Nordstrom Inc. is a fashion retail company that has been opening stores in a number of countries as it focuses on the global market (Bailey, 2015). One such country of target is the United Kingdom, where this company has entered. This paper evaluates the expansion by Nordstrom Inc. into the United Kingdom market. The focus of this evaluation is on analyzing the opportunities that lie ahead for this company in the United Kingdom.
It is vital to note the fact that although the United Kingdom brings a number of considerable challenges for retail business, there are huge opportunities that are expected to benefit its presence in this country (Ecommerce News, 2016). It is vital to observe the fact that trading conditions in the United Kingdom remain tough and even local retailers continue to focus on external markets in order to enhance their growth.
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Nordstrom Inc. has had difficult time making huge sales in the United Kingdom because of the dwindling physical sales of commodities in the United Kingdom. However, Nordstrom Inc. can be bullish about the future of the United Kingdom retail market if it implements the right technological strategies to tap into the online demand. The demand for retail goods in the United Kingdom has gone digital. Retailers face great opportunity of huge revenues from the online sales. Nordstrom Inc. has to start offering its fashion goods online in order to benefit from the big opportunity presented in this country.
Stores in the United Kingdom continue see consumers turn to the internet for their shopping trips. In fact, the United Kingdom shoppers now buy more retail goods online than any other nation in the world. It is vital to observe that Nordstrom Inc. will have to follow the way of Amazon, which is also a major player in the United Kingdom industry.
Furthermore, there are a number of new technologies that are expected to change the nature of the retail landscape in the United Kingdom. Some of them include the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics (Gowing, 2017). They are expected to get ready for application in a maximum of five years to come. Nordstrom Inc. has to integrate these new technologies into its operations in order to counter the threat posed by online sellers like Amazon. The good thing is that Nordstrom Inc. has been able to implement Computer Vision, which is a form of the AI technology (Gowing, 2017). This particular technology operates by taking the images of in-store shelves. The technology also applies the advanced engines able to do fine-grained recognition and deep-learning algorithms in the analysis of these in-store shelves (Gowing, 2017). This technology provides rich and useful data regarding the performance of goods based on sales revenue. Furthermore, they give recommendations to the managers regarding the best on-the-shelf actions. Some of the recommendations offered by this technology include the specific place for locating a given commodity, best pricing for every product and the right promotional approaches, which have to be implemented (Gowing, 2017).
It is vital to observe that this technology is now by the company’s management to give accurate shelf insights. It offers a cost-effective alternative to the manual store audits that are also time consuming and easily affected by human error. With the implementation of this new technology in its operations, it is expected that Nordstrom Inc. will reap hugely from the rising culture of consumerism in the United Kingdom. Furthermore, the rise of the middle-income population in this country, which is normally a consumption-based generation, is yet another great opportunity for Nordstrom Inc. in the future. This company has the future opportunity of enhancing its sales revenue despite the shift to online purchasing in the United Kingdom if it integrates new technology in its operations.
References
Bailey, S. (2015). Nordstrom's Growth Strategy Is Working in 2015: Will It Continue? Market Realist . Retrieved from http://marketrealist.com/2015/06/nordstrom-rack-stores-strength-behind-strategy/ on 27/6/2016.
Ecommerce News (2016). ‘Netflix for clothes’, the future of retail in the UK? Ecommerce News Europe. Retrieved from https://ecommercenews.eu/netflix-clothes-future-retail-uk/ 27/6/2016.
Gowing, N. (2017). The Future Of Retail: The Technologies Turning The Tide For The UK’s High Streets. Huffpost, United Kingdom . Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/neil-gowing/the-future-of-retail-the-_b_16639282.html 27/6/2016.
