Competitive Analysis of the Retail Sector in the UK
Uploaded by ming on Apr 09, 2006
0.1 Background and Framework for Analysis
In early 2002 the Institute for Retail Studies at the University of Stirling was commissioned to carry out a 'Competitive Analysis of the Retail Sector in the UK' (tender CGS/1239) based on secondary sources and restricted to the UK rather than international comparisons.
The project had three objectives:
to define and map the sector in terms of size and composition of the businesses which operate within it;
to analyse the competitiveness of the sector now through SWOT, PEST and Porter's 5 forces and any other appropriate means and summarise the key issues facing the sector as a whole, and also sub-sector specific issues;
to provide recommendations for industry and government.
The report is divided into four parts. In Part I we provide a background to the sector and explain the framework for analysis used in the study. Part II provides the competitive analysis of the whole (generic) retail sector based upon the three components of the framework: drivers for change; sector structure; and internal characteristics and competencies. Part III summarises the report and provides recommendations based upon our interpretation of the analysis. Part IV, presented as an appendix, provides a series of sub-sector analyses for the nine retail sub-sectors identified by the DTI.
Retailing is one of the major economic sectors of the country, with retail sales of £221 billion, employing around 3 million people and operating over 300,000 shops. Within the sector there is a scale polarisation at both the business and the store level. The leading retailers are huge, multinational businesses which dominate the sector. They operate a range of stores from major hypermarkets and supercentres through to small convenience stores.
Retailing is also significant it its social dimension as well. Whilst economically retailing bridges production and consumption, in social terms it effects most of the population every day. It is the rare person who does not go shopping, or indeed has not worked in retailing or been involved in it in some way. For some, retailers offer their major social intercourse of the day or week and act as a social network, setting or centre. The quality of UK retailing and its locations thus has both an economic and a social bearing on the perceptions of the country.
What we term retailing is however changing, both in horizontal and vertical terms. Traditional product boundaries have altered and strict lines of business have dissolved. Retailers have also extended their tasks...