The responsiveness to consumer’s demand Tesco is always aware of what people need, what products they would like to purchase from the stores. For this, Tesco is using primary research methods like surveys, in which people can say what their demands are as well as the secondary research methods like use of gathered data. The use of ICT in the supply chain Tesco is well known for its use of ICT to distribute its products. Their big advantage is that many people are pleased with the company, because they are allowed to shop from wherever they want, as long as they have an access to the internet. Tesco's website allow people to search through the products, that customers can order through the Tesco Direct or go for it to the store.
There is currently one major competitor in the specialty foods business is the chain Whole Foods. The foot print of Whole Foods is so large and has a larger market share than Kudler, they would be able to cut into Kudler’s competitive advantage of being the only specialty food store within their operating locations. There are more super chains such as Wal-Mart are starting to carry organic foods at their notoriously low prices. Wal-Mart is not only starting to offer organic items, but they are saving money by doing it. “By distributing locally, [Wal-Mart] said it saved 112,000 gallons of diesel and total freight expense of more than $1.4 million” (Hoffman, 2008, p. 1).
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.
The five forces include; threat of entry of new competitors, the bargaining power of suppliers, the bargaining power of customers, the threat of substitute products or services and the rivalry among existing firms in the industry. An example of Kudler’s strategies aimed at each of these five forces is discussed below. Kudler uses differentiation and focus strategies to meet the threats of any new competitors by being unique in its industry. Kudler is an upscale specialty food store catering to the epicurean delights. Kudler has created a niche market.
Boots have to make sure that they are able to meet customer expectations P4 - Identify the competitive factors in the retail environment a selected organization faces Bargaining power of buyers: Customers are powerful potential buyers as they can switch easily and doesn’t cost them much as they have stores in easy locations. However supermarkets will have to reduce prices in order to attract customers. There are a lot of small sellers and few large buyers as the buyers buy in large quantities which show that they are powerful. A single buyer is a large customer to a firm as they buy more. Buyers purchase from multiple sellers at once, such as customer stores.
Whole Foods Market, one of Kudler Fine Foods biggest competitor, has over 43 locations in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. As these current consumer demands continue to grow the trends will also help support Kudler’s mission of providing the finest epicurean products. With the increased competition from not only stores like Whole Foods Market, Kudler has to remain competitive with other entities that are able to offer similar product quality at affordable prices. Knowing what the competition is doing and forecasting their efforts will help Kudler remain competitive and two steps ahead of the competition by identifying trends, events, and other issues that may have an impact on the industry. Kudler should invest a significant amount of research on identifying the strengths and weaknesses of Whole Foods Market and how they can capitalize on those weaknesses.
Compared to Macy’s who keep an item in inventory for 119 days, Nordstrom keeps its items in inventory for 62 days. Other than relying on day-to-day sales, Nordstrom only discounts certain items and plans for more profitable and productive sale prices. Nordstrom benchmarks to assess the success of their web-based inventor system by discovering what other organizations are doing to succeed and incorporate those ideas into their own operations. Competition for Nordstrom will be intense against Banana Republic, Macy's, and Nike; big shoe selling companies but if they take certain qualities from each one and intertwine them with their own, their web-based inventory will be a great success. Participatory planning includes the people who will be affected by plans and who will be asked to implement them.
Kudler Fine Foods Frequent Shopper Program Concerns Kudler Fine Foods wants to implement a frequent shopping program to monitor the shopping habits of its customers, and increase customer satisfaction with a projected revenue increase of 4.75% over the first year. As Kudler Fine Foods is a high end grocer, the goal of the frequent shopping program will not be centered around cost savings, but as a point system offering exclusive awards similar to credit card point systems. Kudler Fine Foods can increase customer satisfaction by tailoring their inventories around customer’s shopping habits, but some concerns need to be addressed concerning the tracking of individual customer purchases. The management needs to understand how the frequent shopper
Kudler’s has an inventory that consists predominantly of perishable goods that require replacement often. Kudler’s could cut costs and leave items on the shelf a day or two longer, but that would call into question their very reason for existence in being known for fresh foods. Reputation with customers can be lost with one poor decision. One way to counter that is to provide exceptional customer service. Kudler’s means of differentiating itself from the competition is its ability to provide the best products and the best customer service.
In May last year it was said that Morrison’s is putting into place a network of lockers to its stores that will allow shoppers to pick up click-and-collect parcels. Once again Morrison’s is putting this into place to compete with the other big supermarkets. The first Morrison’s collection point is already operating at the store on Dewsbury Road in Wakefield but it is still a process with a lot of progression to go. Having a click collect system in place is an advantage for Morrison’s as again it is now like the other four supermarkets as they also have the click and collect scheme but it is also an advantage for regular customers at Morrison’s as they can order stuff online and just pick it up in store this also saves customers delivery costs. Overall Morrison’s have responded to their competitive pressures fairly well however there are also some disadvantages this includes the time in which they entered the online grocery market and the risk they took on comparing prices with stores such as Aldi, furthermore with recent news it is clear Morrison’s have not been making consistent profits therefore this shows some of their strategies to not be so