2 Good Sports Limited is an independent sports goods retailer owned and operated by two pa

Question

2 Good Sports Limited is an independent sports goods retailer owned and operated by two partners, Alan and Bob. The

sports retailing business in the UK has undergone a major change over the past ten years. First of all the supply side

has been transformed by the emergence of a few global manufacturers of the core sports products, such as training

shoes and football shirts. This consolidation has made them increasingly unwilling to provide good service to the

independent sportswear retailers too small to buy in sufficiently large quantities. These independent retailers can stock

popular global brands, but have to order using the Internet and have no opportunity to meet the manufacturer’s sales

representatives. Secondly, UK’s sportswear retailing has undergone significant structural change with the rapid growth

of a small number of national retail chains with the buying power to offset the power of the global manufacturers.

These retail chains stock a limited range of high volume branded products and charge low prices the independent

retailer cannot hope to match.

Good Sports has survived by becoming a specialist niche retailer catering for less popular sports such as cricket,

hockey and rugby. They are able to offer the specialist advice and stock the goods that their customers want.

Increasingly since 2000 Good Sports has become aware of the growing impact of e-business in general and e-retailing

in particular. They employed a specialist website designer and created an online purchasing facility for their

customers. The results were less than impressive, with the Internet search engines not picking up the company

website. The seasonal nature of Good Sports’ business, together with the variations in sizes and colours needed to

meet an individual customer’s needs, meant that the sales volumes were insufficient to justify the costs of running

the site.

Bob, however, is convinced that developing an e-business strategy suited to the needs of the independent sports

retailer such as Good Sports will be key to business survival. He has been encouraged by the growing interest of

customers in other countries to the service and product range they offer. He is also aware of the need to integrate an

e-business strategy with their current marketing, which to date has been limited to the sponsorship of local sports

teams and advertisements taken in specialist sports magazines. Above all, he wants to avoid head-on competition

with the national retailers and their emphasis on popular branded sportswear sold at retail prices that are below the

cost price at which Good Sports can buy the goods.

Required:

(a) Provide the partners with a short report on the advantages and disadvantages to Good Sports of developing

an e-business strategy and the processes most likely to be affected by such a strategy. (12 marks)

Answer 1

正确答案：
(a) To: Good Sports Limited
From:
E – Business strategy
Clearly, the markets that Good Sports operates in are being affected by the development of e-business and its experiences to
date are mixed to say the least. In many ways the advantages and disadvantages of e-business are best related to the benefit
the customer gets from the activity. Firstly, through integrating and accelerating business processes e-business technologies
enable response and delivery times to be speeded up. Secondly, there are new business opportunities for information-based
products and services. Thirdly, websites can be linked with customer databases and provide much greater insights into
customer buying behaviour and needs. Fourthly, there is far greater ability for interaction with the customer, which enables
customisation and a dialogue to be developed. Finally, customers may themselves form. communities able to contact one
another.
There is considerable evidence to show how small operators like Good Sports are able to base their whole strategy on
e-business and achieve high rates of growth. The key to Good Sports survival is customer service – in strategic terms they
are very much niche marketers supplying specialist service and advice to a small section of the local market. The nature of
the business means that face-to-face contact is crucial in moving customers from awareness to action (AIDA – awareness,interest, desire and action). There are therefore limits to the ability of e-business to replace such contact.
Yours,