the UK population have access to the Internet. Because of that home shopping sectors have a potential to reach the entire UK population very soon. “Fashion Mania” as a home shopping service can offer an ideal solution for a lot of consumer groups like young professionals, with little or no free time, disabled people and generally consumers who find visiting a shop difficult. “Fashion Mania” also allows a wider variety of choices in shopping, as Internet opens up a world of retailing to users. Home shopping is also ideal for consumers with the so-called convenience lifestyle because it is “open” 24 hours a day. Weaknesses:One of the main weaknesses of home shopping is the price. Price is or can be higher than the high street shops. That is happening because catalogue prices are fixed for a particular period, usually Autumn-Winter and Spring- Summer, and high street shops often overcome those prices. As it was mentioned above catalogues are issued in advance. So, by the time the consumer wishes to buy the product, stocks could be eliminated. Eventually, customers usually turn back to high street shops. Another weakness is the relatively low advertising and promotions budget. If a retailer, who have recently established a home shopping service, wishes to be successful he/she must advertise his products a lot so by the time the catalogue reaches the market, consumers must be aware of the new product. Such an act needs budget and usually new retailers do not have it. Finally, retailers who sell their products through catalogues are not able to follow the quick changes in fashion tastes and as a result of that they often fail to target the teenage market. Opportunities: For small or medium sized retailers, like “Fashion Mania” new methods of straightforward selling like Internet usually offers them global reach. New techniques using advanced databases allow home shopping services to focus on s...
