ID-MKT41010-CASE_Kanika Verma

STUDENT NUMBER- 15204010

1. Describe the E-Commerce Operation and assess how the retailers are using it todevelop a competitive advantage.

SITE NAVIGATION & CONTENT MARKETING

The pull down menu found at the bottom of each page, helping the users in navigating eachand every section of the website without making use of the back button on the browser istermed as Site Navigation. On the other hand, Content Marketing is a process which involvesdistribution of relevant and valuable content for attracting and engaging customers towardsthe website of the company.

There are certain factors that will outline a comparison on the use of site navigation andcontent marketing by Debenhams and Marks & Spencer’s for competing in the online worldof retailers :-

Factors DEBENHAMS MARKS & SPENCERSSearch Box Design It is in direct contrast with

the colour of the website which is black and is easily visible to the visitors withoutgiving them trouble.

It is on the left hand side of the page, which is more typical place to appear and remains there throughout the search and expands when you click on it.

Auto Suggest It does not provide any sort of predictive suggestions to the customers, in the context of the items but, the positive part is dealing with misspellings and providing correct results.

It provides suggestions basedon the popular items available but, does not provide correct results on themisspellings typed in which troubles the customers.

Presentation Debenhams has a neat and attractive page, presenting various models wearing clothes giving customers an idea about how they will look in reality.

Marks & Spencer’s provides the customers with large images as well as boldly highlighted items.

Search Effectiveness While searching items on thewebsite visitors have to be more specific other than usual. So, the search is not that effective here.

Here the search is very effective as it provides all thenecessary and possible results.

Synonym Management It deals with plurals as well as singulars and effectively manages the searches including synonyms providing satisfactory resultsto the customers.

It also effectively manages the synonym searches and gives the customers what they are looking for with ease.

Filter Search Here, the filters are generallyfine, not as much detailed ason the website of Marks &Spencer’s but there is onepositive element about thefilters that they are coloured.This is an attractive part ofthe website of Debenhams.

Marks & Spencer’s hasmade a wide range of filtersavailable on its websitehaving neat column chartsand also the ability to showthose items only that areavailable in the stocks. Herethe filters are more detailed.

Conclusion It is lagging behind and should widen the arena by providing predictive suggestions and dynamic images to flourish in the market and to increase its sales.

It has excellent search result pages and assists the customers in the best possible way and provides easy filter options. It is somewhere better in comparison to the Debenhams website.

2. Describe the key processes and tools associated with it?

Key processes and tools associated with Site navigation and Content Marketing used byDebenhams and Marks & Spencer’s are as follows:-

DEBENHAMS

Search Box- One of the tools is a search box which is placed on the top of the websiteand takes the queries of the customers related to the brand names, products, keywords,etc, and provides them with relevant results in accordance to their search.

Navigation Bars- There are various departments of Debenhams.com that are underthe top navigation bar. When you click over a department like- Men, you will see adrop down menu containing other categories within the same department. By clickingon the category you will be guided to another page where you could see differentproducts falling in that category.

Refine your Search- Finding a product has become much easier on this website now.After selecting a category customers can refine their search by colour, size, price,brand, etc, simultaneously. So, if you want a casual shirt in size 42 and black colourthen the Debenhams site will show you the same.

View the number of products- This option on the website tells the customers aboutthe number of different products available in the category that has been chosen bythem. This gives the customers a wide range of choices and the customer can pick thebest amongst all and add to the cart to buy it.

Sort by- The products are also categorised under aspects like- bestselling, newest,price and name. So, the customers can sort the orders of the products on the basis ofabove mentioned categories.

MARKS & SPENCER’S

Search Box- Marks & Spencer’s website also has a search box that is placed on theleft side of the screen in which customers can type in what they wish to buy and thencertain results will bump on the screen showing what customers want.

Navigation Bar- There are different categories mentioned on the Marks & Spencer’swebsite like- Men, Women, Beauty, Furniture, etc, and these have sub- categories aswell like- Men (Clothing, shoes & boots), etc. So, this categorisation of items helpsthe customer in finding the relevant and desired product in an easy manner withouttroubling them and also serves as an essential tool for the website.

Store Finder- It is a tool which is placed on the top of the Marks & Spencer’s websitethat asks the customers to type in their location, postcode, town or city so, that theycan find out the nearest Marks & Spencer’s store where they can go and shop. Thisparticular tool has been made for the convenience of the customers and to give themease in their shopping experience.

Checking Out- It basically refers to the dynamic basket that helps the customers inreviewing quickly what they are buying, it also provides information about the price,its delivery as well as it return policy and this information is of great importance forthe customer

3. Assess how the operation has been activated on the retailer’s sites?

Site Navigation and Content Marketing are of utmost importance and needs to beconsidered for the betterment of the websites. Below are some points that will explainhow these elements are activated on the websites of Debenhams and Marks &Spencer’s:-

DEBENHAMS

It makes use of drop down menu that provide ease to access all the categorieson the webpage. In this drop down all the items are listed vertically under theheading that helps the visitors in finding the relevant items without takingmuch time and go through the content of the website without any confusionand trouble.

