BM633 CW1 Assignment Sample

Introduction

Management refers to an activity of getting work done via the people. It includes the process of planning, coordinating, organizing and directing a group of people to attain particular goals. The present study will be based on Trouva, a company that provides a software-enabled online marketplace that connects customers with homeware and fashion products from different independent stores across the UK. The report will evaluate the micro as well as macro environment to evaluate the company's position and direction. Further, the report will propose one alternative strategic plan that helps the company to enhance competitiveness and growth. It will carry out a critical evaluation of both strategic plans.

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Macro Analysis

Trouva`s organization platform's main characteristics include the selection and organization of products from several boutiques and enabling customers to discover as well as purchase those items. Trouva effectively curates design-led products in its catalogue, markets it, accepts payments as well and fulfils orders on behalf of listed partner stores. It was established in 2013 and the owner of the business is Alex Loizou. The company operates across Europe and currently has 51 employees (Trouva, 2025). It offers products including fashion, homeware, lifestyle items and so more. In addition, the company`s mission is to bring together the UK`s best independent boutiques with millions of customers across the globe who are looking for their next unique find. Its business objective includes helping customers find unique products. To remain competitive, business needs to evaluate direct and indirect factors that impact business through PESTLE analysis. It is as follows:

• Political: It includes rules and regulations of the business regarding the operation of a business, taxation policy and so more. The company provides its services in different countries, hence changes in rules and regulation directly impacts the company`s operation.
• Economical: The factor consists, of the rate of inflation, interest and economic growth. Currently, the inflation rate in the UK is 2.6 %. The increasing inflation rate adversely declines the purchasing power of customers and leads to a decline in expenses on unnecessary items (Gafurdjan, 2024). Hence, demand for boutique products declines correspondingly revenue of Trouva also declines.
• Social: It includes factors such as customer taste preference and lifestyle. After the pandemic, customer behaviour changed as they prefer to shop online as compared to offline. Changing customer behaviour leads to increased demand for Trouva.
• Technological: In the era of digitalization, the use of technology increases rapidly with the introduction of different techniques such as artificial intelligence, automation, the Internet of Things and so more (Kraus and Kraus, 2021). Trouva also uses technology to understand customer preferences, and market trends, provide recommendations and ensure product offerings are appealing and relevant, resulting in increasing productivity.
• Environmental: Trouva`s focus on conducting the business considering the environmental impacts. Companies while operating the business ensure minimising negative environmental impacts by using renewable energy sources, waste management systems and so more. Compliance with environmental concerns helps the business to enhance its reputation and competitiveness in the market.
• Legal: It includes running the business while having compliance with the laws. The company follows laws regarding customer protection, data privacy as well as employment law to operate business in best manner.

SWOT analysis

SWOT analysis helps the business to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities as well as threats in the best manner. According to this evaluation, the business can act on strengths to grab the opportunity in a significant manner while being able to work on weaknesses to minimize the level of threat in a complex as well as dynamic environment (Benzaghta et al, 2021). Following is the SWOT analysis of Trouva:

Strengths

• Availability of a wide range of products: One of the strengths of Trouva`s marketplace is the wide range of availability of different products from different boutiques such as fashion, homeware, lifestyle items and so more (Trouva's Business Model, 2025). It leads to helps in providing a unique shopping experience to customers.
• Strategic use of data and technology: Strengths of the company include effective use of technology such as automation, and artificial intelligence for the purpose of product offering, furnishing recommendations, evaluating market trends, customer preference and so more. It enables the organization to get a competitive advantage in a dynamic environment.
• Effective partnerships and collaborations: The company`s effective partnerships with IT companies, logistics, supply chain networks, and collaboration with independent boutiques and different vendors aid the company in enhancing the shopping experience of the customers.

Weaknesses

• Limited number of employees: One of the weaknesses of Trouva is limited employees within the company. The lack of a number of employees makes it difficult for the organization to manage different activities of the company, it limits Trouva`s competitiveness and growth.

Opportunity

• Expansion of business: The Company has an opportunity to expand business at the global level. The company can expand business by collaborating with a greater number of different independent boutique retail shops to increase the product range within the marketplace. It leads to increased competitiveness of the organization.

