As a retail consultant, the main objective of the research was to investigate the issue of chain of retail stores, conduct an analysis on the issue, interview different client’s employees from different chain retail stores, management teams and come up with a comprehensive analysis of the suggested retail sector with adequate information to help Scott McPherson start his own retail chain store. The research also attempted to contribute to the understanding of the underlying factors of retail stores such as location, target market, competition, and desired image.
A retail Chain store can be defined as a retail outlet that shares a similar brand (same merchandise) with central management, same ownership, and generally have standardized business practices and methods and practices. Therefore, Chain Stores can be said to be groups of retail stores that engage in the same common field of business. According to Yuvarani (2009), a retailer is a merchant or occasionally an agent or a business enterprise, whose main business is selling directly to ultimate consumers for non-business use; he performs many marketing activities such as buying, selling, grading, risk-trading, and developing information about customer’s wants and may sell infrequently to industrial users, but these are wholesale transactions, not retail sales (Yuvarani 2009).
After carrying out the research, thorough collection of data concerning the chain of retail stores, conducting analysis, interviewing different reliable people, identifying different types of issues, and forming hypotheses, I finally came to the conclusion that the grocery chain of retail stores was the best for Scott McPherson. This was for the major reason that, across the south of England where Scott McPherson wants to start his retain chain store, very few grocery chain stores exist, this will form a good ground since there will be minimal competition.
Grocery Chain Retail Store Analysis
Also Based on my research, for the past ten years, in general, across the south of England grocery market has been very few as compared to other retail chain stores such as supermarket chain stores, and the total supermarket retail chain stores market had been increasing stably. According to Richard (1990) in recent years, England grocery market has faced more and more uncertainties, such as the financial crisis, high unemployment, tight household budgets, and so on that had made so many individuals avoid undertaking such investments, (Richard 1990)
The above reason was found as a good justification as to why glossary retail chain store was the best business to undertaken; its strategy will focus more on offering unbeatable customer service and a pleasant shopping environment, because it will targets on all types of customers even at the mid-lower end customers, and will still generally competes on price, special offers and multi-save promotions (Tracey 2001).
The grocery retailing chain store will serve a wide range of customers national wide and in neighborhoods through stores ranging from hard discount to traditional and premium grocery formats and will reach millions of families with the products and services they need through owned, licensed, franchised, and affiliated stores (Springer US 2004)
According to research analysis, the existing grocery stores in the area are supermarkets consisting of different other products. The available grocery stores were reported to have been declining in their performance. For instance, according to Penny (2005), grocery distribution segment sales for the quarter declined 2.5 percent to $360 million from $369.3 million for fiscal 2003 where convenience store distribution sales also declined 1.8 percent to $211.5 from $215.4 million; sales declines in both distribution segments were associated principally with the elimination of intercompany sales for Gordon’s Markets and Sunshine Markets (Penny 2005).
Desired Image for The New Grocery Retail Chain Store
The way that the store is perceived by its customer, i.e. the image of the store has been for long been considered as a potentially valuable theoretical construct and unlike many issues that are popular predominantly in starting a retail chain store, its image is believed to have concrete and consequential managerial relevance with regard to its influence on store patronage behavior and hence on store profitability (Mintzberg 2000).
During the research, I, therefore, identified business media and trade publications to characterize the Scott McPherson retail chain store image and as an important critical determinant of the success of the retail store. In addition, I found out that the retail store image will be relative to other competing stores, for instance, quality products should be provided to customers to avoid spoiling of their image. This is for the sole reason that, the store image is a multidimensional construct since consumers always associate different attributes, quality, or features such as price, quality, as well as satisfaction in terms of service level in all stores especially if there is a competitive market (Cohen 1990).
The image of the retail chain store should therefore be derived from the satisfaction of all customers through, quality products and services, reasonable price levels, the strength of the company to deliver the required service in time, good marketing communication as well as good communication through word of mouth.
Target Markets for The New Grocery Retail Chain Store
Scott McPherson store will meet the grocery needs of the surrounding neighborhood of female or male heads of households regardless of their income level. Scott McPherson’s retail chain store target markets will therefore include customers from all around South England as well as international customers. The retail store will also target international consumers who are not within the retail stores via internet e-shopping.
The retail chain store will target upper, middle, and even low-class consumers since it will provide a reasonable price for its products as compared to the supermarket chain store which sells groceries at an increased price. However, the retail chain store will provide high-quality products and services to better serve upper-middle customer base needs who are the major class in the area of each chain.
Competitive Advantage
Instead of targeting at low ends as well as middle customers like the existing other supermarket retail chain store do, the company i.e. Scott McPherson will differentiate itself from such competitors by offering superior quality of products to all types of customers but will mostly emphasize on upper-middle customer base. This will give it a competitive advantage in that it will have a wide range of customers as compared to the rest.
I also found that another way to utilize competitive advantage is to produce grocery products alone as compared to other supermarket retain chain stores that produce several products. This is an advantage since it will utilize its specialization skills to produce the best quality.