Introduction to the Assignment

This report has been prepared on the current retail trends in United Kingdom. The report analyses the marketing performance of Sports Direct, which is a retail organisation of UK that deals in sporting goods. The report helps to understand that what the current retail trends in the retail industry are. This report also includes a required action plan for Sports Direct to meet these retail trends and attract large numbers of retail customers.  

In last one and half decades the use of technology in retail organisations is increasing and even the large numbers of people not believe in online purchasing of products rather than physical shopping (Yu, Ramanathan, and Nath, 2014). The numbers of customers of online retail stores is increasing with rapid speed and a huge numbers of people use their personal digital devices for buying products and services from online stores. Currently, in UK only more than 35% of people believe that online shopping is more convenience and easy than physical hopping of retail products like cloths, fashionable products, grocery, digital gadgets or equipment, etc. (Filimonau and Gherbin, 2017).

Online sales in United Kingdom have shown a biggest growth in numbers of customers in retail industry, especially in textile, clothing, footwear, and grocery products. The data published by the National Statistics shows that in textile and clothing products, 16.8% growth has been observed in June 2019, which is highest in all sector (Bolton and Shankar, 2018). Therefore, it means Sports Direct, which deals in footwear, shoes, and cloths have huge opportunity to grow in the online retail market of these products.

The retail industry is going through an enormous amount of change because of aggressive use of technology devices and internet (Bolton and Shankar, 2018). The behaviour of customer is changing rapidly with growing use of technology and their expectations are higher than ever because of large numbers of retail stores available for buying the products of their choices. However, it is really essential to understand the current retail trends before analysing the performance of Sports Direct (Pappas, Pateli, Giannakos, and Chrissikopoulos, 2014).

One of the most important retail trends in UK is that Omni channel retail strategies. The research states that people who use digital devices usually connected with an average of 3.64 connected devices and before purchasing any products or services people use these devices for products comparison, rating comparison, price comparison, and time taken in delivery of product (Chernysheva, Kotov, Altynbaeva, and Khristoforova, 2017). Consumer can watch the product on mobile or smart phones before purchase and order the product from their laptop or i-Pad. It means consumer have multiple of choices for looking the products and they have multiple of choices to buy the products. The online shopping trend forced the retail organisations to think about the marketing strategy and pricing strategies (Ghosh, Tripathi, and Kumar, 2010).

Current Retail Trends in the UK

The second thing that can be easily seen in the retail organisation is personalised retail experience. The personalisation of retail experiences includes that retail organisation care for the needs, requirements, purchasing history, taste, and previous searches of customers and ten personalised the products according to these history. The online help through chat boat or customer care facility for customers help also a part of caring the personal needs and taste of the customers (Lange and Velamuri, 2014).

The rise of technology makes the customer more impatience. According to a research, the customer wants an immediate response from the seller in the retail industry and it has been found that no customer want to wait more than 10 minutes for a communication response (Zhou, 2015). Therefore, the retail organisation must aware about the urgency of dealing customers and provide them immediate support when they needed. The culture of immediacy forces the retailers to provide instant solution of the problem of customers, otherwise customer will jump on other option (Merle, Chandon, Roux, and Alizon, 2010).

According to an estimate, it is expected that around 3 to 5 billion people will join online retail market in the world in future. Therefore, the retail organisation must have ability to tap into the new market and channels. The use of technology makes it easier for the retail organisation to think about the emerging markets and provide its products and services in new international emerging markets. The retail players must use the new market locations with their digital strategy of marketing and operational strategies.

Sports Direct is a retail organisation that was created in 1982 by Mike Ashley. The company operates its retail business in sporting goods like shoes, footwear, and clothes. The company has more than 670 retail stores worldwide (SportsDirect.com, 2019). There are numbers of subsidiaries of Sports Direct such as House of Fraser, SportsDirect.com, Everlast, Lonsdale, Slazenger etc.  There are more than 17,500 employees working in different retail stores of Sports Direct (SportsDirect.com, 2019). Apart from this, the company has its own online retail sites through the company sales its sports products like footwear, sports shoes, and cloths to both male and female. The revenue of the company was £3,359.5 million in 2018 while its operating income is £217 million. The net income of the company was £27.6 million in 2018.The Company’s tagline is “24 hours delivery” because it deals in both physical stores and online channels (SportsDirect.com, 2019). Sports Direct is number one sports product’s company of UK and it focuses on providing quality products on time to its customers.  

Analysis of Sports Direct

SWOT analysis helps to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of a company and provide information that what are the opportunities and threats for the company in near future. The table shows the SWOT analysis of the Sports Direct.

Strengths 1. Number one sports retailer in UK that operates its business in 20 countries and has more than 670 stores. 2. Trusted Brand 3. Large numbers of subsidiaries 4. Tie up with popular brands like Nike, Adidas, and Reebok etc. 5. Low pricing strategy 6. Low employee turnover 7. 24 hours online services to its customers through its online app and sites	Weaknesses 1. Operates in highly competitive industry 2. Low margins on products effect its profitability 3. Controversial image
Opportunities 1. Increasing use of online channels 2. Emerging markets 3. Join ventures and subsidiaries in emerging markets provide a larger market as an opportunity.	Threats 1. Large number of competitors 2. Rising cost of raw material 3. Advancement in use of technology may cause several technological problems

1. Strengths: The Company is the largest and most popular sports product company in UK. The large numbers of stores and huge numbers of employees give an edge over its competitors (Zhou, 2015). Apart from this, the low pricing strategy of the company attracts all its customers to buy products from Sports Direct stores. Its online presence and 24 hours services to its customers also provide an edge over its competitors and help the company to establish as a big player in sports equipment in UK (com, 2019).
2. Weaknesses: The major weakness of the company is that it operates its business on very low margin. The highly competitive market is also a major weakness for the company.Sometimes it was in position of controversy because of its low wages and poor working conditions.

