BUSINESS REPORTINCREASING THE DEPARTMENT STORE’S PROFITSFORINCREASING THE DEPARTMENT STORE’S PROFITSPrepared forJohn SmithGeneral Manager HARRODS department storePrepared byPeter AlbertChief advisorTWCBJuly 15, 2013MEMODATE: 07/15/2013TO: John SmithFROM: Peter AlbertSUBJECT: INCREASING PROFITSHere is the report you requested on Jul.12, 2013 on the department store’s profits.Your uneasiness was right. As we only focused on some high-quality products, we can’t expand market share in other aspects, then the profits fell sharply.The solutions to the problem are clear. We need to take some cares in other marketing.•Set up some convenience stores, discount stores and speciality stores as competition did.•Expand foreign retail chains in some economically potent states like China and Japan.•Make transition of service mode to follow the consumer demands. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to work on this assignment. If you have any questions about the report, please call me.Executive SummaryIn the past six months, the profits of Harrods department store’s fell sharply. As a result, several similar famous store groups are now heavily in debt. The report studies the cause of the fell and recommends solutions to the problems.Causes of the fellWe have found three causes relating to the fell:•Market Positioning is inflexible.•The Foreign market didn’t develop well.•Service concept was out of date.Some positions and service concepts are out of date, it’s lower customer satisfaction. We also found that a large number of staff numbers and managers lack awareness to follow with customer’s consumption concept. Harrods department store may start training their staff to keep up with modern customer’s idea.Measures to Increase the Profits•Set up some convenience stores, discount stores and speciality stores as competition did.•Expand foreign retail chains in some economically potent states like China and Japan.•Training staff. Make transition of service mode to follow the consumer demands.Estimates for Implementing the ProposalMost of the expenses of implementing the measures will be on set up new stores and expand foreign retail chains. They are estimated to be 25, 0000 pounds.Table of ContentsExecutive Summary ⅲIntroduction 1 Purpose, Scope, and Challenges 1 Methods 2The Decreasing Profits in Harrods Department Store 2 25% Decreasing compared with 2011 2 Competition’s Average Profits in 2011&2013 2 Major Causes of the Decreasing 3Impact on Harrods Department store 4 More Funds Needed to Increasing Profits 4 Jeopardizing the Harrods’ Brand Reputation 4Methods for Increasing the Profits 5 Three Ways to Increasing the Profits 5 The Fund Needed to Carry Out the Measures 6 Conclusions and Recommendations 6Supplementary Parts7 Appendix 7 Bibliography 8Part One IntroductionIn last several months, there’s sharply profits fell showed on the financial reporting form Harrods department store. Our company, TWCB, as requested the solution by Harrods department store’s manager, we immediately looked into the matter and found three problems which may have caused the decreasing. The fiscal third quarter of this fiscal year will end in two months. We will do everything to solve the problems before customers switch and never to return.In this report, I will describe the problems we found in the department store and propose three possible measures to solve them and the estimated cost.1.Purpose, Scope, and Challenges·Purpose: the purpose of this report is to analyze what caused the problem and how can we solve it as soon as possible. The report gives the result of the investigation.·Scope: we immediately formed two teams, one of which checked the department store regularly and the other conducted a survey on customer. The first team hangs around the store for 7 days in a row and constantly does some shopping to see how the service feels like.The second team designed questionnaires collecting customer’s comments on the store. The result was not as bad as we had expected. But the store should do something before it becomes a real problem.·Challenges: the department store has been facing tremendous challenges and pressure as the number of competitions grows at high speed each year. For instance, some customers select one store visit regularly out of ten. Our store is facing increasing competitive pressure.2.MethodsWe conducted the investigation through two methods: interviews and questionnaires. We sent out 1000 questionnaires and 800 customers responded to them. 300 customers chosen randomly from customer questionnaire’s numbers were interviewed.Part TwoThe Decreasing Profits in Harrods Department StoreIn last six months, there’s sharply profits fell showed on the financial reporting form Harrods department store. We did research on the decreasing problem.1.25% Decreasing compared with 2011After the research, we found that under the strategy of Harrods, to offer a wide choice of products and personalized service, the department store has worked well until st year, however, profits fell sharply and results for the first six months of this year have been disappointing. Then we did a comparing with this store’s profits from January to June in 2011 and 2013, there is the chart:petition’s Average Profits in 2011&2013After compared with our own store’s profits in 2011, one of our team did research on our competition’s average profits in 2011&2013. Here is the table (on next page):0 From the table, we can see that, when Harrods department store’sprofits decreasing sharply in this two year, the competition has grown a lot; it gives us a great competitive pressure at now and future. We need to do something to change the bad situation.3.Major Causes of the DecreasingFrom the research, we can see the major problems which caused the decreasing, and we summarized them as follows:•As we only focused on some high-quality products, we can’t expand market share in other aspects, our market positioning is inflexible. •As economic globalization becomes strong, our foreign market should develop more deep and widely.