Introduction Since its inception in 1864, the John Lewis brand has grown in to one of the UK’s leading departmental stores and enduring brands. John Lewis boasts the only remaining traditionally English brand with a focus on quality, value-for-money and practicality (John Lewis, 2008). John Lewis specializes in selling food and drinks, clothes and household goods. In addition, John Lewis has recently diversified into financial services such as insurance and credit cards. During the early 2000’s, the company experienced serious financial crunches due to tribulations with its supply chain and poor product offerings with the worst time being at the year ending March 31, 2001 when its profits were recorded to be as low as £2.8m on revenue …show more content…
Thus, profit before tax (£997) and net profit (£860m) for the year ending March 31, 2011 were at their highest since 2001 (John Lewis, 2012). However, following the credit crisis in the US and the difficult trading environment in the UK over the 2010 Christmas period, the company’s sales growth saw a marked slow-down and its shares plummeted almost overnight (Economist, 2012). John Lewis has recently gained the title of “bell-weather” in the UK retailing industry, which means that if John Lewis is besieged, the whole sector is also struggling to stand on its feet. To this end, the SWOT analysis below looks at the environment in which John Lewis is operating, bringing in to light the company’s strengths and weaknesses while exposing the opportunities that the institution can capitalize on and the possible threats it may lurch in to in the process of further …show more content…
* Designing of trendier clothes would attract young and potential customers to its stores. * Online sales provide a great opportunity since online margins are higher citing extensive growth from online companies like eBay (John Lewis, 2011). * The adoption of healthy lifestyles by customers presents an opportunity to sell healthy foods and sports gear. * Growing insurance and credit card industry. The industry has been on an upward trend over the past decade. Considering that John Lewis has a division that contributes over 23% of its total revenue dedicated to this segment, it is likely to reap significant benefits if this opportunity is fully utilized. Threats * Currently, John Lewis target group are older customers usually over 45 years. This might pose as a risk in the future due to the fact that today’s 20-30 year olds will still stay trendy after 10-20 years and might be reluctant to shop in John Lewis, especially taking into consideration the desire for people to look younger nowadays (The Economist,