Question

First step - Select a retailer. Remember a retailer sells to the "ultimate consumer." You need to choose a retailer with a physical store who sells a physical product - otherwise it will be difficult to complete this project. If you are thinking of opening your own store, choose a retailer that sells the same type of merchandise that you would like to sell.   (i.e., ski shop, music store, pizza place, furniture store, apparel boutique, hardware store etc...)  

Second step - Interview the manager or owner at the retail store you selected. This is a required part of your project. Your paper should include the following:

A. History of the Company: (40 pts.)

Who did you interview? (Full name and position.)

How long have they been in business?

How has their business changed over the years?

What is their mission statement?

Do they plan to expand, penetrate, diversify, or change their retail format in the near future?

B. Retail Strategy

1.   Who is their Target Market: (15 pts.)

Define their customer according to demographics (age, gender, income level, education etc.)

Trade Area - primary, secondary, tertiary (refer to Chap. 8)

2.   Merchandise Assortment: (15 pts.)

What are the major brands they carry?

Do they have private brands?

Where does this retailer's merchandise fit on the category life cycle? (Chap. 12)

Why do you think they chose this stage of the life cycle?

Does this retailer carry convenience goods, shopping goods or specialty? (Chap. 7)

3.   Human Resources: (15 pts.)

How does this store prepare and train their sales people?

Are they paid on commission, salary, or hourly wage?

Are the sales people allowed to cross sell? (if there are separate departments)

Do they outsource any activities in their business?

4.   Store Location: (15 pts.)

Where is this retail store located? (CBD, Shopping Center, Specialty Center, MXD)

Why do you think they chose this location?

Is this site accessible for the customer?

What type of lease do they have? (may not be willing to give this information out)

5.   Pricing: (15 pts.)

What is this stores pricing policy? (Everyday Low Pricing, High/Low Pricing etc.)

What other practices do they use to compete with price?   (Coupons, Rebates, Price Bundling)

Does this retailer use the cost-oriented method of pricing or demand-oriented pricing.

Is there a frequent shopper program?

6.   Communication Mix: (15 pts.)

What type of paid advertisements does this business use?

·What type of unpaid communication does this business use?   (Publicity)

·Does this retailer use cooperative advertising?   With whom?

·What type of sales promotions does this retailer use? (Sales, Sampling, Demos, Contests etc.)

7.   Store Layout: (15 pts.)

What type of design layout does this store use? (Grid, Racetrack, Free Form etc.)

Is it effective for customer flow?

What type of fixtures do they use?

What type of lighting are they using?

Is music constantly playing?   What type?

What type of scent is in the store?   Does it detract or attract?

8.   Customer Service: (15 pts.)

What type of services does this store offer?   (Alterations, gift-wrapping etc.)

Talk to 3 customers - What is their perception of this store’s customer service?

How does this store handle customer complaints?

Does this store have “mystery shoppers” to check level of service?

Is the salesperson “empowered” to make decisions or is it up to management?

C. Competitive Advantage: (40 pts.)

Does this retailer have a “competitive advantage” over similar stores?

How can they retain this advantage or achieve an advantage over their competition?

(This section should be 2-3 paragraphs minimum -- think about it!)

Answer 1

Whole foods market is one of the America's biggest organic and natural food retailers, world food market was not only America but the world's biggest organic and natural food retailer. World food market is basically an employee oriented organisation which focuses on growth of their employees that reflects in their working platform as well as the system. Organisation culture of the plant is very strong and contributes to the brand strength.

Whole Foods Market’s organisational culture is considered as one of the best work culture for an organisation and is a fine example of an employee oriented workplace and culture in an organisation. This specific organisational culture attract the customer to their products and their store which results in increased profits and sales.

Basic features of whole foods market's organisational cultures are as follows

⦁ Team focus

Whole Foods Market’s basic strategy includes focusing on the teams. Most of the task of the company are designed to be done by 18 which improve their overall efficiency as well as the productivity of the human resource. By optimising the employee morale and reducing the turnover company has successfully implemented the team system into its and work structure. The core value of Whole Foods Market is “Supporting team member happiness and excellence.” when the culture of the organisation contribution we human resource management.

⦁ Active participation

Company also introduced the active participation system into its organisation and supports the extensive employee participation in each and every job provided inside the company. For example employees select the team members according to their choices and mutual understanding for a better and productive work environment.

⦁ Interactions out of work environment

Whole foods market also very well known for interactions other than formal inside it stores. Employees are in touch with each other and always keep discussing about random things inside the plane as well as discussing things with the customers as well. The specific practice reduces the gap between the customer and the employees which is directly related to the growth of the business. Whole foods market also focuses on creating social relationships within the Company organisation and culturally support the workers as well as the customers.

