Fighting among giants surviving in the digital retailing era

: the Fnac case

Abstract

This work analyzes the ongoing transition in the consumer electronics retailing market. The company has determined in the service quality the core of its competitive advantage, recently acquiring the leading service company in the Portuguese market, PC Clinic. The servitization strategy is becoming extremely popular across market players as a tool to avoid being subject to a downward price war. This study analyses the current state of the art in the sector, trying to understand the shape that the market will have at the end of the current transition phase and how the company can compete in such a scenario. The analysis has been firmly based on qualitative interviews with experts in the electronics retailing sector and has been further validated by benchmarking the best practices, implemented by the companies best-in-class in the industry. Finally, quantitative data analysis has been used to validate the recommendations and to analyze the relationship between the quality of services and the customers’ propensity to pay. The primary aim is to provide a digital branding strategy that Fnac can apply to successfully implement its servitization strategy in the market, allowing the company to keep up with the tight arising digital competition. The subsequent discussion will provide theoretical and practical implications and limitations as to why the company might not reach the prefixed objective.

Date of Award	8 Oct 2020
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Rute Xavier (Supervisor)