Selfridges: SOSTAC Model and Macro Environment Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive marketing analysis of Selfridges, a UK-based fashion retailer. The study begins with an introduction to marketing principles and the role of Selfridges in the retail sector. It then delves into a detailed situational analysis of the macro environment, examining factors such as demographics, economic conditions, technology, political and legal considerations, and social and cultural influences. The report emphasizes the application of the SOSTAC model, outlining situation analysis, objectives, strategies, tactics, actions, and control mechanisms. Furthermore, it explores the pricing, product, and place strategies employed by Selfridges, highlighting how the SOSTAC model informs these decisions. An evaluation of the SOSTAC model's effectiveness, including its advantages and disadvantages, is also presented. The report concludes by examining the implementation of Selfridges' marketing strategy in an international market context, providing valuable insights into the company's approach to global expansion.

Marketing

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Main body........................................................................................................................................1
Situational analysis of Macro environment.................................................................................1
Evaluation of needs to be undertaken for effectiveness of retailer's current SOSTAC strategy.5
Implementation of current market strategy used by Selfridges in an international market........7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Marketing term can be defined as a process of business in which buyer and seller meats for the
purpose of creating relationship and satisfying customer needs. Marketing can be seen as key
component of a business management. It is a process which bridges the gap between buyer and
seller to satisfy each other's need. Selfridges & co. is a fashion retailer of united kingdom. It has
its department store in all over many countries. Recently, its departments includes clothing,
furniture, home appliances, toys, hardware, paints, etc. This study will include a brief detail of
SOSTAC model, situational analysis of Macro environment, analysis of price, place and product.
This assignment will also show an evaluation that is needed to be undertaken in order to enhance
effectiveness of retailer's SOSTAC strategy. The study will also analyse the scope of fashion
retailer in order to implement current marketing strategy in international market(Cowley, 2016).
Main body
Situational analysis of Macro environment
Situation analysis:
Situation analysis refers to a huge collection of different methods which could be used by
internal and external environment having influence over the normal course of business of the
company. Situation analysis includes both, study of macro environment factors effecting the
business and micro environment factors effecting the business as well.
Macro environment:
Macro environment factors are generally those factors which effects the business, but business
do not have any control over those factors. Macro environment also have a major effect over
fashion retail sector. There are several major factors which effects the business of fashion
retailers like technology, economic factors, demographic change, change in business customer's
behaviour etc.(Cowley, 2017)
As the company does not have any control over these factors, business should obtain a
kind of strategic plan in which it could make the company to handle any situation arisen due to
these factors easily and efficiently as well.
Situational analysis of macro environment
11 While analysing macro environment situation, only relevant information regarding macro
environment factors effecting the normal course of business are being analysed.
1

Selfridges analyse the following factors for the purpose of macro environment situation
analysis:
11 Demographic analysis: while analysing the macro environment factors of business,
Selfridges needs to analyse region's demographic situations first. As demand of the
company's product totally depends upon the demographic situation of that area. In this
factor company should take into account gender, age and some more other factors into
consideration for taking decision about what kind of product should be provided to those
customers in order to give them maximum satisfaction(Bui, 2017).11 Economic conditions: for analysing these factors, company needs to analyse infaltion
rate, government policies etc. which are totally beyond the control of business. In order to
understand the purchasing power of population of that particular region thses economical
factors need to be analysed. As it also shows the scope of business of the company in that
market.11 Technological factors: technological factors need to be taken seriously in today's world.
Technological changes have a huge effect over every industry. If the business does not
change its strategies and plans as per the technology, it may result in huge loss to the
company to the extent of shutting down situation of the business(Wijaya. and Hermawan,
2018).11 Political & legal: special provisions need which have effect over the business should be
understand carefully of every country in which the company is doing its business. Any
action against the legal or political provisions of the region can result into a huge penalty
foe the company. Even any change in legal provision or political situation also must be
consider carefully by Selfridges & co.11 Social & cultural: social & cultural factors have a huge influence over the fashion
retailer's business. As it shows the taste and preference of the customers of that area. Also
change in culture also need to be consider by the business. any festival season, change in
weather, etc. also effects the demand of products of fashion industry. Selfridges should
take into consideration all these changes before offering its product to its
customers(Dokukina, 2015).
SOSTAC modal
2

