BACKGROUND OF THE BUSINESS
Running a retail business is one of the difficult managerial functions as cited by Wedel, Zhang and Feinberg (2015) who also pointed out that different managers have different approaches on how to effectively manage a retail business and make it a success. As such, changing the management of a retail store from one person to another also comes with a significant shift in terms of strategies, operations, and decisions in regard to how a store can be effectively run in a manner that suits the individual and the team running the business. There are going to be some significant changes on major sections of business such as the name, operations, employee structure, location, and marketing strategies among other identifiable areas.
A majority of business experts suggest that the name of a business should communicate what the business is and what it entails. Being a conventional supermarket, which is a form of store retail, the business shall, therefore, be known as Shopright Store, a suitable name that also speaks for itself about the business and the brand as a whole. The concern of the business shall be to deal with distribution of a wide range of products that can be displayed in a supermarket such as foods, footwear, clothing, electronics, and much more. As such, the store shall be relocated to the center of the town for purposes of maximizing sales by attracting a maximum number of customers.
The business is categorized under retail industry and new management intends to maintain the industrial identity of the enterprise. The retail industry is a sector that is widespread in the country and the entire world as well. Due to the enormous size of the industry especially in the country, appropriate strategies are required in order to put the company in a strategic competitive position. To survive the harsh competition, the business will make an entry into the industry through strategies such as dealing with only quality products and services and attractive display of items in the store.
Mission statements of the business
Mission: adding value to the lives of consumers by offering quality at a much lesser price
Vision: to be a leading retailing store for all consumers and employees.
ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT
Business Management and Organizational Structure
Being a small retail business, the store will be run by an individual who will perform all the functions of a managerial team such as finance, accounting, marketing and sales, securing financial information, human resource activities, purchases, and general management. Generally, the store shall be made up of three main functions that the manager shall the basically oversee; buying functions, selling functions and controlling functions as indicated in the diagram below:
Figure 1: Core functions of the business
Implementation of managerial goals and objectives and performance of organizational activities shall be undertaken by various employees at different sections of the business such as sales, the arrangement of the products in the stores, cleanliness and so on. The figure below describes the organizational structure of the business:
Figure 2: organizational structure
Recruitment
Shopright Store is in need of four additional employees to fill up the vacant positions created by additional positions in the organizational chart; two full-time employees to fill up the positions of control supervisor and purchasing supervisor as well as two part-time employees who will help with inside displays. The recruitment process will be outsourced since it will involve hiring the personnel for the first time. Interviews shall be conducted by professional human resource consulting company to make sure the best talents and the most qualified individuals are hired to fill up the respective positions.
Training and Development
Before embarking on the activities of the store, new employees shall be taken through brief training where they will learn the essentials of the organization in terms of organizational structure, culture, philosophy, teamwork, objectives, their roles and responsibilities, and other holistic areas to be covered. The rest of the employees of the organization shall also be taken on training and development sessions once in a while in order to be updated about current issues in regard to retailing and to be informed about the changes in the business. This will be suitable for making the business attain and maintain a sustainable competitive position.
MARKETING PLAN
Target Customers
The business will target all individuals who do their shopping in retail stores. More specifically, Shopright will mostly attract a clientele aged between 18 and 45 years. this age group makes up the population of most shoppers and it is characterized by working and earning a decent amount of money (Cohen et al., 2015). The store shall display products and engage in services that will attract and retain customers of this described age group mostly.
Marketing Strategies
Marketing strategies are mechanisms meant to capture a sizable percentage of customers and retain them and loyal customers. It is marketing strategies that put a business in a long-term competitive position in the industry. The following shall consist marketing strategies of the retail business.
A. Promotion strategies – because the business is planned to take a new identity and relocate to a new strategic location, substantial amount of promotional efforts need to be implemented for purposes of informing consumers of the existence of the business in the new location, communicating to the currently dedicated consumers about the relocation and a change in identity and also persuading customers to buy from the store as opposed to its competitors. As such, the business will utilize strategies such as advertising; where the business shall apply the use of the internet (social media platforms), printed media, billboards, and media in reaching out to customers. (Fernie & Sparks, 2014)
B. Location strategies – the main reason the business is relocating to the central part of town is large that it is the part of town that is the most populated with potential customers of the retail store. In the location, the store can attract high numbers of customers compared to its current location. Additionally, there are not rival retailers in the area thus making the business a monopolistic advantage in the place.
C. Product strategies – the retail business shall be committed to offering quality products and services to its customers as a strategy of maintaining loyal customers. Being a supermarket, the store shall provide unique product line and mix which shall consist of famous and quality brands of products.
D. Display strategies – according to Deborah Cohen et al. (2015), what makes a store more attractive is not the name, products, or services but how products and displayed in the store. As such, the store will utilize behavioral, social and economic psychology in discovering ways to entice extra purchases in the store. For instance, textured rubber floor mats, free samples, huge shopping carts, attractive lightings, slow joyful music, and so on.
OPERATIONS PLAN
Operation strategy
The business will be opened for 13 hours on weekdays (Monday to Friday), that is from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and for 10 hours on weekends (Saturdays and Sundays) and public holidays; that is from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. This is mainly because the business is located in the center of the town and population of individuals is at the highest during such identified times.
There will be a daily inflow of perishable products such as milk, groceries and so on in the mornings with other products being brought in either once a week or upon placement of an order to the supplier depending on how the products will be moving off the shelves. Inwards transportation of the products will be entirely on the suppliers who will consist the companies producing the commodities.
Employees will operate on the basis of shift with each employee working a maximum of 8 hours a day. After an employee completes his/her shift, they shall be replaced by another employee. However, during the rush hours, that is between 5 p.m. and 6p.m., all employees shall be required to be present to ensure efficiency is sales. And other operations. Employees will also be entitled to leaves and off with off-days being two days per week and a paid leaf of two weeks in a year.
FINANCIAL DIMENSION
The financial aspect is one of the most critical aspects of any business. As such, the aspect shall be given much attention. The business will maintain updated records of information related to all transactions electronically (Fernie & Sparks, 2014). The management of the store shall obtain an efficient and up to date ERP system that shall integrate business activities such as sales, purchases, logistics, identifying suppliers, contracting payment of bills, and any other finance-based transaction. All the cash proceeds obtained from sales shall be reconciled against the amount reflected in the system on a daily basis in order to ensure shortfalls are timely identified and accounted for.
References
Cohen, D. A., Collins, R., Hunter, G., Ghosh-Dastidar, B., & Dubowitz, T. (2015). Store impulse-marketing strategies and body mass index. American journal of public health, 105(7), 1446-1452.
Fernie, J., & Sparks, L. (2014). Logistics and retail management: emerging issues and new challenges in the retail supply chain. Kogan page publishers.
Hatten, T. S. (2015). Small business management: Entrepreneurship and beyond. Nelson Education.
Wedel, M., Zhang, J., & Feinberg, F. (2015). Implementing Retail Category Management: a Model-Based Approach to Setting Optimal Markups. Customer Needs and Solutions, 2(2), 165-176.
Manager
Selling supervisor
Inside display employees
Pricing, advertising and selling team
supervisor in charge of Buying
receiving and stocking workers
Management
Supervision
Implementation
Controlling supervisor
casheering and parking
Cleaning service workers
Shopright Store
Buying function
* finding suppliers
* checking catalogs
* placing orders
* receiving and stocking
Selling function
* advertising
* pricing
* selling
* inside displays
Controlling function
* cashiering
* Paying bills
* issuing credits
* checking invoices
* keeping records
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Assignment2DevelopingManagingandOperatingaRetailBusiness.docx
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