Creating a SWOT Analysis and Its Definition ;)

So, what in the world IS a SWOT Analysis?  I’ve never done one, but I’m about to in this post, so I will tell you what it stands for and how I will be using it!

S.W.O.T. stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

So in my case with the different bakeries, what are the strengths of each one, the weaknesses of each, the opportunities each could take advantage of, and the threats each one needs to be aware of?

Today, I am analyzing Bakery A!

Because I’m a chart geek and I love analyzing data, I created some charts for ya’ll.  Here are the chart results for Bakery A:

 

All those numbers at the top are the different scores for the three different categories I tested each week: Costumer Experience, Pricing and Design Options, and Quality/Appearance.

Since there were not the same amount of subcategories for points in each week (8 for weeks 1 & 2, and 5 for week 3), I added each weeks’ total points and divided by the number of subcategories to get an average score for each category.  Sorry….I know math is not a popular topic!  On to the more interesting stuff!

On the bottom left there’s a pie chart.  In my opinion (it just seems to make sense), the PERFECT bakery would have a pie chart where each wedge is exactly equal (each category makes up 1/3 of circle), so areas that have less than 33% are areas that need improvement.  However, you also want to have good ratings!  That’s why I tallied how many 0-1’s it got, how many 2’s, etc…

Looking at Bakery A’s pie chart, it’s easy to see the area in which it needs to up its game: Pricing and Design Options.  The bar chart shows that they don’t score very well in pretty much any category, which makes me believe they need to work on every area point-wise!  So even IF the pie chart was “perfect,” it wouldn’t matter because the point totals are so low (mostly 2’s)!

And here’s how Bakery A stacks up against all its competitors in my analysis:

Now I will get on with the SWOT Analysis based off of these two graphs!

Strengths:

By looking at the pie chart, we can see that Costumer Experience is Bakery A’s strong suit.  That’s not to say their costumer service is flawless, but it was the thing they did the best.  That said, their customer service does not compare well with the other four bakeries anyway.  They had a wonderful display of cakes at their store, and their in-store costumer service was the BEST, but they could use some help in the emailing department 🙂 Other than that, the costumer experience is wonderful!

Weaknesses:

The most obvious area for improvement would be Pricing and Design Options.  Their wedding cakes all seem to look the same, there are pretty much no variants except the frosting art (the way the frosting is applied).  The only colors I see on the website are white, and the cakes are rather small.  Pricing-wise, they were ranked 3 out of 5 for least expensive, so pretty much average.  But since the cakes are not all that extravagant, it seems reasonable that they could lower their price a bit!

Opportunities:

From looking at my more detailed spreadsheet, I have determined that the top 2 areas of opportunity for Bakery A would be acquiring some designated parking spots, and offering larger wedding cakes.  They do not offer very large cakes, and if they wanted to corner the wedding cake industry more than they are right now, it would be beneficial (unless you’re having a small wedding).  Adding parking spaces near the shop would be incredible for their business as well!  It took me FOREVER to find a parking spot the first time I came, and I had to walk a longer distance than I wanted to to get to the store.  I know this is a tough order since they’re located in the city where space is limited, but there is a parking lot right next to them where they could purchase “bakery parking only” spots!  This would be extremely enticing to prospective costumers.

Threats:

The tone of their emails had me questioning whether or not they cared about my business, but when I went into the store itself, the people working there were the nicest people ever!  I also NEVER got through their sales funnel… Oftentimes, the costumer’s first impression of a business is its website, second, its online service, then third, its in-store service.  So, you can have the best in-store service ever, but if your website is frustrating or your emailing service is bad, not as many people will discover how nice you are in person and you won’t make the sale!  This will be a threat to Bakery A in the future if it isn’t already.

Conclusion:

Bakery A has some work to do if it wants to get better in the wedding cake department.  However, I believe Bakery A has the cafe department pretty well organized and that’s their main area of focus, so I can’t really blame them that much.  Plus, they make good cake!  😉

 

Until next time,

Hope Frances