Waterstones SWOT Analysis, Competitors & USP

A&NN Capital Fund Management

Bookshop

Lifestyle and Retail

Your local bookshop

Each Waterstone outlet sells books prominent and useful for that particular locality

Customers including wide range of age groups and income

Those who are willing to buy books

Place to hang around with friends, sit and have coffee and read/buy books

Below are the Strengths in the SWOT Analysis of Waterstones:

1. Leading bookseller in UK with close to 300 stores
2. Strategic tie ups with e-commerce companies
3. Rapid expansion across various localities and 4500+ employees
4. Enhancing readership by obtaining concession agreements with Starbucks, Costacoffee etc and later started its own Café W Brand

5. Received numerous awards and thus enhancing its own credibility among its customers

6. In-store marketing and merchandizing initiatives make the brand stand out of the crowd

7. Ventured into e-books and e-shopping platform

8. Huge brand recognition and brand identity in the places where the stores are present

Here are the weaknesses in the Waterstones SWOT Analysis:

1. Less offers/discounts compared to e-commerce counterparts
2. Not much expanded globally 
3. Number of people visiting the store would be reduced with increasing use of technology and Internet which is a concern

Following are the Opportunities in Waterstones SWOT Analysis:

1. Leverage more on its digital/e-book space
2. Expand globally into the potential untapped market/economies
3. Strategic tie ups with shopping malls, schools etc

The threats in the SWOT Analysis of Waterstones are as mentioned:

1. Increasing readership of e-books where the company didn’t make a strong presence
2. Increasing second hand book seller shops 
3. Discounts/offers offered by e-commerce book sellers

Below are the top 3 competitors of Waterstones:

1. Foyles
2. WHSmith
3. Blackwell’s bookshop