Case Study On Temple And Webster

Discuss about the Case Study on Temple and Webster.

Location and size

Retail industry is wide-ranging industry having various different types of the businesses. It is the dynamic and highly competitive industry based on various customers’ demands. This case study depends upon the famous retail company Temple & Webster which is operating in the Australian retail market. The company was started its operations in the year 2011. Temple & Webster is the open e-commerce platform that has objective to create excellent shopping experience to the customers. Company is focused on providing the large and refreshed range of furniture and home ware products to the customers. This is the largest online home wares store in Australia having 130,000 products. This case study focuses on the business environment of the company including description of the products and services which the company has in the business operations (Temple & Webster, 2017).

Industry

The company Temple & Webster is operating in the retail sector. Temple & Webster is the famous e-commerce in the retail sector. The company is operating in the two brands:

• Temple & Webster which is the leading online retailer for the home. This brand has more than 180,000 active customers, more than 1 million members and the catalogue of more than 130,000 products.
• Milan Direct which is one of the biggest furniture wholesalers of Australia and now it is selling its products by the Temple & Webster e-commerce platform (Bloomberg, 2017).

The brand Temple & Webster is operating its business in the retail industry. This is the largest online retailer in Australia. The company is basically dealing in the country Australia but within next few years, it will expand the business in other countries also. It is analyzed that the Australian retail industry is achieving the level of growth and there will be great success for the retail companies.

Demand and market conditions

The trend of technology and e-commerce is increasing continuously so, company Temple & Webster will get high level of success in future. The retail market of the Australia is on the positive growth over the pasts few years and has become one of the most competitive markets in all over the world. The Australian consumers are very sophisticated, demanding and generating more opportunities for the company in the sector.

customer segment

Temple & Webster is a famous e-commerce company which provides the premium shopping experience to the customers by the wide range of furniture and home ware products. In present time, the company is offering more than 140,000 products to the customers that are searchable in the largest home ware stores in the Australia. The customers are segmented according to the ‘discovery’ based shopping experience to the customers. The customers are targeted based on limited time sales events, collection with key demographics and editorial content.

Industry

Competitors

The small as well as big brands are making the products available online which is increasing the rate of online shopping in Australia. Further, there are some strong competitors of Temple & Webster in the Australian retail industry i.e. Aldi, JB Hi-Fi, Metcash, Wesfarmers and Woolworths. Temple & Webster has to adopt some innovative strategies to deal with these competitors (Greenblat, 2016).

Products and services

Temple & Webster offers the members with access to home wares, furniture, home décor, gifts, arts and lifestyle products of various Australian and international designers. There are also hand-picked collections from the interior designers, design commentators, stylists and the designers themselves. In Australia, Temple & Webster is responsible for offering the products based on the culture, weather and the trend in present. The e-commerce platform of the company is fixed at the reasonable prices for the customers. In Australia, families are focused in buying home decors and home wares that seems to be attractive. The products offered by the company are also in competing according to the requirements of the customers (Long, 2015).

Business model of Temple & Webster

Temple & Webster is the e-commerce retailer in the country Australia. Te business model of the company is focused on some business activities:

• Creating value for the customers and end users by offering the products on the technology,
• Identifying the market segment to whom the technology is useful,
• Defining the structure of value chain to create and distribute the offerings,
• Estimating the cost structure and profit potential from the offerings and providing value proposition to the customers,
• Analyzing the position of the company within the value network linking customers and identifying the potential competitors for the business,
• Formulate the appropriate strategy by which Temple & Webster will gain competitive advantage over the competitors (Chroneer, Johansson & Malmstrom, 2015).

In each and every business, it is important for the company to have an effective strategy to get success in the business. Temple & Webster also has some strategies to achieve competitive advantage in the operating market. The strategy of the company can be evaluated by the SWOT and PEST analysis.

SWOT analysis

Strength

First of all, the loyal customers of the Australia are the key strength of the company. Temple & Webster is the renowned company in the Australian retail industry with the effective e-commerce platform. The company has the products of various designers from all over the world. The company can achieve more advantage by the global expansion. Along with this, the company has strong promotional and advertisement strategy to attract the customers (Redrup, 2017).

Weakness

Sometimes, company has to face the difficulties in attracting the customers as there is strong competition in the Australian retail industry. Most of the Australian market is captured by the big companies so, marketing of the company is little weak. Further, company is not so much focused environment related policy. This is the major flaws of the Temple & Webster (Low, 2016).

Opportunities

Demand and market conditions

In the retail sector, there are many opportunities for the company to grow. There is the opportunity for the company to expand the business in the global market i.e. China and other Asian countries. Digital marketing, franchising and attracting more young customers can also be the opportunities for company in the new countries (Bennett, 2015).

