Abstract
Benjy's Superstore is learning the hard way that changing into digital marketing is the norm of the business world today. Showrooming has undermined the company forcing it to shift to online marketing. It was a hard lesson as the company's board was forced to outdo its retail-based strategies and adapt to new customs. A SWOT analysis showed the company has its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Online trading is an added advantage in the globalized world, and it is upon the store to shape up its strategies. It is only this way that the store will be able to expose its products to a wide range of customers. Therefore, it is recommended that Benjy's Superstore shift its strategies and redefine its vision and mission statements to incorporate online selling.
Introduction
Showrooming is a potential threat to retail stores as it builds on online shopping dealers at the retail stores' expense. Such is the case with Benjy's Superstore in Oklahoma City. The shop has been a showrooming victim, giving the organizational managers a headache as they strive to identify ideal marketing strategies. On the one hand, Benjy's cannot afford to chase away the showrooming customer as they are the potential buyers, and on the other hand, it cannot afford to build online dealers such as the Amazon Corporation. The paper engages a case study on Benjy's Superstores as it engages in the fight to identify competitive marketing strategies against online dealers. In doing so, the report discusses the problem, data analysis, findings, and recommendation and conclusion.
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The Problem
The issue is that Benjy's Superstore, a retail electronic dealer based in Oklahoma, is losing its customers to online dealers, courtesy of showrooming. It follows that the business world is changing, and people are going digital. It is a problem for retail dealers like Benjy's as they cannot afford the same prices as online dealers. The online dealers offer stiff competition as they offer lower prices since they do not have extra costs such as renting fees. It is a dilemma for retail dealers, and most of them are forced to change their marketing strategies to cope with competition (Teixeira & Gupta, 2015). Such is the case with Benjy's Superstore. It does not have an alternative, but to change its marketing strategies, comes at a cost, and the pain goes to the owners.
Beatrice, an owner and board member experiences the issue at hand while in one store. Customers are just comparing prices and leaving. It is the same case with all the stores despite the motive to change the marketing strategy. For instance, customers are going despite limited charges charged on the electronics. More so, they avoid the employees' services, terming them as an added cost that features the prices. Therefore, Benjy's have to find new strategies as everything is going unrewarded. The choice to move online is also not a solution as the customers are avoiding their websites and still purchasing their commodities from Amazon, their online competitor. Additionally, the business is not growing despite all the strategies to solve the issue (Teixeira & Gupta, 2015). It is a big dilemma that Benjy's Superstore has to solve to win back online shoppers.
Data Analysis
Benjy’s superstore board cannot help but notice their marketing strategy needs to change. Thanks to Ben, Beatrice, and Farb, the CEO, the company concluded to find its competitive advantage. In doing so, the board uses the SWOT analysis, business model. It helps to identify their strengths and weaknesses based on facts and data-driven approaches. First, the company analyzes what it is that makes it stronger than Amazon and other online dealers. It has the potential to compete with Amazon, provided it utilizes better approaches. For instance, the store deals as a retail shop, and an online platform's integration will neutralize Amazon's power. Thus, it is upon the company to work on utilizing its strengths. Next, the board outlines what it is that makes it weaker. The business has a challenge in that most people are going online while expressly obliged to retail. It is a challenge considering most people will only showroom without actual buying (Teixeira & Gupta, 2015). As such, it needs to minimize showrooming without directly offending potential buyers. It is a challenge considering it has to change its strategies.
Third, the retail dealer has its opportunities. It can quickly revert the situation if only it would gain customer trust. Farb, the CEO and company's brain, indicates that they need to change their shop display to include customer services and price deduction. More so, it can work for the company's benefit if it offers improves the quality of its products, it will attract customers and win against Amazon. However, the company has its threats. It cannot directly compete with Amazon as it would have to change all of its challenges. Ben, the owner, is concerned that everything is bound to lose if a fast move is made. More so, Amazon can eliminate it considering it offers lower prices, something that Benjy's have to deal with slowly as it is a retail shop (Teixeira & Gupta, 2015). Therefore, Benjy's Board, through SWOT analysis, engages its strengths and weakness to look for directionality on how to lead the company.
Findings Analysis
The company is on the verge of collapsing if it does not win back its customers. It is the board's main conclusion. There is a need to change its strategy from a lower-pricing higher sales into a competitive advantage company. The old system is not selling anymore, people have moved digital, and it is appropriate to cope with the challenge. The new strategies have to be customer-oriented. Beatrice discovered that matching prices and offering customer services were not effective enough. The company needs to venture into online shopping. It is only through providing direct competition that the company would have a place along Amazon. Another finding is that showrooming is the actual vice affecting Benjy's, and it has to adapt to go about it wisely. For as long as the shop is retail with physical shops, it was not ending. It is upon implementing additional strategies that will make customers appreciate the prices offered and the shop. For instance, as Farb recommends, the company should provide after-sales services such as installation, which Amazon could not do (Teixeira & Gupta, 2015). Accordingly, Benjy's has problems, and it has to deal with them if it is to remain competitive.
Recommendation and Conclusion
Benjy's has to go digital if it is to compete with online dealers. As opined by Henderson (2020), the world is changing and people prefer digital marketing and organizations must also change with the changing market dynamics if they are to remain competitive. Online trading is an added advantage in the globalized world, and it is upon the store to shape up its strategies. It is only this way that the store will be able to expose its products to a wide range of customers. Therefore, the retail store should start advertising its wares on various platforms such as YouTube and Facebook since these have become the contemporary market places where people meet to transact thanks to the availability of internet connection. Thus, Benjy's retail store has to do something. Failure to cope with the new world trends would see its closure as it will continue making losses as Amazon benefits.
References
Henderson, G. (2020). The Importance of Social Media Marketing. Digital Marketing Blog. https://www.digitalmarketing.org/blog/the-importance-of-social-media-marketing
Teixeira, T. S., & Gupta, S. (2015). “Can You Win Back Online Shoppers?” Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation.