Another positive feature of Debenhams website is that they assist thecustomers in getting effective results even if the customers misspell the query.It is again an important element to be considered on the website for better sitenavigation as it helps the customer in getting what they are looking for even ifthey misspell the word.

The checked out process on the Debenhams website has been made troublefree by enabling the visitors to fill their billing information before they beginwith their registration. This facilitates great number of sales and helpsDebenhams in fetching huge customers.

In case of International delivery, the visitors are provided with a link to “viewdetails” of international delivery. This link will open up a URL and providesall the necessary information related to the price of the products, etc and helpsthe users in placing their order conveniently.

It also displays some services on the website to help the customer in shopping.They also use this for the purpose of marketing so, that they can attract themthe customers and influence their buying behaviour. These services are- Freestandard delivery over 30 Euros, Free click and collect from a selected store,etc.

MARKS & SPENCER’S

The Marks & Spencer’s website has changed and improved a lot to provide agood experience to the users and the biggest improvement is in thenavigational options. It has reduced the text content to some extent as now aday’s people don’t have much time to read the entire paragraph and they wantprecise material so, they have made the layout clearer to see and navigate. Theimages of products on the site now appear to be 50% bigger than the previoussite and featuring either a model wearing clothes or cut-outs making the sitelook more attractive for the visitors.

Another important element is the improvement in the function of Store Finder.Earlier this feature make the customers go away from this website as it wasquite clumsy and was not according to the way and manner in which thecustomer wanted it to be. But, now it has improved and appears on every pagekeeping in mind the view of customers so, that customers can be satisfied to agreat extent and have a pleasant shopping experience.

Marks & Spencer’s also provides the customers with predictive suggestions onthe popular items available on the website to help them out in finding theright item, this provides the customer with ease in shopping and also reducesthe time spent on it.

The website provides detailed information about the services that they havelike- Free delivery, Extended returns, Secure payment, Order by phone,Sustainable business, etc. These options are explained briefly by somestatements to make the customer understand the exact meaning of these. Thebasic reason behind displaying these services on the website is marketing theirproducts and the brand.

“These operations have been activated on the sites of retailers in a great manner andhelp as well as assist the customers in understanding the content of the website,navigate with ease and finally buy products after a great comparison. Both theretailers are working in the direction of accomplishing the business as well ascustomer goals.”

4. Indicate the resources required and challenges for the retailers?

Challenges for Debenhams in the market:-

EMERGANCE OF SMARTPHONESHigh usage of smart phones by the customers is a big challenge on the part ofDebenhams and this is putting it into a lot of pressure. So, to overcome this it has toimprove the mobile retail experience and has to get proper balance between desktopand mobile experience to fetch huge number of customers.

RISE OF 4G NETWORKAnother challenge faced by Debenhams is the rise of 4G network that has madepeople use tablets to browse the website. But Debenhams team has created a desktoporiented website that won’t work properly on tablets. 4 G has an adverse impactDebenhams and will create issues for the desktop users assessing the site. So,Debenhams has to figure out the solution to this challenge to give its customers abetter experience.

COMPETITIVE UK MARKETThe UK market is very challenging and competitive having numerous talented andwell- established retailers who posed a great challenge in front of Debenhams. Thisaffected the performance of Debenhams to a great extent in terms of Clothing salesthat were lower than the expected sales, the Promotional environment which wasquite intense and complicated and lastly, Convenience that had become of greatimportance to the customers and they wanted high level of comfort and conveniencein their shopping experience. This made Debenhams face a great challenge in terms ofsatisfying the customers in the best possible manner it can to be in the market for alonger period of time.

PARTNERSHIP WITH KOREAN BRAND DEBENDebenhams partnered with a Korean retail outlet ‘Deben’, a well- established andrecognized brand in Korea. So, what Debenhams had to do here was to influence theconsumers in Korea to buy more of its products which was a big challenge on its partas it was a difficult task for foreign brands to win market share in Korea. The questionhere was that whether these European clothes will match Korean sizes, tastes andpreferences of consumers or no as people had a perception that clothes that areimported to Korea are always overpriced. So, Debenhams has to work a lot in thedirection of attaining market share in Korea and impress the consumers there.

Challenges for Marks & Spencer’s in the market:-

INFLUENCING CUSTOMERS TO SHOP ONLINEMostly the customers prefer in- store shopping at Marks & Spencer’s store so, thechallenge that pop up here is to persuade the customers to make purchases onlinerather than offline to increase the online sales to a great extent.

ENTERING EUROPEAN MARKETMarks & Spencer’s was almost an unknown brand in Germany and people were notthat much aware of it. So, it was a challenge on the part of Marks & Spencer’s todevelop awareness amongst people when already there were popular and famousbrands existing in the market. Marks & Spencer’s had to compete with these retailers,communicate policies, packaging and labelling to the consumers to survive as well asprove that they can be the better brand amongst other brands in the market.

