Retailing

Module Study Guide Module Leader Manto Gotsi [email protected] Tutors Anne Barker [email protected] Manto Gotsi [email protected] Darrell Kofkin [email protected] Yang-Im Lee [email protected] Stuart McNaughton [email protected] Deborah Rose [email protected] Please check blackboard for office hours and office location Welcome to BMKT611 Retailing! This is a broad ranging module that will give you insight into retailing at both the strategic and tactical (operational) levels. The module discusses Retailing strategy rather than broadly Business strategy, although there is some overlap of analytic tools. Module Aims • Give an in depth of understanding of retailing at the strategic and store levels in different retail sectors. o Give a broad insight into the range of strategic options available to retailers, stressing the central importance of positioning and store image in gaining competitive advantage and customer loyalty. o Show how management of the individual elements of the retail mix contributes to the delivery of the positioning in different retail sectors. Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this module, the student will be able to: 1. Critically analyse the competitive environment facing a given retailer (or its owning company) and its sector and identify the key drivers of competitive advantage for different sectors and within sectors. 2. Critically evaluate the main strategic options for growth and competitive advantage available to a retailer and growth and positioning strategies for individual chains or stores. 3. Make judgements about the strategic management of the elements of the retail mix at the operational level and produce cohesive appraisal of chain and/or store level management of mix elements to affect the positioning. Approach to study Retailing is a very practical business discipline. Retail theory and analytic techniques have been mostly developed for operational decision making e.g. range planning, stock management, visual merchandising etc. and will not be explicitly covered on this module. Much of the theoretical base with which retail strategic decision making operates is from those functional areas of business you have studied in the first years of your degree e.g. accounting, HRM, marketing. Examining the retail industry will call on many of the areas you have previously studied. On this module we will select and adapt business concepts to analyse the management of the retail environment. It requires intimate knowledge of the retail environment, a systematic approach, breadth of vision, good judgement and a high level of synthesis. It is exactly these abilities to evaluate and manage a large number of inter-related elements simultaneously that mark good retailers. There is a weekly lecture that will build the main theoretical framework for the topic. A weekly seminar encourages students to apply the theoretical frameworks to contemporary retailing issues and to explore some of the problems raised in the lectures. Students are expected to prepare for seminars by reading, analysis and observation. If you one, please bring a laptop in the weekly seminars. Lecture material provides a framework. Students are expected to develop breadth and depth of knowledge of the theory by further reading and to evaluate its usefulness and appropriateness by ongoing application through store observation and preparation of the seminar exercises. The only assessment for this module is an individual assignment to be submitted on Monday 9 January 2017. Independent study will be supported by the seminar preparation advice. This module is supported through Blackboard. If necessary you will be emailed about this module through Blackboard, which will send emails to your University email address. If you want your University email to go to another address you need to change your email address held by the University through ‘SRSWeb for Students’ accessible through the intranet. Copies of PowerPoint slides used in lectures and seminar material are posted on the Blackboard site. Some students who have studied this module successfully in the past have found it useful to bring copies of the PowerPoint slides and make notes on those in the lecture. Learning Resources Retailing is one of the most dynamic sectors of the British economy and is in a state of continual change. You will therefore need to keep up to date by researching widely from textbooks, journal articles, trade publications and visiting stores and retailers’ websites. Textbooks The recommended textbook for this module is: Goworek, H. and McGodrick. P. (2015). Retail Marketing Management: Principles and Practice. Harlow, Pearson. You will find that reading from other books will deepen your appreciation of the retail industry and issues involved in the topics covered. In addition to Goworek and McGodrick we will use the following textbooks: Levy, M., Weitz, B. A. and Grewal, D. (9th ed, 2012), Retailing Management, McGraw Hill Berman, B. and Evans, J. (12ed 2013) Retail Management a Strategic Approach, Prentice Hall Additional material or approaches in many other books available from the library. Journals, magazines and newspapers The retail sector is well covered on the financial pages of newspapers. Retail applications are often carried in mainstream journals of most disciplines and there are journals aimed at the distributive trade e.g. Journal of Retailing, International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. The weekly trade newspaper of the retail industry is ‘Retail Week’, which is available through library search and Reading List in the module blackboard site. There are trade magazines available for different sectors of retailing e.g. the Grocer provides a constant supply of information about current affairs in the grocery industry. Key journal articles are in the Reading List on the module blackboard site. Access journals and magazines through the library portal ‘Library Search’. This is available from your intranet home page and also via a tab at the top of the module blackboard page. Try ‘Business Source Complete’ as a first port of call for retail journals, it has a good search facility (accessible through to the Library’s Resource Site for Business Students (http://westminsterbusinessstudies.blogspot.co.uk/p/list-of-key-databases.html Data For the assignment it will be necessary to access reliable, recognised sources of industry, company and brand information e.g. Mintel Passport Euromonitor Economist Intelligence Unit WARC Factiva These and other databases are available through Library Search. You will find it useful to go to the Library’s Resource Site for Business Students (http://westminsterbusinessstudies.blogspot.co.uk/p/list-of-key-databases.html), which has links to these and other e-resources and data. (Trade journals (e.g. the Grocer) are also available through the main Library search) Observation You should also visit and study as many retail outlets as you can. Preparation for seminars will involve visiting stores. Take an interest in shopping on the Internet, including issues of offer fulfilment, security, delivery, returns (you do not need to purchase! Just visit stores and sites). Assessment There is one piece of assessment on this module. It is an individual assignment. Due date: Monday 9 January 2017 Note: Seminar leaders will not be available for feedback during the Christmas break. Word limit 3000 words. Report format Submission of Coursework All coursework on