OPERATING ENVIRONMENT FOR RETAIL GROCERY STORE IN UK


 


INTRODUCTION:


      There are more than 100,000 groceries and supermarkets in the United Kingdom. These are the Convenience Stores; there is also Traditional Retailer such as the private and little stores, In UK there are also the Hypermarkets and Supermarket which caters to the larger market and their stocks are huge and highly established, they cater to wider needs of customers and they offer a broad spectrum of products from groceries to food and non food items. These stores can both operate physically and through online trading. They take an order and gather the products to be delivered for free or with charges depending on the stores evaluation and regulation.


       These groceries and stores in United Kingdom have shown a tremendous statistic performance during the past ten years of operation and will continue to grow expectedly. It’s quite obvious that Retailing is one of the major economic sectors in the UK they have employed more than 3 million people and this has been the result of continuous customers patronage on their stores, they are reluctant and appreciative to think about the diversity and convenience when they found out that there are numerous stores that they can choose from. If a person decides to create a business just like this one it is better to find out the operating environment of these stores so that a business person can have a deeper view of what type of retail stores they are going to establish and this has been the factor of this study.


THE MAJOR TRENDS AND IN RETAIL:


           Basically the buying habit of people in the retail industry in UK is still affected by motivational behavior through forms of media including the internet, television and print ads. Products that are often seen and companies who create most promotions are likely the ones who appeal in the taste of the consumers. Customers are rationally affected through their peers and their high standard ways of living. Price is not the only determining factor of a product to succeed but those who have established market awareness through promotion are basically the one who is saleable and expectedly they are the one who last longer in the market rather than those companies who have the same quality or price but less promotional strategies and only distribute products and services, no matter how good, the product may be left behind and this has been the major trends in United Kingdom. That is why campaign and promotion is highly recommended inside and outside the stores so that a product would sell in the store and on the streets through which they have assigned on to.


      The Retail Stores who looks very lucrative and welcoming is mostly highly appreciated by customers. If a Retail stores looks very pleasing in the eyes of the customers, or those stores who are clean and the customer’s service is very


Approachable most likely their customers will return and soon will become regular customers inside the work place. Mostly the Supermarket and Hypermarket provides a very convenient ways to introduce a highly established products and services. Upon entering the establishment you can see the smiles of their employees, they are ready to


assist you in times of needs. Their products are highly displayed and arranged in their aisle position. Their stores are very appealing and good looking merchandize are easy to find and these stores have provided guides for convenience.


      There are also times that the stores preferences are politically motivated in a number of ways. Government highly restricts the retail establishment to operate in any location they have chosen for they have been deployed in a location according to the government specification to operate. Therefore in order to expand should not be a decision of the owner but by the government. In fairness to the Government, they have provided this restriction to people so that they will not be engage in any illegal activities of monopoly and tax evasion. Also for the health concern of the people which reportedly that some stores do not pass hygienic and cleanliness orders in the city. Therefore the trends and buying habits of people are hindered accordingly that some people may need to travel far just to visit their preferred store. But basically they can find stores nearby.


      The Global changes and economic trends of fast paced living have become pathways of living among United Kingdom Nations which means that they find it easier to buy instant food rather than raw food so that they can preserve more time for their job and household choirs or any other activities. They will likely to buy instant noodle or chopped salad rather than the raw vegetables so that they can consume it instantly saving their time. That is why fast food store have been increasing nowadays all over UK. Their buying preference is wholesale especially during weekend and holidays so that they will likely to buy at least once a week again for time consumption. That is why online shopping has become very lucrative business in their countries because of convenience and time saving opportunity they can gain


THREATS IN RETAIL:


      The open market has become a major threat in retail and grocery business in UK since the market is open to non indigenous people. Various nationalities have take over the small ones and the danger of competition have deluded customers behavior to partake their stores as part of their shopping since the foreign retail stores have been increasing and somehow gained competitive and innovative advantage over the new stores that came from UK.  Stores like ASDA, ALDI and NETTO have taken part of UK market due to their competitive advantage and this has become another threat in local retail stores.


      According to ASDA chief executive, Andy Clark that the customers will definitely benefit from their broad spectrum of products and low competitive price, they have taken over the NETTO legally since the merger proposal have been accepted by the Office for Fair Trading and need not go to the Competition Commission. This business merger has been taken considerably into public consultation that is why the Office for Fair Trading is reluctant, allowing operating in a clear manner. The OFT have carefully analyze the acquisition and they find it binding that there should be no problem upon its full operation. That is why the reason the Competition Commission allowed them. 


THE ROLE OF OFT IN RETAIL TRADING:     


      The OFT or Office for Fair Trading is the governing body that aims to promote and protect the consumers in United Kingdom. They are the one who ensures that competition and trading is fair and just. They enforce consumer’s welfare, competitive laws, review, collect and find suitable rules to make decision. OFT conducts marketing survey and press notices. 


COMPETITIVE STRUCTURE:


      The competition of Retail stores in UK is steep but basically the more modern type stores like Wal-Mart and Super Value have a more dominating advantage than of the small retail establishment that usually caters to some areas that is far from the big groceries the Traditional retailers usually focuses on Urban and Rural communities for they cannot usually concentrate on highly established commercial location since they can be eaten heavily by giant stores. The Franchising of store outlet have become the core competitive advantage of new entrepreneurs than building their own names. While the 24 hours stores like Seven Eleven has been sold and operated under another name so that they can continue to operate in UK, usually they concentrate on highly traffic foot areas where people are too much busy to simply pick and go about what they want.


      Their store operates until night time and that is how they gain competitive advantage over the large one. Although we can say that online shopping is booming in UK, the competition over online selling is still unclear since the market statistic cannot be traced through market research and the data is highly confidential among various chains and stores. Modern families buy through online stores from various Supermarket and Hypermarket in volume orders while some traditional retailers usually concentrate on smaller targeted market within their areas.    


CONCLUSION:


      The Retail store in UK has become an economic diversification of the global competition or market leadership and enterprise association. UK preference to retail establishment and groceries should therefore continue to grow beyond competition. Retail stores in UK should continue to innovative and competitive to do their part in economic development. Competition should not be a major hindrance in the process. On the other hand government should control and review their economic policy that will uplift the morality of these retail shops. They should be fair in decisions that will govern such laws that will protect the people’s right in their retail preferences.


 


BIBLIOGRAPHY:   


A great collection of UK Supermarket: Websites http://www.uk250.co.uk/Supermarket/Accessed June, 14, 2011


The Food and Grocery Experts: Website http://www.igd.com/index.asp?id=1&fid=1&sid=7&tid=26&cid=94


Accessed June 14, 2011


List of Supermarket Chains in UK: Website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_supermarket_chains_in_the_United_Kingdom


Accessed June 14, 2011     


Office of the Fair Trading Website: http://www.oft.gov.uk/ Accessed June 14, 2011


 



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