Analysis – Waitrose Political Factors If we want to analyse the political factors which impact upon the company we need to make a general view of the situation in the country. What are its law and requirements? Waitrose is a company which employees a lot of people and they are affected of the Employment Law. They are not paying less than the minimum wage and all of their workers are with immaculate labour contracts. There is a range of shift patterns which are in accordance with the Working Time Regulations for the people how want to work there. Overtime work is paid as well.
Waitrose`s workers are with fully employment rights. They are working in safety and healthy environment. All of the stores are fire safety and secure as the law requires. http://www. hse. gov. uk/pubns/law. pdf accessed 20/03/2011 Health and safety laws in the case of the food are also very important in the supermarket sector. All stock has to meet health and safety standards. It is required for all of the articles to have print with the date of production and `best before` date. `Food hygiene legislation is closely related to the legislation on the general requirements and principles of food law` and it is the company`s priority. ttp://www. food. gov. uk/foodindustry/regulation/foodlaw/ accessed 19/03/2011 `The legislation lays down the food hygiene rules for all food businesses, applying effective and proportionate controls throughout the food chain, from primary production to sale or supply to the food consumer. ` http://www. food. gov. uk/foodindustry/regulation/hygleg/hygleginfo/foodhygknow/ accessed 19/03/2011 When we are talking about the political factors which have influence upon the supermarket industry we need to know if the country in that case England is involved in trading agreements such as EU, FTA, NAFTA or others.
It is important because the trade pact effects on the taxation. For example articles as Alcohol and Tabaco are priced by the help of the formula duty plus VAT, `which is a basic definition of what the cost of those products is`. http://www. bbc. co. uk/news/uk-politics-12212240 accessed 20/03/2011 Sociocultural Factors To be such a big brand like Waitrose means to be sociocultural orientated. That includes a lot of social campaigns. For example Waitrose is one of the companies with the highest number of people who are their fans in Facebook.
The supermarket launched new social media campaign including its first ever Facebook app. This happened around Christmas and it gave the chance to all their online friends `to claim prizes ranging from mince pies to a year’s worth of Waitrose shopping for one lucky winner`. http://www. thedrum. co. uk/news/2010/11/19/16727-waitrose-hopes-for-festive-boost-with-social-media-campaign/ accessed 20/03/2011 But the social factor is affecting on the supermarket and because of its customers. People who shop in Waitrose are people middle age or older.
It is fact that the population in UK is ageing and `this trend is projected to continue`. The increase in the number of old people is increase in the number of the Waitrose`s customers. http://www. statistics. gov. uk/cci/nugget. asp? id=949 accessed 21/03/2011 British people take a positive attitude towards the new products and new tastes. Waitrose has a wide range of articles, selling a lot of products typical and produced in other countries. http://www. waitrose. com/home/inspiration/About_our_product_ranges. tml accessed 20/03/2011 Economic Factors Because of the financial crisis business is put to test. All of the organisations who want to survive have to be creative and adaptable to the changes. Making promotions and sales a lot of shops are managing with the lack of money in customer`s pocket. The supermarket industry understand the need of cash and now we can see more often offers like `buy one get one free` or `buy two get three` which are trying to stimulate the clients to spent more money in the shop.
Good way to cope with the crisis is to find alternative for the most expensive products. And that is what Waitrose did. They offer cheap caviar alternative – `It looks and tastes like caviar but unlike the world’s most prized delicacy, the latest product to be launched at supermarket chain Waitrose costs just ? 4. 55 for 55g as opposed to their St James Caviar which costs ? 145 for 50g`. http://www. telegraph. co. uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/3724761/Waitrose-offering-cheap-caviar-alternative-during-financial-crisis. html accessed 20/03/2011
