DIGITAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTS

Table of Contents
Introduction........................................................................................................................3

The rationale of the organization.......................................................................................3

Background of the Company..........................................................................................3

The digital potential of the Company..............................................................................4

Assessment of potential data sources...............................................................................6

Analytical approach...........................................................................................................8

Digital marketplace Analysis..........................................................................................8

Channel Structures Analysis..........................................................................................9

Value Analysis................................................................................................................9

SLEPT Analysis............................................................................................................10

Conclusion.......................................................................................................................11

Reference List..................................................................................................................12

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Introduction

Nowadays, technology has developed and started to facilitate our everyday lives along
with different business practices. Therefore, the importance of digital technology in the
present business environment is very significant. Actually, it has become the heart of
the business strategy and it has been used by different organizations in product
manufacturing, storing, service providing for achieving the competitive advantage and
customer satisfaction. Digital business has offered the companies new business
technologies through which the organizations have been able to collaborate, connect
and conduct its businesses with the consumers by building new bridges. In this paper,
Waitrose, a UK based supermarket company will be taken into consideration for
analysing the impact and importance of the digital business in the current business
environment. Here, the digital potential of Waitrose will be measured by analysing its
digital services. Moreover, secondary data will be analysed through different data
sources. Moreover, the analytical approach of Waitrose will be analysed through
different methods, such as Digital Marketplace Analysis, Channel Structures Analysis,
Value Analysis, and SLEPT Analysis.

The rationale of the organization

Background of the Company

Waitrose, generally known as 'Waitrose and Partners' is a well-known supermarket

supply chain of the UK which has sold groceries and daily essentials. The considered
company is the part of the largest employee-owned retailer of the UK, John Lewis
Partnership. In 1904, three small businessmen Wallace Waite, Arthur Rose, and David
Taylor opened Waitrose as a little grocery shop at 263, Action Hill, in West London
(Gibbs et al., 2020). However, the company has become one of the foremost food
retailing shops in the UK with more than 37,000 employees. In 1937, John Lewis
Partnership acquired the company and set up the first Supermarket of Waitrose in 1955.
All the branches of the company are highly popular for the customer service, value, and

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quality maintenance. Waitrose has its head office at Victoria and Bracknell in the UK
(Tench and Topić, 2017). Currently, Waitrose and Partners have operated 338 shops in
the United Kingdom. From them, 65 shops are convenience stores known as 'little
Waitrose '.

The company has become the eight biggest grocery retailing supply chain of the UK by
holding 5.1% of the market share. The company has exported its products to over 53
different countries which are located in the Middle East. The stores of Waitrose have
spread all over the UK, Wales, and Scotland. The range of these places from the town
has the edge of the high streets. Even these ranges have differed in size from 7000-
56000 square feet. The John Lewis Partnership has delivered work for almost 68,000
different partners and has generated almost the turnover of £6 billion (Johnson et al.,
2018). The considered company has focused on merging with the ease of the
superstores along with the facility and expertise of the specialist shop (Gibbs et al.,
2020). The company has also offered the value promise by making sure that the
customers have always got the excellent value for the money while shopping from the
Waitrose stores. The company Waitrose and Partners has simply been referred to as
Waitrose and has been described in 'The Guardian' and 'The Telegraph' for having an
upmarket reputation. Moreover, Mark Price, who is the former managing director of the
considered retail chain has suggested that the expensiveness of the product price will
not create any threat for the company compared to the rivals, such as TESCO,
Sainsbury's and so on. Moreover, Waitrose is the only retail chain of the UK which has
the royal warrant for supplying groceries, spirits, and wine to Queen Elizabeth and from
1st January 2011 to his son Prince Charles which has enhanced the brand value of
Waitrose in the market of the UK (Tench and Topić, 2017).

The digital potential of the Company

Based on the services of the company in the current market, it can be said that
Waitrose has a strong digital potential in the business environment and the reasons will
be discussed below.

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Waitrose and Partners which is a well-known supermarket chain of the UK have
announced plans for the organization where the management of the company has
decided to triple the size of the online grocery operation of the company within the next
three years along with the target of generating £1bn revenue generation through the
business (Fry, 2020). In order to fulfil the goal of business expansion, Waitrose has
generated the partnership with the TDP or Today Development Partner which has been
overseen by the CEO and co-founder of the TDP and the Chief Business Officer of the
TDP and former Chief Business Officer of the Google X Mo Gawdat. This move has
been conducted by the company after the three months from the termination of
partnership between Ocado and Waitrose. At that time co-founder of Ocado, Mr Faiman
was the Chief Business Officer of Ocado. In this situation, the management of Waitrose
has stated that this move will enhance and develop the potential of Waitrose.Com by a
major enhancement of the automation and capacity which will conduct the rapid step
change in the digital and online capabilities of Waitrose.Com. Currently, Waitrose.Com
and TDP have worked together for developing three automated CFCs or Automated
Customer Fulfilment Centers by using advanced and innovative technologies for
increasing the online consumer experience (Simone and Sabbadin, 2017).

