Strategic Management Analysis of UK Retail Sector Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of strategic management within the UK retail industry. It begins with an introduction to strategic management and an overview of the retail sector in the UK, including its size, key players, and technological advancements. The report then delves into the application of the TOWS matrix to identify the industry's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, followed by a Porter's Five Forces analysis to assess the competitive landscape. Furthermore, it explores global marketing approaches, such as social media and email marketing, emphasizing their impact on the retail sector. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and highlighting the importance of strategic management in the context of technological advancements and global marketing strategies. The references include books, journals and online sources to support the analysis.

STRATEGIC
MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Industry overview...................................................................................................................3
TOWS of industry..................................................................................................................3
Five force analysis..................................................................................................................4
Global marketing approaches.................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Strategic management is the area which involves proper management of all the activities
which are important in order to accomplish all the task necessary for achievement of goals of
business. This management is very necessary for the effective working of the companies
(Moutinho and Vargas-Sanchez, eds., 2018). Thus, the present study will highlight the
management of technological advancement over the retail industry of UK.
Industry overview
The retail is that industry which deals in selling of the consumer goods and services to the
consumers by going through different channels of distribution or directly to the consumers. In
the retail sector the major focus is on identifying the needs of the consumers and then providing
with the product and services which will help the consumer in satisfying the needs of the
consumers. As per figure the UK retail industry earned approximately £381 billion sales in the
year 2018. Also, the retail industry within UK is the largest private sector which employs around
3 million of workers. The retail sector includes all the companies which deals in products which
are made for the consumption of the consumers and includes department stores, supermarkets,
hypermarket, door- to- door salesperson and many other people who deals in selling of goods
and services. The retailer deals in variety of products like fashion, entertainment, health and
beauty, technology, sports and many others. Currently there are many different technologies
which is gaining importance in retail sector of UK.
TOWS of industry
TOWS is a model which help the industry in knowing its personal strength and weakness
along with the opportunities and threats which are present in external environment. The TOWS
of retail industry of UK is as follows-
Threat
 The major threat for the retail sector is
the high competition which is present
in the industry. There are a lot of
companies dealing in the retail sector
like Tesco, Walmart, Sainsbury,
Morrison, ALDI, ASDA and many
Opportunities
 The major opportunity is the
technological advancement taking place
within the retail industry. This is an
opportunity because this will increase
the business efficiency of the whole
industry (Souza-Monteiro and Hooker,

others.
 Another threat is the international
business and which posses a challenge
in going to other country for doing
business.
2017).
Weakness
 The major weakness is the high prices
and the price war which takes place
among the different retail companies.
 Also, another weakness is the increase
in the online companies which also
deals in retail products.
Strengths
 The major strength of retail industry is
that they have the largest market share
as compared to other industries.
 Another strength is that this industry
deals in product and services which are
of basic consumer needs thus, this is a
never- ending demand business.
Five force analysis
This is a model which is helpful in assessing the needs and requirements of the industry
to ascertain the competitiveness of the industry. The Porter five force analysis of UK retail
industry is as follow-
Element Description
Threat of new entrant The threat of new entrant is low within the
retail industry because already there are many
different players and also the investment for
entering in retail sector is high. Thus, the entry
of new players is low.
Threat of substitute product This is medium in the retail sector of UK
because of the reason that in current working
environment online business is increasing and
because of this the consumers are substituting
the window shopping with the online shopping
(Rees and Smith, eds., 2017).
Bargaining power of supplier The supplier has low bargaining power because

the retailer within the industry are many and
the supplier have less control over the
companies. Thus, they have to listen to the
terms of companies rather than putting their
demands.
Bargaining power of buyer Bargaining power of the buyers is medium
because all the companies provide identical
and homogeneous goods and services. Thus,
the buyer does not have many options to
choose from hence, they have to select from
the options provided by the companies.
Competitive rivalry This is extremely high in the retail sector of
UK because there are many big companies
which deals in same products and services. The
major competitors in retail industry in UK are
Tesco, Sainsbury, Morrisons, ALDI, IKEA and
many other retail companies (Porter’s five
force analysis on the retail supermarket
industry in the UK, 2018).
Global marketing approaches
Marketing is the major activity which needs to be done in order to promote the business
to gain success and increase the productivity of the company. In order to manage and grab the
new opportunity of technological advancement it is necessary for the whole retail industry to
effectively market the products and services of the companies. Thus, for this some global
marketing approaches which are technologically advanced are as follows-
Social media advertising- this is the most common digital marketing technique which
involves marketing the products globally with help of social media (Kor, Mahoney and Tan,
2020). This is a good method because of the reason that this covers a large consumer base at a
single time and this is very cost- efficient source of marketing the product globally.

Email marketing- this is another approach of marketing digitally which is used by retail
industry in order to promote its goods and services. In this method marketing of the goods and
services is done with help of sending email to the other people and consumers.
The impact of these technologically advanced global marketing approaches over the retail
industry is positive because of the reason that this assist the company in managing the promotion
of product and services with great effectiveness (Al Shobaki, Amuna and Naser, 2017).
CONCLUSION
In the end it can be concluded that the strategic management is very helpful for the
company in effectively managing the working and profitability of the company. Thus, the
present study focused on the fact that how the current technology is affecting the working of
industry all over the world with help of Porter five force and TOWS mode. The present study
also discussed about the impact of technology advancement on global marketing approaches.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Al Shobaki, M.J., Amuna, Y.M.A. and Naser, S.S.A., 2017. Strategic and Operational Planning
As Approach for Crises Management Field Study on UNRWA.
Kor, Y., Mahoney, J.T. and Tan, D., 2020. Edith Penrose's under-explored insights in strategic
management and international business research.
Moutinho, L. and Vargas-Sanchez, A. eds., 2018. Strategic Management in Tourism, CABI
Tourism Texts. Cabi.
Rees, G. and Smith, P. eds., 2017. Strategic human resource management: An international
perspective. Sage.
Souza-Monteiro, D. and Hooker, N., 2017. Comparing UK food retailers corporate social
responsibility strategies. British Food Journal.
Online
Porter’s five force analysis on the retail supermarket industry in the UK. 2018. [Online].
Available through: <https://exaltedvalue.com/index.php/1525-2/>