Question:
Retail landscape is rapidly changing. This is due to uncertainties in global economics, new technologies, and increasing demands from customers […]. Companies that can offer customers what they want, when and how they want it, will be better placed to gain market share.
This means a seamless customer experience and a well-structured supply chain.
Discuss critically how supermarkets can meet the needs and wants of the market.
Assess the features that contribute to their success, such as their assortment planning, brand management and supply chain operations.
Pay special attention to customer service, purchasing decisions, distribution systems and inventory management.
Answer:
Introduction
Retailing has become more complicated and difficult with thousands of shops, micro-apps and commerce networks that cover multiple geographies. This is in addition to the expectations of consumers who want to buy, be satisfied, and be able to go back anywhere (Kim and Ellinger 2015).
Retailers must be in touch with their customers.
As a way of delivering more precisely tailored merchandise to market demand, the concept of creating local markets was born.
This essay will discuss the role of supply and purchasing in the Sainsbury supermarket.
This essay will focus on the main components of the purchasing and supply chains. It will also briefly analyze the implications for management.
Further details will be provided on the financial implications for Sainsbury’s purchasing and supply decisions.
Sainsbury is the third-largest supermarket chain and is the longest-standing food retailing chain in the United Kingdom (Baines 2014).
It accounts for 16.9% of the total UK supermarket sector.
Sir John James Sainsbury founded Sainsbury in 1869 (Sebora and al.
It was found to have benefited from a particular constancy in management that evolved from family control.
The brand’s goal is to be the most trusted retailer in retail, where people love to shop and work.
The brand’s main objective is to make consumers’ lives easier by offering great quality and fair prices.
The brand’s strategy is designed to reflect the changing market and people’s shopping habits.
It’s based on five pillars: great products at fair prices, staffs that make a difference, they know their customer better than anyone, they care about their customers and their values make them different.
The first Sainsbury’s store was opened 148 years ago, making it one of the most established and longest-running food retailing chains.
The retail giant serves 16 million customers each week.
More than 400 supermarkets are located in the United Kingdom, as well as 301 Sainsbury shops (Metzger 2014).
Around 148,000 people are committed to delivering high quality products at fair prices.
Sainsbury has seen a steady growth over the last few years.
It offers services in the financial, insurance and electronic sectors, as well as food and goods retailing.
It is committed to generating diverse strategies to meet consumer needs.
Marketers’ strategies serve as a guide for positioning products and to carry out tasks related to marketing mix.
Shopping Decisions
Observations show that consumers narrow their focus when making purchase decisions. However, they also consider the opinions of others.
This stage may include unexpected circumstances that might be valuable.
According to Maslow’s hierarchy, customers make decisions based on a variety of factors.
The main observation is that consumers want to purchase products they feel are important to them. However, when considering their esteem needs, they also prefer to purchase products that highlight their status (Niemela & Kim 2014).
Sometimes, the Sainsbury consumers are encouraged to buy such products by their family and friends.
Sainsbury customers also have a sense of belonging and a need for safety.
The psychological needs are the most important. They cannot be influenced to buy what they need.
It is measured by the beliefs held by the consumer and their attitudes have a significant impact on the purchase decision.
Sainsbury customers are asked to decide whether they will buy the product again, if they like the quality of the product and if they will continue to be loyal customers.
The reference groups’ attitudes, beliefs, and opinions often influence the consumer’s purchase decisions (Ladhari and Michaud, 2015).
The assortment management tools simplify the planning of local assortments.
In amidst a planned local assortment, a mass customization is done in accordance with the local demand and customer portfolio.
The automated analysis may not use as many assortments for local retail markets, but they are great tools in trading with mid-sized suppliers and planning excellent shelf space.
Because small quantities are not available to large chains, local assortments may not be applicable to small suppliers. It might also prove difficult for small suppliers to comply with quality and seeking requirements.
Sainsbury offers a visual and complete workflow to help define and implement local markets and micro-suite assortments. This will improve traffic and customer satisfaction.
Sainsbury assists local suppliers to develop their operations through the Supplier Development program. This helps ensure that suppliers’ processes and product quality meet Sainsbury requirements (Ramanathan Bentley, Pang 2014).
Many suppliers find it difficult to work with big retailers because they are dependent on the volume of products sold.
Your Brand
Sainsbury has redesigned its value range with new brands of “Sainsbury basic” and “Sainsbury”.
It intensifies its battle against German discounter Lidl (Szmigin and Gee 2017, 2017).
It hopes that brightly colored packaging with a fictitious British brand name will draw consumers to the new coloured-coded packaging.
It will be a long-term addition to its shelves.
Prices for the vegetables and fruits vary from 35 pounds for a leaf of lettuce to 1.69 euro for a punnet of raspberries (Lan & Dobson 2017).
Sainsbury’s own brand products have easy-to-read nutritional and allergen labels.
The future looks bright for UK supermarkets, which have been hard hit by rising prices due to competition from Lidl, Tesco and Aldi.
Distribution System
The chain currently has over 500 supermarkets and close to 300 convenience stores.
Every Sainsbury store has compatible non-food products and service (Sogn Grundvag, Larsen and Young 2013, respectively).
Some stores also offer home delivery via the internet.
In the past, Sainsbury had six channels that connected to the Regional Distribution Centre. However, the company now has over thirty channels, including the Primary Consolidations Centres, cross docking, and the Cross Docking.
According to a recent survey, Sainsbury’s supply chain was not able to meet the needs of both its customers and the store network.