this module is submitted via Blackboard only. It will automatically be scanned through a text matching system (designed to check for possible plagiarism). DO NOT attach a CA1 form or any other form of cover sheet; YOU MUST include your name and student ID on the first page of your assignment. To submit your assignment: Log on to Blackboard at http://learning.westminster.ac.uk; Go to the relevant module Blackboard site; Click on the ‘Submit Coursework’ link in the navigation menu on the left-hand side, as advised by the module teaching team; Click on the link for the relevant assignment; Follow the instructions. Finance holds. If on the due date you have a finance hold on your student account, you may not be able to access Blackboard to be able to submit electronically. If this is the case, you may be able to submit a paper copy to the Registry. Assignments submitted this way will ONLY be accepted if it is clear that you have a finance hold on the due date. The penalties for late submission will still apply. You will be given details by the module teaching team about how and when you will receive your marks and feedback on your work. REMEMBER: It is a requirement that you submit your work in this way. All coursework must be submitted by 1.00 p.m. (13.00) UK time on the due date. If you submit your coursework late but within 24 hours or one working day of the specified deadline, 10% of the overall marks available for that element of assessment will be deducted, as a penalty for late submission, except for work which is marked in the range 40 – 49%, in which case the mark will be capped at the pass mark (40%). If you submit your coursework more than 24 hours or more than one working day after the specified deadline you will be given a mark of zero for the work in question. The University’s mitigating circumstances procedures relating to the non-submission or late submission of coursework apply to all coursework. Assignment brief Prepare a report comparing the retail strategy and implementation of two retailers with a UK presence competing in the same market sector (based on both desk research and store visits) in the light of the competitive environment. Some guidance on the Assignment brief Two retailers Each student will select the two companies they wish to investigate and analyse. Students in the same seminar group can not select the same two retailers. Therefore, you need to register your choice of stores with your seminar leader by the end of the second week, on a first come first served basis. Example of department stores Student A selects John Lewis Partnership and Selfridges Student B selects Debenhams and Selfridges Student C selects Selfridges and Marks and Spencer Student D selects John Lewis Partnership and Marks and Spencer The sectors of coffee shops/fast food outlets are not available to students as we will be working on these sectors in seminars. Store choices will be registered on a first come first served basis starting on the day after the first lecture. Please email your proposed store choice to your seminar leader. YOU MUST HAVE CONFIRMATION OF YOUR STORE CHOICES BY YOUR SEMINAR LEADER BEFORE YOU PROCEED. UK presence Each company should be a multi-store retailer brand (chain) although they do not need to be public companies, UK owned or national chains they should have a presence of three or more sites in London. Same market sector The pair of stores to be analysed is subject to seminar leader’s agreement (if in doubt discuss this with your seminar leader). (based on both desk research and store visits) Research should be broad and deep. Read retail theory, sector and company information and observe stores. Your report should have at least 5 academic references, beyond the references to other secondary sources. Evaluate the retailers’ retail strategy and implementation in the light of the competitive environment Your analysis should focus on the following: Situation Analysis: Evaluate the sector in which the selected retailers operate and how their current retail strategies address the emerging opportunities and threats. Tools that can prove useful here: PESTLE analysis, Porter’s 5 Forces analysis, Competition (Direct and indirect) analysis, SWOT analysis. Objectives: Compare and contrast the objectives that are driving the selected retailers’ retail strategies. Positioning, Targeting and Image: Compare and contrast the selected retailers’ strategic positioning and their target market(s). Evaluate their image. Retail mix: Compare and contrast the selected retailers’ retail mix: range of merchandise; pricing; communications; location (multi-channel offering?); store design, layout, visual merchandising, atmospherics; customer service. Conclusions The report should make clear your assessment of how successful each of the retailers have been in their selection of a strategy to follow and in its implementation. Assessment criteria Analysis and evaluation of retail strategy and implementation exhibited by selection of appropriate theory and example. This involves the quality and sources of the information collected during the research and the skill used in selection, analysis and presentation (including your own research deepening and broadening your knowledge and understanding of retail theory). Ability to analyse retail situation in the competitive environment demonstrated by the application of the theory. This involves the degree of insight shown in the analysis and evaluation of strategy and implementation made on the basis of research findings (secondary research and observation). Critical evaluation of the relationship between elements of strategy and the retail mix exhibited by explanation and justification of answer. This involves synthesising the different aspects of strategy and implementation to provide your (evidenced) views on the effectiveness of the strategy and implementation of the retailers being examined. Your ability to work to a deadline, to length, producing a systematic, well structured and organised, professional looking report, with full sourcing of all quoted material, including all material drawn from your own observations. A cautionary note You will not always be able to find all the information you want. For example, some of the major retail brands are part of larger companies and information about specific brands is not always available. Additionally, some of the major retail companies are private companies (eg Arcadia which owns Top Shop, BHS, Miss Selfridge, Wallis and more) and it is very difficult to find detailed published financial information about some chains. Unfortunately, this is the state of the real world. You have to do the best you can and may need to make estimates and reasonable assumptions. This is a fact of business life. Through the library you have access to just about as much published information as a business analyst working on a takeover of one of these businesses. You have to do the best you can with what you can get. Plagiarism All the work you submit for assessment must be your own work. You are reminded that you must not attempt to pass off another’s work as your own, whether it is from other students, academics or academic publications, trade sources, journalists, Wikipedia, websites or whatever. The secret is to give proper sources. The library publishes an excellent resource called ‘Referencing your work’ http://www.westminster.ac.uk/library-and-it/support-and-study-skills/guides-and- tutorials/referencing-your-work