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 - – wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, 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 -
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.
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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Fashion2go Poured is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Analytics focus
– 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Fashion2go Poured is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Fashion2go Poured digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Fashion2go Poured has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Fashion2go Poured is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Fashion2go Poured has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
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.
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.
Organizational Resilience of Fashion2go Poured
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Fashion2go Poured does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
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.
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 -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Fashion2go Poured has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Fashion2go Poured is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Fashion2go Poured needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Fashion2go Poured to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Fashion2go Poured 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Fashion2go Poured 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 Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? 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 Fashion2go Poured has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? 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 Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Fashion2go Poured is planning to shift buying processes online.
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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Fashion2go Poured is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Fashion2go Poured products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Fashion2go Poured needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Fashion2go Poured 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 Fashion2go Poured to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Fashion2go Poured can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People 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.
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.
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.
Buying journey improvements
– Fashion2go Poured can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer? 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.
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.
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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Fashion2go Poured 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. Fashion2go Poured 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Fashion2go Poured can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 -
Regulatory challenges
– Fashion2go Poured 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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
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? .
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.
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 Fashion2go Poured in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
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.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Fashion2go Poured is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Fashion2go Poured in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
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.
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.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Fashion2Go: Just Another Fashion E-Tailer?, Fashion2go Poured may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
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.