YEAR 10 BUSINESS STUDIES COURSEWORK - PART VI

LOCATION

YOUR LOCATION:

The shop which you have inherited is on Hoe Street in Walthamstow. Imagine it is beside the McDonald’s and across the road from the Walthamstow Central Station. The shop is right on the corner of the intersection of Hoe St. + Selborne Road. It is centrally located on Hoe Street and in close proximity to other shops along Hoe Street, the Selborne Walk Shopping Centre which is an indoor shopping area, and the famous Walthamstow Market which is located just off of Hoe Street on the High Street. The shop location is also easily accessible by bus as there are a large number of buses that service the Walthamstow area from all parts of London, by tube as the Underground Victoria Line stops at Walthmastow Central Station, and by train as trains service both the Walthamstow Central Station as well as Walthmstow Queens Road which is about a 10 minute walk from the shop. It is also accessible by car as there are a number of parking lots nearby the shopping centres.

1. Using the map, as well as the information provided above, explain why your shop is extremely well located. Some other reasons you could use include (be sure to apply to YOUR business):

·  Hoe Street is a busy + established shopping street. Also, the close proximity to other known shopping attractions – Selborne Walk and the famous Walthamstow Market.

·  Hoe Street is a very busy street, therefore the shop will have a high footfall rate (which means lots of people walking past)

·  It is near major road links – M25, A10, North Circular – therefore if you have out of town suppliers they are able to reach you. Similarly out of town customers are more easily able to visit your shop and if you need to make out of town deliveries this can be done much easier as well.

·  Easy access to the area with a car – numerous bus, train + tube links from lots of surrounding and highly populated residential areas.

·  There are several branded stores on Hoe Street + within the Selborne Walk Shopping Centre which attracts customers (ie: Asda, Bhs, HMV, Boots . . .)

Other things you could think about include:

·  Markets – how close are you to your target market? Some products are perishable (meaning they go bad) therefore shops selling these goods must be close to their customers . . .

·  Government Influence – the government + local councils try to attract new business to certain areas + may offer grants or subsidies to encourage business to move to a certain area. Do you need planning permission for your shop?

·  Geography and Natural Resources – depending on your business you might need a certain type of climate, or good supplies of resources such as water or soil or power.

·  Tradition – some older industries are just associated with certain areas.

·  Supply of Labour – Does the local labour force possess the skills you require for your business? Is there a good supply of cheap labour in the area?

·  Nearness to other firms – ie: the financial services industry is based mainly in the City of London, Oxford Street is known as a big shopping street . . . External Economies of Scale

2. Location is important in terms of competition. Using the Yellow Pages +/or the Internet, determine your main competitors in the areas surrounding your shop. Why do you consider each of these businesses your competition? Remember that competition can be Direct or Indirect. Direct competition is when different brands of similar products compete against each other – for example: Mars Bars, Snickers Bars, Twix Bars ... and other chocolate bars competing to get people to buy their specific chocolate bar. Indirect competition is when products that are substitutes for each other compete – for example: instead of having a chocolate bar for a snack, I could instead have a bag of crisps or a banana.

3. Give a detailed explanation of how your business will be better than your competition. Try to give examples about marketing, pricing, type/quality of goods, a Unique Selling Point your business may have . . .

4. Do a SWOT analysis for your business. A SWOT analysis looks at the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of your business.

Helpful to achieving success / Harmful to achieving success
Internal (attributes of the organisation) / STRENGTHS / WEAKNESSES
External (attributes of the environment) / OPPORTUNITIES / THREATS

Examples of Strengths/Weaknesses:

·  Company resources: financial, intellectual, locational

·  Customer Service

·  Efficiency

·  Competitive Advantages

·  Infrastructure

·  Quality

·  Staff

·  Management

·  Price

·  Distribution Channels and Hours of operations

·  After sales service and Sales promotion techniques

·  Transportation and Delivery time

·  Diversified fields, Product line and multiple services/offers

Examples of Opportunities/Threats:

·  Competitor’s actions

·  Economic Conditions

·  Interest Rates

·  Increasing market saturation

·  Changes in laws + regulations

Extension: Once you have completed the SWOT analysis for your business, consider:

1. How can we Use each Strength?

2. How can we Stop each Weakness?

3. How can we Exploit each Opportunity?

4. How can we Defend against each Threat?