Nordstrom's Success

Nordstrom's Success

Identify the type of retailer that Nordstrom's is classified as. Describe the characteristics it shares with other retailers of this type.

Nordstrom can be classified into an independent departmental store that provides superior services to its customers, and have been doing this from the past 100 years. They also believe in providing the best services to their customers so that customers do not even switch to any other retailer, ones they become totally satisfied from the services that the Nordstrom provides to them. It offers the customers fragrances, cosmetics, jewelry, shoes, apparel and accessories for children, women and men (nordstrom.com). The characteristics of Nordstrom are shared by various other departmental stores like Dillard, Sears and Macys. Nordstrom deals with competition on many levels. Its competition includes Barney's, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue among many other. Nordstrom also competes with second tier stores such as Bloomingdale and Macy's (Bond, 2010).

The characteristics of Nordstrom are shared by Saks Fifth Avenue as it is categorized as the mini version of Nordstrom. Saks Fifth Avenue carries the same products as Nordstrom; however, they have a smaller target market and have less variety. Saks is more expensive as compared to Nordstrom. Saks focus of bridal stuff to provide the customers with unique experience. The major difference between these companies apart from the similar characteristics is the focus of the company. Nordstrom focuses more on satisfying the customers and creating brand loyalty.

Describe Nordstrom's level of service on the continuum from full service to self-service. Give an example of a store that would be on the opposite end of the continuum and explain their differences.

Nordstrom provides full quality service on the continuum to their customers as it can be visible through the examples of the time the lady was sold one shoe and the ticket returned to the customer by a staff member. These are the examples that represent the superior quality services that Nordstrom provides to its customers, and this clearly represent that they provide full quality service to its customers. Wal-Mart is at the opposite end of the continuum of Nordstrom. Walmart is the American multinational chain of discount and warehouse stores. It is the largest corporations in the world in terms of revenue. Walmart is involved in grocery and general merchandising retailing (Jones, 2006). In terms of revenue, it ranks as the second largest retailer in the world. Walmart is the largest employer in the world and serves in fifteen countries through its over 2 million employees and 8500 stores. It is easy to contrast the differences between these two stores- Nordstrom and Wal-Mart- then to compare their similarities, as both of these stores are at the opposite end of the spectrum of economy. The specialty of Wal-Mart is the discounted prices they offer to their customers, while the specialty of Nordstrom is the quality of the products. Both of the companies are successful in their approaches. Wal-Mart attracts customers by offering a variety of products to satisfy each possible need ...