Debenhams Case Study: Business Development Strategy

This case study delves into Debenhams PLC, a multinational retail chain, examining its operational effectiveness, performance gaps, and strategic initiatives. The analysis covers the importance of efficient operations, including demand management, inventory control, and technological integration. It identifies performance gaps related to profitability, internal knowledge, and competition within the UK retail market. The study further explores Debenhams' creativity in business, suggesting improvements in product presentation, service delivery, and marketing strategies, such as loyalty programs and social media engagement. Staff relationships are analyzed within the organizational hierarchy, focusing on line and staff authority, and the advantages and disadvantages of different management structures. Finally, the case study examines relationship marketing strategies, emphasizing the importance of customer relationships in driving sales and brand loyalty. The document provides a comprehensive overview of Debenhams' business challenges and opportunities, offering valuable insights into retail management and business development.

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Debenhams Case Study
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Table of Contents
Q1. Importance of effective operation ability within Debenhams PLC..........................................3
Q2. Performance Gap at Debenhams PLC......................................................................................4
Q3. Creativity business at Debenhams PLC....................................................................................7
Q4. Staff relationship at Debenhams PLC.......................................................................................9
Q5. Relationship marketing within Debenhams PLC....................................................................10
Reference.......................................................................................................................................12

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Q1. Importance of effective operation ability within Debenhams PLC
Debenhams is a multinational retail chain in United Kingdom that also operates on 172
all other different location across UK, Denmark and Ireland. The UK head office in Oxford
Street has 1500 staff and small four offices in the current site (Debenhams.com. 2017).
The operation process of the company consists of review and update of the packages and
distribution and tracking of the products. The retail outlet of Debenhams houses different brands
as well as its own in-house brands. With the clothing brands, they also sell food, beauty and
gifts. Some of the new brands are Betty Jackson Black ladies fashion brand, Jeff Banks
menswear. Other services given by the store are credit card services, loyalty card programs
(Campaignlive.co.uk, 2017).
The company is solely dependent on the retail operation across the country. To get the
system in order and dealing efficiently with the multiple suppliers, inventory locations and
distribution centres an effective operation plan is needed. Standardising the process the
distribution channel is part of the operation process. The following is the process description
with importance and effectiveness of the process (Hopkin 2017).
 Focus on demand management and order taking, inventory management – to effectively
manage the orders processing in an omnichannel business, the demand and order figures
should be tallied. The record keeping is important for getting the correct information and
transparent order processing (Priest and Gass 2017). The accounts created from the
website of the company of the suppliers and the customers should be given emphasis.
Keeping the proper pace between the demand and sale is of utmost importance for retail.

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 Team building for the purpose of tackling reports – to assimilate a proper report on the
function of demand generated periodically and identifying and also analysing the results
got from the decisions is essential (Priest and Gass 2017). The information that will be
gathered from the report will help in decision making of the company. It can also be used
in strategising the potential of Debenhams in meeting customer demand.
 Technology – The retail chain Debenhams has been in the business for two decades.
Thus, they also have adapted to the technological boom that has happened in the late
90’s. The software’s consolidation all the operations and functions are important to use.
The ERP, logistics and servicing software are very crucial to use the resources efficiently.
Exporting the data and using Business Intelligence tools are very important for analysing
the performance of the business (Hopkin 2017). Pitney Bowes’ Sendsuite package
tracking and delivery software has been separately installed in Debenhams, which
automates the receipt and distribution of mail.
 Deliver with keeping in mind about the customer satisfaction – Debenhams soft services
team is allocated with services that conduct customer management. As per the market
research of the team the main criteria that has been found to affect the sales is the
consumer attitude and taste (Hopkin 2017). The “Midult” has been the target of the
company for the last five years.
Q2. Performance Gap at Debenhams PLC
The company has 153 stores in 23 countries. The performance gaps identified is in
profitability of the Debenhams (Debenhams.com. 2017). The internal performance of the

