How can Hughes Electrical improve it market Share?

AS and A Level Business Studies

Richard Rutter, Business Studies Coursework

Business Studies Coursework

Name: - Richard Rutter

Candidate: - 3186

How can Hughes Electrical improve it market Share?

Aim:

To find out how Hughes Electrical increase its market share.

In order to do this I will need to:

Research the history of Hughes.

v

Plot where Hughes retail outlet(s) are in Norfolk.
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To research how location, can help Hughes, increases its market share.

Research what types of products they sell.
Find out what their target audience is.
Research the known methods of promotion.
Distinguish, which methods will be suitable for Hughes.

Recommend how Hughes can increase its market share, in the next five years.

Objectives:

Find out what their performance has been like during the last 2 years.
Compare them to a successful competitor (Argos.), to see how they’re differing and if they are more or less effective.

History of Events concerning Hughes:

1921 – Hughes Electrical was founded in Lowestoft, Suffolk by Frank Hughes, a young electrical engineer.

1928 – Frank bought his first shop and the family literally lived over it for some years.

1946 – Frank retired and his sons Peter and Jim took over the management of the business.

1950 – Hughes was determined to get into the Television Age.

1953 – Hughes had gained experience installing many televisions in Suffolk.

1962 – Hughes began its expansion, when it purchases Norfolk radio in Great Yarmouth. The Hughes Company then had 5 shops all trading within 10 miles of Lowestoft and all selling or renting televisions, audio products and home appliances.

1970 – Further expansion into the Norwich area in 1972, Ipswich in 1976 and Bury St Edmunds in 1979.

1980 – Hughes Electrical product range has expanded enormously during the last 2 decades as video recording and digital technology opened up whole new consumer markets.

1985 – Video cameras were introduced and with increasing miniaturisation became camcorders and lately digital camcorders.

1990-2003 – Effectively Hughes has been using the same tried and tested methods to stay a successful business for many years, and I expect many more years to come.

Hughes has evolved from: (in 80 years.)

Type of organisation

Hughes Electrical is a local High Street retailer based in Norfolk and Suffolk. They specialise in supplying analogue/digital multi media equipment for purchase or hire such as Television, Audio and Camcorder (electrical and audio goods). Hughes also has a large range of household electrical products (small and large white goods), which are also available to purchase or hire. They take great pride in their product knowledge and provide a full in house service facility for goods in and out of warranty. Hughes operates from the tertiary sector, this is a growing industry and Hughes is already well developed, this is a strong advantage to Hughes.

What makes a business successful?

In theory a business needs to follow the four p’s to be successful, these are product, place, price and promotion.

Product – This is the thing that is being sold, either a service or an object, the company will need a good product that sells well and creates a lot of revenue for the business.

Place – This is where the business is located, which is crucial if the company is a store, but less of crucial if the company is catalogue order for instance.

Price – The price must be fair to the consumer, and competitive, so that there will be a smooth cash flow through the business. This is healthy for the consumer and the business.

Promotion – The promotion is the way in which the business promotes a service or a product, unless the product is well known already this will be another crucial factor in the company’s sales.

How Hughes are successful in their product.

Hughes is hugely successful in this area, they offer a full service to their customers, and this involves hiring out their goods or selling them directly. All products have a 12-month guarantee, which in this time if the product develops a fault it will be fixed free of charge. Any rented product will be installed free of charge.

Customers will find this very satisfying, because they know that if anything goes wrong then they can take it back no questions asked.

Hughes is well known for selling ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

How Hughes are successful in their product.

Hughes is hugely successful in this area, they offer a full service to their customers, and this involves hiring out their goods or selling them directly. All products have a 12-month guarantee, which in this time if the product develops a fault it will be fixed free of charge. Any rented product will be installed free of charge.

Customers will find this very satisfying, because they know that if anything goes wrong then they can take it back no questions asked.

Hughes is well known for selling electrical goods and at low prices, this is a good market to be selling to, because the demand for electrical goods will always be big. This is because technology is ever changing, while reading the history of Hughes, I noticed that when a new product or technology is released Hughes is nearly always the first company to sell them.

Hughes sell well-known trusted brand names, this works in their favour in the long run, although the product not being the cheapest available on the market, they are well known and trusted, so they are more popular and sell better.

Some examples of their products are shown below:

Site location:

Photograph of Site: (Norwich, Castle Mall.)

Why Hughes location is successful and unsuccessful.

Hughes is located in the castle Mall Norwich. This is a busy shopping mal, which attracts people from families to teenagers.

The shop itself is situated next to Argos and the Sony centre. All three stores are potential competitors. This may be an advantage, because they all need to attract similar customers, it also means that they’re prices must be competitive to win sales over the other two outlets. Hughes is very easy to get to for customers, because it is opposite an escalator and an elevator. The castle mall has its own parking facilities, so that customers to the mall can park very close. The whole of the castle mall is under ground and which means customers can shop whatever the weather is like. The range of other types of shops such as clothes, food and services is a bonus to Hughes, because customers even going to the cinema may end up browsing through the store. Customers can go to the shopping mal and buy all of their products in one go as well.

