Problem
Case study: After 242 years of success, DEBENHAMS retail was collapsed by the COVID pandemic
One of the UK's oldest retailers, Debenhams announced they are closing their outlet on 15 May 2021 after more than 200 years of operation on High Street (the name of the main street for business and the main shopping center in England). Debenham decided to change the business to online channels after this company was purchased by Boohoo in January 2021 for £ 55 million. The history of the establishment of Debenhams is in 1778 when William Clark opened the first shop in London's West End selling cloth, hats and umbrellas. In 1950 Debenhams became the largest department store in England with 110 outlets. In the following years, Debenhams continued to grow rapidly, doubling the number of outlets to 240 in 2006. In 2017, it opened 2 new outlets in Stevenage and Wolverhampton, England. However, as technology developed and shopping behavior shifted to online, Debenham experienced a decline in profits and an increase in debt. After trying various ways to maintain its business, the Coronavirus pandemic was the final straw for Debenhams and also its competitor TOPSHOP Arcadia were forced to close their outlets on High Street. In 2021, Boohoo Group purchased the Debenhams trademark and not the outlets. Debenham said: "In the next 10 days, Debenhams will be closing its doors on the High Street for the last time in its 242 year history. We hope to see you all one last time in our shop before we say goodbye to UK High Street."
After closing the Debenhams outlet on the High Street a year ago, currently almost 90% of the former Debenhams outlets are still empty due to the rather weak economic recovery during the pandemic.
Task
a) Why did Debenham lose market share on the main High Street?
b) In your opinion, does doing business online provide a certain value? Tell!
c) By changing its business to online channels, will Debenhams be able to dominate its market share? and what strategy should Debenhams do?
d) What needs to be prepared by Debenham in order to maintain an online business in the future?