Introduction
Department store retail is a business that sells products and services directly to customers. The businesses do not sell products with an aim of reselling them. Rather, they target family and individual needs. The major role of the departmental store retail is to get products from producers to consumers. They are important in directing the physical flow of goods and services from their point of production to their point of consumption.
At the departmental retail, the retail operator has a direct contact with customers. This contact is crucial in any business since the operator can discover and attempt to meet the needs, tastes, and preferences of consumers. In departmental retail stores, there is a wide variety of product lines and merchandise dealings.
Large departmental retail stores such as Marks and Spencer, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Debenhams have different departments and sections that sell different merchandise to customers at one point. With close monitoring of clients, departmental retail operators can strategise to attract more customers and to satisfy their needs through various management issues.
Such management issues include merchandise assortments, store layout and design, customer traffic flow, retail pricing, and store location. This paper discusses and compares such retail management issues as applied by Marks and Spencer, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Debenhams.
Management issues applied by Marks and Spencer
Marks and Spencer is a British multinational departmental retail store with its headquarters at Westminister in London. Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer founded it in 1884 in a place called Leeds.
According to Angeleette, Marks and Spencer have 703 departmental stores in the United Kingdom besides having 361 other stores across 40 states (1189). The departmental store focuses on retailing lavish foods and garments. The departmental retail store is also listed in the London stock exchange market.
Marks and Spencer apply various management strategies to ensure that it holds its customer base to attract new clients to its retail products. One of such strategies is its use of layout and design. Image is imperative in creating a good appeal to customers.
Retailers such as Marks and Spencer work hard in coming up with an image that creates an appealing mental picture to their customers. Layout and design are a technique of advertising that this departmental store applies. Various items that are sold at Marks and Spencer are placed at strategic positions for purposes of catching the customers’ eye at a certain time.
Layout and design are also used to attract customers and to offer information in a bid to influence their buying spirit. The store has really invested in layout and design. According to Angeleette, Marks and Spencer contracted Urban Salon Architects to design its new look since 2008 (1189).
The design includes making the stores more bright, use of current designs in layout, use of more spacious rooms, and placement of white tiles on the floor of the shopping halls. This design aims at making customers more comfortable and well guided while shopping at Marks. The floor is designed with white mannequins put in contemporary design to create a modern display image on the eyes of the customers.
The design also comprises clothing rails put in new designs, stands in avant-garde and multiplicity of product walls and displays in the shopping mall. The store is also fitted with window display styles, till points, rooms that are large and fitting, signage, and lighting and product walls. In 2011, Marks and Spencer launched the Marble Arch store display design, which put a distinction on in-store brands.
This new design is able to mark differences in brands. On the other hand, the design from Blue Harbour comprises a flag that is hoisted on a table that is made of wood, which has props hanging on its walls. The other part of design is the change of dressing from black polo t-shirts to green ones.
Jackson and Leigh argue that the other management strategy that Marks and Spencer use is location (768). The location of business is imperative to its success. In fact, site is one of the factors that most businesses consider before engaging in trade. The location for a retail business such as Marks and Spencer must be very convenient for customers and the business itself.
According to Angeleette, Marks and Spencer is an organisation that normally considers the country, the town, specific part of the town, and the specific point where it establishes its shops. The premise is to move the product or service to as close as possible to the consumer. With such a background, the company’s stores are placed in economically viable economies, in well-secured ownership, and at points with high consumer record.
Merchandise assortment is another management issue that Marks and Spencer apply. In trade, some goods are supplementary while others are complimentary in the way they fulfil consumers’ needs. This knowledge is important in organising the appearance of various merchandises.
Certain goods must be placed close to each other while others must be placed at a point where the customers’ eye is caught first by a certain appearance. Such assortment is targeted at achieving high visual effect. Goods are therefore presented in a certain manner on the outlets.
Gary argues that Marks and Spencer achieve good assortment through product combination, creation of certain environments, for example, that of freshness in foodstuff shelves, and through stimulation of tastes and preferences of customers by placing related goods close to each other (60).
The departmental store does research on the character of customers and their shopping habit to find out their way of combining goods and services during shopping. For example, customers are likely to buy sugar, bread, and butter when they shop for everyday foodstuffs.
Campbell asserts that Marks and Spencer have therefore assorted merchandise and placed them in alternate shelves such that, when one picks a packet of milk, he or she can spot and smell the scent of bread around (89).