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company is in knowledge gap, which can causes sales problems (Vlachos 2014). Other gaps can
be in skills, ability and motivation. The company certainly does not have gap in ability to
perform, but if the employees are not fit for the job the performance gets affected. The company
faced an issue related 3rd party application performing badly (Campaignlive.co.uk, 2017). This
affected their performance in maintaining the downtime in delivery. This also affected in
financial performance of the company (Vlachos 2014). The network of the company and servers
in Debenhams are joined with the application named Verify solutions and leading
methodologies. This software solution helps them in quickly capturing details of traffic of
information and based on the result generate reports (Priest and Gass 2017). The IT personnel
use this application at their advantage (Vlachos 2014). However, they must acknowledge the
relevancy of the information. The random information for service network manager is essential
for improvement. The quality of performance is very crucial to consider based on the feedback of
the company. The financial performance has indicated the downfall in sales in 2017. The
volatility in the sales performance as well as in the retail market has affected negatively
(Muchina and Okello 2016)y. Competing with Marks and Spencer has hit lower bottom though
the Food sale has increased. As the Brick and Mortar, industry is getting tougher to compete with
in UK (Muchina and Okello 2016). However, the diversified companies are looking for recovery
in the gaps from the clothing section of retail in Debenhams. The company has restricted its
target population with the Midult women and millennial. Therefore, not being able to sell the
products to other age people and minimising their reach affects their overall performance
(Goossens et al. 2017). The main performance gap is also in not having strong in-house brands.
As the mobile customers are increasing maintaining different store outlet has become expensive
form them (Muchina and Okello 2016). That is why they are also looking to close 11 warehouses

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also with the increase in shop prices (Debenhams.com. 2017). This is also to focus on the
sociable marketing of the company. The venture in the foreign countries is not as successful. The
Return on investment of opening many shops in Hungary, Malaysia and the Middle East has
decreased the profitability of the company overall (Muchina and Okello 2016).

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Q3. Creativity business at Debenhams PLC
Debenhams was initially very effective in innovation in the retail outlets. The posh
outlets were very creative in design and development. The new lighting in the department stores
was introduced in the last years, which increased their attraction in the stores. Housing different
premium fashion brands of UK made them very important icon in Oxford street fashion giant.
Not only in the appearance had the company innovated their products and services very
efficiently in the last five years (Campaignlive.co.uk, 2017). The loyalty card programs, branded
beauty clubs and customers health and beauty products were crucial for improving the overall
sales of the company (Campaignlive.co.uk, 2017).
Though the business has slowed down in the performance, some of the ideas can be
suggested to improve the marketing function of Debenhams. In the product, presentation section
the target market must be paid a visit for predicting the consumer’s taste and preference as well
as the expectations of the customers. This will ensure the innovation and creativity is coordinated
with the customer choice. The service rendered by the company must include the customer
testimonials to ensure the transparency in their services that have been provided (Iwu et al.
2016). Planning a proper effective discount plan can also improve the perception of the
customers in bargaining process. The brand strategy should be based on the superior services and
offering the concierge service can uplift the process. The dedicated customer service or online
service should be backed with the online chat (Lang et al. 2016). The personal stylist
appointments can be given as a benefit for the company and participation in the advisory board
for more opportunity. Collaborating with Amazon can make the process easy for the company to
tap into better market opportunities for company (Lang et al. 2016)y. Improvement in the

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process can be done through the transactional emails and thus it can encourage the target
customers to generate the more attraction and also encourage in repeat visits (Moeran 2016). The
customer data can be recorded after keeping the data to create more relevant target and drive
sales. Value added retail content in marketing through the social media could increase the loyalty
changes in the program. To leverage loyalty of the customers the offering discounts can be
improve the effort of the company to increase customer satisfaction (Iwu et al. 2016). Enhancing
the customer engagement and store profits can benefit the optimisation process. Brand
management is necessary for the company to maximise the retail clothing (Moeran 2016). The
loyalty programs in this area are effective to be implemented as maximising the sales is
necessary for the company. Retail marketing experts suggests that interactive loyalty assessments
and retail blog increases customer engagement and attraction of the store is useful for
Debenhams to consider. Generating a Buzz and creating smart social selling plan can be
suggested for the company (Johnston et al. 2013). To increase marketing performance of the
company the advertisements, newspaper ads, magazines, different publications and social media
selling in the company can be given more emphasis in increasing brand performance. Moving
the stores in the popular and area where the traffic of shoppers is maximum can also improve the
business of the company (Johnston et al. 2013).

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Q4. Staff relationship at Debenhams PLC
Debenhams is fully operated by the organisation’s hierarchy. The key people in the
organisation are Sir Ian Cheshire, the Chairperson and Sergio Butcher CEO. The marketing
manager of the company is Richard, as well as the marketing functions advisor. The financial
analyst and marketing specialist are the ones who like to embody the whole staff relationship of
the company. Line authority and staff authority are the ones who take care of the uninterrupted
staff relationship taken for the organisation (Jordan and Lloyd 2017). Most of the time the floor
managers are one who coordinates with line managers for decision taking. The function of
people in a pure staff their capacity is to investigate research and give advice to the line
managers.
The staff hierarchy has responsibility in the department of support. They support the line
function managers and personnel management. The staff managers do not have direct control
over the line employees. The difference in the two hierarchies in modern practise is in the job
roles. The jobs have both elements of different types of functions. The staff relationship has
different advantage. This tries to maintain the clarity in relationship, unity of command over their
staff, promptness in decision-making, effectiveness in coordination among the employees, fixed
responsibility and discipline among the employees (Wright and Khatri 2015). There are also
disadvantages in maintaining this kind of hierarchy. The difficulty in staffing relationship in this
method is concentration of the authority, lack of specialisation, lesser motivation, ineffective
communication as well as difficulty the process. Providing an expert advice, increasing
efficiency and issues handling in the staff is part of the responsibility in the staff organisation
(Jordan and Lloyd 2017). The line and staff relations are by the cord of authority in relations, the
types of degree vary in decision-making level. The line managers are to perform their duties as

