Competitive Factors in the Retail Environment

There are many different government policies that could potentially affect Clarks Village, one of those is fuel duty, if fuel duty is raised then it may mean that less people choose to visit by coach as people may not find it good value for money, so may choose to visit city shopping centres such as Cabot circus or Cribbs causeway because it is more accessible along the motorway. If the Government raised VAT it would probably mean that people would buy less, because they have less value for the money, so Clarks would lose out as fewer sales would be made. The government can be very strict on building regulation so would probably not let Clarks develop outside its boundaries, which means it is unlikely that new shops will be able to lease stores because there isn’t any space, this is likely to reduce the probability of new markets and customers visiting Clarks Village because they may feel it doesn’t change or grow enough. There are also competitive forces such as ‘bigger and better’ places for example Clarks Village does not offer free parking although many places do such as cribs causeway, as well as this Cribbs is a Mall so is undercover, so there’s no chance of being caught in bad weather, at Clarks village this is probable, cribs also offers free wheelchairs and is very movable for the physically disabled, Clarks is not.

One of the main competitive forces is choice, Clarks has limited choice where as a larger Mall has more choice with the most up to date and fashionable shops. Every day it seems more and more people choose to do their shopping online, one because it’s extremely convenient as you can do it from home, or even using your smartphone. Clarks needs to be competitive and diversify by being online, and offering some kind of ‘clicks and bricks’ service or it will suffer drastically. In these current economic times people have less expendable income as many people have taken pay cuts or even been made redundant. and as a result people spend less money on things they want instead spending it on what they feel need, this will deeply effect shops in Clarks Village because they will have to cut prices to show they are good value, even so some businesses may not be able to keep up with rent so Clarks will need to be vigilant that they receive the rent they are entitled to. The Future of retailing is unclear; Clarks Village must diversify and reinvent its image if it wants to stay afloat.