Question
Just answer questions 6&7 ONLY!! Be sure to number your answers!!! Plagiarize is not allow in this essay, everything that u used on internet u have to address in the work cited. Please write it in your own words.
Answer
Question 6
Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Norrisons have a combined market share of over 70 percent in the UK, hence dubbed the big four supermarkets. For years, these four supermarkets have offered competitive prices and managed to retain their market share. In even recent years, Aldi and Lidl have emerged as discount stores and offer competitive prices and strategies that are already gaining a widespread market presence. All the same, these stores still hold some major unappealing and traditional aspects that people in the UK have long associated with the supermarket experience.
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These discount stores are smaller in size, stock fewer items, and lack amenities such as toilets and restaurants. Even though these stores offer remarkably lower prices, they have only been able to gain a small market share. However, they are recording a slow but positively consistent growth and increase in sales. It is important to understand that the cultural and business environment greatly affects the supermarket, retail and shopping culture in the UK (Bowlby, 49). The big four have established themselves through years of public relations, customer relations and strategic advertising that focused on the brand. In particular, Sainsbury adopted a creative media and print strategy that revolutionized its performance and position in the country. Its content was creative and interesting even at a time when the internet and publishing sectors were largely technical and slow.
These big four stores have created a shopping experience and culture that has sustained their sales for years. In the same way, the changing consumer culture has led to the stagnation of profits by each of these supermarkets. Public awareness has now revealed that these stores already put high mark-up prices on their products which they then package as affordable. As the consumer culture changes, these stores have failed to adapt to a shifting mentality and the financial difficulties that consumers face (Brand, 134). Customers are making the move towards affordability and quality while sidelining the branding and advertisement strategies that the big four have relied on. If these stores are to retain their strengths and sales, they must adjust to the current consumer needs and culture.
Question 7
International trade is the exchange of goods and services between two or more countries. Globalization and free trade have revolutionized the growth and performance of international trade. The “big four” are in competitive positions in the European market. For instance, Tesco is currently second in Europe and Sainsbury’s is in tenth place. These chains have been able to expand, integrate with their market cultures and gain customers in these countries as well. International trade has therefore served to the advantage and increase in sales for the big four which would otherwise record severely declining sales in their country owing to stiff competition. Their online stores, with the exception of Morrisons, have further propelled them to serve wider markets while implementing smaller physical stores (Brand, 178).
Nevertheless, these retailers, with the particular example of Tesco, have been unable to survive in the Chinese market. Tesco is one of the UK multinational retail brands that has been unable to compete with local Chinese retailers and online chains, such that it had to resort to merging its stores with China Resource Enterprise in 2013. The inability to adopt China’s culture has been the leading challenge as well as the competitive edge of Chinese retailers that operate very efficiently on an online platform and for a cheaper price. Even so, these big four supermarkets have the potential for growth and boosting sales in international markets as long as they employ effective research and integrating mechanisms prior to entry.
Works Cited
Bowlby, Rachel. Carried Away: The Invention of Modern Shopping. New York: Columbia University Press. 2001. Print.
Brand, Edward. Modern Supermarket Operation. New York: Fairchild. 1963. Print.