This report discusses the changes in the macro and micro environment of Primark, a fast fashion retailer. It analyzes the political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors affecting the company. It also suggests strategies and tactics that Primark can apply to deal with the challenges in the industry.
Contribute Materials
Your contribution can guide someone’s learning journey. Share your
documents today.
Retail Theory and Practice
Secure Best Marks with AI Grader
Need help grading? Try our AI Grader for instant feedback on your assignments.
Table of Contents Retail Theory and Practice/Practical...............................................................................................1 INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3 MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3 Relevant Changes in Macro-Environment...................................................................................3 Relevant changes in Micro-Environment....................................................................................5 Strategies and Tactics that Primark can apply.............................................................................6 Recommendation.........................................................................................................................8 CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9 REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
INTRODUCTION Primark, an Irish fast fashion retailer founded in 1969 and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The store and fashion retailer is subsidiary of food processing and retail company ABF. The company operates at Europe and United States at around 373 locations. Products of the company are clothing, cosmetic and house wares. The area served by the company is Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Slovenia, UK and US. First store of company was started at Dublin in 1969 and its success in Ireland led to its international expansion. The company was initially started as Penneys and in Ireland is known as Penneys but outside Ireland company operates as Primark. Product range of the company includes baby, childrenclothing,womenswear,menswear,homewear,accessories,footwearandbeauty products. Primark competes with Zara and H&M and contributes to contemporary and fast fashion.This report will discuss changes in its macro environment with help of PESTLE Analysis and analysis of its micro environment which includes analysis of competitors and internal analysis of the company. Later strategies that company can use will be discussed and suggested in the report and what retailers can do to deal with challenges. MAIN BODY Relevant Changes in Macro-Environment External environment and more specifically macro environment is ever changing and changes which are difficult to predict. This can be identified and understood with the help of PESTLE analysis model. The model provides information about factors which exist in Macro environment of the Primark. These factors are- Political Political factor plays significant role in operations of the company and Primark operates its business in many countries and get exposed to political certainties of all those countries (Perera, 2017). Some of the factors which are included in this factor of Primark are political stability and how important retail sector in the economy of respective country. Interference of the government in the retail industry and Primark also distributes in many countries so one of the
important factor which affect Primark and its profitability in any country is trade regulations and tariffs related to consumer service. Primark is a Irish company this is why Brexit and political situation in the country also impact the business. This also affects business of Primark in the UK and their policies and taxation and policies. Economic This factor of the macro environment determines inflation rates, saving and expenditure rates, interest rate and foreign exchange rate etc. Factors which affect Primark and its business in particular country are expenditure rate, stability of the economic system because stable economic system helps in prediction of long term potential impact of the country on the profitability of the Primark (Rastogi and Trivedi, 2016). Currency and its stability in the particular country is also important factor in this environment. Social This is one of the most important factors for Primark because the company deals in fashion and clothing products and the change in the industry is very frequent and unpredictable. Primark needs to timely analyse these environment so that it can keep with the changes. Some of the factors which impact and affect this environment are demographic and skill level of the people. This is important because Primark sell its product online to other countries and people who can buy from online mediums will only be its customers. Culture of the country and what type of clothes they like to use and perception of the people of respective country about online shopping are factors to consider in this environment. Technological This factor is not likely to affect business of Primark because its products are clothes and accessories but what affects this is technology being used by company to deliver its product. Factors in this environment of Primark are, utility of its website and its usability in the different country. How well the website can present the products and offerings to the people of various countries.Anothertechnologicalfactorthataffectsthisenvironmentofthecompanyis technology and value chain activities of the company and effectiveness of technology in its value chain structure.