The only negative point is that Hughes must coincide with the castle malls opening hours, e.g. they are not permitted to open on Christmas day. Hughes will only loose a minute profit.

I conclude with the castle mal is Hughes strongest positive side, because it helps them attract endless customers.

How Hughes prices its products to be more successful.

As explained in the location, Hughes is situated next-door to competitors Argos and the Sony Centre. The three stores are constantly trying to undercut each other’s prices. This attracts new customers, who are interested in the low prices.

Price wars are healthy to the customer, because it drives down their prices, it helps keep the businesses on their toes and alert, because they need to keep their costs down to make a profit.

Hughes has got their pricing perfected, customers browsing the store notice this, and always come back.

How Hughes is successful in promoting its products.

Here are some of the known methods of promoting a product:

Price promotions.
Commercial Advertising (Radio, Television, Newspapers.)
Coupons
Competitions and prizes
Frequent user / loyalty incentives
Point-of-sale displays – where the product is placed in the store

Promotion is the area in which I think Hughes needs to improve. I believe Hughes is badly advertised and has little publicity.

My questionnaires primary reason is to find the public awareness relating to Hughes.

Primary Research

Primary research is a type of researching. This method of research can be very time consuming. The different primary researches are:

Questionnaires
Interviews
Experiments

For my primary research I have decided to compile a questionnaire, as it is effective and easy to make and distribute, because I will only need to question two people. I will distribute it to the manager of Hughes. I will distribute another to a competitor of Hughes (Manager of Argos Castle Mall.)

Example Questionnaires.

Questionnaire (Manager of Hughes.)

Do you think that the location of your store is appropriate for your product?

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Which features of the location do you think attract the most customers?

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Do customers have difficulty locating the store?

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Do you think Hughes is competitive with its pricing? Give reasons why/why not?

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Do you think your store advertises successfully?

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Does your store plan carefully where the products are placed, to maximise sales? Please give an Example.

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Questionnaire (Manager of Argos.)

Do you think that the location of Hughes is appropriate for its product?

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Which features of the location do you think attract the most customers to Hughes?

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Do you think customers have difficulty locating the store?

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Do you think Hughes is competitive with its pricing? Give reasons why/why not?

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Do you think Hughes advertises successfully?

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Do you think Hughes plans carefully where the products are placed, to maximise sales?

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Secondary Research.

Secondary research is research, which has already been carried out. It comes in two separate forms, internal and external.

Internal sources
Internal research has already been collected, by the company and is free and easy to use.

External sources
External research is research, which has taken pace outside of the business, it has no purpose and so is a very general guide.

External resources I could use:

Newspapers
Internet
Magazines
Library

Secondary research is very cheap and easy, I have decided to look on their website to find out a little more about Hughes, as it may help me to make recommendations.

Our Service Pledge

Hughes Electrical has always put its customers' service requirements first. We are qualified to repair nearly all brands of electrical products and employ over 100 engineers who do just that.

We want you to come back and shop with us again and again and we know that you will only do so if you are happy with both our prices and service.

Our pledge is to provide our Internet customers with an after-sales service which is as good as that enjoyed by the customers of our 35 high street stores, and to pay as much attention to your requirements after your purchase as we do before.

Product Guarantee
All of our goods are supplied with a minimum of a 12 months parts and labour guarantee starting from the day of delivery.

In event of a fault within the guarantee period
In event of a fault we recommend that you initially consult the instruction manual which is provided with your product, there is normally a frequently asked questions section at the back of the manual which often resolves what was thought to be a problem.

If the fault persists and the product was purchased from one of our shops, please call your nearest service centre for attention - contact details can be found in the section.

If the fault persists and the product was bought online, please email us at or call our help line on 01473 275887 so that we can provide immediate assistance.

If this fault is within 28 days of purchase we will either arrange to collect the goods and exchange them, or if you would prefer issue you with a full refund.

If the fault is after 28 days of purchase but before the expiry of the guarantee, we will, at our discretion, either collect the item from your house for inspection and if necessary carry out a repair at our service centre or we will instruct an engineer to inspect and repair the item in your house.

It is your responsibility to pack the goods adequately for our collection as Hughes Electrical will not accept any responsibility for damage caused by inadequate packaging.

It is important to note that if Hughes Electrical incurs a charge for service or carriage for an item that is not faulty then we reserve the right to charge this amount to you.

In event of a fault outside the guarantee period
If the fault occurs after the expiry of the manufacturer's or extended guarantee then we will offer you a chargeable repair service.

We recommend that you consult the instruction book provided with your product and pay particular attention to the Frequently Asked Questions in the back.

Portable items and televisions up to 28 inch will be collected for repair in our workshops. It is your responsibility to ensure adequate packaging of these items as Hughes Electrical will not accept any responsibility for damage to the product while it is in transit.

Major kitchen appliances and 32 inch plus televisions will be repaired by our agent in your house. If you live outside East Anglia, we will notify you of a suitable agent who will undertake the repair to your direct instructions. If you live within East Anglia then we will undertake the repair ourselves.

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