SOSTAC is a marketing modal which shows application 6 facets of market namely situation,
objective, strategy, tactics, action and control.
Application of SOSTAC modal by Selfridges is as under:
 Situation analysis: this modal says that company should analyse market the current
market situation first through analysing current trend of the market, inflation rate of
region, technological changes, change in any regulation of the country, etc. this analysis
can be used to analyse the strength and weaknesses of the company and also to make the
company deciding best plan to be implemented by the company for its smooth
running(Senguo. and Kilango, 2015).
 Objective: after analysing the whole situations of the business, Selfridges needs to set the
objective of the organisation in order to decide what the company wants to achieve in
particular time, number of customers the company wants to serve, kind of customer that
business wants to target, etc. the company also must decide what cost the company wants
to bear along with its range of profit to be earn within a specific time period.
 Strategies: after analysing the situation of the company and setting the goal for the
organisation Selfridges decides what the company should do to achieve the set goals,
what message the company wants to delver to its customer, how the company will face
all the challenges that can be arisen for the company in the future, etc. framing the
strategies which could help the company in dealing all the predicted situation along with
achieving the organisational objectives is the major function of the company(Harkai,
2017).
 Tactics : it makes the company to decide what technique should be used by the company.
What technique will help the company to achieve its organisational objectives effectively
and also what is the latest technology in the market. Using the best technique can help the
members of company to work more efficiently along with attracting more customers
towards the company's product.
 Action: actions are the daily goals to be completed by the company in order to achieve
the long term objective of the company. What is the need of business, the best investment
policy that could be adopted by the business for its better growth, are some impostant
factors which need to be consider by the company on daily basis as per this strategy.
3

 Control: after completion of all the strategy as per SOSTAC modal, It is the last strategy
of the last strategy to be followed by the Selfridges to have control over the strategies
applied by the company. For this purpose, company focuses on the result of the company
that weather the company is achieving its set goals via using these strategies, or not,
market response towards the company, the company should evaluate and gain a surity
that the company's actions are being done within the set budget in order to make itself
cost effective. Control strategy also includes to make some changes in the plan or any
strategy whenever it is needed.
Price, product and place analysis
 Price : price of any product is being decided by Selfridges through following SOSTAC
model in the company. Company has adopted cost plus pricing strategy of the purpose of
deciding price of the products of the company. This strategy has been adopted after
4
Illustration 1: SOSTAC modal
source: (SOSTAC planning marketing guide, 2017)

analysing many factors as per SOSTAC like, the market situations, culture, techniques,
setting daily objectives and setting budgets etc.
 Product : product to be sold by the company depends upon the culture, economic
situation, target customers, and the preference of targeted customers, product analysis
also includes the quality of product to be offered to the customers which will be more
preferable by the customers of a particular region. Single product can be available in the
market with different quality. Different level of customers prefers different quality of
products. The company should first analyse what quality is being preferred by the
customer which are being targeted by the company(Leskinen, 2016).
After analysing all these factors as per the set modals, types of product their quality should be
decided by the Selfridges. The company adopts the best quality product strategy in the company.
 Place : place indicates the market where the company should company needs to decide
the best market for its running in order to gain maximum profit and market share in the
company. As per SOSTAC modal, company can run its own business in its existing
market or can also apply product development strategy in its course of business and dare
to enter into anew market for more growth. This could be quite risky, but if it results
positively, it may help the company in achieving more growth and huge profit.
In this way it can be concluded that using SOSTAC modal is providing giving huge success to
the company. As through this modal company is analysing every part and every factor of the
business before taking any decision relating to the course of business.
Evaluation of needs to be undertaken for effectiveness of retailer's current SOSTAC
strategy.
SOSTAC modal is most effective modal for the marketing plans and strategies. It says that all
the factors effecting the course of business should be analysed carefully like situation analysis,
organisational objectives, technological changes, cultural changes etc. this analysis will help the
company to understand market structure which leads to effectively run of business cource of
actions.
SOSTAC modal consist 6 strategies namely situation analysis, objective, strategies, tactics,
action and control. If a company uses this modal, company may get a huge growth. But this
modal needs to be followed carefully as along with advantages, this modal also have some
disadvantage with it.
5

A brief evaluation of SOSTAC modal used by Selfridges is as under:
Advantages of SOSTAC modal
 In this modal company analyses different situation, in situation analysis strategy. It leads
to analysis of consumer behaviour, knowing the needs of consumer, determining demand
for the product, analysis of market in which company can run its business in order to gain
maximum profit and maximum growth for the company.
 Through this modal Selfridges comes to know that what will be the best market and best
product in order to expand its business in new market with new product. The modal also
provides company outlines for the purpose of generating more cash for the company in its
daily course of action of the business.
 Modal makes the company to find the best investment policies in order to gain maximum
return from its cash to be invested to turn it into profits. It leads to earning more cash in
the business.
 Through this modal, company finds its new customers along with their needs and
demands in order to enhance its market structure.
 SOSTAC modal provides the company different ideas to have innovation in the market
related to technology, business plans, framed strategies, etc.
Disadvantage of SOSTAC modal
SOSTAC modal have many advantages but along with these advantages, company also have
some disadvantages with it which may lead to failure of any plan set by the company. Some
major disadvantages of the modal are:
 The SOSTAC modal helps the company to analyse all the opportunities of the market to
company. But it fails to show the weaknesses of the cfompany. Which may lead to have
inefficient in some performance as per the set plans.
 Although the modal makes the Selfridges company to analyse all the major factors which
may lead to failure in the business operations, but after all these analyses company may
get result of wrong marketing plan if any of the strategy did not analyse carefully.
 In case of any change in the macro environmental factors which is unpredictable,
company can face a failure in the business. Or a huge loss in the business. It may also get
some penalties in case of wrong analysis of any legal or political rule and regulations
applicable to the normal course of business of Selfridges.
6

