Research On The Competitive Strategy Of The Localization Of Foreign-funded Department Stores

In recent years,the traditional department stores have been confronted with unprecedented challenges as a result of a rapid development and wide application of e-commerce and mobile internet technology.On the one hand,after high-speed development,department stores have become saturated,and are facing problems like brand homogenization,intense horizontal competition,etc.In addition,department stores are faced with a new round of shuffle when consumer's shopping habits tend to be experience-oriented and diverse as a result of fast development of e-commerce and growth of people's consumption standard.On the other hand,department stores have been jolted by various factors,such as swift rise of business cost of manpower and rent,falling of growing speed of the whole industry,continuous implementation of anti-corruption policies and etc.It makes HoF more difficult to maintain its position in the national market when national department stores are facing serious situation,foreign-owned department stores in China are frequently frustrated and the growth of on-going stores has been hindered.Hence,the thesis aims to conduct a deep research on competition strategy of HoF's localization by applying relevant knowledge and theories of strategic management.Firstly,PEST analysis and Porter Five Forces model will be adopted to analyze the external environment of HoF and identify the external opportunities and risks at hand of the company.The company has been provided with opportunities for development by various factors,such as government's support to department stores,implementation of universal two-child policy,steady growth of economy,increase of resident income level,and the development of business intelligent system.However,the sustainability of the enterprise has been seriously threatened by the some factors,such as change of resident's living ideology,homogenization generated by business model,rise of business cost,lacking of professional buyers,fierce competition and so on.The future of HoF will be oriented by six development trends which include increasing the percentage of self-owned business and developing self-owned brands,segmenting market and targeting particular consumer group,adding leisure items such as dining and entertainment and providing more consumer shopping experiences,enhancing brand item management and optimizing brand items,expanding the scale through merger and acquisition,and actively exploring "omni-channel" sales.Secondly,SWOT analysis will be employed to analyze the internal environment of HoF and identify the competitive advantages and disadvantages of the company.As to the internal environment,the enterprise is superior in commodity resources,setting environment,exclusive services,intelligent business system,online and offline interaction,human resources,and self-owned property,but inferior in ancillary facility and customer group cultivation.Compared with its nearby competitors,Deji Plaza and Golden Eagle,Hof selects aggressive middle-class as its target customer group.The company has a peculiar competitive advantage developed by an explicit business orientation,a business model integrated by brands from our own,buyers and joint-business,high-end private customized services,as well as British-style decoration for "British style" shopping experiences.Thirdly,based on the result of internal and external environment analysis,company's development goal and market positioning,the thesis will identify and demonstrate the basic strategic orientation of HoF,namely focused differentiation competitive strategy in which self-owned brands,buyer model,and scenario sales are integrated.Finally,on the basis of strategy constitution,the thesis will introduce the implementation strategy of HoF from four perspectives,namely product differentiation strategy,service differentiation strategy,human resources strategy and marketing strategy.And then the thesis comes to a conclusion that Hof can hold customers by enhancing three aspects which are self-owned brands and buyer model,interactive experience,and brands integration.In addition,implementation strategies can be realized by means of two supporting strategies of visual marketing and onmi-channel marketing,as well as three supporting measures including intellectual business management system,human resource strategy and British-style customized service for promoting customer value.