Sainsbury required the sophisticated supply-chain infrastructure infrastructure earlier (Gonzalez 2017,).
After a thorough evaluation of all options, Sainsbury selected Manhattan’s Warehouse Management to open solutions and create a collaborative commerce platform.
It serves all consumers, and is aware of the lower middle. The company also has a large range of products that it can offer British consumers.
They serve a wide range of customers, including those who are concerned about global rivalry, corporate presentation, price wars, and alterations in plans.
Inventory Management
Because of the unique nature of Sainsbury’s operations, each department has its own operation. This allows for greater security in supplies and better inventory management.
Sainsbury’s procurement process has become more strategic thanks to the Kraljic procurement matrix.
Indexing purchases based on supply risk and profit is the primary way to ensure that the purchase is classified.
The market analysis is the second and third steps involve strategic positioning.
This is about making sure that the most profitable items are bought, while simultaneously reducing the risk of an inevitable supply surplus or shortage.
In order to examine the operations of Sainsbury’s, we must consider the following aspects: Supply continuity, buyer power, supply continuity, effective cooperation and efficient use of resources.
To ensure the best use of technology, new technology was implemented.
A wide range of advanced systems have been implemented in areas such as finance, trade, procurement, and human resource.
The IT department at Sainsbury has supported it by implementing the most recent hardware and software systems.
Customer Service
“Excellence” is a key word in customer service (Christopher 2016,).
The result is a company that strives to please their customers in a creative and passionate way by adding words like “customer” or “service” to excellence.
The Sainsbury supermarket offers a wide range of products and items.
The super market offers clothing, gift items and computer peripherals. It also sells books, kitchen appliances, food products, groceries, and other items.
This super market’s main goal is to satisfy its customers by offering great shopping experiences.
Faulkner and colleagues also consider the quality and excellence of products at a very reasonable price.
Prices can change daily.
They provide safe, healthy, delicious, and nutritious food to their customers at an affordable price and offer excellent customer service (Scarborough and al.
Customers are welcomed with a smile and a pleasant word when they enter the market.
Customers can buy a trolley that fits all at Sainsbury supermarket for PS1 at the Sainsbury customer support desk.
Customers can also earn loyalty points by using their bags.
Customers can get in-store nutrition advice and dietary advice from the customer service desk. They also have an online site that offers them online nutrition advice.
The convenience of making purchases at the Sainsbury supermarket is made easy by the acceptance of cash, credit cards, and debit cards.
Sainsbury customers have many advantages, including the large selection of products, organic and fair-trade products, and free products.
Sainsbury customers can also shop on their website.
The downside for Sainsbury customers is that prices can change daily and vary from one store to the next.
Online buyers also pay the delivery price (which is subject to change daily).
Conclusion
Every company, from the large ones to the small ones, has to have a system that helps it run.
The above analysis shows that Sainsbury’s purchasing and supply plays an important part in its business management.
Sainsbury offers a wide range of products to its customers. However, it is more focused on their needs and wants.
It serves better, without making any difference to consumers.
Sainsbury hopes to be a more consumer-oriented supermarket.
This strategy focuses on the accessibility of services and aims to guide the organisational culture.
Redistribution and food price inflation: A new analysis of corporate power in global food systems.
New Political Economy, 19(1), pages 79-112.
Logistics and supply chain management.
Pearson UK.
Kerr, M.A.
Supermarket own brand food: less energy and similar nutritional quality to market-brand alternatives.
Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, 27(6): 617-625.
Chain heterogeneity, price-setting behavior and chain heterogeneity: Evidence from egrocery retailers
Electronic Commerce Research and Applications.
Ellinger, A.E. (2015)
Retail Assortment Size, Customer Choice Overload and Customer Choice: The Influence Of Shopping Enjoyment And Time Pressure.
In Marketing Dynamism and Sustainability: Things Change, But Things Stay the Same… (pp.
Ladhari, R., and Michaud M. (2015). eWOM impacts on hotel booking intentions and attitudes, trust, perceptions, and trust.
International Journal of Hospitality Management 46, pp. 36-45
Lan, H., and Dobson P.W.
Healthy competition to support healthy eating?
An investigation of fruit and vegetable pricing in UK supermarkets.
Journal of Agricultural Economics, 68(3) pp.881-901.
Management of supplier collaboration-The use of coordination and control mechanisms
K. Metzger (2014). Business analysis of the UK supermarket industry.
Niemela, P., and Kim, S. (2014).
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research (pp.
Ramanathan U., Bentley Y., and Pang G.
Collaboration in UK green supply chains: An exploratory study of the perspectives and needs of retailers, suppliers, and logistics.
Journal of Cleaner Production 70, pp. 231-241.
Rayner, M. (2015).
The importance of reds over greens: How UK supermarket shoppers used the different information on a traffic-light nutrition label in a choice study.
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 12(1), p.151.
Sebora T.C. Sebora T.C. Rubach M. Rubach M. Cantril R. Cantril R., 2014
Sainsbury’s Egypt.
Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies 4(8), pp.1-12.
Young, J.A.
Line-caught fish and its other attributes: A study of the price premiums paid for chilled fish in UK supermarkets.
Marine Policy 38, pp. 41-44.
Suel, E., and Polak J.W. 2017.
Joint models for channel, store and travel mode selection: Grocery shopping in London.
Transportation Research Part A: Policy & Practice, 99, pp.147-162.
Szmigin (I.) and Gee (V.), 2017.
Mystification and obfuscation of portion sizes in UK food products.
Journal of Business Research, 75. pp.176-184.