An internal analysis is needed to determine the strengths and weaknesses of Groomers Ltd. There are multiple organisational models and strategies to accomplish this. The McKinsey 7S model for instance The 7S model, developed by Pascale and Athos (1981) and further developed by Peters and Waterman (1982) was created as a recognizable and easily remembered model in business (Alshaher, 2013). It is an often used model because it covers important organisational variables and recognises the importance of the interrelationships among all of these seven variables. Burke and Litwin (1992) stated that ‘to provide a model of organisational performance and change, at least two lines of theorizing need to be explored – organisational functioning and organisational change.’ While using the strengths of other models like the 7S model and the Nadler-Tushman (1977) model and created the Model of Organizational Performance and Change (Burke & Litwin, 1992).
The balanced scorecard (HBR, 1992) is another way to analyse the company’s mission and strategy. The balanced scorecard provides executives with a comprehensive framework that translates a company’s strategic objectives into a coherent set of performance measures (Shaw, et al., 1995).
Since Groomers published their company credentials (see table 1) in limited quantities, no advanced model can be used to analyse the company. A fact is that Groomers objective is to be the leading supplier of animal care products and accessories for professional and domestic customers predominantly in the canine, feline and equine markets.
Table 1: Groomers Ltd. Company Credentials
2.2 SW(OT) and conclusion
The goal of the internal analysis is to gain more knowledge about the mission and strategy of Groomers. Since the company published limited information, the following strengths and weaknesses can be composed:
3. Meso-analysis
3.1 General market research
To understand the Groomers market, the general market insights and trends of the pet market has been analysed. This will be taken into account when giving strategic advice.
In 2018 a total number of 13 million households have one or more pets, this is 45% of the UK households (pfma, 2018).
Cat and dogs:
The UK households are owning 9 million dogs, which is an increase by 5%, on last year, and 8 million cats, which is an increase by 17%. Dogs and cats are covering up respectively 26% and 18% of total households. The third most owned pet on the list are rabbits with 900.000 (pfma, 2018). More information can be found in appendix 1 and appendix 2.
‘2018 research highlights an increase in the number of households owning a pet. On closer inspection, it is clear that the rise can be attributed to an increase in families owning pets. (pfma, 2018)‘
Equine market:
One of the highest quality equine industries in the world is in Britain (Confederation, 2015) and there are 446.00 horse-owning households in the UK. More equine numbers can be found in appendix……
3.2 Consumer analysis (7W?)
To provide a profile of the typical buyers of Groomers products and evaluate the purchase decision making process for the purchase of animal grooming products, a consumer analysis is executed. As mentioned in chapter 2.1 Internal analysis, Groomers focusses on three market segments within B2B and B2C: (1) professional buyers, (2) domestic buyers and (3) retail.
Professional
Groomers supply over 60% of the professional dog groomers in the UK. The professional groomers can choose for Groomers because of the wide and deep range of products which vary in prices. This means Groomers can fulfil every professional groomers need, from small shops to bigger salons. Professional groomers purchase their products at Groomers because it is a one-stop shop for their salon needs. Convenience is an important factor in the decision making process of professional groomers. Professional groomers can also choose to retail Groomers’ products in their saloons. This is an easy way to gain more revenue (Michelle, 2017).
Retail
Groomers collaborates with big online retailers such as Amazon, Pets at Home and Ocado. Groomers offers discounts if a retailer choses to purchase a higher quantity. This gives Groomers advantages, one of them is spreading their product within different retailers whom have different customers. Ocado attracts different customers profiles as Amazon. Groomers spreads their chances on the market by selling their products to different online retailers.
Domestic
The pet ownership behaviour is researched for some time (Belk 1988; Hirschman 1994; Holbrook et al. 2001). Most of the research find that the majority of pet owners consider their pets to be part of the family, with especially dogs filling in this role. Hirschman (1994) explanations of why dogs give a number of positive benefits to an owner because of their ability to exhale human relationships, because they give unconditional love and companionship and because of the fact that they maintain a childlike look throughout most of their lives (Hirschman, 1994). In addition, age and number of children have also contributed to the increasing popularity of pets.27–32 One of the reasons people tend to spend money on their pets is supported by Belk (1988), who proposes, ‘if pets are an extension of us, spending on one’s pet may be tantamount to spending on oneself. Thus, we expect that people who tend to spend excessively on themselves are also likely to spend excessively on their pets (Hill, et al., 2007).’ This reflects on the spending on pets because average of £1,150 a year – or £95 a month is spend on by pet owners and in total, the UK spends over £10 billion a year on their dogs alone and £8 billion on cats.
Despite the fact that owners are spending more on their pets, Shore et al5 suggest that some products (including services) are more appropriate when studying an owner’s consumption behavior than others. In their view, non-necessities, including premium pet food, pet toys and other such accommodations, would be more appropriate for probing into the owner’s relationship with his or her pet. Even 66% of UK pet owners buy accessories for their pets as well as birthday and Christmas presents. 32% buy treats and gifts more often for their pets than their partners. (Petplan Pet Census 2011)
3.2.1 Buying decision making
Chen et al. (2012) proposed there are three clusters which influence the buying decision making process of pet owners: (1) Anthropomorphic owners who value quality, (2) attached owners who seek a service’s epistemic value and (3) owners who look for interaction and a service’s functional (economical) value (Chen, et al., 2012). While making a marketing plan for Groomers, there is a need to recognise the different aspects of service offerings when targeting the different types of pet owners. Et al proposed that pet companies cannot target on traditional demographic segmentation anymore (Boya, et al., 2012). Boya et al. (2012) grouped the segments of pet owners as different factors, for example: (1) dog-oriented lifestyle, (2) anthropomorphism, (3) structure and discipline. An explanation of the factors can be found in appendix 4.
With the different perspectives on the different segments in the pet owner market, a conclusion could be that every customer has a different buying decision making process and thus should be targeted differently. After understanding the buying decision making process, the domestic customer personas in chapter 3.2.2 are created.