Cotswold Outdoor SWOT Analysis, Competitors & USP

Lion Adventure Cooperatief UA

Outdoor Clothing and Equipment

Lifestyle and Retail

“Outdoor, Action, Travel”

Over 3 decades of experience in selling outdoor equipment; Expert training to staff; Expert Boot-fitting, Rucksack Fitting

People doing outdoor leisure/adventure activities

Physically Active families, Adventurous People, Holiday Makers, Duke of Edinburgh's Award candidates

Price (Competitive Pricing), People – Expert trained staff

Below are the Strengths in the SWOT Analysis of Cotswold Outdoor:

1. Brand Heritage of being a 3 decade old outdoor retailer
2.  Own 70+ stores, making them market leaders in this oligopoly
3. High Profit Margin enables them to diversify into different markets with similar products
4. Recommended retailer for the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme

5. Extremely Knowledgeable staff helps serve customers better

6. Partnership with The Scout Association

7.Actively supports  local communities and groups thus establishing good ties with outdoor activity groups

8. Award-winning website and exclusive stockist of many popular products

9. Competitive Pricing (Offers to match prices of any competitor)

Here are the weaknesses in the Cotswold Outdoor SWOT Analysis:

1. Limited market share and less marketing compared to globa competitors

4.In-store staff requires extensive training and expense and hence attrition can be a problem

Following are the Opportunities in Cotswold Outdoor SWOT Analysis:

1. Opportunity to enter outdoor sports market because of similar market with different products
2. Move out of UK into another western country with disposable income and a culture of outdoor activity
3. Go into more personalized service (leverage the trained sales staff)

4. Diversification into outdoor fitness training

5. Develop new innovative products to capture the market

6. Developing a synergy through more partnerships with outdoor groups

7. Build better relationship and loyalty among customers through sponsorships of outdoor sports and events

The threats in the SWOT Analysis of Cotswold Outdoor are as mentioned:

1. Weather conditions are a direct threat to outdoor retailers with sales being significantly hit in bad weather years
2. Larger and more dominant businesses like Tresspass and  Tog 24 with more stores and longer heritage
3. Growing urbanization is driving down outdoor activity

4. Margin compression from online competitors

5. Declining youth participation in core outdoor activities

6. Economic downturn significantly affects peoples vacation and outdoor activity affecting sales

7. Changing Customer preferences which can be quite unpredictable

Below are the top 4 competitors of Cotswold Outdoor:

1.Tresspass
2.Tog 24
3.Go Outdoors

4.Blacks Outdoor Retailer