Retail strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Retail strategy - Essay Example The five changes include, Infrastructure, innovation, Knowledge and trust relationships between the supplier, retailer, and the customer. To validate the reason for a critical evaluation on Dawson's statement is simply to say that the growing retail industry with a powerful attraction for minor retailers proves to be death trap. This is mainly because of the increased competition and the changing conditions in the economy and consumer behaviour. However, the business of retail proves to be threatening for manufacturers creating brands and trying to sustain brand image and brand loyalty as they squeezed by the so- called retailer. In a book by Lars Thomassen, et., al (2006, pg. 1) 'Retailization' begins by saying "We have moved from the age of the brand to the age of the retailer" - a shift that has led many brands to a near chronic state of constant stress and confusion. This is backed with data were the book reports that four major retail chains in the have 75 percent of the grocery market, and one pound in every eight spent is in the retail giant Tesco. Well this overpowering omnipotence of the retail industry had led to fierce competition with individual retailers or minor retail stores crushed to close down. There is constant fight and struggle to keep up profit margins and stay abreast of competition, which makes Dawson's statement true. ... Below is a table that reflects the diminishing share in the grocery sales of individual retailers in this competition over the recent years. The table will talk volumes of the struggle the giant retailers and medium sized establishments are undergoing. The data reported is from the Competition Commission organization in the report of 'Overview of UK grocery retailers' The table is a factual of the share in UK's grocery sales for the different retailers in the country. The Verdict data series used in the table and provides relative sales shares of all the retailers and that of small retailers represented as others. Grocery sales share of UK grocery retailers. 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Tesco 20.2 22.4 23.8 25.4 26.8 27.6 Asda 12.3 12.9 13.3 13.4 13.7 14.1 Sainsbury 12.8 12.5 12.6 12.8 13.4 13.8 Morrisons 3.8 4.2 10.3 9.6 9.7 9.9 Safeway 8.2 7.8 2.4 0 0 0 Somerfield chain 2.9 2.8 3 3.7 4.1 3.9 M&S 3.3 3.4 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.8 CGL 2.8 3.2 3 2.9 2.8 3.8 Waitrose 2.5 2.6 2.8 3 3.2 3.3 Iceland 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.4 1.5 Aldi 0.9 1 1.1 1.3 1.4 1.5 Lidl 1.1 1.1 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 Netto 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 Kwik save 2 1.8 1.6 1.3 0.7 0 Others 24.9 22.1 19.6 20 17.4 14.9 Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 Source: Verdict UK Grocery retailers 2008, February 2008.( Overview of UK grocery sales ) The row mentioned 'Others' is emboldened to throw light on their diminishing share of business in the grocery sector and ultimately leading to their destruction. Find a pictorial representation below. Looking closely at the figures of the larger retailers, the Year on Year sales numbers increase only at an extremely marginal pace and retailers like Safeway have their numbers freezed