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External (Macro) Factors

Reference: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2015/manifesto-guide

The conservatives party’s policies;

Political & Economic:

Eliminate the deficit and run an overall surplus by the end of the parliament

Aim for full employment for all those willing to work

Use money saved in reducing the benefits cap to fund 3 million apprenticeships

Triple the number of start-up loans to businesses to 75,000

Raise personal allowance to £12.5k and 40% tax threshold to £50k

Increase inheritance tax threshold for married couples and civil partners to £1m

Legislate to keep people working 30 hours on minimum wage out of income tax

No rise in VAT or National Insurance contributions.

Social:

- Housings;

Extend the "Right to Buy" to 1.3m housing association homes in England

200,000 homes built for first-time buyers aged under 40, at 20% discount

New Help to Buy ISA’s for first-time buyers to help them get a deposit for a house

Create a £1bn brownfield regeneration fund to unlock sites for 400,000 homes

Technological:

Environment:

Protect the environment and Green Belt in the planning system

Spend more than £3bn to 2020 improving the environment

Phase out subsidies for new onshore wind farms

Invest £500m over the next 5 years towards making most cars & vans zero emission vehicles by 2050

Legal:

New banning orders for extremist groups

Introduce Extremism Disruption Orders for those who "spread poison"

Restore police and agencies’ access to the communications data they need to fight terrorism and organised crime

A new law on victims’ rights

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9. ScrewFix Social Media Platforms

TWITTER:

Thier account has a very high engagement with shares over 200 and liked over 1,000. 

FACEBOOK:

ScrewFix’s Facebook platform is quite well. Shares and likes veries dramatically. From 2 likes to 50 likes up to over 200.

YOUTUBE:

Compared with Toolsttio, ScrewFix’s YouTube channel has a displayed ‘like’ section, however there are no comments or significant activity on the videos.

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8. Toolstation’s Twitter Account

TWITTER:

Toolstation Twitter account is called ‘Toolstation UK’ rather than just ‘Toolsattion’ this may cause confusion for consumers

FACEBOOK:

Toolstation’s facebook platform has low engagement thus low UGC.

YOUTUBE:

 Toolstation’s channel has very little interactivity, like the other online social platforms. No shares, comments. Likes has been disabled from the video which will decrease the SEO of Toolstation. 

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7. Competitive Analysis: Toolstation

Toolstations “related” searches on yahoo were the best, and had the least competitive threat, as there were no “recommended” or “related” searches for other brands. On the other hand, that shows that Screwfix has to reconsider its SEO on Yahoo.

Toolstations “related” searches had both Wickes and ScrewFix on bing’s search. This is however, very good for Screwfix. it is also the first “related” search suggested which might be considered as “best” for consumers who are not aware of Screwfix.

When Toolstation was searched on Google, ScrewFix was a “related” search for the consumesr to look at. This is the main competitor for Toolstation.

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6.

Competitor Analysis: Social Media - Screwfix and B&Q

Facebook:

Screwfix - 1 post a day, very occasionally 2 a day. Content appears to be mostly for entertainment purposes. Some promotional posts - usually on a day where there have been 2 posts and 1 will still be there for the purpose of entertainment.

The posts with the purpose of entertainment have a lot more interaction. 63 more shares and 182 more likes. This is likely to be because the content is a lot more engaging for the audience, however less shares on the other post means that it will get less visibility which could be detrimental to the attention Screwfix get for the correct purposes.

B&Q - 2 posts a day on average. Content more DIY ideas/inspiration focused, less for entertainment. Asking a lot of questions on posts to encourage a response.

B&Q are seen to be responding to comments here also - active afters posts go live - constant interaction. In the first image, B&Q can be seen responding to a complaint 24 hours after it was made on one of their posts. A lot more likes on the B&Q posts than on the Screwfix posts.

Facebook Stats

Screwfix - 139,251 likes

B&Q - 158,582 likes

Not too dissimilar for the number of likes each but B&Q’s activity is a lot higher than screwfix’s. Target audience for B&Q differs to Screwfix -Screwfix targets a more professional audience, this could explain the difference in the levels of interaction.

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5.

Competitor Analysis: B&Q

Kingfisher is an umbrella brand which owns both Screwfix and B&Q, although they both target different markets.

Screwfix customers: Tradesmen and serious DIY’ers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeSUJiygRRg 

B&Q customers: Everyday DIY-ers (There has been a lot more female led advertising)

Mintel Report:

Kingfisher makes ‘solid’ progress with turnaround plan

The DIY retailer grew sales by 3.5% in constant currency during the half year ending 1 August 2015.

In actual currency, sales declined by 4.0% to £5.4bn and pre-tax profits slipped 2.3% to £384m due to adverse foreign exchange movements. The company said it has made good progress with the ‘One’ Kingfisher strategy to create a single, unified company. This includes rationalising the number of product SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) on offer and closing surplus store space.

