Introduction of Business Skills | ARGOS COMPANY

INTRODUCTION

Business skills are related with technical, research, analytical and learning skills that are utilised for becoming more successful in a competitive market. In simple words skills refers to the ability for carrying out all task with specified skill, time, energy and methods. This report is composed from point view of Argos Limited which is a British Retail organisation and it operates and managed their retail store at global level. Moreover, the existing report highlights on key challenges that are faced by organisation along with methods to overcome from the issue.

Introduction of the organisation

Argos is a retail organisation that is well-known for their procedures in the industry from the last 48 years. It was established by Richard Tompkins in the year 1972 at UK. There are more than 800 retail outlets or shops of Argos which are managed from the headquarters of organisation that is situated in Milton Keynes, England (Karadas, 2017). Argos is the subsidiary organisation of Sainsbury's which operates business and leads decision making of organisation through managing all aspects of organisation.

Challenges faced by Argos

Price fixing - Cost or price is one of the most important aspects for organisation that impact on business's and their products. This determines that it is mandatory for management to perform their work as per needs of customers to retain for longer period in market because appropriate price helps to generate loyal customer base. It is a complex task to analyse and understand requirements of customers which impact on goals and objective of Agro through generating barrier. With the fair trading price it is easy for management for gaining better position in market. Due to the innovation it is complex for organisation to ensure more profits because to do innovation research & development department requires regular supply of money. So to manage cost for new products with calculation and include amount of innovation generates challenges for organisation to decide fixed prices of products. Therefore, deciding the price of products create barrier or challenge to perform all task appropriately. This determines with the right price it is easy for Argos to capture high market area by offering price of products as per there quality. So management is able from deal with challenge of deciding prices for their products that is offered to consumers through using of business analytical skill properly in context of calculation cost.   

On the other side, due to ineffective price the profits of organisation are directly impacted as it is complex for management for save amounts. This determines inappropriate budget generates challenges for managing expenses such as to provide salary, understand difference between fixed and variable cost of company to accomplish their yearly target within decided budget properly. In the context of retail organisation like Argos management is performing their work at global level and offer different products. So it is mandatory for organisation to perform their work with minimum cost and to gain better results that enhance market share (Daly, Aycock and Cook, 2014). The main issue or challenges faced by organisation is that due to ineffective price it is complex for management to increase their sale and revenues because customers will not buy products due to price and quality concern. Moreover, the rival organisations are impacting on business by selecting effective price policies such as price penetration for its products. It also generates defies for organisation that work as Online and offline sale for business's is also impacted because of difference in payments and it generate different issue that generate issue for organisation such as to deliver and sale the products.

Challenge A

Argos Ltd. which is a British catalogue retailer is facing various problems while operating in the marketplace which affects its sales and ultimately its profits get affected. These challenges need to be timely identified so that appropriate actions can be taken which will help in achieving company goals and aims on a timely manner. Out of the various challenges faced by the company, competition from other retailers in the market pose the greatest threat for company existence and affects the way it operates and functions in the market. Argos is known as a high street catalogue retailer which sell its products to its customers by providing them with a catalogue in which all the available items are mentioned against their prices and the customers need to tick on the items they wish to order. Argos also deals online where customers can order the items on the website of the company and make online payment which makes shopping convenient for customers. From the analysis of published articles it is identified that retail market is too competitive and it directly impacts on sale of company products (https://www.jstor.org/stable/2662135?seq=1). However the company face competition in the UK market with the presence of other retail giants like Tesco, Lidl etc. who offer their products in the traditional manner by displaying their products on shelves which can be picked by customers as per their needs. The competition is increasing continuously as the demand for consumer goods is increasing which makes it difficult for Argos to survive sustainably in the market. Also as catalogue shopping is a new concept it makes it difficult for the customers to compare pricers of different variety of products and also they cannot enjoy their shopping experience as in the big retail stores of Tesco and other retailers. Competition thus has to be dealt with by Argos in an efficient manner in order to survive in the market which can help it in achieving its goals and objectives.