Paraphrase This Document
Need a fresh take? Get an instant paraphrase of this document with our AI Paraphraser
Legal This includes rules and regulations governing retail business and online activities in particular companies where Primark is operating (Banahene, Ahudey and Mensah, 2016). This environment of Primark also includes rules for export and import of the business. Primark also have to consider data protection law as this is a online business. Environmental This factor includes impact of environment on the activities of the Primark. The factors that affect this environment of the Primark are physical environment of the country where Primark is operating and its product offerings which get affected from Weather and climate of a country. For Example, Primark have to consider climate and weather for its product offerings. For example in winter it has to offer winter clothing. Attitude of the country for green and ecological products is another factor for Primark to consider in this environment. Relevant changes in Micro-Environment Micro environment and its factors equally affect the business and they affect more closely but the only difference is that micro environmental factors are semi controllable and internal factors in this are totally controllable (Ho, P.H., 2016). To Analyse these factors of Primark Five Force model can be used. This model includes competitive forces of the company and these are- Competitive rivalry within the industry In this competitive force of the Primark it can be said that Primark position is at moderate level. This is because Primark have many competitors like Zara, H&M, Zalando, Boohoo, Missguided etc. and all these competitors create strong competitive rivalry within industry. This is why Primark stands at moderate level because of its wide network and position in the industry. Bargaining Power of the Buyers This is the power of the buyers which means customers of a company. Primark in this competitive force can determine its position based on two factors which are number of buyers and number of sellers. For Primark both these are high in number, less number of buyer
strengthen power of buyers in the competitive force and less number of sellers strengthens competitive position of the seller in the industry (Ho, P.H., 2016). Position of Primark in this competitive force is at moderate level because the number of seller and number of buyer both are high in number. SWOT Analysis of Primark This analysis gives knowledge about internal factors of the company and how they can be capitalized for utilizing external opportunities and restrain impact of threats on the operations of the company. Strengths Highly skilled workforce, Primark has provided excellent training programs for its employees and this have resulted in highly skilled workforce of the company (Sarathe, A and et.al., 2018). Strong Brand portfolio of the company is strength of Primark. Strong distribution network is also strength of Primark and have managed to distribute its products in many countries. Weakness Marketing efforts of the company are limited. Company’s investment in new technologies is not sufficient. Profitability ratio is below than average of the industry. Opportunities LowerinflationrateisopportunityofthePrimark.Upgradingtechnologyalsoprovides opportunity for the Primark. New trends and changing customer behaviour and outlook for online shopping is also an opportunity for the company. Threats Increasing pay level of the employees is a threat for the company (Sarathe, A and et.al., 2018). Shortage of skilled workforce in certain economies is also a threat that can affect performance of the company.
Strategies and Tactics that Primark can apply From the analysis of the Macro environment of the Primark it can be said that some of the major changesthat company might have to face are in its technologicaland social environment (Schawel and Billing, 2018). Social environment includes changes in taste and preference of the customers and technological environment includes technological advancement of the competitors and uses of technology for marketing of the companies which is limited in context of Primark. These are most relevant influence for the operations of the company. Regarding strategies that company can employ, it can use strategies from the Ansoff Matrix. This model provides four type of strategy that company can employ. The strategies are- Market Penetration This strategy is for existing product and existing market and this is a suitable strategy for Primark. Primark operates and sell its products in many countries and this is why it does not need to develop any new market (Dawes, 2018). In this market company can increase and strengthen its exiting market reach and this can be done by improving marketing and promotional efforts of the company. Primark needs to enhance its marketing and promotional efforts and for this company can use technology and digital marketing. Product Development This strategy includes development of new product and existing market. This strategy includes that company develop new products and sell these products in existing market of the company. Primark can use this strategy in its existing market by developing and increasing its product range. Market Development This strategy includes development of new markets and selling existing products in that market. Market and reach of Primark is already very large and increased and this is why this strategy not very suitable for the company. This strategy can be utilized by the company by developing markets in the countries where Primark sell its products. Diversification
Secure Best Marks with AI Grader
Need help grading? Try our AI Grader for instant feedback on your assignments.
