MBA Geek

Woolworths has announced that it’s starting it’s closing down sale in a bid by tthe administrators to try and raise as many funds as possible for creditors as possible. One year shy of it’s centenary there doesn’t seem to be much hope for a retailer who’s name has become synonmous with the British high street. It’s a great shame, but a lesson for all that without continual reinvestment in a brand, failure is the only option.

I blame the demise on a 2 factor theory. The biggest problem in my eyes was the attempt to cram everything under one roof. Consumers nowadays are much more picky and prefer going to a specialist to ensure quality in their purchase. This has let to Woolworth’s market share being eroded by a multitude of specialist stores which have a more defined identity and segmentation strategy. The other factor, obviously, was the economic climate; credit is harder to achieve and the pre-Xmas pressure was just too much.

It’s the end of an era for the UK High Street, but how many will mourn Woolworth’s demise?

Some products are easier to sell online than others. Take books for example, Amazon is doing a magnificent job in cornering that market, and that is partly down to the nature of books. They are easy to store, easy to ship and most people who buy books will come back and buy some more. Other products are a bit harder. Try selling the diet pill Anoretix for example. First of all, selling pharmaceuticals is much harder than shipping books, the legislation can be a nightmare and maintaining credibility is critical to providing a steady stream of sales.

Take Stratavia for example, a company that provides a data center automation offering. Their website offers a cohesive message around what the company does and reinforces that by promoting different ideas to improve credibility; a list of awards they have achieved, different news and quotes from their customer. All this helps sustain the image they are trying to project and strengthens their online presence.

Do you ever get those days when everything seems to have got confused? Well, I had a slip like that today. I was looking up information about Fannie Mae, the US mortgage-lending company and instead my search result took me to Fannie May, a purveyor of fine chocolates. Quite a bit of a difference, though interestingly Fannie May was rescued from bankruptcy a few years ago, in a pretty similar fashion to the way the US government rescued Fannie Mae quite recently.

It always pays to check your facts; because of a slight difference in spelling I almost ended up talking about chocolates instead of mortgages!

Anyway, Fannie May had a great history, being in the business of making chocolates since the 1920s. They were one of the few companies who managed to survive through World War II making their chocolates to the same recipes they always had, even though their raw ingredients weren’t so freely available. That’s a pretty great story and a great heritage for the company. Today they are owned by 1-800-flowers, so I expect they do quite a bit of business by mail order.

Interesting profile I thought. Has anyone out there tried their chocolates? If so, leave us a comment and tell us what they’re like.