Threats

• Intense competition: High competition is one of the threats for the organization as the industry includes strong competitors such as Etsy, Wayfair, Amazon, Glassette and so more.
• Economic uncertainty: Economic fluctuation also acts as a threat to the Trouva. Increasing inflation rate and decline in economic growth significantly create threats for companies in terms of fluctuation in demand. Declines in economic growth result in a declining capability of the customer to purchase products (Al‐Thaqeb, Algharabali and Alabdulghafour, 2022). This leads to reduced demand and hence profitability of the organization.

One alternative strategic plans

Strategic plan: Inclusion of sustainable product range

In the modern era, each business focuses on innovation to remain competitive within the industry to increase customer satisfaction and profitability of the business. To remain competitive and sustainable Trouva`s can also emphasise innovation within the business. For this company can use the Ansoff matrix, a strategic planning framework that aids businesses in developing as well as deciding upon strategies (Ferreira and de Sá, 2024). Referring to the Ansoff matrix and considering the micro and macro environment, it is identified that product development is the best strategy for the organization. At the current time, the customer become eco-conscious correspondingly their demand for sustainable products increases. To remain competitive, Trouva by collaborating with sustainable retail, fashion and manufacturing companies can offer products according to the needs of the customers.

The strategic plan for product development is as follows:

Objective: To increase customer satisfaction and profitability by 10% in the upcoming 1 year by offering a sustainable product range to potential customers.

Mission: To increase competitive advantage within the industry by enhancing the shopping experience of customer

Vision: To become a customer-centric company where potential buyers can find anything they might want to buy online.

Strategic direction

• The company can efficiently implement the strategic plan by collaborating with independent boutiques that deal in sustainable products in fashion, retail, manufacturing and other industries. The collaboration helps to provide a wide range of sustainable products to potential consumers.
• For the implementation of the strategic plan of product development, Trouva needs to build a separate segment for the sustainable product range on its e-commerce marketplace. It leads to saving time for the customer, updating them about new product ranges as well as enhancing their shopping experience in the best manner.
• Moreover, for the successful implementation of the strategic plan, Trouva is required to market its product in the best manner. Companies can use social media marketing and influence marketing to grab the attention of a wide range of customers (Jamil et al, 2022). This strategy helps the business to get a competitive edge in a complex and dynamic environment.

Performance Indicators

Performance indicators act as quantifiable indicators of progress regarding the intended result. The company via the key performance indicator can measure the succession of the strategic plan. It can use KPIs such as:

• Average order value: The KPI aids in understanding the amount generated per order average. The company evaluates its sustainable product range strategic plan by evaluating the average per order. An increase in order number demonstrates the succession of the strategic plan, hence revenue as well as productivity of the company.
• Customer retention rate: An increase in customer retention rate demonstrates that the company's new strategic plan enhances the shopping experience of the customer as a result act as a succession indicator.

Alternative strategic Plan: Market diversification

To increase competitiveness and growth, another strategic plan Trouva can implement is market diversification, which means a strategy for the company to enter new markets (Xie, Wang and Miao, 2021). Trouva can enter into an Asia market to increase its market share and help small retailers while enhancing unique offerings based on customer needs and preferences.

Objective: To increase the market share by 20 % in the upcoming year by entering into a new market with the help of cross-border collaborations.

Mission: The company`s mission is to enhance the shopping experience by catering products according to customer needs.

Vision: The vision of Trouva is to become the top marketplace at the global level.

Strategic Direction

The company can implement the strategic plan with the help of the following steps:

• For the growth of the business, the company is required to conduct market research to evaluate the potential market, completion level, customer taste and preference as well as the availability of different small businesses that are looking for an online marketplace.
• The company has to emphasize cross-border collaboration with independent boutiques, logistics providers, warehousing partners, payment processors and so more to become competitive.

Performance Indicators

• Profitability: An increase in the profitability level of the company acts as an indicator for the succession of the strategic plan market diversification (Riofrio et al, 2023).
• Sales growth: Another KPI to measure the performance is sales growth, increasing sales demonstrates the effectiveness of the market diversification strategy.