Threats

Temple & Webster is abided with the laws and regulations imposed by the Australian government. The company deals with e-commerce so, it has to follow the rules and policies to protect the customers from unfair practices. Further, the company has to face the threat from the strong competition existing in the retail market. So, Temple & Webster has to adopt some strategies like brand management, cost leadership, differentiation and diversification to deal with the competitors (Grecos et al, 2015).

PEST analysis

Political

Temple & Webster has its operations in the country Australia so; it is required to follow the rules and regulations imposed by the government of the country. The company has to comply with these laws and regulations before making any kind of corporate decisions such as developing products, entering in new market or making strategic alliances etc.

Economical

For the company Temple & Webster, economic factors are the major concern as these factors have direct impact on the buying behavior of the consumers. Australia is the country of rich people and people are ready to spend the money for quality products. So, the company takes competitive advantage of this factor. Company is focused on the low price strategy to attract large customer base.

Social

Temple & Webster recognizes the needs, preferences, requirements and lifestyle of the customers and provides the products accordingly. Due to increasing concerns of the customers towards safety, company offers eco-friendly products. Company considers busy and hectic life of the customers so provides online shopping experience for the customers. These developments are done by understanding the requirements of the customers that Temple & Webster has effectively identified.

Technological

In the presence of highly competitive market, technological factors are playing important role in the business operations of the company. The effective use of technology in the operations of Temple & Webster is helpful in attracting large number of customers. The technological advancement like internet and e-commerce has facilitated the company to sell the products online or by mobile. Further, the technology has also enabled the company to reach large number of customers despite of their geographic location easily by the websites and social media. With the help of e-commerce, the company is able to know about the potential customers and also make them aware about the ranges of products which are offering the company (Amalesh, 2011).

Discussion of business model

Based on the above discussion, it is analyzed that the company Temple & Webster is doing well in the retail market. The company is offering more than 130,000 products which are accessed online by the customers. It is also observed that the market of retail industry is growing continuously so there will be many opportunities for the company. But there is the strong competition in the market as most of the retail market is captured by the big companies. So, it is important for the Temple & Webster to adopt some effective strategies so that the large customer base can be achieved in the market. The company uses ‘flash sales’ model which is appropriate for the business operations of the Temple & Webster. The focus of the business model is to customer base and provides good shopping experience to the customers (Smart Company, 2017).

References

Amalesh, S. (2011). Take-off of online marketing: casting the next generation strategies. Business Strategy Series.

Bennett, T. (2015). Temple & Webster set for ASX debut. Accessed on 4^th July 2017 from https://internetretailing.com.au/temple-websters-ipo-approaches/

Bloomberg. (2017). Company Overview of Temple & Webster Pty Ltd. Accessed on 4^th July 2017 from https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=271382891

Chroneer, D., Johansson, J. & Malmstrom, M. (2015). Business Model Management Typologies: Cognitive Mapping of Business Model Landscapes. IJBM. 10(3).

Demirkan, H. (2015). Special Section: Enhancing E-Commerce Outcomes with IT Service Innovations: International Journal Of Electronic Commerce. 19(3). 2-6.

Grecos, C., Dagiuklas, T., Fleury, M. & Kanellopoulos, D. (2015). Special issue on multimedia networking for electronic commerce systems. Electron Commer Res

Greenblat, E. (2016). Homewares retailer Temple & Webster in shake-up. Accessed on 4^th July 2017 from https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/companies/homewares-retailer-temple--webster-in-shakeup/news-story/5961058ed030b3ad5184488420794ded

Long, C. (2015). Which local firm has cornered homewers. Accessed on 4^th July 2017 from https://www.smh.com.au/small-business/entrepreneur/which-local-firm-has-cornered-homewares-20150521-gh6epb.html

Low, C. (2016). Online homeware and furniture retailer Temple & Webster still losing $800,000 a month. Accessed on 4^th July 2017 from https://www.smh.com.au/business/retail/temple--webster-still-losing-800000-a-month-20161025-gsa2d7.html

Redrup, Y. (2017). Temple & Webster turnaround has already begun: Coulter. Accessed on 4^th July 2017 from https://www.afr.com/technology/temple--webster-turnaround-has-already-begun-coulter-20161215-gtbs7e

Smart Company. (2017). Temple & Webster. Accessed on 4^th July 2017 from https://www.smartcompany.com.au/lists/smart50-awards-2015/temple-webster-2015/

Temple & Webster. (2017). Temple & Webster Group. Accessed on 4^th July 2017 from https://www.templeandwebstergroup.com.au/Home/?page=history