Marks & Spencer: Opportunities and Threats in the E-Business Era

Marks and Spencer (M&S) has a major opportunity to enter the e-business market and diversify its products and services in various areas such as food, beauty, electronics, and others. However, it also faces threats from high competition, continuous technology changes, and changing customer demands and preferences. M&S has three major competitors: Next Plc, Tesco Plc, and Asda, each with their own strengths and market share. To achieve its objectives, M&S is adopting a new business strategy to produce environment-friendly products and services in the international market, but this strategy faces challenges such as lack of clear marketing strategy, unsuccessful international growth, and issues related to distribution. Ultimately, an effective business strategy is crucial for organizational success, and M&S must address these challenges to achieve its goals.

STRATEGIC
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
SWOT Analysis of Marks and Spencer..................................................................................4
Major competitors of Marks and Spencer and their competitive position.............................4
New Business strategy............................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Strategic management is as process of planning, organising, evaluating and monitoring
the business strategy for attainment of the objective. In the absence of strategy, business
enterprise can unable to compete with rivals in the market. In the present time, there are huge
competition in the fashion industry thus, organisation which deals in fashion have to formulate
such effective and competitive strategy by which it can survive in the market in a smooth manner
(Adar and et.al.,2016). The following report provides the depth knowledge and understanding
about the business environment and current trend and development about the fashion industry. In
this report, a systematic analysis of business environment and its major competitors and their
competitive position has been also addressed with respect of Marks and Spencer. It is one of the
famous fashion retail outlet which deals with fashionable clothing and accessories.
MAIN BODY
Business environment is consisted with mixture of internal and external components and
these factors largely affect the organisation and its business activities and functions. In the
context of external environment various force may affect the business firm that is political,
economical, social, cultural, legal and technological. While business unit operates its business in
the market then it has to consider these component and organise activities accordingly.
Stakeholders are another major component in the business environment which largely affects to
business (Amran, Ooi and Devi, 2015). In this includes suppliers, customers, government,
employees, investors etc. In the context of Marks and Spencer, it is one of the famous retail
outlet which have large numbers of competitors in the market. While it operates its business in
the market, it has to consider following components of business environment- Political- This is major component of business environment of Marks and Spencer as it is
fashion outlet so it has to pay the tax according to the government declaration. In addition
to this it has to follow the rules, regulation, code of conduct etc. These rules and
regulation must be applied on the business activities and function of the Marks and
Spencer like marketing, advertising, sales, promotion etc. Social and cultural- Social factor related to the customer and their choice, taste,
preferences, life style, education, income level, culture, beliefs, region etc. Marks and
Spencer is a fashion outlet which deals with fashion accessories and clothing so it must
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consider this component related to customer, taste, preferences, cultural and social value.
By this doing, it can able to meet the expectation of the customer and earn the
profitability (Anton, 2015).
 Economical- Economical component is another major element in the business
environment of Marks and Spencer under which it affected by the interest rate, pricing
policies, inflation, recession etc. While it sets the prices about the product and services
then it has to consider the economical condition of the country.
Illustration 1: Business Environment
Source: Bahadir, Bharadwaj and Srivastava, 2015.
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 Technological- Due to continuous changing technology like online shopping,
e-commerce etc can largely affect the process and service of Marks and Spencer.
Company have to adopt the new technological and made changes in the operation
according to the trend of technology. Environmental- This component of business environment includes natural resources like
weather, climate, raw material, air, water etc. As per the research it has been founded that
cited firm is considered on the renewable and environment friendly product and services
so as it can maintain its market share (Bull and et.al., 2016).
 Legal- UK government has been made some legislation and law for the business,
consumer and employees which company have to follow at the time of operation. For
instance, consumer goods act, employment right act, business registration act etc.
As per the above discussion it has been ascertained that there are various kinds of factors
of external business environment of the Marks and Spencer which largely affect the cited
venture. In order to identify the internal competency, its competitors and strategic position in the
UK market, Porter Five force can apply in the cited venture. With assistance of Porter Five force
model, internal efficiency and competitive position of Marks and Spencer can analysed- Bargaining power of Suppliers-For the Marks and Spencer, bargaining power of the
supplier is low because cited firm is huge listed company with a massive turnover. It
brands name is sufficient to distribute the product and services in the market (Gonzalez-
Padron, Hult and Ferrell, 2016). Therefore, Cited venture is not as dependent on the
suppliers as other stores. Bargaining power of Buyers- In the Marks and Spencer, bargaining power of buyer is
high because buyer have various option and alternative for the similar product and
services in the market. In addition to this, the concentration of buyers is high and they can
dedicate their rules and taste. Threat of Entrants- In the Marks and Spencer organisation, threat of new entrants is low
because as it is one of the big brand in the UK market so new business organisation have
to invest large capital for operate the business similar as Marks and Spencer. Threats of Substitute- The Threat of substitute is high of the Marks and Spencer. As it is
a consumer good retailer and it has large numbers of competitors in the market so
consumer can buy the similar product with lower prices.
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 Competitive Rivalry- As Marks and Spencer is the world famous retail outlet in the UK
which deals with customer goods and services. It has large numbers of competitors like
Tesco, Sainsbury, Aldi etc. Thus it can be said that Marks and Spencer have large number
of competitors.
SWOT Analysis of Marks and Spencer
 Strength- Marks and Spencer have high and excellent quality of products and services. It
stores are situated in the high streets in the UK so customer can easily reach there. It has
very healthy relationship with suppliers and large market share in the retail stores.
 Weakness- The major weakness of the Marks and Spencer is that it have old and
classical fashion image and its advertising is also poor. In addition to this it has poor
technological infrastructure through which advertising and promotion has become also
poor. (Grünig and Kühn, 2015)
 Opportunity- Enter into the E-business is major opportunity of the Marks and Spencer.
In addition to this, diversified its product and services in various area like food, beauty,
electronics and other product is another opportunity for the cited venture.
 Threats- Marks and Spencer have high number of competitors that is its major threat in
the market. Furthermore, continuous changing technology is another major challenge for
the cited venture. Moreover, regular changing customer demand and choice about the
product and services is another threat for the cited venture.
Major competitors of Marks and Spencer and their competitive position
Marks and Spencer have about 345 department stores throughout the UK. It boasts about
480 locations in the 60 countries. It has been in business for more than 125 year so it has major
three competitors that is Next Plc, Tesco and Asda. Its competitive position and market share are
as follows-
 Next Plc- Next Plc is the major competitor of the Marks and Spencer which offers
clothing, footwear, accessories and home products. It has 200 stores in 37 countries in
Asia and Europe a d the middle east.
 Asda- ASDA is another major competitors of the Marks and Spencer which operates
nearly 600 food and general merchandise stores along with supermarket and superstores.
 Tesco Plc- Tesco Plc is number one retailer in the UK which have 7800 stores in 14
countries. In Europe , Asia and north America.
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New Business strategy
The major objective of market and Spencer is to deliver the high quality of product and
services to customer and earn the maximum market share. In addition to this, its new strategy for
attain its objective is produce environment friendly product and services in the international
market. With assistance of this new strategy, cited venture can easily gain the high market share
and customer attraction (Houdet, Trommetter and Weber, 2012). This new strategy assist to
business enterprise in developing new brand image in the market. Thus, it considers on the
innovative approaches and creativity through which it can meet the needs and wants of the
customer in the market by deliver environment friendly product and services in the international
market. However, as per the research it has founded that recently Marks and Spencer is facing
some kind of issue related to this environment friendly product strategy which are as follows-
 Lack of clear marketing strategy- Company have lack of knowledge about the effective
and suitable marketing strategy this it is another major issue for deliver the environment
friendly product and services in the international market.
 Unsuccessful international growth- In the international market, deliver the environment
friendly product is quite questionable because there are 315 stores in 41 countries. At the
starting stage sales were up by 12 % and profit up by 21%.
 Issue related to the distribution- As per the research it has been founded that Marks and
Spencer have many stores are located in the wrong place that is why they have very low
sales.
CONCLUSION
From this report it has been concluded that business strategy is very important aspect for
the organisation to attain the success in the competitive market. In the absence of effective
planning and strategy, company can not gain the long term outcomes. It has been also
ascertained that Marks and Spencer is facing the various kind of issue for implementing the new
strategy of produce the environment friendly product in the international market that is lack of
marketing strategy, unsuccessful international growth, issue related to the distribution etc.
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REFERENCES
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