Standing out from the crowd - How to compete in the FMCG industry
Åsa Lundgren, Anna Kuylenstierna · Lund University Publications Student Papers (Lund University) · 2013
Fast fashion retail industry, competitive hybrid strategy, customer--oriented activities, customer value Purpose:Our main purpose is to analyse what customer--oriented activities companies that sell FMCGs do to maintain competitiveness.To achieve our main purpose we have two sub purposes.Our first sub purpose is to describe the industry structure and its competitive environment to gain insight in what customer--oriented activities companies do to compete in the FMCG industry.Another sub purpose is to develop an analytical tool, based on combining activities from Osterwalder & Pigneur's (2010) Business Model Canvas and Porter's (2008) Value Chain to apply this tool on our collected empirical data.Methodology:We have chosen a qualitative, descriptive study with an abductive reasoning approach where we have conducted qualitative interviews with various managers at our interview companies Cubus, BikBok, H&M and a company that requested to remain anonymous called Fashion AB.Additionally we have interviewed an industry analyst at Svensk Handel Stil.Theoretical perspectives:Our theoretical framework is based on three key schools: industry structure, hybrid strategy and customer--oriented activities.To analyse the industry structure we have decided to use Porter's five forces and use Klepper's industry life cycle to identify the industry's life cycle stage.We recognised that companies apply the hybrid strategy to achieve uniqueness compared to competitors.To fulfil our main purpose in identifying what customer--oriented activities companies selling FMCGs do to create customer value, we used Porter's VC and Osterwalder and Pigneur's BMC to develop an analytical tool.This tool is applied to our empirical data to test the validity of the theory.This theoretical framework gives us the opportunity to do a thorough analysis of our empirical data.Empirical foundations:Given the development of fast fashion in the apparel industry, it is therefore interesting to examine companies in the fast fashion retail industry.The primary data is based on interviews from an industry expert and seven company employees to generate knowledge about what customer--oriented activities companies use as their competitive strategies to create customer value and maintain competitiveness.Secondary data will match missing information.Conclusions:All the collected data in this thesis indicate the product to be the most important competitive strategy in the industry.Except for the product, customer--oriented activities are implied to contribute to the customer experience, however price and time are a prerequisite to even exist on the market. Thank youWe would like to give a big