The Managing Director of the 'Waitrose and Partners' Mr Rob Collins has stated that the
online portal of Waitrose has become very popular in the customers as the entity has
provided an efficient and in-time home delivery services which trend of digital business
is growing significantly in the market. According to the plans, TDP has the commitment
to Waitrose for achieving a rapid step change in the capacity and capability of
Waitrose.Com for building a modern and digitized business which will be well-fit in the
future. The development of the new Automated Customer Fulfilment Centres will
increase the delivery capacity of the business by three times which will be appreciated
by the consumers across all around of the UK and Waitrose.Com will be able to set a
clear path for becoming a £1 billion turnover business (Sturley et al, 2018). In this order,
the Retail Director of Waitrose Ben Stimson has appointed a new Digital Director who
has the responsibility of expanding the digital or online business division of the farm.
Moreover, Ben Stimson has managed the sales growth and capacity of the online

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business of Waitrose.Com and has managed the partnership with the 'Today
Development Partner' (TDP).

According to Thomas Brereton, the retail analyst of GlobalData, the new partnership of
Waitrose with TDP has provided the potential capacity to the considered company for
increasing the competitiveness of Waitrose.Com in the online food and grocery delivery
market. Based on the statistical review, it will double the market shares by 5% within
2022 (Paunov and Planes-Satorra, 2019). This is the main reason which has provided a
resilient balance through which the considered company has been able to terminate the
supply deal with the Ocado Company by September. Along with the forecasting of
GlobalData, it has appeared with a shrewd strategy and the market of online food and
grocery items of Waitrose has grown by 29.1% which will increase the value by £19
billion within 2022 (Wells-Burr, 2016). In this way, the company will be able to increase
its potential in the digital market much faster (8.8%) than the overall market growth.
However, the promise which has been made from the side of the new partner of
Waitrose, TDP has developed three Automated Customer Fulfilment Centres by utilizing
the State-of-the-art technology which has also keel the relationship of Waitrose with the
Ocado (Paunov and Planes-Satorra, 2019). Based on the capacity and logistics equal
effort has been required to achieve the ambitious target through widening the consumer
base of the entity. Having more presence in the online market and the market of online
food and grocery was reached almost 10.7% in 2019, Ocado has not provided the
potential care in the development of the digital marketing environment of Waitrose.

In order to gain the success in the digital market, Waitrose has required to rely upon its
brand loyalty and has to ensure the quality of the product and service through which the
farm will be able to attract more customers than Ocado. Moreover, the considered farm
has to ensure offering unique product ranges which will encourage and attract the
current customers of Ocado (Reynolds, 2017). In this way, with the support of TDP,
Waitrose has to increase the brand value by bringing changes in the M&S products.

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Assessment of potential data sources

From the above discussion, the potential of the Waitrose in the digital marketplace has
been critically reviewed. However, it is also important to analyse the additional available
sources of information and data. The additional information can be collected from the
different data type sources, such as peer-reviewed journals and academic papers, the
website of Waitrose, blogs related to Waitrose, Business discussion forums where
several experts and customers have provided their reviews about the companies.

By analysing the different peer-reviewed journals and academic research papers, it is

not possible to gather the exact data of the digital presence and digital market strategy
of the Waitrose. However, the data related to impact and trends of the digital market of
the UK can be analysed through reviewing different pieces of literature which can attract
our attention on the basic advantages and disadvantages which can be faced by the
different retail chains of the UK (Hobbs et al., 2019). In this way, by incorporating the
business environment of Waitrose, it will be easy to compare and analyse the ideal
digital market strategy that can be assessed by the entity. By comparing to the peer-
reviewed journals and academic pieces of literature the digital present and business
model of Waitrose will be analysed much better through giving attention in the quality
journalism and blogs where the data related to digital marketing environment can be
found based on the specific organizational aspect.

The website of the Waitrose will be the most ideal place to gather reliable information of
the company along with the statistical data, such as organizational growth, marketing
sales, yearly revenue, market shares, and so on, through which one will be able to
experience and review the organizational performance in the digital marketplace.
Moreover, it will help in gaining knowledge about the authentic digital marketing strategy
that has been used by Waitrose (Sturley et al., 2018). Again, there are some online
business discussion forums where several experts and customers have provided their
reviews about the companies and are a well-known retail chain, Waitrose is not an
exception. Therefore, the information related to stakeholders, website features and
offered online services of Waitrose that has been given by the business experts will be

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significant and beneficial for gathering the data of the digital market environment of the
company.

