Comprehensive SWOT Analysis of Kingfisher PLC – One Of The Largest Home Retail Company

About Kingfisher Plc

Kingfisher Plc is an international retail company dealing in home improvement products. It was established in the year 1982. It has its headquarters situated in London, England, UK.

It has over 1,400 international stores with over 80,000 employees working under it. It deals in home appliances, tools, home furnishings, hardware, and garden supplies & plants.

Initially, it was founded as Paternoster Stores Ltd, at that time it dealt with the buyout of the British Woolworths. Later it was named as Woolworth Holdings plc, and then it got its name Kingfisher Plc.

Products of Kingfisher Plc

Kingfisher Plc has a large audience in the market thus to keep them attracted they provide them with different products. Following are some of the products that Kingfisher Plc provides:

• Home appliances
• Tools
• Home furnishings
• Hardware
• Garden supplies
• Plants

Close Competitors of Kingfisher Plc

Kingfisher Plc is a widespread company in different countries thus it faces large competition in the market. Following are some of the competitors that Kingfisher Plc faces:

• Fiskars
• Travis Perkins
• The Home Depot
• B&Q.

Now that we got a brief about it as a company let us start with the SWOT Analysis of Kingfisher Plc.

SWOT Analysis of Kingfisher Plc

The SWOT of Kingfisher Plc discusses the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the company. This helps the company to its marketing in the business with the help of its strengths and opportunities. It also helps it to be prepared for weaknesses and threats.

Let us start its SWOT Analysis by first looking at the Strengths of Kingfisher Plc.

Strengths of Kingfisher Plc

Strengths are the internal factors of Kingfisher Plc which help it retain its position in the market. Following are some of the Strengths of Kingfisher Plc:

• Strong Free Cash Flow – It has strong free cash flows that help it to expand in the market by providing it the necessary resources. 
• Merger&Acquisition – It was successful in merging and acquiring the businesses in the market. It has also successfully integrated a number of technology companies in the past few years to smoothen its operations and to build a reliable supply chain.
• Good Returns on Capital Expenditure – It is relatively successful at the execution of new projects and also generates good returns on capital expenditure by building new revenue streams in the market.
• Strong dealer community – Kingfisher Plc has built a culture among distributors & dealers where the dealers not only promote the company’s products but also invest in training the sales team to explain to their customer how he/she can extract the maximum benefits out of their products. 
• Superb Performance in New Markets – Kingfisher Plc has built expertise at entering new markets and making them a success. The expansion into new markets has helped the organization to build new revenue streams and also diversify the economic cycle risk in the markets it operates in. 

Weaknesses of Kingfisher Plc

Weaknesses are the factors that affect the growth of Kingfisher Plc in a negative manner. Following are some of the weaknesses of Kingfisher Plc:

• Gap in products range – There are gaps in the product range sold by the company. This lack of choices for its side can give its new competitor a foothold in the market. 
• Need more investment in new technologies – It needs to release more cash flow into technology to integrate the processes across the board. As of now the investment in technologies is not at par with the vision of the company. 
• Days inventory is high compared to the competitors – Making the company raise more capital to invest in the channel. This can impact its long-term growth.
• Limited success outside core business – Even though it is one of the leading organizations in its industry it has faced many challenges in moving to other product segments with its present culture. 

Opportunities for Kingfisher Plc

Opportunities are the factors that help Kingfisher grow in the market. Following are some of the Opportunities for Kingfisher Plc:

• Untapped International Markets – there are still many countries that it can cater its products to. This will help Kingfisher Plc to grow its market share in the market.
• Untapped cargo market – It can enter the cargo market to expand its business. This will bring new opportunities for the company to grow in the market.
• Expanding tourism business – it can expand in the tourism business as most tourists need similar services. These demands will help to improve its business.

Threats for Kingfisher Plc

Threats are the external factors that affect the growth of Kingfisher Plc in the future. Following are some of the threats to Kingfisher Plc:

• New competitors – Kingfisher Plc has not been able to tackle the challenges presented by the new entrants in the segment and has lost a small market share in the niche categories.

• Economic slowdown – if there is an economic shutdown in the future then it will affect the sales of Kingfisher Plc as most of its products need to be checked and bought physically.

With this, we have reached the end of the SWOT Analysis of Kingfisher Plc. these analyses help the company to get an overview of its company and understand where it stands in the market.

Conclusion

On the study of the SWOT Analysis Kingfisher Plc, we have known that it is one of the Largest Home Retail Compay in the world. It has a strong free cash flow and a strong dealer community. It can expand its business in the untapped international market and the cargo market. Even with such advantages in the market, it has some flaws that it needs to take care of.

It has gaps in its product range and it needs more investment in new technologies are some weaknesses of the company. Whereas, the new competitors and economic shutdown are some threats for the company. It can improve its market standards with the use of advanced digital marketing methods because most people nowadays are on social media and it is easy to find your target market online. Thus digital marketing is essential for every business. If you are anxious about learning and upskilling, check out IIDE’s 3 Month Advanced Online Digital Marketing Course to know more.

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