FY028 - CW1: Inquiry Project: Heineken Retail Industry Analysis Report

This report provides an analysis of the retail industry with a specific focus on Heineken, a major player in the brewing sector. It begins with an introduction to the retail industry, highlighting its role in connecting manufacturers, wholesalers, and consumers. The report then discusses current trends in the retail landscape, including the reinvention of the industry to meet evolving customer expectations, the shift towards sustainability, and the impact of new technologies. The analysis section examines Heineken's competitive positioning, strengths, and weaknesses, based on employee and consumer feedback. The report further explores Heineken's marketing strategies, customer service, and operational challenges. Based on the analysis, the report offers recommendations for Heineken, emphasizing the importance of customer-focused marketing, improved supplier and distributor relations, and the integration of technological advancements. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and underscores the need for companies to adapt to the changing retail environment. The report is a student's inquiry project and is available on Desklib, a platform that offers AI-based study tools for students.

CW1: Inquiry Project

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
CURRENT TRENDS IN RETAIL INDUSTRY.............................................................................3
ANALYSIS OF HEINEKEN..........................................................................................................5
RECOMMENDATION...................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Retail industry is a commercial activity with the help of which various goods and services
are provided to the customers. Such organisation purchase goods in bulk quantity and then offers
it to the end consumers. This industry is treated as mediation between the manufactures and end-
consumers or between the wholesalers and end-consumers which depends upon the channel of
distribution for the products and services (Ng and Adnan, 2018). The retailers aim to satisfy the
needs of the customers by providing them the goods which are demanded by them. For this the
retailers undertake market research to determine various needs and wants of the consumers. They
also ensure efficiently supply chain which can ensure the availability of the goods and services.
For this report the organisation that is taken into consideration is Heineken which is a Dutch
brewing company established in the year 1864. The company own around 165 breweries in more
than 70 countries throughout the world. In this project various trends in the retail industry are
discussed along with the analysis of the company through the responses of the questions in the
questionnaires. Apart from this various recommendations are provided to the company on the
basis of analysis.
CURRENT TRENDS IN RETAIL INDUSTRY
The retail industry is changing rapidly and due to this the organisation faces significant
challenges and opportunities. In the year 2019, the rate of growth was slow due to the prevailing
uncertainty in the economy because of BREXIT. The retail industry in UK is facing restructuring
on a large scale so as to ensure that the companies can deal with the changes efficiently (Butler-
Kisber, 2018). There are various factors that have direct influence on the performance of the
retail company such as the change in the taste and preference of the customers, changes in the
technology, increasing level of competition etc. Due to various trends the industry has both
positive and adverse impact. Some of the trends within the industry are given below:
 Re-invention of the retail industry: The expectations of the customers are increasing
both from the online sources and in-store experiences. For meeting up with this various

actions are taken by the companies such as to make the customer feel emotionally
connected with the organisation their shopping experience need to be improved, digital
spaces and digital journeys are developed so that they posses better information about
their customers (Irwin and et. al., 2018). It has direct impact on the sales of the company
and the loyalty of the customers. Adoption of the payment flexibility such as cash, credit,
plastic money, digital money etc. make their customer feels more convenient for them to
pay and this attracts them towards that particular organisation offering such options. In
addition to this various options that are provided to them includes ‘buy now and pay
later’, with this the customers can efficiently manage their finances. It is analysed that the
retailer which offer more flexible payment option, the consumers spend more with such
retailers.
 Sustainability paradigm shift: The retail industry contributes a lot to the carbon
emission in the economy due to which they have to manage their operations as the need
for sustainability is increasing for the organisation. Various business models are required
to be developed by the companies with the help of which they can manage the waste and
can promote sustainability (Thacker and et. al., 2018). Their contribution to the society in
context of reducing their impact on the environment efficiently to attract the customers.
Recycling and reusing processes are incorporated so as to reduce the amount of waste and
optimum utilisation of the resources. The economy for the retail industry has become a
circular economy in which the customers are becoming more mindful for the impact of
the products they use on the environment. In addition to this the customers expects
transparency in the supply chains so that they can ensure their impact on the society
(Geraldi and Söderlund, 2018).
 New technology: The technology has greater impact on the retail industry as with the
help of this the customer can easily be attracted towards their stores. Adoption of new
technology facilitates them to improve the value and the image of the company in the
eyes of the customers. Due to this the commercial model of the organisations are
changing as they have to rethink where they stand and where they have to reach to.
Incorporate technological changes such as digital tools in the stores as well in the process
of procuring the material from the suppliers, digitalisation of the methods of payments
etc. This improves the quality in the services of the retail industry as with the help of this

they can easily create awareness among the customers about their offerings, engaging
their customer by offering self-service and check outs (Schnellert, Fisher and Sanford,
2018).
ANALYSIS OF HEINEKEN

