Business Analysis of Selfridges: SWOT, CSR, Innovation, and Strategy

This report analyzes Selfridges, a UK-based department store chain, examining its business operations, structure, and competitive landscape. The report begins with an introduction providing an overview of Selfridges' history, locations, and key competitors. A detailed SWOT analysis is conducted to identify the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The analysis then explores Selfridges' corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, focusing on projects like 'Project Ocean' and 'Project Earth.' The marketing mix, encompassing price, place, product, and promotion strategies, is also evaluated. Furthermore, the report investigates the company's approach to innovation and creativity. The report concludes with recommendations for improvement and expansion, supported by references to academic literature and industry sources.

THE CONTEXT OF
BUSIENSS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK...............................................................................................................................................3
SWOT Analysis...........................................................................................................................3
CSR of business...........................................................................................................................5
Marketing mix- 4P’s of business.................................................................................................5
Innovation and creativity by business..........................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
Books and journals......................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Business operations are activities that business perform daily, such operations increase
the value of the organisation and helps to keep business running which will be helpful in earning
maximum profits. Business structure is the plan of activities which defines all activities which
will help in achieving the organisational goals (Bălău, 2015). Selfridges also known as
Selfridges and Co. is a chain of departmental stores which is operated by Canadian group
Selfridges. The company was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridges in 1908. It is a private limited
company which is operating in retail industry and at various locations which involves Oxford
Street London, Trafford center Trafford, Manchester Exchange sq., Manchester Bullring and
Birmingham. The organisational structure of Selfridges is focused on top to bottom which
ensures that all the activities are directed from top management and followed by the whole
organisation. The top competitors of Selfridges are Harrods, Brown Thomas, Harvey Nichols,
Fenwick, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman. Selfridges have faced 10% drop in the
operating profit due to the global pandemic in 2020 which has affected the whole industry.
Whereas, by offering online services the company increased their profit to 7% in 2021. This
report will define the CSR, SWOT analysis, marketing mix strategy and innovative approach
which is followed by the business.
TASK
SWOT Analysis
The SWOT Analysis of Selfridges is discussed below:
STRENGTHS
 Domestic market- By operating in
domestic market, it has helped
Selfridges to attract and retain
maximum number of customers
(Dreyer and et.al, 2017).
 High growth rate- By having high
growth rate, this has helped Selfridges
in gaining competitive advantage by
WEAKNESS
 Competitive market- Selfridges is
operating in highly competitive
business environment which creates a
barrier for the company in attracting
and retaining maximum number of
customers.
 Small business units- By operating
with small business units and limited

attracting numerous customers which
has increased the sale of the products
of the company.
 Reduce labor cost- Due to reduced
labor cost, this has helped the business
in creating valuable and innovative
products with the help of the labors.
This also led to saving cost and
retaining maximum number of labor
with the business.
 Experienced business unit- By
working with an experienced unit, this
helps Selfridges to perform all
operations effectively and maintain
their competitive position in the
industry.
locations, tis has majorly affected the
number of customers of Selfridges.
 Cost- Due to increased and high cost,
this has affected the sale and
profitability of the business. The price
of the products is high which acts as a
major factor for decline in the sale of
the products (Lassoued, Bouzguenda
and Mahmoud, 2016).
OPPORTUNITIES
 Global markets- By expanding their
business in the global market, this will
be helpful for the company to work
globally and offer their products and
services to huge number of customers.
 Growth rate and profitability- By
operating in different market, it will
help Selfridges to expand their
business globally which will lead to
increase in sale and maximum
profitability of the business
(Rosemann, Recker and Flender,
2015).
 New products and services-
THREATS
 Change in price- By having rapid
incline in prices and frequent changes,
this has affected adversely on the sale
and profitability of Selfridges.
 Increasing rate of interest- By
increase in the rate of interest, this
factor an affect the profitability and
competitive position of Selfridges in
the industry.
 Rising cost of raw materials- The
incline in raw materials cost, the
expenses and financial instability has
taken place in Selfridges ad this has
adversely affected the sale of products

Selfridges can bring new products and
services or new products line which
will be helpful for them in attracting
more customers and gain competitive
advantage from their operations.
and services and lead to decline and
face challenges in operating in
marketing for longer span of time.
CSR of business
Corporate social responsibility is a model which is developed by an organisation and
such model integrates social and environmental concerns in their operations. Such initiatives
focus on offering positive social value and builds positive brand (Saidani, Rolland and Nurcan,
2015). The corporate strategy which has been followed by Selfridges involves Project ocean and
focuses on products and partners and the way they work. The company focuses on organizing the
long term campaign which helps in protecting precious oceans from over-fishing and harm
which can be caused due to plastic pollution. Such campaigns help in inspiring change and
promoting to buy better products. There are currently plastic patches twice the size of Texas
which are floating in Pacific Ocean, Selfridges organized initiative “Project Ocean” which help
them in reducing plastic pollution which destroys marine life by entering into food chain and
then in human bodies. Such plans help in bringing change by being a part of the sea. The
company promoted and spread awareness regarding such pollution waste and plastic waste in sea
which affects the water bodies and encouraged all communities to become the part of the
campaign by using range of reusable water bottles and avoiding plastic water bottles. The
campaign also used a hashtag which was #oneless and promoted less use of plastic bottles.
Another corporate social responsibility and initiative which was introduced by Selfridges
was “Project Earth” which supported emerging creative talents that can bring sustainable and
innovative change by offering sustainable fashion beauty and homeware designs. This initiative
focuses on supporting the emerging brands of a sustainable design by sharing their stories and
inspired towards a sustainable future (Torres and Sidorova, 2019). The company focuses on
consuming natural resources effectively and efficiently which will have them in avoiding under
and excess usage and wastage of such resources.

