Target market
Strengths
Fondly referred to as a "British Institution," M&S is legendary for its customer service, a characteristic the company has maintained for more than 120 years.
Primarily one of M & S's major strengths are their assets. Many of their outlets were purchased when land inside metropolitan areas was not at a premium; as a result the value of these outlets has skyrocketed. Secondarily one of their key strengths is their image (also a weakness that I shall arrive at later) and their brand name, St.Michael. Finally another strength is their market share (currently static at 13%).
Marks and Spencer's shoppers feel comfortable whilst shopping as they know what to expect. An example of such comfort levels was established when health secretary of the British government, Virginia Bottomley, made special arrangements in January 1994 to do early morning shopping at Marks and Spencer.
Marks and Spencer's has 100 commitments in its own label, as it only sells St Michael's in all its stores worldwide.
English: I took this picture of Banbury's Marks & ...
English: Logo of Marks & Spencer
English: Marks and Spencer in WetherbyThis inturn does not effect the organisation as a threat as it would to to a small firm, yet acts as a universal image resulting in brand loyalty and recognition.
M&S envisioned a more intuitive system that would provide a single view of each customer, allowing "customer profiles" to be built up as business relationships extended from year-to-year. A system of this type would also help M&S:
Improve efficiency and service performance.
Better identify and realise sales opportunities.
Increase customer satisfaction for competitive advantage.
Improve profit margins, a fundamental driver for the call center initiative.
Weaknesses
Marks & Spencer's cannot afford to continue to lose substantial market share. With vast assets they are a tempting target for takeover if they allow themselves to continue to fall like this. in order to correct this...