Nordstrom Industry Analysis Paper

Executive Summary The purpose of this paper is to present an in depth analysis of the luxury retail industry. This report will examine all pertinent aspects of Nordstrom Inc. and the highly competitive retail industry by focusing on the fashion specialty department stores. The U.S. economy has been hit hard due to soaring oil prices, the threat of inflation, and high unemployment rate, resulting in low consumer confidence. Consumers have been hit especially hard and are trading down in consumer staples and what they spend their discretionary funds on. Superior quality products with world class customer service and its new inventory system are the key reasons why Nordstrom is still a leader in the retail industry. Through an analysis
Also, it indicates that the four closet rivals of Nordstrom, which are Macy 's, Dillard 's, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Neiman Marcus. In addition, it represents the companies that are the strongest threat to stealing market share from Nordstrom. The circles proportions represent the revenue in 2010 of each rival. Macy 's has the biggest dimension of the circle which is due to the number of stores nationally. When compared to the competitors we can see that Macy’s has the largest number of stores. Bloomingdales which is owned by Macys Inc. generates the principal income of luxury products selling. The other competitors in this class have higher price and higher brand reputations than Macy 's. Nordstrom has the second largest dimension of the circle, which shows that it has 20% less stores than that of Macy 's however it generates 40% more revenue than Macy 's. In the map, companies are evaluated based on two variables: the Product Price and Geographical Locations. The Product Price reveals which companies are high-end stores and which are regular department stores. The Geographical location reveals the market share of companies, it indicated that Macy 's and Nordstrom have higher market share of the department store
Employees are aware of their prime objectives. They have freedom to think beyond limit and come up with new innovative ideas. The founders define Nordstrom as a great company to work for that empowers all associates. They understand the goal to provide outstanding customer service and take responsibility for their jobs (Nordstrom, 2011). Nordstrom is well known for their excellent treatment of employees. Employees are well-trained, enthusiastic, and motivated through good leadership. In addition, Nordstrom has developed an employee service program, which offers management and service classes for any employee to take (Nordstrom Inc, 2011).
Innovation Resources
Technical innovation has helped Nordstrom make a name for itself as a technologically friendly retailer. In 2009, it introduced a shared-inventory platform so that it can fulfill internet orders with merchandise from a store when its Cedar Rapids, Iowa warehouse is out of stock (Martinez, 2011). The warehouse management technology innovation helps the company manage its inventory