⦁ Trasparency in workplace

Wholw food market is one of the most transparent work environment available in the USA. By creating transparent report which has to inform the stakeholders is a key thing of transparency within the organisation. Not only the stakeholders but whole foods market also provide this financial report to their employees. Financial report provision to the Employees make them understand the form situation in a better manner. By introducing transparency in the workplace company also helps in the human resource management which is done in resilience.

Whole foods market culture is one of the best culture in the business. This specific culture is based on high ethics and morals of employees as well as the working environment. Using their work culture as a tool company uses this specific culture to improve their Human Resource Management hence organisational culture of whole foods market is one of the strongest points of its key success

According to VRIO framework whole food market can be divided into following categories.

Value

Whole food markets have successfully compete with its competitor and created its own brand value by imposing their cultural activities as well as ethical working environment. Whole food market 2nd standard by maintaining ethical environment of their work places as well as the organisational system.

Rarity

Whole food market has imposed a totally new idea to the market by implementing the green strategies towards the work so far system.

In terms of priority whole food market is not there resourced but their organisational culture in the rear and it is very hard to find a standard of this level in any organisation culture other than whole food market.

Imitability

Ability of whole food markets is not that hard but imitation of their organisational culture is again very tough as they have done it so deeply that from the very beginning company has always work as a green and ethical company. By providing ethical advantages to its customers and implementing the system into the core strategies of the organisation they made it very hard to Limited.

Organisation

Whole foods has organised to create the ethical values .Rather than focusing on profits, company always focuses on the employee employer relationship and the customer employee relationship which makes it one of the best working environment for an employee. Add a base of organisation whole food markets has successfully integrated all of its path into one place by creating a more and legal environment for business.

Whole food market has always been a Pioneer in the industry in maintaining the relationship between the employees as well as in its organisation.

Whole food market has always done its business with a clear vision towards a society. They have always maintain a balance between the cultural as well as social stand of the company. By providing one of the best working environment in the United States of America food market has become an icon of ethical business. Correct decisions and ethical thinking leadership made its working structure, the structure of employee.

Employees are motivated to work towards achieving their goal while being article. Whole food market fracture reducing peoples over all images by sharing most of the part on their original culture. inter employee relationship is always motivated.
Whole foods market is the finest example of a company where trust is being used as a strategic asset. Company is specifically creating an environment for their employees as well as the customers by providing them a better operating environment and workplace culture which is based on positive influence of Trust. Employees and customers have trust to get the best quality services and compensation in order to align with the standards of the organisation in the respective manner. Just type of approach also enables the organisation to focus on productivity related activities rather than just being involved in the organisational activities to create benefit or revenue. All of these approaches are essential for whole foods market to generate better value of their total service provision using the trust as a main tool for strategic implementation.
Second organisation that we have assessed according to the article is WalMart where contracts and monitoring is being used as an strategic asset. Company uses a complex network of suppliers to get the best pricing for the products implemented in the respective environment and also uses consistent monitoring to analyse the market situation as well as a customer demands for creating a positive influence on overall availability of opportunities for the respective organisation in its operating industry.

The main difference between the managerial approach in these two companies are using their human resources and combination unique management systems. Whole foods market implement a very strong customer relationship management program as well as implement a strong code of ethics by using such a specific tools, walmart largely focus on creating benefit for large employment opportunities as well as very large customer base that directly increases their influence in the respective environment of operation as well as provides possibility of expansion in the respective region.

Both of the company have different type of activities where Walmart definitely has better propensity of being more successful. As implementation of such a specific strategic directly drives a change on a direct revenue management rather than being focused on creating a difference in ethical standards of the organisation, level of success and revenue generation for the specific organisation is going to increase by a use margin as compared to the ethical approach used by whole foods market to create a better environment for their employees as well as for the customers.

Company has always shown a correct leadership for example in 2007

company's CEO Mackey announce that you will take only $1 as his salary and also reduced his manager salary by 19 times. This specific incident shows the market values of the whole food markets towards its employees. Company in successfully competing against the external equity and also excelling in the internal equity as well.

Mackey's leadership style can be described as "a conscious leader". He always offered consciousness towards his employees and provides transformation of personal growth enabling environment and trusting the relationships. By creating commitment towards the community he always nurtured the spirit.

He always focused on personal growth of the employees to develop their leadership. He provided in specific environment for the employees of the whole food markets to develop their own personal identity in the organisation. Teams are readily curated and the results are always appreciated. Building a community inside an organisation which can interact among each other and share their crops as well as solutions is one of the main focus of the leadership strategy.

All in all John mackey has successfully created a huge business maintaining cultural as well as social diversity in his firm. While maintaining the social diversity he always acted as in the conscious leader and