Country Road
Country Road has been an iconic Australian brand for 36 years, building its success on its high quality and unique designs that look effortlessly casual yet stylish. Following the high financial performances of their Australian stores, Country Road decided to embark into the United States of America (US) in 1989, in hope of realising the financial gains they saw here. Unfortunately, their strategies didn’t work, and they found obstacles which hindered their success in the US. This essay examines the types of strategies Country Road has pursued and what led Country Road to follow an international expansion strategy. Further, we discuss the impediments to Country Road succeeding in the US retail market, before suggesting strategy options for Country Road in the future.
The main vision of Country Road, like any organisation out there, is to earn market share. One way of doing this is by increasing customer satisfaction. Country Road exited the wholesale market in 2006 and entered the retail business (Annual report, 2006). The purpose of doing this was to allow them to have complete control over their business and ensured that their customers received consistent shopping experiences (Annual report, 2006). As customer service is a very important core competency in retailing business, Country Road has introduced a fair and flexible workplace in order to retain and attract good employees (Working Families Council, 2010).
Other than customer service, Country Road has most of their stores located in large stores like David Jones and Myer in Australia (Annual Report, 2007). They also had their stores in multiple shopping hotspots on both East and West coasts of the US (Kerr & Sarina, 2006). This is to make sure they have a wide distribution of products that are available to everyone. Country Road also uses corporate social responsibility to add value to their business strategy (Honey, 2008). They cooperated with Redkite, an Australian charity organization for childhood
The main vision of Country Road, like any organisation out there, is to earn market share. One way of doing this is by increasing customer satisfaction. Country Road exited the wholesale market in 2006 and entered the retail business (Annual report, 2006). The purpose of doing this was to allow them to have complete control over their business and ensured that their customers received consistent shopping experiences (Annual report, 2006). As customer service is a very important core competency in retailing business, Country Road has introduced a fair and flexible workplace in order to retain and attract good employees (Working Families Council, 2010).
Other than customer service, Country Road has most of their stores located in large stores like David Jones and Myer in Australia (Annual Report, 2007). They also had their stores in multiple shopping hotspots on both East and West coasts of the US (Kerr & Sarina, 2006). This is to make sure they have a wide distribution of products that are available to everyone. Country Road also uses corporate social responsibility to add value to their business strategy (Honey, 2008). They cooperated with Redkite, an Australian charity organization for childhood