Strategic Management & Opportunities in UK Book Retail Sector

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the UK book retail industry, examining its current state and future prospects. It begins with an introduction to the industry, highlighting its challenges and opportunities, followed by an overview of relevant secondary data. The report then delves into a detailed evaluation and analysis of the industry's external macro environment using the PESTEL framework, considering political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors. The analysis identifies key trends and their implications for the sector. Furthermore, the report discusses two significant business opportunities present in the macro environment, including leveraging e-commerce, particularly m-commerce, and establishing dedicated sections for academic and competitive exam books. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of environmental analysis for strategic decision-making and competitive advantage within the UK book retail sector. The appendix includes a detailed PESTEL analysis table.

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT &
CORPORATE SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY

TABLE OF CONTENTS
A. INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................2
a) Introduction of UK book retail industry ............................................................................2
b) Advantages and disadvantages of Macro business analysis .............................................2
B. SECONDARY DATA RELEVANT TO THE INDUSTRY .....................................................2
C. EVALUATING AND ANALYZING INDUSTRY’S EXTERNAL MACRO
ENVIRONMENT............................................................................................................................3
D. DISCUSSING TWO BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES THAT ARE PRESENT IN THE
MACRO BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ........................................................................................4
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6
APPENDIX .....................................................................................................................................7
Appendix 1: PESTEL analysis of UK retail industry ............................................................7

ILLUSTRATION INDEX
Illustration 1: Online sales of retail share by sector.........................................................................3
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A. INTRODUCTION
a) Introduction of UK book retail industry
The UK book retail industry has faced many ups and down in the past years. The success
of given industry thoroughly depends upon the buyers who like to read the books as being
written by different person. At present, UK book retail industry is facing tough competition from
various external operators such as online book seller. These external operators are considered as
the facilitator of the new trend in the retail industry which is of e-book. Nowadays, customers are
required to wait in the retail store to purchase the products which they want to use (Aguzzoni and
et.al., 2013). On the other hand, by using online mode, buyers can not only purchase the product,
but they can also compare various available products under different categories without any kind
of inconvenience. Thus, increasing the popularity of online book retail market has hampered the
sales of traditional retail shops who sale the book. In addition to this, the real household
disposable income has also affected the performance of UK book retail industry.
b) Advantages and disadvantages of Macro business analysis
It is important for every industry to analyse the factors which are prevailing in its external
environment (House, 2013). It is important for the retail firms to perform micro environment
analysis to identify the factors which affected the operations of the company. This is because;
through this way only corporations can assess the trends which are occurring in the external
environment and thereby can formulate different strategies to deal with the assessed trends
(Clark and Phillips, 2014). However, to conduct such analysis, firms will require the significant
amount of time and financial resources. This is because; absence of the same will hamper the
overall result of the analysis. The present report will showcase opportunities which are available
in the UK book retail industry. Here, to evaluate the factor assistance will be taken from
PESTEL analysis tool. The tool selected is effective as by using it the manager of a corporation
can gain thorough information about the condition occurring in the external business
environment. Thus, this thing will enable the firm to make appropriate decisions.
B. SECONDARY DATA RELEVANT TO THE INDUSTRY
The book retail industry of United Kingdom is undergoing with number of significant
changes. In this context, it is analysed that the steady growth of e-book market is impacting the
sales of print books. Hence, many of the retail firms are forced with regard to sale their book
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through online platform. Herein, it is assessed that the book market of United Kingdom was
worth £3.3 billion in the year 2010. In addition to this, the statistics of 2011 revealed that e-book
sales is estimated to be 1-3% of the print book sales (Books and e-books - UK - February 2011,
2016). The given thing depicts the popularity of online book market.
The above figure depicts the sales of different retail products via online means. In this
context, it is assessed that people of UK prefers to buy music and video through the online
platform of UK retail store. However, after music and video, book is being regarded as second
most popular products which is being demanded by the buyers through online means.
C. EVALUATING AND ANALYZING INDUSTRY’S EXTERNAL MACRO
ENVIRONMENT
PESTEL analysis
It is an external analysis tool which helps in giving information about the condition
prevailing in the external environment of company or industry (Nishitani and Itoh, 2015).
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Illustration 1: Online sales of retail share by sector
(Source:)