Get online assignment help in Australia for college students

Managing Challenge A

Argos can deal with the challenge of increasing competition by adopting various ways such as discount pricing of products, offering gifts to customers .This is beneficial for attracting more number of products that leads to complete all work as per decided strategy which is enhancing possibility for business in order to creative unique that beat rival organisation for completing their work in effective manner. The analysis of Argos demonstrates to manage all challenges it is essential for organisation to engage and utilise relevant information which moderate or reduce negative impact of challenge. All these strategies can help the company in dealing with the increasing competition and also increasing its sales. Discounts and offers can help in gaining attention of customers and enhance sales of the company. Festive and seasonal offers are different ways in which competition can be dealt with in an effective manner (Daye and Jaiswal, 2019). Also the Argon implement the ideologies of just-in-time and lean production so that the consumers can be provided with high quality of items and on time. This will help in improving the efficiency of the company and will also increase the loyalty of customers towards Argos. Quality plays an important role in maintaining the brand position of company in the market and dealing with competition in an efficacious way. The lean principle can help in removing the products from inventory which have either expired or have become unfit to be used by customers by the way of surveillance by all the employees who work in the company. This will help in increasing the quality of company and will enhance the way in which customers are attracted towards company products. On the other hand just-in-time can help the company in maintaining the inventory of items as per the demand of customers so that inventory costs can be reduced and shortage of stock can also be well maintained.

Challenge B

In the present scenario, there are various task will be performed by management that is used to deal with the price issue in retail industry. This refers that it is mandatory for management to perform the work in effective manner through completing its task properly that leads to gain retain for longer period in market by adopting financial software that helps to calculate all prices effectively either fixed or variable. On the other side, with the proper consideration of organisation from all methods that is used to manage the work on online and offline sales methods. Like, Argos sale their products at high rate as compare to other organisation but due to present market conditions it is essential for management to decide right price for their products by considering variable and fixed cost of operations. This result that the actual price of goods or products leads management to satisfying all needs of customer's at affordable cost.

 Price of products and services are decided by management by undertaking several aspects such as competitor price, operational cost etc. Similarly, in the present scenario the price of products and payments of price are collected through new methods. This refers that with new payment trends it is easy for management to gather funds from online payments, application and wallet (Liu,  Salvanes and Sørensen, 2016). This determines that most of the existing consumers in UK pay the amount with online source. So with offering discount on application it is easy for Argos to sale more products in market. 

Managing Challenge B

In the present scenario, it is essential for management to perform the work as per considering their work through ensuring better results that is used to gain long term benefits with the management. This also refers it is essential for management to offer premium discount in proper manner. Application that are used for appropriate to make cost at premium discount. On the other side, with the management of organisation in proper manner through offering value application to make better service and benefit through managing value by making effective business model.

Challenge C

Apart from competition the company is facing certain challenge of increasing inflation and financial crisis which has affected UK and lowered the business of Argos (https://www.retail-week.com/companies/argos?authent=1).  Due to the increasing economic depression it becomes difficult for customers to afford the company products such as furniture which is expensive compared to other products offered by the company. The company face downfall in sale of video game equipment’s and also big-ticket items making the overall sales of the company in constant declining. Therefore, it also decreases the profitability of company (Alman, Posner and Swezey, 2014). The economic depression has affected the purchasing power of people of UK who find it difficult to afford expensive consumer products which are available with other retailers at reasonable prices.

Managing challenge C

This challenge can be dealt by the company by cutting the costs of products by achieving economies of scale and also reducing wages so that prices of items can be lowered in order to attract customers. Also the company can focus on specific area like furniture which are more profitable items so that the costs can be reduced and customers can be attracted towards company products (Winer, 2015).   

CONCLUSION  

With the analysis of all above report it is concluded that there are various challenges will faced by organisation while performing its operations and functions. The current issue and challenges continually decline the performance of retail organisation such as collapse in company profits. Challenges also impact on business through diverting organisation and changing its actions or activities against goals and objectives of management. Thus, by understanding of organisational factors and aspects it is mandatory to ensure that with proper actions such as by adopting innovative methods. Further, it support organisation to deal with price, competition and other challenges in specific manner through introducing new policies and strategies of organisation.  

You May Also Like to Read 

HR7234 Business Strategy Level 5 University of East London

Managing Innovation in Business

Sample Based on Dental