CURRENT STRATEGIC POSITION OF WAITROSE

Current Strategic Position of Waitrose

Current strategic position of Waitrose

Brief overview

Waitrose is operating as a grocery retailer in the UK market. 'Retailing is an activity of enormous economic significance to most developed nations. In Britain, 2.5 million people are employed in retailing, comprising 10.5 percent of all employees (National Statistics, 2001a) […] In spite of its scale and importance, the retailing industry was not initially at the forefront in embracing the marketing concept. Manufactures of fast-moving consumer goods were playing this part. It is only in the last two decades that many retailers have taken an enlightened and proactive approach towards their management activities. In the competitive environment of the retail industry it has become increasingly important to know all tricks of the trade. Competition has intensified yet Waitrose always opts to play fair and provide quality products.

Waitrose founded in 1904 by Wallace Waite, Arthur Rose and David Taylor. Today its one of the UK's leading food retailers and part of the John Lewis partnership established in 1929. A company held in trust for the benefit of its employees and one of the top ten UK retail businesses, has over 185 Waitrose Supermarkets and 27 John Lewis Department Stores throughout the UK. Its policy has consistently been to deliver the highest quality of service for its customers and to that end the supermarket has invested heavily in its business to ensure it remains a top retailer. Waitrose has chosen a focused differentiation strategy targeting the upmarket with a wide range of quality of fresh products and sourcing of fresh meat. Waitrose has developed its own brands products which is important because they give retailers high level of control of these products and generally have a higher profit margin. It has also specialised in the sale of fine wines, which hold a high profit margin. Major competitors include Tesco, Sainsbury's, ASDA, Safeway, Somerfield and Marks and Spencer.

Key factors in Waitrose's environment:

There are many internal and external factors within the Waitrose, which affect the working culture and environment of the company. The Waitrose business environment may be visualise in terms of layers, beginning with the instant internal environment within the organisation, and moving outwards to the external environment surrounding the business and influencing its organisation and operations. The external environment includes an array of dimensions, including political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal factors.

Layers of the business environment(Source: International Strategy - Session 2: Making sense of an organisation's macro-environment(s) - Dr Thomas Diefenbach)Both the internal and external environments reflect the strategic changes with respect to changing circumstances within the Waitrose organisation. The analysis of the external environment can be analysed by PESTEL framework, which categorises environmental influences into six main types: political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal. This is also known as 'environmental scanning'. The PESTEL is a useful strategic tool for understanding market growth, decline, business position and potential operations which affect the organisation over the long ...