Analytical approach

Digital marketplace Analysis

In order to analyse the digital marketplace of Waitrose, OMA or Online Marketplace

Analysis tool will be the most ideal to determine the online value of the entity in
comparison with the other rivals, such as Tesco, ASDA, Sainsbury's. This tool will help
in identifying the customer base who will be attracted by the digital services and help in
analysing the consumption of the consumers in the online market. Moreover, OMA tool
will support the company in identifying the different customer bases and their individual
preferences regarding digital shopping (Zhang et al., 2018). Moreover, benchmarking
will help in deriving the online presence from the rivals and the valuable findings will
help Waitrose in gaining different organizational presence which will upgrade the digital
appearance of the considered entity which will attract the consumers. In this way, the
different digital appearance will help in gaining competitive advantage and maintain the
high upmarket rate of the products of Waitrose. However, it is clear that the considered
farm has to focus on its customers; however, the company has also been concerned
about its site users through developing its online portal more attractive and handy
(Gonzalo-Penela et al., 2019). In this way, the customers will be benefited and will gain
a better understanding which will influence them to use the digital services of Waitrose.

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 Figure 1: Online Marketplace Analysis

(Source: Zhang et al., 2018)

Channel Structures Analysis

OMA or Online Marketplace Analysis has focused on an individual company; however,

MSC or Market Channel Structure has focused on the overall industry, therefore, if
Waitrose has used the MSC tool, then the company will be able to analyse the entire
digital market and the different channels. By using this tool, the company will be able to
analyse the way different digital services have been delivered to the customers by using
different channels related to digital marketing (Chen et al., 2016). Though Waitrose has
offered some of the digital services through utilizing its online portal Waitrose.Com to
provide home delivery services, this MSC tool can be very helpful in analysing the
impact and differences between both online and offline services of the company in the
industry. Moreover, this tool will not only consider the digital framework which has
followed Waitrose but also focus on the interactions in the digital business, such as the
flow of the information related to the specific customers and their requirements.
Especially, for the users of the organizational online portal and digital services that will
focus the mass market (Wells-Burr, 2016). However, it will be more beneficial for the
company to use the Value Network Analysis which will help in determining the value of
the digital services of Waitrose in the digital marketing industry.
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Value Analysis

By utilizing the Value Network Analysis, the added value of Waitrose due to the
providing the digital services has to be delivered by the organization through which
more consumers can use its digital or online marketing facilities. Therefore, it has
become highly mandatory to evaluate the contribution of the stakeholders and need to
identify which kind of value they have provided to the digital network of Waitrose. The
Value Network toll will help in determining the possible ways through which Waitrose
will be able to increase the customer satisfaction through deploying the resources of the
organization in a most efficient way (Vedel and Servais, 2019). For instance, in order to
maximize the customer satisfaction by maintaining its upmarket price, the company can
utilize its digital web developer experts to develop its online portal through which the
online portal of the entity will become easier to use and more consumers will be able to
utilize the digital service of Waitrose. In this way, the farm will be able to increase its
potential of the digital channels and increase the sales rate which will develop the digital
business for the considered entity (Zondag et al., 2017). Again, the Online Marketplace
Analysis will deliver the significant contribution in the Value Network Analysis through
considering the different customer groups along with their digital preferences. Analysing
the different customer bases will help the entity in determining which type of value has
required to be added for attracting more stakeholders to develop the digital network. In
this way, Waitrose can utilize the Value Network Analysis instead of MSC or Market
Channel Structure (Watts et al., 2018).

SLEPT Analysis

In order to analyse the macro environment of the Waitrose, the SLEPT analysis will be
the most suitable method. By utilizing this tool, the company will be able to analyse the
impact of Social, Legal, Economic, Political and Technological factors which can both
influence and affect the digital business environment of Waitrose. Particularly, the
technological and social factors are highly valuable for the entity which can increase the
potential of its digital or online services. Moreover, the entity will be able to learn the
country-specific differences which will impact the digital business process of the

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Waitrose. In this way, the company will be able to analyse the suitable markets to
conduct business and offer digital services (Brunvall et al., 2016). Moreover, the social
factors will help in targeting the specific customer base through which the company will
be able to gain extra benefits on delivering its online services. The legal factors will help
in identifying the scopes and boundation of the different country administration. The
economic factors will help Waitrose to determine the current potential of them both
online and offline market environment of the country (Botes, 2016). By analysing the
political factors will support the farm in determining to gain the political scope to
enhance the effectiveness of the business, especially the digital business.

Conclusion

This is a report which has depicted the different business practices of Waitrose, which is
a UK based supermarket company in the current market environment. In this paper, it
has analysed the impact and importance of the digital business in the current business
environment. Here, the digital potential of Waitrose has been measured by analysing its
digital services. Moreover, secondary data has been through different data sources,
such as peer-reviewed journals and academic papers, the website of Waitrose, blogs
related to Waitrose, Business discussion forums where several experts and customers
have provided their reviews about the companies. Moreover, the analytical approach of
Waitrose has been analysed through different methods, such as Digital Marketplace
Analysis, Channel Structures Analysis, Value Analysis, and SLEPT Analysis.

Page 10 of 15
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