•Our strategy is good, but it didn’t pay attention to nowadays shopping fashion. Service concept was out of date.We must take concrete measures to solve all the problems.Impact on Harrods Department storeThe decreasing of the profits not only made damage to the economic interests of Harrods department store, it wills also jeopardizing the Harrods’ brand reputation and then when we need more funds to increase the profits will be very hard.1.More Funds Needed to Increasing ProfitsIndeed to increasing the department store’s profits, we should do a lot of research and work. To make a perfect solution, all the projects will spend a lot of money to get the most accurate answer. During the whole things, we will cooperate with many famous companies on investigation or doing business expanding. To make sure everything is moving on schedule and is within the budget, we will make an accurate expense, and expect to complete the project without exceeding the budget.2.Jeopardizing the Harrods’ Brand ReputationWith the result of our questionnaire, we can see that: among the 800 customers, 650 are employees and rests of them are teenagers and senior citizens. In the employees group,25% of them with an annual income of 100, 0000￡or more, and others annual income is about 30, 000 to 80,000￡. The high income group didn’t show any unsatisfactory to the service and product. But in the middle income group, many of them want value for money and to feel they have got a bargain and services which make life easier or save time, which they think Harrods can’t serve well.Methods for Increasing the ProfitsThe working team has worked out methods to increase the profits of the department store. We will depend on marketing positioning, foreign market, and training new service concept as our main approaches to our customers.Three Ways to Increasing the Profits•To attract customers we will rebuild our department store to make a place for some discount goods. And in other city area, like communities and shopping mall, we will set up some convenience stores, discount stores and speciality stores as competition did. But as the long history and special brand charm we has, our stores will be very different from others. We will develop a new message to our potential customers, that “Luxury culture also can be an Approachable culture.” The message together with pictures showing features of our new stores will be advertised in the local papers, magazines, and our new catalogs.•Although HARODDS is a successful department store in London and has many chain stores in New York and Italian, we can’t ignore the mega consumer market in some Asian countries, like China and Japan.These countries own a large consumer population, which makes them consumer markets with great potentials. So we should try to connect with those local business men to expand our foreign retail chains and develop foreign markets.•With a survey shows that: as the English population ages, older groups will provide opportunities for sales growth.And nowadays the English consumers want value for money and to feel they have got a bargain. Britain is moving from a luxury culture to a convenience culture. People want services which make life easier or save time. So the old service concept was out of date, we should do a series of trainings to improve staff’s awareness of the shopping fashion andtheir competence in competing in the market. The training mainly focuses on how to serve customer in a pleasant way. Then most of potential customers will switch to our stores.Part FiveThe Fund Needed to Carry Out the MeasuresThe estimated costs for the measures are summarized below:Training staff 5, 0000￡Rebuild department store& 12,0000￡Set up new storesExpanding foreign retail chains 8,0000￡Part Six Conclusions and RecommendationsAlthough problems exist, great business potential is waiting to be exploited. We have calculated that all the measures should bring an increase in profits by 23% in three months. Under a improved service concept and create a more comfortable shopping environment, Harrods can remain high in profitability and offset the threats.The Office has worked out three recommendations:·Set up a committee (composed of store’s managers, customer representatives and government staff) to monitor the service. ·Carry out training for the store’s staff and managers.·Advertise the feature changes of the store on the local news papers.Part Seven Supplementary PartsAppendixQUESTIONNAIRE OF THE HARRODS’GOODS AND SERVICES This questionnaire is designed for Harrods department store’s problems and future improvement on its goods and services. And we’d like to collect your feedback. You do not have to write your name on them. You are asked to fill in scales and write constructive suggestions to improve it. We appreciate your time and efforts very much!Select your answers as follows: 5 is a highly positive response to a particular question.1 is a highly negative response.Use a blue/black pen or HB pencil to mark your answers.1.Do you often shop at Harrods department store? 5 4 3 22.Was the shopping environment comfortable? 5 4 3 2 13.Was the staff’s attitude approachable? 5 4 3 2 14.Can you always found favorite product at there? 5 4 3 2 15.How good were the goods and service? 5 4 3 2 16.Overall, how did the store compare with the others? 5 4 3 2 17.Which do you have more desire to buy?a. Luxury goodsb. Convenience goodsc. Luxury goods with discountd. Convenience goods with discount8.In which store would you like to buy?a. Department storesb. Discount storesc. Specialty storesd. Convenience stores9.If you may choose freely, would you like to shop at Harrods?a. Yesb. NoFor question 10-11, please write any other comments and suggestions that might be helpful and constructive. WE appreciate your time and efforts very much.10. What kind of activity you would like to join?11. Any comments to Harrods?Thanks again for your participation!BibliographyLevitt, S. D., & Dubner, S. J. (2005). Freakonomics: A rogue economist explores the hid den side of everything. New York: William Morrow.Lucas, Stephen E. "Public Speaking." Encyclopedia of Rhetoric. Ed. Thomas O. Sloane. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. 640-47.。
