Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer?
In 2014, as large investments poured into the e-commerce space in India, there was a general expectation that the online retail (e-tail) industry was heading toward a consolidation that would squeeze out smaller players. While e-tailers in India focused on following a marketplace model and developing a brand for their online market platforms, fashion2go created a product brand that targeted a very specific segment of young customers. Fashion2go was therefore faced with the challenge of demonstrating to its investors that its strategy was capable of ensuring long-term business viability and sustainability. Without further investments, fashion2go could not expect to continue building its brand and its operations, both of which were critical for the company's planned aggressive growth. Aditya Kumar Banerjee is affiliated with Management Development Institute.
Swot Analysis of "Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer?" written by Aditya Kumar Banerjee, Rajesh Pillania includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Fashion2go Poured facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, International business, Strategy and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing energy prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Fashion2go Poured, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Fashion2go Poured 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 Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Fashion2go Poured
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Fashion2go Poured
Strengths Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Fashion2go Poured in Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Fashion2go Poured 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.
Analytics focus
– Fashion2go Poured 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 Aditya Kumar Banerjee, Rajesh Pillania 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Fashion2go Poured has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Fashion2go Poured 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? 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.
Training and development
– Fashion2go Poured has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Fashion2go Poured in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Fashion2go Poured is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Fashion2go Poured 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 Fashion2go Poured is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Fashion2go Poured has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Fashion2go Poured to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Fashion2go Poured in the sector have low bargaining power. Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Fashion2go Poured to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Fashion2go Poured 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 Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Fashion2go Poured 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 Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? - 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 Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Aditya Kumar Banerjee, Rajesh Pillania suggests that, Fashion2go Poured 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer?, it seems that the employees of Fashion2go Poured 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.
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 Fashion2go Poured supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer?, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Fashion2go Poured vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Need for greater diversity
– Fashion2go Poured 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 Fashion2go Poured 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 - Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? 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 Fashion2go Poured 's lucrative customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Fashion2go Poured 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer?, is just above the industry average. Fashion2go Poured 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 Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? HBR case study mentions - Fashion2go Poured 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer?, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Fashion2go Poured, firm in the HBR case study Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? | 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 Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Fashion2go Poured 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Fashion2go Poured 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, Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer?, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Fashion2go Poured 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.
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 Fashion2go Poured in the consumer business. Now Fashion2go Poured can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Fashion2go Poured 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 Leadership & Managing People segment.
Manufacturing automation
– Fashion2go Poured can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Fashion2go Poured 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, Fashion2go Poured can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Fashion2go Poured operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Fashion2go Poured 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Fashion2go Poured 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Fashion2go Poured to increase its market reach. Fashion2go Poured 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Fashion2go Poured 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 Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Fashion2go Poured to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Fashion2go Poured can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? are -
Environmental challenges
– Fashion2go Poured 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. Fashion2go Poured can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Fashion2go Poured 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.
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 Fashion2go Poured business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Fashion2go Poured 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Fashion2go Poured can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Fashion2go Poured 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 Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? .
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. Fashion2go Poured needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Fashion2go Poured 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Fashion2go Poured 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
– Fashion2go Poured has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Fashion2go Poured needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People 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.
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 Fashion2go Poured.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Fashion2go Poured 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 Fashion2go Poured
– 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 Fashion2go Poured.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? 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 Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? 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 Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? 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 Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? 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 Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? 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 Fashion2go Poured needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