In this way it can be evaluated that SOSTAC modal is the best modal to be applied for taking
marketing decisions. Although, the modal have many advantages along with some
disadvantages.
But these disadvantages can be avoided if the company analyses all the data of the
strategy carefully. And avoids having unrealistic projects for the market study. Advantages
always can over-right disadvantages if all the strategy of modal applied without any mistake and
fault in collecting data and information for the purpose of drawing marketing plans and taking
effective decision for the market growth of Selfridges & co.
Implementation of current market strategy used by Selfridges in an international market.
Selfridges & co. is using strategies of SOSTAC modal in its current business scenario the
company is running its business efficiently by using this modal. The company can implement
strategies of this modal in its international market as well for the purpose of running its business
effectively in international market too.
Implementation of SOSTAC modal can be done in the following way:
 Situational analysis : if Selfridges wants enhance its business in international market
through SOSTAC modal, it needs to analyse different situations of international market
effecting the course of business of the company internationally like current technology
used by the company's of the country in which the company wants to expand its business.
The company also needs to analyse the purchasing power of population, their taste, their
wants, legal policies, rules regulations of the country, competition in the market, etc. first
before entering into the market of any country.
 Objectives : after analysing all the key factors, Selfridges needs to set its organisational
objectives based on the situational analysis. The objectives should be set by the company
in such a way so that company can build a great reputation in international market. Also,
company could gain maximum profit from the market and grab maximum share of the
international market. Company also need to set an objective to maximum satisfy its
customers in order to attract maximum customers towards the company.
 Strategies : in order to expand its business internationally, company needs to have a
strong strategic plan so that the chance of failure could be reduced. The strategy should
be framed in while taking into consideration its future plan for the business, reputation of
business that it want to build internationally, plan to face the situations analysed earlier in
7

situation analysis, and also the best strategy to achieve the set organisational goals
effectively.
 Tactics : while framing strategy related to technology the Selfridges need to find out the
best technique to run the business easily. E commerce can be used for the purpose of
doing e business internationally. Company can also run its business by building
departments in different cities of different countries. However, if the company uses e
commerce technique for doing business, company can grab major market internationally.
 Action: actions are required for running normal course of business in daily basis. For
running business internationally, company can need some extra actions to be undertaken
on daily basis. These actions may include building a global supply chain, having regular
feedback from the customer in order to know the satisfaction level of the customers, etc.
these actions need to be perform daily along with the actions performed in normal course
of business of local ,market.
 Control : having control over the strategies framed earlier as per SOSTAC modal is the
most important task to be performed in this modal. Because, it provides the feedback of
all the strategies framed by the business. In case there is any failure in the strategy, it
leads to innovate the strategy for the better result to be gained.
In the above stated way SOSTAC modal can be implement in international market.
CONCLUSION
From the above study it has been concluded that followed the best modal for running its
business. Company has analysed all the factors effecting the normal course of business for the
sake of not getting result of failure in any case. Company has adopted SOSTAC modal for
running its business after evaluating its advantages and disadvantages carefully. On the basis of
this modal company has made the strategies regarding situational analysis, setting objectives,
deciding the best technology, taking actions after analysing all the factors, and also having
control over all the strategies framed for the business. The company has also analysed all the
strategies of SOSTAC modal for running its business in international market efficiently.
8

REFERENCES
Books and journal
Cowley, M.B., 2016. 'Jellies & Jaffas': Applying PR Smith's SOSTAC Marketing Model to an
Online Confectionary Start-Up.
Cowley, M.B., 2017. High Impact Marketing: eReporting for Project Success in Industry,
Emarkable. ie Business Online Review Collection 2017.
Bui, N., 2017. Digital Marketing Strategies for a Computer Company in Helsinki. Case study:
CIMOS Oy.
Wijaya, P.K. and Hermawan, A., 2018. E-Marketing Applications Based On Virtual Reality
Using Sostac Planning Method On Sales Property. Tech-E. 1(2). pp.16-25.
Dokukina, A., 2015, October. Creating Strategic Focus in Modern Business: E-Company
Entering the Market. In Proceedings of International Academic Conferences (No. 2803962).
International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
Senguo, R.A. and Kilango, N.C., 2015. Marketing Innovation Strategies for Improving Customer
Satisfaction: Vodacom Tanzania.
Harkai, O., 2017. Digital Marketing Plan for Healthinki.
Lambert, A., 2016, April. The impact of good design. In BSAVA Congress Proceedings
2016 (pp. 385-386). BSAVA Library.
Leskinen, E., 2016. How To Create a Social Media Strategy For an Event Management
Company.
Online
SOSTAC planning marketing guide, 2017[ONLINE] Available through
<https://www.google.com/search?
q=sostac+model+of+selfridges&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjcmomPrp_fAh
WZWysKHa6PAiEQ_AUIDigB&biw=1301&bih=629>
9