Retail Marketing Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Retail Marketing - Case Study Example "We want to be the best clothing retailer in the United Kingdom. We strive to exceed our customers' expectations, for our customer is our king. Our stores are well situated and easy to reach. The environment is to be treated with care. We sell fashionable clothes of excellent quality and price. Our employees are our treasure. Our goals are double-digit sales growth and satisfaction of our shareholders in the long run." Next Retail Limited has 383 stores in the UK and Ireland and also 1 in Denmark as in January 2006. Apart from these Retail Stores Next also has 80 franchise stores overseas, operated by eight franchise partners. Next franchise stores are spread across 14 countries namely: Bahrain, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Iceland, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malta, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Slovak Republic and United Arab Emirates. Next products can also be ordered online by the help of Next Directory which is their mail order and internet shopping service. Orders can be delivered to customers' homes or to a store of their choice for collection. Next Directory has approximately 1,905,000 active customers showing an increase of 14.8% from the previous year. NEXT operates through five divisions: NEXT Retail operates the high street shops through more than 330 stores covering the UK and Ireland; NEXT Directory is the mail order division which also contain the e-commerce platform; NEXT Overseas operates retail outlets in the United States, Asia, Continental Europe, and the Middle East through franchise agreements; Ventura runs the financial services division. Other activities include telecommunications software services and property management. Other Departments of NEXT include: Next Distribution Limited is Next's warehousing and distribution service. It is responsible for maintaining the appropriate inventory levels in its warehouses and provide distribution services their designated stores on as and when needed basis. Next First Retail Finance Limited - operates a funded credit business for a limited number of stores and mail order customers. Next Financial Service Limited - provides support services to the business operations of Next Retail Limited. It does not offer any consumer credit. Next Sourcing Limited (NSL) - a sourcing company working exclusively to design, source, buy and merchandise Next branded products. It employs over 1,000 people in China, Hong Kong, India, Romania, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Turkey. NSL also owns and operates a garment factory in Sri Lanka which manufactures exclusively for Next Retail Limited and employs a further 2,000 people. NEXT Retail accounted for

Employee Relation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Employee Relation - Essay Example For instance, this strategy has attracted over 16% of professionals working in the private sector in 2014. Unions have developed several strategies for the attraction of new membership. One of the strategies is the development of a constant communication with the workers. This is one of the core activities adopted by trade unions. They maintain constant contacts with the members, especially in their workplaces. This helps in the attraction of new members through an assurance of the protection of their rights. The communication also aids in the creation of internal debates among the workers and the unions, for the identification of areas that are prone to limitations in terms of membership acquisition. These strategies have shaped the trade unions in relation to an increase in the membership base. In addition, different unions have created special committees that have specific roles that relates to a particular set of workers. For instance, most of the unions have created the women’s department that ensures the female workers of their representation and equal rights in the unions. This strategy has led to the implementation of particular processes for increased membership (Waddington, 2003). It also assumes that for it to succeed in attracting new members, the committees created need to address the issues of the particular groups. This has occurred in several unions that have considered the interests of the workers such as the improvement of their working conditions. The ultimate outcome is that the unions that have considered such interests have registered quite a huge number of new members. Finally, unions have developed interesting strategies that appeal to younger workers to persuade them into the membership (Hollinshead et al. 2003). For instance, the unions organize certain events, debates, and seminars that appeal