Recommendation of appropriate strategy and critical evaluation of both strategic plans

Both strategic plans in regards to the addition of a sustainable product range and entering the Asian market are quite effective for Trouva to get a competitive advantage and growth of the business. It is identified that a strategic plan of product development assists the organization in enhancing the shopping experience of customers via its e-commerce marketplace by offering a sustainable product range in different categories to the customers. It leads to grabbing the attention of a wide range of customers as a result efficiently increases the profit levels of the company. Apart from this, the new product development strategy makes Trouva different from its competitors In terms of offerings and services resulting in competitiveness and growth in a highly competitive market (Diaz et al, 2021). On the other hand, one of the drawbacks of product development is increasing costs for the business as the company is required to collaborate with the small sustainable business, collaborate with the logistics team, and increase warehouses number, all resulting in increasing costs, as a result, declines profit level for the business.

Apart from this, the alternative strategic plan of market diversification enables Trouva to increase revenue generation from the new streams as well as increase market share. It helps the business to grow their business activities hence customer base as well as customer shopping experience. This strategy is also beneficial for Trouva to reduce the risk of economic uncertainty due to the lack of reliance on only one market. As compared to this, the increasing risk is one of the disadvantages as a succession of business in a new market is not ensured.

With the critical evaluation of the two strategic plans, it is analysed that product development i.e. introduction of a sustainable product range is the best recommendation for Trouva because it aids the business to increase its competitiveness as well as grow the business (Ji, Gao and Wang, 2022). The strategic plan is beneficial as it helps the company to provide products according to the needs and requirements of customers and distinguish it from the competitors, hence beneficial for enhancing competitiveness and growth of the business.

CONCLUSION

As expressed, a strategic plan is important for the business to get a competitive advantage. The report is based on Trouva, an e-commerce marketplace that serves different products on one platform. The report highlighted the strategic plan for Trouva including product development i.e. adding a sustainable product range and market diversification i.e. entering in Asian market. It includes strategic direction of partnership with sustainable suppliers and cross-border collaborations. It is recommended that product development is the best strategic plan for the organization as it helps in growing the business and making it competitive. It leads to provide advantage of grabbing eco-conscious customers, unique product offerings, increased profitability, customer base and so more.

REFERENCES

Books and Journals

• Al‐Thaqeb, S.A., Algharabali, B.G. and Alabdulghafour, K.T., 2022. The pandemic and economic policy uncertainty. International Journal of Finance & Economics, 27(3), pp.2784-2794.
• Benzaghta, M.A., Elwalda, A., Mousa, M.M., Erkan, I. and Rahman, M., 2021. SWOT analysis applications: An integrative literature review. Journal of Global Business Insights, 6(1), pp.54-72.
• Diaz, A., Schöggl, J.P., Reyes, T. and Baumgartner, R.J., 2021. Sustainable product development in a circular economy: Implications for products, actors, decision-making support and lifecycle information management. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 26, pp.1031-1045.
• Ferreira, A.P.P.F.S. and de Sá, M.M.B.P., 2024. The importance of the Ansoff matrix for the study of the information services market. The Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science, 47(2), pp.78-84.
• Gafurdjan, Z., 2024. INFLATION AND ITS EFFECTS ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND ECONOMIC POLICIES. QO ‘QON UNIVERSITETI XABARNOMASI, 10, pp.3-6.
• Jamil, K., Dunnan, L., Gul, R.F., Shehzad, M.U., Gillani, S.H.M. and Awan, F.H., 2022. Role of social media marketing activities in influencing customer intentions: a perspective of a new emerging era. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, p.808525.
• Ji, X., Gao, Q. and Wang, H., 2022. A bilevel-optimization approach to determine product specifications during the early phases of product development: Increase customer value and reduce design risks. Expert Systems with Applications, 188, p.116012.
• Kraus, N. and Kraus, K., 2021. Digitalization of business processes of enterprises of the ecosystem of Industry 4.0: virtual-real aspect of economic growth reserves. WSEAS Transactions on Business and Economics, 18, pp.569-580.
• Riofrio, M.I.P., Granizo, G.G.U., Mayorga, M.D.L.Á.H. and Alarcón, C.H.M., 2023. Key Performance Indicators For Business Financial Perspective. Journal of Namibian Studies: History Politics Culture, 34, pp.3917-3940.
• Xie, Z., Wang, J. and Miao, L., 2021. Big data and emerging market firms’ innovation in an open economy: The diversification strategy perspective. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 173, p.121091.