Comprehensive PESTLE Analysis: Next Plc and the UK Retail Sector

This report provides a PESTLE analysis of Next Plc, a prominent UK-based clothing, accessories, and home goods retailer, examining the political, economic, social-cultural, technological, legal, and environmental factors impacting its operations within the United Kingdom. The analysis considers taxation rates, economic fluctuations, socio-cultural shifts like an aging population, technological advancements in online retail, minimum wage legislation, and environmental concerns such as flooding. It concludes that the external environment presents both opportunities and challenges for Next, requiring strategic adaptation to navigate economic uncertainties and regulatory landscapes. The report references external sources to support its findings and provide a comprehensive overview of the macro-level setting affecting Next's UK activities.

Project

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Pestle analysis based on Next Plc....................................................................................................3
Political:.......................................................................................................................................3
Economic.....................................................................................................................................3
Social-Cultural.............................................................................................................................3
Technological..............................................................................................................................4
Legal............................................................................................................................................4
Environmental..............................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
Next plc corporation is UK global clothing, accessories and home items retailer, based in
the Enderby, Leicestershire. Organization it has about 700 outlets, about 500 of those are
in United Kingdom and also around 200 in the entire Europe, Asia regions and Middle-East.
Next is top clothing retail chain by sales/turnover in UK, having surpassed company Marks &
Spencer in year 2012 & 2014. Corporation's shares are listed in London SE and is a part of FTSE
100 Index.
Pestle analysis based on Next Plc
A pestle review presents and review of 6 main macro level considerations which influence a
company and the decisions that it takes. The project would apply such factors of PESTLE model
to the multinational clothing chain Next and its divisions (About Next plc. 2020).
Political:
There are broad variety of political considerations that have an influence on the Next plc at
present, however also considerations that will have an effect on the business in the coming years.
The taxation rate imposed by government is main government policies impacting Next in United
Kingdom. It has potential to influence both entire bottom line of business in form of corporate
tax, as well as potential of consumers to expense on the income tax. Presently , corporate tax
rates in the United Kingdom have been reduced to try to boost economic growth. However, with
the continued deficits, there's really no assurance that authorities can maintain such rate of
income tax at their present pace in the coming years.
Economic
The present state of economic situation is a vital aspect that could have an effect on Next-plc
within United Kingdom. As a corporation that requires use of premium-based differentiated
approach, rather than becoming cost leader, it can be noticed that fluctuations within economic
climate have the potential to have a larger effect on the corporation's prospects than those
competing in market's need and budgeting area.
Social-Cultural
There are currently several socio-cultural shifts taking shape in the United Kingdom that can
have high degree of effect on the success of fashion stores, like Next. One of the main problems

on the UK economy, but even in Next 's broader European economies, is general ageing
of population. This can be seen these as troubling, yet also as incentive for the Next. In one
side, ageing population are seeing Next trying to change its product range in effort to ensure
that goods sold by the business respond towards demographic ageing population.
Technological
Main technology advances like Internet have helped companies such as Next to build internet-
based business structures that complement conventional store - based outlets. Empirical data
from ONS on topic suggests that development has been nearly exponential, with fast adoption on
part of online shoppers in both retails including other industries.
Legal
Minimum wages new legislation is crucial piece of legislations that concerns companies like
Next and a significant amount of low paying employees is that multiple minimum wage laws.
Under this situation, the law allows UK companies to pay minimum of 6.19 for each hour for
staff above age of year 21. considering the vast number of personnel of companies such as Next
that are impacted by National Minimum Wages, transient changes in regulatory regulation could
have a huge effect on the industry (Kolios and Read, 2013).
Environmental
The geographical environment that Next exists within United Kingdom could be
seen comparatively benign compared to other areas of globe that endure from high-intensity
environmental disasters like earthquakes, storms and wild fires. Despite this climate, there have
been variety of environmental concerns in the United Kingdom that have impacted the retail
industry. this includes growing increasingly regular flooding and low sales attributable to snow
disasters and the inability of municipal authorities to plan for times of bad weather.
CONCLUSION
Having studied the key variables in macro-level setting as discussed in the PESTLE context,
a variety of assumptions can be made in relation to Next model as well as its UK activities.
External environment is major obstacle for Next, with possibility of worse economic results and
a need to deal with what could be seen as reasonably difficult regulatory environment.

REFERENCES
Kolios, A. and Read, G., 2013. A political, economic, social, technology, legal and
environmental (PESTLE) approach for risk identification of the tidal industry in the
United Kingdom. Energies, 6(10), pp.5023-5045.
Online
About Next plc. 2020. [Online]. Available through: <https://www.nextplc.co.uk/about-next/at-a-
glance>