Grocery stores are in competition with smaller markets like Kudlers and Whole Foods. If the brand name grocery stores like Ralphs and Vons did not offer organic and specialty items, the market structure of Kudler Fine Foods would differ. This market structure positively affected Kudler because there was no barrier to entrance within the quality foods market. What negatively affects the company with this market structure is that they are compared to big companies who are able to supply some of these rare items at a more competitive price. One of the marketing strategies that ensure the company of long-term profitability is the personal relationship built with the customer base.
A potential opportunity that they could explore is to utilize self-checkout terminals in their locations. Self-checkout point of sale terminals could do many things to improve Kudler Fine Foods as a retail competitor. First, it would improve their customer service as many customers prefer to check themselves out rather than having a cashier. In today’s technology environment, “…systems can be tailored to better fit any retail environment and are more focused on improving customer service rather than cutting labor costs” (Murphey, 2009, p. 1) . Even though the prime focus of these systems is not necessarily to cut labor costs, often times they can improve efficiency.
It doesn’t appear that there is many other upscale specialty food stores in the areas, Kudler would have to look in other regions. Kudler Fine Foods will need to invest more time in researching what products or ideas will make the company successful compared to other specialty food stores outside of the country. Conclusion Kudler Fine Foods has shown it can be successful. Business has been going and appears to be doing well. Marketing is the most important key to business success.
Kudler Fine Foods also have various opportunities. First, the company has no direct competition they focus on attracting “discriminating gourmets who are looking for the more than organic foodstuffs, they want the best foods and excellent customer service” (Administration, Strategic Plan). Another opportunity is that
Kudler Fine Foods Virtual Organization Kudler Fine Foods (KFF) is an established business that survived the initial period successfully and grown by adding two additional stores. Because of owner’s prudent management the business presence in the market is solid, although other competitors represent a threat. Additionally the threat of handling perishable goods is also present, but competitors have the same issue plus KFF can compete with reasonable prices to make it attractive to customers (Kudler Fine Foods, 2012, p. 10). KFF needs to initiate marketing research analysis to pinpoint the areas of opportunity and improvement. In this analysis a secret shopper should be part of the research to visit stores around the three KFF establishments
She can continue to offer specialty items, and by becoming more of a technological and current business she will earn the respect of her customers and her competitors. Kathy’s vision is “Kudler Fine Foods will be the premiere gourmet grocery store for those savvy shoppers who are searching for the finest meats, produce, cheeses and wine,” and by making some changes she can achieve this vision faster than she ever thought possible. Many entrepreneurs do not want to give up any “power” to others and relinquish some of the duties that she has handled on her own, but the rewards will be tremendous. The best way a business owner can increase and improve themselves and their business is by acknowledging that they do not know everything and only by trusting the right people can the business succeed to the level Kathy
The third thing that they do an excellent job at doing is researching their future growth. Recently QuikTrip has dedicated much of its resources to improving the stores ability to produce food on site. They have designed a new and improved store that they call a "Gen 3" and it includes a full service counter that provides customers with soft serve ice cream, hot pretzels, and a variety of coffee and fruit drinks. They have realized that not only is the margin that they make on these types of items much larger than that of gas, but by offering these items that the majority of their competitors do not they are attracting more business. The new store design is very appealing to people because it has a lot more to offer, the feedback has been so positive that they have made plans to only build Gen 3 stores from now on.
The current strategy makes it easy to introduce new substitutes for top selling [As an adjective, these two words are hyphenated] [If used as an adjective, these two words are hyphenated] items if the companies that produce those products are found to be unsafe or unhealthy. Kudler specializes in selling gourmet food and gourmet cam come from any country or region. This means Kudler has the world to choose from. It also means Kudler must gather the pertinent information needed to stock its shelves with quality products that are [Writing suggestion: rewrite the sentence to remove "that are"] desired [Passive voice ] and sold for the right price as compared to
The business current situation and problem continue to get worst. Facing no competitive competition the KFF could be the overall leader in selling gourmet foods. Establishing that kind of success will give the business the abilities of developing their own trademark. Having their own trademark could have geographic and expansion success. Kudler had great vision early on in her business, but her management skills fail to live up to earlier success.
The situation is very ironic because the grocery stores with nutritious food advocates for fast food restaurants that are, in context, competing with their sales. Prices of fast food products appear cheaper than full home cooked meals. On average, costumers pay four dollars for a drink, a burger, and a side item. Additionally, fast food is fast. Each fast food corporation has special procedures to keep their paying costumers happy by giving them exactly what they asked for, fast food.