Background “Star Bookmakers”
The company in question “Star Bookmakers” – a betting Company was
Founded in 8th May, 1981 with over 22 years’ experience of offering betting
services. Star Bookmakers is operating over 35 licensed betting offices in the
UK. It is believe to be one of the largest traditional betting shops in the UK,
but the shop is limited to a few numbers of branches due to poor system.
However, the betting system is based on the traditional betting shop method
of punters completing a betting slip manually.
While in the past this would be However, Punters betting slip are being
photocopied as a record of the transaction, with Epos (Electronic Point of
Sale) the slip is scanned into the system, a copy given to the customer and
the data stored at head office. This always creates a long queue for
customers waiting for their betting slips to be scanned. This is time wasting,
time consuming and it discourages punters.
Star Bookmaker is said to be the 12th oldest betting shop in United Kingdom,
jet still their financial growth is not appreciating. As a result of their sluggish
growth in the betting industry, their systems need to be re-designed.
It is very important that an organization considers its environment before
beginning the marketing process. In fact, environmental analysis should be
continuous and feed all aspects of planning.
Factors used for the
investigation of the company was – Political Factor, Economic Factor, Social
factor and Technological Factor (PEST)
What is PEST: A PEST analysis is an analysis of the external macroenvironment that affects all firms/businesses including “Star Bookmakers”.
Political Factor
Political factors include government regulations and legal issues under which
the firm such as betting houses must operate. It also has a direct impact on
the way business e.g. betting shop operates. Decisions made by
government affect our every day lives and can come in the form of policy or
legislation. The governments’ introduction of a statutory minimum wage
affects all businesses as well as Star Bookmakers. The current increase in
global petrol prices is having a profound impact on major economies, it is
estimated that £200bn has been added to the global fuel bill since the price
increases started (BBC news 19/9/00).
However, if “Punters” spend too much in other sectors of their needs, their
spending in betting houses is likely to drop. Secondly, the political decision as
to whether the UK signs up to the Single European Currency are again having
an impact on UK businesses. Firms like Nissan who have recently invested in
the UK have signalled that they will withdraw their business from the UK if the
government fails to sign up. If that takes effect, people will loss their jobs and
there is every tendency that their spending will equally drops in betting houses
and other sectors in the economy.
Finally, there will be a massive increase in betting housed if government
allows somebody from the age of 13 upward to participate in betting housed.
Economic Factor
An economy which is booming is characterised by certain variables.
Unemployment is low, job confidence is high, and because of this confidence
spending by consumers is also high. By so doing, punter who has been
playing their betting with e.g. £5.00 will increase to something higher. This
has an impact on most businesses. Organisations have to be able to keep up
with the increased demand if they are to increase turnover. An economy
which is in a recession is characterised by high unemployment, and low
confidence.
Because of high unemployment spending is low; confidence about job security
is also low. Businesses face a tough time, consumers will not spend because
of low disposable income. Many businesses start cutting back on labour cost.
A truly global player has to be aware of economic conditions across all
borders and ensure they employ strategies and tactics that protect their
business.
Social Factor
Within society forces such as family, friends, it affects our attitude, interest
and opinions. These forces shape who we are as people and the way we
behave and what we ultimately purchase. For example within the UK peoples
attitudes are changing towards their diet and health. As a result the UK is
seeing an increase in the number of people joining fitness clubs and a
massive growth for the demand of organic food.
Population changes also have a direct impact on all organisations. Changes in
the structure of a population will affect the supply and demand of goods and
services within an economy – in which betting is not left out. For example, in
Japan the fall in the birth rate has had a major impact on the sales of toys, as
demand falls competition for the remaining market becomes very intense. As
society changes, as behaviours change organisations must be able to offer
products and services that aim to complement and benefit people’s lifestyle
and behaviour.
Technological Factors
Changes in technology are changing the way business operates. The Internet
is having a profound impact on the marketing mix strategy of organisations.
Consumers can now shop 24 hours a day comfortably from their homes. The
challenge these organisation faces is to ensure that they can deliver on their
promise. Those businesses, which are slow to react, will fall at the first few
hurdles.