The feeling that the environment creates through smell and assortment makes the customer unable to resist the purchase. Apparels are assorted in a way that various categories of clothing are placed accordingly. For example, men’s shoes are placed next to men’s clothing. Foodstuffs are paced far from clothing and shoes. In fact, they are placed in different floors.
Saks Fifth Avenue
Saks Fifth Avenue is a departmental store retail that has its headquarters at Manhattan in New York, United States of America. It deals with luxurious apparels. Andrew Saks initiated the departmental store in the year 1867. The company later on merged with Gimbel Brothers Inc in 1924 where later on opened branches outside New York and in other countries.
Wood affirms that Saks incorporate own Saks Fifth Avenue, which is an American multinational corporation (515). The departmental store operates in various countries across the world. The design and layout in Saks Fifth Avenue is unique. A common way that this retail outlet has exploited is the use of celebrities.
In most cases, the apparel department is in such a way that, as one shops, he or she can spot celebrities fitted on the apparels he or she chose on the other side of the mirror. Such designs are unique, with customers marvelling at them. The identity of the store is also a unique identifier. The brand identity is very compelling. Wood affirms that the departmental stores are designed to occupy whole blocks (515).
The design includes a well-heeled hum at the basement. The layout is in a way that there are well-organised cosmetics at the ground level with various sales persons keen to attend to customers. From this level, perfumes spritzers emit an overwhelming smell that pulls the mind of the customers to the next display stands.
The upper floors are meant for apparel sales. The floors are designed in a way that reflector mirrors magnify and multiply the appearance of the apparels. Apparels are then placed in accordance with class. Such classes are men’s fashion wear, kinds, jewels, and women’s fashions.
There is also a cafe and a bar at the top floors for customers who prefer lunch in the company. Each of the class of apparels, other goods, and services occupy a different floor. For instance, a whole floor holds men’s wear such as suits, shoes, outwear, and other fashions for men. The retail has opened stores at large towns in America such as Maryland, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and Hampshire.
Saks Fifth Avenue also uses the location of business as a retail management strategy. It has its departmental stores located in major cities such as New York. The retail store has a touch of class and quality. It is out this that it chooses its locations with a slight bias to large cities. The business is also located in huge storey buildings. This strategy ensures that customers can shop for the whole family at the same location.
In fact, they can buy children, men, and women wear and jewels. Saks Fifth Avenue also achieves its management goals through merchandise assortment. Wood affirms that arrangement of various categories of apparel creates a certain image on the customer’s eyes (515). For example, in the designers, category women’s apparels are placed close to women shoes and handbags.
The retail store objectively puts complementary goods close to each other to enable double sales. When a woman buys a pair of shoes, she is also likely to buy a handbag to match the shoe. The retailers therefore place the shoes next to handbags. Ladies’ items are also placed close to jewels and beauty fragrance.
The premise is that women are likely to buy perfumes after buying clothes and shoes. Children’s clothes are placed in a particular floor. Next to these clothes are the children’s shoes and toys. Men’s clothes are placed in a certain floor next to men’s cologne, shoes, and ties. This kind of assortment has worked for the retail store.
Debenhams
Debenhams is a departmental retail that operates various countries. According to Glynis, the major countries of its operation include the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Ireland (31). Messrs Flint and Clark founded it in 1813. The retail store deals with fashion clothing, accessories, shoes, home furniture, cosmetics, electrical appliances, toys, and gifts. In 1851, the store partnered with Clement Freebody.
After the incorporation of Freebody, it became Clark and Debenhams. Later on, in 1976, it acquired another company: Browns of Chester. Debenhams retained its individual name even after incorporation and acquisition of other companies.
The departmental store has franchise retail outlets in other countries in the world. Debenhams was started as a store during the 18th century. The first store was set up in London, the United Kingdom. The retail store has now expanded to more than 165 outlets. The store is also listed at the London stock exchange.
According to Glynis, the layout and design at Debenhams is in such a way that fashion clothing, cosmetics, and shoes are placed under one line, whereas accessories and electrical appliances are well displayed in shelves, with home furniture and toys being placed under certain shelves (31). The lighting in the display areas is also regulated to create a shopping environment.
Electrical appliances are well packed, as others are open to provide a touch of reality to the customers. For example, some television sets are well assembled while some music devices provide a slow and sweet music that encourages shoppers. The location of Debenhams stores is not majorly in the big towns and city centres. In fact, most of its stores are located in shopping centres such as the riverside shopping centre in Shrewsbury.
