Marks & Spencer Retailing Strategy Essay

1. IntroductionIn this essay, in scope of the subject Organizational instruction I, we get out scan the case of one of UKs leading retailers that is tag & Spencer.We are proposed to answer 3 given questions learning the tauten, specifically its system. Not only go out we answer these given questions, we intend to further develop the concept of corporate strategy taught in crystallise and relate it to M&S case in browse to burst understand it. During this case study we give in like manner explore the history of this go with, explaining the firms giving medication problem, the crisis that happened within the firm and also its strategies to inhibit this crisis.We are also going to focus on the brand and in the locates that M&S has avail equal in the clothing marketplace. There will be presented in this report aspects much(prenominal) as the market segments that M&S convergences ranges serve, the order winners and qualifiers for them and, finally, the different logisti cs consummation objectives for the different ranges.Operations Management I2. Development2.1. HistoryMarks & Spencer (M&S) is one of UKs leading retailers with over 21 one million million million people visiting their stores per week. M&S offer stylish, high-quality, great economic value clothing and home products, as well as outstanding quality food and financial services. The confederacy was started in 1884, when Michael Marks (a Russian-born natural law refugee) opened a stall at Leeds Kirkgate Market. M&S have over 700 UK stores and currently the firm finds itself in the process of expanding its business internationally the company is already present in over 43 countries. Marks & Spencer employees over 78,000 people in the UK and abroad (as M&S site has published).2.2. Marks & Spencer pre shake-upFocusing in clothing segment, M&S presented severe problems in their strategy surgical incision and, consequently, in their development and survival, due to massive mistakes. Seein g that M&S is a retailer type of firm, consequence that they only sell products, they dont produce them one of their main problems was the add together chain from the starting clipping to the consumer.This route was real expensive because they had a lot of suppliers, mostly at the UK. Overall, the company had several problems round the supply chain, likeAll these problems make their supply chain really faint and time-consuming, non evaluating the suppliers nicely, not having a good balance between quantity and mix. Meanwhile, the marketing section had some issues too. They werent able to predict sales, they only do two sales seasons (while the other(a)s made four) and their product development was very slow and expensive. This attempt only had one brand St. Michaels leaving few options of choice to the customer, being the only bearing women between 35 to 55 years old. This brand was focused on classic style clothes and some times out of invent.Operations Management IIn short, the notorious problems in the company were2.2.1. CrisisAll these problems triggered the 1998 crisis, where Luc Vandevelde came as 4th CEO and responsible to change the company with some strategic measures.2.3. Marks & Spencer after reorganization2.3.1. Strategy changesTo create, choose and implement their strategy, all the companies should have in consideration extraneous and internal factors, cordial responsibility and the values of the company. On one hand, the internal factors explain the strengths and weaknesses of the company. On the otherOperations Management Ihand, the external factor relates the opportunities and the threats of the company, showing how that it influences the activity. These two are substantial in strategy creation, only if they are aligned with social responsible and company values.Marks & Spencer relied on its starchy points (e.g. quality), trying to improve their weaknesses (e.g. slow response system). As stated above, the company also had high regard for social responsibility, as well as the companys values.To implement strategy changes, we need to thoughtful these five philosophiesM&S The Total Quality Management is, as the name implies, oriented to summation the quality in the processes of the organization, by creating quality consistency Just in time is a occupation management system that determines that nothing should be produced, transported or purchased beforethe exact time Simultaneous engineering acts on the development of products and is based on the use of engineering processes, manufactures, among other ones The Compression Management is some to reduce processes time cycles Reengineering helps manage through the augmentd efficiency and effectiveness. M&S based their strategy mainly on the first four points above.2.3.2. BrandNowadays, market segmentation is an absolute requirement for the market realities. Market Segmentation is related with a marketing concept and its objective is to enhance a companys abi lity to understand and know its core customers as well as whom its core customers will be in the future. Most segments are formed by come acrossing at certain characteristics such(prenominal) as demographic, geographic, and physiological, amongst others. These segments help the marketer identify very important consumption patterns. Therefore, the customers are treated thence to the firms view regarding what the customers wants or needs and its (the firms) ability to reach those needs in a profitable way. In Mark & Spencer specific case, it uses mostly a demographic segmentation to select its targets market for its products, targeting the customers by age, income, social class and lifestyle. There are 3 different ranges of M&S for Autumn 2001, including The amend and standard Collection, The Autograph and per una.2.3.2.1 The Perfect and Classic CollectionMarketers are progressively more concerned in the expiry of the consumers lifestyle on demand. The market segments serve at th is range, targets of those consumers who have busy lifestyles, therefore intend to free time and feel opportune when buying. This segment is for those customers that find themselves on a more price-orientated basis where they timbre for value at the lowest price. This is why, this range is targeted more on the middle social class and its a timeless collection (and not just the latest fashion) on any body coat of both female and male customers. 