Entering a developing country
In this report I will discuss John Lewis entering Mexico, a developing country. I will give information about both the company and country giving detailed facts, and any changes that will need to be made to the product/company in order to work in this developing country. In addition, I will suggest which strategy I believe they should focus on when entering Brazil.

About John Lewis
John Lewis is a chain of upmarket department stores operating throughout Great Britain. The first John Lewis to open was in Oxford Street, London during 1864 and since then has expanded. The chain is most commonly known for its policy of “Never Knowingly Undersold” which has been used by the company since 1925. In 1905 John Lewis acquired a second store, Peter Jones in Sloane Square, London. His son, John Spedan Lewis, whilst being in charge of the Peter Jones store founded the John Lewis Partnership. Waitrose joined this partnership in 1937 as a chain of 10.
The main activities of the company include providing customers with high quality groceries and non-grocery items such as electrical goods, furniture, fashion, flowers and also financial services such as insurance and credit card services. As one of the UK’s top ten retailers, the company has about 31 John Lewis and 235 Waitorse supermarkets, an online and catalogue business, a direct services company, one production unit, a farm and still continues to grow at a rapid pace.

Their products
The most common items that John Lewis stock is Home and Garden items like kitchen appliances, such cookers which cost from £230 to £18,250 and electricals like TV’s which cost in the region of £129.95 to £12,999. As a department store they offer many items for the house and also items like clothing and toys. They appeal to a wide range of the market so therefor are a mass market brand. Due to being a mass market brand their strategy is most likely to be a differentiation strategy due to being in a mass market and offering a unique selling point in that they don’t just stock one type of product instead they have a wide variety.

About Mexico
Mexico is a federal republic in North America. Covering almost over 760,000 square miles it is the fifth largest country in America by total area and the 13th largest independent nation in the world. With an estimated population of over 113 million, it is the eleventh most populous country and the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world and the second most populous country in Latin America. There is a total of 31,599,379 households within Mexico with each household on average having 3.7 persons living there. In 2013 Mexico saw a GDP growth of 1.1%. This is the rate at which a nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) changes from one year to another. The GDP is the market value of all the goods and services produced in a country in a particular time period. The GDP per capita is a measure of the total output of a country that takes the GDP and divides it by the number of people in the country. In 2013 Mexico had a GDP per capita of $10,307.28 which is $3,499.85 more than China. This shows that Mexico has a robust economy, the industry growth is good and people are earning more so therefore have more disposable income. They have the 12th largest economy in the world. The total annual household income is about $370.5 billion and total annual expenditures were $327.4 billion, with the annual per capita at $3,156 and annual per capita expenditures at a total of $2,808. This means that the residents of Mexico do have money to spend so John Lewis will not need to worry about people not having the money to spend.

Mexican culture
Most Mexican families are highly traditional, with the father as the authority figure and a large number of women still being housewives, however throughout the past several decades more and more women are working outside of the home. In the cities, fashion is influenced by international trends, so the typical urban Mexican dress similar to people in Europe and the United States. On the other hand, in more rural areas, a typical women’s wardrobe includes skirts, sleeveless tunics called huipils, capes known as quechquémitls and shawls called rebozos. One distinguishing article of traditional men’s clothing is a large blanket cape called a sarape. Some more traditional clothing, now typically worn for celebrations and special occasions, include sombreros and the charro suits worn by Mariachi bands that are popular costumes during Carnival season.
In Mexico there are many holidays and celebrations that they celebrate. One being ‘The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe’ which is celebrated on December 12th following the appearance of the Virgin Mary to an Indian man in the first years of Spanish rule. She is the patron saint of the country. Another well-known celebration across the world is ‘The Day of the Dead’ which is celebrated over November the 1st and 2nd which combines Catholic and indigenous rituals to honor the deceased. Furthermore, the ‘Carnival’ is also celebrated in many communities throughout Mexico to mark the period before Lent. John Lewis can use this to their advantage as during periods leading up to/on the days/after they can stock items that many buy which relate to their holidays. This means that during this period they are likely to increase the numbers of sales. This will lead to an increase in the cash inflow. Therefore, a higher profit margin.

John Lewis entering Mexico - Adaptions

When John Lewis enter Mexico there will be many adaptions that will need to be made to their products. For example the clothing is going to need to be different to what you would find in the stores in Great Britain as they have different fashion and traditional clothing. In order for them to appeal to the Mexican residential market they will need to make sure they stock those traditional/commonly worn items of clothing, e.g. sombreros, sleeveless tunics (huipils). Clothing is the main type of product that they will need to adapt as they need to meet the needs of the customers and there is a greater difference between the two countries. By adapting to meet the needs of the customers, as a new country, people are more likely to visit and try the store. This is because they know they know they will be able to get products they want. This means that there is a greater chance of them gaining customer loyalty and repeat purchase. Therefore, they will have more sales than if they had one off customers.
In order to adapt successfully they will need to adapt their ways as a company in order to appeal to the market. They will need to take into consideration the income per capita as it is much lower than the average in the UK so they will not be able to charge high prices as it is likely that many will not be able to afford it so they would suffer with low sales. As they will be a mass market due to having such a wide range of products and not appealing to just a small quantity of people I would suggest that they go for a low cost strategy as the majority of Mexico’s consumers cite the desire for lower prices, however their competition Viana is a discount department store which offers very similar products so I think a ‘differentiation strategy’ would be more successful for John Lewis as they have the uniqueness of being a British based company and can hold British goods that your less likely to find in other stores in Mexico. This uniqueness is likely to attract many to shop at John Lewis rather than the competition.
Furthermore, they will need to consider their ‘Home and Garden’ range of products as it is less likely that they will want to buy high end designer items, so they’ll need to make sure they have a wide range to appeal for the lower working class and the higher working class. This means that they are much more likely to generate higher sales due to appealing to more people with the wider range of products and prices.

Conclusion
Overall, I think that John Lewis will develop well in Mexico as long as they meet the needs of their customers and take their traditions into account. Their location will make a big impact as if they are in the lower income areas they probably won’t get as much sales/profit as if they were in the higher income areas. They must also look out for the competition and stay unique in order to attract more customers.