NAME: xxxxxxxxxx
ID NUMBER: xxxx
MODULE NUMBER: FY028
THREE MOBILE NETWORKS
Face to face questionnaire (for employees)
1. Which are your competitors and how do you survive? What are the strengths and
challenges of the Business? Is the business successful?
Our major competitors include Diageo, Green King, Hopworks Urban Brewery. We manage
to continue our operations efficiently by ensuring the visibility of our products in the
market and by offering a wide product portfolio. The strengths of the company include
their wide variants and differentiated products but poor margins and currency fluctuations
affect the business of the company. This enables to ensure the success of the business.
2. Do you have any complain from customer? How you fixed?
Yes, sometimes we do have compliant from the customers which are send by them through
mails, customer service portals etc. We provide them tools and contact details for resolving
the complaints.
3. What is the most popular product? Why?
Heineken Lager Beer is our flagship product which is mostly preferred by the customers due
to uniqueness in the taste of the brand. We have adopted various sources of promoting our
goods with the help of which they are made aware of the products.
4. What marketing tools you use? Why?
For marketing their products they use various tools such as through various print media,
electronic media that includes social media marketing. Also the products are promoted by
various celebrities.
5. Do you have any discounts for students? Offers? Do you follow strict rules of the
business?

No we do not provide any specific discount individually to a category of the customers we
have policies only for the distributors and retailers. But some general offers are provided to
the customer which are common for all and with the motive of promoting the products
either newly launched or to boost up the sales of the existing one.
6. How many contracts do you make in one month? How is the experience? Why? Is it
affected by seasonal change?
The employees of the company are provided with various targets which they have to achieve
within the period of one month such as the key account managers has to take orders from
the key account of the company while the other sales teams have to take orders from the
local distributors. The environment within the organisation is better and comfortable that
motivates us to put various efforts for the company. Yes, the change in the season has
impact on the business but not to a greater extend.
FAMILY, FRIENDS
1. Do you have three shops in your area?
Yes, we have three shops offering different items.
2. What type of product do you use from three?
We have been using various products from these shops as they includes all the products such
as groceries, dairy products, stationary etc. as all the shops offers similar products. The
customers buy all such products from them.
3. When you start to use Three mobile? You are happy?
Since my childhood we have been purchasing goods from them as they are known to us and
have all the goods which are required to us. This reduces the requirement of moving to
some other place for making purchases. Yes we are happy as we can purchase anytime and
he also allows credit as we know each other.
4. What you don’t like at Three? What do you like to change?
At all the three shops the space is not much and the numbers of helpers are lesser due to
which the purchasing of the goods and services becomes a time consuming process. Also
the material is not well organised as they are operating on small scale. For improving the
satisfaction level of the customers the store am angers must organise their shops in such a
manner that they could easily identify the goods and must appoint a helper that can reduce

the time of purchasing and billing to the customers.
5. What do you think about network?
They gather goods from different channels as they keep products of different brands within
their stores. Also the availability of the items that they are quite certain and it reflects that
they have better networks with the distributors who provide them goods on time.
6. Did you received any promotion from Three?
Yes, from one of the shop that is comparatively larger than other offers various promotions as
they have different categories of the products in their stores. So for this they send personal
messages for promoting their products and also display various offers within their stores.
This enables them to attract sufficient number of customers. In addition to this they
sometimes offers discount personally for retaining their customers and maintaining
relations with them.
RECOMMENDATION
On the basis of the identification of the trends within the retail industry and the analysis of
the responses of the employees and known it is identified that with the changing requirement of
the business there have to incorporate change within their organisation (Johnson and et. al.,
2019). Various recommendations are made to the Heineken on the basis of various primary and
secondary sources of information, the recommendation are given below:
 They must offer the retailers various shelves in which they can display their products and
services with the help of which they can let their customer know about their products.
Along with this the pictures of the actions that are adopted by the company for
contributing the environment must be displayed on such shelves as this will enable them
let their customers know regarding their consciousness towards the sustainability of the
environment.
 Effective marketing must be done regarding their products as with the help of this their
marketing and sales team could easily fulfil their target by convincing their customers.
Also with this, the marketing of the products and services of the company can easily let
the end users of the products regarding their new variants and the offers that are made by
the company.

 For ensuring the success of the company it is important for them to manage the relations
with the customers i.e., their suppliers and the distributors as with this they can feedbacks
from the customers and identify the changes in their taste and preferences. Also the
improved relations with them will enables them to increase the sale of their products
because they will promote their products to the customers over other products (Guzmán
and et. al., 2018).
 The innovations and the technological advancement must be incorporated within the
manufacturing process as per the changes adopted by the competitors and demanded by
the customers. With the help of this they can improve their relations with the customers
as an organisation brining continuous innovation always attract more of customers.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above report that the companies need to operate significantly by
managing the impact of changing business environment. For this they must analyse the impact of
various trends and the requirement of incorporating such trend within the organisation. In UK the
retail industry has been facing various trends such as new technology, better processes and
methods of marketing, concern for sustainability etc. has direct impact on the organisations.
Apart from this the organisations must gather the information from both the primary and
secondary sources so that they can manage their organisations more efficiently.

REFERENCES
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