Let’s go into the strategies that Robinsons employ to sustain itself and most importantly, keeping itself relevant to today’s customers’ cravings.
After paying a visit to both of Robinsons’ outlets at Raffles City and Centre Point, we have discover and learnt quite a few points that is very useful to apply in the context of today’s world of retailers.
First of all, we have will discuss about the 3 elements of Robinsons’ retail store strategy.
Let’s begin…
1. Target Market
Now what is target market? Can’t just Robinsons sell all its products to everyone? Then they would have even more sales!? The answer is NO!
We all know that Robinsons is a departmental store and it sells a wide variety of assortments at high quality to the middle-to-high income earners in the society. This is due to the nature of the products that they got into store which are the high-end brands sole at a price considerably at the high side. Robinsons want to project an image that is able to meet their target customers’ preferences and needs.
Robinson’s Target Market:
- The Affluent. (Also known as the high income earners)
- Young couples looking for new mattress/bed linens for their new home.
- The Family (Including kids and hence the toys department is Robinsons)
- Tourists (Indonesians and the Russians especially)
Without a target market, Robinson’s retail concept cannot work and they will lose out eventually.
Let’s take 2 scenarios to illustrate. Imagine yourself as a biking enthusiast. U love biking and u do it almost everyday. However, you have a problem. You don’t like to cycle alone! Hence, you would like to look for a cycling partner…
First possible reaction/action taken towards the problem is that you thought of going to a place where there are huge crowds of people. Thus, you thought of the idea of a shopping mall. Sure there is bound to be a biking enthusiast who will be there at many points of time. So you’ll just stand there with your bike and waited for one to appear/ride past and stop to get a drink from a stall outside the mall. Example: AMK Hub.
Second possible reaction taken towards the problem is that you decided to go outside a bicycle shop at the neighborhood central to wait for a biking enthusiast to appear and check his/her bike at the shop.
Now, which scenario will put u in a better position to spot and find a biking enthusiast who you can get to know with and ride together in future? Isn’t the answer obvious? The chances of standing outside the bicycle shop waiting for a biker to appear are much higher than standing outside the mall!
As Robinsons’ target market is the rich and affluent who desire better lifestyle concepts. They have chosen to locate both their outlets at the urban areas of Singapore. At urban/city areas in Singapore, the chances of higher income persons to enter and patron the store is definitely very high. They work there and they shop there before going back home from time to time. Of course you won’t see a Robinsons outlet at the neighborhood centrals as these places are where the lower and middle income earners usually appear.
They managed to well cover most of their target segments, catering to the different age groups with different styles, personality, tastes and brand preference. This shows why Robinsons carries so many different assortments and varieties with such huge product range, width and depth.
2. Retail Format
We shall look at the retail format of Robinsons in few areas.
There is 1 primary objective of Robinson’s retail format. This is discussed in earlier post. The objective is to bring forward an affordable lifestyle concept to its customers.
Appearance and feel – High class ambience and atmosphere.
Layout of the store – Neat, tidy, and well categorized (Every floor follows a theme – Center Point Robinsons.) These themes when together bring forward a lifestyle concept.
Pricing – The products there looks expensive but are affordable. They are not priced incredibly high.
Merchandise Assortments – Wide variety of products that are in different categories, but sums under the lifestyle concept Robinsons is trying to project to its customer
Strong Visual Merchandising – Products are arranged nicely always with a clear view, under spotlights.
Customer Service - Robinsons is well known for its service excellence. Their staffs are groomed and trained to serve their customers and winning back loyal customers.
3. Bases for building sustainable competitive advantage
Some of Robinsons’ biggest competitors are Metro, Isetan, Tangs etc. However, throughout the years, Robinsons managed to fend off such competitors.
1) Customer Loyalty
Robinson has it's own membership programmes which gives consumers benefits. With this membership, Robinsons keep in touch with their member card holders to inform them about the upcoming sales. In addition to that, Robinsons has special privileges for card holders. Robinsons also have regular all year round sales, and of course its winning edge till today is in its excellent service standards. Robinsons has its own unique merchandise such as Kinu Collection.
2) Location
It is essential to have a good location for big organizations like Robinsons. Robinsons is located at Raffles City and Centerpoint; a good strategic location as there is high flow of human traffic ranging from working adults to tourists. This is an advantage as this target segment has high buying power. In addition to this, the neighbouring shop are high ended. Thus, this is in parity with Robinsons brand name.
3) Service Staff
The staff are well trained with product knowledged and good customer service skills. This therefore creates positioning for Robinsons . The staff are well trained to uphold the name of Robinsons; such that customers will have a good perception when Robinsons come into their mind.
4) Merchandise
Robinsons carry some private brands inculding Calvin Klein's Home, DORMA, Alessi, Braun Buffel and Kinu.
