A Comparative Analysis of Selected Retail Chain Brands in Bangladesh

Abstract

There was a time when people used to shop from local retail stores or traditional kitchen market. But with time, people’s income has increased so has their mindset. They not only want appropriately-priced products but also want a good place to purchase from. Since 2000, lots of super shop brands have come in the market. They all are doing their business quite successfully. In this report, I have attempted to dig deep into retail industry of Bangladesh. The famous 3 three retail brands- Agora, Shwapno, and Meena Bazar have been chosen. Agora has arrived into this retail business as a reformer with additional power, creative plans. Shwapno and Meena Bazar follow the similar way and entered into the retail business in 2007 and 2002. Although they were new comers, Shwapno has successfully own 35% of market portion in this retail business.

In the digital age, most of the retail brands are trying to make their presence online. E-commerce is the future and so the presence in e-commerce is almost mandatory for all the major operators in the retail chain operators. Agora should consider this. Among the competitors of Agora, Chaldal.com is using Google Add they also exist in Google play store. Agoras’ PR activities are very limited and they certainly need to increase it so as to increase the market share. Otherwise, it would be hard for them to stay in the market as competition is very intense.

A large number of the customers who regularly buy from Meena Bazar are glad by the quality of the goods and services provided by Meena Bazar. Meena Bazar ought to release new outlets throughout Dhaka city as well as other megacities in Bangladesh to make products and services accessible to more customers and to extend their geographical market coverage. Cost must be kept as low as possible. Customers are certainly the ruler of any trade. So Meena Bazar should be more consumer-centered and they should be cautious about their competitors and devise the strategies focusing on competitive value proposition and changing customer requirements.

In this report PESTLE analysis has been conducted to get an idea of retail industry. Then, through SWOT analysis, the individual strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats have been demonstrated. Furthermore, the supply-chain analysis of these three brands has also been added. At last, some recommendations have been proposed so that they can improve their service and upgrade business strategy.