Growth Strategies
Four types of growth opportunities
that retailers may pursue:
1. Market Penetration
2. Market Expansion
3. Retail Format Development
4. Diversification
1. Market Penetration
A market penetration growth
opportunity involves realizing
growth by directing efforts toward
existing customers using the
retailers present retailing format.
Market penetration approaches
include opening more stores in the
target market keeping existing
stores open for longer hours.
Market Penetration
Other approaches
involve displaying
merchandise to increase
impulse purchases and
training sales people.
Cross-selling means
that sale associates in
one department attempt
to sell complementary
merchandise from other
departments to their
customers.
Market Penetration
2. Market Expansion
A market
expansion
growth
opportunity
involves using
the existing
retail format
in new market
segments.
3. Retail Format Development
A retail format
development growth
opportunity is an
opportunity in which
a retailer develops a
new retail format-a
format with a
different retail mixfor the same target
market.
4. Diversification
A diversification growth opportunity
is one in which a retailer introduces
a new retail format directed toward a
market segment thats not currently
served by the retailer.
Diversification opportunities are
either related or unrelated
Related versus Unrelated
Diversification
In a related diversification growth
opportunity, retailers present target
market or retail format shares something
in common with the new opportunity.
Unrelated diversification lacks any
commonality between the present
business and the new business.
Vertical Integration
Is diversification by retailers into
wholesaling or manufacturing.
In addition, retailers and manufacturers
have different customers; the immediate
customers for a manufacturers
merchandise are retailers, whereas a
retailers customers are consumers.
Strategic Opportunities and
Competitive Advantage
Typically, retailers
have the greatest
competitive
advantage when
they engage in
opportunities that
are similar to their
present retail
strategy.
Global Growth Opportunities
International expansion is a
market expansion growth
opportunity that many retailers
find attractive. But international
expansion can be risky because
retailers must deal with different
government regulations, cultural
traditions, supply chain
considerations, and languages.
Key to success
4 characteristics of retailers that
have successfully exploited
international growth
opportunities:
a. A global sustainable competitive
advantage
b. Adaptability
c. Global culture
d. Financial resources