ONLINE SUBSTITUTE SELLING COMPETITORSThere are many retailers available online who are selling same sort of clothes ataffordable prices, for example- Formal suits are quite expensive at Marks & Spencer’swhereas, they are affordable at other online stores. Consumers has a wide range ofchoices in the market and they will select the product which is affordable andsimultaneously, qualitative. So, it is again a challenge on the path of Marks &Spencer’s and it has to figure out relevant strategies to overcome this challenge.

BAD USER- EXPERIENCEMarks & Spencer’s website was creating huge trouble for the users, they had to re-register their details on the website and this annoyed the customers to a greatextent, giving them a bad and frustrating user- experience.

5. Discuss the opportunities for development and potential strategic moves in the operationalarea, for the selected retailers.

OPPORTUNITIES AND POTRENTIAL STRATEGIC MOVES OF

DEBENHAMS:-

GLOBALIZATIONThere is an increased acceptability of Western wear by the consumers across theglobe so, Debenhams has an opportunity to globalize as well as expand indifferent areas of the world and should make use of it in the best possible mannerand provide the consumers with best quality of western clothes at affordableprices.

CUSTOMIZED GOODSDebenhams has the opportunity to customize its products in terms of colour,comfort, size, etc by getting a deep insight about the market trends, tastes andpreferences, demands, desires, etc, of consumers. This will help Debenhams incapturing the market share, increasing the sales and revenues as well as gainingmore and more popularity.

REAL OPPORTUNITY WITH KEY AGE GROUPSDebenhams provides clothes for all generation of consumers and it main target isthe consumers between the age group of 15-35. For this age group fashion holdsgreat importance and they want to look fashionable most of the time. Thisparticular age group of people in Western Europe are fashion leaders and want toremain the same, which is a great advantage that can be taken up by Debenhamsby mainly focussing on them.

WORK ATTIRE BECOMING CASUALNowadays it can be noticed that people are more interested in wearing casualsother than formal dresses even if they are going for work. Debenhams has anopportunity here as it provides the consumers with best casual wears that arefashionable as well keeping in view the perception of people. So, it can keepworking in this direction for gaining success and flourishment in the market.

Debenhams are putting efforts in the direction of its expansion and will open 11new franchise stores in the next few years and will try to be innovative and time-bound for ensuring future growth in the market.

OPPORTUNITIES AND POTENTIAL STRATEGIC MOVES OF

MARKS & SPENCER’S:-

SUCCESS OF ONLINE SHOPPINGOnline shopping has become the most convenient and comfortable platform forthe consumers to buy their desired products not only in UK and USA but in othercountries as well. In the coming years consumers will mostly shop online and thisplatform will keep on flourishing so, this invents the opportunity for Marks &Spencer’s. It can make use of this opportunity that will enable Marks & Spencer’sto fetch great amount of revenues from all the countries across the globe.

EXPANSIONAnother opportunity that Marks & Spencer’s has is to expand its chain in thehighly populated countries in the world, India and China. These are the countrieswhich can bestow great amount of sales and revenues to Marks & Spencer’sresulting in fastest growing markets.

IMPROVING THE IN- STORE EXPERIENCEMarks & Spencer’s has an opportunity to improve their in- store shoppingexperience by adding up more and helpful services for the consumers like-assisting them while shopping by giving suggestions, timely answering theirqueries with relevant answers, etc. Improvement is always better and cantransform the negative elements into positive and favouring the company to gainsuccess.

BRAND EQUITY AND QUALITYMarks & Spencer’s provide the customers with high standard and good qualityproduct that builds its brand and also serves as an opportunity. It should rendersuch products to the consumers in every point of time to live up to theexpectations of consumers and also for remaining and surviving in the market fora longer period of time.

Marks & Spencer’s are building up strategies to improve their infrastructure to bemore competitive in long- run. It also has a team of 200 people who are workingin the direction of improving the website. There is a positive part about the newsite of Marks & Spencer’s that it provides monthly updates, functioning of tabletsis improved and the performance has also become even better in comparison toprevious performance.

REFERENCES:-

How John Lewis, M&S and Debenhams handle on-site search | Econsultancy. 2015. How

John Lewis, M&S and Debenhams handle on-site search | Econsultancy. [ONLINE]

Available at:https://econsultancy.com/blog/66082-how-john-lewis-m-s-and-debenhams-

handle-on-site-search/. [Accessed 27 November 2015].

Debenhams UK - Searching for products . 2015. Debenhams UK - Searching for products .[ONLINE] Available at: http://www.debenhams.com/customer-service/new-customers/searching-for-products. [Accessed 27 November 2015].

2015. . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.marksandspencer.com/. [Accessed 27 November2015].

http://www.digital-tonic.co.uk/digital-tonic-blog/went-wrong-marks-spencer-website-redesign-made-lose-sales/

http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2272518/debenhams-and-littlewoods-tackle-ecommerce-challenges-posed-by-tablets-and-4g