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Porter’s Five Forces of Best Buy

<p align&equals;"justify">Best Buy is a US based retailer which supplies electronic items to the consumers&comma; with main focus on home theater and computer related items&period; The following section entails analysis of Best Buy and its industry dynamics using Porter’s five forces model&period; &NewLine;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 align&equals;"justify">Threat of New Entrants<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">The threat of new entrants is defined by the investment needed to set up a new business&comma; ability to attain economies of scale&comma; the government’s regulations etc&period; As far as consumer electronics retail industry is concerned&comma; businesses planning to enter in this sector need to have major capital funds to purchase electronic items&comma; along with managing the logistics and after sales component of the supply chain&period; The handling of electronic goods requires effective supply chain processes&comma; which is challenging to achieve with limited budget&period; This is one of the reasons why retailers are hesitant to enter the consumer electronics market&period; Therefore&comma; the threat of new entrants is low and Best Buy is taking the benefit of having a major share in the market in US&comma; Canada and Mexico &lpar;Best Buy&comma; 2018&rpar;&period; &NewLine;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 align&equals;"justify">Bargaining Power of Buyers<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">The bargaining power of the customers of Best Buy can be identified as low&period; The customers of Best Buy are individuals who are looking for computers and other electronic items in reasonable price&period; The target market is sensitive to price changes&comma; therefore the company can’t charge a premium price for the electronic products available in store&period; A higher price would propel the customers to look for other options&period; However&comma; there are only few companies operating in the electronic retail industry&comma; lowering the bargaining power of the buyers&period; Another factor which has strengthened the company’s position in the industry is its focus on understanding consumer needs &lpar;Hitt&comma; Ireland &amp&semi; Hoskisson&comma; 2012&rpar;&period; &NewLine;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 align&equals;"justify">Bargaining Power of Suppliers<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">The bargaining power of suppliers is moderate in case of the consumer electronics retail industry&period; The changes in the market dynamics can play a central role in shifting bargaining power of suppliers since an increase in the businesses manufacturing electronic items in China has provided the companies with alternatives in selecting a brand supplier &lpar;Porter&comma; 2007&rpar;&period;&nbsp&semi; Best Buy has developed a framework of selecting exclusive suppliers who follow the company’s standards of work ethics and fair treatment of the labor&period; Some of the main suppliers of the company include Apple&comma; Samsung and Hewlett-Packard supplying more than 55&percnt; of the products available at the retail stores &lpar;Best Buy&comma; 2018&rpar;&period; &NewLine;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 align&equals;"justify">Threat of Substitute Products<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">The substitute product comprises alternative businesses that are supplying similar products to the customers&period; In case of Best Buy&comma; the company has the advantage of maintaining a dominance in the electronic retail industry&period; There are few platforms which are selling similar range of consumer electronics&comma; making the threat of substitute products low&period; The online sellers are one such example of substitute products&comma; which can pose some risk to the company’s profitability&period; Best Buy has handled this threat by offering online purchase option to handle the competitive pressure from these substitute service providers &lpar;Best Buy&comma; 2018&rpar;&period; In 2018&comma; Best Buy recorded highest level of revenue from its online orders&period; In addition to the online sales&comma; Best Buy has minimized the threat of substitute service providers by providing the option of skilled in-home advisors for the customers who can offer them guidance about their purchase decisions &lpar;Best Buy&comma; 2018&rpar;&period; &NewLine;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 align&equals;"justify">Competitive Rivalry<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">The last variable that constitutes a part of the industry dynamics is the threat of competitive rivalry&period; Best Buy is a part of consumer electronics industry which has few players in the market&comma; including Walmart and Amazon&period; Walmart has a chain of retail stores which provides electronic items to the store visitors&comma; while customers can also place order through online options&period; Amazon is another competitor of Best Buy which is competing in the online channel&comma; providing the customers similar products through its website&period; Apart from these large companies&comma; the vendors and suppliers of electronic good also constitute a part of the competition as customers can place order with them directly instead of making a purchase through Best Buy &lpar;Best Buy&comma; 2018&rpar;&period; Even though the threat of competition is moderate&comma; Best Buy is making effort to maintain a leading position in the industry by keeping its focus on customer needs &lpar;Cheng&comma; 2018&rpar;&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 align&equals;"justify">References<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"left">&NewLine;Best Buy &lpar;2018&rpar;&period; Fiscal 2018 Annual Report&period; Retrieved from <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;s2&period;q4cdn&period;com&sol;785564492&sol;files&sol;doc&lowbar;financials&sol;2018&sol;annual&sol;Annual-Report&period;pdf">http&colon;&sol;&sol;s2&period;q4cdn&period;com&sol;785564492&sol;files&sol;doc&lowbar;financials&sol;2018&sol;annual&sol;Annual-Report&period;pdf<&sol;a><br &sol;>&NewLine;Cheng&comma; A&period; &lpar;2018&rpar;&period; Why Best Buy Remains Relevant In The Age of Amazon&period; Forbes&period; Retrieved from <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;forbes&period;com&sol;sites&sol;andriacheng&sol;2018&sol;08&sol;28&sol;why-best-buy-is-relevant-in-the-age-of-amazon&sol;&num;38b91b451462">https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;forbes&period;com&sol;sites&sol;andriacheng&sol;2018&sol;08&sol;28&sol;why-best-buy-is-relevant-in-the-age-of-amazon&sol;&num;38b91b451462<&sol;a><br &sol;>&NewLine;Hitt&comma; M&period; A&period;&comma; Ireland&comma; R&period; D&period;&comma; &amp&semi; Hoskisson&comma; R&period; E&period; &lpar;2012&rpar;&period; Strategic management cases&colon; competitiveness and globalization&period; USA&colon; South-Western Cengage Learning&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Porter&comma; M&period; E&period; &lpar;2007&rpar;&period; Understanding industry structure&period; Harvard Business School&comma; 13&comma; 1-16&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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