1. Opportunities: The increasing use of online channels and increasing numbers of customers provide a huge opportunity in the emerging markets like Eastern and Western Europe (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016). The joint ventures and acquisition of small sports companies provide opportunity to grown in emerging markets.
2. Threats:  The increasing numbers of competitors in both physical and online markets is a major threat for the company. Apart from this, rising cost of raw material is also a major threat for the company.

The online presence of the company provides a huge advantage to Sports direct because its 24 hours presence provides the opportunities to grow in the sports market. As it is found that sports, footwear, and textile industry in UK is growing with 16% growth, the company has ability to establish itself in a monopoly situation in the UK sports market (Nauright and Pope, 2019). However, the company has huge numbers of customers, but there are so many sports company already operating their business in the market. The focus of the company is still on physical stores, which is against the current retail trend. The company needs to focus on its online stores and sales of sports products (da Silva and Las Casas, 2017).  

The Sports Direct is a popular company in the UK and also it has a great market in more than 20 countries. However, the company is facing strong challenges while operating its business overseas and through its physical stores. The huge numbers of competitors and changing needs and expectations of customers because of digitalisation and availability of large numbers of alternatives online is major issue for the company. Therefore, the company needs to focus on following recommendations:

1. Direct Focus on Target Customer:The Company should focus on direct focus on the target customers and supply the sports product according to the need of customers. The footwear and sports apparel should be designed with latest technology and with some unique features that attract the large numbers of buyers. The company can also use the flash sale for its products, which helps to collect more numbers of customers on its online sites.
2. Finding Emerging Markets: Due to increasing competition in this sector, the Sports direct must focuses on those emerging markets where people need quality sports products.For example, countries like Brazil have more football fans and sports persons than hockey. Therefore, the company needs to promote its Footballs and sports shoes in the Brazil while in Indian market company can promote its products related to cricket and hockey (Pantano, Priporas, Sorace, and Iazzolino, 2017).
3. Giving more focus on personalised experiences of customers: The Sports Direct should focus on providing more personalised experience to its customers through the online channels. The company should focus on the needs and requirements of customers and should design its marketing activities according to the customer needs.
4. Instant communication with customers and Use of Technology: The Company needs to focus on its customer support services, which is very crucial in retail sector. Without instant support, company cannot satisfy its customers neither can develop a healthy relationship. Therefore, Sports Direct should focus on 24 hours customer support with 24 hours availability for users on its online channel (com, 2019).

To improve its online retail business of the sports equipment and shoes, Sports direct must follow this action plan.

1. Company needs to focus on emerging market of its products: Sports Direct must focus on to identify its emerging market where it can find new customers of its sports product.  This can be a new market such as in Western European countries or Eastern European countries where sports equipments are the major demand of people. The company must focus on a specific group of customers and provide them quality products on low margin cost to acquire the market.
2. Advertising of Products and services:The Company should focus on the advertising channels through which it can target the specific group of customers and ask them to use the products of the company. The company can target the customers through social media sites, local newspapers, and television advertisements. The advertisements through social media and television will be more effective because most of the sports lover use these two modes of advertising.
3. Using search history or web search of customers for personalised Experience: The Company can use the web search history of customers on its site or online mobile app.According to the activities of customers, company can target the specific customer group with their selected products and display them products according to their choices. 
4. Low pricing strategy and after sell services: The Company needs to focus on its customer support services after the sale of its product to its customers, which is very crucial in retail sector. Without instant support and without an effective pricing strategies company cannot be survived in the market in long duration neither it can satisfy its customers.

Conclusion 

In conclusion, Sports Direct should focus on new emerging retail market for its sports products and must review its pricing strategy to face the tough competition in the sports industry. Apart from this, the company should also provide instant support and communication facilities to the customers, so it can satisfy the customers after sell and can establish a long lasting relationship. It also helps the company to provide 24 hours access of sports products and equipments to its retail customers, so they cannot jump on the other brands and organisations.

References

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Chernysheva, N.M., Kotov, R.M., Altynbaeva, E.S. and Khristoforova, Y.A. (2017) Current condition of the retail market. Food Processing: Techniques and Technology, 47(4), pp.145-151.

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Nauright, J. and Pope, S. (2019) SportsWorld: global markets and global impact of sports, theory and practice. Sport in Society: Cultures, Commerce, Media, Politics, 20(12), pp.1817-1931.

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Pantano, E., Priporas, C.V., Sorace, S. and Iazzolino, G. (2017) Does innovation-orientation lead to retail industry growth? Empirical evidence from patent analysis. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 34, pp.88-94.

SportsDirect.com (2019) About us [online]. Available from: https://www.sportsdirectplc.com/ [Accessed: 19/10/2019].

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Yu, W., Ramanathan, R. and Nath, P. (2014) The impacts of marketing and operations capabilities on financial performance in the UK retail sector: A resource-based perspective. Industrial Marketing Management, 43(1), pp.25-31.

Zhou, C. (2015) Impact of electronic commerce on the sporting goods market. Open Cybernetics & Systemics Journal, 9(1), pp.2135-2140.