Retailing Essay

Case Assignment 2 Question 1

Retailers nowadays are more aware of their impact on the society and communities in and around the area they operate. Therefore, are putting more noteworthy efforts not only in serving their customers but also to generate a more positive impact on anyone that are likely to be influenced by them. (staff, customers, residents within their operating vicinity and the general public at large). Emphasis has been made to address issues like staff’s training and development, diversity, health, safety and education.

J.Sainsbury’s “Learning @ Sainsbury”, ASDA’s (Walmart) “SOLs” are examples of these retailer’s dedication to and efforts to provide training, and development for their staffs. The programs offered through these avenues not only enable the staffs to perform better and more effectively during their employment at these companies, they also offer recognized qualifications upon completion which can better equip the staffs with a higher versatility and qualification even if they decide to seek other jobs.

John Lewis is an example of a retailer who put emphasis on the safety and health aspects of its staffs. They offer a dedicated occupational health advisory service for their employees comprising of a health advisory team in EACH store that provides advice on diets, healthy eating and exercise. They also offer subsidy for treatments like physiotherapy and podiatry. John Lewis also introduced an electronic accident reporting system for all it’s employees which enables every store to report accidents immediately and monitors the employee’s progress until he is able to return to work. Preventive measures can also be effectively developed as the system allows the company to monitor the accident causes and severity patterns of each store and also across the whole business in general.

Retailers are taking a more passive approach in addressing the issues of healthy eating. Instead of telling outright which food are healthy and which...