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an advisor in the process. The relationship must be harmonious to achieve the organisational
objectives of the company. The relation must also may face conflict in the process. The
resistance to line and staff managers must have sky gazing specialists (Wright and Khatri 2015).
The staff officer’s role in their job is more theoretical in nature. The departmental goals must be
taken into account when the company’s failures get credit for success in the process. The merits
of having the internal staff relationship management are the planned specialisation (Jordan and
Lloyd 2017). The proper staff execution plan also comes under his responsibility (Bourne 2016).
The definiteness among the report generated in the reports that are very important for the
company to consider. The staff manager also provides proper administrative services as well as
measuring organisational effectiveness (Safi et al. 2016).
Q5. Relationship marketing within Debenhams PLC
Relationship marketing with the customers has emerged in this century. This has become
essential for the marketers to consider. The practitioners and consumers are the focus of the
marketers as they are the source of revenue generation in business. This aspect of maintaining a
relationship engages the customers in the sales process and is the only part where the customers
get to interact with the company personnel directly. This interaction is crucial for the retail
selling (Lund et al. 2017). Chances of buying the product depend on this interaction too. Main
motive of this is to maintain and retain the customers by involving them in this process of
marketing. The digitalisation of every aspect of Debenhams has also provided those with the
opportunities of maintain the customer’s data and records of their purchases. The loyalty
programs are built on that software solution. The communication channels used in this process

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can be of digital medium. CRM approaches can increase can be used in strategic, operational,
collaborative level of management (Lund et al. 2017). Database marketing of the customer data
and analysing the databases is essential in this process. The customer bases are PeopleSoft,
Oracle and SAP. According to the marketing managers of the Debenhams, it has been confirmed
by them that there is 200% more chances of growing market share if the customer relation
management is maintained properly. Getting an overview of the company’s Customer Lifetime
Value increases the revenue and growth of the company. The attitudinal and insights of the
company may be used as a valuable input for the business according to the marketing chief of the
company Richard Cristofoli. Though the company is going through a rough condition being the
challenger in the market, the proper maintenance of the company’s customer data can improve
their performance (Peck et al. 2013). To collect and store personal information and tracking,
personal but not the private information of their customers can give them an advantage to them
(Huang 2015). Target based resource allocation, through CRM software can prove efficient for
the purposes of increasing marketing. The business organisation uses the software tools to get a
better outcome and insight in the performance. The analysis of the records and history of
purchase data will be help in predicting future customer behaviour (Peck et al. 2013). Ultra quick
responding to the customer complaints and queries can also be effecting resolving any issues
regarding purchase information (Bojei et al. 2013). The service personnel of the company in
utilising their performance in the process of marketing and sales are also necessary to consider
improvising the relationship management aspect. To an extent the acknowledging the queries is
also helpful in engaging the customer in this process. Regular updates regarding discounts and
sale is also necessary part of the process (Bojei et al. 2013).

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Reference
Bojei, J., Julian, C.C., Wel, C.A.B.C. and Ahmed, Z.U., 2013. The empirical link between
relationship marketing tools and consumer retention in retail marketing. Journal of Consumer
Behaviour, 12(3), pp.171-181.
Bourne, L., 2016. Stakeholder relationship management: a maturity model for organisational
implementation. CRC Press.
Campaignlive.co.uk. 2017. Meet the midult: How Debenhams is overturning fashion's youth
obsession. [online] Available at: https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/meet-midult-
debenhams-overturning-fashions-youth-obsession/1410196 [Accessed 9 Nov. 2017].
Debenhams.com. 2017. Debenhams UK - Fashion, Beauty, Gifts, Furniture & Electricals.
[online] Available at: http://www.debenhams.com/ [Accessed 9 Nov. 2017].
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Tavernier, J. and Geeraerd, A., 2017. Qualitative assessment of eco-labels on fresh produce in
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Hopkin, P., 2017. Fundamentals of risk management: understanding, evaluating and
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Huang, M.H., 2015. The influence of relationship marketing investments on customer gratitude
in retailing. Journal of Business Research, 68(6), pp.1318-1323.