Competitive pressures on selected, contrasting business Essay

Introduction In this PowerPoint I will prepare a set of presentation slides for Next that explains the competitive pressures they have faced to develop their use of E-Business. I will then compare this to another organisation which will be Currys. Next PLC was founded by Joseph Hepworth in Leeds in 1864 as a tailor under the name of Joseph Hepworth & Son. The retail chain was launched in February 1982. Currys 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. Next and Curry’s Recruit online: If both these businesses decided to develop their use of e-business, they would be able to start recruiting people online. This is beneficial for both the businesses and the customers. More people will want to apply for jobs online as it is more convenient and easier for them and it is also easier for the companies to go through all the CV’s. Sales promotions: Next and Currys would be able to promote their business even more via the internet and more people will become aware of the sales promotions. This would benefit both companies. Up to date product information: The businesses will be able to make sure that their product information is regularly up to date. By making sure all the product information is precise and up to date they would be satisfying the customers which could result in regular purchases. Next and Curry’s Intrigue customers: The companies would be able to intrigue customers if their website is very precise, easy to use, appealing to the customer and they have good sales on their products. This would put them one step ahead of all their competitors. Quicker and cheaper: This would help attract more customers as they would find it easier to purchase items online, rather than driving down to the actual store as that could be very time consuming and they could use online promotion codes online. The business will benefit from this as they would be making more of a profit if they get more customers to purchase their items online as well as in the store. Creating more awareness: The businesses could create more awareness for themselves which will benefit them. The more attention their company draws the more sales they will be able to make which means that their company will be more successful than it already is. FAQ: Customers would be able to personally ask questions which relate back to Next and Curry’s. The businesses can then use this to their advantage by taking all their queries on board and making sure they do what they can to keep their customers happy. This could potentially result in more sales being made by the company. Next and Curry’s Increase profit: Next and Curry’s would be able to increase their profits if they create an online website for themselves as most of their customers would just purchase their items online as many customers would not have time to go to the actual store. Therefore it would work out better for the businesses if they decide to make a website. Customer feedback: The businesses would be able to see what feedback they have gotten from their customers through the comment box and this will help the companies improve their business so that it is meeting the customers standards which would result in more sales. Price compare: Next and Curry’s could compare the prices of their products to their competitors prices and then use this to make sure that their prices are more affordable. M2 – Explain how two selected, contrasting business organisations have responded to competitive pressures to develop their use of e-business Multimedia Next’s competitor is River Island and both the businesses use multimedia to promote their business and gain more customers. In order for Next to be ahead of their competition they have put up pictures and catwalks of the products that they have to offer so that their customers can see what the product looks like on a model. This will help the customer decide whether or not they wish to purchase the product. Delivery tracking/next day Next and River Island offer their customers a free next day delivery if they order before a certain time. Next has seen the promotion that River Island has going and they responded to this by giving their customers a longer time period to shop but offering them the same deal as River Island. Next also allows their customers to order by Midnight and have their product delivered to their local store the next day for them to collect. This has put Next ahead of River Island as River Island does not offer their customers the same deal. They also allow their customers to track their delivery so that they know what time to be expecting their delivery. Targeting customers Currys competitor is Argos and both of these business target their customers  in the same way. Currys and Argos target their customers online for example offering their customers deals on items that they know they are interested in. Currys responds to the deals that Argos has by offering their customers better deals on similar products that Argos is offering their customers. They also use social media to target their customers for example via Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Recruitment Currys and Argos use the internet to get more people to  work for their company. Currys can advertise their  job vacancies through social media websites like  Facebook and Twitter. They can offer their employees  deals which they know will attract more people and  this will benefit Currys because they will get more  people applying for jobs. Website In order for Next and Currys to be ahead of their competitors, they will need to make sure that their website is up to date on all their product information so that their customers stay  interested in the products that they sell. They make their  website easy for their customers to use so that they can easily find the product that they’re looking for.