Marketing Strategies for the John Lewis Partnership - Case Study Example

John Lewis Partnership Student’s Name Instructor’s Name Institution of Affiliation Course Name Date of Submission Table of Contents Introduction 3 John Lewis Unit 3 Long-term objectives 3 Position within Competition 4 Resources and Capacities of the John Lewis Business Unit 5 Categorization Business Strategy of John Lewis Business Unit 5 Evaluation of the Business Strategy Applied to John Lewis Unit 7 Identifying Main Strengths and Weaknesses 8 Strengths 8 Weaknesses 9 References List 11 John Lewis Partnership Introduction John Lewis Partnership plc is an outstanding company in the fact that it is not only owned by staff but it is also managed by staff. The staff is known as partners. In the United Kingdom, this partnership is the largest department store. The store comprises of a network of supermarkets and shops stretching from Aberdeen to Cornwall. Instead of ownership, John Lewis partnership constitute of 91,000 permanent workers all of whom are partners and share profits. Since every partner is an employee, the customer is a valuable asset to the organization and its future. Although the company was first owned by Mr. Lewis, the son John Spedan Lewis turned it into a partnership when all employees were turned partners. This early profit-sharing idea gives the company a fascinating history and the unique innovative, multichannel co-owned business. The partnership in John Lewis Company comprises of two main departments which are John Lewis and Waitrose. While Waitrose is a food-oriented unit, John Lewis unit is retail unit for branded products from renowned suppliers. The discussion in this paper focuses on John Lewis unit in terms of its objectives, position within competition, resources, categorization, business strategy used, and the main strengths and weaknesses. John Lewis Unit Long-term objectives For John Lewis Unit, the belief is that the customer is boss. In this regard, the unit operates under the objective of ensuring that every customer is entitled to equal high level services[Joh14]. Additionally, each customer is entitled to products that are made from ingredients of high integrity and safety. This way, the customer is guaranteed of product safety. Besides using safe ingredients, John Lewis Unit ensures that each product under the company’s brand is complacent with the relevant safety and consumer legislation standards. In addition, John Lewis unit guarantees its customers of style which serves both in differentiating the company’s products from competition, and offering guarantee for value[Joh14]. Finally, all goods have to be presented to the customer through a multichannel supply approach to all the units’ shops, call centers, online shopping and home delivery. Position within Competition According to Barrow [Bar14], John Lewis Department Store has been at the top in Britain’s retail market for the ten times in the last 15 years. The unit comprises of 41 stores throughout the UK with an annual sales of about £4billion a year. Barrow [Bar14] reveals that behind the John Lewis brand was a huge market share of loyal customers who formed part of the company’s devoted shoppers. During this year, the company was awarded Britain’s best retailer prize in its annual competition. This first position came with the company’s commitment to consistently offer its customers wide range of products trust and inspiration while ensuring that they have access to latest product trends and advice. John Lewis top position places it ahead of Marks & Spencer or M&S which despite owning more stores and having more shoppers does not match Lewis mobile and online shopping routes[Woo14]. For 2013, the company’s high sales were credited to the company’s strong and efficient marketing campaigns during Christmas. For instance, the company used ‘the bear and the hare cartoon’ whose YouTube sensation got more than 12.4million views[Woo14]. Further, the company’s competitive edge is also as a result of partners who despite numerous changes in the organization have focused on increasing the business’ market share thereby ensuring business continued development[Bar14]. Resources and Capacities of the John Lewis Business Unit Out of the 91,000 partnership employees, John Lewis has about 29,000 who share equally in the unit’s profits. John Lewis management team comprises of a board responsible for the management of the company’s commercial activities[Joh14]. The management team is responsible for developing the company’ business plan as well as its strategy and all board members are directly appointed by the chairman of the Partnership. However, the partners who are part of the company’s employees are responsible for powering the company’s vision to which together with the principles define what the company is today. Besides its human resources, John Lewis also has physical resources from which its day to day business activities operate. For instance, John Lewis stores throughout the nation are such that the design and nature of building facilitate customers’ accessibility. The responsibility of improving accessibility is in the hands of the partners who response to customer requests and feedback is timely. In order to improve accessibility for the disabled customers, all buildings are designed with parking bays, accessible lifts, till points and toilets. For its financial resources, John Lewis is worth £1,687,500,000 Net Worth with £1,247,600,000 Assets and £1,721,200,000 Liabilities [Com14]. Categorization Business Strategy of John Lewis Business Unit For John Lewis partnership, there is one guiding strategy which is founded on the company’s unique ownership structure and the commercial success attributed to a strong brand name. For all its members, the company’s strategy is to offer happiness through valuable and acceptable employment. This way, it will be possible