Among all the given political factors, the interest rate is charged by the government of the
country which plays a very important role. Thus, the given factor should be given with high
importance. This is because; interest rate causes direct impact on the pricing tactic that is adopted
by the book retail companies of UK. However, it is to be evaluated that ineffective pricing tactic
will lead to influence the sales of the company. In a similar way, concerning the economic factor,
the condition such as unemployment should be considered by the book retail firms at first. This
is because; the retail organization will be able to generate more sales if a majority of its buyers
are having some source of income. In addition to this, a retail firm should also consider the tastes
and preferences of buyers before making any decision. For example, the firm should maintain the
stock of different books as per the needs and demands of the buyers. For instance, if majority of
buyers prefers to read mythological or religious book. Then in the given situation firm should
maintain huge stock with regard to the same in an effective way. Hence, the given social factor
should be given with priority. This is because; by complying with the given type of activity, it
can attract a large number of buyers towards enterprise in an effectual way (Fernie and Sparks,
2014). Furthermore, technological development and environmental regulations framed by
country’s government should be considered first. Likewise, legal laws associated with the
working of the company should also be considered and highly prioritized. If given thing is not
done by the manager of UK book retail firms, then in the given circumstance, it will become
difficult for them to perform significant improvements in their sales and profits in an effectual
way.
D. DISCUSSING TWO BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES THAT ARE
PRESENT IN THE MACRO BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
By the conducted analysis, there are two different types of opportunities identified which
can be utilized by the UK book retail industry. UK book retail firm has an opportunity to adopt
different e-commence means. In this regard, it is assessed that UK customers spend more time on
the internet than the citizens of any other country. Many of the famous UK retail enterprises have
which sales book also adopted e-commence mean in which they sell their produced product
through their websites. (Cullen, Tsamenyi and Gorst, 2013) However, in this context UK, book
retail industry has the chance to adopt some other e-commence method to sell its product to the
respective buyers. They can use mobile as a method which is popularly known by the name of
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M-commerce. The increasing popularity of smart phone has facilitated the given mean of selling
products and services to the respective buyers. With the help of given means, UK retail firms can
attract a large number of young and old buyers towards the products. On the M-commerce, the
firm can launch the specialized app for their store. The given app can be used by the customers
of the company to perform different types of operations such as purchasing the book, giving
feedback to the firm and making the online payment for the purchased product, etc. M-commerce
is an effective approach because it helps in fulfilling convenience related needs and demands of
the buyers. By using the given method, customers read their book at time and at any place
(Foscht and et.al., 2015). Overall, it can be said that by utilizing the given opportunity, drastic
change can be faced by the managers of the UK in the book retail industry. Moreover, the
method will also assist in increasing sales and profits of the enterprises in an effectual way
(Greco, 2013).
Besides this, firm has the another opportunity that is to launch different section for the
academic and competitive exams books. This can be proved as highly profitable section. This is
because, these are the product whose demands remain constant. This is because, with the starting
of each academic session, every individual will require academic book. By including given
section differently benefits can be gained by the enterprise in the form of increased profits and
sales in an effective way.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the whole report that for any industry, it is very essential that it
should carry out an analysis of its external environment. This is because; such practices will
guide the firms towards the right direction. Furthermore, the external environmental analysis will
also help the firm in getting information about different opportunities which organization
operating in the respective industry can gain. Thus, through this way, the corporation can build
up their competitive image in the market effectually.
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REFERENCES
Aguzzoni, L. and et.al. (2013). Ex-post merger evaluation in the UK retail market for books.
Books and e-books - UK - February 2011. (2016). [Online]. Available through:
<http://store.mintel.com/books-and-e-books-uk-february-2011?cookie_test=true>.
[Accessed on 8st March 2016].
Clark, G. and Phillips, A., 2014. Inside book publishing. Routledge.
Cullen, J., Tsamenyi, M. and Gorst, J., 2013. Reverse logistics in the UK retail sector: A case
study of the role of management accounting in driving organisational change. Management
Accounting Research. 24(3). pp. 212-227.
Fernie, J. and Sparks, L., 2014. Logistics and retail management: emerging issues and new
challenges in the retail supply chain. Kogan Page Publishers.
Foscht, T. and et.al., 2015. European Retail Research: 2014. Volume 28(No. 1). Springer.
Greco, A. N., 2013. The book publishing industry. Routledge.
House, E. (2013). Challenges facing the UK book industry. Publishing research quarterly. 29(3).
pp. 211-219.
Kalleberg, A. L., 2013. Book review symposium: Response to Reviews of Arne L Kalleberg,
Good Jobs, Bad Jobs: The Rise of Polarized and Precarious Employment Systems in the
United States, 1970s to 2000s.Work, Employment & Societ. 27(5). pp. 896-898.
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APPENDIX
Appendix 1: PESTEL analysis of UK retail industry
The PESTEL analysis of UK retail industry is depicted in below:
Factors Trend Imp Implications
POLITICAL
fiscal and monetary
policy
The UK book retail industry is affected
through fiscal and monetary policy along
with rules and regulations which are
framed by the political government. For
example, the interest rate set by the
government of nation affect the pricing
tactic of book retail industry
H Need to pay high
taxes and interest on
debt.
ECONOMIC
Inflation, deflation With the economic unrest, customers
faces problem of inflation and therefore
they opt to buy other necessary items then
that of books.
H Decline in sales
Unemployment With the global crises, situation of
unemployment persists.
M Decline in sales
SOCIAL
demography, lifestyle
and attitude of the
customers
This includes demography, lifestyle and
attitude of the customers. The increasing
popularity of e-commence has influenced
the buying pattern of UK buyers. In this
regard, it has been seen that nowadays
people prefer to purchase products via
online means. The changing buying
pattern of buyers has influenced UK book
retail firms to comply with given type of
practices
M significant
improvement in the
sales and profits of
enterprise will not
being carried out. In
addition to this,
many customers of
UK book retail
industry have the
complaint that these
firms does not have
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any section for
academic and
competitive exams
book. Hence, the
given thing is needs
to be considered by
the respective
industry.
TECHNOLOGICAL
High technological
improvements
The major development has occurred in
the field of delivering products directly to
buyers. Earlier, firm has to follow long
process for supplying product to the
respective buyers. But, the given process
has been simplified due to the emergence
of E-commence.
H Rise in concept of e-
books
ENVIRONMENTAL
protection of the
natural environment
It is analyzed that many of the UK book
retail firm are adopting go green practices
in which efforts are made by them with
regard to increase the popular.
M saving trees from
cutting
LEGAL
competition, fair
trading, patent and
copy right laws
UK retail industry follows all the
legislation associated with competition,
fair trading, patent and copy right laws
etc. With the help of given laws, industry
carries out its operation in an effectual
way
M Fair operations

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