Unit 29 P4

Unit 29 – Understanding Retailing

P4 - Identify the competitive factors in the retail environment a selected organisation faces.

Curry's is a British electrical retailer operating in the UK and Ireland and is owned by Dixons Carphone. It specialises in selling home electronics and household appliances, with 295 superstores and 73 high street stores. Electronics will be the next company that will be affiliated with them.

Organisations are effected by many different competitive factors that they are forced to face. Competitive factors can and will arise in a variety of situations. A micro environment is the immediate environment that surrounds the business therefore a smaller environment that is easier to control. The tools that will be considered

It is vital for Curry's to use these tools as they will help them work on the progression of their ability to compete. Curry's has various external environments such as their customers, potential customers, the government, economic environment and other electrical retail businesses in the UK. Customers and competitors put enormous pressure on business operations.

Customers are seen as the live line of business because without them they will be no need for business. They are the resource upon which the success of Curry's depends. The relationship between the customer and the organisation is, therefore, an important one. This implies that Curry's should get on a massive marketing strategy in order to keep their customers and create avenues of taking others from their competitors. If consistently something of value to the customer, customers develop a key relationship not only for the product or service but also with the

Recession will affect the retail in a number of ways, there will be greater unemployment, less demand, less confidence in the economy, change in dynamics of marketing mix, furious competition, etc. In the case of recession happening in the UK, a business like Curry's may respond to this recession by cutting jobs and supplier cost. They will also make their prices dominant and consider taking over weaker businesses in the industry in order to survive the recession.

In addition, the Internet brings a whole new aspect of competition that Curry's are facing daily. As in most industries, technological development have affected customer activity in a number of ways. The Internet has created an great quantity of information, not all of which is reliable. Customers have easy access to information, much of which is promotional material presented in a manner to appear fair. Internet sources, however, can also offer educational and potentially useful information on where to get quality information on quality records. In addition to the impact on customers, technological advances also offer a number of opportunities and challenges relating to manufacturing, distribution, and promotional activities. Technology generates broad research and greater accuracy in marketing strategies which Curry's will certainly benefit