A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food and household products, organized into aisles. It is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more limited in the range of merchandise than a hypermarket or big-box market. A larger full-service supermarket combined with a department store is sometimes known as a hypermarket. Other services may include those of banks, cafés, childcare centres / crèches, insurance (and other financial services), Mobile Phone services, photo processing, video rentals, pharmacies or petrol stations. If the eatery in a supermarket is substantial enough, the facility may be called a "grocer ant", a portmanteau of "grocery" and "restaurant".
The supermarket typically comprises meat, fresh produce, dairy, and baked goods aisles, along with shelf space reserved for canned and packaged goods as well as for various non-food items such as kitchenware, household cleaners, pharmacy products and pet supplies. Some supermarkets also sell a variety of other household products that are consumed regularly, such as alcohol (where permitted), medicine, and clothes, and some stores sell a much wider range of non-food products: DVDs, sporting equipment, board games, and seasonal items (e.g., Christmas wrapping paper in December). The traditional supermarket occupies a large amount of floor space, usually on a single level. It is usually situated near a residential area in order to be convenient to consumers. The basic appeal is the availability of a broad selection of goods under a single roof, at relatively low prices. Other advantages include ease of parking and frequently the convenience of shopping hours that extend into the evening or even 24 hours of the day. Supermarkets usually allocate large budgets to advertising, typically through newspapers. They also present elaborate in-shop displays of products. To fully understand how the services of a Supermarket is carried out.
Operating Systems of Supermarket
The productive system is simply defined as the means in which inputs are converted into output i.e. the input-output conversion process. Inputs - basically – are the resources used up in the process of production. Examples of inputs are capital, labour (men), machines, materials, buildings etc.
In the case of every SUPERMARKET, the following inputs are recorded;
Building
Finished goods
Labour (workers)
Capital
Machines
POINT OF SALES (POS)MACHINES USED FOR FINANCIAL TRANSACTION
Conversion process; The process by which customers search and purchase the product of their choice.
Output; The particular commodity being consumed for the satisfaction of the consumers i.e. customers getting what they want at the righty cost, right time and the right quality.
The nature of the Operating system.
supermarket adopts a job shop form of operations system where customers gets goods according to their specifications. Job shop operation system is characterized by a high variety of goods with low volume of products.
Aims And Objectives Of setting up Supermarket services
To always be the first choice of customers
To ensure that all its activities are all customer centred because with the customer there will be no operation
To remain one of the leaders in such competitive market
To train employee for managerial task and to be more efficient in delivering there task
To encourage idea, support initiatives, innovation and creativity capitalizing on opportunities to support operational goals
To achieve international standard operation
supermarket also has its specific objective which makes it unique and special.
To provide cheap product in order to withstand competitor threat
Ensure sales floor are not congestion and adequate stocking
Challenges Encountered in Planning and Setting up of Supermarket
To continually evaluate and react to performance issue
Cost of Labour:
It is important that supermarkets and stores are constantly on top of ways to run their operation cleanly and efficiently. Labour costs are one of the only costs that a retailer can control, and since the supermarket mainly aims at maximizing profit, this might lead to a reduction in the cost of labour and therefore causing an increase in labour turnover. The trick, however, is to not cut labour costs so low that the store begins to suffer. If there aren't enough representatives for customer service, or to clean the store, then you've cut too much of your labour. And when there's no one there to help the customers, or to make the store look hygienic and presentable, then customers and profits will fly out the door as fast as they came in. Those stores that cut back on training costs will definitely understand the meaning of "you get what you pay for." Employees who are not up to date on the latest information will get frustrated and burn out quickly, and it is significantly more expensive for a business to have to deal with turnover and training another employee all over again, rather than incurring extra cost to update the sales force it already has.
Seasonal Variations which reduce demand for certain products:
Some goods are demanded more for, during seasons while others may suffer low demand. This usually makes some goods to stay too long on the supermarket's shelfs.
Understanding Demand:
Especially today, (and continuing from above) it is crucial that store managers understand exactly what their customers need - and then provide exactly what their customers need. Supermarkets and stores in particular feel the burn of competition because there are so many stores that are similar that it is incredibly easy for a customer to walk in, not find what they want, and then walk right back out and into the doors of another similar store that has that one extra item that the other store did not. For instance, Store A has now potentially lost a customer forever to Store B, since Store B is almost exactly like Store A in every way - and is even better, because they had that missing product that Store A did not.
Knowing Inventory Levels:
It's been (rightfully) said that the only day that anybody is certain of the store's inventory is the day before it opens. There are always discrepancies -and those discrepancies end up costing millions (or billions) in lost sales. It is a crime to run out of stock in a service delivery enterprise. This should always push them to stock in case of eventualities.
Recommendations on Areas where improvement potential exist within SUPERMARKET
Update regular customers with offers: SHOULD Value their regular customer by giving them offer, loyalty points and notifying them ahead of a flash sale on their mobile phone. Reach out to customers via SMS and emails. This makes it convenient for a customer to plan out a happy shopping experience.
Increasing Labour Costs: Supermarket survive on volume of sales with low profit margins, and therefore, increasing labour costs are always a concern. In fact, many supermarket often cut down on labour, which adversely affects customer experience and satisfaction. supermarket need to play it smart when it comes to choosing people to manage their business. While you may hire highly skilled employees, it is equally important to provide them with the latest in technology to optimize productivity and profitability.
Increase their sales: Supermarket can increase their sales by:
Advertisement on social media in reaching out to customers on goods available and to what extent those goods are reliable and can be trusted.
By updating their regular customers with offer
By getting more feedbacks from their customers which is very crucial so as provide them desired taste in terms of service.
Increasing competition and consumer demands
Planning and executing their Sales Promotions e.g. during Christmas, Ace supermarket can provide incentives such as bonuses, lower prices of goods in order to earn higher turnover for that season.
Promoting fast moving products e.g. snacks, so as to gain higher revenue over time.
By going digital: More and more shoppers are using their phones during their shopping experience to keep track of their grocery list, look up ingredients for recipes, and use digital coupons.
Expansion of base I.e. creating more branches at different locations to meet demands of customers irrespective of their location.
Goodwill must be put in place in order to be patronized by customers and also be at the peak in the area of competitions with other supermarkets. Goodwill promotes customer's loyalty to the supermarket.
Providing suggestions box for customers on any area of improvement needed on services rendered to them.
Ace supermarket should also target places with high population when expanding their branches in order to enjoy favourable demand towards their goods and services.
Workers or employees should be satisfied with their agreed entitlement so as to perform their duties without any flaws or disappointment.
Warm welcoming of customers with right attitude promotes customer loyalty to patronize.
In a situation where a customer orders goods online and also requests for home delivery as part of services which he or she will definitely cover all the cost in total, such should be provided by supermarket.
No comments:
Post a Comment