2.3.2.2. The AutographThis range is a more specific, fashion-orientated figure of speeched for more come along upper class consumers who seek the good life. The collection in this range is designed by some of the best designers in the business, names such as Julien Macdonald, Philip Treacy and Sonja Nuttall. They have the capability to acquire it with a high street prices which are sold only in luxuriousdepartment stores. This range will normally target on those customers who prefer quality and the best design rather than the actual exis t of the product.This range is targeted on female customers who have a keen sense of fashion, therefore it isnt design for all ages nor all types of women. Per Una has concentrated its costumers to an age group between 25 and 35 with sizes from 8 to 18 (UK sizes) since the women that find themselves within these criteria nowadays do not want to be behind the latest fashion trends. They seek out fresh/new fashion and dress smartly and more importantly other than from another, therefore existing the Limited Edition, with that exact purpose. per una offers a better design and price to target younker and middle-class women.2.4. Order winners and qualifiersThe different ranges that Marks & Spencer have available in the market presents competitive characteristics that beat a costumer feel interested to buy a specific product. There are order qualifiers and order winners for these different ranges The Perfect and Classic Collection (that we assumed that serve essentially the similar ran ge segment), The Autograph and the per una. The first order that we mentioned makes grapheme to the competitive aspects of a product that allows it to be considered by the costumers. On the other hand, order winners relates to the competitive characteristics that makes a product be chose by the interested in a specific product.Therefore, for the three ranges that M&S has available in the market and by the document we were presented to, we anchor some order qualifiers and winners for them.To The Perfect and Classic Collection we realized that size availability is a very important aspect to the costumers, which means that this factor is an order qualifier. In fact, there is a costumer that answered (to the questions that were made to her) that when larger sizes have sold out she gets annoyed. Thereby, some customers will have to go look in other stores to find what they need. About the order winners, in this range, costumers identify quality, price and variety of alter are three im portant aspects as they get interested in a product. Briefly, the item mustiness be value for money and cannot require specialist washing as it has to wash well.In reference to The Autograph range, as it is defined to bring cutting-edge design, it is easy to understand that the most important order qualifier is the exclusive design of a certain item the costumers want to buy a cloth that is one of a kind. Quality is the order winners in this range. When clients are looking for this products, they do not give so much importance to the price.Finally, the per una, a high-quality range, the attractive competitive aspect is the same as in The Autograph range exclusity of design. The order qualifier is the rarity of a product and is engagement . However, the segment of the market that looks for per una has a more concern about the price and, consequently, gives more importance to the value of a certain product. Even they care about the quality (as it must be well made and expected to la st), the order winner in this range is the price that they are up to pay for the item.2.5. Logistics performance objectivesThe planning and control of the organization will allow it to coordinate all the different operations that the organization has. It will grantee that all the materials are in the right place at the right time (just-in-time). Managers must control the operations to make sure that all runs like planned and finds the consumer needs.M&S changed the way to work with their suppliers and it provided a new approach to the market, principally the segment of clothes where they have through massive adjustments to get better performances. They created new divisions, and we will talk about those changes. Logistical department intends the enterprise to adapt itself to the market, so they created a new statistical distribution of products by store and category. In other words, The Perfect and Classic ranges are located in almost all M&S stores because it is a product for the m iddle class, for core customers, with a low and viable price. The Autograph range, is into selected stores for the reason that its high prices cant beat the most competitive brands in the common market and, finally, the per una collection is also in selected stores patronage its competitive price its a series that is very uncommon to find because the production has no repeats and so there is no piece like the other. This decision, to enter in the fashion business with a bigger offer then before, led the company to improve and presented a more efficient distribution of their products to the customers. In an organized way, each one of these brands according to their objective went to a shop strategically pose near to the right target. Like this they would have a faster response to the market resulting in the increase of the competitiveness of M&S.3. ConclusionMarks & Spencer had several problems with the development of their company, having a huge crisis in 1998. To overcome this cr isis, the company made some changes in their strategy in order to return to success.Changes in the supply chain, the marketing department and the increase of sub-brands, for example, led to the increasing of quality, transparency, flexibility and the response of production cycle, elimination of duplicate and gaining of more costumers. Nowadays, the company has a faster supply line, a more efficient marketing department and a huge variety of products, covering a larger number of customers which led to, generally, a better performance of the company.4. Bibliography1. CHASE, Richard B. JACOBS, F. Robert AQUILANO, Nicholas J. Operations Management for Competitive Advantage McGraw-Hill Irwin, 11th edition.2. http//corporate.marksandspencer.com/aboutus/company_overview