Essay about Kmart Corporate Strategy

Kroger’s corporate strategy consists of continuously innovating and creating new ways of bring value to the customer. They were pioneers for many of the things that we now consider norms in grocery stores. In the past, Kroger had rapidly expanded to many store locations to gain market share. This expansion strategy caused them to lose profits in

Competition is a constant challenge for Kohl’s especially when it comes to retaining customers and the market share. Kohl’s also has a weak global presence and the profitability was declined in

Bargaining Power of Suppliers: The bargaining power of suppliers in the industry is low. There are numerous suppliers in this industry, and the large department stores have the ability to negotiate for the lowest prices. In addition, the switching costs are low, as the products are not highly differentiated. There are a large volume of purchases in the industry, allowing the department stores to exert even more power over the suppliers.

In January 2012, newly appointed CEO, Ron Johnson introduced a plan to rebrand the department store chain into a 21st century retail powerhouse. Launching of the new J. C. Penney brand identity was set to occur over four years and would include a new logo, a new in-store experience featuring new and transformed brands, and most importantly, it would change the way that the company priced merchandise. Unfortunately, J. C. Penney suffered a 25% sales decline in the first year and Johnson was fired after only 17 months.

Kmart remains one of the largest retail stores in America that must be recognized with strong financial statement and balance sheet.

Kohl’s main website features several “exclusive and national brand apparel, footwear, accessories, soft home products and housewares targeted to middle-income customers” (10k, pg. F-7). To be more specific, Kohl’s offers many brands of clothing to women, men, and children. Some of the name brands they offer include Nike, Adidas, Levi’s, Chaps, Van Heusen and Wrangler. Kohl’s also offers many products from their “private label, Apt. 9, which was designed to compete with the likes of Banana Republic, Liz Claiborne, and Perry Ellis” (Hoover Report, pg. 9). The Apt. 9 catalogue features high quality suit jackets and pants, polos, and button-up shirts for men. For women, Apt. 9 offers a wide range of tops, dresses, sleepware,

The dollar store industry caters to low-, middle-, and fixed-income buyers who are price sensitive. Regarding consumables, buyers are looking for the best bargain for an item that they will need to purchase again in the near future. The high threat of customer buying power drives profitability down. In contrast to buyer power, supplier power is low. This is due to the large number of suppliers that offer price-competitive, undifferentiated products. Suppliers must rely on the retail industry to sell their product, so forward integration is unlikely. The low threat of supplier power increases profitability. The threat of substitutes is medium. Since extreme-value retailers offer a focused assortment of goods in a small-box format, mass retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target are substitutes rather than competitors. On one hand, mass retailers have a larger assortment of branded goods, economies of scale, and are highly price competitive with extreme-value retailers. On the other hand, extreme-value retailers are more convenient due to the small-box format, allowing a customer to get in and out quickly. The products being sold are undifferentiated so price-performance tradeoff is low. The threat of new entrants into the industry is medium. There are areas of the U.S. with no extreme-retail presence, making it easier for a new entrant to open and capture market share. On the demand side,

The industry does not possess major threat from new entrants due to strong barriers to entry and strong competition for retail space. There is also a strong rivalry between competitors as limited space is being contested by major players alongside

In March of 2011, Kohl’s also announced its plans to remodel 100 stores, an 18 percent increase from 2010 (18) leading to speculation that Kohl’s may be trying

The retail industry has been highly competitive for many years. JCP, Kohl’s, Macy’s and Sears have been clashing for some time to keep the attention of the avid shopper. It would seem that each company would be on an equal playing field, but according to the strategic group map below, Macy’s is in a group all by itself. Macy’s pricing and number of stores are different for JCP. Macy’s promotes the branding of having high class products that have celebrity names on the tags, which draws the shopper who is attracted to being in the know. The Macy’s customer is willing to pay more for their product because they know that a celebrity made this, which ultimately allows them to connect with their favorite stars. The supplier power is what helps Macy’s stay in a different category than JCP, Kohl’s, and

Kmart is a huge vintage company that had peeked at one time and now is

This paper will discuss the kroger company’s strategy and competitive advantage. It will also discuss competition and strategy from rival company Walmart. Research will show whether Kroger uses an offensive or defensive strategic approach to business practices. It will discuss mergers and acquisitions of The Kroger Company (Bethel University, 2017).

The capacity to maintain stability in the industry is now found through servicing a specific niche market. The industry is now composed of those catering to the high-income and luxury products such as Neiman Marcus and on the other hand is Wal-Mart, Big Lots, and Target catering mostly to discounters (Tsiantar, 2006).

Currently Kmart has been constantly losing to competitors such as Wal-Mart and Target. Target is seen as a higher class store compared to the other two, and Wal-Mart is seen as a good store with good prices. Kmart has had trouble finding it’s own identity. They try to market themselves as being a better bargain than Wal-Mart, but the store is viewed as being “cheap” from the customer’s point of view. Kmart tried to fix that, by bringing in the Martha Stewart line. They

(4) The fact that customers are mainly men limits the available market, too, to sellers, causing sellers to keep prices high. However, the Internet has reduced barriers to entry into the industry. The overhead of maintaining a shop, even of hiring models to pose for pictures now that computer graphics can substitute, has reduced costs. The Internet has also increased demand as it has taken away much of the embarrassment of ‘real life’ purchasing. Thus, technological change can fundamentally change both the supply and demand sides of the equation of any industry.