There is renewed interest by many governments to encourage investment in
research and development and develop technology that will give betting
houses the competitive edge. The pace of technological change is so fast that
in the computer industry the average life of a computer chip is approximately 6
months. In the name of progression technology will continue to evolve
organisations that continue to ignore this will face extinction. We the E6
system Consultant are working quite hard so that none of the above
mentioned factors will affect “Star Bookmakers” whenever it happened.
Systems Investigations
We all interviewed the management of Star Bookmakers that represent
various sections/Offices of the organization. The interviewees answered all
the questions related to the whole business environment. The purpose of our
interview was based on what we (Group E6 System Consultant) perceives as
the most important factors currently facing the organisation.
Our Benefits are:
To provide management with information on where the organization
currently stands on the incorporation of modern organizational design
elements and the value to the company implementing a team-based
organization design based on data and facts.
To learn where the organization currently is in regard to a team-based
culture and to determine the feasibility of creating a culture that will
support self-managed teams.
Finally, to start the process of bringing together management and nonmanagement employees thinking on the values, priorities, purpose and
goals of the organization.
Furthermore, one of the strongest methods for our information gathering from
client was SWOT - Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threats
What is SWOT: SWOT analysis is a tool for auditing an organization and its
environment. It is the first stage of planning and helps marketers such as
betting houses etc. to focus on key issues.
Strengths
Digital TV brings new business opportunities to the betting shop (See Rich
Pictures attached). Digital TV technologies can be used to improve traditional
betting applications offered in betting-shops. Also, Digital Interactive TV
technologies lead to drastic increases in the customer base of betting
organizations. By simply provisioning the home-betting applications, any
viewer equipped with a digital TV set top-unit becomes a potential customer.
Punters, from the luxury of their homes, have all the necessary time they need
to think, analyze, decide and bet by using a simple remote control device.
With the installation of Digital TV operators, the betting shop can further
increase revenues by offering punters new and attractive entertainment for
real-time result with instant betting. Finally, the star bookmakers should NOT
only be able to identify customers needs, BUT also satisfying them.
Furthermore, the company need to employ specialist marketing expertise, to
be sited in a populated area, other types of betting (horse, football, boxing,
cricket etc.) to be introduced into the company. Finally, if the above system is
installed for star bookmakers, there is every tendency that its growth will be
very rapid.
Weaknesses
Employees need to be trained of how to handle the machinery and manners
of approaching customers i.e. the punters. Marketing expertise need to
replace the untrained staff. Poor quality of services affects Star Bookmakers
from growing – i.e. waiting time of each customer to be reduced to minimum.
These could be achieved by a system being re-written. They need to be
careful not to damage their reputation, i.e. not to get involved against any
government regulations e.g. accepting betting slips from under 16.
Online betting services should be totally secured by the use of “SSL” Secure
Socket Layer technology to protect sensitive data e.g. customers account
details. The only two ways that the customer could be convinced of the
security of their details are:
Firstly, a secure web server will be prefixed by https:// rather than the
normal http://
Secondly, the browser will display the "golden padlock" symbol which is
an assurance that they are in a secure area.
Finally, customers are to click on the padlock icon to get them
convinced.
Opportunities
With the present of modern technology, Star Bookmaker needs to take the
opportunity of getting involved in the following systems:


Online/Internet betting - Consumers can now shop 24 hours a day
comfortably from their homes.
Telephone betting – Mostly Freephone call at no cost to the punters.

TV adverts. Almost all houses now got access to TV and to the rest of
other medias
A system that accept all major debit and credit cards, including MasterCard
and Visa, and all major currencies and also accept payments through Western
Union and by internet bank transfer. Charging a fee for credit card
transactions should be reduced to a standard rate compared to other
competitors.
Threats
To avoid the threats, “Star Bookmakers” should be sited in an area where
there are fewer competitors. The minimum payment per each winning should
be slightly increased compared to its rivals but not up to the standard of
affecting the company. The payout time to each winner should be within a
stipulated time period. Finally, area/workplace violence is the biggest threat to
business and employees. The new proposed system will include all of the
above. Other factors that create a threat to Star Bookmaker are new
competitor in your home market and price wars with competitors.