Porter’s Five Forces is a simple but affective way for a business to understand where power lies in a situation (The Mind Tools, 2015). With a strong understanding of where power lies, a business can improve a situation of weakness and avoid taking the wrong steps (The Mind Tools, 2015). This analysis would be very useful for Hearth & Home as it would allow them to understand the strength of their current competitive position as well as the strength of the position their moving into. A diagram of Porter’s Five Forces analysis can be seen …show more content…
It is then important to determine the demographics for the area they are located. According to the 2014 mid-year census, Canterbury has a population of 157,600 (Kent Gov 't, 2015). Of that current population, 40,000 are students (Pragnell, 2015). Furthermore it is important to know how much disposable income an average household in Kent has to spend. In 2010, the average gross disposable household income of a resident living in Kent was just over £16,000 (Kent Gov 't, 2015). Therefore, it can be considered that Hearth & Home are located in an area that balances their current target market. In order for Hearth & Home to conduct a behaviour analysis of their customers, they need to have a more in depth understanding of how customers decide to make their purchases. To understand customer-buying patterns, Hearth & Home would have to ask questions such as the reason for the customer’s purchase and the amount of products purchased. By doing this, Hearth & Home would gain knowledge about how much repeat business they get in regards to certain