Buying journey improvements
– Backlinks Infomediaries can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Click-and-Mortar SMEs: Attracting customers to your website 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Backlinks Infomediaries to increase its market reach. Backlinks Infomediaries 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.
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.
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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Backlinks Infomediaries 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.
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. Backlinks Infomediaries can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Backlinks Infomediaries can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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.
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 -
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.
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 .
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Backlinks Infomediaries will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
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.
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.
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 Backlinks Infomediaries business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
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. Backlinks Infomediaries can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 .
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 Backlinks Infomediaries in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
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.
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.
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.