The location of the businesses outside major towns allows customers to have a new shopping experience. Retailers also provide delivery services to their customers due to the nature of some of the products that they offer such as furniture. However, Debenhams does open displays and online advertising to direct customers to the specific location of various products.
Merchandise assortments comprise another management strategy that Debenhams has exploited. Debenhams launched various brands under its name. Retailers also have certain particular names of designers that it has promoted. The prices of items that are designed by the selected designers are hiked on the streets because of the distinction created by Debenhams.
Such designers include Jonathan Saunders, Roksanda, and Jonathan Kelsey. Various assortments are arranged by categories such as women’s wear, beauty, home and furniture, men and kids’ wear, lingerie, shoes, gifts and toys, electrical, designers, and wedding stuff. According to Glynis, women’s wear is assorted into various categories for clients to locate them with ease (32).
They include clothing, shoes and accessories, shop by range, and sports. Beauty products are assorted by their brands such as MAC cosmetics, Elemis, and Bliss. At Debenhams, one can shop for beauty products by category, for instance, new arrivals, make up, skincare, and male grooming. Unlike many other departmental stores, lingerie is assorted into one category.
The category comprises bras, knickers, dressing gowns, maternity and nursing, and thermals. The electrical machines are also assorted into various categories for instance small appliance, household appliances, and audio-vision technology.
Debenhams also has a special category of designers’ products such as designers women swear, handbags, dresses, menswear, shirts, and kid’s clothes. The readymade designer clothes are displayed along the names of the designers such as Ashley Thomas, John Rocha, Carol Lake, Jane Packer, and preen.
Comparative analysis of the Marks and Spencer, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Debenhams
In comparison, the three departmental retail outlets have similarities and differences. The similarities and differences that emerge from Marks and Spencer, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Debenhams can be categorised under three management issues: store layout and design, store location, and merchandise assortment.
The similarities that exist among the three departmental stall include the fact that all departmental stores deal with apparels in their merchandise assortment. In Marks and Spencer, various categories of clothing are sold. Similarly, Saks Fifth Avenue and Debenhams have various assortments of apparels. One can therefore argue that the three departmental stores discussed in this paper deal with apparels as a major product line.
In fact, according to Shannon, Marks and Spencer, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Debenhams have various categories of apparels ranging from those of children, men, and women (597). Similarly, customers who visit these departmental stores mainly do so to purchase apparels.
Departmental stores provide a variety of clothing. Such varieties give the consumer a touch of class and freshness. In fact, some of the departmental stalls like Debenhams have special designers for various categories of apparels.
Another similarity is that Marks and Spencer, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Debenhams sell products directly to consumers at their location. Since all the three departmental stalls are retail-based, they get direct contact with customers. The retail departmental stores are fully furnished with five major departments of a departmental store.
These departments ensure that services and products that consumers need are delivered to consumers at their location and that customers can acquire them fully at that location. These departments include the merchandising division, the sales promotion division, the personnel division, and the operations division (Rippin 575). The departmental stores are located at the points where the customers are situated.
The departmental retail stalls can therefore gain direct experience of the customers and their tastes. Such direct contacts with the customers enable the management of the stalls to tailor the products to the specific needs of the customers. Customers’ buying habits and consumption habits also influence how they display, order the flow of customers, assort various products, and or even how they price their products.
The three stalls have embraced self-selection procedures where customers pick the products they want and the cash them at the counter. Rippin affirms that the customers use a cash-and-carry method to acquire goods and services from the departmental stores.
Customers are therefore not allowed to use or consume the items they pick from the shelves or the display rooms before they pay for them meaning that they acquire ownership of the items they pick from the stall when they pay for them at the counter. Observations were conducted on the liking of the major products from a sample of 300 shoppers at each individual store: Marks and Spencer, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Debenhams.
Table of liking scale for the apparels offered by Marks and Spencer, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Debenhams
The table indicates that all the three departmental retails have a higher liking than dislike for their apparel products. None of the three retailers scores less than 20 on the like scale. All of them score 75 and above for strongly like. It is only Saks Fifth Avenue that scores lowly on the strongly like on its apparel.
Perhaps this finding can be attributed to the fact that it offers other assorted items that may be more appealing to customers than apparels. Debenhams store scores very high scores on the strongly like category at 260. This finding can be attributed to the fact that it specialises with designers. Hence, many people are attracted to the novel ideas of creative work.
Various differences exist in the way Marks and Spencer, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Debenhams manage store location, merchandise assortment, and layout and design. Merchandise assortment differs widely in the three retail outlets. The organisation of various assortments may differ widely due to the large number of goods and services that departmental stores provide today.
The three departmental stores are large multinational retailers. They therefore deal with large varieties of products in a bid to meet diverse customers’ needs. Merchandise assortments differ widely as the merchandising departments differ in various retail stores. The merchandise division in each of the three retail departments is responsible for buying and pricing of the merchandise.
After the merchandise is acquired, the sales promotion department takes over to advertise and display the assortments. According to Shannon, various goods are paced in different categories according to their usability, relatedness, for example, complementary or supplementary goods (598). The division sorts out the items to be placed together for display in a similar unit of point.
According to Angeleette, at Marks and Spencer, the merchandise and the assortment is put in such a way that foodstuffs are placed far from apparels (1189). Foodstuffs are placed in one floor while the apparels and footwear are placed in another floor. Various apparels are displayed according to their relatedness. For example, men’s vests are placed next to their socks and underwear.
However, at Debenhams, the assortment is completely different. The merchandise in Debenhams is assorted according to brand, designer, and quality. The premise is to give the customer a touch of class and uniqueness. Customers will therefore prefer shopping for apparels in Debenhams than in any other apparel dealers. Special designers listed by the outlet design the merchandise at Debenhams.
The designers and the brand of apparels that the customers prefer create the difference. The outlet also offers high-class furniture and jewels. At Saks Fifth Avenue, the merchandise differentiates the assortment. Merchandise is organised by consumers’ needs.
For example, men’s wear are placed under one floor while children’s wear are placed in a different floor. The different categories of merchandise at Saks Fifth Avenue are placed in different floors.
The second difference in management issues of the three departmental stores is in the store location. Different departmental stores are located in different places depending on various factors such as proximity to the customers and producers. Marks and Spencer as a company has located its departmental stores in large cities in various countries. These departmental stores are not located in the suburban areas.
Gary argues that Marks and Spencer targets the urban elites (60). The stores develop a class of consumers for their goods and services. This strategy is contrary to what Debenhams does. Contrary to Marks and Spencer, Debenhams usually opens new retail outlets in the suburban areas.
Although Debenhams has some stores in major cities, it has many other stores in the suburban locations in a bid to meet customers’ need at the places of their location. The stores aim at taking the goods and services to the place where customers can reach them faster. Saks Fifth Avenue has its stores in major towns since it majorly deals in apparels. The department aims at meeting the elites’ clothing needs.
This departmental store has a sense of class. It also has its outlets located in large storey buildings. Such buildings are meant to provide an ample shopping point for the whole family. The location ensures that families have a one-stop shopping point.
The third management issue that is different in the three departmental stores is display and layout. Although all the three retail stores do display as a way of advertising, they do so differently.
Campbell asserts the design, display, and layout effects of Marks and Spencer include making the stores brighter through lighting, use of the most recent designs in layout, making more spacious shopping rooms, and placement of white tiles on all the floors (80). Such layout and display target creating a certain mental impression in the mind of the customer.
On the contrary, product brands and designers do Debenhams’ display and layout. Categorisation of apparels, furniture, and other goods is done according to the designers. Special designers are listed by this departmental store with products being displayed along their names and pictures. Shoppers select goods according to brand and the designers behind them.
Recommendations
According to the findings of the report, various steps are evident that each of the retail departments needs to take in order to achieve better results. For example, Marks and Spencer should embark on diverging its goods and services to customers in the suburban areas.
Most of the customers who purchase goods and services at Marks and Spencer travel from far distances to cities and towns where the departmental retail store has branches. Moving the merchandise close to customers by opening suburban branches will increase the company’s customer base and help in serving the clientele better. The departmental store should therefore open businesses in other different locations.
Saks Fifth Avenue should also display its merchandise in the same floor instead of categorising and placing them in different floors. Jackson and Leigh argue that men, women, and children’s apparel should be placed under one floor instead of different floors to give the family a one-point shopping experience (766). The retail should also open more outlets in suburban areas.
Opening branches in suburban areas will enable it reach out to most of the customers since they reside away from town centres. Debenhams should assort its products more to make selective displays. Apparel products should be placed on the same line. Other products such as electrical appliances should be placed in a different point.
Marks and Spencer, Debenhams, and Saks Fifth Avenue should invest in opening more outlets in suburban areas in order to move their goods and services closer to the people. Display and arrangement of merchandise should also be done after a thorough research on customers shopping behaviour.
Works Cited
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