Marketing mix- 4P’s of business
The marketing mix of Selfridges is discussed below:
Price- The pricing strategy of Selfridges is mid high with a tendency towards the high.
The company focuses on offering merchandise products which can target numerous customers
by offering them exclusive experience with the help of their premium goods and services.
Place- The company is operating at all prime location such as Oxford Street which is the
major advantage of attracting huge number of customers. Another location is Cranberry Street
and location can also be found by customers easily. All the locations where Selfridges is
operating are the prime locations which helps them in attracting more customers and sell their
premium selection of products offered by them (vom Brocke, Zelt and Schmiedel, 2016).
Product- Selfridges offers wide variety of products which involves men and women
apparels, shoes, fashion accessories, beauty products, kid’s products, home décor, essentials food
products, jewelry and gifts for different occasions. Selfridges also have different brands such as
Skims, Stone Island, Prada, Lego and many more.
Promotion- The promotion strategy and techniques of Selfridges is a two phase social
strategy which helps in engaging with millions of potential customers that can increase the sale
and help in achieving maximum profits. Social strategy such as collaborating with different
influencer boosted customer engagement. Different social media platforms such as Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram and other media platforms helps organisation in communicating and
interacting with more customers.
Innovation and creativity by business
Innovation and creativity is one of the driver which helps business to operate in the
market for longer period of time span. Selfridges also focus on offering innovative and creative
products by using constructive ideas that can help them in attracting and retaining maximum
number of customers. While offering trending products, such as clothes, beauty, food, fashion or
homeware products, the business also focuses on the innovative activities which involves special
installations, events and pop ups (Zhao and Mafuz, 2015). These strategies help them in targeting
big number of customers. By following different activities this helps in bringing transformational
change which ensures creativity and innovation at the workplace. Harry Gordon Selfridges

focused on understanding importance of publicity and the retail industry, such strategy helps in
making the business successful. The company is working with the spirit of innovation and
creativity and the company focuses on giving surprise and delivering extraordinary customer
experience. The company also advertise their products with the help of celebrities and
influencers which helps them in attracting and retaining maximum number of customers.
CONCLUSION
From the above information, it can be concluded that business operates in a dynamic and diverse
environment which can be helpful in enhancing the value of the company and gain competitive
advantage. With the help of SWOT analysis, the organisation can identify their strength,
weakness opportunities and threats. Corporate social responsibility are also such activities which
all formed by business that can help them in meeting responsibility towards society. One of the
major driver is innovation, it helps a business in bringing change and creative products in the
industry.
RECOMMENDATIONS
 Setting competitive and reasonable prices- By setting competitive and reasonable
prices, tis pricing strategy will be helpful Selfridges in attracting and retaining more
customers through which they can cover more market share.
 Focus on core strengths- By focusing on core strengths and opportunities, this strategy
will help Selfridges in improving the business position in the industry and maintain their
goodwill in the industry.
 Focus on valuing annual strategic planning- By focusing on values, mission and
objective of the organisation, this will help Selfridges in maintain the effective
organisational performance and will be helpful in gaining maximum profitability for the
business.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Bălău, M., 2015. The Influence of Market Context on Business Strategy, Competitor Imitation
and Operational Effectiveness. Acta Universitatis Danubius. Œconomica. 11(4). pp.33-
40.
Dreyer, B and et.al., 2017. Upsides and downsides of the sharing economy: Collaborative
consumption business models' stakeholder value impacts and their relationship to
context. Technological Forecasting and Social Change. 125. pp.87-104.
Lassoued, Y., Bouzguenda, L. and Mahmoud, T., 2016. Context-aware business process versions
management. International Journal of e-Collaboration (IJeC), 12(3), pp.7-33.
Rosemann, M., Recker, J. and Flender, C., 2015. Designing context-aware business processes.
In Systems Analysis and Design: People, Processes, and Projects (pp. 63-86). Routledge.
Saidani, O., Rolland, C. and Nurcan, S., 2015, January. Towards a generic context model for
BPM. In 2015 48th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (pp. 4120-
4129). IEEE.
Torres, R. and Sidorova, A., 2019. Reconceptualizing information quality as effective use in the
context of business intelligence and analytics. International Journal of Information
Management. 49. pp.316-329.
vom Brocke, J., Zelt, S. and Schmiedel, T., 2016. On the role of context in business process
management. International Journal of Information Management. 36(3). pp.486-495.
Zhao, X. and Mafuz, S., 2015. Towards incorporating context awareness into business process
management. International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering. 9(12).
pp.4270-4277.