Introduction
Book world bookstore is a fully operational business that has been in business for the past two years. This means that book world has undergone so much in terms of business, the booms and recessions in business has all been undergone by this business.
It has faced the fiercest most competition and it has also been a lead competitor and threat to most of the entrants in the market. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) is a tool used to analyze all the factors that has made such a business venture stronger and stronger each day (Böhm, 2009).
What is a SWOT?
Strengths are the factors upon which the operations of the business are founded without which the business may automatically collapse or cease from existence. They are the personal secrets upon which the business is established.
Weaknesses on the other hand are the challenges that are likely to bring down the business given chance; strategies should always be developed geared towards converting the weaknesses into strengths to enable the business go into the future (Dealtry, 1992).
Opportunities are then external factors that if exploited furthers and even makes stronger the business of the bookstore, they are dynamic and the entrepreneur must always be very keen at them so that they are not bypassed by them (Dealtry, 1992).
If well exploited they may bust the growth of the firm, bust the sales, increase profitability and generally contribute on the positive growth of output of the business of the firm. Finally, Threats also termed as scaring factors are also external factors to a business that if not carefully looked at is harmful to the operations of the business (Dealtry, 1992).
Strengths of Book World bookstore
Book World Bookstore having been in operation for two was based upon critical and unique foundations that has enabled it reach the far it is. First and foremost, The Bookstore is always known for Quality and Quantity provision of all its products and services.
The books provided in the bookstore are of very high quality produced and printed by the best printing press in the country. The books are also provided in very large amounts that at any no point will customers experience a shortage in the products required by them. Customer value is the hidden strength of Book World bookstore (Ivey, 1922).
The second and most definite strength is the age factor. The fact that Book World store has been in operation for two years makes it be ahead of young firms that are just getting into the market and therefore the maintenance of its strategies in operations and management based on the argument that its slightly older and experienced in the market in itself is an edge.
As compared to firms which have stayed in the bookstore business for more than two years, its apparent that Book World bookstore is at the rapid growth stage and this also contributes further to its added strengths.
Product differentiation in a market where product differentiation is a hell of a task is another step ahead of the other firms. Apart from just providing large amounts of their products that is books and book products in different forms through the variation in sizes of the books provided, their colors as well as the variation in the shapes to meet the tastes and preferences of their customers who comprises of different age groups (Ivey, 1922).
Weaknesses of the bookstore
Despite the much strength as observed above, the bookstore also faces a series of challenges that are likely to lead to its downfall if not taken care of in time and appropriately. Among these are weak product promotion tools, this is caused by the fact that general advertisement is always very expensive and for a firm with low turnover like a bookstore with even narrowed profit margins, comes a problem of low customer penetration due to low product promotion (Ivey, 1922).
Poor pricing strategies is also another weakness , this arises when the managers set unrealistic prices which if set higher than the other market participants can scare away the customers hence reduced sales volumes. Again, if such prices are set lower than the normal prices the there comes the fear of quality of the products provided, this can again lead to reduced profit margins (Kotler & Armstrong, 2008).
Poor product distribution strategy is another weakness, due to this the products may not sufficiently reach the consumers or if in case they reach, it may be so late and customers may have had other options. Delay results from the use of longer chains of distribution.
Opportunities of the bookstore
The bookstore has vast opportunities that it should continue exploiting. Due to the ever increasing population and increase in the quest for intellectual knowledge through generations, there is an ever increasing market for books in the different varieties (Kotler & Armstrong, 2008).
The managers should advocate for the development of products that meet the demands of the ever increasing market base. The labor force is also highly skilled and has the required expertise both at operational and management levels of the organization.
This is brought about as result of the efficient and effective education provided in the country. The bookstore also has access to loans from the well structured financial systems that provide loans at very cheap rates (Ivey, 1922).
As a maximization strategy, the bookstore should therefore consider going for such loans to facilitate their growth and growth directed objectives. Also, the management should develop an effective talent management department that is able to attract the expertise.
Threats to the bookstore
In as much as the bookstore has a wide range of opportunities that it can maximize on, a number of threats also face it like financial systems which are unstable incase of economic crisis, this is due to the dependence on pure banking operations.
Stiff competition from firms in the same industry is also a threat to its operations (Kotler & Armstrong, 2008). Rapid change in technology also is headed towards rendering paper or printed media useless.
Funds requirement to meet this rapid change is enormous; this is likely to face out the bookstore from business if such changes are not accommodated at the right time using the right measures. Here, management can develop recommendations to the financial authorities on better ways of maintaining a healthy financial system; modern production equipment can also be installed to be at par with the new technology (Ivey, 1922).
Basis of segmentation
The large irregular market base that is composed of all the groups in the society from the young to the old, youthful to adults, baby care kids to university and even PhD students and even the unemployed to the employed. There comes the need for market segmentation strategy depending on the target market.
The Book World bookstore has undertaken it segmentation depending on the aspects of the population i.e. demographic segmentation; geographic segmentation is also employed depending on the location of their customers who are largely learning institutions. Under demographic segmentation age is considered where the market is segmented into the books for the children and those for adults (Böhm, 2009).
Differentiation strategy
Differentiation is to ensure that the products exist in variety to the consumer. This depends majorly on the taste and preference of the target consumer. Book World bookstore differentiates its products based on size, this is derived from the need that varied consumer may demand products basing their demand on portability.
Book World also considers shape based on the notion that children demand and find it interesting reading books with funny shapes hence books and book products are also shaped differently as differentiation strategy (Ivey, 1922).
Also depending on where the varied customers come from as well as their affiliation towards colors and their perception of the same colors, the bookstore has to ensure they differentiates their books into colors that fit their consumers irrespective of where they come from as well as their color preferences (Kotler & Armstrong, 2008).
Children for example find it appealing with bright colors as opposed to the case with adults. Differentiation dictates the value of products and services, it adds the values and therefore sales is increased hence profitability, differentiation is fundamental.
Reference List
Böhm, A. (2009). The SWOT Analysis. Toronto: Book Printers Press.
Dealtry, T. R. (1992). Dynamic SWOT Analysis ; developers guide. Birmingham: DSA publications.
Ivey, P. W. (1922). Principles of Marketing:a text book for colledges and schools of business administration. New York: Ronald Press.
Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2008). Principles of marketing. New York: Macmilan Publishers.