This strategy includes development of new products and development of new markets for the company. Primark can apply this strategy but this strategy possesses highest risk (Loredana, 2016). This strategy requires that company starts everything from zero and its existing image and reputation does not have much effect on success as the products are also new along with market. From the analysis of its macro environment and its changes it can be suggested that Primark should adopt and implement Market Penetration strategy is best for the Primark. The strategy will include penetrating the existing market and this can be done by efficient marketing efforts. Marketing efforts of the company are limited and at the same time company also lack in technological development and technology uses. While implementation of the strategy Primark can enhance and increase its marketing and technology can be used by Primark to market and promote its products. This strategy can also include that Primark bring new products and keep up with changing trends and consumer preferences (Peng, 2017). Primark can bring green and environment friendly products to attract customers who are willing to buy such products and in addition, this is ever increasing trend. Marketing of the Primark is also one of its weaknesses and this will reduce impact of its weakness on its success. Competition is another challenge and with this strategy and enhanced marketing efforts company will be able to deal with that challenge as well. Recommendation Primark is facing some challenges and these are related with competition and changes of macro environment. Challenges of Primark are regarding its competition because competition in retail industry is very tough and Primark needs to deal with it. For this Primark can improve its marketing efforts by focusing on its marketing mix. Attrition of employees is another challenge for Primark and this is very difficult and important because Primark invest significant amount for training of its employees and then their turnover is loss for the Primark (Leonidou and et.al., 2017). Regarding this Primark should take actions which legally bind employees with the company and along with this company should also work on its human resource management practices and motivational aspect of the employees.
Technology aspect also needs be paid attention by the Primark. This is because this factor and aspect is an opportunity and as well as weakness for the company. Company needs to make investment for its technology. CONCLUSION On the basis of above analysis it can be concluded Primark gets affected from macro environment and this environment includes affect from various countries and their environment specifically political and social environment of various countries affect Primark. The reason behind this is that Primark is a company that operates in many countries and its products are supplied and sold to around 13 countries. This is why Primark needs to identify and analyse impact of all the factors from all the countries in which company supply its products. The main focus of the company remains on the countries which are potentially highly profitable for the company.
REFERENCES Books and Journals Banahene, S., Ahudey, E. and Mensah, C., 2016. Analysis of Macro Environment for Strategy Implementation:WhatisimportanttoHandicraftExportOrganisationsin Ghana?.International Journal of Business Management and Economic Research.7(3). pp.632-642. Dawes, J., 2018. The Ansoff Matrix: A Legendary Tool, But with Two Logical Problems.But with Two Logical Problems (February 27, 2018). Ho, P.H., 2016. Analysis of competitive environments, business strategies, and performance in Hong Kong’s construction industry.Journal of Management in Engineering.32(2). p.04015044. Leonidou, L.C and et.al., 2017. Internal drivers and performance consequences of small firm green business strategy: The moderating role of external forces.Journal of business ethics.140(3). pp.585-606. Loredana, E.M., 2016. The Use Of Ansoff Matrix In The Field Of Business. InMATEC Web of Conferences(Vol. 44, p. 01006). Ortega, A.M.G. and Okechukwu, C.U.U., 2017. Strategic means to launch business-Primark in Denmark. Peng,M.W.,2017.Cultures,institutions,andstrategicchoices:Towardaninstitutional perspectiveonbusinessstrategy.TheBlackwellhandbookofcross‐cultural management, pp.52-66. Perera, R., 2017.The PESTLE analysis. Nerdynaut. Rastogi, N.I.T.A.N.K. and Trivedi, M.K., 2016. PESTLE technique–a tool to identify external risksinconstructionprojects.InternationalResearch JournalofEngineeringand Technology (IRJET).3(1). pp.384-388. Sarathe, A and et.al., 2018. Recent Trends and SWOT Analysis of Food-Processing Industry Infrastructure in India: A Review.Bull. Env. Pharmacol. Life Sci.7. pp.107-116. Schawel, C. and Billing, F., 2018. Ansoff-Matrix. InTop 100 Management Tools(pp. 31-33). Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden.