Future of the Retail Store Assignment PDF

The Future of the Retail Store: David Jones

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Overview of the Company...............................................................................................................3
Contemporary Operational Practices of David Jones......................................................................3
Implementation of the E-Business Model to David Jones...............................................................4
Evaluation and Application of Various E-Commerce Business Strategy Models..........................5
Information Technology Challenges Faced by the David Jones on Adopting E-Business Practices
.........................................................................................................................................................6
Recommendations............................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References......................................................................................................................................10

Introduction
In the contemporary world of business-oriented markets, a majority of the organizations
are implementing effective strategies for overall and sustainable development. Due to rise in
globalization and privatization, business operations have become more competent in nature.
Customer attraction and retention are explored as a major problem for the functioning business in
the existing times. Therefore, implications of internet technology are incorporated by companies
to enhance the factor of accessibility and contact with the customers. In the simple context, in
order to gain more business opportunities and market possession, companies start implementing
internet practices to business models. This further helps in ornamenting convenience for the
company by availing things at a distance of single click (Laudon and Traver, 2013).
Considering the following relations, this report is undertaken to present an enlightening
discussion about the e-commerce practices that are adopted by the organizations. In order to
validate the aim and objectives of this report, a comprehensive discussion about David Jones,
which is an Australian department store, is considered in the study. The research report will
present descriptive information about the operational processes of the company. Along with this,
it will also explore the benefits and challenges of implementing e-commerce business practices
to David Jones. Furthermore, some recommendations will also be proposed for the company to
information technology challenges.
Overview of the Company
David Jones Limited is an Australian departmental owned since the year 2014 by a South
African retail group known as Woolworths Holdings Limited. In 1838, David Jones was founded

by Mr. David Jones after his immigration to Australia. He was a Welsh merchant and future
politician at the time. David Jones is registered as the oldest departmental store in the world,
which is still functional under its original name. In the present times, David Jones has expanded
to a great extent by owning 35 stores and 2 warehouse outlets. The foremost orientation behind
David Jones Limited was to provide the best quality and exclusive everyday need stock for
mankind. Gradually, with the passage of time, David Jones retired from the business and handled
the management to his business partners (David Jones, 2018).
The first parental store of David Jones was situated in front of the General Post Office, on
the main artery of the new town. Since starting, the company got a prosperous response from the
Sydney gentry as well as the country settlers to buy products such as fabrics, silks, cotton, and
ginghams. After the retirement of Mr. Jones, the store was gravely affected and the assets were
assigned to the trustees. Afterward, Jones returned back out of retirement, took loans and worked
hard with his son Edward Lloyd Jones to regain the store's market value and business
opportunities. His son traveled around the world in order to bring effective practices of retailing,
which included the concept of "departmental store" from European countries (David Jones,
2018).
Contemporary Operational Practices of David Jones
Since 1838, the business operations of the market have changed to a great extent; still,
David Jones made impending efforts to justify its commitment of providing world-class services
along with loyalty program and brand innovation for the customers. With the preliminary of the
decade, David Jones entered the Western Australian market by presenting David Jones
Shareholder Rewards Program and new website of the company. Appointment of brand

ambassadors from the Australian celebrity market potentially facilitated David Jones in
establishing the brand connection with the Australian customers. Considerations of the company
laid especially emphasize over the attributes of store service and visual merchandising. As a
result, at Adelaide Central Plaza, the reconstructed store was awarded the prestigious
international award for being the best newly completed store in the world (David Jones, 2018).
Moreover, in present times, the company also eased the in-store services like Personal
Shopping and Bridal on Seven at Elizabeth Street by investing a large sum of money. In addition
to this, the functionalities of the company are also aligned to establish its digital presence and
strategic partnerships in the market. The future objectives of the company are further aimed to
get directed as an Omni Channel Retailer of the emerging market. In the year 2013, David Jones
achieved a great milestone of successfully completing 175 years in the retailing business. The
stores and business of the company are still functional under its original name and parental
associations. The market acceptance of the company rose to such extent that it is now considered
as a synonym for style and progress (David Jones, 2018).
Implementation of the E-Business Model to David Jones
In order to deal with the competitiveness of the contemporary business-oriented market,
David Jones incorporated the practices of online business. The foremost rationale behind the
following implementation is to enhance the accessibility and market possession by gaining better
and profitable business opportunities from all around the world. The three-point strategy
implemented by the David Jones facilitated the company by providing a 40% write-down profits.
Out of the three, development of an e-commerce store is considered as the most significant and
innovative element of the strategy. The development, charge, and maintenance of the online store

were outsourced to Mondo Digital. The orientation of the company has now transferred from
traditional marketing to online shopping in order to capitalize on the flourishing online market
(Pickernell, et al. 2013).
Even, Adriane McDermott, the general manager for David Jones’ digital marketing also
admitted the association of Omni-channel strategy to provide world-class facilities for browsing
and shopping brand’s portfolio. There is no denying the fact that David Jones has taken a long
time to implement the following business strategy, which could have added to the profit ratios of
the company if implemented earlier. Being taken into e-commerce business by David Jones is an
influential indication towards the popularity of online shopping. It helped the company in
gaining fundamental business opportunity in the modern society. Overall, incorporation of e-
commerce business practices by organizations such as David Jones is a considerable action to
justify the advancement of online business over the traditional business in the modern scenario
(Jones, et al. 2011).
Evaluation and Application of Various E-Commerce Business Strategy Models
E-Commerce Business can be considered as a large and complex term in itself due to its
association with diverse business entities of the market. The classification of the following
business type is further made in the mode of operations of business policies. For instance,
Business-to-Business (B2B) is considered as the most commonly known strategy. In it,
maximum transactions are made through electronic means for dealing in goods and services.
This practice is usually integrated by the companies having conventional producers, wholesalers,
and retailers. Afterward, Business-to-Consumer (B2C) is also a crucial business strategy model.

In it, the end connections are made between the business and the end customer. Such models are
used generally in retail online business (Zott, Amit, and Massa, 2011).
Another online business strategy, which can be implemented, is Consumer-to-Consumer
(C2C), in which a third party acts as a mediator in making the deal of one consumer with
another. It is usually accommodating for sites, where used items are sold and purchased. In
addition to this, Consumer-to-Business (C2B) is also a potential strategy, which is self-
explanatory in itself. Here, consumers directly contact business entities to deal for products or
services. Furthermore, in Business-to-Administration (B2A) model, e-commerce transactions are
processed to make dealings between public administration and companies. Some potential
examples of B2A are businesses such as legal documentation, employment services, and fiscal
measures. Besides, Consumer-to-Administration (C2A) is a model operational between
individuals and administration for businesses such as distance learning, data sharing tax filling
and many more (Teece, 2010).
Information Technology Challenges Faced by the David Jones on Adopting E-Business
Practices
Considering all the relevant aspects of David Jones, it is explored that the organization
faces some crucial information technology challenges on adopting E-Business practices. For
instance, generation of properly targeted traffic over the website is an imperative factor for the
company. Therefore, the accomplishment of various operations such as SEO, Social media,
retargeting and PPC are undertaken by David Jones. Along with this, evaluation of correct
product to sell at the portal is also a predicament for David Jones as it justifies the interest and
allegiance of the customers. Moreover, capturing of quality leads from the generated traffic is

also a crucial challenge for the organizations of contemporary scenario. Despite having
significant traffic on the online store, conversion rates of quality leads varies from 1% to 3%,
resulting in depletion of the marketing efforts of the company (Galliers and Leidner, 2014).
Besides, another challenge, which influences the overall functionality of David Jones, is
fostering the ideal projection as it becomes sterile to have a long list of emails without any
association and engagement with the customers. Along with this, firm actions to renovate
shoppers to paying customers for the marketing campaign of David Jones could help in driving
quality traffic and lead conversion. Furthermore, retaining of existing and loyal customers is also
a critical challenge for the company because the attraction of new customers is an expensive as
compared to retain existing customers. In addition to this, future prospects are also explored as a
considerable dispute for David Jones, which can be overcome by implementing effective
operational practices to gain overall and sustainable development of the company (Turban, et al.
2008).
Recommendations
In order to overcome the information technology and e-business issues, David Jones is
proposed with some potential recommendations, which are discussed below:
 In order to facilitate the government with better shopping experiences, David Jones is
recommended to micro-target on the online shoppers. It will enhance the credibility and
customer engagement with the organization (Maswera, Edwards and Dawson, 2009).
 David Jones is further suggested to develop influential content to enhance the factor of
stickiness between the customer and the company. For instance, Amazon facilitates the

customers to share their opinions about books and various. This will help in advancing
customer obligations for David Jones like Amazon (Liang and Turban, 2011).
 In order to enhance the customer’s shopping experience, the company is advised to
improvise the overall browsing experience by promoting the incorporation of target
segments search (Huang and Benyoucef, 2013).
 Furthermore, David Jones is also directed to integrate across various channels because
integration of multi-channel offerings will help the company in gaining the benefits of
brand consistency among the customers (Hsiao, et al. 2010).
 The company can also expand the business practices simply by investing in mobiles.
Generation of an effective mobile platform for David Jones will assist the company in
overall and sustainable business development as the mobile business is growing at the
rate of 130 percent annually (Cenfetelli, Benbasat, and Al-Natour, 2008).
 In addition to this, another recommendation for David Jones is to bypass the involvement
of middlemen. Such implications will facilitate the company as well as its customers in
cost relations (Hsu, Chuan-Chuan Lin and Chiang, 2013).
Conclusion
Considering the aforementioned arguments and discussions, it can be inferred that due to
rise in competition and globalization of business markets, e-business has become the latest trend.
The foremost reason behind such implications is its contribution to enhancing the overall
accessibility, customer assistance support. In addition to this, it also facilitates the organization in
presenting a wide range of products and services for potential customers in the virtual world.
Considering the following aspects, this report is considered to discuss all the relevant attributes

of e-commerce business. In order to justify the purpose of this report, business practices of David
Jones, which is an Australian upper market departmental store, is also involved in this study.
The report has crucially analyzed the current operational practices of David Jones in the
retail business. Furthermore, the discussion has also emphasized the implementation and
evaluation of e-business model to the functionality of David Jones. The auxiliary discussions
have also explored some potential IT challenges that the organization might fail after e-business
model Implementation. On the basis of that, some potential recommendations are proposed for
David Jones to overcome the upcoming challenges. Overall, it can be concluded that this report
has crucially analyzed the future of David Jones by aligning it to the latest e-business model
strategy.

References
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