to ensure that the business is successful and success attributed to the ability to sustain and enhance position. For the company, three main interdependent objectives are customers, partners, and profit. Since John Lewis is owned by partners, there is need to ensure that the partners achieve personal satisfaction as part of a co-owned enterprise[Com14]. The partners are also treated in such a way that their employment is not just fulfilling but also satisfactory and secure. In terms of conducting business, John Lewis guaranties that the partners are confident. Apart from achieving the confidence of its partners, John Lewis ensures that new customers are continually recruited while ensuring the retention of its loyal customers. This is possible through the company’s provision of products and services that are trustworthy and to which customers demonstrate high confidence, value, choice, honesty, and value. To sustain its commercial viability, John Lewis ensures that each of its business endeavors is profitable through it outstanding character that guarantees continued establishment and delivery of share profits[Joh14]. The categories for John Lewis products include clothing, home appliances and other electrical appliances. For the services, John Lewis is known to offer Insurance which includes numerous services and products[Joh14]. The prominent insurance products include home insurance, specialized home insurance, car insurance, travel insurance and pet insurance. Other insurance products include wedding insurance, and event insurance. From the johnlewis.com site, it is possible to access insurance details, obtain advice, and relevant customer service. From Herbert Parkinson, John Lewis is guaranteed of high quality supply for its own-brand of furnishing, curtains, fabrics, and pillows and duvets. For all subunits in John Lewis unit, the products are from local and regional supplies which ensure that even the small-scale farmers have a market in the company[Joh14]. For the customer, there is a john Lewis Membership reward program. The design of this program is to ensure that the customers benefit from the rewards that are customized to the best of their interests[Joh14]. The program comprises of my john Lewis card that customers will be able to use both online and in the shops. Through the use of these cards, members will attain rewards such as tea and cake from John Lewis restaurants each month, gain invitations to company events, enter into regular price draws or gain other personalized incentives. Evaluation of the Business Strategy Applied to John Lewis Unit John Lewis Unit is best committed to value which is why the company introduced the “Never Knowingly Understood”[Joh14]. Through this strategy, the business unit ensures that the customer is only presented with the products of great quality at fair prices coupled with excellent service. Value enhancement requires that all products branded with John Lewis brand name are thoroughly tested against those of the competition while on a regular basis the prices are monitored to ensure that at any given time the company offers high quality prices. The aim of Lewis John Pricing is to ensure that the publicly available prices are what the customers use to obtain product from any of the stores, online and over the phone[Joh14]. The driving factor in determining the price is that any similar products have to have the same price. Besides streamlining company’s prices, John Lewis strategy ensures that the only products available to customers are those of high quality and whose materials are sustainable. The Never Knowingly Understand strategy by John Lewis is sustainable as it was introduced 85 years ago and still holds[Joh13]. In order to withstand competition, the strategy ensures that for all identical products price matching is done based on what competitors offer in the shops. Additionally, discounted prices for bundle products are matched provided these are the prices available in the market. In terms of quality, this strategy guarantees customers the best product quality since the supplies ensure that the products are designed with the well-being of the customers, employees, or environment, and their communities. Using sustainable materials and methods where feasible and observing ethics during all trading. Additionally, John Lewis has managed to offer service beyond purchase in the form of after-sale service and expertise services from delivery to installation[Joh13]. Identifying Main Strengths and Weaknesses Strengths The main strength is that of employee’s ownership which is attributed to the success of the business especially when it comes to adaptability to changes within the organization and responding to customer feedback to improve product or services quality. For a long time, the John Lewis brand has grown to be strong in terms of qualities embodying, value-for-money, and practicality which then promotes customer loyalty, confidence and trust. Owing to increasing customer base and loyalty, the profits of John Lewis have experienced steady growth which has then placed the organization in leading position and improved the profits. Through the use of celebrities for brand ambassadors, John Lewis products awareness in the market has increased. Additionally, marketing campaigns around Christmas 2013 has made the company name grow to greater heights. Weaknesses The major weakness of John Lewis is in the pricing strategy that focuses on matching what competitors are offering for a similar product. Although this strategy prevents customers from drifting to the competitor product, it if not sparingly used it may result to brand devaluing[Joh13]. References List Joh14: , (John Lewis Partnerships, 2014), Bar14: , (2014), Woo14: , (Wood, 2014), Bar14: , (Barrow, 2014), Com14: , (Company Check, 2014), Com14: , (Company Check, 2014), Joh13: , (John Lewis, 2013), Read More