In the UK and Ireland, like-for-like sales increased 3.3% on the back of a buoyant housing market. Screwfix like-for-like sales grew 16.5% with strong digital and mobile growth. Screwfix is on track to open 60 outlets in the full year. B&Q’s store rationalisation continues, with around 60 stores planned for closure by the year end. B&Q sales edged up 0.7% like-for-like.

http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/display/id=749502?highlight#hit1 

This report from Mintel is interesting because it shows that Screwfix is opening 60 stores within the next year, and that B&Q will be closing 60 stores (report written in September 2015). According to Kingfisher (data correct as of 1st August 2015), Screwfix has 412 stores in the UK and B&Q has 355 stores in the UK (before new introductions and closures of stores for both brands - see timings of both reports). The same data from Kingfisher also shows that Screwfix has 5,800 employees and 18,000 products available in store, whereas B&Q has 20,519 employees and over 40,000 products available in store. The number of stores for each brand suggests that Screwfix is more successful than B&Q, however this does not take into account the wider range of products B&Q has over Screwfix, and the different approach that is taken to market each brand.

http://www.kingfisher.com/index.asp?pageid=23

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4.

Primary Research: Online Search of Competitors

Search carried out on Safari.

Search: ‘DIY stores’

B&Q had the Adwords position - then a list of DIY stores close to me - then B&Q, then Wickes, then Homebase, the two Yell articles, then Screwfix.

Screwfix came up 6th on the list - could need a higher positioning on web search but they still hold a large percentage of the market share (higher than B&Q but lower than Toolstation).

Search: ‘buy screws’

Screwfix first to come up & they came up first under the Google Shopping tab - the fact that they’re coming up higher in search results than their competitors is good - although this was for a specific search for screws.

Adwords was for ‘extracomponents.com’

Search: ‘buy drill’

Screwfix web page doesn’t come up but they are the first to come up under Google Shopping tab - Screwfix still has visibility but maybe not as much as they need.

Search: ‘buy DIY tools’

Screw fix comes up 5th on search list and 3rd under Google Shopping tab - Screwfix appears above either Toolstation/Wickes and B&Q which means it’s getting higher visibility here than these competitors.

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3.

Market Analysis: Competitors

Main Competitors: Toolstation and B&Q

In the last six months, a significant closure of some of the UK’s, considered “leading” DIY stores has closed. Homebase will close 25% of their stores between 2015 and 2019, and closed 30 stores in 2014. Kingfisher owns both B&Q and Screwfix, however B&Q has announced it has been over-spaced in certain regions, and is the reason for 60 stores closures before 2016. 

The three leading specialists; B&Q, Homebase and Wickes account for 65.1% of the total specialist sector sales in 2014. However more “online-savvy and trade-focused retailers such as Screwfix and Toolstation, are increasing pressure for B&Q, Homebase and Wickes, making them under perform in the last two years.

In contrast, Screwfix (another Kingfisher brand) has grown fast and opened 60 stores around the UK in 2014, which then also drove 25.5% sales growth for the Kingfisher business, outperforming the specialist market.

This table underneath indicates the growth, or closures of the different DIY stores.

A year after launching in the market, the Kingfisher-owned DIY retailer is preparing to expand its German store network.

To gain a better understanding of their market, Screwfix opened four trial stores in Germany in October 2014. In 2015 they opened stores in Gelnhausen and Fulda this month, as well as Wiesbaden in October. Other stores are planning on being made. In Germany they offer 10,000 click-and-collect items, which are available in the stores 5 minutes after purchase.

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2.

Screwfix Background Research: History

Founded as the Woodscrew Supply Company in 1979.

The Woodscrew Supply Company used to be a catalogue based brand - in 1987 it was a single page dedicated to screws, this was then increased to a 4 page version that offered hardware to DIY and Trade Professionals (named Handimail).

Became the Screwfix Direct Catalogue in 1992 where they had a turnover of £4M - company moved to a larger premises in 1994.

Turnover of £28M in 1998 - moved, again, to a larger site.

1999 - Bought by Kingfisher

Website launched in 1999

Contact centre opened in 1999 - employed 500 members of staff

Turnover exceeded £100M in 2001

Relaunched website in 2002 in an attempt to retain its leading position - the website was more interactive, secure, quicker and easier to use.

Turnover of £221M in 2004 - opened a distribution centre for next day orders

Creation of the Screwfix community - an innovative online forum that predates Facebook

Launch of first Screwfix store in 2005 - successful

2008 - Aggressive roll out of 100 stores - Launch of Plumbfix

2009 - Launch of Electricfix

2011 - Click and collect service set up (order and pay online - collect in store from 5 minutes afterwards) - Mobile website set up (click and collect introduced on this platform in 2012 - sales from mobiles up by 250%)

2013 - Screwfix Foundation (charity)

Every week the website and mobile site receives 1.9M unique visits

There have been several apps launched

2015 - 400th store opened

Currently employs 7,500 people

Head Office in Yeovil

Nationwide network or 400 stores (and growing)

http://www.screwfix.com/jsp/help/pressoffice.jsp

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1.

Digital Hub + Jessica Pethrus + Imogen Mills Our client: Screwfix

We will be researching our client through a digital audit which we will be documenting here, on this blog. We will then each be choosing one of its competitors to analyse in comparison to Screwfix.

The research we gather for each competitor will be used to formulate a report to evaluate the competition and create recommendations for our client.